Bennett POV

  Bennett woke up with a dull ache in his jaw.

  Ugh… I must’ve fallen asleep while trying to come up with a new skill.

  He stretched his arms and legs; a satisfying chorus of cracks echoed from his joints.

  Yep. Definitely need a shower…

  After cleaning up and getting dressed, his expression turned completely solemn unwilling, even.

  “…Welp. Time to go.”

  He walked toward the training grounds like a man approaching his own execution.

  Aiko POV

  Heheee~ Finally, a volunteer-

  No, a victim-

  No no, a training partner has accepted to work with me~

  Aiko hummed happily as she checked her equipment.

  She made sure she had all her essentials for today’s “session.”

  Knives.

  Swords.

  Cannon.

  Chainsaw.

  Miscellaneous “tools” only she understood.

  Perfect for today’s training.

  Bennett POV

  As Bennett arrived, he stopped dead in his tracks.

  There, next to Aiko, was a cart absolutely stuffed with weapons and gadgets.

  He swallowed hard.

  “Uhhh… Aiko? What are all those for?”

  Aiko flashed a bright, suspiciously cheerful smile.

  “Hehe~ These are what I’ll be using to tortu- I mean, test on you today~”

  “E-eh? But! You wrote the session was hand-to-hand! Why are there swords? Cannons? A-are those chainsaws?! How is that hand-to-hand?!”

  Aiko leaned forward with the same smile… the smile of a woman who did not hear complaints.

  “Did you say something~?”

  Every instinct in Bennett’s soul screamed at him.

  “N-no… I didn’t say anything…”

  “Good boy~” she purred. “Now be a good target practice dummy and let me test all of these on you~”

  Bennett’s face paled.

  “Umm, what about your usual pranks, Aiko? Maybe those would be better-like the fart bombs? Or-or maybe the itching powder? Anything like that???”

  He prayed. He actually prayed.

  Aiko didn’t answer.

  Instead, she slowly lifted a chainsaw from the cart and looked at him with the most innocent expression he had ever seen on a face that clearly did not know innocence.

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  “Huh? What do you mean?” she chirped. “I’m just testing some gear~”

  RRRRRRRRRRRNNNNNNN

  The chainsaw roared to life.

  “A-Aiko-Aiko wait-AIKO WAIT-”

  She dashed toward him, chainsaw first. Thankfully she held back her speed barely giving Bennett just enough time to throw himself out of the way.

  “YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN! PLEASE AIKO, SOMETHING LESS LETHAL!!”

  Aiko completely ignored him, giggling with the kind of joy that should not exist in a training session.

  “I wonder how fast I need to swing this before it takes off an arm,” she hummed.

  “SOMETHING LESS LETHAL!!!”

  She tilted her head, still smiling.

  Then she got faster.

  And faster.

  And faster.

  The chainsaw grazed his jacket then his arm then the back of his knee. Tiny cuts. Nothing lethal. But enough for Bennett to scream internally.

  “Crap crap crap CRAP she’s trying to kill me,” he wheezed, dodging as if his life depended on it.

  The chainsaw grazed his shoulder again.

  Bennett swore he saw his life flash before his eyes.

  Aiko just giggled.

  “Hehe~ You’re doing great, Bennett! Keep dodging until you can’t~”

  Bennett’s soul left his body.

  A few minutes later, and after collecting more cuts than he wanted to count, Aiko finally set the chainsaw aside.

  “Hmm~ decent weapon,” she mused, tilting her head. “Not really my style though~”

  Before Bennett could respond, she was already humming softly while dabbing ointment onto his cuts.

  The casual way she treated his injuries made it feel like she was applying stickers, not fixing wounds she just caused.

  Bennett slumped in place, his spirit half-gone.

  It’s only been fifteen minutes… and I signed up for this… FOR. A. WHOLE. WEEK.

  “A-Aiko,” he tried, desperate. “You’re… satisfied with that, right?”

  Aiko put a finger on her lips.

  Her eyes sparkled with innocent thoughtfulness.

  “Nope~!”

  She cheerfully continued counting on her fingers.

  “I still need to test the cannons, the swords, the other chainsaws, some poison needles, a few daggers, and sooo much more~!”

  Bennett’s soul left his body FOR THE 2ND TIME THAT MORNING.

  “So please be more durable than my last victi- I mean partner~” she chimed.

  In a blink, she reappeared at the cart and started rummaging through it.

  Metal clanked ominously.

  Bennett just sweatdropped and facepalmed.

  God damn it… I preferred the tamer version of her.

  Then-

  “I FOUND IT!” Aiko sang.

  She pulled out a massive spiked mace like it weighed nothing.

  In the next heartbeat, she was in front of him, leaning forward with her hands behind her back, smiling sweetly.

  Bennett’s eyes went wide.

