Three months later.

Asura laughed as he struck at Lydia with all four of his arms. The exhilarating fights were what the ogre lived for. As the adrenaline coursed through his veins, he felt a sensation he could never let go. The burning sensation of pain and joy was a mix that provided unparalleled dopamine. His arms stung from being struck back, and his body ached from the lightning coursing through his muscles, but none of this mattered to the ogre.

Lydia was locked in combat with Asura, defending each strike with a block or redirection of his fists. Whenever an opportunity arose, she struck back with furious, heavy jabs or hooks. Mana channeled through her limbs, causing lightning to arc from her flesh. With every blow that landed, a powerful discharge of electricity was sent into Asura in an explosive cannon of force.

Yet the ogre never fell back but instead pushed forward with the same intensity. After three months of rigorous training with Lydia, they understood each other's fighting style better than anyone. They both accurately predicted the other's strikes as if they could peer into the future. As he struck, Asura's fists were coated with white flames like he had dipped them in a lake of fire. He smiled at Lydia, declaring,

"You're going to lose eventually, you know."

"The only reason you beat me is because you have four arms!"

"Excuses, excuses."

"Our record is thirty-four to thirty in my favor, you know."

Asura leaned back, dodging a swift kick in the air as Lydia spun and brought the other leg right after. The ogre dodged to the right and tried to grab hold of her leg with his four arms but Lydia made preparations. As his hands began to wrap around her calf, she snapped her fingers together. A wicked smile spread across her face as she landed.

His eyes widened, and he released his grip on her without even the slightest hesitation. Asura looked up and brought his arms up to guard his body. Crossing his four arms before him, the ogre created a makeshift shield out of his limbs. A translucent golden armored Angel appeared before Asura in the blink of an eye, wielding a greatsword in its hands.

"Ah, shit."

The Angel easily swung the large sword, bringing its blade down onto the ogre as if executing a prisoner. Its blade slammed against his four arms, trying to cut the ogre's seemingly impenetrable skin. However, the blade remained on the surface of his flesh, unable to cut through. Although the Angel could not wound Asura, its strength behind the blade was enough to tie him up as the ground cracked beneath his feet.

After twenty-six strikes, her blessing ran rampant with her mana inside the imitation of an Angel's body. The angel would not disperse either, which surprised Asura. Usually, after the first strike, it disappeared, leaving only its destruction as a trace of its existence. However, it stood firm, bracing itself and putting all its strength into preventing the ogre from moving. Its wide stance had the perfect form to lock him down and leave his back wide open for an attack.

Asura groaned for a moment, letting out a breath of air—however, a flash shot past his line of sight in the corner of his eye. His eyes focused, and he tensed his body as if he knew what to expect next.

"SHIT!"

The ogre grabbed hold of the blade, digging his fingers into the imitation. Its form cracked, rippling down and into the arms of the angel as if it were a part of the being. His mana coursed through his four arms, igniting the tattoos like pistons in an engine. Each dispersing concentrated flames out of the runes marking his skin.

His opponent fell as its body crumbled from being crushed by Asura's strength. However, he had no time to celebrate as Lydia threw her leg forward with mana channeled throughout the muscles. Lightning sparked out, ripping and tearing at anything it could arc to. The golden flashes of light were beautiful, but Asura knew he had to block. Otherwise, there would be consequences.

"Caught you."

Lydia smirked, proud of herself, as her leg soared, almost touching Asura's face. A singular bolt arced from her leg onto his nose, shocking the ogre and reminding him of their relationship with one another. Although friends outside of sparring, they were the greatest of enemies when in this training room.

He raised his two right arms swiftly, deflecting the leg with as little contact as possible. His forearms smacked against her shin, sending her leg back. However, the damage was done. Lydia's lightning coursed through his skin, into his veins and muscles, causing them to spasm and contract. The pain caused Asura to tense, slowing him down for the perfect amount of time for Lydia to follow up.

Lydia sent another kick out from her left leg as he began to recover due to his holy mana. As her right leg landed on the ground, she spun herself and sent her left foot out with explosive force into the square of Asura's back. The ball of her foot slammed into his spine, sending her electrified holy mana into his spinal cord.

