CHAPTER 267: 267

After perfecting her control over the shadow energy outside her body, Michelle started retracting her shadow essence from it.

But whenever she retracted just a tiny bit, her control would get worse.

So she had to stop and focus on perfecting the control again every time.

It took a long time, about five days, but Michelle was able to reach the point when even though none of her shadow essence remained within the foreign shadow essence, she was able to retain her control over it.

But it was extremely mentally taxing. She could barely make it change shape as she wished.

Seeing that, Alexander smiled lazily. "From now on, you have to keep that cloud around all the time while I give you new tasks."

Michelle moved her purple eyes towards Alexander. She was so mentally spent, she couldn’t even come up with an argument to retort. She hated that.

Alexander could guess that, but he didn’t mind. With a careless smile, he used a skill.

Michelle could feel Inner Shadow in her neck. It wrapped around her throat and constricted ever so slightly. Her breathing was still fine, but if Alexander had the Inner Shadow constrict a bit more, it would get harder for her to breathe.

She wouldn’t choke, but her airways would be forcibly narrowed down.

It wasn’t that hard to guess what Alexander was planning. He would give her tasks, and if she failed, or if she let the black cloud disperse, he would constrict her airways.

Alexander didn’t bother to explain himself. He knew that with Michelle’s intelligence, no matter how tired she was, she would understand his plans. And even if she didn’t understand, it wouldn’t change how the process would go.

"Now, create a new cloud like that!" he spoke, his voice leaving no room for arguments.

Michelle frowned a bit.

She was barely holding up one, so how could he ask her to create a second one?

But she didn’t even have the time to curse, because she started feeling the Inner Shadow slowly, very slowly, constraining against her airways. Alexander was giving her a time limit.

Michelle had yet to feel choked, but she already didn’t like the feeling. So she quickly sent her shadow essence out before pulling it back along with the foreign shadow essence around. She did it slower than before because she had to concentrate on keeping the cloud intact.

After finally forming the second cloud, Michelle turned her gaze to Alexander. Her eyes were narrowed, but her pupils were wide. Well, her right pupil was wide. The left one remained the same since the eye was made of glass. It was the Eye of Nihil.

It looked quite strange.

"What now?" she asked.

Seeing that the cloud was done, Alexander stayed the Inner Shadow. But he didn’t make it loosen its grip on Michelle’s throat.

Her breathing was already a bit obscured, forcing her to breathe slower. And since the Inner Shadow didn’t loosen, she was unhappy.

But it also let her partially guess what Alexander was planning.

He would probably have her do random things, and while she was doing them, he would slowly tighten the Inner Shadow. When she was done, he would stop.

And he would repeat it until she couldn’t really do anything. Or until she let the cloud disperse.

But she didn’t guess entirely correctly. "Now, stay conscious and keep the clouds as they are for as long as possible," Alexander had his usual smile on his face.

Michelle didn’t even have the time to frown at that smile when she felt the Inner Shadow constraining again.

It was even slower than before, making it feel even worse. And the worst part about it all was that Michelle felt like it would break her neck.

Rationally, she knew that wouldn’t happen, but it was still a disgusting feeling.

Alexander didn’t care about how Michelle felt. He just kept tightening the Inner Shadow.

Until Michelle fainted and fell down. At the same time, the two clouds she had formed dispersed into the surroundings.

Alexander retracted the Inner Shadow and walked over to Michelle. Except that her face was red, she seemed fine.

So Alexander didn’t do anything and just waited for her to wake up.

He didn’t have to wait for long.

Michelle quickly came back to her senses and sat up. She felt terrible.

Her neck hurt, and her head was throbbing. Even her mental strength had its limits. And her endurance wasn’t infinite.

But Alexander clearly didn’t care. To learn how to use the Liquid Shadow, Michelle had to push herself over the limit. And not just once. That was the only way to attain the skill.

And since Michelle asked to be taught it, he wouldn’t let her back out.

Or... "Just so you know, you will have to repeat this whole process until you are able to keep the two clouds around even when you are unconscious," Alexander spoke coldly.

Originally, he didn’t plan to say it, but maybe he gave it to her as a last way out. If she decided to stop after hearing that, he wouldn’t teach her anymore.

But if she decided she wanted to continue, she wouldn’t be able to wiggle her way out of it until he had taught her the three skills she wanted and she had mastered them to perfection.

Michelle stared at Alexander for a moment before nodding. Then, she proceeded to summon the first cloud.

Seeing that, Alexander summoned the Inner Shadow and constricted it around Michelle’s neck again.

While she summoned the first cloud, the Inner Shadow didn’t affect her, but once she started summoning the second one, Alexander had the Inner Shadow start constricting at a moderate speed.

Because Michelle was long at her limit, summoning the second cloud took her even longer than before. By the time she was done, she already had trouble breathing.

But then, Alexander slowed down the constricting. To a quarter of the speed. That was slower than the first time.

It was like he wanted Michelle to suffer longer.

Michelle pushed through it. She closed her eyes and concentrated on keeping the two clouds around.

At the same time, she forcibly kept herself awake, refusing to faint.

Her mental strength might have been spent, but the remnants of it were refusing to submit.

Maybe it was her stubbornness, or her pride that refused to faint in front of Alexander, but Michelle was able to stay awake for two hours. And after she fainted, the clouds didn’t disappear right away.

For a split of a second, they stayed around.

Seeing that, Alexander’s eyes gleamed as he once again retracted the Inner Shadow.

When Michelle woke up, the whole process repeated.

Being already completely spent, she barely lasted the two hours. But she did.

When she fainted, the clouds instantly disappeared.

The result was worse than before.

But for some reason, Alexander seemed satisfied with it.

So, the cycle repeated.

Sometimes, Michelle would stay awake longer, sometimes shorter. But Alexander could see that her mental strength was completely gone.

That meant he had to push her just a bit further to reach a major breakthrough.

After a few more times, Michelle collapsed. Even after waking up, she couldn’t force herself to get up. Her breathing was slow and heavy.

Seeing that, Alexander was finally satisfied. Summoning some shadow essence, he had it lift Michelle up, forcing her to her feet. "Stay awake!"

Michelle could barely keep her eyes open. She wanted to complain, but she didn’t have the strength to.

All she could muster up was a barely hearable, annoyed groan.

Alexander didn’t let her sleep. "Now, now... Let’s continue!"

All he got was a hateful glare. Michelle didn’t have the strength to summon a cloud.

But Alexander wouldn’t satisfy her.

Putting his hand on Michelle’s neck, he sent a wave of shadow essence into her body, rudely awakening her.

It was like a bucket of cold water, spiking Michelle’s senses.

With a frown, she sighed. "Fine then..." Though she hated it, she gave in to Alexander and summoned the two clouds again.

And once again, Alexander started constraining her neck with the Inner Shadow.

At first, it looked like Michelle wouldn’t last long. In just a few minutes, she ended up flopping down, lying flat on her face, but she still kept the two clouds around. But they started flickering.

Just when it seemed like she would lose her control over it, something in her broke. Just like when she overused her muscles and then gained perfect control over each single one of them, after overusing her mental strength to keep herself awake, something within her broke. Her head cleared up even though she was half-choked.

Alexander’s smile widened. The goal had been achieved.

Suddenly, he completely tightened the Inner Shadow, blocking off Michelle’s airways.

Her gaze blurred, but she still kept the clouds around.

But she didn’t last like that for long. A moment later, the sweet embrace of unconsciousness took her.