9 Spar

Mera was eyeing crouching Ink who was looking like a tiger who just got stepped on its tail without any bloodlust around him.

"Fearless cub indeed!" Mera shouted with a small smile before rushing in front of Ink, kicking up with her right leg, aiming at Ink's chin.

Ink pushed with his right hand off the ground and Mera's foot missed his chin by a small margin.

"Heeh" Mera already anticipated his move so she brought her leg down immediately, trying to axe kick him. Just like Mera, Ink also anticipated that she would want to take advantage of her first attack as she didn't attack him with the intention to actually hit him. Between her first and second attack, he had more than enough time to regain his balance and dodge backward.

*Bang!* The ground made out of some stone slabs got pretty wrecked upon the contact with Mera's heel. This commotion made a few more maids arrive at the scene of their spar.

"Not bad, for a man!" Mera jumped towards Ink once again, not letting him take any breather. What was coming next was the barrage of Mera's fists and palm attacks at Ink's weak points that are usually hard to defend.

"I like to think of myself as a boy but thank you for the compliment boss, I guess..." Ink calmly replied while redirecting most of the punches to the side with his own palms. Not daring to clash with her head-on.

"Ha! Playing a word game despite being under constant attacks. At least I admire your sense of humor in such a serious situation. You aren't boring like Daniel."

---

"What is going on Me-... Mera-sama?" A young woman with green eyes and shoulder-long blonde hair arrived at the place running in a maid outfit. There was one more girl who arrived with her who looked more petite and most importantly, she had 4 arms.

"What is going on? Why is Mera-sama bullying that child? What is he even doing here?" The petite girl with purple eyes and long purple hair tied in two pigtails asked with a confused expression.

"This is hardly bullying. He isn't returning any attacks most likely because of my earlier words not because of not being able to retaliate. My disciple isn't that weak, Gilberda, Cassandra!" Babara said before turning at two maids that just arrived with a vicious smile, bloodlust subconsciously surrounding her body.

"O-Oh, miss Babara...We apologize, we didn't know he is yours-" Blonde-haired woman named Gilberda said with an awkward smile however before she could say more, she was stopped by Babara waving her hand, indicating that it doesn't matter. Cassandra just quietly bowed to Babara as a greeting.

More than 5 people already began spectating the "spar" between Babara's newest disciple and their young leader.

---

Ink continued redirecting all of Mera's attacks and those that were too hard or impossible to redirect, he dodged perfectly. Suddenly, the barrage of Mera's fists and palms stopped and she let Ink retake some distance between them.

"You are getting slowly tired but I guess that's given after facing so many attacks. You must be also mentally exhausted from reading all of my attacks and the pressure of possibly being wrong. I just realized that you and I share some similar skills. I don't like it...It almost feels like fighting against my younger, inexperienced self." Mera said with a serious expression and her words caused quite an uproar among the maids that were watching the "spar" and Gilberda together with Cassandra weren't the exceptions that caused them to look at Babara with questioning gaze.

Babara in return just glanced at them with a cold smile.

"You read my attacks from my expressions and look in my eyes, right? However...what will you do if I do this?" Mera said and an indifferent expression appeared on her face with her eyes becoming completely dull and unreadable.

'...' Ink only lightly narrowed his eyes upon seeing this chance. He no longer could even feel the strong presence she was previously giving off. Right now, she was looking like a normal young woman, without any indication of her being a deadly assassin.

"Mera-sama now has similar look on her face as Ink..." Taeko muttered, unconsciously tightly pressing her sword against her chest.

"Hm? So his name is Ink? He is giving Mera-sama quite a challenge if she has to go that far..." Cassandra said quietly.

"Let's not forget that Mera-sama isn't using her entire strength or she would have defeated that small guy in a matter of seconds. Still, he is quite talented for being so young. He must have had his share of small fights even before becoming miss Babara's disciple..." Gilberda said with an excited smile.

Upon hearing her words, Babara's smile just widened, however she refrained from saying anything.

---

Mera no longer waited for Ink to recover his stamina and she rushed in front of him, thrusting her hand at his face at a much faster speed than before. To tell the truth, her attacks didn't become faster, Ink just had trouble reading her attacks.

'Her nails...' Ink quickly tilted his head to the side when he saw the nails a few inches away from his face. He dodged her attack but she still managed to make a shallow cut on his cheek.

However that wasn't the end of her attacks and she immediately connected her first attack with the swipe of her leg, hitting Ink under his ribs with her shin.

