Derwyn still held Asahel's dagger, when he saw the two approaching him again, he threw it towards him. He wanted the end things now, but the boys were still willing to continue, so he decided to follow them.
Asahel picked up his dagger and spit a mixture of saliva and blood, his tired gaze from just a moment ago was replaced by the eyes of a falcon eyeing his prey. Reynald too had changed in this spar, he had a disciplined and serious attitude, he wasn't moving wildly as before, and even tried to use the movements as Derwyn taught him.
Derwyn watched as the two took position again and nodded towards them with a prideful gaze, before that he recognized their talent and potential, now he recognized their efforts and determination.
-” How about making this our final bout?” Derwyn asked them before the spar ensued.
-” Why are you getting tired?” Reynald mocked him, but, anyone could tell the weariness of his voice.
-” Hey, we just started to get things right and now you want to stop?” Asahel too looked beat up, yet, was unwilling to give up.
Derwin almost got angry, the two of them didn't know their limits, he was afraid of seriously injuring them so he gave them a way out, however, the two didn't even mind it. Derwyn took a deep breath, picked up his stick, and made a motion with his hand for them to come. -” If so, so be it.”
This time who took the lead was Reynald who performed a Thrust towards him, Derwyn paired the thrust and slashed towards Reynald's right shoulder, which in turn jumped back to dodge the slash, as he landed he prepared another thrust as he saw Asahel already closing on Derwyn back.
Derwyn turned to block Asahel's downward slash with his stick and sidestepped to the right to dodge Reynald's subsequent thrust, as Derwyn dodged Asahel moved too, dashing to the left of Derwyn and stabbing towards his ribs.
Now that Reynald and Asahel had better coordination the spar looked more beautiful to the eyes, the three of them moved as if they were dancing. For each of Derwyn movements, Reynald and Asahel responded accordingly, with one covering the other.
This made Derwyn impressed, he already exceeded the limit of strength he self-imposed several times, and the youts still kept getting better and better. Asahel was completely engrossed in the battle, he could now use almost everything that Derwyn taught him with a basic level of confidence, so he started to mix them, even using them as a faint. Reynald's progress wasn't too far behind, especially his thrust, it was faster and more precise, the two youths were even making Derwyn sweat a little.
The noise of the spar attracted the attention of Lucia and Merthia who were close to the backyard, at first they were worried about the state of their children, but, as they watched the spar, they were surprised, especially Lucia who knew that Asahel wasn't someone who fought a lot.
Merthia wanted to ask them to stop, so she could tend to Reynald's wounds, but Lucia stopped her and pointed to the smiles on their faces. The two looked like they were having the time of their life.
The spar continued, but, with an audience now, Derwyn noticed them, yet, he didn't go easier on Reynald and Asahel, on the contrary, he started to pick up his pace, he knew that their mothers were worried about them, and showing them what the two were capable of was the best option to ease their worries.
Reynald and Asahel were completely oblivious to the women watching them, their complete focus was on Derwyn as the spar reached the climax, Asahel was feeling tired, but, somehow his speed kept increasing, he could follow Derwyn's movements easily now.
As Derwyn slashed towards him, he sidestepped and stabbed towards Derwyn's left ribs, making Derwyn jump back and thurst towards his chest. Reynald dashed towards Derwyn's right flank and made a downward slash.
Asahel evaded the thrust with a jump and circled Derwyn who dodged Reynald's slash, Derwyn wanted to create distance and force a one vs one, as the battle against the two of them was getting tricky, he was already using the peak strength of someone at the first level of the pre ascendant realm, increasing his powers any further would be truly shameless.
To his surprise Asahel didn't back off and kept exchanging blows with him, giving him the single battle he wanted. Derwyn grinned as he started his barrage of attacks toward him. Asahel tried his best to dodge Derwyn attacks, he dodged the first few slashes easily, but as the speed picked up, Asahel felt that he couldn't keep up with the pace, after a few seconds of dodging Asahel was hit by a slash, yet, he endured and tried to evade the next one.
Asahel's mind was on overdrive, his fatigue was reaching the limit when the time seemed to slow down, the slashes that looked like lighting before were slightly slower, he could see every bit of detail in Derwyn attacks in the back of his mind something had lit up, Derwyn noticed instantly that something had happened to Asahel.
Derwyn was thrusting his stick towards Asahel's shoulder, he could follow the movement of Derwyn's entire body, taking advantage of his weird state, and aimed his dagger towards his right arm
Derwyn frowned as he saw Asahel attack, it was already too late for him to push his arm back, yet, he put even more strength in his thrust. just as Asahel aimed for the arm he held the stick with, Derwyn aimed to his thrust the arm that Asahel held his dagger.
He wanted to disarm Asahel with his thrust, this was the only way of evading his attack. Asahel gritted his teeth as he felt the impact on his shoulder and held firmly on to his dagger, he was too exhausted to keep sparing after this, he too bet everything on his attack.
As Derwyn pressed his stick harder on Asahel's shoulder, a sound of metal clanging was heard, Asahel finally let go of his dagger and collapsed on the floor. While still awake he was too tired to move.
He couldn't help but let his surprise appears on his face as looked at Asahel. -” Hey, did yo—--” before he could finish began to laugh and scream.
