As Kyon came to know, Juno’s level of development was the 6th stage of the base phase. She was at the 5th stage only two weeks ago. He was at the 4th stage at the moment but the crucial factor of his development was the stream (the total purity of his elemental keys) which was 900% while Juno’s was only 290%. In general, her talent and purity of her elemental keys were assessed at the high end of the standard with 250%.

«I order... I allow you to attack me without weapons or any other accessories. It's time you learned where you stand in our relationship. I will do that with my own hands, not some magic tricks.» – Kyon said defiantly taking a fighting stance and infusing his body with pure energy.

Juno's eyes lit up with bloodlust.

«You will need more than one lifetime to do it! Die now!» – She resolutely rushed to her former slave, eager to kill him as soon as possible. She had fought with him using only pure energy before. Now she decided to engage her entire arsenal, i.e. to use the element of wind and the dangerous element of the ether.

In fact, Kyon was pretty much concerned about his life and health. He blocked her first blow. As soon as Juno’s little fist touched him, numerous bright sparks flew into his body.

*pam*

Kyon felt a powerful discharge equivalent to the impact of a stun gun. A dull pain pierced his whole body. His limbs stiffened up and shook. Everything turned dark and blurry.

Juno was already secretly celebrating her victory. She raised her fist for the second strike. Her opponent was stunned, the second blow was going to knock him out, and then she would easily finish off the unconscious body. How great that her "master" was an arrogant fool!

«Please, stop!» - Kyon hurriedly blurted out, just in time to dodge from the next discharge.

«You little prick… Arrr… I hate you!» – The girl growled. She sounded like an offended child. To amplify the image she stomped her cute little foot. She was so close! But... The asshole had given an order to defend himself in the nick of time.

«Please, give me the same blow to the chest one more time.» – Kyon said in a slightly trembling voice.

Juno followed his order with a grimace of disgust mumbling something along the lines of a “sick bastard” and “peculiar tastes.”

*pam*

There was another crackling noise.

Electrical currents passed through his body making his hair standing on end. Kyon analyzed the information he got during the sparring. He noticed that pure energy was a universal element. When he used it for protection, the energy lessened the impact of the discharge by about 60%. Pure energy could absorb the attack depending on the power and potential of its owner. It couldn’t weaken the attacker or make the bender’s skin less electroconductive. All these facts brought Kyon to another conclusion. The ether bending is quite dangerous, especially with an advantage in development. The solid ether barrier is a must. It’s a matter of priority among all the ether benders.

Kyon thought things through and concluded that it was pointless to fight with Juno under such circumstances. One mistake and he would lose consciousness at once, even if for a second. There is no guessing, Juno would make sure that he never woke up again... It won’t do. He had to put off his fair victory (and another lesson of manners for his slave girl) until later.

«Please, attack me using only pure energy.»

«You must be kidding me!» – The young lady moaned in frustration and rushed headlong into the attack at a more than double speed. Indeed, she was not that dangerous without the wind and the ether. She would need all her good luck to kill the opponent who was way more skilled in the technique of combat.

Kyon was delighted to discover that his speed of movement was a third faster than of the average person but there was another disquieting question:

{Why am I inferior in speed to Juno? She is faster but the difference in our development is only 2 stages.}

«Аааааh! You’re pissing me off! You’d better stop right now if you’re so scared to fight with me properly!» – Juno shouted in a fury.

Kyon only grinned with contempt. He meticulously questioned her how come she was moving so quickly. Soon he found out (against her will, of course) that the girl had mastered a certain technique of the Stones’ movements. Roughly speaking, she used the pure energy in a unique way, which boosted her movements. It was more effective than infusing the body with energy.

Juno angrily bit her lips until they bled but she had to reveal, under the influence of another order, that any technique of movement, just like any fighting technique, had its own rank: “E”, “D”, “C”, “B”, “A”, “ S ”, where “S” was something unfathomable. It belonged to people's dreams and fantasies, unimagined heights of excellence. The higher the rank, the more powerful and more efficient the technique, respectively. At the same time, it gets more difficult to master. The path to enlightenment is never easy.

It wasn’t for the first time that Kyon had heard about the rank system. Family members, workers, formacists, slaves, investigators, etc. are ranked in numbers, while techniques, formations, medicine, unique bodies and everything that is not connected with people directly and has some physical value are ranked in letters.

Juno said that the Stones technique was of “B” rank. It was a good reason to be proud of. It helped her to win the fight with a practitioner of the same development due to their noticeable lag in speed.

{I’ve barely made the first step on my way to becoming stronger and I already feel the importance of the influence, wealth and experience of the families... And... What shall I do? Should I study the technique of the Stones movements? What if I face an opponent who uses a better technique? There must be another way…}

Kyon decided to create his own movement technique. His masters and various simulations in the past world provided him with a complete package of knowledge about the ideal groups of movements for all parts of the body. He had made a complete analysis of the neurons under the influence of pure energy. Now he could carry out any experiments with the element without any difficulties. His way of mastering pure energy was different from anyone else’s... Anyone could use the elements intuitively, without thinking, without any analysis. It’s like following a certain pre-learned program. But Kyon had taken the basic grade apart totally and completely. Therefore, he knew all the nuances in the smallest details. It was a piece of cake for him to create and master any technique. Kyon decided to take full advantage of his talents.

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In the meantime, he needed to focus on his sparring with Juno to find out what else he was capable of.

Kyon ordered Juno to attack him again. He clenched his fist, infused it with pure energy and at full speed met the little fist of the bloodthirsty girl aiming at him.

*pam*

Two opposing pure energies collided with a quiet pop.

The impact of the counterstrike sent Juno flying one meter away. She squealed painfully clutching at her hand trembling with recoil. Her shocked big emerald eyes stared at Kyon.

