## Chapter 1054 – A Man of Many Questions

“You know that thing you do? Infusing inner energy to amplify your destructive power? Sis can’t do that.”

Karin said, her arms crossed, glancing at Liztina.

“Well, that was a secret technique I taught him. Karin can’t do it, after all.”
“Yeah. And like, kicking off the ground to launch your body like you just did… you’re definitely better at that than Sis, right? That last pushback confirmed it.”
“The Celestial Demon’s Advent Movement…!”

Come to think of it, that’s true.

Just because Karin is stronger than me doesn’t mean she’s superior in every aspect. Like she said, infusing mana to create an explosion, and using that to perform the Celestial Demon’s Advent Movement.

These are techniques Karin can’t do.

The Celestial Demon’s Advent Movement is more than just launching the body. It combines the Weight Amplification Technique I learned from Liztina to kick off the ground with extreme force, gaining explosive destructive power and propulsion. This skill was unique to me, my own technique.

Karin is pointing that out.

Of course, even with this, Karin is still stronger than me. I can say that for sure. Even if I have some skills where I’m partially superior to Karin, overall, I’m still not up to her level. That’s about right.

But. What if there’s a powerful enemy that my superior skills work well against? If there’s an enemy that my modified techniques are effective against? That means I might be able to kill that enemy more efficiently than Karin.

“And you’re damn good at punching, too, right? You can do something similar with your fists, so that’s a big advantage.”
“…”

Similarly, Karin can’t use techniques like the Celestial Demon Shattering Palm, which I’ve been constantly training.

“Your swordsmanship is definitely below Sis’s. Your aura bursts are still weaker than mine, too. But using your hands and feet in between sword strikes to subdue your opponent, like martial arts to support your swordsmanship, that’s better than this Sis. Maybe that’s why you were able to block the attack just now.”
“My punching is better than Karin’s… that’s true.”

I nodded.

My skills were stronger than Karin’s in that aspect, allowing me to fight well.

“But if you were to fight me right now, it wouldn’t work. From what I see, your martial arts still aren’t up to my level.”

Liztina, who was next to me, grabbed my shoulder and said.

“But if I were unarmed, and you had that Vihal-like sword… I don’t think I could easily win. No. I’d probably lose.”
“That might be true. You need a weapon, after all.”
“Even if we both had suitable weapons, I still don’t think it would work. Since we’re here, let’s spar.”
“Should we?”
“Let’s just gauge each other like we did just now. I know you’re not very good, and neither am I.”
“Hehehe, that’s right.”

Like with Karin, I’ll try my best to be serious, but I can’t go all out.

“We can do that later. Let’s go over this first. Your stamina and strength seem to be still inferior to Sis’s. Or… is your stamina similar? You don’t seem to get tired when you fight.”
“Even if our stamina is similar, my strength is probably weaker because of my mana.”
“That’s it.”

There’s also an absolute difference in mana between me and Karin. Even though I’m catching up, it’s not there yet.

We reviewed what we felt during the spar just now.

“So, to summarize, it’s like this. Katt, you receive swordsmanship and martial arts lessons from me and Karin every day, right? That’s why you’ve become strong in many areas, in a balanced way. You’re mastering two techniques to the extreme, so you can freely use each of their advantages.”
“Hmm.”

Two techniques.

As she said, I’ve grown while honing these combined combat skills.

“Yeah. That’s it. It’s really hard to do both, but if you succeed, there’s a big merit to it. If you achieve great success, you’ll definitely become stronger than Sis.”
“I think so too.”

Good.

“You understand very well.”

Now, I’m not that far behind them. Depending on the circumstances, I might have similar strength to Liztina.

“Almost like, compared to Liz-noona, you’re similar or equal.”
“That’s how it looks for now, but let’s see later.”
“Okay.”

Karin continued.

“But as I always say, strength isn’t absolute, okay?”

Absolute strength.

“When our husband goes into real combat, his combat power fluctuates a lot, right? There’s a big difference in his skills depending on the opponent. You know that best, right?”
“That’s right.”

