22 Now, who's the dominant one, huh?

Alex and Alina stayed in their respective positions for around half an hour.

By the time that Alex wondered if his clothes could contain any more water, Alina broke out of their hug.

She let out one adorable sniffle as she wiped her tears away.

"Thank you…" These were the words uttered by Alina before she suddenly disappeared.

Alex let out a sigh, realizing that she went away for real this time.

He then stood up as he dried his clothes with microwaves.

Asteria, who had been watching everything that happened intently, let out a disappointed sigh as Alina left.

"Alex, that's it? You just let her leave? You did not even say anything more?"

"What do you think should I do, huh?" Alex replied angrily as he fixed his clothes. "Alina is feeling sad! I cannot just say some things to her. In this case, just me accompanying her is enough."

"Hmph, what if I am the one in Alina's place? What if I am the one feeling sad? Would you also do that to me?" Asteria asked as she looked around her. "It's not like that will happen anyway…"

"Well knowing you, I will do my best to cheer you up." Alex said as he began to look at his palm.

"I will pat your head, give you cute clothes, and I will also give you lots of honey. Maybe you will feel better if I did those things."

"Hmph! At least you know how to please this queen!" Asteria replied, with her tone sounding less harsh than before.

"Ok… now its time to train again." Alex said as he looked at his clock.

Right now it was 12 Noon, which means that it should be the Ability Training later.

Alex measured his Mental Power, and to his surprise, it permanently increased from 35 to 60.

This increase technically should not happen, since Alex did not do any more training last night.

When Alex inquired Asteria about this, Asteria's only reply was,

"That's the thing that I am talking about to you yesterday. As long as you fight, the cultivation ability that you will use in that fight will also grow."

"Ok, so that means that as long as I fight opponents while using the Esper Cultivation Body, then my Mental Power will grow? And that principle will also apply on other cultivation methods?" Alex tilted his head as he digested what Asteria told to him.

"Exactly." Asteria said as she nodded her head in agreement. "So you better fight many opponents now! The stronger they will be, the faster you will grow!"

After Alex heard what Asteria said, he began to cup his chin as he bit his lips in concentration.

"I have a plan now." Alex muttered as he closed his fists. "I just hope my master will agree."

**********

When Alex came back to Clint's house, he stopped in his tracks as he saw Alina inside the living room.

She's wearing her mask again, and her demeanor was back to the cool and silent Alina that he had always known.

She seemed to be unperturbed when Alex came in, as if what happened to them earlier was already forgotten by her.

"Oh, hi Alina." Alex resisted the urge to hit himself as he realized how nervous his greeting was.

"Umm, hi too, Alex."

"...…"

"...…"

Alina actually sounded nervous too!

Both Natasha and Clint, who heard the awkward exchange, gave Alex leery smiles as if they have already seen through on what happened.

"Sigh..." Alex scratched the back of his head as he gave his master and his wife an admonishing look. But their smiles did not falter, which just shows how thick their faces are.

After seeing what they were doing, Alex let out a sigh as he opened his mouth.

"Master, I need you to fight me." Alex suddenly blurted out, effectively breaking the atmosphere in the house.

Alina almost let out a choke while Natasha almost slipped on the floor.

As for Clint, he did not look surprised at all. He just closed his eyes as he took a deep breath.

"So, it seems like you have discovered it already." Clint said as his eyes looked at Alex with intensity.

"What do you mean discovered?" Natasha tilted her head as she could not fathom what her husband was talking about.

"When I trained Alex two days ago, I discovered that he is a special type of Esper." Clint said as he began to look excited. "Alex actually is a Battle Esper."

"Wow! That is big!" Natasha blurted out as he began to look at Alex with a more… predatory look. "Hehehe, so you are a Battle Espers huh. Hehehe, I can't wait to run some tests on you…"

"What do you mean by a Battle Esper?" Alex mumbled as he tried to ignore everything that Natasha said.

"Well, you can say that Battle Espers are the kind of Espers that grow stronger through fighting." Clint said as he sat down on his chair.

"Unlike normal Espers, who can only get stronger by absorbing Mental Power and strengthening their Esper Ability, Battle Espers can get stronger too by fighting!"

