Chapter 183 - Awakening (5)

"Put your back into it! What the hell happened to you in the time we were not sparring?"

In the few days since Alice woke up, Dax had refused to leave his compound at Kingstead, so to spend the time he had been drilling close combat techniques into Terra, much to her despair. 

"Kuh! Sorry!"

This time Dax was instilling his disciple the art of kicking in a very qiton way of teaching, with both of them holding their arms behind their backs Dax and Terra would take turns kicking each other while the receiving one would be blocking to the best of their ability. 

"As a normal mammal, you default to using your arms! What are you going to do if you lose your arms in battle!? Stop fighting!?"

Delivering a high kick from the left side Dax flipped his weight and landed before kicking Terra's undefended right side within a second, sending her flying into one of the nearby walls.

"You overexposed yourself again, keep focused and keep sharp. Or I can just knock the shit out of you repeatedly."

"... Is this always so extreme?"

As Terra had landed right next to Alice she showed great concern for her friend, but Terra just more or less brushed the damage she endured off along with her concerns.

"It's fine, this is actually some pretty mild training."

Getting up on her feet again, Terra continued sparing with Dax and was knocked to the floor repeatedly.

(This is really insane…)

Looking at the speed that both Dax and Terra were striking each other at, Alice could clearly see how much Terra had improved while she had been unconscious. It was like a great distance had opened up between her and Terra, she could feel her friend was slipping further and further away from her every single day. While this was something she had immediately noticed when Terra became Dax's disciple, but in the time she had missed her long time friend had gone from a normal human to taking hits that would outright kill most monsters and shugging them off without issue.

(I should go get Terra and Dax some towels… And maybe some cold water too.)

Seeing how the pair were nearing a break in their training, Alice got a bright smile on her face as she stood up and left the dojo in a bright mood and went into the main building before heading to the kitchen.

"Ah."

But the kitchen was already occupied. At the fridge stood a tall woman with pale white skin, sharp looking amber red eyes and short white hair. Like Dax her way dressing was more focused on mobility and comfort than looks, she wore a plain white t shirt which she paired with some grey cargo shorts and some kind of black facemask she had strapped to the belt. Also similarly to Dax was the high number of scars clearly visible on the skin she was exposing, making Alice remember that it was a source of pride in Dax's culture.

"Hello, I don't believe we have met before. My name is Alice."

After staring at the woman for a few moments, Alice seemed to remember her manners as she did a light bow and introduced herself, something that made the woman flinch for some reason.

"..."

(Did I say something strange?)

A few seconds of silence followed as Lux looked like a deer that had been caught in a headlight, but on account of her strong pride, she quickly snapped out of it.

"A pleasure to meet you, my name is Lux."

"So you're Lux?..."

(This is it… Guess I'm ready.)

Lux had been feeling extremely bad since she was informed that she had almost killed one of Dax's allies, even more so as the girl in question had spent the better part of the last 2 years unconscious. Even if 2 years was not really that long of a timeframe for Lux herself, she realized that such a timeframe was a significant part of a normal mortals lifetime, as such she fully believed that Alice would hate her for what she did. Meanwhile, Alice was struck with a strong sense of awe. From what she had learned about Dax's world she had found it extremely scary, a world larger than she could ever imagine was stuck in a constant state of civil war and life was lost at an awesome rate with no sign of stopping. Such a world seemed like a world of monsters, where one could die without warning there was no room for kindness or mercy. Yet the creature that stood in front of her came from such a world, Alice could clearly see that Lux felt bad over what she had done to her and at the same time she looked kind in the same way Dax was, just without all the roughness he had.

"This might be rude to ask but how did you get skin that looks so nice?"

"Eh?"

This time it was Lux's turn to be surprised. Before she knew what was going on Alice had closed the range, wrapping her hands around Lux's as she looked at her with bright and almost glowing eyes that held great expectations.

"... You're not angry at me?"

Snapping out of her brief confusion Lux's expression turned apologetic as she still awaited a harsh emotional outburst from Alice, obviously she didn't yet know what kind of person Alice was at heart.

"What? Why would I be angry? You acted in a way you believed to be correct and in the end no permanent harm was done. Dax already told me, you believed that I was misusing the technology you and your comrades had put blood sweat and tears into"

(What the hell is this cute and outright adorable creature?)

While Lux was looking at Alice something changed or awoke inside her.

(This must be the so called 'desire to protect'?.... Kuh! Why is it so potent?)

Being affected by something she had up till now only scoffed at, Lux's expression froze up as she struggled to resist a new front of desires that welled up inside her.

"L-Lux?"

Seeing Lux freeze up right after she gripped her hands, Alice suddenly got concerned.

(D-did I perhaps do something rude?)

Before Alice could retract her hands, Lux pulled away from Alice as her face turned grim, then out of nowhere she hugged Alice.

"How can a creature so pure even exist?"

"Eh?"

Blooming a bright smile Lux briefly lost herself, but that didn't last forever as she quickly snapped out of it and tried to change the subject.

"S-so what are you doing here? Need some food?"

"Ah, yeah. Dax and Terra are finishing up their morning training so I figured I would get them some refreshments."

"Is that so? Then take this, it's Dax's favourite post workout drink."

Handing Alice a cold beer, Lux sent her on her way before she breathed a deep sigh.

(That was extremely embarrassing… I need to do something about that.)

