XIV: Cradle of the Greatest Princess of Erudition

Kzel froze like a statue accompanied by a shock expression.

The woman was smiling in her situation. She is young and yet carried such ferocity. The Rzir could not bring down his weapon. He felt like if he did, he'd end limitless possibilities.

"What's the matter? Did you chicken out?" The woman protested as she watched Kzel retreating figure, putting some distance between them.

Without warning, the woman rolled on the ground and with a sitting position, kicked Kzel's shin, almost tripping him. After quickly regaining his balance, Kzel took a few steps away from her.

The woman slowly got up and faced Kzel with a grin on her face, "Let me tell you my name. I'm Naevnir Stormbringer and no one's ever beaten me before. Since it's clear that you're better than me with swords, let's fight barehanded."

Kzel sheathed his sword and refused, "I'm not interested."

Naevnir suddenly dove to the ground and attempted to tackle Kzel's legs. Caught in surprise, Kzel leaped in the air. Before the gravity could pull him back down, he saw Naevanir push the ground with both hands to propel her towards him. The next thing he saw is the undersurface of her boot.

Bam!

Kzel crashed on the ground with a bruise on his face. He immediately pushed himself back up as she performed an axe kick that viciously hit the ground where his head was once located.

A chuckle escaped from Kzel as he raised both hands, "You're on!"

Naevnir approached him once more, but before she could dove down to the ground, Kzel launched a snapping leg kick that stunned her. Then with expertly trained footwork, Kzel immediately appeared infront of her and unleashed a quick combo of straights and hooks.

With her bestial instincts and flexible body, Naevnir was able to dodge most by tilting her body in awkward angles but ultimately got caught by a body hook followed by a straight punch to the face that rocked her.

After wiping the blood on her lips, Naevnir smiled and excitedly asked, "What did you just do?"

"Huh?" Kzel raised a brow, "It's called boxing. Well, if you add the leg kick, it's called kickboxing."

"Teach me!" Naevnir charged and threw two straight punches which was dodged by Kzel with an elusive head movement. She then followed it with a hook to the body. Kzel forcibly took the punch and preferred to defend his chins.

'This woman!' Kzel exclaimed inwardly, 'She already learned by seeing it for only a few times. She lacked form but the punches were delivered perfectly.'

Naevnir went to the offensive again. She performed another combo and surprised Kzel when she dropped to the ground and attempted to sweep his legs.

Kzel flinched when his shin took the blunt attack. She wasn't able to bring him to the ground but her heel slammed against his flesh, his bone felt the impact.

She rotated on the ground and her legs whirled like a whirlwind, Kzel ate a dozen of her foot before he could hop away.

'She's defying gravity!'

Naevnir easily stood up without the help of her hands. She sprinted towards Kzel and jumped in the air and whirled. Kzel realized that she performed an inverted whirlwind attack like the one she did earlier. He put her back down on the ground with a timed kick.

Kzel realized that the fight won't stop until one of them is not able to move anymore, and she obviously will not stop even if he reasoned with her. Of course, he does not want to back down. She is igniting something inside him. However, his stomach growled....

Kzel escaped.

"Huh?!" Disbelief was painted all over Naevnir's face as she watched the pale man took off into the distance. She sprinted to the opposite direction to retrieve her swords before giving chase.

"Fight me!"

----

After an hour of running, Kzel finally stopped and was sure that he lost her. He is hungry and his vision is starting to blur. When he looked up, there were green fruits hanging. The system confirmed that the fruits on the trees were edible. He climbed up and started eating.

When he is satiated, he climbed down only to be kicked to the ground. Kzel groaned as forced himself up. He looked around for the culprit only to see Naevnir staring at him with a smile.

"You think I'll let you go after giving me a good time?!" Naevnir said and casually approached him.

"Can we stop fighting?" Kzel backed away, "I'll teach you kickboxing."

Naevnir stopped on her track and pondered. After a few seconds, she smiled and snorted, "You will teach me and become my underling."

Kzel's brows rose, "If I'm teaching you, then you should call master."

"No way," Naevnir frowned. She then realized something. The man before her is the first to defeat her and give her a hard time. A man like this only comes once.

"If you won't become my underling..." Naevnir murmured, "Yes. I decided. You will become my husband."

"What?" Kzel frowned, his brain was still processing what's going on inside the woman's brain, "You're a woman and shouldn't say stuff like that."

Naevnir suddenly grabbed him by the collar with an angry look, "I'm a woman and have every right to choose my mate! Are you saying that you're stripping me from my rights?"

>>Warning!

Eerie is society based from the dominance of females. As a result, Female Eerians have absolute right in choosing their partner. <<

'Crap!' Kzel inwardly cursed, while assessing hi situation. He had been in many places before as an agent of Syndicate Rygorant. As such, he had to adapt to the new cultures. One thing he learned is not to insult the customs of others. All he had done was respect their beliefs. Culture is the beauty of diversity. He respected it.

Naevnir released Kzel and turned around to pick something.

>>Warning!

Once a female Eerie chose a partner, they are mated for life. There's no need for any special ceremonies. Only celebrations offered to their goddess of Love.<<

'You're always telling me the crucial informations at the wrong time!'

"Husband." Naevnir went near him with a worried expression, as if she's already depending on him, "It's getting dark. We need to find shelter for the night."

'She's already calling me husband.' Kzel massaged his temples. This adventure had sent him to some unexpected encounters. Somehow, it managed to make him feel some emotional response.