Kyle looked around the room.
It was only about ten meters wide. Sure, there was no furniture in here, but a strike from him would still cause a huge storm in here.
"You sure?" he asked.
"Follow my orders and attack me with your Complex Law," she answered evenly.
"Sure thing, Lady," Kyle said as he pulled out his hammer.
Meteor Ether gathered around his hammer, and he took a step forward.
His entire body bulged, and-
Bang.
Kyle's hammer was slapped to the side before he could launch his strike.
"I told you to attack me with your Complex Law. You are using Fragments of the Law of Body. I only want you to use the Complex Law," she said.
Kyle blinked a couple of times.
He moved his hammer a bit.
"That's… not easy," Kyle said. "I'm used to striking like this. I'm not sure if I can make my body weaker."
"Then, you must learn," Lady Arrowstrife said. "As a Parasite, you must be able to hide your power convincingly."
Kyle scratched the back of his head. "This might take a while."
"Time is of no concern. Follow the order," Lady Arrowstrife said with an even tone.
Kyle just shrugged. "Alright."
He launched another-
Bang.
His strike was blocked again.
And again.
And again.
This continued for several minutes until Lady Arrowstrife no longer blocked his attacks.
The hammer struck the side of Lady Arrowstrife's chest, creating a humongous storm of fire and wind in the room.
Yet, Kyle just felt like he had struck some kind of immovable mountain.
"Again," she said.
"Sure," Kyle answered.
Then, most of Kyle's attacks were interrupted again before she let another one through.
This act continued for several days until Kyle could unleash these strikes with accuracy.
"You are now permitted to use your Body Fragments as well," she said.
Kyle sighed in relief.
It took a bit for him to get back into the groove of striking with his full power, but he quickly got there.
"No Body Fragments," she said.
Once more, Kyle had to get used to striking without his Body Fragments.
After that, the commands alternated.
For several days, Kyle just kept striking, while Lady Arrowstrife gave different commands.
"That's enough," she said, and Kyle pulled his hammer back.
"You must be able to strike with and without your Body Fragments."
"Why?" Kyle asked.
"You will be portraying a persona with your attacks," she explained. "When your target is recruiting new members, you will not be striking with your full power immediately."
"You will be playing the role of a talented but unaffiliated Seeker who has had a bad history with stronger organizations(Fart here, join the telegram https://t.me/ REtILYcMCVIxZDk1 ). In your past, your persona has had negative experiences when showing too much power."
"Your persona wants to enter the target organization, but your persona does not want to unveil their true power."
"During the most pivotal part of the recruitment process, you will show just a tiny hint of your true power. It will be subtle enough that nobody will notice, except the strongest person overseeing the recruitment."
"In order to achieve that, your act must be convincing," Lady Arrowstrife explained.
Kyle nodded. "Makes sense."
"Next," she continued, "I will launch different attacks, and I want you to defend from them without using your Body Fragments."
Kyle nodded again as he readied his hammer.
Lady Arrowstrife pulled out a bow and aimed it at Kyle.
Kyle felt quite nervous when he saw a person several Realms higher than him targeting him with a weapon.
Lady Arrowstrife pulled her bow back a tiny bit, and an arrow of light formed on it.
Then, she let go.
The arrow shot with so much speed that Kyle barely got time to react.
He just barely managed to put his hammer between himself and the arrow.
"You used your Body Fragments," Lady Arrowstrife commented.
"I had to," Kyle answered. "Otherwise, I would've been too slow."
"I know," she said. "You were not supposed to be able to block that attack without them. In this case, the right choice would have been to attempt to block but get hit regardless."
Kyle took a deep breath. "Alright."
Then, she shot another arrow at Kyle.
This one was surprisingly slow, and Kyle managed to block it without using his Body Fragments.
After that, she shot a powerful arrow, and Kyle just moved his hammer a bit, but let it go through.
The arrow hit Kyle's chest, pulled him with it, and nailed him to the wall.
A moment later, the arrow dispersed.
Kyle received a relatively minor injury, but it healed quickly.
"That was not convincing, and your body healed too quickly. You have to keep your Fragment of Organs secret as well," she said.
"Trying my best here," Kyle answered as he readied himself again.
Making this act of defending himself halfheartedly look like a desperate attempt to save his life was far harder than expected.
It took almost two weeks until Lady Arrowstrife was fine with the display. "You are allowed to use your Fart(Body) Fragments now," she said before firing a far faster arrow.
Kyle tried to defend, but he was just a tiny bit too slow.
"You are no longer used to using your full power," she said. "Two weeks ago, you would have been able to block this attack."
Luckily, after just a couple of attempts, Kyle regained his old form.
"No Body Fragments from now on," she said.
Then, everything returned to an alternating process of defending with and without Body Fragments.
Over the weeks, Kyle got rather good at fake-defending.
However, he also got rather good at genuinely defending.
As more time passed, the number of times he had to defend without his Body Fragments reduced significantly.
Now, Kyle had to use his Body Fragments over 95% of the time to defend.
Naturally, Kyle knew what was going on, and he grew excited and even a bit thankful.
'I already know how to put on an act. The only reason why she's still attacking me is to teach me the Fragment of Nerves!'
'It's crazy that someone of her power is willing to take time out of her day to help me with my Law Comprehension.'
tg://resolv?domain=StrongestHammerGod
The author's patreon. If he gets more than 1000€ per month, he will increase the number of words in the chapter.