Remembering Alice's bright and happy smile Lux made a point of reinforcing her steadfast will and poker face in the face of a new threat to her image.

-

"I've brought refresh- What is going on here?"

As Alice came back dojo she didn't find Dax and Terra to be taking a break as she had expected, instead, Terra laid down panting from exhaustion on the floor at the side while Dax and Solaris spared with what looked like very real and sharp looking spears.

"Today is the day I'll teach you the difference between us!"

Charging forward confidently, Solaris aimed to decapitate Dax as she swept the blade of her spear vertically through the air using her own momentum to add power to her blow. The qiton responded not in words, but in action. Instantly recognizing what Solaris was trying to achieve, Dax lowered his posture and deflected Solaris' blow with his spear, letting the archangel's spear slide along the length of his own while he turned the butt of his own spear towards Solaris' Storage, aiming to crush the lower part of her ribcage along with her spine and gut. In desperation as she realized her own mistake, Solaris hurriedly challenged mana into her wings and created a flight spell as she flapped all six of her wings and lifted off the ground to avoid Dax's strike as she passed over him and simultaneously aimed to strike his back with her spear.

"Naive!"

Seeing Solaris lift off the ground Dax's smile widened slightly as he collapsed his own stance, flipping around while avoiding Solaris' opportunistic strike and spread out his legs and switched to holding his spear in a single hand.

"Fu!-"

Seeing what Dax was doing Solaris couldn't act in time, even before she had involuntary finished cursing the qiton's spear passed right by her head at blistering speed, burying itself deep into the wall behind her.

"I win~"

"Kuh! I'll get you next time for sure!"

"Yeah yeah~ Come back when you have learned not to make yourself valuable like that~"

Dax's smug sounding declaration of victory snapped Alice out of her daze, what she had just witnessed over the cause of a few tens of seconds utterly shattered her preconceptions of Dax and angels. While she had heard grand stories of angels growing up and even seen an earlier spar between Dax and Solaris, this had been something different altogether.

(I really am not a match for these people…)

It really seemed like a Dax and the other people around her were part of an entirely different world, she realized that they were more powerful than she could become.

"Ah Alice, perfect timing~"

Now that his fight was over Dax realized Alice had returned with refreshments, taking his beer and a towel he used to wipe his forehead as his hand found a natural resting place on top of Alice's head.

"Thanks, this one is my favourite."

Even as Alice was extremely happy to be praised by Dax a small hole had found its way into her confidence, and it only seemed to increase in size over time. At the same time as Alice's internal conflict grew in magnitude Lux arrived, looking for a spar with Dax.

"Wanna go a few rounds? Or have you gotten too old to fight and finally ready to retire?"

In response to Lux's remark, Dax's expression froze as his aura slowly started to change.

"... You know this is the 315th time you use that provocation to try and get me to spar with you Lux and still, it somehow manages to piss me off. "

While Dax displayed a large and warm looking smile his eyes weren't smiling in the slightest and it generally seemed like he might kill Lux from an outsider's perspective.

"You taught me that one shouldn't try and fix stuff that's not broken, so why change tactics when it's still working? Wanna go for the usual ruleset?"

Showing a haughty smile as she walked to the centre of the practice field Lux started doing light warmups in a casual manner while continuing to brittle Dax, making the temperature in the damp dojo seem several degrees colder than it actually was.

"... Sure. One round of qiton close combat arts with no restrictions, first critical hit is the winner. Does that sound good?"

"Yeah it sounds perfect~ Let's go!"

Jumping around like a kickboxer Lux showed a quite relaxed attitude while Dax stood steadfast and put up his defences with hardened determination, Alice would later learn that this was the result of Dax needing to reign in his strength to match Lux, something that was essential as there was a good chance Lux would be injured otherwise.

"Terra, could you please give us the starting signal?"

"... Sure. On your marks!... GO!"

The split second Terra called for the start of their sparring match, Lux sprang into action with a smile on her face. Closing the distance in an instant, Lux sent out a series of lightning fast jabs that she combined with opportunistic low kicks that aimed to force Dax off balance. Her opponent was not to be outdone however, as each of Lux's numerous hits were either deflected or outright parried as he shifted around on the training mat with rock solid footwork that allowed the qiton to take each of Lux's hits without issue as he slowly increased the rate of his own attacks.

"Wow…"

"Yeah, they are in a league of their own, those two."

Amazed by the martial art and amount of lateral thinking, technique and deception clearly at display in Lux and Dax's fight Alice couldn't help but be amazed, an opinion Terra fully agreed with. While his sparring match with Solaris had been impressive, it was more a blitz than anything else, while Dax had been fully able to exploit Solaris' first mistake and win the fight, this sparring match between Lux and Dax however, was something entirely different. Even as Dax was mostly on the defensive due to him needing to restrain his power, the qiton constantly switched his defences and footwork, adapting to Lux's onslaught at an ever increasing rate and soon Lux was forced on the defensive. After 15 more minutes of high intensity fighting, the sparring match ended in Dax's victory as a result of the qiton being a more experienced fighter, able to adapt to and overcome Lux's shifting style of fighting in record time. The match left Alice with a sense of wonder, but the perception that she was inadequate also seemed ever more present.

(I need to do something about this…)

Weighing her options for the rest of the day, Alice finally settled on a solution around midnight. With a sense of determination and steadfast will, she left her room and went to visit Lux with a simple and earnest request that was true to her nature.