Asura gasped as his body became unresponsive. His legs went limp, and it felt like boulders tied down his arms. He could only watch as he was sent flying forward, tumbling and rolling across the ground. As he struck the ground several times, he groaned out,

"Fuck."

Asura struck his side against the hard marble floor.

"Gah."

Then, his back struck the ground.

"Shit."

On the last tumble, his forehead smacked against the ground, leaving him with a massive headache that caused the world to spin.

"Damn it."

As he came to a stop, his body ached and convulsed from the electricity still lingering inside. Asura sprawled against the floor and sighed in relief as Ohriel's mana fought off the invading mana as if it were a plague that dared to corrupt its vessel.

However, the ogre could not rest for long as thunderous footsteps echoed as someone approached rapidly towards him.

"GIVE ME A BREAK VILE WOMAN!"

Asura dug his fingers into the ground, ripping two large chunks of rock from the marble floor. He watched as Lydia approached, and right as she drew close, he coated the marble rocks with white flames. The rocks ignited in balls of white fire that crackled loudly as they burnt. Its heat caused Lydia to hesitate momentarily as she ran, but she knew better than to stop.

Sweat dripped from her forehead as her body rejected the heat, trying its best to cool her off as it immediately doused her in an unpleasant field of pain. Her body screamed to stop her approach, to run and flee, but after sparring with this ogre for so long, she preferred to trust her mind over her heart.

"Good old faithful. A rock."

Asura announced as the two large rocks were thrown in her direction. The flaming boulders roared as they flew through the air at Lydia. She smiled, coating her arms in electricity like Asura did with his flames. It rippled along her skin, creating a gauntlet of golden lightning.

She punched the first with great force as the rocks approached, causing it to shatter into pieces. The gauntlets reduced the impact and prevented the flames from touching her skin, but the intense heat emitted left burns along her arms. Its remaining flaming pieces showered her, scorching her body as the miniature meteorites rained down on her skin.

She winced but powered through the pain as the second followed. Learning her lesson from the first attack, she attempted to redirect it instead of smashing the rock. Lydia swiftly lowered her hands to scoop underneath its body. As the rock approached, now only a foot before her face, she threw her arms upward, smacking it with all her strength.

The rock tried to fight back as the force carried it forward, but Lydia's strength proved too difficult to overcome, allowing her to redirect it over her shoulder. The rock narrowly missed her shoulder, leaving an intense burn on her skin as it passed by.

"I, now, hate fire because of you."

Lydia angrily yelled out as she pushed forward. The lightning gauntlets roared as the lightning intensified alongside her rage. Her blue eyes sparkled with determination and pride, unwilling to lose in any circumstance. Asura laughed, and Lydia watched as his eyes focused on hers. The same pride and battle-driven determination lingered in the white suns of his irises. A wicked smile spread across his face as the two closed the distance to one another.

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"Don't hurt yourself. Maybe you should let me have this one. Lookin a little rough."

"Hahaha, you wish! Even if I'm just a head, I'll bite at you. I refuse to lose to you."

Asura prepared for Lydia to strike with her lightning gauntlets, bringing his hands up to guard his body and face. He understood the risk of being struck by them all too well. The pain from the lightning haunted him in his nightmares. Asura swore he'd punch her angel in the face if he ever met them. "Whoever gave you that shit is the worst mother fucker ever..." He thought as he vigilantly watched her hands.

However, that's where it all went wrong. Asura felt a strike on the side of the lower abdomen. He looked down, finding Lydia's shin deeply implanted in his side. The lightning erupted through his body again, causing him to yelp from the pain. He gasped out,

"You asshole!"

Asura tried to grab hold of her leg, but Lydia knew never to engage in grappling with a four-armed freak. After several attempts to win the grappling contest, she found overcoming the mountain of having two fewer arms than the other competitor was impossible. Prepared for his next move, she sent forth her fist.

Lydia caught Asura's face with a right hook. Unguarded and unprepared, he was sent reeling back as the lightning exploded from the gauntlet into his face. Dizziness spread from the left side of his face to his right in a wave that rippled across his skin.

"Shi-"

The ogre's mouth went numb, causing the muscles to relax and the holy fire from the curse to pour out. Lydia's face twisted with disgust as it drooled out onto the front of his shirt, but she continued her relentless flurry of blows. Bringing her left hand up, she struck with a jab at Asura's open side.

