Chapter Five

I did a hundred sit ups, push ups and squats for three weeks, then by the fourth week Henry added fifty more. A hundred was hard enough but 150 was borderline torture but still I complied and as same as before by the fourth week fifty more then the next then the next till it reached five hundred.

After the horrible sweat inducing exercises, he made me do combos with weights on my ankles and wrists, I swear the man is hellbent on killing me. This would have been easier if I could reinforce my body with mana but I did that mistake once and as punishment he made me added a hundred more reps to my training regime that day he also blocked my core to prevent me from cheating.

Blocking someone's core is dangerous if the person isn't skilled, Henry is a crackpot but he is skilled so it just felt like a fat man was sitting on my chest but one thing that made this whole thing worthwhile was as we trained Henry never took a sip of beer not even once, this was the longest anyone has ever seen him sober.

Ten months with no alcohol, I didn't think he had it in him but though I complain about the exercises I have to admit the results are more than amazing, my chest, abs, shoulders, biceps, triceps you name it, they have all grown tremendously in size if I didn't have my mana core then my body transformation wouldn't have been possible.

Let me explain since I formed my body can now store mana thanks to my core, the mana in my body speed up my healing and the more my core levels up the better the healing. So while I train my muscles recover faster than normal hence the rapid growth in my physique. Nothing remarkable happened this past few days but today Henry stopped me from my training you know the basic punches, elbows, knees and kicks.

"Raiden I think its time we sparred a little, you know test your knowledge and application on what I've been teaching you," Henry said, at first I was nervous but the thought of maybe being able to punch him made me excited.

"sure why not." I said.

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Henry gave Raiden one of his old training outfits, the outfit comprised of a slightly tight grey polyester shirt with two black stripes, one on each side of the ribs and one at the forearms of the sleeves, the pants was grey and made of the same material as the shirt but unlike the shirt it had no stripes and it wasn't really tight or loose it was just right. Raiden kept stretching himself partly because of the shirt but mostly because of the anxiousness he felt for the upcoming sparring match.

"Raiden step forward," Henry ordered his voice holding his long forgotten authoritative tone. Raiden stepped closer to Henry, the space between Henry and Raiden was one foot.

"take a bow, to show respect to your opponent." Raiden took a bow and so did Henry, this was commonly done in most martial arts.

"now fighting stance, good, and as your teacher I will allow you the first thr..."

Before Henry finished what he was Raiden had already attacked him with a tornado kick, this was a kick that requires one to spin and jump in order to land it, but luckily Henry had managed to raise his right arm and he guarded his face against that kick.

But Raiden had anticipated that which was why he did not put much power into the tornado kick, he did a Brazilian kick which managed to slide down Henry's forearm and then he managed to twist his foot in a direction that it would hit Henry in his rib.

Henry leaned back which made Raiden's kick whished past Henry, Raiden landed with his ribs facing Henry, Henry threw a jab at it and to Raiden's misfortune the punch landed or did it?

In that split second Raiden managed to lock Henry's arm under his armpit, he twisted his body and grabbed Henry by his arm then he managed to throw him over his shoulder. Henry landed with his feet first but his body didn't budge. To Raiden it felt like he was leaning on a sturdy bench Raiden raised an elbow and was about to slam it down on Henry's face.

Henry placed his hand on the ground and turned his body just when the elbow was about to land, he then punched Raiden in a weak point on his thigh making Raiden drop down on his knee.

Henry then took a quick step away from Raiden, "okay brat almost had me there but you have to.."

Raiden tried to sweep Henry but Henry simply raised his foot, Raiden jumped up and threw a couple jabs and hooks at Henry but Henry was dodging them all, Raiden grabbed him by the collar of his shirts and tried to throw him over his shoulder again but he didn't budge.

"times up, my turn," Henry said as soon as the words left his mouth, Raiden felt a pressure he never ever felt in his life. One word that could be used to describe the feeling was dread and malice.

The back of Raiden's knees had been kicked which made him fall to his knees leaving Henry's collar, Henry grabbed Raiden by his chin and pulled his face back, Henry had raised his arm up and as soon as Raiden's face was punchable he dropped his fist.

Raiden managed to block it but the force of the punch sent him falling down on his back, his back hit the ground with enough force to make him spat blood.

'he didn't even use mana how strong is he?' Raiden thought.

Henry grabbed him by his shirt and tossed him aside but he didn't stop there while Raiden was still in the air, He rushed to him and pushed him to the ground with his hand on his chest. He then picked him by his left foot and carried him in the air with it, he slammed him back to the ground like a toy.

Raiden's back was bruised and bleeding, his face was scrunched up in pain but Henry didn't look like he was stopping, so Raiden did what he could he did a sweep kick which managed to knock Henry off his feet.

He rolled away and he stood up, he raised his arms but as soon as he did, Henry raised his foot which landed on Raiden's chin, Raiden stumbled back his eyes shut in pain, Henry then landed three kicks on Raiden one on his thigh, then his ribs then finally his head.

Suddenly Raiden had a sound he would never forget, it was a crackling sound, Raiden opened his eyes and saw Henry's fist covered with lightning, he opened his palm and was about to place it on Raiden's forehead.

"no stop!" Raiden shouted he had instinctively placed his arms over his face.

Suddenly the entire area was filled with silence, the crackling of lightning was slowly dying down, Raiden removed his arms from his face and in front of him stood a shocked Henry.

Henry was staring at his hand as if he was in disbelief, he couldn't believe that he was about to fry Raiden over a sparring match.

"leave," Henry said his eyes still focused on his hand but Raiden didn't move.

"I said leave!" Henry yelled at the top of his voice.