"Did you enjoy the show, Jayce?"
Bella had noticed Jayce's presence as soon as he entered the dojo. When she saw that he was watching them, she decided to give him a show.
With there no point in hiding, Jayce stood up and entered the room.
"I was just curious about how strong you two were."
Jayce was curious about how much a difference would be between someone he could see the stats of and someone he couldn't.
The results speak for themselves as Yuko was being toyed with the entire fight, but that doesn't mean at all that she was weak.
If Jayce and Yuko would go all out, Jayce was sure he would lose that fight.
"Jay, wouldn't you be a dear and wake Yuko up," Bella said with a teasing tone as she picked up both shinais to put them away in the back room.
Jayce slightly froze as his new nickname came out of his instructor's mouth. He pretended not to be affected by the teasing and walked over to the unconscious Yuko.
Bending down, Jayce grabbed one of her arms, giving her a tiny shake as Yuko slowly opened her eyes slightly.
"Jay is that you?" Yuko asked in a sleepy tone.
"It is, now wake up, we still have the training to do."
As Jayce was going to stand up, Yuko wrapped her arms around him and pulled him down on top of her.
Being taken off guard, Jayce couldn't stop himself as his face landed on her chest.
"Jay is so cute when he gets demanding," Yuko muttered as she fell back asleep.
Jayce tried to pull himself out of her big melons but would only make Yuko grip harder, pushing him deeper into the valley of death.
'I can't breathe.'
After some failed attempts, Jayce was finally able to slither out of her hold. He put distance between the two of them in case she went for another grab.
"I didn't know you two were such love birds."
Jayce turned behind him to see Bella coming out of the back room with boxing gloves.
"We aren't."
"Whatever you say, Jay."
Bella tossed him a pair of boxing gloves as she sauntered over to Yuko. Grabbing one of her feet, she dragged Yuko into the corner of the room.
"Now that she's out of the way, why don't I teach you how to fight."
Eagerly, Jayce put on the gloves that Bella tossed him.
Immediately after Jayce donned them, Bella charged at him, throwing a punch in his face.
"First lesson, never drop your guard."
Instinctively, Jayce lifted his arms to block the incoming strike only to feel a foot land in the middle of his stomach.
[-18 HP]
Dropping his arms due to the pain, another foot hit the right side of his face, hurling him across the dojo.
[-27 HP]
"Second lesson, never lose sight of the enemy."
Landing on the other side of the dojo, Jayce tried to stand up.
Sensing another attack, Jayce rolled to the side, barely dodging Bella's ax kick that penetrated the hardwood.
"Third lesson, when you get knocked down, always get back up."
Pushing himself off the floor, Jayce got into a fighting position that he had seen MMA fighters get into.
Jayce had no intention to stay on the defensive, rushing at Bella, he started throwing punches as fast as he could.
'I'm not your punching bag!'
Bella easily sidestepped all of the attacks Jayce was sending out.
"Don't just throw out punches, each attack should have a purpose."
Catching one of Jayce's attacks, she gripped his arm and chucked him over her shoulder. Jayce hit the ground hard, knocking all the air out of him.
[-20 HP]
Using whatever energy he had left, he slowly picked himself up again. Steadily, he got back into position as Bella rushed Jayce again.
She began to hurl punches just like how Jayce did to her. With his reaction speed, he was able to keep up and block but to him, it was not enough.
[-1 HP]
[-1 HP]
[-1 HP]
'Even when I block, I'm still taking damage. I can't keep doing this.'
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't think of a way to fight back.
"Jayce use that head of yours, don't just rely on instincts to pull you through every fight."
Hearing the words of encouragement, something clicked in his mind. He began to pay attention to every motion Bella made.
It felt like time slowed down for Jayce as he observed all of her movements.
The way she shifts her weight from one leg to another, or when she rotates her body to put force behind her attacks.
Jayce was able to perceive her attacks not by instinct, but by reading her body language.
Slowly he started to deflect her attacks instead of blocking, the longer the fight went on the faster he adapted to her fighting style.
[Your understanding of combat has increased]
[New skill has been unlocked]
[Combat Clairvoyance (Passive)]
{You can foresee your opponent's next attack, with the condition of having the opponent within your line of sight. This does not work for traps and attacks not within your field of vision.}
They were now at a standstill, Jayce would deflect or dodge any attacks that Bella tossed his way, but Bella would do the same.
Yuko was watching Jayce and Bella trade blows back and forth, neither of them backing down.
She was amazed at how Jayce was able to keep up with Bella, but she could see that Jayce was slipping.
'Even if I can see her attacks I can't keep up with her speed. She keeps getting faster and faster with every hit.'
Jayce was getting more and more exhausted as the fight kept going. Eventually, he couldn't keep up with her speed as a kick came flying at his face.
But right before it connected with his face it stopped.
He looked to see Bella pull back her kick and clap her hands with an approved look.
"I didn't expect you to learn it that fast. To be able to predict an enemy's attack and react to it takes time and experience. But you were able to do it with just one battle."
"You wanted to teach me how to not get hit?"
"Yep, the first thing you must always learn is how to survive. You can't become stronger if you're dead."
Finally able to relax, Jayce lay on the hard ground as he took a quick look at his stats.
[Stats]
[HP: 125/210]
[Mana: 0/0]
[Stamina: 58/220]
Closing his eyes, Jayce thought that he could take a quick break. A shadow loomed over his face, opening his eyes he saw Bella with a murderous smile.
"Who said you could take a rest, remember you still have your workout regimen."
Knowing there was no use in running, he followed Bella to his hellish workout.
Yuko tried to pretend that she was still asleep but Bella knew that she had woken up during the fight.
She grabbed Yuko by the shirt and dragged her as Yuko tried her best to get out of Bella's grip only for it to be in vain.
After school, Jayce and Yuko could be seen limping back to their dorms with lifeless looks on their faces.