NOVEL SIMPLE [The Knight’s Multiverse] – A Knight’s Journey: A Cultivator’s journey in a Superhuman’s Modern World
Chapter 13 – Feeling the difference in power
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Damovotsk, Molkovia, Earth.
Demian's P.O.V.
A small smile crept up his face at her advice, his next words filled with warmth. “I've known you all my life, and only now do I start to realize how amazing you are.” Turning around to leave his room, he, unfortunately, missed the scene of the cute woman with burgundy shoulder-length hair blushing so hard that the color of her cheeks almost matched the color of her hair. “You charmer...” She let escape as a beautiful smile adorned her attractive face.
Unaware of her reaction, Demian moved toward the stairs linking the two stories, throwing a gaze at the living room where he spotted Brynhild through the opened bay windows. She was standing on the balcony, her forearms resting on the covered railings, with her upper body slightly bent and her gaze facing the bustling city of Damovotsk.
As the evening was inching closer, countless shouts and car noises could be heard all around, their owner probably on their way home after their work day. Looking from their penthouse on the 10th floor of one of the tallest buildings in this seaside eastern European city, Demian could see many people going to and fro with their own lives, plunging him into a thoughtful mood as his feet kept moving until he reached right beside his older cousin.
Mirroring her position with his forearms resting on the railing, he shared the thought that sent him in a pondering mood. “Feels unreal, doesn't it? As if they're living in a fake world. Actually, are they even real?” He finished with a small chuckle. Grunting in assent, she replied with an unfocused tone of voice. “In this case, is it them or us who're not real?”
Her answer/question made him speechless as he had no answer to give her. He instead decided to state his reason for coming to see her. “Bryn?” At the mention of her name, she turned her face devoid of emotions toward him. At least, that was what he would have assumed in the past.
However, with a quick inspection, he noticed the turmoil of emotions in her gaze, increasing the guilt he felt for his prior attitude toward her. 'You can only see what you're ready to see, uh?' He thought wryly. “I...” Taking a deep breath to steel his resolve, he gazed at her dazzling icy blue eyes and said. “I'm sorry for the way I acted with you all this while. For whatever reason, I didn't understand your point of view in the past, and I thought you resented me. That you didn't like me. I... I was wrong.”
Pausing for a second to check her reaction to his confession, he noticed the surprise showing slightly on her face along with some relief. Feeling emboldened, he resumed his speech. “I want to fix our relationship. Can you forgive me?” Feeling a bit embarrassed at his own words, his hands kept fidgeting while waiting for her answer.
Her reaction, however, was completely unexpected, as she started chuckling, a big smile adorning her face, while tears started flowing down her cheeks. His mind and body completely froze at the shocking scene, stopping Demian from avoiding the crushing hug that followed. Not that he would have done so if he could have anyway.
The soft sensation of her remarkable bust on his torso coupled with her arms tightly surrounding his upper body helped his brain unfreeze, prompting him to embrace her in return. Although her uncontrolled chuckles died down at his reaction, her tears flowed even harder, with her body shivering slightly, which brought a random thought to his mind. 'She's so tall and strong. But why does she feel so fragile?'
Minutes of quiet sobbing went by with none of the two people moving from their position, even as the former started to subside. After a while, the silence was broken with the whispered words of Brynhild. “I forgive you. And I'm also sorry. I shouldn't have treated you that harshly. I... I don't know how to do it right, though.”
Smiling warmly at her, Demian replied. “We'll find out as we go along, don't worry. To be honest, I'm not that good with relationships either, so I have as much to learn as you.” His words made her snicker softly, as she disentangled herself from their hug, her next words having a tint of playfulness. “Sounds good. Why don't we start by having a light sparring, then?”
Rolling his eyes in mock exasperation, he retorted. “You really want to beat me up, don't you?” Tilting her head in an uncharacteristically cute way, she replied. “Do I?” Chuckling at her antics, he noticed that her whole body seemed to have loosened up as if a huge burden was lifted from her mind. And it probably did, if Sera was right with her 'analysis'.
“Alright, let's go exercise a bit. But don't forget that I don't know how to fight. So be gentle, alright?... Why did it sound so wrong?...” His last words ended in a whisper, as the woman nodded firmly. “I'm not a World-Class fighter for nothing. I long ago mastered my own strength.”
“Fair enough.” He replied while the two started moving to the Gym, making a small detour to their respective bedrooms to change into appropriate clothes for sparring. Arriving in the room, they went to a part of the gym with a few mats on the floor, the whole thing arranged in a rectangular shape.
There was no 'Octagon' with those cool fences, but then again, it was only used for training, and as until now Bryn used to be the only one practicing the sport, she did not really need anything else. It was mostly there for her to slowly practice her techniques' precision when she was not able to go to her normal Gym.
As the two people's feet touched the mats, Demian's gaze was attracted by his cousin's sudden movement. In an obviously practiced manner, she took off her usual long-sleeve shirt, and tracksuit pants, leaving herself with only a pair of shorts and a sports bra, leaving most of her body visible to him.
