Van took a deep breath and let it go, relaxing his shoulders, his fist at the ready, staring Luna down. They were playing with aura now… which meant that not only would they not be protected from taking damage, but if they were not careful, they would deal severe damage to each other…

The two of them took their stances, their faces a mask of sheer concentration and blankness. Eyes focused on the other to the seclusion of all else…

Van took another deep breath…

Like a viper, Luna struck first, her leg coming towards him. Only to be met with his own.

First low. Middle. Then high… their blows sent mini shock ways from where the aura’s collided. They took their distance and went into it once more.

Van sent a flurry of rapid jabs toward Luna’s face. To which she dodged and weaved around, bringing her foot up suddenly to strike him away. He dodged the kick, but it then swung down in an ax kick towards his shoulder.

Instead of getting out of the way, he moved in with his left leg, grabbed her foot with his arm to brace for the blow, then pulled back his right fist for a mighty attack.

Luna’s eyes widened, but it was too late. So she committed, now putting even more weight behind her attack, she forced it down so hard that even as prepared as Van was, he bent with the blow and winced at the pain.

But Van had already braced for something like this, so while he may not have prepared for the sheer amount of force, he had put his left foot forward to help balance him. And while it wasn’t to the face… he brought his fist straight into her stomach, now moving his right foot forward with the momentum with the intent to blow her away, but not far enough that he couldn’t just lay into her a second time, his left hand now grabbing her foot where it landed on his shoulder…

Luna winced in agony as the two conflicting aura’s crackled against each other. If she didn’t have it on right now, she’d probably be coughing up blood… she tried to pull away, move with the flow of the attack, but Van kept her with him, and her off balance… so she changed tack, and instead of moving away, she used a surge of adrenaline to push herself forward, jumping and swinging her other foot to kick him away with a twirl of her body.

Van, surprised, moved away, letting her go. Only for her to twirl to the ground and flow into a low sweep of his legs, making him lose balance. Thankfully he used his aura to root him to the ground beforehand. But the blow, even with the aura covering his body, hit so hard he knew it would leave a welt.

With some anger, since she wanted to go for his legs so badly… he used more aura to root himself down to the ground and freed the other to give a devastating kick to push her away, using the very same foot she hurt.

Which was actually what Luna was looking for…

Now it was Luna’s turn to grab onto Van, using his reaction, she brought up her legs, entwined them with the would-be-kick, and pulled hard.

Van’s eyes widened. He forgot how slippery and limber Luna could be as she was literally hanging onto his leg. He tried to stomp her down a few times but his position wouldn’t let him put any weight into it, forcing him to unroot himself and move.

He then fell as Luna used her skill in grappling to make him lose balance, forcing him to use his own fall in the hopes of using it against her. But she had somehow prepared for this and slithered her way around his body until they were rolling on the ground. Finally… she ended up on top… she always… finds a way on top when she wants to…

The two panted for breath, and Van had to remind himself again that if he was going to fight Luna in hand-to-hand combat, he had to go all out… otherwise she would grapple him to the ground and there would be nothing he could do about it…

“I really shouldn’t have given her some of Ren’s jujitsu lessons… she’s become impossible to deal with now when it comes to grappling…” Van thought with some annoyance. Closing his eyes a little and letting his body relax as he let his head lean back as a sign of admitting defeat. Just for the sake of getting as much rest as possible while he can.

Luna then did the same, resting her head on his chest, panting lightly. The two stayed like that for some time trying to recuperate from their fifth spar this day.

“Alright, you two break it up,” Thea said, clapping her hand twice. With a groan, both Van and Luna slowly got up and stood side by side with each other. “Very good. Now I hope you two realize through these last few sessions what even a little amount of aura can do in a fight. You can take more damage while dealing far more as well. Once you two start using your full aura powers, you will find that fighting becomes a bit different than the spar you just had. Don’t be surprised to be blown away several feet, or moving faster than expected. As the month's pass, we will be forcing you two to use more and more of your full aura power, to get used to it and to properly control it.”

“But!” Thea said, looking at the two of them more seriously now. “Before we do that. Who can tell me the most important thing to grow your aura?” looking between the two of them.

Van and Luna shared a look before Van answered. “Isn’t it willpower?” he asked uncertainly, wondering if this was some sort of trick question.

Thea nodded. “Very good. So… to that end… we will be training your willpower…” slowly forming an evil smirk on her face.

Van and Luna did not like that look…

“For the next month…” Thea began. “You two will not be allowed to eat… at all…”

Van and Luna’s mouth’s dropped.

“You can’t be serious…” Van said.

“No…” Luna looking like someone had taken something precious from her.

“Oh, but I am… you see… as vampires, we can last for a long time without food or water. You all have trained this before, remember? This is just an extended version of that.” Thea said.

Van looked worried. “Well… I suppose it’s possible to last a month without food…” he said unsure.

“That's not all though…” Thea said, her voice sounding menacing. “You two are also not allowed to have sex anymore… with anyone…” Her face was a mix of evil glee and pity for her two precious babies.

“Huh…” Van said, feeling a bit weird about this one. He wasn’t addicted to sex… but… “huh…” he said once more, trying to figure out his feelings on this matter…

“NNNOOOOoooooo!” Luna said out loud, falling to her knees in a dramatic fashion. “You monster! You absolute monster! How could you do this to your precious baby!?”

