The Vigilant Yaksha

Chapter 20

"I'll show you mercy this one time, but you have to remember you won't experience that in a real battle."

Vena scowled up at the Adeptus as she tried regaining her posture, having took a heavy blow to the back of the knee when they'd first started.

Somehow, she could still tell he was heavily holding back on her, and that had been his version of going easy on her.

He was currently just waiting, giving her time to recover from the hit before starting up their fight again.

"I know that," she spat angrily as she scowled, more directed towards the pain she was now feeling and not really at him.

"I've fought before. I'm just new to it." She wobbled to her feet, readying her stance again as he simply eyed her with raised eyebrows.

"You're practically a newborn bird trying to learn how to fly."

"Don't show me mercy." She spoke through her teeth, still clenched at the throbbing pain in her leg as she lunged for him again.

"If I didn't, I'd break you. Maybe I'll loosen the training wheels if I see you improving over the next few weeks, hm?" Xiao mocked slightly, parrying her attack, already taken notice to how she responded to his taunts.

Whether she realized it yet or not was up for debate, but he had. She swung with much more force every time, she dodged quicker, her combat form slowly improving as she got even more fierce, the confidence slowly starting to blossom.

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Fingers gingerly followed a forming bruise down the side of her rib cage as she looked down at herself in the mirror, naked, just about to hop into the shower after an intense and grueling training session.

That's going to hurt in the morning.

She quickly skimmed over the rest of her body, making a small mental note of where she saw some bruises forming, honestly not even phased by the fact that now much of her body was covered in varying sizes of them.

Yawning into her own hand, she simply shrugged it off, realizing how dead tired she actually was as she stepped into the shower, the warm water instantly giving her relief as it rolled down over her aching muscles and sore bones.

Xiao had disappeared quickly after making sure Vena made it to his room, simply saying he'd be back and to stay put, which she assumed meant he was going out demon hunting.

Her mind wandered as she gently washed her skin and hair, being sure to scrub generously to remove all the dirt and sweat from the day.

Had she really managed to train for 5 hours straight?

Vena's mind recalled the time Zhongli had told her a lot about Xiao. That every time he used his Yaksha power to cleanse demons, it caused him great pain.

Everytime he made sure to protect the people of Liyue, it caused him suffering.

She frowned as she wiped her face softly, the thought almost making her feel sick to her stomach all over again.

And yet he continued to do this for millennia...

To put himself to the side for the sake of the people Rex Lapis had loved so much.

She knew because of that fact, that deep down, he cared for humans a lot more than he might try to let on.

Vena's mind continued on that track for a while as she dried off and got dressed, exiting the bathroom as she stretched her arms above her head, another yawn escaping her lips as she headed towards the bed.