As the dust settled and the girls could discern what had crashed against the wall, they were utterly astounded to see Alex's body slowly slumping to the ground.
Turning their gaze toward the source of his impact, they found Lilia frozen in a combat stance, leaving them in disbelief.
'What is happening here ?' That was the question that was on every girl's mind as they kept looking towards Alex that was laying on his face and Lilia.
The girls were visibly divided into three groups as they observed the scene. Anna, Viviane, and Amelia wore expressions of deep concern. Alice and Violette, on the other hand, observed the scene with curiosity. In contrast, Ava had a nostalgic smile as she gazed at the scene, hinting at a memory resurfacing.
"Dad!"
"Alex!"
As the initial shock waned, Viviane and Amelia rushed to Alex's body to check his condition.
"Gasp"
Both girls gasped as they saw Alex's face when they turned him over.
Alex's face was all swollen and covered in blood from his eyes to his lips, in any other circumstance, his face would be comical to look at, however the girls and didn't pay attention to that, well, those who were worried about him, as for the other they exploded from laughter the moment they saw his face.
Meanwhile, Amelia started healing Alex using her power.
"What did you do to him!" Shouted Viviane as she looked at Lilia.
Seeing Viviane's expression, Lilia smiled sheepishly knowing that nothing she could say would calm her down, she had always been a daddy's girl and didn't want anything to happen to her father, but Lilia still replied in a calm tone:
"Nothing, we were just training"
"You call that training ? You literally disfigured him!"
"Well, that happens during training," said Lilia with a confident smile. "Don't worry, now that Amelia is here, he'll be healed in no time."
To prove her point, Alex coughed and suddenly sat up. Initially, he appeared disoriented, but after a few moments, he regained his composure and asked the girls, "You're finally back?"
They both nodded, and Amelia instructed him, "Lie down while I heal your wounds."
Alex complied, nodding, and settled down to receive treatment.
As the others were approaching them, Ava chuckled and said, "this sight remind me of the time when your father was courting your mother".
"Why would mom beating up dad would remind you of the time when he was courting mom ?" Inquired violette.
"That's because you don't really know who that violent woman, whom you call mom, is," mumbled Alex, still lying on the ground.
"What did you say, dear ?" Asked Lilia from afar.
"N-Nothing" replied with a quivering voice.
"That's what I thought"
While the girls were surrounding Alex, Ava walked towards Lilia that was sitting on a chair and looking towards Alex and the girls.
Ava took the seat next to her and after a minute of silence asked, "is he that bad ?"
"Hmm ?"
"What I meant is if he is really so weak"
"Oh I understand, to tell you the truth I think that he is good, in fact he is too good for someone that just started training for two days"
Ava raised an eyebrow and asked, "what do you mean ?"
"Well, when we started training I was already surprised by his battle sense and experience, but even then I didn't think too much about it, he may have learned a few things from watching me and the girls training, but after the last two days, I don't think it was due to that"
"What is your guess ?" Inquired Ava.
"Did he tell you about the artifact and what happened when he tried to enhance his strength the first time ?"
"Yes"
"Good, that will make things easier" replied Lilia before continuing:
"What I think is that it is due to his current body, of course it's not just due to his body, I don't know what happened, but it seems that your son became a genius at fighting overnight".
Ava raised a brow at her statement as she knew quite well that Alex was far from a genius when it comes to fighting, but she didn't stop Lilia nevertheless and continued listening.
"However, I still think that his current body plays a role in his fast growth, at the start, he couldn't even resist three exchanges before collapsing, but now he can last at least a few dozens"
Ava whistled and said, "He can last dozens of exchanges while fighting you; that's quite the feat."
"If it was just that, I might have attributed it to Alex's learning. However, that's not all. During these last two days, I had to change my fighting style two times."
Ava's expression suddenly became serious as she knew how difficult it was to force Lilia to change her fighting, even for her, it was difficult to do so.