You Gotta Learn How to Fight Better

The punch connected, Euphemia's face rocked to the side from the impact. Her body was still for a moment, then she stood up straight, continuing to face Zora is if nothing happened. The slight beginnings of a bruise could be seen on her face, but it faded away almost immediately as her body healed.

"Not bad." She said, after a moment. She paused again before continuing. "Ms Del Bosque. I believe you are a compassionate woman. I do not think you would wish to cause anyone harm unjustly. However, there is no way to win a fight that guarantees the safety of both yourself and your opponent."

"If you are attacked, you must not hesitate. You must strike hard and fast, you will not be able to win if you are not ruthless."

It was how Euphemia was taught. She wasn't trained to just fight, she was trained to win. To do that there wasn't any room for hesitation, no room for doubt about your actions.

"Please strike me again." She asked, this time watching Zora carefully, observing her technique.

Euphemia's eyes widened just a little, a break from her usual stoic composure. She quickly moved to Zora's side, moving to grasp her hand so she could look at it closely and asses the damage.

"I apologise." She immediately said. Even if her voice carried its usual impartial tone, the concern was visible on her face. "I should have made sure you were utilising proper technique."

She frowned to herself. Even knowing that she was a poor teacher, Euphemia hoped she could avoid issues like this.

Euphemia blinked. Evidently, she had vastly overestimated just how much Zora's previous teachers had showed her. They were going to need to start with the very basics.

Euphemia let go of Zora's hand, and stepped back. She then held her own hand up in front of her, and slowly curled each finger into a fist, gripping tight.

She stepped back into her stance, legs spread and bent, posture straight. She held that fist in front of her, like a boxers guard and held it there.

It then suddenly snapped forward, her entire robe billowing briefly along with the energy released by her body's motion. Euphemia then brought her hand back and repeated the movement, much slower this time, to make sure Zora saw each detail.

"Like so." She said, returning to her neutral posture.

Euphemia observed as Zora mimicked her movement, watching carefully. It looked like Zora was a fast learner, her technique was already looking quite good. Just to make sure she wasn't making any mistakes, Euphemia stepped quite close, one hand grasping the woman's wrist, manually moving her arm through the motion to make sure it was correct. Once satisfied, Euphemia stepped back in front of her.

"Your technique is satisfactory." She said simply, with a nod. "You must make sure to continue practicing it, until you are able to attack without thinking, much like you were moving earlier. It must become instinctual."

Once that was said, Euphemia moved to grab her wrist again, pulling Zora's arm out so that her fist pointed towards Euphemia's nose.

"A strike here will break your opponents nose, causing their eyes to swell and potentially blinding them."

She lowered her fist to her chin.

"A strike to the jaw will rattle your opponent's brain, disorienting and potentially knocking them unconsious."

She then lowered her fist to her neck.

"Striking at the throat can cause it to collapse, causing your opponent to suffocate."

After demonstrating where to punch, she let go of her wrist, giving Zora a moment to process all of that.