Two trails of light ran in a circle.

Karteira and Orion began to warm up. Karteira, running at a speed impossible to see by the naked eye, and Orion, who mixed the power of the Second Gear to boost himself, and the flight ability of his angel form, watched closely each other.

After training for a month with her newly obtained magic, Karteira turned to be a natural at using it. Her sight rapidly adapted to the fast-moving scenery, and before long, she began to form combination moves to make it a deadly art.

Though, until now, she had nothing but practice to show off. Without an opponent, it was difficult to judge how far she improved.

This fight would end up being the best proof, which strengthened her desire to display what she was capable of.

Once both of them judged the moment to be ripe, they lunged at each other. In bright trails of light, they bumped into each other, before stopping.

"Good! That's perfect, Karteira!"

"Thanks you!"

Orion was holding her fists with his hands on both sides. She had tried to punch his chest from both directions, thought, he easily managed to protect himself.

They broke away after exchanging a few words, and clashed again after running in another direction.

This repeated a few times, before they both came to stop.

Karteira blocked Orion's knee-kick with her elbow, and slid backward a few meters away. Since he wasn't putting his whole strength into it, she ended up suffering no damage.

In the blink of an eye, she had returned in front of him, leaving a dust cloud at the place she was standing previously.

With a lunging punch, she aimed for his face. Her arm changed into her 'Cerulean Armor' form, which enveloped that part with a layer of thick plating. Seeing her fist coming at him in slow-motion, Orion crouched and grabbed her arm.

He punched her stomach, while lifting her up at the same time. Karteira already reacted to his speed and protected herself with her thick defense, and simply flew over him without feeling the hit.

While still grabbing on her arm, she made a large circular motion over him before being released.

She switched her center of gravity in midair and managed to recover without crashing to the ground, making her fall less dangerous.

After a crouched slide, she glared at Orion and attacked his back with a wide sideways kick that came even faster than her lunge.

Before being hit, Orion's wings flapped. She barely saw him rotate his body on her left side, retaliating before she could finish her attack.

Going for a swipe, he aimed for the leg supporting her. But she wasn't an easy target anymore. Karteira stopped her kick from following his path, before folding her leg inward. Then, maintaining her posture, she jumped forward using the leg that Orion was aiming for, and rolled on the ground.

Orion's kick grazed the ground at a very fast pace, capable of breaking someone's ankle just from the sheer strength of his kick.

They both looked at each other with a wild smile on their faces.

"This is fun. What about you?"

"It's only beginning. Don't get tired too quickly."

With that said, they both disappeared from their spot, leaving a blinking afterimage of themselves.

The sounds of kicks and punches echoed around them, as more and more dust elevated over the ground from their frantic movements.

'Time to put the heat on!'

Reading herself, Karteira finished warming up, and began to push Orion back little by little.

Now that she had wrapped herself around his speed, she was ready to go all out.

Seeing that her expression had switched to being more serious, he prepared himself.

'She's got more to show off? Bring it on!'

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Both of their fists crashed into each other, creating a shockwave that flattened the poor grass around them close to the dirt.

Karteira broke away first, jumping backward to make some distance. She exhaled all the air in her lungs, and inhaled a fresh batch of air.

Her body was sweating profusely, which was her main characteristic during battle. She could turn this sweat into steam when wearing her plate armor, and use a plethora of incredible attacks.

"Don't blink."

The moment she spoke, Karteira crashed into him at a speed that even Orion couldn't see.

Seeing her knee sink into his stomach, he endured the sudden pain, before flying backwards rapidly.

He immediately protected his body with his arms, and tried to see around him.

A punch came from his right at the same speed as before.

"Kh!"

Bending his knees backward, he barely avoided being punched, Though, he managed to catch a glimpse of Karteira as she moved in front of him, before vanishing once again around him.

'This is impressive. She hid this from me!'

A sadistic smile on his face, Orion couldn't hold his excitement.

Karteira, who usually showed her training to him while he was recovering, had, in fact, perfectly hid her true potential.

Clad in a pure white armor of plates, like a knight in shinning armor, Karteira had switched to her 'Cerulean Storm' form, the same one which uses the steam boosters.

Not only was she able to move at an incredible speed with the light magic, she had managed to go even faster with the help of her steam boosters.