However, Asura managed to regain enough focus to counterattack. Lydia left the middle of her chest open as she struck outward with her left hand, expecting it to connect without resistance.

"Gotcha."

Asura smiled on the right side of his face while the other side drooped. The sight stunned Lydia as he covered his two right fists with white flames. He brought his right two hands forward in two swift, powerful strikes. The Paladin tried to defend herself, pulling her arms back to block, but she was too slow. "Crap. I'm caught." Lydia thought but immediately shifted her attention to another defense.

She tried to press her fingers against one another to snap. As they began to slip against one another, she felt the two fists implant themselves in her chest. The force shattered her ribs and sucked all the air from her lungs. Lydia gasped, and blood erupted from her mouth as she was sent flying backward away from Asura.

He tried to pursue her, but his eyes drifted to her hands as she launched through the air. The ogre's ears perked as the sound of a snap rang out.

"You gotta be-"

Holy mana manifested to his right, and in a split second, Asura sent his two left fists at the nearby air. The swing was heavy, determined to kill Lydia's imitation in a single blow. Then, out of thin air, the angel appeared, directly in line with his swing as he predicted. However, the large angel was also prepared for the strike.

It gripped a large rectangular shield with both of its hands, pulling it close and up to block the swing completely. The large being never budged from its spot, standing like a pillar that would never yield to the oncoming storm.

"Oh, you sneaky little-"

The angel swiftly swung its arm, sending the shield forward, slamming it into Asura's side and knocking him off balance. He gasped as its solid body smashed into his, causing his eyes to widen from shock. He expected the imitation to be defensive with the shield, but using it on the offensive startled him. "You sly devil. It outsmarted me! Wait, Lydia outsmarted me? Can these things even think?" As he tumbled, Asura caught himself, digging his fingers into the ground to anchor himself and stop any further momentum.

Without thinking, Asura raised his left two hands to guard the side of his face. He watched as the angel dispersed, evaporating into a golden flame that rippled along its body. Then, it was gone. However, it wasn't the angel Asura was worried about. In the split second, the angel was formed and struck him; it was enough time for his opponent to return.

Lydia struck Asura's arms with her fists covered with lightning that crackled upon contact. She half expected the block and followed up with a kick up towards his face. The ogre predicted her movements and blocked the kick as well. Asura smiled joyfully, enjoying every moment of this fight,

"We've been through this before on fight twenty-eight! I know you."

The Paladin followed her kick up towards his face with another kick down to the side, trying to strike him again with the ball of her foot. Asura blocked once again, swatting her leg away with his two arms as if it were just an annoyance.

A slight smile perked the corner of Lydia's mouth, and Asura froze. It was too late but he realized his mistake.

"Oh-"

As Lydia's feet landed on the ground, she threw herself forward and tackled Asura's lower body, causing him to fall onto his back.

"Yet, you keep falling for the same old tricks."

She channeled mana into her right arm as she pulled it back. It rippled and snapped, raging across her arm as if she were imprisoning it there. Eager to be released and discharged, it wrapped itself around her arm wildly, ready to pounce on its prey. The golden light left no shadows in the room as it grew, with the mana being poured into her arm, displaying that it would allow no evil to hide or escape its wrath.

Lydia struck, slamming her fist down onto the unprepared ogre's face. As her fist collided with Asura's cheek, golden sparks were shot out, scattering across the floor as if two hard metals collided. The gauntlet of lightning poured forward off her skin into the body of Asura. A loud roaring boom followed after the strike, like thunder following the storm's destruction.

Usually, Lydia would wince in pain, but she found that if she reinforced her fist with her mana, she could endure it enough to strike Asura. Asura's mind went blank for a moment as the lightning shot through his skull, brain, and spine. It traveled down his body like a wave of numbness coursing through his body. He shivered from the pain and groaned. Lydia exclaimed happily as she sat on his chest.

"Let's call it my win."

She comfortingly patted his chest and smiled down at the ogre underneath her. The room started to reform and heal the inhabitants as they sat briefly. Its wounds and blemishes were reconstructed into the clean, polished marble surface. Any signs of their presence were erased, leaving an eerily clean atmosphere in the room.

"You really need to stop letting me win."

