Athena, dressed in a black training suit, stood on the road at the edge of the beach, holding two training staffs, waiting for Ivan.
Seeing his martial arts instructor, Ivan was no longer as shy as before, but instead waved to her with a normal expression.
After all, the only person who could be 'immune' to Athena's appearance, and even completely uninterested, was probably Ivan's father, William.
With a slight smile, Athena walked slowly towards Ivan, leaving the concrete road and stepping onto the beach.
With a flick of her hand, she threw one of the long staffs forward and raised her voice, "Catch."
"Thud~"
Ivan raised his hand and caught the flexible training staff.
Then, he looked at Athena, who had approached, still without any facial expression, but his tone was somewhat helpless:
"Teacher, the morning training is over. It's time for me to rest, isn't it?"
"Talkative."
Athena tapped Ivan's head with her staff, and with a slightly raised left eyebrow, retorted, "Ivan, with your physique, a mere fifty laps around the island shouldn't tire you out, should it?"
Then, she walked towards the center of the beach, waving her hand, "Come on."
"Sigh..." Ivan could only sigh, gripping the staff and following behind Athena.
Indeed.
Ivan, having inherited William's physical prowess, was naturally adept at running and sprinting.
He could easily reach 300 km/h now and maintain it for at least four hours.
He could also reach a similar top speed to his father, but the duration was too short; he was still too young.
Furthermore, Ivan had also discovered through some'small experiments' that he possessed powerful self-healing abilities, though he hadn't dared to test his limits yet.
"Shasha."
Athena took off her military boots and socks, stepping barefoot onto the gradually warming sand.
She turned, gripped the staff with both hands, assumed a classic combat stance, and smiled at Ivan, "Come on."
Ivan merely shook his head, similarly taking off his socks and military boots.
Gripping the staff with his right hand and his left hand forward, he adopted a stance similar to a horse stance and deliberately feigned weakness, "Teacher, you have to go easy on me. After all, I'm only..."
"Four... years... old!"
"Whoosh—!" The sound of air being cut.
"Clang—!" The crisp sound of two staffs colliding.
Ivan, while speaking, had charged forward swiftly, swinging his staff powerfully with his right hand, striking at Athena with a blur that was difficult for the naked eye to catch.
!
Athena clearly hadn't expected Ivan to use such a... underhanded tactic to gain the initiative.
But regardless, she was still a 'Goddess of War,' and immediately raised her staff high to block Ivan's attack.
The two of them exerted their full strength against each other.
However, in terms of strength, Athena immediately gained the upper hand.
She pressed her face close to Ivan, who was a head shorter, and chided, "Hey, kid, aren't you being a bit of a cheat?"
A vein pulsed on Ivan's temple, and he gritted his teeth, "Father said that no matter what trick you use, as long as you win, it's a good trick!"
As he spoke.
Ivan changed from a head-on approach, suddenly stepping back to the left, deflecting Athena's immense force.
"Boom—!" Athena's staff slammed directly into the sand, kicking up half a meter of dust.
After two rolls, Ivan maintained his distance from Athena, gripping his staff tightly in a defensive posture.
"Hoo... ha..." He panted heavily and said, "Hey... Teacher, I remember my father once said... that you and the Colonel should take good care of me, right...?"
"You little brat, always so logical!"
At this moment, Athena completely lacked her goddess-like demeanor. In fact, she seemed somewhat annoyed because Ivan had 'tricked' her twice in a row.
Without another word, Athena was about to swing her staff forward again.
"Vroom—!"
"Cough, cough!"
Suddenly, the noise of hydrogen engines and a light cough interrupted Athena, who was about to teach Ivan a lesson.
Five Warthogs had just arrived on the beach near them, and Kent, dressed in a colonel's uniform, exited a Warthog and walked over to Athena.
With a slight frown and an extremely serious tone, he said, "Athena, although you are a god, don't forget your identity."
"Colonel, actually, I was the one who told the teacher to go all out," Ivan stepped forward and began to explain before Athena could reply.
Then, seeing a group of USS and UBCS personnel in bio-armor and AAES III suits by the Warthogs, he changed the subject and asked,
"Colonel, has something happened?"
Hearing this, Kent no longer dwelled on the previous scene. Instead, he nodded and said in a deep voice, "Yes.
In Ethiopia, near Lake Tana in Bahir Dar, some kind of giant man-eating animal has been discovered.
Undercover agents in the vicinity have already initiated lockdown procedures and called for containment unit support.
So I need to personally lead a team to the Kenya base to command this containment operation."
"Oh?"
Ivan stood the staff beside him, his left hand performing the same habitual gesture as his father...
He pinched his chin and analyzed, "Shouldn't supporting agents be the responsibility of the containment fleet?
(Looking at Kent) Did my father give the order?"
"That's right."
Kent nodded slightly, turned, and walked towards the Warthog, explaining, "The boss said he wants me to be in charge of commanding the containment operation, and the main purpose is for you to observe and learn."
"I see."
Ivan suddenly understood.
Kent boarded the co-pilot seat of the lead vehicle and said to Ivan and Athena, "Time is short. Get in and prepare to depart."
"Okay." (x2)
The teacher and student answered in unison, then both boarded the back seat of another Warthog.
"Vroom—!"
Accompanied by the roar of the hydrogen engines, the convoy quickly drove off the beach onto the street and headed towards the base complex on the west coast.
During the drive, Ivan deliberately leaned close to Athena's ear and whispered,
"Teacher, in the future, try to control your temper a bit, otherwise it won't fit your goddess image."
!
Athena immediately pinched Ivan's thigh without batting an eye, but her voice was extremely gentle as she said, "How could I possibly be angry? I'm a goddess, right?"
Feeling a stinging pain, Ivan quickly corrected himself, "Right, right..."
--------
...
Half an hour later.
Inside the command center of the Kenya base.
The command center maintained its usual setup: numerous display screens and technical personnel, with a central control console boasting various functions.
Standing next to the central control console were Kent and Ivan, who had changed into a tailored military uniform.
The 3D projection on the central control console displayed Lake Tana, covering three thousand square kilometers.
Lake Tana was surrounded by dense jungle and swamps, and the east bank of the lake was marked with a red circle and a question mark, indicating the presence of an anomaly about to be contained.
As for the area outside the red circle, it was marked with blue arrows indicating friendly forces, mostly agents and UNSC troops who had arrived to assist with the lockdown.
At the same time, a unit marked with a green arrow was rapidly heading towards the sealed-off area.
This unit was led by Cortana and consisted of Spartan-IIs in PIA (Powered Infiltration) armor, as well as a large number of USS and UBCS personnel.
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