"The more a Battle Esper fights, the faster their Mental Power will grow, and the easier it will be for them to use their Esper Abilities."

"Oh, so that is why I am like that yesterday…" Alex muttered to himself as he remembered about his fight last night.

Alex managed to think of extremely creative ways to defeat and kill his opponents last night.

At first, Alex attributed that from his increased Mental Power. But from the looks of it, him being a Battle Esper was the reason for that.

And with the noticeable increase of his Mental Power last night, Alex was highly sure that he really is a Battle Esper.

He slightly glared at Asteria's direction, as if he was asking for her explanation.

After seeing his glare, Asteria could only let out an awkward laugh as she said,

"Hahaha, your Esper Cultivation Body obviously turns you into a Battle Esper… I should have told you that earlier, but well, you did not ask me…"

Alex resisted a facepalm as he decided to give this naughty fairy some fake honey later.

"Are Battle Espers rare?" Alex asked as he noticed the awed… and nervous looks of everyone in the house.

"They are extremely rare." Clint said with a knowing nod. "However, it's not only their scarce birth rate that is making them extremely rare. There is also the fact that all Battle Espers are battle junkies who are addicted with fighting!"

"Wait, so are you telling me that most of the Battle Espers die because of their addiction to fighting?" Alex inquired as he suddenly felt uncomfortable.

"Exactly." Clint gravely replied as he gave a level stare at Alex. "Most Battle Espers get drunk with their own power that they start to recklessly fight anyone that they want to fight with. This resulted in most of the Battle Espers dying in battle. Those who survived are the truly powerful ones, or those who are sane enough to avoid fighting too much.

"...." Now, Alex could understand why Clint seemed to be worried that Alex was a Battle Esper.

"Will I… be like that too? Will I be addicted to fighting too?" Alex muttered as he looked at his palms.

"Huh? Are you still asking about that? Do you even remember what happened yesterday?" Clint said as he massaged his temple.

"You and Alina could have just thought of some ways to delay the lizard. But instead, what you did was to goad Alina to fight that thing."

"…." No matter which way Alex tried to rationalize his actions yesterday, he knew that something happened to him that night that made him want to fight that lizard.

"It was a good thing that you have that dagger and Alina with you." Clint gruffly said as he stood up from his chair. "If not, then you could have been my second student that died that way."

"Your first student…" Alex talked hesitantly, as if he was trying to find the right words to say. "Was he a Battle Esper too?"

"Yes he is, and he is a fine one at that." Clint said as he closed his eyes. "He is one of the sane ones that can stop their impulse to fight. But one day when he went back to his hometown, something happened there that made him so consumed with so much rage… You should already know what happened after that."

"...…"

"Before I could rescue him, he already died from countless injuries." Clint said as he opened his eyes, which looked a little watery now.

The tiny Natalia trotted towards her daddy, hugging his large frame in order to comfort him.

Clint then looked at Alex as he placed his daughter on top of his head.

"I will not fight you, since that will just feed your raging impulse to fight. If you want to fight someone, you can choose her." Clint said as he pointed his finger towards Alina.

"Alina, are you fine with helping Alex out?"

"Yes." Alina said, much to Alex's surprise.

"Wait, I thought that you will leave this place since the Class S Esper that you are chasing is not here…" Alex suddenly blurted out.

"Do you really want me to leave that much?" Even though it sounded faint, Alex could hear that Alina was hurt by what Alex said.

"No, not at all!" Alex waved his hands in panic as he tried to pacify Alina. "I just think that your job is more important than you babysitting me…"

"And who are you to think about the importance of things?" Alina shot back as she stood up from her seat.

"It will be up to me, Alina, to decide what I want to do. And right now, what I want to do is to train with you. Do you have any complaints about that?"

"No mam." Alex replied quickly as he straightened himself. "No problem at all."

"Good." Alina's silky black hair swished as she gracefully headed towards the basement.

"I will wait for you here in the training room 30 minutes from now. Make sure that you are prepared."

The whole living room was placed into stunned silence, as if everyone just saw the sun rising out of the west.

"...…"

"So Alina is the dominant one huh. I did not expect that you, Alex, is the sub."

Of course only Asteria has the audacity to say these things.