Ethan quickly jumped back to his feet and stretched his arms as he said with a candid chuckle, "Nothing, bro. I was just asking for tips on how to take care of my staff."
"Tips, huh?" Nolan raised one of his brows, but then he crossed his arms as he mumbled to himself, "Something fishy is definitely going on between these two."
Sui didn't seem to be perturbed by Nolan's question and, in fact, ignored him as she slowly stood up and looked at Ethan, "This time, I want you to at least last thirty seconds."
"I am feeling more confident than ever today," Ethan said as he rubbed his nose with the back of his hand.
Sui narrowed her eyes as she finished applying the oil on her staff and said, "Let me be the judge of that."
Ethan was excited to spar with her since, for the first time, he had hopes of defeating her, especially using his newfound powers.
He could see the metal bracelet on her wrist, which she always wore and was some sort of memento from her father, who died in an accident. And this was one of the reasons he decided to come here and spar with her instead of staying home and experimenting with his powers since he wanted to know if he could defeat someone as long as metal was involved.
"What are you looking at?" Sui asked as she noticed Ethan being a little distracted.
"Nothing!" Ethan quickly replied as he readied his stance with his bamboo staff. He wished he had a metal staff, but then it might become dangerous, and he didn't want to hurt Sui.
"Let's begin," Sui said as she gestured at Ethan to attack her.
Ethan narrowed his eyes as he took a deep breath and charged towards her with his staff.
Sui stood on the same spot as she casually moved her hand to deflect his attacks.
As expected, Ethan was unable to even land a proper attack as with every swing, she would deflect his attack and then counter-attack by striking his shoulder, not too hard but not too light so that the fear of pain would allow him to improve faster.
"Ow!" Ethan grimaced as he felt a slight stinging sensation on his arm each time she counter-attacked, making Nolan chuckle from the corner, "Dude, I bet we will get a million views if I post a video of you sparring with the title 'When you fight with your bladder full', hehe."
"Nolan! You can join him as well," Sui shot a quick glare towards him, making Nolan shrink his head as he mumbled, "Ah, she didn't like it."
Ethan was too busy admiring Sui's graceful and elegant moves, especially how her slender body moved so fast and quick.
But before he knew it, her right leg hooked over one of his legs, making him fall to the ground with a thud.
"Uff!" Ethan grimaced as his back struck the wooden floor, and Sui stood beside him and said, "Your form has improved, but you get distracted too much."
Ethan narrowed his eyes and decided to prove himself as he grabbed her soft hand and got up, "Sui…give me one more chance. I felt that I wasn't at my 100% right now."
Sui felt as if something was different about Ethan, though she couldn't put her finger on it. Still, seeing how confident and determined he was, she nodded as she stepped back to take a stance, "Okay. Let's spar once more. If you at least gain an advantage over me once, then you can ask one favor from me."
Ethan's eyes lit up hearing her proposition but became stiff when Sui continued with a veiled glint in her eyes, "But if you fail, then you will owe me one."
"Challenge accepted," Ethan didn't even think twice as he decided to use this challenge to motivate himself.
"Ethan. You have my prayers," Nolan said with a gesture of praying, feeling amused since he knew how this was all going to end. Still, somewhere inside him, he wished to see Ethan give a challenge to his sister.
"Come!" Sui motioned at Ethan again to attack her.
"No..I want you to attack me this time. I want to see if I am good at defending," Ethan said, much to the surprise of Sui.
But she guessed that he wanted to try another approach, and so she stepped forward to land a strike while using both her hands.
Ethan narrowed his eyes as he focused on her metal bracelet and subtly motioned with his fingers to pull the bracelet towards the left side, making it pull along her wrist as well for a brief moment.
Sui's brows raised when she suddenly felt her right hand going sideways for no reason, making her lose the balance of her attack for only a moment.
But this moment and window of opportunity was all Ethan needed as he immediately struck down her bamboo staff and hooked his leg over hers to make her fall down.
However, Sui was still an expert who quickly adapted to the situation despite being distracted for a moment and tried to hook his leg.
Ethan didn't expect her to quickly recover from such a sudden distraction and inwardly was impressed by her skills. Still, he also didn't want to let her make him fall down again, and so he made her bracelet move her wrist backward with a sudden tug.
This made a surprised Sui lose her balance as her wrist suddenly moved backward, and Ethan successfully hooked his leg around hers to make her fall to the floor.
Sui's eyes widened in surprise as she lost her balance and decided to bring Ethan down as well by clutching his collar and pulling him down.
*Thud!*
The two fell with Ethan falling on top of her soft body while Sui's cheeks turned a tender pink as she looked down while Ethan muttered, 'Fuck!'
As for Nolan, he had a dumbfounded expression as he mumbled, "He is dead…"