-” HAHAHAHAHAHA, GOOD JOB ASAHEL! YOU DONE IT.” Reynald kept laughing uncontrollably.
The way Reynald acted infuriated not only Derwyn but, Asahel too, Derwyn because of the interruption, and Asahel thought he was making fun of him, Derwyn was about to scold him when he noticed drops of blood coming from his wrist.
Derwyn had a gentle smile as he noticed the blood driping from his wirst, in the end, the two had won. He wasnt ashemed of admiting defeat as he was proud of their performance. Derwyn walked towards Asahel and put his wirst near his face, Asahel thought that he was trying to help him get up, horever as he looked closer, he too noticed the small cut. Asahel felt relivied, his efforts were paid off, a feeling of hapiness washed over him. His entire body hurt, but he didnt mind and tried to sit down. Its only after the spar finished that he and Reynald noticed their mother watching them. The two ladies had a proud look on their faces, the boys performance was a great spectacle ot them. Merthia saw that the spar had finished and ran towards Reynald. He held him and caressed his head. Asahel was at a loss for words when he returned, the magical feeling of floating around still fresh in his mind. Asahel was at a loss for words when he returned, the magical feeling of floating around still fresh in his mind. "That was so unexpected; I never expected to be able to float around so freely." Asahel had a gleam of excitement in his eyes. The Arcane Trickster Chapter 10 - Battle Focus
Asahel Couzens looked at the crowd around in a daze, it was the Year 534 of the Lunar Conclave, currently, at seventeen years of age, it was his first opportunity to be granted the gift of the goddess, most of the time only nobles would be granted this opportunity, after all, a Lunar Crystal is as valuable as its weight in gold if not more, but 5 years ago the Silver Council, the greatest authority of the Congregation of Unity signed the Treaty of the Revelation.The peasantry was elated, after all to them, awakening a useful Gift of the Goddess was a one-way ticket out of the misery of poverty, to Asahel it was the same, his dad, a civil servant for the country, died when he was barely six years old, luckily his father was an educated man and tried its best while alive to educate Asahel, making him learn to read, write and do simple arithmetic, a luxury and skill that few people at the botto
Asahel received his Class Identification Plaque and bowed again to the white robbed priest, who in his turn gently smiled and patted his head with a hand.-“ Go now, child.” Said the priest as he turned back to the altar, “There is still quite some work for us to do here.”Asahel understood that the priest was telling him to not linger any longer on the altar, after all, the line behind him wasn’t getting any smaller. Dashing out of the altar, he wanted to head home and tell the news to his mom, but he was stopped by one of the men who received the ritual with him.-“ Hey man, we are the only people to get good classes in that batch, huh, My name is Hick, we should get together and chat sometime, afte
Reynald was running around in joy with a sword he gained from Derwyn, his uncle who was the leader of an escort group that worked with local merchant's caravans, he always would pass a few days in Reynald's dad’s house when he was in town, Derwyn sometimes taught him how to use a sword, Reynalds love and determination for Knights came from his uncle who has awakened the Shield Bearer class in his second awakening.The party was joyful, Reynald's family treated Asahel and Lucia as family members, so nobody was out of place. Reynald mother’s and Lucia were talking at the table, Lucia looked a lot healthier and more energetic after the good news.Reynald and Asahel were talking with Derwyn, the two young men were enthusiastically asking the older and more experienced man questions, Reynald was having a hard tim
Asahel barely slept that night, only falling asleep when it was almost morning, he woke up almost at 10’o clock confused, it was rare for him to lose one morning of work, he was mentally drained from thinking all night about how to revolve his situation and finally decided to sell his dad’s old book collection. Books were expensive so the entire collection could help his mother sustain herself in his absence, but he knew his mother would never agree to it, so he would do it in secret, he jumped out of his bed and exited his room. He looked around his house and didn’t find his mother in the living room, by this time she generally would be sewing things there, so he checked her room and she wasn’t there too, Asahel was surprised, he didn't t
Derwyn began their training with some exercise and basic movements, Reynald and Asahel performed sets of movements without rest for hours, Asahel was excited to train at first, but soon his arms started to get sore and he could barely keep his dagger up.As Asahel sat down to rest, Reynald too stopped his training, he still looked energetic, but he was bored of this type of training. -” Hey Uncle, Hey Uncle, why don't we spar, I already did so many sets.” Asahel thought that Reynald energy was neverending.-” Tsk, what good sparing is? You need to polish your basics first.” Derwyn looked a bit annoyed, Reynald was too unruly to take training seriously, Derwyn wanted to train Reynald seriously, after all, the young man was gifted with a strong body and a rare class. -” Hey get up, this time let's attack from different sides.” Reynald had a determined look on his face.Asahel got up and held his dagger again, he focused on Derwyn and nodded towards Reynald. The two dashed once again, Reynald on the left and Asahel on the right, as they approached Derwyn Reynald thrust his sword.Asahel was completely focused on Derwyn movements, he knew that he was faster than the two of them, so he needed to react as soon as he moved. Derwyn's stick moved fast towards Reynald's sword, Asahel took the chance and tried to slash towards Derwyn belly.Reynald was smiling as he saw the stick coming from his sword, he put even more strength in his thrust wanting to break it, yet to his surprise, when the stick hit the side of his sword the stick didn't break, wThe Arcane Trickster CHAPTER 6 - SPARING PT2