Kasey's new life took off much quicker than expected. Wake up at six, get ready, eat by seven, then work on meditation and breathing till nine. Practice magic until twelve, eat lunch, then do combat training until five, having only short breaks between the course. Shobek watched each day, impressed with her increasing stamina and faster response times. Though she still had yet to beat Belasco, day by day, she was pushing through, getting closer each time.
Belasco panted as he again blocked and dodged Kasey's endless attacks, jumping over another leg sweep, "let's take a break!"
Kasey slowly stood back up, panting as she walked over to the outside table and picked up a towel to wipe off her sweat. "I think I almost had you there."
Belasco paused then chuckled, "not quite sweets!" Belasco took a long swig of his drink as Shobek stepped outside.
"No, she definitely had you there. You've gotten much weaker Belasco." Shobek walked over to the two with two cups of a fruit smoothie. "Here, drink some of this. I'm sure you guys are also a little hungry, should we have a barbeque tonight?"
Kasey happily agreed to the barbeque while Belasco insisted he wasn't struggling with their training. Shobek disagreed briefly before giving his attention back to Kasey, "what do you prefer, steak or ribs?"
Kasey paused, "both sound amazing..."
"Both it is then!" Shobek smiled as he patted her head. Kasey's eyes widened in surprise but didn't say anything as Shobek turned to walk back to the house. Kasey slowly touched the top of her head where he had briefly touched her.
"Should I start doin that too when I need to praise ya for ya hard work?" Belasco asked from behind her as he casually picked imaginary lint off his tank top.
Kasey's face went from blushing to anger real quick as she dropped to the ground and tried to back sweep him, Belasco jumping back just in time. Kasey again did a barrage of attacks, occasionally lighting her fists on fire to make her attacks more dangerous. Eventually, Belasco took his chance and gave a barrage of his own, which Kasey was able to predict from his patterns.
"Why don't you use a different fighting technique since I've already memorized it?" Kasey said between dodging his attacks.
"Because this is my weakest attack pattern and I don't know how much you can handle," Belasco replied as he finally relented his attack. "Believe it or not, this isn't my usual way of attack. I actually fight with swords and illusion magic."
"You're a swordmaster?" Kasey gave Belasco a look of surprise that slowly turned into a look of doubt. "Really...?"
"Why'd'ya say that with so much contempt?! That's rude!" Belasco frowned, acting wounded.
Kasey's frown deepened as she again threw a flaming fist at him, "I doubt that bothers you."
Belasco smiled as he deflected and threw his attack she barely managed to dodge, "Nope, in fact, I take pride in it! Many doubt my skills since I am simply the lazy lord of limbo but I can still put up a decent fight against some of the other lords! Plus I do extensive research on my enemy, so their weaknesses can easily be exploited!"
"He still can't win against half of them despite his arrogance," Shobek called out as he worked on the grill, setting things up.
"Can too!" Belasco whined back, looking at Shobek.
Trying to get him off guard since his head was turned, Kasey used a new technique she managed to teach herself without Belasco knowing. She put her hands aside each other, palms facing her target, and shot a fireball from her hands. Belasco barely swung out of the way as it singed part of his already short hair. Belasco exclaimed in surprise as he lost his balance and fell over. He stared up in shock at the girl in front of him who stared back, surprised that it got him to fall over.
After a moment of silence, Shobek snickered, "I think she bested you."
Belasco stood up embarrassed and scowled at Shobek before looking back at Kasey, "what the hell was that??"
"A fireball." Kasey casually said with a shrug. "You never said 'no projectiles...'"
Belasco's mouth opened and closed like a fish before he crossed his arms. "Maybe we should increase the difficulty of ya trainin now..."
Kasey internally groaned despite her casual shrugging in real life as she grabbed her smoothie and took a few sips.
"You're just mad she got the better of you," Shobek exclaimed from the grill. His hands were quick at work preparing the food.
Belasco sat down at the table, scowling as he drank his smoothie.
"Are fireballs against the rules?" Kasey slowly asked, stirring her smoothie with her straw.
Shobek responded "no" as Belasco replied with an angry "yes". Both men looked at each other, preparing for another argument as Kasey again groaned. Sure enough, a second later the men started arguing about why it was and wasn't against the rules.
"There are no rules in real combat."
"This is trainin!" Belasco argued.
"Training for REAL combat! Stop being a baby because she beat you!" Shobek shot back.
"But it's still only trainin! There's no need to KILL your trainin pardner!" whined Belasco.
Shobek rolled his eyes, "You wouldn't have died from that."
"I could have!!"
"No, you couldn't!"
Both parties started to stare each other down before they continued the debate. Each side getting more loud and obnoxious.
"Would you STOP FIGHTING like a MARRIED COUPLE??!!!" Kasey finally shouted, louder than both sides.
The two looked at her, before glaring at each other again.
"I would never marry some sicko like him!" Belasco said, pointing a finger at Shobek.
"And I would never marry some weak ass bitch like him!" Shobek responded as he went back to cooking.
"If I ever did marry ya I'd poison your dinner instead of druggin it," Belasco exclaimed, taking a large drink of his smoothie.
Shobek turned around and snarled, "If I was married to you, I'd eat it in a heartbeat!!"
Both sides fell silent as Kasey drank the rest of her smoothie and got up.
"Where ya goin?" Belasco asked grumpily.
"To shower. Why? Hoping for an invitation?" Kasey responded as she walked to the back door.
"NO." Shobek responded for Belasco.
Belasco paused before frowning, "How would you know? Maybe I'd love an invitation!!"
Kasey groaned as she slammed the door open and stepped inside, leaving the two men to their new argument as she headed upstairs in annoyance.