It was the next day and I visited Astoria.
"Your training is complete."
"Huh?"
I looked at her.
Astoria replied with a straight face.
"If what you told me is true, which it is since it was in a future I saw, then you have both Advanced Depth Perception and Calm Mind."
"But, isn't there anything more?"
I asked.
"No. That was all I needed to teach you. What you need to do is find out how to adapt this to battles, even, daily life normally. The best goal for you would be to make both your body and mind stronger so that it can handle the full burst of Calm Mind and Advanced Depth Perception."
That was surprisingly easy. But Astoria did say something about the rate at which I can learn something. Forgot though.
"Your next teacher will be..."
"Me!"
When I turned, a boy, slightly older than me, kicked the doors open.
It was a blonde boy. He was slightly handsome.
If I remember his name, it was...
"Aether, right?"
He looked at me.
"Surprised you remembered since you looked like you were in disarray."
The Yellow Emperor beamed.
"What will you be teaching me?"
"I'll be teaching you about fast and agile movements. Seeing how Astoria was talking about you, you'll probably finish my training in a day too."
Aether winked.
"Don't worry, it's less complicated compared to Astoria's."
"I hope so..."
"We'll start now, of course."
Of course.
---
We went onto a large field that Olympus surprisingly had. It was next to a large leisure, expensive-looking, park called the Garden of Eden.
When we were walking to the grass field, I noticed that there are lots of maids and butlers. They bow when I pass by too.
"Okay, so, this is simple. If you can dodge my attacks, more than by an inch, and counterattack successfully, then I'll let you pass."
I want to say that it'll be easy but he's an Emperor and the last training I had seemed easy but had a serious consequence.
I'd better take this seriously.
Aether's smile stopped and he looked a little confused when I simply put my hands in front of me.
"Hold up, let me ask two things."
"Ask away."
"Firstly, why are you not using Erebus?"
Hm? Erebus?
"Erebus? Is that something I'm supposed to know?"
Is he saying that I can use spells? I don't think I have a spell called Erebus.
"Okay, that makes sense. You can't use it but Altair can."
"Huh?"
"Secondly, do you really not have a fighting stance?"
"Uh, no..."
"And you've been fighting people like that."
"Yeah?"
Aether sighed and walked toward me.
He looked at me for a second and then adjusted my pose.
It was like a boxing pose but my palms were open and they spread slightly further apart. It slightly reminded me of Hikari's stance.
"Why this stance?"
"I'm not the one who should be teaching you about stances and martial arts but it's a start."
Aether moved away from me.
"That stance seems fitting for what you're currently trying to do which is dodge and produce a counterattack which can scratch me, at the very least. You can use spells, by the way."
When he says 'scratch me,' it's like he's saying that being able to produce a scratch on his body will be the height of my current ability.
Okay, so dodge and counterattack.
I'd love to say 'easy enough,' but I'm facing an Emperor. Well, I'm also an Emperor but this guy is like 10,000 times older than me.
"You ready?"
He asked without getting into a stance.
"You're not going to get into a stance."
"Don't need it."
A taunt.
Even if its purpose is to get me angry or not, I'm still angry...
I used Shadow Gauntlets and I cloaked my body in mana.
"Here I come."
With a warning, Aether dashed over to me.
He came at a fast pace but not something that I couldn't react to. I wanted to block instinctively but I remembered the goal of the training.
And so, I waited for his fist to move either left or right. However...
"Too slow."
He threw a right hook and my left cheek, causing me to fall over.
The left side of my face felt like it was being dragged down by weights.
"Try to react faster than that."
Aether said, retracting his fist.
"Again."
That's tactless, isn't it?
Saying react faster isn't a tip.
I got up and prepared myself once more.
He distracted me by making me think that his running speed was the same speed at which he could throw his fist. However, it's faster than that. I couldn't even react to that attack.
Again. I'll pay attention this time.
"I'm coming."
Aether did the same.
He came at me and then I dodged backwards when he got within punching range. This time, he was able to hit me with a left hook. It caused me to tumble onto the ground.
"Since I used my right hand the first time, you thought that I was right-handed. But, just to be safe, you dodged backwards. It was a good choice but a dumb one against an opponent like me. Again."
He returned to his place and I got up.
We did the same again. And again. And again. And again. We did it 5 more times to the point where my right eye was swollen and I couldn't see anything out of it.
What do I do?
I have no idea. My face has been beaten to the point where I can't even feel the pain of it bleeding from bruises and swelling. Aether's punches are no joke.
They feel even harder than Ai-nee's punches to the solar plexus.
I can't think of anything to improvise on. It's gotten to the point where I want to start blocking but that's not the point of training. Besides, if I did block, my arm would come off, if not my head too.
"I'm coming."
I did the same again and got uppercut this time.
I could barely feel pain in my chin.
What do I do if I want to dodge Aether's attacks?
Not even Calm Mind is helping me right now.
The distance between us is 97 metres.
Aether is closing that distance within 3-4 seconds. Then his fist comes even faster than that, making it even harder to react to.
"Again."
"Yeah, again..."
I said, speech slurred.
I can't think of anything to throw at Aether. So, what do I do?!