"Did.... Did Shiro just lose?" Madison asked with disbelief as the thought of Shiro losing seemed impossible for her. Even if it was a spar, it was still shocking.
"Yeah she did. But think of it this way, now that sheās lost, sheās got more to learn. Meaning, sheāll get even stronger." Lyrica nodded her head while trying to stop herself from blushing at the sight of a red faced Shiro feeling embarrassed on her fatherās shoulder.
"Makes you think about what could happen to us doesnāt it? Her dad did say that weāll get some training from professionals after all." Aarim chuckled.
"Itās good news isnāt it? That way we can be more prepared for the new age." Helion smiled.
"Urg... my normality is drifting further and further." Madison sighed.
"I mean... youāre the future Demon Queen so Iād say normality has always been an illusion for you hahaha." Helion laughed as Madison launched herself towards him and tried to strangle him.
"Oiiiii!!!"
###
Setting Shiro down, Koji put away his sword.
"Erm... How did you do that last move?" Shiro asked with an excited glint in her eye.
Seeing that his daughter was so excited about swordsmanship, Koji felt like he could cry with joy.
"That last move is a little like what you did at the start. Where you evaded my notice and closed the gap. Think of it as something similar but while youāre evading their notice, you proceed to strike at their wrist, causing them to drop their sword or any weapon theyāre holding. Itās a little harder to disarm two handed weapons but if youāre quick enough, it should be possible." Koji said with a smile while Shiro listened intently.
"Hmm... the martial arts that I used mainly focused on evading your notice rather than doing something in that time. Iāll need to practice some more for me to be doing something else in that moment then." Shiro nodded.
"Speaking of practice, Iāve noticed something with your sword techniques. You like to move around a lot. And I mean A LOT. You over complicate the moves that you want to do such as using your portal move. You can use your portal to bait people into thinking that youāre about to move but you continue. You can even use your martial arts to evade their notice so that they think youāre in the portal when in reality youāre in front of them.
"Second point I want to bring up is that there is a gap between you using your magic and sword. Rather than everything being fluid and you moving from form to form such as in martial arts, itās like you take a break, change your gear, then continue. If you really want to use magic and swords together, you need to get rid of this break otherwise people can take advantage of that gap. In terms of opportunities for me to strike at you, there were more when magic was involved." Koji chuckled.
"So you were holding back in the end dad." Shiro sighed.
"Of course. What kind of parent goes all out when sparring with their kid." Koji laughed and patted Shiroās head.
"Anyways, your mother should be finishing up soon. We have about 5 to 10 minutes give or take so I can probably run through a few more spars with your party members. I want to personally see what their potential is like." Koji glanced towards the party with narrowed eyes as they felt a shiver down their spine.
It was the same kind of feeling as when Shiro was letting the pope test out the new simulators.
Completely sadistic!
"Ah Iām a tank so Iām fine." Madison looked away.
"Iām a healer, I donāt go on the front lines." Silvia coughed.
"Iām a mage so I donāt really need to use a sword." Aarim waved her hand with a forced smile.
"Iām a ..."
Seeing Shiroās party make excuses after excuses, Koji shrugged his shoulders.
"When a monster sneaks around your party or decides to attack from the back, how will you deal with them? You can probably sense their mana signatures but hereās the problem. In the front lines, there are now monsters and demons that avoid all forms of detection, what will you do when they approach you? So even if youāre a healer, you need to learn proper self defence. And as you can see, who better to learn it from than me?" Koji smiled darkly.
Before the party could say anything, Shiro flickered behind Silvia and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Why donāt you be the first?" Shiro smiled in a similar manner as Koji.
āLike father like daughter.ā Was Silviaās last thoughts.
###
"Urgggggg..."
Looking at the party on the floor groaning from the pain, Shiro couldnāt help but chuckle.
"Iāll admit. Their potential is pretty good for their age. Especially Lyrica and Madison. Their instincts are spot on." Koji smiled while Shiro nodded her head.
"Darling~ Food is ready~" Mio called out as she walked into the training hall.
"Oh man Iām starving." Koji smiled.
However...
"Iām not talking about you. Iām talking about my baby girl." Mio huffed before jogging over to Shiro.
"Iāve made some of your favourite dishes. Come come, letās eat before it gets cold. Yinās already starting." Mio smiled.
Looking back at her dad who seemed to have taken heavy damage, Shiro smiled softly.
"Mum you can forgive dad now. Itās fine." Shiro whispered over to Mio.
"But he caused you to leave. I have to teach him a lesson or else the big oaf will never learn. Why do you think Keomiās living away from us." Mio sighed.
"Itās fine mum, you canāt bully dad too much in the end." Shiro tried to persuade while massaging her shoulders.
āAnymore and I think dad will break.ā She thought to herself.
*Sigh
"Fine. Iāll forgive him. But only because you said so ok?" Mio smiled softly.
"Thank you mum." Shiro smiled and pecked her mum on the cheeks.
"Dad! Mumās forgiven you." She called out with a grin.
Hearing this, Koji looked up with a surprised expression.
Glancing towards Mio just to make sure, he was overjoyed when he saw her nod.
"Arggg!!! Finally!!!! The dry spell is over!!!!" He cried out as Mio blushed from the mention of ādry spellā.
"OIIIII!!!! Perverted old man! Donāt shout that sh*t out loud!" Shiro widened her eyes and kicked Koji in the chest but he ignored it. She didnāt think that this was going to be the first thing that he shouted.
"Darling you donāt know how much of a tease your mum is. Do you know how painful it was to have her seduce me while not letting me do anything?" Koji explained as he lifted up Shiro like a kid.
"I donāt need to know! My friends are just behind you ya know!?" Shiro blushed from being picked up like a kid.
"Itās fine, theyāre all a.d.u.l.ts! Youāve probably learnt some s.e.x ed already!" Koji laughed.
"Doesnāt mean itās fine to say it out loud!" Shiro retorted.
Chuckling softly at the father and daughter, Mio walked over to the party and helped them up.
Getting Silvia to cast a few healing spells, they started to walk to the dining hall as Shiro was placed on Koji shoulderās once more.
Embarrassed about how Koji was treating her, Shiro wanted to jump into the rift to escape but unfortunately for her, Koji managed to stop her from entering the portal, prolonging her embarrassment all the way to the dinner hall.
Seeing Shiro, Mio and Koji interact with each other, Lyrica couldnāt help but smile seeing how happy Shiro was. After all, in all her times of interacting with her, she hadnāt seen her act this lively.
Thinking about this, Lyrica couldnāt help but think back to her own parents and sighed.
"You ok?" Madison asked as she saw her best friend sigh.
"Yeah, just thinking back to my own family." Lyrica smiled.
"Tell me about it. I have always thought that Shiro was an anomaly but after seeing her parents, it seems like crazy runs in the family. She could be classed as normal in her family while Iām now a demon queen candidate in my normal human family." Madison said with a twitching smile.
"But itās nice isnāt it? I havenāt seen Shiro this happy before." Lyrica chuckled.
"Yup." Madison grinned. After all, even the strongest people needed to relax once in a while.