Thea turned away, a single tear in her eye. “Trust me, it's for your own good to get stronger…” she sniffed. “And unfortunately it wasn’t my idea but your father’s… I'm so sorry!”

Luna slowly made her way to her mother. “Mom, please, say it isn’t so! Don’t do this to your precious baby girl!” her arms outstretched towards Thea.

“Oh, my baby…” Thea sniffed some more, moving closer to her precious baby girl. “I’m so sorry!”

The two embraced and started to cry in each other's arms.

“What the hells am I watching?” Van said to no one in particular, one eye slightly arched and a little weirded out by this play.

“Just let them be. They're just trying to come to terms with their emotions…” Alv said, suddenly behind Van.

“AH!” Van quickly turned his head to find his father. “Don’t do that!” he complained.

“Sorry,” Alv said, though he didn’t sound like it if his smirk had anything to say about it.

Van sighed exasperated. “Anyway… I can understand Luna going without sex, but why me?” he asked of his father.

“Van… even you have to admit… you’ve become addicted to sex… and training aura is training ones willpower… that means fighting against your desires. The longer you fight it, and the stronger the desire, the more you have to gain from said training. You should be lucky… some people go for years not eating their favorite food, not allowing themselves to sleep in soft comfy beds, to enjoy even the hint of music on their ears… you're getting off relatively light…” Alv said kindly, trying to project a voice of understanding Van’s plight, but remaining firm in his decision.

Van frowned, but he couldn’t really deny that lately, just the simple mediation of growing their aura was producing not as much results of late… “but aren't there other ways of doing this? Like setting up difficult goals and such?” he asked Alv.

Alv nodded. “Which you will be doing during this month of abstinence. We will be pushing you two harder than ever since you two will be leaving for your academy soon. Which means drilling into you as much as we possibly can. I hope you understand…” gently putting a hand on his son’s shoulder.

Van sighed and looked at the theater still playing in front of him. “Ya… I suppose you are right…”

“Good,” Alv said with a smile, giving Van’s shoulder a gentle squeeze before letting go. “Now that this morning's training session is over, why don’t we get you two some Lunch. We planned a big buffet for this occasion, so eat as much as you can.” he then grinned. “We even got you some remshola…” knowing the reaction that would get from his son.

Van’s eyes widened and his mouth began to water. “Well… I suppose we can’t keep those cooks waiting… let's head out to eat right now…” he said, already turning around to make his way to the dining room.

Alv chuckled, and followed his son, making sure to get his wife and daughter’s attention before leaving.

---

“Oh gods… I’ve never felt so full before…” Van groaned in pain before letting out a burp.

“mmMmmm…” Luna replied, unable to even form words anymore, her stomach looking a little pudgy as she leaned back on her seat, eyes half-lidded.

The two went at it like a person on death row who would never eat again. Which in a way, was pretty close to the truth. The two then stayed stuck to their seats for the next half hour, unable to move with how full they felt. And only when they were forced out of the dining room, did they waddle slowly away.

“Ugh… I hate this…” Van complained. “If it weren’t for the fact that this would be our last time without a meal for the whole month. I would never have eaten like I did today…”

“mmMmm…” Luna replied.

They slowly made it to their rooms, where they fell onto their beds to take a short nap. Taking the opportunity to rest and digest given to them by their parents, who had given them the rest of the day off.

About two hours later, Van got up from his nap and decided to take a look around and check up on his girls to see how they were doing. He knew Isa and Kella were probably in the training yard, working out the troops, so figured he would start there.

Making his way down and out of the castle, he watched from a distance the hodgepodge of many different races and troops, trying to work in concert with one another. Kobolds, goblins, harpies, troglodytes, and more, stabbing the air with their spears or cutting the wind with their swords.

It was definitely something to take some measure of pride in. the way his small army grew from a few goblins into an army of a few hundred with many different races. But it did have a small problem with cohesion and figuring out how to outfit them all, on top of them all having slightly different body structures that sometimes required more unique arms and armor.

Walking up to the group, he asked Kella and Isa how things were so far, and was giving an update that his army was doing decent and improving by leaps and bounds. Which was a good thing to hear.

He then left them to it and decided to check up on Agnès and Gwen, who were no doubt studying with Lore and Sheri.

Making his way there, he listened in through the door as Lore and Sheri explained new and interesting concepts of magic. Alecto was even there, and she was also helping out with teaching a few unique insights that helped give a broader and slightly different view on how things like magic work.

Once he was done with that, he went to check up on his soul realm, visiting Anna, and Ruby and asking them if there was anything they needed or lacked. He then visited Venus, Sela, Bell, and all the others they still kept in here. Checking up on them to see if they were okay.

All in all, everything seemed fine, and he heard from his parents that this month will be a bit laxer considering that they will not be at full power due to not being able to eat at all. Plenty of time to train his troops, study a lot of things for the upcoming school tests he might have to take, and practice his skills and make use of his knowledge in creation magic to help outfit himself and his girls.

As the day went by, he finally decided to turn in for the day, only given a few snacks for dinner, a few crackers being his last meal for the rest of the month. Entering his room, he fell onto his bed, more mentally exhausted than anything. He also made sure to tell all his girls that he will be unavailable during the rest of this month, which was a bit harder than he was expecting it to be…

He was a bit nervous about how going for a whole month without food will be like. But he was sure he would overcome it somehow… and with that, he prepared to close his eyes and go to sleep…

Or he would have… if someone wasn’t messing with the clasp to his pants…

---sex scene---

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