Half an hour later, Arthur, with Caliburnus floating beside him, stood across from the Old Man in a clearing near the lake.
Lazily lying in a tree at the clearing's outskirts, Aegon watched the upcoming spar with a bit of interest.
Stretching his arms outwards, the Old Man flashed Arthur a grin," shall we begin?"
Nodding, Arthur stretched out a hand, "Caliburnus!"
Immediately, Caliburnus turned into particles of light that swirled into the shape of a sword.
As the particles began to dissipate, a silvery blade edged with gold appeared in Arthur's hand. It was a beautiful blade. Traveling from the tip to the crossguard, reddish-gold runes graced the groove in the middle of the blade. A red leather hilt met the crossguard made of a golden metal in the mold of a blooming flame as it joined the hilt with the blade. All the while, a free-floating crystal stood in place of a pommel as it thrummed with light, almost like a heartbeat.
....
The moment Caliburnus fully formed, Arthur wasted no time and dashed towards the old man with a downward diagonal slash.
Seeing Arthur's reckless charge, the Old Man smirked and with minimal movements, sidestepped the slash while pointing his right index finger at Arthur.
"Tsk, tsk!"
Feeling the Old Man's finger touch his shoulder, Arthur immediately felt as if a mountain had just slammed into him.
FTOOOSH!
Eyes opened wide, Arthur watched the distance between him and the Old Man grow by hundreds of meters in a second.
CRSSSH!
Unable to stop his momentum Arthur crashed into the ground, leaving a human-sized ditch in his wake.
"What did you expect?" chuckled the Old Man as he watched Arthur's dazed expression from afar.
Slowly rising back up, Arthur couldn't help but cough up a mouthful of blood. Seeing this, Arthur's gaze immediately turned serious. 'He isn't going easy today…'
Standing, Arthur tightened his grip on Caliburnus.
Taking a deep breath, Arthur fixed his eyes on the Old Man.
"Alright, if that's how you are going to play."
Step.
With a sudden burst of speed, almost instantaneously, Arthur appeared behind the Old Man and proceed with another slash.
TING!
Without turning around, the Old Man laughed as he stopped the descending sword with a finger.
Step.
Seeing his attack fail, Arthur's figure disappeared again, this time reappearing a bit further away from the Old Man.
Step-Cut.
However, the moment his foot touched down, he disappeared again, reappearing beside the Old Man, sending a significantly more powerful slash.
TIIINNGGG!
Blocking the sword with a finger again, the Old Man chuckled lightly as he sent a palm racing towards Arthur.
Block.
Just as the palm was about to make contact, the air in front of Arthur slightly shimmered, stopping the palm from making contact.
WHOOSH!
However, despite the Old Man's palm not making contact, Arthur was still sent flying backward.
Like this, Arthur continuously disappeared and reappeared in his attempt to break through the old man's guard. Each assault, however, was continuously thwarted by the Old Man. It was a beautiful dance of sorts as Arthur and the Old Man moved all over the clearing, uprooting grass and earth as they went.
After a while of this, Arthur pulled back, raggedly breathing.
Smiling, the Old Man teased," already at your limit?"
Eyes down, Arthur didn't respond. Sadly he was at his limit. Training for the past ten years, his current combat and academics skills were nothing to sneeze at. But for one to thrive in this world, they will need a little more than that.
But if there was one thing anyone could pick up from Arthur's character? It would be that he has never been one to yield, and like hell, he will take a loss simply because he was tired.
Still breathing hard, Arthur lifted his eyes, and it was at that moment he felt something well up from deep inside him.
WOOOM!
Abruptly a huge wave of energy erupted from Arthur's being.
Sensing this, the Old Man raised an eyebrow. 'Heh, bout time.'
[>Path: Terrestrial: Soul Body (Awakened)<]
[>Path: Ichorestrial: (Partial Awakening) (Bloodline: Unawakened) <]
Feeling a rush of energy flood his being, Arthur couldn't help but be surprised as all of his previous exhaustion completely washed away.
"Let's begin round two," smiled the Old Man.
Wasting no time, Arthur moved.
Step-Cut.
Appearing right before the Old Man, Arthur swung Caliburnus downwards.
Seeing right through Arthur's attack, the Old Man coated his index finger in white energy that elongated to the length of a sword.
SHIINNGGG-BOOM!
Just as Caliburnus met the energy sword, a massive shockwave suddenly ripped through the clearing.
CRACK-FWIP!
Aegon, who was watching from afar, couldn't help but open his eyes wide as he observed the sudden escalation of power.
Where the Old Man originally stood, the ground had cratered. Whereas Arthur, as per usual, was sent flying backward. However, unlike usual, Arthur simply flipped himself over and landed on his feet.
"Oho, not bad, boyo. But you are still going to need more than that."
"Tch."
Step.