I nodded involuntarily.
It definitely feels different depending on the opponent.

“You could call it a kind of compatibility. For example, killing people and killing monsters are different. Humans who use swords with two arms and creatures that run on four legs with teeth and claws have different combat styles, builds, strength, weak points, intelligence, and attack patterns. And killing small monsters is different from killing medium ones, and killing large ones is different, too.”

That’s true.

“When fighting humans, killing ordinary people who haven’t surpassed their limits is different from killing superhumans. And even among superhumans, it depends on how well they handle mana. And what if the opponent is a mage? It depends on what that mage has trained in. And what about demons? You know that even demons are different from each other, right? You’ve experienced it yourself, right?”
“I know that very well.”

That’s why Karin is saying that strength isn’t absolute.

“Of course, if you have a certain level of power, those kinds of compatibilities become meaningless. You can just cut through magic or anything else. You can just transcend the distance and speed. But what if the opponent is of a similar level or only slightly better? Compatibility and background matter. You have to assume you’re fighting in specific situations.”

This world isn’t a one-on-one arena with rules, so there are many kinds of strength, and compatibility follows.

“In other words, there are definitely cases where you’re stronger than Sis when facing certain enemies. That’s what I’ve been feeling all along.”
“It feels too complicated overall.”
“Well, to put it simply, it means you can keep going as you are. Your recent achievements have been amazing. You’ll be able to catch up to Sis soon.”
“You can count on me for that.”

It’s not far off.

But… is there really no such thing as absolute strength?
I think there is.

Isn’t that my future?

“Yeah. Since you’re my man, you need to become even more amazing.”

I nodded.

“Then let’s wrap up the Karin sparring session. Liz-noona, shall we start?”
“Sure. Let’s go with unarmed combat first.”
“Unarmed martial arts sparring… good.”

In the first place, I often throw my sword and fight unarmed.

Using my superior swordsmanship to break through the opponent’s defenses and enter their range, then immediately dropping the sword in close combat and unleashing a series of Real Combat Fist Law techniques to deliver shock and terror is my main tactic.

I stood facing Liztina, ten steps apart from each other.

“Well… rather than controlling my strength, I’ll just do as much as I can right now. I’m going to go easy, you know?”

Neither of us has murderous intent.

“I’ll touch you gently!”
“You say the nicest things. Let’s go!”

ㅡKwaang!

We kicked off the ground at the same time.

I thought I was faster, but as she flew towards me, she quickly twisted and rotated her body, swinging a kick filled with immense energy.

ㅡSwaaaaaaack!!

Should I dodge? I’ll dodge. At the same time as I judged that I could dodge, I slammed on the brakes, shooting my body to the right. ㅡPachijijik! Twisting my waist, I drifted at top speed, drawing a half-moon as I headed towards her back, trying to land a punch and counterattack.

But then, in that instant.

ㅡTsupat!

She, who had been kicking straight ahead, rotated 180 degrees, looking at me, and kicked the side of my torso.

ㅡKwaang!

My body twisted from the impact, and my feet left the ground, but I managed to endure it. If that had landed properly? I would have been sent flying. It wasn’t a proper attack. But if I were in proper condition, I wouldn’t have allowed that attack.

“Hap!”

But the fact that my feet were off the ground was significant. Taking advantage of that, she planted her feet on the ground and pressured me with a series of high-speed punches. They were a series of punches with formidable power, but I managed to block them while stepping back, looking for an opportunity.

If I had a sword here, it would be easier… I thought for a moment, and the moment I realized I had some leeway, I turned it into an opportunity.

“Deshaaaat!!”

As soon as I created an opportunity, I kicked off the ground at close range and lunged into her arms, trying to apply a grappling technique.

ㅡHwirik!

As if she had anticipated that, she quickly grabbed my body and executed an over-the-shoulder throw, slamming my body down.

ㅡKuuung!

“Kuh…!”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah. It doesn’t hurt that much.”

We were talking, but the battle continued. It was an endurable impact, so I bounced back up while still on the ground. When I tried to grab her arm and slam her down, she slipped away like a snake, grabbed my rear, and tried to strike the side of my head with her elbow.

