Struggling as a Villain

[A few minutes ago]

Richard was in the indoor training ground with Rena, Elizabeth, Brad, Jennifer, Nora, and Jasmine.

He was currently training them in the field they are new at.

Aembr control.

"You have gained basic knowledge from Jasmine regarding Aembr." Richard began, "Unlike Ether which one originates from within, we can absorb Aembr from our surroundings. Although it sounds quite overpowered, that's what makes us vulnerable as well."

Richard raised his hand and brought a small metal cube from the shelf, "This is your body," He conjured flames all around the cube, but left a small gap for them to see the cube, "This is the Aembr around you."

Richard pressed the cube with his telekinesis to open it, and filled the cube with the flame, "That's your body filled with Aembr."

Richard lifted the cube in the air before demonstrating, "Now, this cube can grow fragile if I add some more fuel to it, even though there is still some space in it. Do you know what I mean?"

Jennifer wanted to respond, but Rena beat her to it, "Despite having the capacity, we cannot add Aembr into our body more than necessary, or we will harm ourselves."

"That is correct, Rena." The brunette smiled in pride before they heard him continuing, "Your body is a separate entity from your mind unless you control it. Regularly filling your body to the brim would cause severe problems, like lung failure, dizziness, and heart rate going up and down. And those problems can be handled temporarily only."

Looking at the people, he asked, "Any doubt?"

Elizabeth voiced, "How can I resist absorbing Aembr?" The Princess has recently faced a situation called Overdose, where she used a bit too much Aembr during her training, and that caused severe dizziness before she fainted.

Jasmine scolded her for ten minutes straight before she was warned to not follow the same training routine.

Richard explained, "It's simple, switch your battle style." Naturally, that wasn't very informative, so he added, "If you cannot command your Aembr and how much your body absorbs, and feel like you would end up absorbing more than your tolerance, switch to hand-to-hand combat rather than relying on your magical spells."

It was the simplest way of overcoming the problem of excessive absorption. After all, fortifying your body with Aembr takes very less magic compared to chanting a spell.

"And what if someone is not good in hand-to-hand combat?" Rena asked since she was quite the amateur one when it came to combat.

Richard sighed before extending the bitter truth, "Then you are unfit for this war. Either train and become one with your body, or don't participate. I don't want people in this war who would just end up being a fodder."

That statement made everyone shudder. This was the first time for Rena to see Richard in that mood after waking up.

"Umm...Richard, I have a question." Brad raised his hand, "What about the weapon? Can we not rely on augmentation to store our energy? In that way, we won't need to overload our bodies?"

That was a brilliant idea. After all, using a vessel that wasn't one's body to store Aembr and using the vessel directly to attack someone would result in favorable results.

However, there was just one problem, "We would need a weapon with sentience for that."

Brad raised his brows, "Can't we store energy in just any weapon? Even temporarily?"

Richard heaved a sigh, "That would require a weapon with quite strong material since Aembr produces heat, which would result in atom expansion. And I don't need to explain what would happen then."

Brad nodded...indeed, it was quite difficult to maintain the right amount of Aembr that doesn't end up ruining the weapon

"That's why, we are making this." Suddenly, Lena walked inside the gym, followed by a few more people whom Richard recognized to be in the tech department.

It was a short sword with a broad handle, and the blade was made of something that looked like metal, but it wasn't.

Standing beside Richard, she told them, "This is the new invention of our development team: a weapon that can store and regulate your energy to a decent extent. And also," She swung the sword which created cracks in the floor, making the audience shocked.

Looking at the redhead, the silver-headed Vice-commander added, "You can discharge the energy at your will."

Richard was surprised, "That's quite an invention. How many trials did you go through and what is the success rate?"

"Eighteen trials since yesterday, and we faced seventy percent success."
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Richard raised his brows, "And those times it failed? What was the end result?"

Lena heaved a sigh, "Complete annihilation of the weapon, but it didn't blow the arm of the wielder."

Richard nodded, "I suppose you didn't feed the weapon to its full extent during those trials?"

Lena nodded, "Yes, just enough to release an attack."

Richard heaved a sigh before telling her, "This could be a very helpful tool for those who couldn't control their Aembr in such a short time. That's why you keep finding the best solution to increase the success rate."

Lena assented, "As you say-" but then, she was interrupted as suddenly, someone barged inside the training ground while shouting,

"Richaaaaard!" It was Emily, who looked extremely panicked, as she called out, "Amelia...s-she..."

Richard narrowed his eyes, and without even thinking twice, he switched to his elemental state, and tearing the roof, he flew away.

Rena approached the blond girl before asking, "What happened to Amelia?"

Everyone else also gathered around the girl. Given how she was panicking it must have been something severe.

Lena believed that the island might be attacked by Asian Alliance or some uncertain entity. However, since she didn't receive any warning she couldn't be sure.

Emily first calmed her breath, before she informed them,

"Amelia....she...she..." Everyone held their breath in anticipation, before Emily finally revealed, "..she suddenly vomited."

"..."

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A/N:- I hope you all enjoyed reading the chapter. I won't take long for the preparation before beginning the final arc. And you know, the final battle won't be too long. Drop a comment