«It’s im-impossible... I'm two stages above you... Why then... Why are you so strong?!»

Kyon laughed happily. He was pleased with the result. Only, his body wasn’t fast or strong enough. The maximum level of purity of his keys gave him a significant advantage. He will find later that he was 5 stages above an opponent with the standard purity of keys. With this advantage, he would never lose to someone with equal development! In fact, taking into account the energy he used, he was at the same level as any practitioner at the 9th stage, i.e. five stages above him.

«Why are you laughing?! What’s so funny? I demand explanations!» – Juno exclaimed with displeasure, her hands on her hips.

Kyon wiped away a tear of laughter. He enjoyed so much mocking this arrogant creature.

«Oh, never mind. It’s just… You are a mediocrity, and I am a real genius! Ha-ha-ha!»

Kyon kept pushing her buttons, and Juno could not get over the shock. She was a new rising star in the Stone family. She intended to overtake phenomenally talented Elsa. And she was dragged through the dirt. He called her a mediocrity!

Her pretty face flushed with anger. She couldn’t possibly be weaker than the rootless asshole who was stages below her! She could not! The girl clenched her fists till they hurt and with a fierce roar of an angry tiger cub, she rushed into another reckless attack.

And again two pure energies collided... As a result, the young lady got thrown 5 steps away. Tears of pain and resentment welled up in her eyes. The power of his energy seemed to surpass hers by at least three stages.

Kyon didn’t feel a thing from the collision. He laughed again mocking her.

A gaping hole was growing in Juno’s heart. Her hopes, aspirations, and dreams weren’t worth a penny! All her expectations, assumptions, the claims of her masters that she was a real genius were nothing but a lie. The once insignificant half-dead slave had just defeated her! She could hardly accept the fact that he had become two stages above in two weeks. But to believe that he exceeded her in pure energy?! It was too much.

The haughty lady’s dignity had suffered a major blow once again. It was all because of the vile giggling boy. Confused thoughts were swarming through her head.

{Why? Why?! I... I'm no mediocrity! No no no!}

Juno turned pale from anxiety. The whole world at some point had become her enemy. She suddenly became a slave last night. Now she found out that her “master” exceeded her not only in the “position,” but also in energy that she was so proud of until today!

«Well, well, well. What do we have here? It seems that a talentless little girl wants to surrender and burst into tears?» - Kyon was gloating over her not hiding the cold contempt for his victim.

Juno glared at her torturer with hate and bitterness. Her brain searched feverishly for a way out of this hopeless situation. She must have something up her sleeve... Exactly, her speed! It was time to use the special family technique and win. Otherwise, she would never forgive herself for this crushing defeat.

Juno rushed headlong into the battle.

Kyon chuckled in amusement. {She is not a complete fool, after all. And not a crybaby... She could swallow her humiliation and even found strength for further resistance. I thought she was going to break down.}

When Kyon tried to attack her like the last time, she briskly jumped aside from the line of his strike. She understood perfectly well that she couldn’t afford one more collision. She would get her hand badly injured. She was dodging Kyon’s blows for the first time. She always used her usual aggressive style based on a fierce attack.

Even the pattern of her movements had noticeably changed. She became more flexible. The balance of her body improved with the help of the wind going around her slender body. Juno used the wind for protection, which added to her blow half of the battle fist.

And yet, Kyon’s fist reached its goal a moment later. A sharp pain pierced her side.

Her invisible translucent barrier of the ether cracked and then burst. Juno flew a meter aside.

Juno’s pride suffered another wound but she managed to dodge and stand on her feet. It wasn’t too easy to avoid that blow. The proud lady took a breath and rushed into a new attack with a fervent roar. It was a message to the smiling boy that she was not going to lose.

Kyon immediately realized that she decided to interpret his order literally. His restriction to attack with the wind and the ether didn’t mean she couldn’t defend herself. Indeed, her quirky mind had found another loophole in his order. He had to be careful and give more clear orders. However, he decided to allow her to block his attacks with the help of the elements. It was pointless to fight with a completely helpless victim.

About ten minutes of sparring, that looked more like a fight to the death, had passed.

It looked so only to Juno, though. As for Kyon, he had missed out on all the drama and it wasn’t hard to see why. When the golden-haired beauty raised her slender bare legs in silver sandals, her short gray skirt immediately lifted up and revealed exquisite snow-white underwear to his eagle eyes. Kyon thought at some point that the girl was using a smart mental attack. This kind of show would spurt a bloody fountain out of Yegorka’s nose.

He had an urge to recklessly pounce on the cutie, passionately grab her in his arms and bite her to death for the slender curves of her captivating figure, for the pleasant and exciting aroma of her heated body, for her graceful body movements...

It was weird. He had never had such acute and obsessive desires before, not to mention discomfort during the battle. However, he found a logical explanation for it. Until recently, his life was constantly hanging by a thread. It could end at any moment. Now everything was different. He had become the only master of his destiny. There was no pressure from the outside, and his feelings found a way out. He had to keep in mind that he still needed to consolidate his hold on power in the mansion. The former master of mankind was not going to ruin the hard-won results with trivial self-indulgence. Even though let’s face it, he really wanted to.

However, the seductive cutie did not even notice the way the boy was looking at her. His eyes darted all over her body when she was doing spinning back kicks, somersaults or backflips. If only the naive girl knew that her bottom in sexy tight panties was better and way more effective than her most sophisticated fighting techniques... But alas, the only thing that concerned Juno was her victory. She was eager to defeat her powerful opponent in a fair fight because she wanted to make sure she would never have to experience the humiliating events of the previous night.

Kyon wasn't going to give up. The fight was not over yet.