Ink was sent flying a few meters, spitting some blood, however, he quickly got up from the ground and was once again calmly watching Mera who was now frowning at him.

"Are you sure you can continue?" Mera asked with a light smile.

"I don't feel like that kick caused internal bleeding. None of the bones broke, there is nothing holding me back from continuing." Ink said however he noticed Babara looking at him strangely.

"Don't just be on defense! Do you want to embarrass me in front of everyone? What I have been teaching you all those years? Is this the way you fought when you asked to personally spar with me?!" Babara shouted with a stern expression.

"advisor Babara...?" Mera muttered, looking at Babara with a surprised expression. She was getting worked up a bit too much. In Mera's eyes, Ink already passed her test even if she hated it. She hated that he is relying on similar skills to hers but she had to admit that it's a good thing for the organization.

"...But you said that I shouldn't use it in regular spars" Ink relaxed his posture a bit and turned towards Babara.

"I said you shouldn't use it while sparing with Taeko. Your opponent is much stronger this time, feel free to go all out." Babara said with a small smile.

Seeing her smile, Ink felt like he has to go all out even if he wouldn't want to. He wondered what is that feeling.

"...Then I will resume our spar, leader" Ink closed his eyes for a few seconds before opening them, he got into a crouching position and said to Mera.

"Hmph, come" Mera wondered what changed about Ink but she refused to believe that he would be able to best her in hand-to-hand combat.

Ink kicked off the ground with his right leg and quickly arrived in front of Mera. His speed didn't change that much but he indeed became a bit faster however Mera already expected this and when he arrived, a fist was already sent his way.

Next thing that happened completely surprised Mera... Ink completely ignored her fist flying towards him and he kept staring at her bare neck with his dull eyes before thrusting his hand towards her neck while placing his other arm on the guard against her fist.

"You-!" Mera's eyes widened upon seeing how he decided against dodging her attack as usual and instead went for a "kill" for the exchange of his arm.

Mera quickly retracted her fist and brought both her arms to defend her neck. After blocking his vicious attack, she jumped back a bit to have some time to think about what just happened to Ink, however, he didn't let her retreat and followed right after her, and this time he started his own barrage of his attacks, all aimed at her vital points. Mera couldn't do anything else other than defending because Ink wouldn't stop even while facing the threat of getting hit.

Mera began gritting her teeth and started becoming impatient under Ink's relentless attacks. It was right at that moment when she started feeling impatient, some of Ink's attacks started connecting with her body even if only a little but her clothes started becoming tattered.

"Enough!" She knew that if this were to continue, she would get overwhelmed. When Ink's kick almost connected with her abdomen, she suddenly disappeared and Ink's intuition kicked in, swiping his arm behind him only to see Mera moving her head back a bit with widened eyes to dodge Ink's hand that managed to cut some hair from her side bangs.

"WHAT?!" All maids exclaimed after seeing how Ink almost landed hit on Mera who decided to end this "spar" with all her strength.

Mera narrowed her eyes and used this chance when Ink's attack missed. She kicked him into his waist and he was sent flying, bumping right into the wall, coughing out blood, but before he could even land on the ground, Mera appeared in front of him catching him under his neck, keeping him above the ground pressed against the wall.

"That's enough..." Babara announced after seeing that Mera had to resolve the spar with her superior strength instead of her techniques.

Mera looked at Babara before directing her gaze at Ink's face to take a good look at him once more.

"?!" Her eyes widened when she felt his hand near her neck. Even in this situation, when she became distracted for a split second, he made use of it. However what shocked her, even more, was his face.

His eyes were half-open due to pummeling but he was still wearing a blank expression while blood was running down his chin.

*Bam* She let go of his neck and let him fall down on the ground before turning around.

"Gil, Dora, call Daniel and tell him to take care of him, treat his wounds, show him around and assign a room to him." Mera said towards Gilberda and Cassandra.

"Y-Yes, Mera-sama" Two of them were still a bit shocked from this "spar" but they quickly replied.

"...What was your name again?" Mera stopped and turned at Ink who was slowly getting up while checking his wounds.

"I go by the name Ink" Ink calmly replied.

"Hmm, welcome to Oarburgh, Ink. But don't you dare touch my cute girls! You can keep Babara if you want." Mera said with a "stern" expression before mentioning Babara while winking at Ink who looked quite confused by her words.

"You FOOL! What are you teaching him?!" Babara immediately started shouting at Mera who in return quickly disappeared.