But this took a considerable toll on her mental endurance. It was painful to move this fast, and it forced her eyes to process a ton of information instantly.

She already knew how bad the headache would be after using it, but she didn't care. Impressing Orion was her goal right now, which she definitely managed to do.

Thinking about making some distance between them, Orion kept falling toward the ground, before placing his hands on the ground. He lifted both his feet above him, and was about to launch his body further back.

Though, Karteira returned before he could. She went for a kick directly aimed at his chest. Pushed with the whole burst of steam possible, her leg closed in before Orion could move or protect himself.

'Damn it!'

Instinctively, he activated the Fourth Gear, proceeding to block her kick with his leg.

Orion went flying a few meters above ground, while Karteira ended up being pushed away.

Flapping his wings to recover his balance, Orion held his hands above his head and descended toward the ground.

"I've lost."

"Why?"

Shocked, Karteira immediately stopped moving, her armor retracting to her wrists and ankles. Her body was so sweaty it was glistening. Salt crystals even formed here and there from the evaporating sweat.

Steam was forming above her head, too, showing how taxing this power was on herself. Still, she was alright, with no traces of internal injuries, or traumas.

This made Orion relieved, as he thought this would cause some sort of damage to her. Once he touched the ground, he returned to normal.

"I used the Fourth Gear. Since you've forced me to defend using it, it's my loss."

"Oh. Haha~"

With a satisfied laugh, she dropped to the ground and laid on the grass.

Orion also smiled and joined her while limping slightly. She looked at him with a worried expression.

"Your leg..."

He sat next to her and moved the right leg part of his jeans and revealed a red spot with blue undertones.

"It's broken. Even with my full power, you still destroyed my best defense without suffering any kind of damage."

With his light magic enveloping his hand, he began to massage his hurting leg.

"I see. Still, I'm sorry. I had no idea it was this powerful. If I had known, I wouldn't have aimed for your chest."

While shaking his head, he removed his hand from his leg and placed it on her arm instead.

"If I had been in danger, I would have warped instead. You don't have to be sorry. Now, relax."

She closed her eyes, feeling her fatigue and the building headache rapidly vanishing, as if they were never here to begin with.

"You still have other tactics, do you? I haven't seen you use your stinger or tail a single time during our fight."

"Well... yes. I can use my tail swipe, and then kick afterward. The problem is, I fear my tail won't hold if I use it too many times."

Sitting back up, she touched her tail behind her back.

"Same for the stinger. If I move too fast, and it is still inside the enemy, I could risk snapping it in half. I would rather not suffer crippling pain, especially during a life-or-death situation."

Orion nodded.

"This is training. I'm lucky enough to be able to train with you after so long."

With a disgusted expression, she scrapped the salt stuck on her body.

"Pff! I need a shower."

"Let's go home then."

He removed his hand from her arm and stood up. Orion was still fine, even after moving so much. His stamina was out of this world, making him unrivaled during battle. He wasn't even exhausted.

Karteira's stamina was also pretty well-developed. She had around 1/3 of his total endurance. This was plenty enough to battle in her current state for four days before showing the first signs of fatigue, if water and food wasn't considered in the equation.

Their fight took less than thirty minutes, yet, they were both satisfied. Orion enjoyed his first tough training session in a while, and Karteira showed what she was capable off.

"You've improved so much it's difficult to acknowledge that this is the same Karteira I trained in the rain before our little expedition to rid Tiohr-nam of the corrupted eating at her roots."

"Stop, you'll make me blush."

With a small smile, Karteira looked at him.

"You haven't changed, though. Always striving to get better. Always pushing yourself forward, even under intense pressure."

"That's what I love the most about you. Without you, these little training sessions would turn bland. I'm glad you're here with me today."

She felt a tingly feeling in her heart, seeing his genuine smile. Without listening to her inner voice, she moved toward him, placed her hands on his chest, and kissed him.

"Mha~ I'm glad, too. Without you, I would still be a mindless woman, chasing after strength for no reason."

After pushing herself away, she walked away, before glancing at him.

"Going home?"

Orion smiled, and nodded.

"Going home."

Opening a portal, both of them returned home, before hurriedly walking to the changing room, thanks to Amelia saying that they smelled awful.

Later, Orion knocked on the door of Stella's room. It was time to go to the beach, as promised.