.The Child Of A Goddess.

-17-

Amata's POV:

"So... Ready?"

"Not really, but it could be worse."

We are standing in a big empty room that Harmonia's brothers usually use as a training room in the evening; we'll be using this place in the morning because I don't want a run-in with those assholes.

I dropped my cape and weapons in a corner; I'll teach her about weapons in fights later. (Warning: I am no master. This is just what I learned from years of martial arts.) She was similarly dressed as me, only in a light and dark green combination, Custos of to the side by the wall as she would always follow me.

"So, stand in the way you'd stand if you need to fight bare handed," I told her to do that, and she looked a bit confused; I had never fought in my wolf form, and she mocked me a little for that, but it looked like she never fought at all just watched. "Your stance is shitty." I sighed and fixed my gloves on my hands. It would cushion any hits I was to throw at her. Even if only a little bit, it was still something.

"Hey!"

"Well, lucky you, I'm here to help out... Are you a lefty or a righty?"

"I'm left-handed. Why?"

"Good, I am too, so it will be easier to teach you... It would help if you stood sideways with your dominant hand and leg behind and your right hand and leg in front. It may seem strange, but you can reach further with your hand in the back. That's why you put your dominant and stronger one back." (trust me, it works; as you throw a punch and twist your body, it reaches far.)

"Okay..." She slowly did so.

"Don't be as straight as a pole. Bend your knees a little so your center of gravity is closer to the ground... No, don't hunch yourself; your back should be straight but not tense; relax, don't put more strength than needed to hold yourself up and only add the strength in when you hit, keep your chin back, lower your shoulders, fists not so close to the face." I corrected her stance so we at least had that down before the next stage of the training.

"Okay, so now--" I caught the front of her T-shirt and swiped her front leg out from underneath her, making her fall, but I didn't let go of the T-shirt. The thread was heard ripping, but nothing more happened. "What was that for?!"

"You need to put your weight on your back leg, like 75 to 80% of it, for the exact reason that this could happen and also so you can directly send a kick and don't need to take the weight off that leg by leaning back to send the kick, without your weight it can directly go up... Get back into the stance." She did as told, and I grabbed her right arm and yanked her forward and to the ground, putting her arm in a lock.

"You held your arm too much in front of you, an easy target to grapple; get into the stance again." She did, and I shoved her hard. She stumbled and fell back on the ground.

"You were leaning too much backward. With a shove like this, you already have a great chance of being beaten in the next minute or so. Get up and back into the stance."

"Y-you are too harsh."

"Harmonia, the world is harsh, and I can be even harsher than this; you need to learn, and I can't go easy on you even at the start, so get up and into that stance, now!"

I punched her in the forehead instead of the nose, not wanting the debilitating injury.

"Don't stick your head forward if you don't want people hitting it into stance." I roundhouse kicked her in the stomach, getting closer, so my shine was what hit her and not my foot, which would have hurt more as it would have picked up more speed. She was on the ground, coughing with a few tears in her eyes. "Don't arch your back; you'll offer your stomach up for a hit. Get up in a stance."

"S-stop."

"Are you already giving up? Get up now!"

"It hurts! I don't wanna do this!"

"Harmonia!" I yelled to silence her, sighing at her scared face, and crouched down at her level. "I wouldn't do this if I didn't know you could make it through. You are strong, if you give up, then I'll stop, but we'll be back at square one, or we can continue, and you suck it up and deal with it like a wolf. Do you want to be strong? Then be strong... Get up and into stance now."

She did it, and I kicked her between her legs. Don't get fooled. It hurts just as much for man, but not exactly the same way since it was mostly bone that was kicked. She huffed, not instantly realizing the shock to her body.

"Your legs are too much apart, an easy and simple kick in. Each time you do something wrong, I will hit you until you learn, and you will get back into stance without me needing to say it." I pushed on her arms, and she hit herself in the face. "Now your arms are too close to your face. A shove-like push could make you break your nose." I slapped her stomach. "Relax, you are way too tense. It will slow you down more than help you. You need to relax despite the pain." I grabbed her chin and closed her mouth. "You can bite your tongue off if an uppercut comes. Keep your mouth closed." After a few more corrections, she was slowly getting it.

"Okay, we'll need to work on that some more, but let's go on to the next thing for now: a simple punch." I brought my hand up. "Hit my palm." She did hesitantly, and I closed my fingers around her fist.

"You twist your wrist and make a big movement." I corrected her hand positioning. "My dad showed me this: on a normal hand with five fingers, there are what he called two facets, the first is called double facet and the second triple facet; when you close your hand in a fist, you can see how all your finger other than the thumb line up, the pinkie, the ring, and the middle finger knuckles are aligned, the triple facet. The middle and the pointer finger knuckles are aligned, too, making the double facet. You can hit with either but not both simultaneously, changing the positioning of your wrist and arm compared to the target. Remember these two facets. It would be best if you experimented with which you like best. Hit my hand again." She did.
"Bit better, turn your wrist a little bit more, keep your wrist and forearm aligned for your safety, and go instantly for the hit. Refrain from making big movements... Only hit with closed fists on soft parts. Other people and even I overestimate the durability of our bones, so unless you have the chance to place the perfect uppercuts that you won't miss at all, don't do it. With the fists, hit the stomach area and maybe the side of the head or nose, anything weaker than your finger bones. Hit with an open hand the harder parts. When you open your hand, do you see that your thumb and pinkie meet at the base of your wrist on the right? The palm heel has a solid bone compared to your fingers, so that for the ribs or forehead, but as you saw... More like felt even. I hit you with my closed fist on your forehead because as long as it's not too hard, you don't have to worry... But really, I tell you... Don't hit foreheads with closed fists."

I continued like this to explain things to her and demonstrate. Time went by fast, and she slowly learned.