Each On Their Own 3

After finishing a long game filled with the fragrant scent of a cutely humming Kokomi, Lu went to his next location.

This time, though, he did the smart move and observed the place first before swapping with the puppet.

"Yo, Princess! Missed me~?" The deity smirked at the sweaty lady.

The exercise Puppet No. 4 manages is the duel section. It's pretty much a straight forward sparring dojo.

"Would've been better if you did not interrupt my training." Ayaka snarkyly replied.

"You did not answer my question though..." She looked so done with him already.

"Well, let's sit down first. Think of it as a break before we continue." Lu sat down in a cross-legged position comfortably, and Ayaka followed.

"Where are we again? I was too enamored by your beauty that I forgot~." He teased.

"The exercise... You should come up with a better line next time." She berated, but judging from her smile, she was clearly in a better mood now.

"Right! A duel, a spar, or whatever you call it. It's one of the simplest way to gain experience and get stronger. But the most important thing from it is to improve your instincts." Raiden-Sensei started his lecture once more. No adjustments this time though.

"There are a lot of ways to get stronger, but not much to sharpen one's instincts. It's something engraved into each person, yet you can only bring the best out of it when one is in peril. I rely most of the times on my gut feeling, you know?" He smirked.

"If your gut feeling tells you to woo a woman every second, then I believe it's better for it to be nonexistent in the first place..." Ayaka let out a disturbing smile.

"Hahaha! I didn't you have a good sense of humor, Ayaka. It's impossible to remove someone's instincts. The thing's pretty much implanted in your soul." Lu chuckled.

"Fufufu~. So it's somewhere hidden in the soul. Good to know..." She replied in her usual icy tone.

"W-Wait-!" He exclaimed as he blocked a swift slash from her.

"Tch! You have impressive instincts, Lu~. I'm more invested in the lesson now..." A sadistic Ayaka stated while placing her face near the blade like a crazy slasher.

"Are you mad, woman?! You could have slashed your teacher in half if you succeeded!" Lu scolded, then, readying his slightly numb fist.

"That was my intention, Lu~, Was it not obvious enough?... And yes... I am currently mad." Ayaka said as she summoned another element to compliment her cryo abilities.

Lu hurriedly equipped his training gloves, and was immediately welcomed by a thundering entrance. She was faster than Kuki by that change alone.

"Chill, milady!" He tried to calm her down by copying Thoma. But it didn't work as she connected one slash after another. With a real sword, if it ain't obvious yet. Meaning, it could be fatal if it lands.

"But still... I was surprised that you picked electro out of all things. I thought hydro would fit your style more." Lu said as he dodged most of them, parrying the inevitable ones with the tougher parts of the gloves.

"It would only be redundant. My brother would most likely pick that combination once he got used to it." Ayaka explained, but not giving him time to recover from her onslaught.

"Focus on my blade, Lu. I think I'm feeling something... Who knows? Maybe it's the intuition your blabbering about..." The princess said with a sadistic smile.

(That's probably the wrong one, milady!!!)

***

"Phew! Now, I can finally have fun. Right, partner?" He sighed to his comrade, Puppet No. 5, after escaping hell, which is a sadistic woman's wrath.

"You're finally here, you bastard! Deactivate that toy of yours so I can kill you!" An angry shinobi shouted at the top of her lungs, then threw two electro daggers at him. Naturally, it didn't do much.

"Greetings, my lovely secretary~. How was your day?" Lu tipped his invisible fedora.

The fifth and last exercise. The obstacle course, or to be more specific, 'Dodge everything the puppet throws at you' course...

"You better pray until this run is done!" Kuki glared at him as she dodged a giant ax.

"Damn, that looks fun as hell! Let me take over, partner." He whistled as he took the puppet's place.

"Lu... That's way too many even for me." She pleaded, after seeing the deity pull out a lot of things from his secret stash.

"Exercise No. 5 - Just Dodge. Another straightforward test. All you need to do is dodge, how hard can it be?" Lu smirked, a lot of floating objects right beside him. At least not all of them are deadly weapons...

"Rot in hell!!!" Shinobu cursed as she summoned the anemo element to boost her speed more, even floating occasionally to dodge the incoming barrage.

"Anemo and Electro this time, aye? Swirl it, Kuki! Swirl it!" The deity attempted to motivate her.

"Huh?! What the hell do you mean?!!!" The confused shinobi retorted.

"Swirl it, dear Kuki. Like this..." Lu smirked as he formed a spiral for the next wave. Spoons, chairs, even cupcakes, he has it all! It's like he brought out the entire kitchen or something!

"Fuck you!!!" Kuki intuitively learned to combine the two elements, and started darting all over the place. She wasn't able to come out unscathed, though.

"Whoa there, lady! Tone down the profanity for a bit. You're scaring me~..." He teased, and was successful. Since the angry shinobi got distracted and was hit. Bullseye!

"Argh... What even was that?..." The deity gave the dizzy Kuki, a break after that direct hit.

"Something called a piano from Fontaine, probably an instrument or something." Lu shrugged.

"An instrument is meant to be played, not thrown as a weapon!" She retorted.

"I heard of a man who reached the top by practicing piano and calligraphy... I thought smacking it at you would be more effecient." He smirked at the annoyed Kuki.

"You make no sense at all!" Shinobu remarked.

"Tell me something new~." Lu said playfully.

"You should prepare yourself now, the next wave is ready." He warned.

"Tch! I really hate you..." Kuki said in a disgusted tone.

"I love you too." Lu blatantly said. Flustering, even the most stone-faced of his five students.

"So does this friends of mine~." He added, as he readied the greatest wave yet. There were at least a hundred of them...

"You're an awful teacher..." Was all the shinobu could say

"Kuhahahaha! Gate of Babylon!" The madman laughed.

***

Bonjour!

Gimme all them powerstones! We reached Top 175 overall last week.

So if we surpass 170 this time, I'll upload a bonus chapter at the end of the week.

After that would be one chapter per 10 ranks.

Powerstones aren't rare, but there's a lot of good shit out there, so I want to reward you guys for giving it to my work. Thanks as usual!

Ayo, Chill! It reached beyond 120 earlier, and that's 6 total chapters if it stays. I'm grinding for more Arcueid so give me some time!

Just Kidding! Keep them all coming, and I'll gladly pay back!

***

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Adios!