After they were all done with their stretching, Eric continued commanding like an instructor, "Let's spar. Both of you come at me together!"

  Livy and Lyria looked at each other in shock.

  Livy was fine with it, as she was always dueling with Lyria all the time, so she subconsciously thought Eric was also at their level. She was completely up for a two-on-one duel.

  But Lyria, who was more considerate, especially knowing they had received private training while Eric probably hadn’t, hesitated. She knew they were quite capable among their age group. Though they had failed to become Mana Wielders, in terms of combat, they had never lost a fight against any Mortal opponent.

  Lyria hesitantly spoke, but she was straight to her point, “Brother Eric, we have both received training since our childhood, and we have always dueled against each other, so we are fairly confident in our capabilities. I think it’s best if we fight one-on-one, two-on-one might be a little too harsh on you.” She tried to be 'gentle,' considering Eric’s feelings.

  Eric was embarrassed at how considerate this little eight-year-old girl was being toward him. But he only got more excited hearing that they were that 'strong.' He was a guy who always used to play video games on the highest difficulty available from the beginning, only then did a game truly feel played and completed. He was a self-proclaimed deprived masochist!

  “Don’t worry, it’s just a spar. If it gets too difficult for anyone, they’ll just fall back and give up. At most, we’ll only suffer some minor injuries.”

  Eric was completely confident in himself. He was bursting with superiority after beating the three thugs in the tavern. He felt he was ready to take down the so-called Mana Wielders as well!

  Lyria hesitantly nodded. She would hold back and observe how the fight went. She hoped Livy would also do the same.

  Eric glanced at the sky.

  It was progressively getting darker, they probably only had half an hour before it started raining.

  He turned back to Lyria and Livy and grinned. "Begin!"

  Lyria and Livy, who were just a meter or so away from Eric, kicked right at his chest.

  Eric was shocked, and also amazed. It was a simple roundhouse kick, but it was so fast and perfect that it almost looked like two whips.

  He quickly used both his forearms to block Lyria and Livy’s kicks and was pushed back while sliding through the wet grass.

  Livy was about to continue, but Lyria quickly stopped her.

  Lyria asked with concern, "Brother Eric, are you alright?"

  Eric didn’t respond and focused on both his quivering arms.

  His right arm, which had received Livy's kick, was less affected, but it felt like someone had whipped him with a leather belt. His skin and muscles burned, and they had turned red.

  While his left arm, which had received Lyria’s kick, felt as if someone had struck him with a thick iron rod! If his bones weren't tough enough, he suspected they would have cracked, if not completely shattered. He guessed that if he received a few more similar attacks on his left arm, they would probably fracture or snap entirely.

  Eric took a deep breath. His hot blood pumped as he clenched his fists tightly.

  'That’s right! This is a true fight! The previous fight in the tavern was a joke.'

  At this moment, Eric felt like he was truly on edge, one mistake, and he would be heavily injured.

  His masochistic blood was coming back- he could feel it! A royal battle against two experts!

  He waggled both arms to loosen their numbness. It had become clear that he needed to dodge all of Lyria's attacks, as they were basically knockout hits, while Livy’s were painful but bearable. Lyria was like the one who always pressed heavy attack buttons in a fighting game, while Livy was the complete opposite- she was all light attacks. He might be wrong, but he felt he needed to focus more on dodging if he didn't want to lose or chicken out of this fight.

  He absolutely didn’t want to lose his respectable reputation as a 'senior brother' in both Lyria and Livy’s hearts!

  Eric took another silent deep breath. He now fully understood the difficulty of fighting both of them at the same time, even fighting one, he couldn't guarantee a 100% win.

  Even so, he was no easy target either!

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  Eric was very confident in his dodging ability. Maybe he wouldn’t be able to defeat these little girls right now, but he would make sure they couldn't defeat him either!

  Eric turned back toward Lyria and Livy, nodding with a grin. "Continue!"

  Lyria and Livy didn't respond, and both charged straight at Eric.

  Livy was far swifter than Lyria, despite the increased distance between Eric and the two of them. It took her only a split second to reach him.

  This time, Eric was prepared.

  The moment Livy swept her leg, Eric bent forward just enough for it to pass over his head. Just as he was about to deliver a heavy punch to her unguarded lower back, she moved in a way that defied physics.

  Livy used the momentum from her kick to twist midair, executing a full 360-degree hammer kick aimed directly at Eric's shoulder and head.

  Eric felt goosebumps rising across his body.

  The last time he checked, he was sure he wasn’t inside a movie, but Livy’s body control and maneuvers were even more exaggerated and unnatural than any martial artist’s movements he’d seen in his past life.

  It wasn’t just a light attack; the rotation behind Livy’s hammer turned it into something far heavier.

