Chương 305: Instructor Mara

"You see, Rosie… There's a bit of a paradox in how to deal with an enemy who's greatly afraid of you. You'll have to deal with that a lot due to your aura of terror, so listen carefully… A scared adversary is simultaneously at their weakest and strongest. I could mention technical stuff, such as their adrenaline peaking, or panic, making them forget basic things…"

"... However, I am more so talking about a prey-predator dynamic. A prey consumed by fear will either behave exactly as you would expect, or it will do nothing like it is supposed to do. Such as a cornered rabbit deciding that it might as well try to bite the damned face of the fox pursuing it, do you see what I mean?" Rose nodded her head.

"Then, what do you need to do when pursuing a terrified prey, Rose?"

"If I cannot distinguish between the prey being an easy pick or the kind that will try to fight back against all expectations, then I should exert as much prudence as possible, and defeat the prey quickly without giving it the chance to do anything""Exactly. We'll be practising this in real situations soon, so keep it all in mind, alright?" I instinctively went to ruffle her hair. It had now been more than a week since she had woken with her new powers, and I was doing my best to teach her every day.

Usually, it would be a group session with my little sisters and daughter, as I wanted everyone to know each other and to get along, but today it was just Rose. The others were familiarising themselves with Mari and Leou instead.

My girlfriends were doing their absolute best to become a proper part of the family, but while they were doing well with Xlown, they had quickly realised that things were fine with my adorable clown daughter because she was a proper young woman with whom they could speak without any problem whatsoever. Meanwhile… My ghostly little sisters included some young girls, and it had been obvious on the first meeting that Leou struggled with children.

On the other hand, Mari had worked at an orphanage and was thus familiar with children of all ages, including problematic ones. However, she struggled not because she couldn't connect with them, but because she was Mari, and would very easily short-circuit whenever my girly pops would call her by an endearing nickname or such.

Since they were my little sisters, their go-to way to refer to both Mari and Leou was 'auntie', and it seemed like direct acknowledgement that she was part of the family was enough for Mari's heartbeat to become uncontrollable. I appreciate her enthusiasm, but I do hope that she learns to get used to it. As for Coco… The phantomatic murder machine could somehow get along with anyone, and before I could say anything, he had already sworn an oath to protect the 'Consorts' of his 'Goddess'.

In any case, I quite liked it when everyone was here for a training session. We were a family, and thus a team, so everyone was more effective when working together. While individual training was important, there were few situations in which anyone would truly be without backup. Besides, in Rose's case, she benefited a lot from having Elowen as her sparring partner. They had similar fighting styles on account of having both been trained by me, and they had similar builds as well…

It was a bit hard to tell who between them was the strongest, though. In a regular, unarmed fight, Rose was actually stronger in terms of brute force, but Elowen had been receiving training for longer and was thus more skilled. But all was lost when equipment and abilities were introduced. Elowen could turn invisible, whilst Rose gained access to a huge library of spells. By using her mask, she was also way stronger.

This sort of sparring could go both ways, which was good as the two tomboys were getting along just fine. Though everyone was having spars with everyone–For the most part. Gigi, Nessa, and Ophelie were really not built to be fighters. None of their abilities was really based on offence. They were much better as support, but I nonetheless wanted to teach them a few simple moves, the sort of things that even a dainty, little noble lady could learn to defend herself.

"Alright, let's practise a few moves, shall we? Do you remember what I showed you yesterday? If so, do it again" Rose nodded energetically as she stanced herself. I smiled slightly. I was very happy with how quickly she was managing to learn what I was teaching her. Even if I were a great instructor, I knew that this speed of learning was either due to Rose's own talent or due to the unique connection we shared, since she had experienced the mask and pool.

In any case, the series of moves I had taught her yesterday was a simple one that focused on targeting an enemy's limbs and the areas that were the most painful to be struck in. Of course, such a linear chain of attacks was not suited for actual combat, but the idea was merely to teach her individual moves whilst also familiarising her with how to actually be fluid when going from one attack to another. As per usual, despite this series being new to her, she was still performing it nearly flawlessly.

There were mistakes here and there, but for someone of her level, this was absolutely incredible. Especially when combined with her strength, which was equal to that of the average knight even without her mask on. Clearly, absorbing all that negative energy had had a very good effect on her… Of course, the average knight would also be wearing armour and be wielding a weapon with which he would have a lot of experience. So it was dubious if she would actually win against one without using her abilities.

Regardless, the final move of the series was a sneaky punch aimed at the throat. Until now, I had merely been dodging, but instead of evading, I took hold of her wrist, and with a swift motion, performed a hammerlock, forcing the forearm against her own back. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"Ever heard of arm locks, or submission holds, Rosie?"

"Ow, ow, ow… N-No…?" I softened my grip.