Step*.
Not playing defense anymore the moment Arthur moved, so did the Old Man.
SHING-SHING-SHING-SHING-TIINNNGG!
Meeting each other halfway, a beautiful dance of blades began. Wherever Arthur attacked, the Old Man was perfectly blocked and counterattacked.
Keeping this up for a while, both parties split.
"I'm impressed, Art, you can go on for longer than I thought you could-OH!"
[>Constituion: The Devourer (Awakened) – The Devourer Constitution, when awakened, allows an individual to absorb all forms of Realm Energy, such as the residual energy from combat. However, The Devourer Consitution acts randomly and of its own accord. But as a constitution, it comes with the passive effect of a significantly higher passive Realm Energy absorption.<]
"Playing defense is kinda boring, Dontcha think, Artie?" asked the Old Man as he finished scanning Arthur. "Let's take this up a notch, mhm? "
Step*.
Before Arthur could even blink, the Old Man appeared right in front of him with an upward slash.
Block.
Reacting at the last second, Arthur brought Caliburnus up, but similar to when they first began, feeling as though he had been struck by a mountain. There was little Arthur could do as he was sent flying into the air.
Giving Arthur no reprieve whatsoever, just as Arthur began to fly backward, the Old Man moved.
Step*.
Appearing right above the sailing Arthur, the Old Man flashed a grin. "Hehe."
CHING-WOOOM!
Slashing downwards, the Old Man's energy sword slammed into Caliburnus, whom Arthur had managed to bring up just in time. However, just as the two weapons met, an enormous force slammed into Arthur, sending him blitzing towards the ground.
BOOOM!
Unable to stop himself, Arthur slammed into the ground, cratering it as a large amount of dust exploded into the air.
Standing in the air now, the Old Man looked down at the dust-covered crater as he slowly changed his stance.
Cut*, Cut*, Cut*, Cut*.
Still not going easy, the Old Man immediately sent down four seemingly casual slashes.
One wouldn't think much of them upon seeing them. However, after a few silent moments …
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
Four deep gashes eviscerated the surrounding land as more dust, grass, and rocks flew into the air. As for Arthur? Stroking his beard, the Old man descended as he thought,' he didn't die from that, did he...?'
WOOOM!
"Heh heh... is it just me, or did it just get hotter?" Asked the Old Man as he turned around to see an incredibly bloodied Arthur surrounded by large roaring flames. Interestingly, the oddly separated streak of white in his hair had turned red, but one couldn't be sure if it because of blood or not.
[>Path: Celestial (Awakened: 15%)<]
Fixing his blood-covered eyes on the Old Man, the roaring red flames surrounding Arthur began to grow larger and larger. Almost like a beast whose sleep had been rudely interrupted, wherever the flames touched, the land burned, dried, and cracked.
With eyes still locked on the Old Man, a low growl escaped from Arthur.
"Ignis, Rampage!"
WHOOSH!
Like a beast released of its restraints, the roaring flames blitzed outwards, dashing towards the Old Man.
Step.
Moving with the flames, Arthur disappeared and reappeared behind the Old Man.
Cut.
Block*.
FWOOSH-TINGGG!
Smirking a little, the Old Man simply waved his hand, dispersing the flames while stopping Arthur's slash with his energy sword.
However, seemingly expecting this, Arthur returned the Old Man's smirk just as the original white streak in his hair shifted from red to blue.
"Glaice, Rigescunt Indutae!"
Immediately a wave of frigid air washed over the Old Man, attempting to freeze him. However….
"Heh."
WHOOSH!
With just a light laugh, the frigid air was blasted away along with Arthur.
[>Path: Celestial (Awakened: 30%)<]
However, seemingly used to getting sent flying, Arthur remained calm as the blue streak in his hair turned grey.
"Aerios!"
WHOOSH!
Before Arthur could crash into the ground, a large gale of wind wrapped itself around him.
[>Path: Celestial (Awakened: 45%) <]
Landing softly, Arthur glared at the Old Man, who was leisurely floating down.
"Hoho, who would have thought….so what else you got?"
Wasting no time, the streak in Arthur's hair shifted from grey to green as the earth began to shake.
[>Path: Celestial (Awakened: 60%)<]
"Terrom, Hirundo!"
"Hu-"
Suddenly feeling the ground open up underneath him, the Old Man couldn't help but be a little surprised as he descended into darkness.....just a little.
"Finally…" sighed Arthur as he watched the ground swallow the Old Man.
BOOM!
Just as the last of Arthur's breath left his mouth, the ground where the Old Man had just been swallowed blasted itself apart.
"Aren't you looking down on too much, Artie?"
WOOOM!
Just as Arthur heard the last of the Old Man's words, the Old Man appeared a centimeter away from him.
Raising a finger, the Old Man touched Arthur's forehead.