17 Warlock at the Gym

After the friendly bodybuilder approached Dante and Megan, he guided them to the desk to sign up for the squatting competition, which was still a few hours away from starting.

The man introduced himself as Chad Robinson, and once the pair wrote down their names, he returned to his routine, saying he would meet with them later.

"Oi, how much do you think that guy is lifting?" a man asked his friend, looking at the mirror that showed Dante behind them doing chest presses.

"There's at least 400 pounds on each side of the barbell…" his friend replied.

Dante's routine was catching the attention of the gym attendees, and while Megan was also impressed at his strength, her face maintained the same cold expression.

Once they were done using the machines, Megan walked to another side of the gym into another room, separated from the rest of the machinery.

It was an open space with different hooks on the ceiling for people to hang punching bags, and while Dante was a bit confused, Megan thought it was better to show its utility in practice.

The warlock stood silently on the side of the room, watching the brunette practice her martial arts against the large, heavy punching bag in the center.

Her stance was anything but graceful, but her explosive punches and slicing kicks had Dante entranced, making him think otherwise.

He was familiar with physical combat, as he had to practice in his past world to survive, but no martial art resembled the one Megan was practicing.

*Bam!* The sound of a final punch echoed in the room, making the sweaty Megan turn her head towards Dante.

"Wanna try?" she asked, letting out a tired sigh.

"I could—physical combat was never my specialty, though…" he replied, approaching the punching bag.

"Well, with that strength, I doubt much technique is needed to knock someone out," said Megan, her comment sounding like a joke, but she was totally serious.

Dante let out a somewhat sad smile as he remembered his two party members and best friends, who specialized in physical combat.

'I wonder what Sylas and Soren would think of this…' he pondered.

Megan noticed the warlock's change in attitude and asked if he wanted to learn some techniques, making him perk up with anticipation.

After removing the punching bag from the center of the room, they stood face to face, with Megan raising her arms into a guarding stance while the warlock maintained his casual posture.

"Alright, first lesson—always have your guard up," said Megan, launching herself at Dante and going for a kick in the face.

However, the warlock moved his head back and avoided her leg by an inch, making the brunette follow up with a series of punches.

Still, Dante kept avoiding and deflecting her fists with the back of his hands as if he was slapping them away before she could hit him.

"Huh, you got incredible combat sense and fast reflexes, but your movements are kind of annoying…" said Megan as she took a quick backstep.

"What do you mean?" Dante asked.

"It's like you are not even trying," she replied, making the warlock turn his eyes to the side as if he was hiding something.

"Is that it? Fine… I'll take the challenge," she muttered, sharpening her gaze and solidifying her stance.

As soon as the brunette bolted from her position towards Dante, his eyes widened slightly at the speed of the woman.

The fact that she wasn't using any type of magic to boost her movements was a testament to how much she had trained.

He could still deflect her fists with the back of his hand, but not without feeling a bit of pain as he wasn't using any magic to protect his body.

At one point, Megan went for a punch in the gut, and the warlock lowered his guard to protect himself. Nonetheless, it was a feint, and she followed it up with a lateral kick to Dante's face.

In that split second, the warlock managed to catch Megan's leg right before it connected with his cheek.

*Phew* he muttered.

But the brunette jumped and spun in the air quickly, making Dante lose his grip on her leg as she used her other to slam his face, turning his gaze to the side.

Dante held his chin perplexedly, where Megan's kick left a little mark. Still, he wasn't angry about being struck but in complete awe of the woman's techniques.

"Gonna take it seriously now?" she asked, her gaze cold but her tone somewhat friendlier.

With a smirk, the warlock turned his face back and raised his arms, imitating her guarding stance.

"Thanks, Miss Megan—I was starting to lose my edge," he said.

"We are sparring partners now. Just call me Megan or Meg," she replied, followed by a quick step as she went on the offensive once again.

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After the pair spent a few hours practicing their moves against each other, Chad called for them back to join the squatting tournament, which was about to begin.

The objective was for each competitor to raise the weight from the previous one by whatever amount they wanted—if they managed to complete one full squat, they would move on to the next round.

Each contender drew a ticket with a number, and Dante ended up last while Megan was second to last, meaning they would be the ones lifting the most at the end of each round.

It started relatively simple, with a total weight of 250 pounds, which slowly increased as the participants took their turns.

When Megan was up, she squatted 400 pounds, which Dante later increased to 450 during his turn.

A few of the contestants were eliminated in the second round, and when Megan's turn came back up, she ended up squatting 650 pounds, although it was not easy for her.

Still, she gained the praise and cheers of the bodybuilders who were spectating, showing their respect towards her.

In Dante's second turn, he asked for the maximum amount of weights that the barbell could hold to be added to it, which confused the referee and other participants.

"That could be dangerous. We can't do that…" said the judge.

"It'll be fine! —I'll allow it!" Chad interjected.

He judged people by the way they lifted, and he was the one who witnessed Dante lifting the maximum amount of weights on the back press machine before recommending him to join the tourney.

It was those same judging skills that made him understand that Dante wasn't the type of man to talk without having something to show for it.

"Alright, it's ready!" said one of the bodybuilders, who was helping carry the weights to the barbell.

"That's one thousand pounds!" exclaimed another strong man.

Once Dante held the bar and squatted down, he felt like he could lift a bit more weight, but that didn't mean that it was easy, as he felt a slight cramp on his thigh that made him stop momentarily.

"You got this, bruh!" a bodybuilder exclaimed.

"PUUUUSH!" another one shouted with the veins popping out of his neck.

The spectators started clapping and hyping up the warlock. While their yells sounded sort of aggressive, the positive energy that radiated from the strong men genuinely had an effect on him.

Joining the men in their shouts, Dante let out a battle cry as he rose, completing one full squat of 1,000 pounds, making the spectators cheer loudly.

While the bodybuilders celebrated by patting Dante on the back and shaking his hand, the warlock could feel a cloud of umbra in the mix, coming from Turner and his buddies, who had been spectating the tournament from the opposite side of the room.

*Tch!* "Let's get outta here—This gym is shit anyways," said Turner, gritting his teeth and leaving the building with his lackeys behind him. Nevertheless, Dante didn't even notice him go as he was already ignoring them.

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Dante was given the 1st place prize, and after the tournament was over, he said his farewells to the group of bodybuilders and left the gym with Megan.

"Thanks for bringing me with you. I had a lot of fun…" said Dante, holding a trophy with a small golden statuette that had the shape of a weight.

"I got this nice golden trophy, too," he continued.

"It's made out of plastic, so don't think you can sell that for a high price or something…" Megan replied.

However, the warlock was thinking about putting it on one of the empty shelves in the apartment, which used to hold Megan and Sophia's stuff until they moved to the third floor.

"I didn't think the place used as training grounds could have such a friendly environment," Dante commented.

"It's not always that rowdy…" said the brunette.

"Really? Hmm, I wonder what got everyone so excited all of a sudden…"

"Yup… I wonder," Megan said with a slightly sarcastic tone, which wasn't easy to decipher since her eyes kept the same cold gaze.