Anticipating that, I bent my waist and turned my body, grabbing her side in a surprise attack and lifting her up.

“Ah!”
“Got you once, didn’t I?”
“I guess so.”

And so, I continued my unarmed sparring with her.

“Hoo.”

After the sparring, she stood in front of me, exhaling.

“Definitely. I can’t let my guard down. I was a little more dominant, but overall, you’re at an excellent level. I also allowed a number of attacks.”

As she said, I fought quite well. I allowed more attacks, but I also landed some solid attacks a few times.

About 7:3?

Ah, but I thought several times that it would have been nice to have a sword in the middle. I might have won if I had a sword. But it feels like the development is a little different from when I fight Karin. Unlike just defending and not allowing attacks, we were busy exchanging blows.

“Since I don’t have a sword, there are some parts that feel lacking in the middle. I feel like I could do it if I had a sword?”
“I would have gone differently if you had a sword, too. Then let’s try that. Karin. Are you watching?”
“Yeah. It was very good. Both of your movements are very good.”

I immediately drew the ordinary iron sword I had used earlier, and Liztina went inside the house and took out a suitable iron gauntlet, equipping it on her hand.

“…”

Her posture changes.
As expected, it’s different depending on the weapon.

“Let’s go!!!!”

This time, we didn’t kick off the ground, but walked towards each other, closing the distance. As we walked, I pretended to feint for a moment and unleashed a diagonal slash.

ㅡSwaaaaaaack!!

A definitely fast strike. Liztina didn’t hesitate at all, and while walking, she suddenly raised her arm at the speed of light.

ㅡTeoheong!

She deflected my sword with her gauntlet.

ㅡShwiik!

In an instant, she lowered her stance, spun at high speed, and struck my face with an elbow as she entered close range. It was so fast that even a well-trained superhuman couldn’t react, but I immediately pulled back my sword and used the handle to block the attack.

ㅡKwaang!

A powerful strike. I blocked it, so there was no impact, but the battle continued in close combat. I can do this with a good feeling. I pushed her away by dodging or using close-range martial arts with the sword, and as soon as I secured some distance, I swung my sword to pressure her and fought on.

* * *

“Hoo. This was definitely harder than before. But I’m not easy to deal with, right?”
“That’s right.”

I was able to pressure her more frequently than when we sparred unarmed, but I couldn’t say that I was completely dominant. If the previous score was 7:3, now it would be about 6:4.

That’s about it for sparring.

“Since I can roughly see how the opponent will come out if they have a sword, I used that to my advantage. Anyway, good job. Shall we stop here for today and go take a shower?”
“Good. Let’s stop here for today. Karin. Let’s go together.”
“Ugh… okay. Let’s stop here for today.”

Karin stretched and came over, patting my shoulder. We stopped sparring and immediately packed our things and went inside the house.

None of us were able to fight with full power, emitting our fighting spirit. Overall, no one fought properly. It’s not that we did it on purpose, but we couldn’t do it.

Still, when we concluded that we had sparred in this gentle atmosphere, it was concluded that I was not far from reaching them. Now, even if they face me in this state of controlled power, they can’t completely overwhelm me.

But when I actually go into real combat, my swordsmanship fluctuates the most.

I know this because it’s me, but my head works faster in combat. I’ve been able to do that through intense training and real combat. So, in those fierce real combats, even though I can’t use sword ki like Karin, the second conclusion was that I could practically be similar.

And the third conclusion was that I could defeat enemies more efficiently than them in certain situations or against certain enemies. It might be better for me to infuse inner energy into my sword flame and destroy the enemy than for Karin to strike with sword ki.

Anyway, I know that I’ve become damn strong, but the range of my combat power is too wide, so I couldn’t measure it properly. But in fact, it’s not just me. Karin and Liztina also fight more fiercely when they go into real combat, unleashing their fighting spirit.

Still, to take the average overall, I would say that I’m slightly below Liz-noona’s level. And sometimes, I can exert more power than Liz-noona.

My combat power fluctuates too much.