'At least it's with girls and not boys. Selene is so careless that she would surely forget to use condoms. I'm too young to be a grandmother!' Tea thought, and at that moment, her embarrassment disappeared.
"It's not very appropriate to talk about this outdoors!" Kim exclaimed before taking a sip of the punch they offered her.
"Oh, please! All three of us have slept with Selene, and we're in a private place, aren't we, Mrs. Sahari?" Morgana ignored Kim, spitting the drink out of her mouth, and looked at Tea, who was holding a pair of metal tweezers.
"Girls... I don't care what you say or do, but I think even you, Morgana, would understand that a mother isn't comfortable with that kind of talk," Tea replied. Something strange happened: Morgana felt embarrassed!
The brunette's cheeks flushed, and she stammered a few words. Tea simply left a piece of meat on her plate and gently patted her shoulder.
"Thank you for putting up with my daughter," said the older woman, leaving the three girls at a loss for words. Luckily, they didn't have to respond because the fighters finally left the house.
"Every time I see Mr. Sahari, I understand why Mrs. Sahari is always happy," Morgana murmured as she looked at Hyperion, who was wearing only athletic shorts and tight gloves.
His physique was impressive. Although he was muscular, he didn't look bulky, and his movements were fluid. His skin was covered in scars from cuts, bullet holes, and burns that resembled energy weapon impacts.
He had the physique of a war veteran! His daughter stood on the other side. She wore a black sports top and shorts. Although stocky, she was nowhere near her father's level. She had scars on her skin from the battles she had fought outside.
Selene clenched her hands into fists covered by black gloves like her father's. She arrived first at the training area in the courtyard.
"Tea, please," Hyperion requested of his wife as he approached his daughter. She came over to the pair.
"I have never liked you fighting, but I understand that your lives are different from mine. This fight can only end when Selene can no longer take it and gives up, or when she is knocked unconscious.
You will begin when this five-Argentum coin touches the ground," said Tea, showing a silver coin which she threw into the air before leaving.
The coin spun in the air, but neither of them focused on it. Instead, they adopted their fighting stances. While Selene crouched down like a predator, Hyperion simply raised his two fists and placed them in front of his face.
When the coin touched the ground, the Noeia inside both fighters' bodies exerted its dominance, activating the chosen muscles and organs.
"General muscle activation: 10%. Cardiac activation: 15%. Respiratory activation: 10%." The purple-haired girl whispered.
Selene's heart began to pump more blood, her lungs absorbed more oxygen, and the muscle fibers in her limbs began to twist and swell slightly.
Her veins and muscles stood out clearly on her skin. An unrestrained impulse surged from her body, radiating everywhere before focusing exclusively on her father.
"Muscle Activation: 30%. Cardiac activation: 25%. Respiratory activation: 30%. Bone activation: 15% Skin activation: 20%. Nerve activation: 10%. "Tank mode," whispered the purple-haired man.
His muscles bulged, his heart beat like a war drum, and his breath seemed to cause a gale. His bones creaked, and his height increased to two meters. His skin became more opaque.
His mere presence was imposing. He didn't have to unleash his impulse; he already caused an oppressive feeling just by being there. Although Morgana, Noelle, and Kim were already used to this appearance, they still held their breath when they saw him.
Selene swallowed hard but was still the first to attack. She didn't care about the black fog covering her father. She didn't think she would be defeated and didn't realize she was weak.
She just wanted to fight! She moved quickly toward her father and threw a straight punch at his chest. Hyperion responded in kind. Their fists collided in the middle, creating a small explosion that scattered the sand on the ground.
Selene's body flew backward, but she spun in the air and landed on her feet. The force of the impact still sent her sliding backward, though. Right now, though, that didn't matter, not when her father's knee was getting bigger and bigger in her field of vision.
Selene crossed her arms in front of her to receive Hyperion's attack. She had taken advantage of the situation, receiving the attack at an angle that allowed her to use some of the force to turn her body. She then kicked her father in the side, hitting him squarely.
Hitting her father's skin felt like coming into contact with a very hard stone, but the force of her kick caused Hyperion to take a step back. He then unleashed a simple forward kick, which Selene dodged by crouching down and moving to the side. She didn't want to receive that attack.
Selene had never thought her father's large build made him slow. She knew how fast he could be, so she jumped back and dodged the downward punch he had thrown.
He missed, but the wind from his punch blew her hair wildly, bringing a strange smile to her face. She was clearly enjoying the emotions this confrontation was making her feel.
"HAHAHAHA!" The purple-haired girl burst out laughing before lunging at her father again, trying to trade blows with him.
However, her attempts fell on Hyperion's tough skin, which mitigated the effect of her attacks. In addition, the man's powerful blows affected the girl greatly, leaving areas of her skin completely blackened from the accumulation of bruises.
