Chapter 73 Intense Training
"Come in Sam."
Welcoming him inside, Xavier placed his arm around his shoulder as if they were close friends and led him over to the others.
Achara had seen Sam pass Xavier a paper slip with his phone number on it, but she never expected Sam to be so relaxed around Xavier and also agree to come over.
And he seemed unbothered by Xavier\'s arm around him and just as dull as she had previously seen him be, but Achara and Connor seemed to have caught his eye.
"The Unstoppable Killer, I presume, and he looks pretty good too," he commented bluntly.
"Unstoppable Killer?" Karim and his friends questioned in confusion.
Clearing her throat, Achara explained, "It\'s just a nickname I got. Don\'t worry about it."
Of course, they were still curious, but a simple glare from Achara and Connor intimidated them enough to not mention it.
Connor had heard everything that had happened from Xavier, and although he skipped out a few of the details, it was clearly quite a sore topic for Achara.
Changing the subject, Xavier suggested that Sam and Achara should spar and neither of them were against the idea.
"Are you sure you can after the beating you already endured? I don\'t want to be seen as a bully," Achara asked.
It seemed as though her competitive spirit was fired up, and Sam, who was quite the dull character, surprisingly, had a light in his eyes that reminded her of Xavier\'s.
"No need for small talk. Let\'s just start."
The atmosphere was tense as the two of them stood in their fighting stance and were on the verge of bursting toward each other at any moment.
But Xavier didn\'t want either of them getting hurt.
"I\'m glad you\'re getting along, but let\'s slow down. Get in the ring and put on some protective gear first, alright?"
Sighing, they didn\'t argue, and after doing as he said, they stood on opposite sides of the ring and were both completely focused on their opponent.
"First off, please hold back in power and don\'t try to injure each other. Secondly, no dirty blows and I will be acting as the referee," Xavier stated, and after both of them nodded their heads in affirmation, their match started.
Speedy Sam, just like his name suggested, was rapid as he blitzed towards Achara, but despite his speed, his boxing technique and footwork didn\'t falter, maintaining balance and ready to unleash a powerful blow.
Meanwhile, Achara also adopted a similar stance, not shying away from a battle of fists, as the two of them began firing lethal punches at each other.
And unlike what they had agreed to, they didn\'t seem to be holding back in the slightest.
Both Achara and Sam were quite injured after their fights the previous night, but watching them now, it was hard to believe that they even had a scratch on them.
With punches as fast as bullets, Sam appeared to be having the upper hand, throwing many more punches than Achara, but Xavier, who was watching closely, was impressed by how well she was faring against him.
It seemed as though her fight against Nora was one she was in dire need of in order to find herself, and now that she had, she was on an entirely different level.
Her vision and mind were as clear as could be as she fought against Sam and saw all of his attacks coming, avoiding many of them and blocking those that were too fast for her to evade.
And despite all the explosive strikes coming her way, she wasn\'t enduring much damage and was managing to counter with a few strikes of her own.
Their match dragged on for a few more minutes, and watching the fight up close from within the ring, Xavier didn\'t even want to blink and was amazed by them both.
Itching to jump in and spar against them himself, he knew doing so would damage his battered body even more and instead sought to learn from the battle with his Martial Arts Talent.
And the two of them were still going strong even after so long, not showing any signs of slowing down.
Instead, Sam, who was previously the dull one out of the two, was relentlessly attacking Achara and had a smile on his face, just like he had when he fought against Xavier.
Meanwhile, Achara had become the more laid back out of the two and was the more composed fighter, as their match lasted a while longer before Xavier stopped it.
Both had put on an incredible display that left all the onlookers in awe, especially Zack and Karim and his friends, but they had reached a stalemate and both were starting to slow down due to fatigue.
And as soon as Xavier instructed them to stop, they impressively were able to stop the attacks they were launching toward each other and, almost instantaneously, they had simmered down.
After their tough spar, there was great mutual respect between Sam and Achara, who shook hands and had an idea of what the other was capable of.
Then, after taking a rest, Connor approached Sam and said that he wanted to spar with him.
Connor had already done some light sparring with Achara, but wanted to go up against Sam and was determined to become a better fighter.
Not only would that allow him to earn large amounts of money in the fight club, but he wanted to be able to fend for himself and become Xavier\'s executive in the Outlaw Gang.
He didn\'t want to ever have to feel regret or doubt in his life, and by becoming stronger, he could help to build the Outlaw Gang and, in turn, acquire everything he always wanted.
"I thought you would never ask," was Sam\'s simple response, and he immediately geared up to spar with him.
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Their spar wasn\'t as intense as the previous one, and Sam was clearly the more skilled fighter, but Connor made up for his lacking skills with his sheer size and power.
And surprisingly, Sam was good at teaching, pointing out all of Connor\'s blaring flaws while sparring with him, and helping him to improve, which the giant man appreciated.
Then, getting in some bag work and stretching with everyone else, Sam was satisfied with the training he had completed, but there was one thing that bothered him.
The entire time he had been sparring and training, he could feel Xavier\'s gaze upon him.
And it wasn\'t a malicious gaze, but one that made him feel naked, almost as if he was observing every slight movement he made.
Even as he taught Connor basic striking techniques on the sandbag, Xavier\'s eyes were glued to him, and he would also observe Achara and even Connor.
Learning from them, Xavier was taking in anything he could, and after they had all finished training, Sam walked over to Xavier.
"Now talk," he stated bluntly.
"What? You\'re off so soon?"
"Yes, I have finished training. Why else would I stay?"
"Okay, ease up," Xavier said to him as signalled for him to sit down.
Wanting to get their conversation over with, he sat down promptly and couldn\'t help but be curious about what exactly Xavier\'s proposition was.
But when he heard what the youth before him had in mind, he was so shocked that he couldn\'t maintain his emotionless expression any longer...