"What was that?"

Amazoness for a split-second saw the shadows of 10 men in Spartan armor just as Acheron's spear slammed down on the ground. She shook her head; she thought the loss of blood must be making her hallucinate.

The wind started to pick up, the sky darkened as gray clouds rapidly encroached on the sky.

'A storm is coming… I should finish this up" Amazoness thought as she looked up the sky.

Amazoness watched as Acheron's happy smile disappeared and was replaced by a face devoid of emotion, the face of a soldier.

Acheron lowered his body, raised his shield along with his spear.

There it was again. As Acheron moved the shadows once again appeared and copied Acheron with precision and uniformity.

Amazoness felt weird, though it was for a split second, she could've sworn she saw those shadows again. She stared at Acheron, he stood there alone and as steady as a mountain.

She could feel a slight pressure coming from him, but she wasn't worried, as far as she could tell, Acheron wasn't using any inner strength. She smiled, she could already envision what was about happen, she would attack, Acheron will block and using her inner strength on her spear, it will penetrate the shield like a hot knife through butter. Acheron will be defeated by that.

She wouldn't mind that, today was already perfect, she would die with a smile on her face.

Amazoness disappeared from where she stood and reappeared behind Acheron, everything seemed to slow down as she aimed her spear at Acheron's back and attacked.

Already sure of her victory, Amazoness wasn't prepared for what happened.

*CLANK*

Instead of Acheron's back, she was now staring at the black shield. The inner strength she was so proud of only left a slight white mark on the shield.

"What the-" Amazoness exclaimed,

But before she could even say anything, the head of a spear was already upon her aiming for her throat.

Startled, Amazoness quickly intercepted the attack with her shield, the force behind that strike was enormous as it sent Amazoness reeling back ten steps.

"Surprised?" Acheron asked as he returned to his initial position, shield up and spear out pointing towards her.

"These were made in the case of Amazons ever learned to use Ki… you wouldn't be able to break this shield even if I gave you 100 years"

"We'll see about that!" Amazoness exclaimed,

Attack after attack, Amazoness tried every angle she could but her attacks were always blocked and countered. If she didn't know any better she would've thought she wasn't fighting just Acheron alone, but a whole regiment of Spartans.

After her last failure, she jumped back and took some distance from Acheron. She looked at Acheron who seemed as steady and immovable as a mountain. She was tired now; her arms and legs were trembling she was on the brink of collapse.

Using inner strength without becoming a Grandmaster took a huge toll on her energy consumption, she could feel herself slowly losing consciousness. She still couldn't figure out how to break through Acheron's defenses.

"You only just started practicing martial arts… Spartans have always used it, what makes you think for the last 2000 years it has stayed the same?"

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Amazoness finally realized and dread started to surface. She thought Acheron's words were logical. If her traditions and history could be passes down, why couldn't the Spartans? What stopped them from adding different techniques from different martial arts that appeared since the fall of Sparta?

"Tai Chi" Acheron stated,

Amazoness looked up,

"Eh?"

"I used Tai Chi's principle of meeting hardness with softness and redirecting your force through my body and back at you… That's why my attacks seemed stronger, I attacked you with your own power" Acheron explained,

Amazoness went to take a step forward, but she faltered and almost fell, she quickly stopped herself from falling with her spear. If she fell now, she wouldn't be able to get back up, she wouldn't have the strength for that.

*Clang* *Clang*

Amazoness looked up to see that Acheron had dropped his weapons. She looked confused, usually, that would mean Acheron had given up but the feeling of suppression that came from Acheron, only got stronger.

"Gauntlets… Fire"

*Fwoosh*

Once again he caught his weapons and put them on. Amazoness had a really bad feeling as she saw those gauntlets on his hands. One that was red as if dyed in a vat of blood, while the other was black as the deepest abyss.

"You have shown me everything you had. You have even surpassed all of the expectations I had from an Amazon. With that, as a gift, I'll show you the peak…" Acheron said,

Acheron willingly let out his fighting intent. Thumping sounds of things falling on the ground could be heard.

"Kya!"

"Fu-"

"Augh!"

"Ahhh!"

One by one those that were hiding quickly fell to their knees, others straight face planted on the ground. Those from Acheron's classroom realized that this was the same pressure they felt on Acheron's first day of school.