After protecting herself so many times, her arms wouldn't stop shaking! Still, she continued to laugh, seizing a few small gaps and risky opportunities to hit her father repeatedly. But he remained unperturbed, advancing toward her no matter how many times she made him take several steps back.
"Aren't you going to use the move from last time?" Hyperion asked after catching Selene off guard with his palm, hitting her butt and pushing her several meters away.
He was simply playing with her, which is why his attacks had been restrained. After all, he hadn't inflicted any bleeding wounds on his daughter. In fact, he urged her to unleash more of her power.
"Hehe! Okay, now I can hold out for a whole minute in that mode," Selene said euphorically, smiling broadly and revealing her sharp teeth.
"General muscle activation: 15%. Cardiac activation: 5%. Respiratory activation: 15%. Synaptic activation: 1%. Nervous activation: 2%. "Assault mode," she said before tilting her head and placing her index finger on her temple. She turned her finger constantly as if she wanted to drill into her skull.
"I'm really in the clouds right now!" Selene declared aloud, her muscle fibers tensing and thickening slightly more, bulking up her figure. Her heart was no longer beating faster; now, oxygen could supply her body, especially her brain, with more energy.
The world seemed strangely silent and fast yet slow at the same time. Many details came to her mind, and a countdown appeared, telling her that she only had 60 seconds to stay in this mode before her brain overheated.
Her impulse became much livelier at that moment. Her battle intent manifested like never before, and her whole body trembled with excitement and a voracious desire to fight.
Selene moved much faster than before. At the start of the fight, she threw a punch. This time, however, there was much more force behind the blow. She only took a few steps back before resuming her charge.
She was also much better at dodging Hyperion's attacks. Whereas before she had dodged one out of twenty, now she was dodging three out of twenty, mitigating the damage she received and improving her performance. No matter how fast she moved or how agile she was, her father remained impassive like a tower in the face of nature.
She wasn't desperate, but she was annoyed. This anger built as she saw that she only had 20 seconds left in assault mode. She took a full punch to her abdomen but clung to Hyperion's arm, resisting the impact completely and leaving no chance to mitigate it.
Saliva escaped her mouth as the air left her lungs. The sand beneath her feet scattered as the force of the attack dispersed through her body.
She clenched her hands around her father's thick arm. He watched her with cold, pink eyes without commenting on her actions. He thought that his daughter had made a mistake by letting her emotions get the better of her in combat.
Selene then let out a primal scream, a sound that seemed to come from the depths of her being, arising only in moments of pure necessity when a human needed to exceed their strength limits.
Hyperion's pupils contracted when he felt his daughter's hands become as powerful as a turnstile. She growled, and a whisper emerged from her mouth, making the man reevaluate Selene's willpower once again.
"Hysterical strength: 0.25%." It was only a fleeting glimpse of a difficult-to-control power, even for the Noetarchs. However, the purple-haired girl spun her body and dragged her burly father. Amazed, he was unable to put up adequate resistance.
Selene used her back to lift Hyperion and threw him to the ground. The man's heavy body crashed into the sand. Instead of quickly getting up, he started laughing.
"What a cool move! Come on, Selene! Show me what else you've got!" Hyperion exclaimed before slapping the ground with his palms, using the resulting force to stand up.
When he turned around, he noticed that his daughter was standing still with completely blank eyes. She had passed out standing up! Her body had returned to normal, and Hyperion no longer sensed any threat from her, confirming that she was unconscious.
"Selene, you..." He tried to approach her, but her body trembled as if sensing an enemy. She waved her arms languidly in his direction, causing his countenance to darken.
Then, Hyperion's body returned to its normal form. When he took another step toward his daughter, his body did not move on its own. It simply stood there as if nothing in the world could bring it down.
Her skin was covered in bruises, blood dripped from her nose to the ground, and her eyelids were half-closed. Still, Hyperion saw that the corners of his daughter's lips were drawn into a big smile that showed her sharp teeth.
'My husband told me that no matter what energy was used, what made a fighter excellent was their ability to stand tall in the face of any adversity.
He was not a fighter, but he said that this willingness to never fall and to get up stronger if they did was engraved in their DNA, and their descendants would inherit this trait no matter where they were.
I didn't understand it at first, but I, and possibly the next entries in this journal, will surely confirm it: Have you remained standing, or have you gotten back up, my children?'
Hyperion remembered that peculiar passage in the metal book that had been passed down through his family. At the time, he didn't understand why his grandmother had left it, nor why his father told him that in time it would be his turn to write something similar, just as he had done.
In that battle, he risked everything. He rescued a friend and was rescued himself. He understood because, just like his grandmother, his father, and Selene at that moment, he stood his ground and endured the enemy bombardment.
Instead of worrying about his daughter's condition, he gave her a big hug and laughed as loudly as Selene had a moment ago. This indicated where she had inherited that trait from.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"