  Eric rolled sideways, dodging, while using his left elbow and arm to balance before kicking upward at Livy. He was determined to hit this agile monkey!

  Livy twisted midair again, her lithe waist bending like a whip, as if she had no bones, completely evading Eric’s strike.

  Eric didn’t have time to feel new goosebumps as Lyria had already arrived, her heavy overhead punch plummeting toward him as if she was equally determined to bury him deep into Celestia.

  Eric didn't even have time to flinch. He quickly rolled-dodged away from Lyria's punch while simultaneously using the ground to push off with his hands, dodging another attack from Livy.

  Livy was an absolutely abnormal freak. The time it took for Lyria or him to punch or kick once was enough for Livy to attack at least three times over, and from various unbelievable positions at that. Her mastery over her own body’s buoyancy was so terrifying it almost looked like gravity had given up all hope on her.

  Eric was at an extreme disadvantage with two against one, but he was also having fun like never before. Fighting two little monsters simultaneously, with no time to be distracted even for a split second, or he'd be finished, was like playing a Souls game!

  The fight or rather, the 'dodging' battle continued with no one managing to land a hit. Every strike was evaded by everyone.

  If someone watched the battle from the side, they would be shocked, confused, and wonder if the three were fighting or performing extremely complicated but mesmerizing dances.

  Eric rarely obtained a moment to attack, but when he did, both Lyria and Livy dodged.

  Lyria wasn't as flexible as Livy, but she was very accurate in dodging. She would only take a small sidestep to evade, and if not for Eric's swift reaction, he would always run into grave risk of receiving a deadly counterattack from her. Although Lyria's body movement and control was a lot more 'reasonable' than Livy's, she was overall even more deadly than Livy.

  Eric felt cold chills throughout the fight while wondering which animals' milk both Lyria and Livy had drunk while growing up, after all, they were barely eight-year-old girls!

  It was clear that both Lyria and Livy had received a very good martial arts education from a very young age, while he was just self-trained, except he also had the knowledge of his past life.

  It wasn't like both Lyria and Livy were extremely perfect, in fact, there were plenty of openings in various ways Eric could exploit to counterattack. But... it was two against one, all three with similar agility, Livy having the highest. He was simply too slow to capitalize on any openings.

  For example, grabbing their long hair, especially Livy's. Eric was certain Livy had some counterattack prepared for that scenario, yet he still wanted to try. But none of this was possible in his current situation.

  With both little monsters continuously attacking Eric, he fell completely into a passive state, dodging left and right. At some point, he stopped attacking altogether, as he also needed to worry about their swift counterattacks. His stamina was being hugely drained by the constant dodging, he wouldn’t last long if he wasted it on pointless attacks that didn’t hit either of the girls.

  Meanwhile, both Lyria and Livy were having fun like never before. They had completely forgotten why they'd even started this in the first place. They were utterly engrossed in beating the mole that kept dodging.

  They were so focused that they forgot to check their own stamina. Over time, they slowed down, but Eric also slowed down due to his tiredness, so in the end, nothing really changed, and they all kept going with the same pattern.

  Eventually, Livy was dead tired, and her speed reduced further. From being a monkey, she was reduced to a sloth.

  Eric, who had also forgotten his initial goal for sparring, thought he finally had the opportunity to destroy the butterfly, sadly, he forgot about the tigress protecting it.

  So, in the end, the dodging and cockroach-smashing game continued.

  None of the three had ever experienced such an intense battle- one where all three had forgotten everything and focused solely on their initial goal. In that state, they pushed themselves beyond their peak limits, especially Eric and Livy. But as the battle shifted to Eric and Lyria, it was Lyria who used her remaining strength to overwhelm Eric. Already in dodging mode, he continued evading.

  Eric was too exhausted to even consider attacking. Even if he did strike, it wouldn’t land on Lyria, instead, it would create an opening for her counterattack. Livy hadn’t fully retreated either.

  With that, Eric pushed beyond his entire limit. He didn't even know how he could dodge after being so worn-out, but his body moved magically. His dead-set mind on not getting bullied by little girls made him dodge every single attack. His dodging mentality was so high at that moment that he felt even if he lost consciousness, his body would still continue to dodge.

  Eric, Lyria, and Livy were so engrossed in their playing that they didn’t even notice their surroundings had completely darkened, yet they kept fighting within the darkness with barely a few lights peeking through the sky.

  Two girls tried to deliver one hit, while one dodged as if he would die if touched even once.

  Soon, rain poured from the sky, but all three continued as if they had lost their minds and senses.

  By then, their movements were as slow as snails.

  After an unknown time, Lyria threw a punch with everything she had, and Eric dodged with everything he had toward his side. Neither could finish their actions before both tumbled and fell from their own momentum.

  Meanwhile, Livy had already collapsed somewhere and was breathing like a drowning fish.