  He jumped back instantly.

  “Hehee~ gotcha~” Aiko winked.

  He blinked.

  The mace was gone.

  He finally dared to breathe. “I think that was terrifying and made me question why I accepted your request.”

  “Aww, don’t worry pokie~” she cooed.

  “I’ll be sure to test them all on you, one… by… one…”

  She let each word drip with playful cruelty.

  “But anyway! There’s an actual skill I made, and I really wanted to try it hand-to-hand. I was hoping Ironfang or Kivolak would accept, but…”

  She poked his forehead.

  “You’ll do nicely~”

  Bennett slowly sank to the ground.

  “Come on, get up, Bennett~” Aiko chirped.

  “I’ll show you the skill, and you can tell me if you’re willing to take a hit. Don’t worry, I’ll hold back. Plus, I know a lot about medical work, so I’ll make sure you’re treated~”

  Bennett reluctantly got to his feet.

  Something about Aiko’s usual cheerful energy was gone.

  thank God The prankster mask was replaced with a serious, almost cold expression.

  Okay… what is this new skill? he thought warily.

  Aiko smiled.

  “Well~ I call it-”

  Her tone suddenly sharpened, almost menacing.

  “Foxfire Obliteration~!”

  Bennett blinked.

  “…What??”

  She giggled softly. “Ugh, fine, you’re no fun, Bennett~” Her smile softened. “The real name is Inari Protection.”

  “It isn’t an offensive skill,” she continued. “It’s defensive. I needed someone strong enough to test it, so don’t worry you won’t get mauled.”

  A few seconds of tense silence passed.

  For today at least, she added with a sly grin.

  Bennett pinched the bridge of his nose.

  “…Ugh. Whatever. This is better than earlier… I guess. But what do you mean, ‘for today’?”

  Aiko ignored his question.

  “Ready~? I want you to hit my barrier as hard as you can. You can also use the weapons on the cart to test the durability of my shield~”

  Bennett sighed.

  Fine, fine… at least I get to test the weapons.

  “Good~!” Aiko clapped her hands excitedly.

  “And don’t worry about your lack of external mana release. I just want to test my skill’s durability against purely physical hits.”

  Bennett groaned, already bracing himself for whatever insane test was about to begin.

  Bennett finally got into it, activating his newly evolved body enhancement, Whirlwind. He surged backward, then rushed forward, using the momentum to pack as much power as possible into his punch.

  The moment it landed on Aiko’s skill, his body felt like it was suddenly moving through molasses. Half a meter from her, his forward motion ground to a halt. He couldn’t advance any further.

  Then the barrier expelled him, sending him sliding several meters across the floor.

  Damn… that’s a weird protection skill, Bennett muttered, wiping sweat from his brow.

  Aiko grinned. “The shield slowly absorbs all incoming danger until there’s no more movement… then it returns all that momentum back at the attacker. Any attacks that fail to penetrate are reflected back to the user.” She paused. “It works on magic, which I already tested, but it’s good to know it works on pure physical attacks too~”

  “Wait, now you’re explaining what your skill does?” Bennett asked, raising an eyebrow.

  Aiko tilted her head innocently. “Well, you didn’t ask for more details, and since you looked confused, I decided to explain it to you~”

  Bennett just stared at her, dull and defeated. Never mind…

  For the rest of the morning, Bennett alternated between weapons from Aiko’s cart and testing them on her protective skill, each strike met with the same unyielding barrier and the same Results”

  Soon after training ended, Aiko patted Bennett’s head.

  "That's a good vict- partner. I shall go ahead and leave. I look forward to tortu- training with you for the rest of the week~"

  She left, taking the weapon cart with her, and Bennett remained lying on the ground, utterly exhausted.

  I swear she has infinite energy…

  Still, despite her terrifying antics, I didn’t get seriously injured just some scratches.

  It’s obvious she’s faster than me by many times, and yet she held back…

  You know what? Nah. Screw that. I pity anyone who pisses her off.

  And I sure as hell am not going to be one of those people. No sir. I don’t want an early grave.

  Plus, just that first skill alone is already a show of how strong she is.

  A skill that slows down an enemy the closer they get until they lose all momentum and get deflected that’s insane. Now I’m jealous. Why can’t I have a defensive skill like that?

  Bennett rolled his eyes.

  He got up and stretched again, this time without any cracking sounds.

  I guess that’s it for the morning. I better work on my durability because if she decides to test an offensive skill next, I might end up in the nurse’s office again, taking that pill…

  Yeah, no. I’ll just do that.

  Bennett quickly left the training ground and headed toward one of the training centers specialized in body tempering. He opted for the free version it barely helped, but it was better than nothing.

  The room was basically a hot spring filled with people. Of course, males and females were separated, and so were the species.

  Chapter End