Chapter 106 - Combat Wins

Once the Dagger Mastery token was placed into the puppet's chest, it immediately started to take its stance, same as Eiro.

And then, during a seemingly random moment, the puppet started attacking first with a rapid forward movement in the form of a stab that Eiro managed to dodge with the help of Air Magic, and then continued back-stepping away from the Puppet as it continued its relentless attack to force Eiro into a situation where he couldn't dodge anymore.

But at some point when the Puppet stabbed the wooden dagger upward, Eiro took that chance and instead of stepping backward again, he jumped forward and tried to attack the puppet, hitting his wooden dagger onto its shoulder. This wasn't a win for him yet, however, since he, for now, gave the puppet a better chance to attack Eiro as well.

So the demon slid over the ground by covering the underside of his feet with ice to build up some distance more easily, and while that was happening noticed the puppet moving around to try and stab at him with its dagger again, but Eiro swiftly held his own inbetween that spot to defend against the attack while holding the blade just so slightly tilted, making the puppet's dagger, and with that his arm, move in the way that Eiro wanted it to.

And just then, the Demon was able to slightly bring the Puppet out of balance, or at least make it harder for it to recover for its next attack, and used that time to build up even more distance.

Just like this, the fight continued on and on, with Eiro trying to either block, deflect, or run from the Puppet's continuous attacks, until he was able to find a good gap to finally end the fight.

Just when the Puppet placed its foot forward for a heavy slash with its dagger, Eiro placed a layer of ice underneath its foot to break the balance of the attack, since with this move most of the person's weight had to be placed on the front leg to support the body for rotary movement of the body for the slash to follow.

And using that split-second that the Puppet's movement was a bit restricted through this, Eiro managed to break through the Puppet's defense and stabbed the wooden dagger directly into the center of its chest where the Token Currently was.

With that, it seemed like Eiro finally won! Once more, he was overcome with incredible excitement as the Puppet took the Token out of its own chest and handed it to Eiro, who was doing his best to recover his stamina a bit while calming down his breathing, since he would next be working on the Hand-to-hand combat mastery task, swiftly getting rid of the two wooden daggers for that.

"Holy shit, you did it!" Arc exclaimed excitedly, and Eiro looked toward him with a smile and a nod, "Yes I did, finally." The Demon replied, his breathing having calmed a bit again, "It took a while, but at least I once before we leave." He pointed out, before then taking the Hand-to-Hand Combat Mastery token out of his treasury and placing it into the center of the Puppet's chest.

"Wait, you're moving on now? Already?" Sammy asked, a bit concerned considering that Eiro didn't really leave a break inbetween the two fights, and the Demon just smiled at her, "Yes, I want to get everything done today, so I should hurry up to have the time for the Perception Task." Eiro explained, and Sammy looked at him with a slightly concerned frown and then just nodded her head slowly. She knew how troublesome the last task was for Eiro, so she understood why he wanted as much time as he could get.

Once Eiro started paying attention to it, the Puppet took its regular hand-to-hand combat stance with its right hand forming an open palm facing Eiro, and its left hand forming a fist next to its body.

And so, Eiro took the exact same stance, like usual. Once he did, the Puppet immediately started its attack and came jumping toward the Demon, throwing its fist toward him, although Eiro swiftly blocked that incoming attack by protecting his with his lower arms.

Taking that restricted movement, the Puppet let its body drop down and held its body up with his left leg and left arm, holding its right hand forward and right leg backward to get the right force for a face-high kick.

Once the puppet's foot was practically hooked onto Eiro's arms, it tried to move its left leg behind the Demon's legs and used both its hands to create a rotary movement in its whole body to attempt and make Eiro lose balance.

And it seemed like it worked, because Eiro now was upside down again, with his head right above the ground. Although it might seem so to outsiders, Eiro didn't fall for the Puppet's scheme, and instead jumped a bit right before the Puppet's leg could sweep away his own, as such using the force of its kick to Eiro's arms that were guarding his face to flip around and pressed his hands onto the ground, all the whilst trapping the leg that just kicked Eiro's arms inbetween his own legs, pressing it onto his thigh with his other knee, while using air magic and Life Force manipulation to properly lift the Puppet's body up a bit while regaining his own footing.

But the puppet itself also used Eiro's attack for its own, using the chance and speed of movement to kick the demon onto its leg in a manner that actually made it feel numb for a little while.

However, Eiro didn't mind that, and could rush forward using his other leg for main balance and then threw his body foot-first toward the puppet while stretching his whole body out in a straight and stiff manner. And just when the demon's back was about to hit the ground, he pushed his body back up and regained his footing once more while the Puppet was being pushed back.

And just like this, an intense exchange of hits, kicks, throws, and grapples started, with either of the two parties trying to make use of what they had the best way possible and using the other's attack to their advantage.

