"Just a heads-up, but don't focus only on my face; I can't be looking bruised and battered on my birthday." Said Elif seriously as he looked at Echo, who eagerly nodded, slightly worrying him, though nonetheless, he still continued with the spar.
Looking at Echo, who seemed ready to lunge toward me instantly, I glanced at Illumia and nodded my head, causing her to raise her hand for a few seconds before suddenly dropping it; the moment she did so, both Echo and I pushed off the ground, dashing toward each other.
Despite having started at the same exact time, Echo reached me first, and with three of her six arms, she punched me; since we weren't using any Qi and only fighting with the strength of our physique, I wasn't able to use my movement technique, elven body flicker, to dodge in time, which forced me to move my arms before my body to block her three incoming fists.
'Tsk, ouch.' Thought Elif as he felt Echo's three powerful fists rain down on his arms, pushing him back several meters while his feet skidded across the ground, though he managed to stop himself just before exiting the arena.
From just one of Echo's attacks, I felt my arms tremble as I struggled to block her fists, and even though I did, I was almost pushed out of the arena. Moving my arms out of the way, I saw Echo sprinting right for me, though instead of trying to gain some distance away from the edge of the arena, I stood my ground and waited for her to approach me.
When she finally got close, I intently watched her every move, eyeing her every muscle, looking for a sign of how she was going to attack me, and the instant her right foot landed on the ground, I saw the way she twisted her body and how the muscles on the left side of her abdomen moved in unison.
Waiting for a split moment, I suddenly sidestepped to the right, dodging Echo's punch she threw with her left hand; while this would've been a good chance to counter-attack, I decided to move back to the center of the arena since if I was forced to block more of her blows, I would need space.
'Well, it seems like all that training with Idonea wasn't a waste.' Mused Elif lightly as he eyed Echo, turning around and lunging toward him once more.
One thing I was very confident in was my fighting skills, I've trained with Illumia since I was four, and I didn't just rely on the massive difference in my opponent's raw strength to defeat them, even if someone was somehow just as strong as me, without the proper skills to back up such a massive amount of strength, I would be able to toy around with them. However, this was all under the assumption I was fighting with Hokori, not when I was barehanded, and while I'm not defenseless without my sword, fighting with it and without it are two very different things.
Jumping over Echo's kick to my legs, I spun in the air and kicked her face, my foot colliding with the side of her neck, though other than tilting her head to the side, she stood firm and gave me a ferocious glare, causing me to sigh as I used my other leg to push off her.
"You're going to have to do better than that, Prince Elif." Said Echo with a smirk as she leaped into the air, only to fall down and slam her six fists onto Elif, who had managed to dodge just at the right moment.
"You say that like I'm not using all of my strength; you know my strength doesn't lie in my physique; I kicked you with about everything I had." Replied Elif with a slight frown as he dashed forward, while a few bruises covered his body, wounds from Echo's previous attacks.
Running toward Echo, when I was right before her, I suddenly stopped and moved around her, attacking her from the other side with a punch, but she easily dodged it by leaning to the right, causing me to continue with the attack and swing my fist to the right as well, though I should've just backed away after missing my first attack as she grabbed my fist just before it connected with her face.
Seeing her expression, I knew what was coming next; deciding between whether to protect my face or torso, I moved one arm to my face, just in time too, as I saw her fist traveling right for my torso before I felt a powerful force impact my stomach, lifting me slightly off the ground.
'That hurt, but I'm glad she chose the abdomen over my face; I'll thank her later for that.' Thought Elif with a slightly relieved expression, confusing the few spectators with only Illumia understanding why.
Feeling Echo release my arm, I swiftly grabbed her fist that was still in my stomach and used it to spin on as I once again kicked her in the face, this time with slightly more force than before since I now had a proper foothold, allowing me to exert more force.
"Hehe, good kick." Said Echo as she spit blood onto the arena before wiping her mouth while eyeing Elif, who just wryly smiled at how she shrugged off his strongest attack.
Seeing her shrug off my kick to the face was more than enough to tell me how this spar was going to go, and if that wasn't enough, the markings that covered her body slightly glowed, causing her to grow in size and although it was marginal, I could tell her strength had increased.
"So your markings don't require any Qi to activate, lucky me." Remarked Elif blandly with a sigh as he shook his head and lunged at Echo, the two engaging back into a rather heated battle despite it being a spar.
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"Alright, I believe that's enough; you've, unsurprisingly, won the spar Echo." Said Elif, bruised and battered, as he stopped suppressing his cultivation base and immobilized Echo with his Qi, whose fist was just mere inches away from hitting his face.
"Aw, it's over already?" Asked Echo sadly as she looked at Elif, who retracted his Qi while nodding his head, causing her to lower her arms.
"Ah, well, it was a great fight, Prince Elif, and I had fun; it's a little hard for me to find people that'll last that long against me in a battle of pure physiques." Added Echo with a smile as she rested her hands on her hips while her markings dimmed along with shrinking down to her usual height.
"Yes, I can also say the same." Replied Elif as he used his Qi to wash the dirt, blood, and sweat off his body, but even so, he was still covered in bruises.
Walking to Illumia, I noticed we had a few spectators; there was Mandy, Patriarch Aasveig and Krodh, Matriarch Aasveig and Krodh, Queen Nerthus, and Mada.
"Magnificent battle, you two." Said Matriarch Krodh with a slight smile as she glanced at Elif and Echo, who both nodded.
"I wouldn't really call it a magnificent battle, but I'm not opposed to taking compliments." Said Elif lightly as he summoned his Quạt tay and fanned himself while approaching Illumia and Mandy, his words causing everyone to smile slightly.
"Maybe so, but it is still an interesting sight to watch an Elf and an Asura battle it out for so long." Remarked Patriarch Aasveig with a smile while standing beside Patriarch Krodh, who nodded in agreement.
"I suppose I've never really thought about it like that." Muttered Elif with a raised eyebrow, glancing at them as he walked past while Queen Nerthus gave him a subtle look, one that he promptly ignored.
"Oh, Mandy, where have you been? I've been worried sick about you." Said Elif in fake joy as he hugged Mandy, flustering her as there were several people looking while a specific woman was giving her death glares.
"I-I was t-training, your Highness, a-as your person R-Royal Guard, I-I must ensure your safety." Replied Mandy with a blushed face as she tried to behave as professionally as possible, though it was proving difficult the longer she stayed within his embrace.
Chuckling to myself, I released her from my hug and set her on the ground, which she promptly used to fix her appearance and distance herself from me, something I found amusing but didn't comment on.
Looking at everyone, I said my farewells before leaving since I needed to go bath after that rather intense sparring session, though I just hoped Eyvor still wasn't in the bathroom; otherwise, that'd be a little awkward.
"Come here, my petite royal guard; now that you're here, you're going to take the place of Idonea and Marley." Said Elif with a slight smirk as he wrapped his left arm around Mandy, a rather difficult action as he was almost two feet taller than her.
"C-Can you please refrain yourself, your Highness? A-At least while we are in the royal training grounds?" Asked Mandy with a blush while walking past all of her former colleagues, getting looks of envy from both women and men alike.
"Hmm, no." Said Elif with a thoughtful expression, causing Mandy to sigh as she put up with the looks of envy from her former colleagues.
"Anyways, where have you been for the past few days? I haven't been able to contact you at all, and that's not like you." Added Elif curiously as he looked down at Mandy, whose blush deepened immensely, thinking back to the pictures and videos of Elif.
"S-Sorry, your Highness, I-I was doing some s-special training; I-I'll make sure to inform you beforehand." Replied Mandy softly, to which Elif nodded, not bothering to question her further.