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13 - boards, lies, and our non-magical training.

The sound of wooden planks being broken apart filled the air around the mountaintop. The nearby forest was where Arielle invited Chris for her usual training. While she flawlessly took apart board after board, Chris was struggling to even land a crack on a single one. His hands were already red from slamming them down a little too much, and he struggled to continue.

Arielle took a glance at him and said, "Why don't you try using techniques? These boards aren't normal, you know." She used a Taekwondo kick on 2 boards, breaking them apart at once. The look on her face looked like she assumed that Chris had already learned a technique.

"I don't know any techniques," he said.

"Then what were you doing kicking the air a few months ago?"

"I was just randomly kicking the air. You think I was practicing?"

"You..." She sighed. "Fine, I'll teach you."

With a snap of her fingers, a board appeared in front of him. Pointing towards it, she said, "Make your choice. Muay Thai or Taekwondo. We'll start with one of those first."

"I'll go with Taekwondo."

"Alright. Watch."

A board appeared in front of Arielle, and she threw a straight kick at it, causing it to break in half.

"Taekwondo: Ap Chagi (Front Kick). Use it."

He twisted his body and kicked the board, but it didn't break.

"Wrong move. I'll show you again."

The process was repeated a few times until Chris understood what Arielle was trying to get him to do. He threw a straight kick at the board, thus breaking it.

"Good. Now repeat it until you can break 2 boards at once."

"What?!"

Two boards appeared in front of Chris after Arielle said those words. Even though he wanted to stop, he decided to get training. "This must be what she went through," he thought.

A few heavy straight kicks later, he managed to break 2 boards at once.

"Good job," said Arielle, clapping her hands. "Now, Yeop Chagi (Side Kick). I'll show you-"

"Can you tell me the name of the move normally instead of using some Sanraizu-imitating language?" Chris asked, already starting to be annoyed with her use of traditional Taekwondo names.

"Since you're just new to this style, I'll allow it. Side Kick."

Rotating her body to the right, Arielle broke multiple boards with a simple yet powerful side kick. "These techniques may seem very simple." She shook her hand around. "However, if you put enough force into it, simple techniques can become deadly."

Chris tried replicating the move, but he did a hook kick by accident. Recalling his past action, he did a side kick next, breaking 2 boards at once with his extra power.

"Good! Now, you'll need a break."

"Finally..."

Chris fell to the ground, only to quickly get back up after realizing what he just did. "Damn," he said. "I don't like dirt on my clothes, so this is a problem."

The two of them drank a water bottle and took a little rest before getting ready for another move. After warming up a bit, Arielle said, "Okay, time to continue. You'll need to prepare your hands for this one, because I'll make you punch things."

The wooden boards appeared in a way that surrounded them and Arielle stepped out. "These boards can only be broken with your arms." To prove it, she hit 3 of them with Muay Thai elbow attacks – a horizontal swing, a straight attack, and an uppercut – and they all broke. "I'll watch you do it. Go."

Chris threw 2 punches and spun around, elbowing a board. As he kept on breaking the boards, he thought about the combo she showed him earlier. When there were barely any boards left, he replicated the combo, destroying 3 boards with an elbow attack each.

"Hm..." Arielle thought. "He's a fast learner."

With a final punch, the last board broke in half. Sweat dripped around him, but he didn't mind, since he could wipe it off easily.

"Wow, your formal clothes aren't bothering you?" she asked, getting up and handing him a bottle of water.

"They're made to be breathable. Besides, these make up half my entire closet."

"You only have two sets of clothes?"

"I meant that formal clothes take half the space. I also have casual clothes. Speaking of which, isn't it cold up here? Why aren't you shivering even when your body is mostly exposed?"

"You know how friction heats things?"

"Well, yeah, that's common knowledge."

"If I exercise hard enough, I won't even shiver once in a day. Besides, this is where I usually train, so I'm used to the cold."

"I see... What's next?"

Arielle smirked and got into a fighting stance.

"We'll spar. Don't worry, I'll go easy on you... if you can handle my attacks."

"Already?!"

"Well, you haven't learnt blocking yet, so that's that... Plus, we haven't fought each other."

"You could just hurl boards at me-"

He couldn't finish his sentence before Arielle threw a side kick at him. His instincts kicked in and he put his arms in front to block the attack. He felt a few punches being blocked before he got hit by a hard kick from the right.

As he rolled on the ground, he couldn't help but think about her strength. The fact that she could break 3 boards at once with a single attack wasn't a joke – he thought that she could even break someone's bones with just brute force.

The two of them exchanged blows back and forth. Meanwhile, the nearby landscape was beginning to break apart from the power between both of them. Trees fell and rocks cracked, but they kept on going.

While Arielle kept on throwing out attacks, Chris was left in a defensive position. Even then, he had landed a few counterattacks, including one where he redirected her punch and retaliated with a blow to the gut.

With a front kick to get in some distance between them, Arielle launched herself into the air.

"Terra Fractionis Slam – Auctus (Enhanced)!"

"Wait, wait! What about the mountaintop?!"

Getting the feeling that he should sacrifice himself for the environment, he dashed in to take the blow entirely. Just as he leaped into the air, right below a descending Arielle...

BOOM!

The attack hit him and his surroundings changed in an instant. Was he dead?

"Man, thanks for reminding me," Arielle said, getting her foot off him.

"Where... are we?"

"I'm sorry I lied about my ability."

"Huh?"

Flipping himself over, Chris saw a large room fit for a little hotel. The walls were painted yellow, the couches were brown, the bed was entirely white, and an air conditioner blew cold winds to his face. Looking at a nearby window, he saw a vast space filled with stars and galaxies, and his eyes widened.

"This is what I truly could do since I was born. I said that I could use multiple fighting styles, right?"

"Y-Yeah..."

"Well, that was a lie. I mean, I could, but that wasn't my ability. Actually, it was my dad's."

"Ah... Do you mind explaining why we're in space right now?"

"My ability is A.D. Room. It's short for Alternate Dimensional Room. As the name suggests, it teleports me and a few nearby people into this room. It's filled with refreshments that restock every once in a while, a comfy bed, an adjustable AC, and even an entire bathroom with a bathtub. Oh, that reminds me, I'm gonna go get changed."

Arielle ran to the bathroom, leaving Chris by himself. His body ached, but he felt it recovering bit by bit. After a minute, she returned, this time wearing a red variant of her usual clothes.

"What happens if you force open the window?" he asked, trying to get himself onto the couch.

"Well, it's space, so the things that happen there also apply here. I broke the window with a punch once, and it sucked my arm out so I had to quickly get back to the real world."

"At least you don't do that anymore."

"Yeah. I think we should go back." She looked at the clock. "It's nearly evening. Didn't we promise Klein we'd have dinner with him tonight?"

"Is it possible for you to leave me in this room and go there by yourself?"

"Lazy bum."

"No, I'm serious. Your room has some sort of like regeneration, and my body's basically broken from that attack."

"Alright, alright. Just this once."

She got herself out from the room, leaving him there. He lay down on the couch, thinking about the training he went through earlier.