Veins bulged all over Amazoness's body, as she struggled to keep herself standing, her entire weight was resting on her spear. She felt like a mountain had been placed on her shoulders.

"Behold, H̴͖͆u̴̧͗m̸̦͘a̴̪͐n̶̨͌!̶̦̒"

A clap thunder rang through the skies.

Acheron raised his gauntlet-covered palm towards Amazoness, while he pulled back the other arm leaving only his index and middle finger sticking out, similar to how he attacked Grandmaster Blue on the rooftop.

Amazoness felt the threat of death but her body wouldn't move, the pressure held her in place. It was already a miracle she was standing; much less be able to move.

'Move! Move! MOVE!!! I have to move, or I'll die!!... I'm going to be killed!!' Amazoness thoughts screamed at herself but it was all futile.

*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*

Acheron's arm blurred as his 2 fingers cut easily through the air, breaking the sound barrier.

Blood burst from behind Amazoness as 4 bullet-sized holes in her arms and legs. Even a small hole could be seen on her shield.

Amazoness slowly collapsed as she coughed up a mouthful of blood.

'Was that inner strength…' was the last thought that ran through her head as lost consciousness.

…

"Hey wake up! It about to rain"

Amazoness felt someone slapping her face. She also felt a cool but itching sensation across her body.

"Am I dead?" Amazoness said as she slowly started to open her eyes.

"Dead? No, I'm not allowed to kill any of the students here"

As she opened her eyes, Amazoness realized that Acheron was the one talking to her. He appeared to be squatting next to her as he spread something across her skin.

"What are you doing?" Amazoness asked softly, she barely had energy.

"What do you think? I'm healing your wounds," Acheron said,

He raised his hand that was holding a small container filled with some blue cream and showed it to her.

"You should be grateful; I sell this life-saving cream I created for 500 million a bottle and here you are getting it for free… Here drink this" Acheron said as he shoved another bottle filled with orange liquid down her throat.

Before Amazoness could say anything, the liquid was forced down her throat. Her inside started to burn as energy filled her body.

She sat up, looking at Acheron incredulously. She didn't such amazing things existed in the world.

Acheron chuckled,

"I'm more than just brawn you know? I have invented lots of things before"

Amazoness just stared at Acheron.

"Here, I'll give you the rest of the cream, you can do the rest of your cuts, I already took care of the major ones. Those should be close completely in about five minutes and don't worry, it won't leave any scars either" Acheron said as he stood up,

Before walking away, Acheron asked,

"What's your real name?"

Amazoness looked up and said,

"Amazoness is my real name now,"

"Okay, what's your parents' name?" Acheron asked,

Amazoness hesitated before answering,

"Joao and Adriana"

Acheron tapped his chin in thought,

"Were they mercenaries? Surnamed, Silva?" Acheron asked,

Amazoness asked wide-eyed,

"How did you know that?!"

Acheron smiled,

"They used to do some work for my family once in a while, but I haven't seen them in like 12 years, I also didn't know Adriana was an Amazon, she hid that very well…"

Amazoness seemed visibly disappointed,

"My parents went missing around that time, I could never find any answers on what happened to them…"

"I can find out for you, but the chances of them being alive after all this time is extremely low…" Acheron said,

"I know, I just want answers" Amazoness replied.

Acheron squatted back down and looked at Amazoness with a cheeky smile.

"You know, your mother told me a story once… about how they came up with their daughter's name," Acheron said teasingly,

Amazoness turned her head, not wanting to look at Acheron.

"How they named her after a comic book Amazon…" Acheron said,

"Isn't that right… Princess Diana?"

Amazoness rolled on the floor as she covered her face that blushed red from embarrassment.

"A fine name, indeed," Acheron said,

"Hii~ Please don't call me that! It is tacky and super lame! Who names their only daughter 'Princess'?! Also, after a comic book character?!" Amazoness said behind her covered face.

"I don't think I will… Princess~" Acheron said teasingly.

"You should go to the infirmary, that energy drink only lasts 30 minutes before you return to your previous state," Acheron said as he started to walk away,

"Wait!" Amazoness called,

"We still need to make babies now that I was defeated and became yours"

Acheron chuckled,

"That's the reason I didn't want this to happen… I can't have kids, I'm infertile." Acheron said,

"Goodbye, Princess"