The Goddess' Champion

The pair departed the city through the main gate, Constantine still felt a little frisky after having merely four beers, and perhaps that's what upset him the most.

"Once we're outside we might be attacked by them." Zamira started once they crossed the big gate to the wilderness, leaving the town, it was roughly midday and they didn't plan to go back for some time.

"The scarred cult huh? I saw some geezers jumping across buildings in black cloaks before... why don't they attack in the city?" He was still questioning himself regarding this topic,

"It might not be the scarred cult of all groups, many cults dress gloomily like that... their faces can hardly be seen though, the town of loup is one of the few where they can't act rampantly... the city lord keeps them at a bay, anywhere else, they're a nightmare... I scarred my own face back then, for precaution and to help myself too." Zamira scratched her head as they made their way through the trees shoulder to shoulder.

"How strong is he?" He was interested to know who the top dogs of that city were, Inkseth seems to be one or at least that's what he thought.

'I need to form some connection with that geezer, thankfully I already lay down a foundation for that, I need to become stronger before he decides to go on an expedition to that cave of sandork.' Many plans floated in his head, many of which needed further preparation.

"I don't know but he's strong enough to keep the cult on the line, moreover... he's not a magus, the only thing known about him is that he's a hybrid between a werebeast and a human..."

"How can he keep up with them without magic?" The scarred cult can supposedly use some sort of profane magic,

"Nobody knows, he hasn't made an appearance for a long time yet the cults know better than to mess with him."

...

They walked through the outskirts of the Lindom Forest and came upon a small clearing, Constantine regarded it, the place was fit enough for a small duel, he only desired an open space where he could accurately gauge Zamira's performance.

"Anyway... we can train calmly here." Casting aside the topic of the altruistic city lord, they had more important matters at hand.

Noticing Constantine's smirk and his solemnity, Zamira knew that the stage was on.

Birds chirped all around, soon to scatter under some undetected pressure, the world was turning slightly denser.

"What are you going to teach me first, master!?" Without waiting much longer, Zamira took out her new sword, Kurohana... she had been wanting to test it for a while and there was no better opponent than the man before her for that.

"I won't teach you anything at once, this time it will be assessment, I want to see how good you are first, don't expect me to be kind." He didn't take out his weapon and instead glared at her sword.

"Yes!"

"Put that thing away, the first assessment will be with our fists~" Crashing his fist together, he prepared for her rampage.

"Eh? Why?" Zamira asked with a pout and dejection, there goes her test of the sword.

*WHOOSH!*

!!

His feet moved as nimble as a leaf as he threw a jab!

Zamira managed to evade in time, groaning and making some distance, but it wasn't enough for the upcoming left swing!

*BAANGG!!*

She felt a devastating force impact her guard fiercely, sending her away!

With three steps Zamira regained herself and glared at her master, gritting her teeth and rubbing her forearm.

'How can he knock me back this much?!' She couldn't believe it, his movement concealed no profound secrets, his frame rather fragile, where was this strength coming from?

"I don't know what you're doing master, but you're cheating!"

"Cheating? preposterous... why don't you come here and prove I am cheating?~"

"..." Zamira glared at his smirk, curious about his stance, it was like nothing she had seen before.

"HAAA!" She lunged at him and threw a punch.

*BAANG!!*

The next thing she knew was that she was planted on the ground with a pain in her back, looking at his face in disbelief.

"For the love of the goddess, don't scream like that every time you attack, please..." He rubbed his forehead he had grown some pain all of the sudden.

"O-Okay..." It made her uncomfortable, but if he said so, she'd try.

He pulled her back up before pushing her away to make some distance and went into the offensive.

His fists calculated, Zamira had enough sense to see them come, evade and block, a basic fighter but one with the strength to spare.

'She has certainly worked out.' he thought, continuing his onslaught.

At some point she kicked back, trying to get out of this deadlock and he allowed the impact.

*BAANG!*

!!!

'Her physical strength is ridiculous too, and she's not even using her body properly...'

Right now he felt as if he just impacted a bull, thankfully he retreated just in time to lessen the force of the kick and jumped back to recover his poise, an opportunity that a smirking Zamira took confidently.

Alas...

The next time she punched forward, he took her hand, swiftly placed himself beneath her body and pushed up.

*BAANGG!*

Zamira rolled through the grass.

'How is he doing it?!'

"I see that those beautiful muscles of you aren't for show."

"..." Aside from blushing in shame, she could say nothing else.

"Your physical strength is top-notch, you know how to evade, block... but you're not organised, you focus too much on my fists, look into my eyes more often."

"I can't..."

"Why?"

"If I look into your eyes... I get distracted." She fidgeted and he had to roll his eyes yet she was able to see a faint red tonality in his cheeks.

"Stop your nonsense... I hope you know why I am not fighting you with the sword. What's the point of going for the sword, if your battle sense is not right? you still have plenty of fundamentals to learn, your skills resemble a vagrant that has just learned how to survive in the streets, not a knight!" He scolded like a proper master, or at least, how his master had taught him.

Contrary to the outrage he felt back then, however... Zamira was rather honest and obedient.

"Got it, master! though... that's not really wrong." The girl played with her hair, not bothering to dust herself off, feeling thrilled about the exchange they had just now.

With that mere exchange, she could sense his wisdom, far wiser and stronger than any human opponent she had faced so far, knowing that someone like this was going to teach her, she felt confident.

"Now, I want you to come at me with everything you've got! forget about fists, swords... come at me like you want to kill me!" Constantine prepared himself... at moments like this he desired to have more information about Zamira, the first step was to see the extent of her emotions, and how far they would take her.

"Hmn!" Zamira nodded and lounged at him with her fists prepared.

Round two was on.

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