"It depends on who you ask, but to me, submission holds are a wide array of grappling moves aimed at disabling the opponent in some way. In a martial arts competition, the fight often ends once one of the opponents can properly perform a hold. Not only can it completely prevent an opponent from fighting back, as you noticed, but it can also be very painful… If you know what you're doing, you can easily dislocate or break a limb from a hold like the one I have on you right now""Ahah… You…

You won't do it, though, right?"

"Of course not, Rosie! The lessons on how to pop a dislocated limb into place are for later" I heard Rose swallow her saliva.

"I also suspect that your natural healing factor has been enhanced, so we'll have to test it out eventually so that we know what is a mere flesh wound, and what is a truly dangerous injury for you…"

"... Let's get back to the subject at hand, though. Do you think there is a way for you to get out of this hold?"

"Mmh…" Rose tried to move a little bit, but she quickly found out that the range of motion of her shoulder was minuscule, and there wasn't much else that she could do with her free limbs to force me to release the hold.

"I don't see how I could get out without hurting myself–Ouch!" I flicked her in the forehead.

"Silly, you can cast spells. I don't have the ability to grab your energy flow into a hold alongside your body. You're free to cast a spell to force me to back off, you could summon your mask to take me by surprise with suddenly enhanced strength and resilience to break free without injury… Better yet, if you are worried that those two things won't work, do both at the same time!"

"Oh…"

"I am training you to fight with just your body, but I never said that you couldn't use anything else if need be. There is no such thing as a fair fight. If you get yourself into a fight with rules, always be ready to break them. Your safety is more important than some unseen honour" I let go of Rose's arm and spun her around.

"If an enemy seems like they want a fair fight, pretend to go along, and fucking kick them in their privates at the first occasion. You might think that it only works on men, but I assure you, it works very well on women, too""... Really?"

"Really" I gave her a few more pointers as we went through a few more things, but the training session eventually came to an end.

"Alright, girly… Catch some rest, eat well, and drink lots of water. We'll start practising with your weapons soon. As effective as your club strikes are, they are too unrefined and have way too much wind-up" I booped her freckled nose, and quickly found myself out of the Gravescape, quickly running into Mari and Leou conspiring in the shadows. …They're inventing something new, aren't they? Tonight might be a long night…

"Oh, Mara! Check this out, it's working!" Leou called out to me, and Mari showed me the city's newspaper.

"Well, that was quick" It was about the sightings of monsters suspiciously similar to the one the adventurers and alike had launched an extermination campaign against–Also known as myself. Because of these sightings, people who had been compiling information about me and where I had been in the past were starting to be doubtful of what they had learned.

For example, some had figured out that the witch-like monster who had been inside of Louwoods for a time had been me, but now, there was a monster that looked just like me, dressed like how I had been back then, that was roaming the woods. It was successfully diverting attention, just like all the other possessed automatons with my likeness now running around, causing problems. Apparently, one of them with four arms, whom I had decided to imbue with ghosts in its limbs, was an utter menace.

I might have had a slightly damaged soul possess this one's head, and thus, put in the direction of the rest, but well… It was a damaged soul that had just been lying around for a while, and that I wanted to get rid of. Mmh… Do damaged souls turn psychotic when given a bit of freedom?

In any case, Mari's plan was working out nicely, and backed by Leou using her connections to put the stories at the forefront, it was causing confusion and making the many, many people who wanted me gone split up as they felt the need to actually confirm if those creatures were me or not. Heheheh… I bet a certain halfling is quite annoyed right now…

I would have liked to imagine Binibelle's face for a while longer, but I focused back on my girlfriends, who had definitely been conspiring before swiftly pulling out the newspaper in an attempt to misdirect me.

"What's the new idea?" The mechanist and snow leopard glanced at one another as if trying to tell the other to go ahead and be the one to actually say it–I can tell, this is definitely something quite crazy. Mari cleared her throat eventually and stood on her tiptoes to whisper something into my ear.

"... It's just a small addition, so…"

"No""Aww…"

"Pretty please?" They both gave their best pleading eyes, but I wasn't going to budge.

"There will be no negotiations on this. I am not making such an addition to my 'Gynoid Form', even temporarily""What about on your 'Base Form'? Would you be willing then?"

"This addition shall not be made in any form whatsoever. I swear, you two… You need to take your heads out of the gutter… Why don't we do something cute for once? I'll alter my 'Gynoid Form', and we could go on a date in the city, if you want""A d-d-d-date?"

"By the gods… A real date?!" They have been successfully distracted. I truly am a genius… Still, what kind of idea was that…? What was the idea? I stopped you from hearing it for a reason, Nara. But the mystery! How could I not try to guess? A sigh escaped my lips. I can't talk about what goes on between my girlfriends and me to you, Nara. I'll try to guess anyway. I am a highly knowledgeable system, I would have you know! I am not an innocent little thing that can not fathom such things!

Nara then proceeded to list off very innocent ideas, thinking that they were anything but that. How adorable…