Despite her explosive curves and overdeveloped muscles, what caught his attention the most was the burns covering almost her entire body. It was not because he found them unsightly, quite the contrary. It felt akin to old scars coming from some sort of epic battles against fire-breathing mythical beasts. In fact, it was because of those burns that she was called the Fire Valkyrie in the fighting scene.
However, their real origin was still a mystery for the public at large, with only the family of four knowing where they were from. Or more like the culprit, even if it was 'accidental'. The so-called 'Protector' of the West side. Lurpo International's dog.
As his mind started going into a dark place, he shook his head to dispel those thoughts, reminding himself again. 'One thing at a time. I'm still too weak for now...' Fortunately, Bryn did not notice his change of mood as it only lasted a brief second before it disappeared. What she did notice however was how he still had his shirt on, prompting her to lightly cock her eyebrow.
“Your shirt?” Her words woke him up from his daydream, prompting him to strip his shirt off while fumbling an apology. Once ready, she gave him some gear to wear. Two fingerless gloves, two shin guards, and a headgear. Feeling surprised, he asked. “Isn't that too much protective gear?”
Smiling slightly at his words, she replied. “Wait until the end and you'll change your opinion. Now, go right there.” Following her instructions, he set his body into the starting position, noticing her grabbing a pair of training mitts before she put herself in position. A brief look at his body later, she started her lesson.
“Remember the simple punches and kicks I made you practice two weeks ago?” He nodded, prompting her to resume. “Good. Actually, they're part of one of the two categories of techniques we have in MMA. They're striking techniques and they're the ones we'll practice today. The second category is composed of grappling techniques, but we'll do that tomorrow instead. It's already late and there's already plenty to learn with the striking techniques.”
“You're the professional.” He replied in assent, a small lift of her lips' corners betrayed her good mood at his words. “That I am.” Pausing for a brief moment, she continued. “So, striking techniques. They can be divided into four main parts, which are punches, elbow strikes, kicks, and knee strikes.”
“And those are the ones I'll teach you tonight. Of course, don't expect to master everything right away. It takes time to make those techniques your own. Especially in combat situations, whether planned or unplanned. You'll also need to master the strength behind every hit you deliver. After all, you don't want to kill someone accidentally, while your goal was simply to knock the opponent out.”
“Let's start with punches...” As her words resounded in the room, the first of many utterly exhausting and painful training sessions started, as Demian finally learned why Bryn gave him the protective gear from earlier. To avoid having broken bones. At least as far as he knew, because even with it, he felt like his entire body was falling apart at the end of almost two hours of training.
Every time he failed to follow her instructions, whether it be posture, timing, or precision, he got hit by either a 'light' kick or a 'slap', the latter since her mitts restrained her from making a fist. Thankfully! Now as to why he thought they were 'light', despite feeling like he got hit by multiple trucks head-on?
Her casual look and posture. She was not even sweating after two hours of intense practice! He simply could not wrap his head around it! And that was when he started to understand the difference between their individual strengths. However, instead of feeling depressed, he felt his excitement rise. Granted, it was excitement tainted with the pain coursing through his whole body. But it was excitement nonetheless. After all, it was only a matter of time before he reached her height and went beyond, even if he would need to shed a corresponding amount of blood and tears to reach that point.
'Those supes who can destroy buildings with a punch are within my reach... Fuck! It hurts!' He thought in glee for a second before reality slapped him in the face. Or in his case, it was a slap to the top of his head by his older cousin. “Focus! You need to use your whole body when you punch, otherwise, it'll be too light and your opponent will just shrug the hit off!” She said with a severe voice, helping him put his mind back into their practice.
After five more minutes, Demian was gasping for breath so hard that he could not even maintain a basic defensive posture, his arms akin to unusable lead weights, his legs shaking so hard that it took his whole focus to not fall down and his whole body covered in sweat, with some of it even going in his eyes, hindering his vision. Of course, his exhaustion was already doing a good job of it, even without it, as the young man was starting to see two muscular women in front of him instead of one.
Thankfully, the fiery-haired woman seemed to notice his current state, prompting her to stop the training. “We'll stop here today since you can't go on anymore. We'll practice every day to help you reach a decent level.” Pausing for a few moments, puzzling Demian as to the reason, she added with some awkwardness. “You've... done good. For a first-timer, of course. You still need to train hard.”
Turning away in a slightly stiff manner, she took off her mitts, grabbed her clothes, and left the Gym after leaving some words. “I'll cook something. Go take a shower.” Those words made a warm smile appear on his face, helping him fend off a bit of his weariness.
“I wish she could have helped me with taking my gear off though... It's gonna take me forever to do it myself with how tired I am... Whatever I guess...” He muttered before chuckling wryly and going on to attempt the difficult feat of removing his practice gear with his shaky hands.
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