Rio's Hellish Training(1)

"Fuck, you are going too hard on me!" a shout echoed throughout the basement of the mansion. A figure shot through the air and crashed on the ground.

"If I am soft on you, you won't get to learn anything." Rio smiled.

Lex wiped his face while lying on the ground. Sweat drenched his entire body and dripped down his forehead.

"How are you so good at bare-hand combat?" Lex asked.

"I trained myself over and over to get stronger. I didn't have any sparring partners so I got help from technology. Fortunately, you have me to fight against." 

"We have been doing this for a week and I still haven't landed a blow on you. Your challenge is hard." Lex sighed.

"It's simple. You just have to knock me down once and we can resume our other wrestling hehe." Rio smiled.

Lex shook his head and got up from the floor. Rio stood a couple of feet away from him. Today, she wore a gray pleated skirt reaching down to her thighs. She still wore black stockings along with a normal black t-shirt.

A week ago, Rio began bare-hand fighting with Lex. They brawled without using their abilities or any weapons.

Rio gave Lex a simple challenge. Until he knocked Rio off her feet, they would not have any 'fun' time.

Lex accepted the challenge without giving it much. However, after being beaten for a week, he was regretting his decision.

[ You do realize that you and her never got to converse regarding the yin and yang energy? You need to do the deed to power up using that method. ]

'I am trying to beat her. She is much more experienced than me.'

[ Lex, this is not about being experienced. Over the week, I analyzed your performance. Your attacks are quite basic and your combos are predictable. It would be best if you got better at fighting to beat her. ]

'No shit, sherlock.'

[ Here is a tip. While defending her attacks, try grabbing onto her incoming blow. That will surprise her and allow you to land a blow on her. I don't think you will be able to knock her off her feet though. ]

'That's an old trick in the book. I think she will be able to see through that.'

[ You can always land a lewd blow. ]

'I am not that kind of protagonist…'

[ Just fight. ]

Lex headed towards Rio with his arms raised. He learned many things about her attack style just after one week of sparring.

Even without using her ability, Rio knew how to deal powerful blows. She held back her strength to make sure that Lex didn't get severely injured.

"One more round," Lex demanded.

"I have got the entire day for this."

Lex immediately punched with his right hand. Moving to the right, Rio dodged and aimed a kick at his lower right leg.

Lex jumped in the air, putting one of his hands on top of Rio's head. He landed behind her and jumped back in time to avoid a roundhouse kick.

"You are good at dodging now." Rio complimented. "All you need to do is up your speed and precision."

"My agility will increase with time. I just need to land a blow." 

This time, Lex raised his hands in a fighting stance, gesturing for Rio to attack him. The latter didn't waste any time and charged forward.

Rio launched a kick at Lex's abdomen, aiming to throw him away. Lex realized her intentions and stood rooted on his spot.

'She can predict this but it's worth a shot. No pain no gain.' Lex braced for impact.

As soon as Rio's kick came within his range, he grabbed her leg with his hand. With his other, Lex aimed for Rio's abdomen.

'Finally, I managed to land a blow!' 

Unfortunately, he celebrated too early.

"That would have surprised me if I was a newbie." Rio chuckled. She immediately kneed Lex's stomach with her left leg, freeing herself from his grip.

'If this is her holding back, how much power does she actually have…'

Lex placed a hand on the area where he received the impact. With gritted teeth, he straightened his back.

"Continue?" Rio asked.

"Of course!"

"Bring it on!"

***

Three more days passed in this manner before Lex finally managed to hit Rio for the first time.

"Huh, what kind of attack is this?" Rio asked in a confused tone.

Lex continuously attacked random parts of her body. Her shoulders, arms, legs, hands, shin, abdomen, etc were targeted in a random manner.

Lex kept on throwing one jab after the other, confusing Rio. To her, it looked as though Lex gave up strategy.

'She finally lowered her guard.' Lex thought with an internal smile.

He lowered his back, pretending to duck. Rio noticed this and she instinctively jumped in the air. 

Lex immediately sprang up and punched her abdomen. Despite being in the air, Rio used her hand to grab Lex's punch.

"Perfect." 

Opening his fist, Lex interlocked his fingers with Rio and pulled her down. In the blink of an eye, his hand was in front of her face, centimeters away from touching her skin.

"You can him. I am not weak." Rio pointed out as Lex let her go.

"Hitting you doesn't feel right to me. However, you can keep on hitting me."

"I didn't know you were a masochist."

"It builds up my pain tolerance. I am not a M." Lex gave a blank-eyed stare.

The duo sparred for fifteen more minutes. Lex got close to landing two more blows but stopped right before hitting Rio.

"You are getting the hang of fighting. Now, let's take it up a notch. We will use our abilities to fight now but we can only use them alongside our arms and legs. You have to use attacks that make use of your limbs." Rio announced.

Lightning traveled down her right arm, glowering with power. Seeing the lightning, Lex sighed.

"That lightning is going to hurt, isn't it?"

"Yup, for sure."

"Then I guess I will also strike you. I can knock you off your feet without directly attacking you."

"Go all out. I will be ready to counter all your attacks."

"Oh? Let's wait and see."

And with that, Lex started another round of his hellish training with Rio.