But then, the Puppet ran in for a grapple, and instead of somehow evading it, he just let it happen, and once the puppet grabbed him by his h.i.p.s, Eiro shifted his body around a bit and leaned over the puppet's body before twisting his own arm around the front of the puppet's throat, and then with as much force as he could muster jumped up over the puppet, using his own body-weight to make it trip up.

Once both of them were on their backs, Eiro already had the puppet in a choke-hold while it was on its back. Like Eiro expected it to, the puppet tried to reverse the situation and somehow lift its own body up while Eiro held it by its neck to get onto Eiro's back or shoulders, but just when it lifted its lower body up a bit, Eiro slipped underneath with his legs and wrapped them around the puppet's h.i.p.s, pulling and pushing it down as much as he possibly could all at once while pulling the puppet's chin up.

And soon, the puppet hit the ground with an open palm a few times to signal that it was giving up, so Eiro let go of its body and looked at it triumphantly.

"Hah! Finally I beat this damn doll!" The Demon yelled out excitedly as he gladly received the hand-to-hand combat token again.

"That's honestly insane..." Rudy pointed out as he leaned onto his shield after watching Eiro fight, "I wish I could move like that at some point..." He said with a wry smile, and Eiro laughed slightly as he nodded his head.

"Yeah, if you were a bit more nimble and agile, things like grappling would be perfect for you, I think. But stature-wise, it's enough to be a regular shield-bearer." Eiro suggested, so Rudy just sighed disappointedly.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, don't worry. I mean, I did get a bit faster after sparring with Arc a bit." The boy pointed out, before Arc immediately nodded his head, "Definitely! At the start, it was still rather easy to get around to his back, but recently wherever I am, he's got his shield pointed at me! It's so cool! He's like a fortress!" He explained, so Eiro raised his brows curiously.

"Oh, really? Hmm, maybe we should spar sometime as well." The Demon suggested, and while the two boys surely seemed interested, they were also a bit nervous, since...

"Those two don't stand a chance against you, you know?" As Nelli pointed out, and Eiro looked at her with a slight frown, "Well I wouldn't be going all out or something. You know, just friendly sparring." The Demon replied, and Rudy looked at him with a light smile that was meant to hide nervosity.

"Your 'Friendly sparring' might still be a step above us. I mean, we have basic techniques, but we don't have a class yet so our stats are still pretty low... especially compared to you, who has already evolved twice." Rudy explained, so Eiro just slowly nodded his head.

"I know, but that means there won't be anything speaking against it once we get you guys your classes, right?" Eiro pointed out, and Clementine swiftly raised her hand excitedly, "Ooh, ooh, I want to be a Water Princess~!"

"Water Princess?" Arc asked with a light grin, and Clementine nodded her head immediately, "Mhm, a step above Water Mage!" She explained, but Arc tilted his head to the side a bit.

"Isn't above 'Mage' the 'Wizard'? Also, you wouldn't just be a water mage, you also have Light Magic, even if it's lower leveled compared to your water magic." Arc pointed out, and Clementine looked at him with a sad and upset expression, "What? I can't be a Water Princess?!" She asked, and Nelli swiftly floated over to her to comfort her a bit.

"Don't worry, Clem! Having as much control over two elements as you have is really rare! And both of them are great for Healing, which you have a talent for! You're bound to get a super special rare class!" Nelli said reassuredly, and Clementine looked at Nelli confused and then turned toward Eiro confusedly.

"But doesn't Eiro have really good control over four elements? And he's not restricted to a specific type of casting either... He can use physical casting and Magic Circle casting all the same..." Clementine protested, and Nelli just started to laugh slightly nervously.

"Hahah... Yeah, Eiro is a slightly special case, so don't compare yourself to him. But! You have a really great talent! Eiro just doesn't have anything he's not good at, but he also doesn't have anything like a specific talent, you know? That means if he tries to use healing magic, it will always be weaker than yours! If you place it like that, he really sucks, doesn't he?" Nelli pointed out with a bright smile, and the Demon in question just looked at the two of them with a slight frown.

"Hey, that's a bit mean..." He pointed out, although it seemed like Clementine and Nelli completely ignored him, while the former slowly nodded her head, "Yeah, if you put it like that, he does, doesn't he?" She asked, and once more, Eiro chose to protest a bit.

"You're being really hurtful right now!" He exclaimed, but seeing that neither of them were listening to him, Eiro just sighed deeply and grabbed the last token out of his treasury and pushed it into the center of the puppet's chest to start the perception task.

And once Eiro turned away from the puppet to start, he already wasn't sure where exactly it was at exactly, and when he tried to take a look and see, there was nothing there anymore.

"Let's start this, I guess..." The Demon muttered quietly, and then just squatted down onto the ground to get going.