As both of them expected, Gabriel stood absolutely no chance against Pride. He easily thrashed her around, delivering injury after injury towards her. They were clearly on different levels.
"Damnit... WHAT AM I MISSING!!?" She yelled out, slamming her fists into the ground, shattering it. "Why can't I get strong like everybody else?" She calmed herself down and asked Pride. "We've been going at it for who knows how long and I haven't made any progress." She said.
"That's mostly because you sort of well... Aren't built for fighting." Pride said, causing Gabriel to cross her arms and glare at him. "That's never stopped me before... I have fought and won plenty of battles, but why am I suddenly not making progress?" She asked him.
"Girly, when was the last time you ever actually trained for well, anything in your life?" Pride asked her, standing up from the rock that he was sitting on, glaring at Gabriel. "When was the last time I trained? Well, I..." Actually, she couldn't even remember.
"I've... Never trained? How is that? I'm sure I've trained before..." She said, "I've most definitely trained my magic." She said to Pride, "OK. When was the last time you did that?" He asked her.
"Uh, that was... A while ago." She said, starting to realize what Pride was talking about. "That's the problem, Gabriel. You were quite literally BORN strong, smart, and you were born to be a healer. Your core functions aren't to train or fight... They're to heal, and kill the Apoptosis. Your essentially an automaton given sentience who is trying to go against your programming. David may not be talented or born for fighting, but you, quite literally, are not born for fighting. Your natural strength is failing you." Pride said.
"Oh... That's depressing, actually. So do I just get left behind...? Do I just stay like this forever...?" She asked Pride, "Basically. Not unless your willing to literally die and come back to life." Pride said.
"Basically, I need to push my limits." She said, "Yep. And the best way to do that is to fight until you break apart. Literally." Pride said, causing Gabriel to freeze up. "B-Break apart...?" She asked, "That's a little disturbing, Pride..."
"Did you expect a month of causal training to get you to where you want to be, girl? You'll be pushing your limits, breaking free of your ingrained functions, becoming a warrior. This isn't some sort of casual training camp." Pride said.
"Then I assume a single month of training isn't going to get me to where I want to be. It isn't like we have that much time before Belial does something drastic..." Gabriel said, "Then what, your gonna torture me or whatever? You've been beating me up for a few hours so I'm curious to see what you have in store-"
BOOM!
She was sent flying far faster than she could react by a kick straight to the stomach, causing her to puke up blood. She was sent through multiple rocks, trees, vines, thorns, and many other objects, the resulting shockwave creating an enormous explosion that echoed across the area.
"Torture? Yeah, that's pretty much what this is gonna be for you." Pride said, walking down the path of destruction he had created.
Gabriel, once again, writhed in pain. But this time, it was far worse. "Ah... I- I can't talk- My throat is clogged-" She thought to herself, throwing up dirt and blood. "I gotta get-" Pride reached her before she could stand once again.
"We're just getting started! Don't tell me you've decided to give up?" He delivered a punch to her neck, sending her flying once again. "It's impressive you didn't die instantly though, even if I am holding back."
Gabriel held her throat, "This guy is- I can't see..." She crashed into a boulder, falling face-first into a muddy puddle. Her hair was covering her eyes, so she swung her head to move it. She looked down at the muddy people.
"God, I look filthy..." Her face was beaten, her hair was muddied and covered in moss and dirt, her halo was cracked, and her teeth were cracked and chipped. "Is this actually training or is he just a ******...?" She thought.
"I feel like your calling me a ****** in your head, but no, I'm not doing this because I get kicks out of it." Pride appeared behind her, slamming his fist into her face, "Agh...!" She let out a choked scream.
"This is real training, kid. You get your shit kicked in some and you get stronger from it. This is just the beginning, so quit your whining!" Pride yelled out, throwing her into the ground.
"Please... S-Sto-" She couldn't even finish her sentence, her throat clogged by dirt and blood. "****, are you actually crying? I uh... Maybe we should just stop." Pride said, a little ashamed of himself for brutalizing somebody so much weaker than him to this point.
He was right, she was crying. In all of her thousands of years she'd never experienced such pain and suffering, "Is this what David and the others have to go through...?" She thought, trembling. "This is... horrible..." She fell to her knees.
"Look kid, I'm sorry. I went way to far with this... Let's just stop this." Pride suggested, clearly feeling bad for Gabriel and what he did to her. Gabriel got herself up once more only to fall back down to her knees, glaring at Pride.
"C-Con..." Gabriel could barely form sentences, "O...- ntinue... C-Continue..." She said after a few seconds of struggling to form sentences. She puked out more dirt and blood, gripping her stomach in pain and frustration.
"Kid, if we keep going like this, you're done for. Besides, you just asked me to stop, didn't you? Why are you NOW asking me to continue with this?" Pride asked her, genuinely confused.
Gabriel slowly shook her head, "I... W-want-" She slowly got up once more, walking over to a tree to prop herself up. "To get... S-Str-" She was cut off by her inadvertent puking up of the final chunks of dirt and blood that were stuck in her throat, but Pride knew what she meant.
"And your willing to do this for it? I can cause even painless beings like you unimaginable agony which is what your experiencing right now. A month of this... Will break you."
"THEN LET ME BE BROKEN!" Gabriel yelled out, clenching her fists. "Knowing that I'm gonna be left behind after a while... That I'll become useless... The thought is unbearable. I feel so much like David, and I feel bad for the guy..." Gabriel said, sniffling.
"Keep training me, I'm begging you. Don't hold back. I want to get stronger... Even stronger than this. So help me push past my limits, even if my body breaks into pieces I can rebuild it from my true-form in another dimension, so keep going, please..." Gabriel said, getting on her hands and knees.
"Pride, please... Just do this for me. Let me get stronger, so I can fix things. If I'm stronger, I can make Rory and David finally... Finally, just talk to each other... I can force them to reconcile. I can do so much more, so please..." She said, begging Pride.
"Gabriel..." Pride looked down on the worn and torn angel, on her hands and knees. He saw her tears mixing with the blood and mud on the floor, her hair covered in dirt and thorns, and the wounds she had been dealt by his violent assault.
"Ugh..." Pride was conflicted. There was no honor in this... There was nothing to triumph over, nothing to gain from defeating her. She wasn't confident at all, in fact, she was in complete desperation. There was nothing to be prideful about when defeating such a weak enemy. Even so...
"And your sure this is what you want? This is your last chance to back out before we can continue, Gabriel." He asked her, wanting to make sure that this was really what the girl wanted. She immediately nodded.
"Yes. This is absolutely what I want... So please, don't hold back on me. Make me stronger." Gabriel said, causing Pride to sigh. He didn't want to do this. He detested doing this, but, he couldn't question her resolve.
"Alright then, girl." He raised his fist, and began.
