Techxin smiled widely, his eyes glinting with joy as he said, "How you doing, Maxi?"
"Good. How about you?" Maxi replied, his voice calm but with the underlying energy of anticipation.
"As great as always." Techxin's tone was full of that usual confidence as he set his axes down and began stretching. "You here to have a sparring session?"
"Yep."
Maxi tilted his head as he watched his older brother stretch instead of immediately grabbing his weapons. Techxin glanced over at him.
"Have you talked to one of our siblings yet? I plan on asking them either tomorrow or the day after—the 20th of Elve."
"I have," Maxi nodded, knowing full well what was coming next.
"Good, but you do know that only gives you two or three days to train with them if they accept."
"Yeah, I know," Maxi said with a sigh. "But it's not like I would've learned anything concrete that I could use in Colen's test anyway."
"Well, I guess that's reasonable," Techxin said, cracking his knuckles. "But today, we're fighting with our fists."
"…What?" Maxi blinked, stunned.
Techxin threw a sudden punch. Maxi barely dodged.
"Wait, wait—we didn't even talk about this!" he yelped, just before blocking a brutal kick that sent him rolling backward.
Holding his arm and grimacing in pain, Maxi protested, "I didn't even put on my leather armor yet!"
"Don't worry," Techxin grinned. "I won't punch that hard."
Then he charged again, sweeping his leg low. Maxi jumped back, recalling the last time Techxin used that same move to follow up with an uppercut. Seeing Techxin's grin confirmed his suspicion—he was going to punch him midair again.
Maxi's mind kicked into overdrive. As Techxin launched a rapid combo—punch, left hook, right hook—Maxi dodged and leapt upward just as another kick came maxi then stanped on Techxin's kick launching him even higher then before.
In that moment of weightlessness, Maxi saw it—Techxin waiting with a wide smile, fist drawn back like a coiled spring. He's baiting me, Maxi thought.
He needed something fast. Risky. Then an idea hit him—dangerous, but maybe the only way to escape unscathed.
Tucking his legs to his chest, Maxi began to spin midair. He prayed—not to any specific god one of his god, but to all of them—for some divine, main character-level luck.
Techxin thought it would be like hitting a ball. He was wrong.
The moment Maxi descended, legs spinning, his feet collided perfectly with Techxin's incoming punch. It was like watching two opposing forces cancel each other in the perfect collision of physics and luck.
To Techxin, it wasn't hitting a ball—it was hitting a wall.
The force neutralized, Maxi used the recoil to launch himself backward and land, barely, though pain shot through his leg. He grimaced.
Techxin flailed his arm dramatically. "Ow, that hurt."
"What'd you expect?" Maxi said through gritted teeth. "For it not to?"
"I did. But I didn't expect that," Techxin admitted.
"Well, to be fair, legs are generally stronger than arms," Maxi pointed out, still catching his breath.
Techxin chuckled, still flailing his arm until Maxi sighed and asked, "Does it really hurt?"
A sly smile crept onto Techxin's face. "Nope. But thanks for the info."
Before Maxi could respond, Techxin dashed forward, lifting his leg high into the air for a powerful axe kick.
Maxi rolled his eyes and muttered, "Even when we're not using weapons, you still manage to use an axe."
Here's the polished continuation of Chapter 63, keeping the style consistent and immersive, with the date at the end:
Maxi dodged just in time as Techxin's leg came down like a divine hammer. The axe kick slammed into the ground, cracking it apart with a thunderous snap.
"You trying to kill me?!" Maxi shouted, staring at the fractured floor.
Techxin only smiled, waving a hand nonchalantly. "I was just… not used to using my legs. Don't worry—it was just a fluke."
Maxi didn't believe that for a second.
Still, a plan began to form. Going straight at him has worked before… so why wouldn't it work now?
Without hesitation, Maxi dashed forward. Techxin reacted with a swift kick aimed at Maxi's stomach. He barely managed to dodge the initial strike—but not the follow-through. The sweeping motion of Techxin's leg caught him off guard and knocked the wind out of him, but Maxi gritted through it and slammed his fist into Techxin's side.
Techxin stumbled and fell to the ground, his muscles spasming.
"The Fifth Spiraling Hell, Maxi!" he groaned. "Why'd you have to go for my liver?!"
Maxi winced, holding his own side. "I punched you on your left side. Your liver shouldn't even be there."
Still curled slightly in pain, Techxin replied, "Well, I'm not exactly human. I'm demi-human."
Maxi blinked. "Wait—what?"
"Yeah… I'm demi-human. Sorry I forgot to tell you."
Maxi stared at him, baffled and exhausted. "I really want to ask more questions… but I think I need to lie down. I've felt way too much pain today, and all of it drained the energy out of me. Tomorrow—you explain everything. Okay?"
Techxin was already back to stretching, the pain now gone as if it never existed. "Fine, fine," he said casually.
Maxi groaned and began walking toward his small castle. As he reached the front door, Angelina stood from her seat and followed silently behind him. When they entered, Maxi went straight to his room and collapsed face-first onto his bed.
"You want some food?" Angelina asked in monotony cold voice from the doorway.
Maxi mumbled something completely incomprehensible, his voice buried in the pillow.
Angelina took that as a yes and disappeared from the room.
Within moments, Maxi was already asleep.