Chapter 6

"Well, well, well. Getting cocky just because of a bit of a power-up, eh? Suit yourself then."

Upon hearing Arthur's taunting, Tania's hesitation and worries vanished into thin air.

She looked into his eyes for a short while as her tied raven hair danced along the cool and comforting caresses of the surrounding breeze.

"Are we gonna fight or talk?", Arthur smirked, ignored what she had just said, and taunted her further.

Not a second later, she drew and unsheathed her blade- a Xiphos to be exact, from the sheath attached to her waist and pointed it at him.

She was about to lunge at Arthur, wanting to strike first but soon halted in wonder.

'It would probably be a bit boring if he's going to go down immediately. Hmm, what to do...', she wondered as she wanted to motivate him to perform beyond his 'best' and limits.

And it didn't take long for her to come up with something and finally threw a bone at him as she said with a feral grin on her face but with an almost purring tone...

"Tell you what- If you can put even as much as a scratch on me, I'll consider making your fantasies into a reality tonight~."

As she had expected, Arthur's eyes widened as his mouth agape, and spoke after a brief pause, "...So you're willing to lower your standards for this? What changed?"

"I'm craving for a good fight. So I'm gonna need you to get wild and fight with the intent to kill."

She said, shrugging her shoulders, and putting on a frown before proceeding...

"It's kind of getting boring doing the same thing at the same pace every single day. It's making me feel sluggish."

'Must've been the Spartan blood within her.', he thought.

"Right, I almost forgot that you're a muscle-head. Anyway, are you sure that you're not just doing this because you want me to just- you know, relieve your pent-up sexual desire though?"

With glistening eyes and squinted brows, Arthur leered at her. Playfully and purposely fluttering his eyelashes at her and asked.

Deadpanning at Arthur's enthusiasm, Tania couldn't help but roll her eyes at him as she saw Arthur's twinkling eyes and responded sarcastically...

"Hmm... charming. Nice try, though. Anyway-"

"Anyway, I'm so gonna get laid tonight! Mwehehe~"

Arthur interjected Tania before she could finish her words as he exclaimed excitedly while drawing his sword as well.

....

Soon, their duel commenced as numerous and instantaneous sharp, accompanied by dull banging sounds resounded as their steel and flesh finally met...

Bang!

Arthur, with a painful grunt, was thrown several meters back as Tania struck him with a frontal kick after blocking his overhead strike with her blade.

"Heh, Is that all the super soldier serum you've been boasting about has to offer?"

Tania taunted as she looked straight at Arthur's pitifully abused look; all cut and bruised, who was currently on his knee.

He was taking a brief moment of rest with his chest heaving after tumbling, and eating a handful of sand as he had landed.

"Huff~ well, you haven't seen its full capability just yet."

He responded with a smile on his face, stood back up, and came after her- brandishing his sword once again.

Clang!

"And neither have I...", he proceeded.

Unfortunately, his consecutive full-forced combined strikes were all successfully met, blocked, and deflected by Tania before swiftly responding with fierce counters herself.

Despite all that, he came at her as fiercely as their initial clash; Instantaneous sword slashes, punches, kicks, and grapples- he had performed them all.

And regardless of enduring the painful suffering of blade wounds and broken bones all over his body- after being tossed around like a ragdoll for hours, he stood back up again and again.

Twisting and turning his body, striking in different angles and directions, he fought valiantly- though, being valiant wasn't really the exact reason why he persevered.

'Yes! yes! That's it! keep it up! keep my blood boiling!'

As she fought Arthur's heavy onslaught head-on with her own might, she could feel her warrior blood pumping rapidly inside her which made her grin from ear to ear;-

Tania's excitement from the continuous exchange of blows was slowly building up to its peak as she blocked and countered Arthur with equal ferocity- only for her to suddenly decide to step up her game a bit.

....

"Dammit! I lost- not even a scratch! Urghh!"

"There's always a next time, Arthur. Kekeke~."

After a good, rejuvenating bath and a pleasant supper, Arthur and Tania spent both of their time on the balcony while he was brooding over his inevitable disappointing loss against Tania.

"I can't believe that after all that, I didn't even manage to land a hit, much less a scratch.", said Arthur. A bit feeling down after his futile attempt to win against her.

"Well, if it's any consolation, a normal caliber warrior wouldn't last- hmm, past the 20-second mark against you. You're pretty damn strong already!"

Tania responded carefreely after voicing out her honest evaluation regarding Arthur's performance as if wanting to cheer him up.

"Hmm, it's probably because- no, not probably. It's definitely because of the super soldier serum that you can say something like that.", said Arthur in an exasperated tone after smiling wryly.

Tania slightly nodded her head upon hearing what Arthur had just said. She looked at him in an acknowledging tone and spoke...

"Well, as I've said, you're pretty strong already. The only thing you lack currently is an actual experience- by the way, when are we going to start exploring?"

"Hmm, yeah, I guess so. Also, we might be able to start exploring- maybe in the middle of next month? For the time being, I'll just keep on training. You know it isn't exactly safe out there."

"...Fine by me.", responded Tania with a casual shrug and continued to enjoy her drink.

"It might also be the right time to slowly build my own Kingdom."

"Right, let's just do this step by step. For now, do everything at your own pace."

"Got it... Ha~"

Arthur responded before an exasperated sigh escaped his mouth. He slumped back listlessly on one of the couches and laid on his back.

"Hmm?", Tania turned her eyes toward him and assumed that he was still mulling over not winning the bet against her.

'Haa~ Maybe I'll just give him a slight taste to keep his spirits up.', she sighed inwardly.

Coincidentally, his eyes caught Tania's odd gaze, and couldn't help but ask while frowning, "What's wrong?"

Tania didn't respond right away but only flashed a smirk before she began gulping the last drop of her drink and set it aside.

"...Nothing.", she said before she stood up and with a steady gait, strode towards him.

Arthur was a bit weirded out by her and attempted to get himself back up, only for Tania to place both of her hands on his shoulders before pushing him back down again.

What came next made Arthur's eyes bulge out as she mounted his waist and said...

"Consider this a reward for your hard work."

"Wha- what? What's wrong with y-"

"Mhnn~"