Not long after, Viktor and Sayana were standing in the indoor training arena located on the back, dressed in white robes for training purposes along with a belt along their hips.
"Actually, I have something to confess…" Viktor said as he scratched his head.
Sayana had a blinking expression as she asked slowly, "W-What is it?"
"It's nothing big but…The aunty I told you about from my village had tried to teach me some martial arts when I was a kid. Apparently, she was working in the Navy before retiring to that village. But I haven't really practiced them since I didn't think I would want to use them in daily life. Everything was so peaceful back in the village," Viktor said with a sigh while Sayana's expression relaxed, not expecting that this was the thing he wanted to confess.
She took a deep breath and said with a smile, "Is that all? That's better so that you will learn faster from me. Anyway, let's see how much you know."
Viktor and Sayana both took their own fighting poses, and the reason Viktor mentioned his knowledge of martial arts was not only because he didn't want to look like a total amateur but because he wanted to teach Sayana indirectly as well by sparring with her.
Since she was Umilia's daughter, he wanted her to make her even stronger so that she could protect herself whenever the situation called for it.
Challenge her enough, and before she can know it, her martial arts skills would increase. This was what Viktor had in mind.
"Alright, let's begin!" Sayana said with an energetic shout as she stepped forward to spar with Dorian, who also stepped forward to meet her hands with his.
The two exchanged a flurry of moves with their arms, and Sayana was astonished that Dorian was able to exchange moves with her even though she was making some casual moves now.
At least this was proof that he knew basic martial arts, which was more than enough for most cases.
She was also observing his footwork as she moved her feet as well to see how well he could catch up with her and was in for yet another surprise when she saw Dorian skillfully moving along with her while deflecting her casual attacks with his hands.
She noticed how focused his expression seemed and found it quite charming, though she shook away these thoughts, wondering why she was focusing on his face while sparring with him.
However, this momentary distraction gave a large opening for Viktor to grab her arm and lift her leg with his, making her stumble and almost fall down before she quickly reacted to balance herself and get out of Dorian's grip successfully.
"Whew…that was amazing. I almost lost there," Sayana said with an embarrassed yet cute smile since she knew why she didn't see Dorian's attack coming and hoped that he didn't notice anything strange.
"I just got lucky," Viktor chuckled with a hint of pride in his face, making Sayana think that not even he expected to almost make her fall.
"Okay. You seem to know the basics, at least, and that auntie you mentioned seemed to have laid a strong foundation for you. I will now increase my moves to the level of a master and see if you can handle it. Here I come!" Sayana ran, jumped into the air as her body spun in the air, and tried to land a kick on Dorian's arm, making Viktor feel astonished that she could make such complicated moves already.
Still, he quickly put forward his arm to defend against her kick and successfully defended it as well. But Sayana brought forward her other leg suddenly and landed a kick on Dorian's back, not too hard before landing on the mat with a perfect stance while she saw Dorian stumble forward with her unexpected kick.
"Ow…that was awesome! Can you do that again?"
Seeing him excitedly ask, Sayana nodded as she executed the same moves, and this time Viktor grabbed her leg when she tried to land a kick on his arm, making Sayana furrow her brows as she quickly adapted to the situation and used her other leg to kick Dorian's arm to make him let go of her leg.
But surprisingly, Dorian grabbed her other leg as well, making her lose control of her legs, and quickly maneuvered her upper body to bring herself up and mount onto Dorian's back to bring him down and lock his body till he accepted defeat.
However, even after mounting herself onto his back, Dorian was still standing, resisting against her hold as she tried to bring him down.
Sayana never knew Dorian could be this strong or if he was employing a technique to maintain his stance and balance, and so she decided to push herself and see if she could bring him down.
Her arms which were around Dorian's neck, tightened as she used her own body weight to bring him down and saw that Dorian's knees were slowly buckling but still, surprisingly enough, he was not falling down.
Since Dorian didn't seem to be uncomfortable, Sayana decided to push herself some more to the point she never had to push herself like this before while fighting against someone.
The wooden floor she was standing on began to creak as she began to employ more strength, while Viktor was astonished to see how inhumane her strength was to the point it was enough to almost crush a ceramic cup with her hand.
Viktor could feel that Sayana probably had no idea how much strength she was using or the pressure she was giving him, not that it was uncomfortable for him, but if it was any other ordinary human in his shoes right now, their spine might have suffered at least hairline fractures by now and worse as more time passes.
Viktor was glad to see that Sayana indeed possessed dormant special abilities she had no idea of, and pushing herself like this was his way of letting her get accustomed to her special abilities gradually so that she wouldn't feel it overwhelming if she realizes her specialty one day.
"Ahh!" Right when Sayana was wondering if Dorian was stronger than she expected, he suddenly fell on his butt on the soft mat along with her, marking his defeat.
"I am sorry!" Hearing his short cry, Sayana realized that she got ahead of herself and maybe applied too much pressure on him by trying to bring him down and apologized in a worried tone as she got off his back and stood up and tried to help him up as well.
Viktor waved his hand as he slowly got up with her help and rubbed his butt, "No need to apologize. I am alright. But the way you locked my body was really amazing. I literally was not able to move my limbs. You should teach me this, please!"
Sayana's face became slightly red, seeing how he was praising her though she did not feel that it was that amazing. Still, seeing his bright, sparkling eyes, she couldn't help but nod with a pure smile, "Okay. Let's do that…But you should know that you are stronger and more skilled at fighting than you think," Sayana offered him a sincere compliment making Viktor smile happily.
And the two continued to spar and practice their moves while Sayana was happy to realize she was improvising her own moves and skills the more she sparred with him, surprisingly.