"Letting you win? God, I wish... You fucking hurt."

Asura spat out the fire on the ground next to him, like a drunk man spilling out his gut's contents. He groaned again.

"Well, you don't use the spear of Ohriel like you did with Jormungandr, so it means you aren't going all out. You're holding back on me."

Lydia poked his face.

"What do you want me to do? Kill you?"

Lydia shrugged at the thought before rising up off Asura.

"It's better than being let win, in my opinion."

"I think we both know I'm not letting you win. I'd stop getting my ass whooped quite a bit."

"Then use your blessing more!"

Asura threw his hands up, exasperated.

"I can't just sit around and charge up like a television show villain. Sit there like-"

Asura imitated a squatting position and started screaming like a child imitating his favorite superhero. He trusted his arms outward, shaking them as if he were unleashing something powerful.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Hit 'em with the charge beam that they saw coming from four miles away."

From Asura's palms, a weak fire spurt out, flopping onto the ground pathetically. Lydia laughed at his imitation while putting her hands on her hips.

"Okay, fine. I believe you. Let's go for another round. Records thirty-five now."

"Yeah, whatever."

Asura smirked at Lydia. As he stared at the woman preparing for another battle, he found himself desiring never to stop their time together. "Man, these fights are so much fun. Mel's cool, too, but she gets boring after a while. Getting shot is annoying as hell... If only Wain could've stayed and sparred a little... Rose is always busy. Ash is a bitch. Kane, well, poor guy hasn't been doing so hot after the fight. Mary refuses to fight. Lame." Asura thought as he stared off.

As the two prepared to start the battle once again, the massive doors leading into the training room swung open.

"The Captain and Mary want to see you, Asura."

Asura groaned upon hearing Mel's voice, which always irked him like an older sister bossing their little brother around.

"Five more minutes!"

"Do I need to drag you there?"

"But moooooommmmm."

Mel rolled her eyes as she reached for her gun in her holster.

"I'll shoot you. I swear I'll do it."

"And what would that achieve?"

"In the name of Judex Divinum, I'll find a way to end your life. I'll hold you down, shoot a bullet through your eye till it reaches that empty skull of yours. You pee wee-brained moron, I will do everything in my power to bring your corpse there."

Lydia snorted as she sat as a spectator in the war of siblings.

"We can do this later. I have some errands to run before the day ends. Mary will get mad at me if I don't do them soon."

"Fine...... I'm coming."

The ogre hung his head, undesiring to meet with the two serious workaholics. As Asura walked by Mel through the doors, he tossed insults at her.

"Buzz Killer, Ruiner of Fun, Karen the endless asshole-"

"Demon Scum."

"Racist Bi-"

Mel whipped her gun out so fast Asura had no time to react as she pressed the cold barrel against the back of his head.

"Wanna continue?"

"Nah. I'm cool."

The two walked out into the massive white marble hallway, supported by giant polished black stone pillars. Its clean, unblemished appearance always startled him. He always felt like he walked into heaven somehow as he walked through the halls of this cathedral. The air even smelled clean and fresh, as if any unfavorable scents were rejected or exterminated inside the building's interior. "I wonder if it'll shower me for me... Like, delete the scent of sweat off my body." Every time he breathed, his lungs felt healthier than before.

"Look... I know you don't want to deal with her as much as I do. Let's convince the old man to leave together. You and me.

Asura laughed,

"I kinda like it here. Lydia's fun to fight with. It's not creepy and not like a maze like the old cathedral. No creepy ghost hands. Plus, the fact it brings you pain and suffering brings me joy."

"I hate you."

Asura couldn't help but belly laugh at the blunt reply.

"She only nags you, to be honest."

Mel rolled her eyes as she let her head hang back. A depressed sigh rose from her throat as she groaned out,

"Ughhhh. I know. Asshole."

Asura forced a serious tone and puffed out his chest.

"Woah, now, priest lady. You can't be saying such words. It's unbefitting for a woman of your stature! That foul language is not allowed in this household of the Lord!"

Mel laughed, finding Asura's imitation of the captain amusing.

"You should do that to his face."

"He'd kill me."

"I know."

Asura flicked his eyes in her direction for a moment, glancing at her joyful face. "At least she's joking this time... Hopefully."