(3rd POV: Omni)
"Follow me, Tristan; even though we just got to the Boleskine Manor, I just want to see what you've got before actually training you before you start schooling next year in January." Orion spoke out with Cal beside them, shaking her head and telling Orion.
(A/n: Look up the Boleskine house; a lot of bad luck happened in that place in Scotland)
"Try not to pummel the kid too much; he still has some things to learn from me, and this time, it's not cult crap I've been spewing lately… I'm going to make some calls outside while you two do whatever." Orion waved his hand while saying.
"Okay, okay!!! I got it!!! I won't go too hard with this kid's first spar." After saying that, Orion walked on in silence while Tristan followed behind with a sigh.
Both Orion and Tristan went through the house and to the backyard outside, where a spacious field with beautiful green grass spread out across the scenery. Trees surrounded the back of the manor like a squared-out perimeter.
Orion spoke up without turning behind him, "Tristan, go ten feet away from me and get into a fighting stance; we are going to spar~" Orion was already at one side, and Tristan was caught a bit off guard and said.
"Wait a minute, now? This is technically my first spar ever!?!? I don't think it's a good idea to spar with someone who has zero experience??!?!" Orion sneered at Tristan.
"Hey, buddy? I don't know what type of shit you've gone through in your time in Alaska, but from what I can guess, you had probably gone through some vile garbage at that now crap-infested garbage that the government and other factions are now trying to contain at this very moment…
But compared to that, this spar should be nothing to you at this point, so get your ass to the other side from me and get started!!!" Tristan mentally sighed and went to the opposite side from Orion and readied himself for an ass-kicking he would soon partake in.
"Are you ready? I'll go easy on you…" Orion said while he got into a Sambo stance, with his knees bent, arms up, and hands open. His entire presence changed as an invisible pressure was now weighing down on Tristan; Orion spoke one last time to lighten up the pressure.
"Also, Tristan, you could try to use your shadows to enhance yourself, right? If you don't, then it would actually feel like I'm bullying a child, which won't matter as that's what I'm doing anyway."
Tristan didn't say anything and did just that. He began to focus and tried to find a trigger from his last 'fight' for a way to enhance himself deep within the inner parts of his soul stirred as the shadows he commanded rippled and driven to temporarily improve his body instead of being released outside of him like he usually did for the fun of it.
Tristan began to give his stance, even if it was amateurish in style; Tristan immediately, upon using his enhanced speed to make up for lack of experience, closed in the ten-foot distance within a second.
But what caught Tristan off guard was when Orion barely moved to the side and tripped him with a half-split. Upon Tristan's fall to eat the dirt, Orion immediately capitalized with a spinning axe kick to the back to further utilize the gravity of Tristan's fall.
And upon instinct, Tristan twisted his entire body like a cat just away from the kick that hit his arm instead of having Orion's heel dig into his back, now five feet away.
Tristan winced a bit, feeling the bruise from his arm. He was almost sure that it cracked a bit but laughed it off a bit as it was healing. "Hah~ now my arm is a bit jacked up, ain't it now? Is this really how you treat every kid you take care of?" Orion scoffed and told Tristan while keeping his Sambo stance.
"Who told you to just rush over to me like that? You were kind of asking for an opponent to cave your head in… And with those shadows of yours, I wouldn't even identify you as a kid~" After the back-and-forth banter, both of them locked back into focus, as Tristan now tried to copy Orion's style of fighting, and this time zoomed in with a plan, as he went with a front kick, but Orion quickly grabbed that kick, opting for Tristan to use a flying knee, something that Tristan will soon regret as his knee landed on Orion's forehead.
Instead of a desired outcome, Tristan felt something wrong with his knee as he felt a creaking pop sound, which led Orion to immediately slam him to the ground, making Tristan's body bounce like a basketball, and right on cue, Orion made a side step.
He kicked Tristan's side, but through Tristan's keen instinct and miracle, he twisted his own body to the kick, blocked it with his far elbow, and had his entire body spinning away in order to remove as much impact from the kick as he could.
His body still flew twenty feet away from Orion, barely holding on at this point. Tristan was on his hands and knees, with his elbow feeling like it was in the wrong place, and with what happened just below his knee, with all the pain, Tristan still stood back up as he was gradually being healed with his regenerative properties, impressing Orion with his resilience, Orion whistled.
"*Phew* Aren't you one tough son of a bitch, huh? I felt a few things pop too… I guess you do have some sort of healing factor, as that bruising from your arm is gone, kind of like one of those Garou…
But do not try to get in a fight with one in their war form in a fistfight; believe me, I tried one time, and I was backhanded and had myself flung across a forest one time in Mississippi… But I still finished the job, though with the rabid dog ostracized by its clan." Orion slowly made his way to Tristan, stretching his arms and cracking his neck.
Tristan stood up by himself with some difficulty going back to a fighting position, barely even able to listen to Orion as the slam from him still made Tristan dazed, making Orion's eyes narrow a bit.
"Hoh? You still want to keep going~ Well, now color me impressed!!" Orion went back to his original stance and, this time was going to try to finish the spar until Tristan's presence changed as his dark orange shadows were leaking out of him, making Orion widen his smile.
"Hah, Look at you!!! I guess I'll change my style." His Sambo stance turned into a Nukite as his fingers were straight like a spear. He bent his legs into a front stance, readying for Tristan to approach.
And what those seconds that felt like hours, Tristan approached again, making his first move at a speed faster than his first encounter with Orion.
Tristan went with a straight punch that was inhumanly fast, but Orion blocked it with a knife-hand block by moving his legs into a back stance.
Tristan had no way to move around as he was in the air when trying to punch Orion's face, but what gave Tristan goosebumps was Orion's massive grin as he whispered something that Tristan couldn't hear, but what he felt was certain death.
[Cleave] Orion's hand, turned off a golden aura, strikes at Tristan with a spear hand; Tristan's nerves crash out of adrenaline as his body forcefully twisted as hard as he just barely dodged Orion's strike. Tristan only had a slight cut on the upper part of his body, cutting through his shirt, but he heard the sound of falling behind him.
*CRACK!!* *SPURRSHHH*
A bunch of trees fell behind him, making Tristan's face pale with shock. Seeing the terrifying scene lifted him out of the daze. He then heard Orion speak, still with the same toothy grin.
"Oh, Hey there, Tristan! I see you're finally out of that daze! I did say I would hold back, but really, I have to say that you're pretty strong!! But seriously, I can tell you were holding back a bit with what I saw from your shadows beforehand.
As you are a mage, that's to be expected; you also seem to be a quick learner when fighting, and yet you've made mistakes that could've led you into death's door, so when it comes to hand-to-hand combat, there's a lot you need to work on." Tristan yelled out, still confused about what Orion had done.
"What in the seven bloody hells was that, Orion?!?!?" Orion sheepishly smiled and said.
"Oh!! That little technique I was playing with!?! Is what imbued have as a energy source called conviction, and edges are supernatural powers that I, as an imbued, have!! And that technique was my bread and butter. Even if it isn't the highest level of edge, I would use it a lot!! I have been using cleave to a point where I could weaponize it into the oxygen in the air, and that was my technique!!! You would have your neck cleaned off if I was actually serious, though." Having watched someone excited when talking about a technique turn that smile of his into a stone-cold expression within an instant made Tristan look back at his nonexistent life choices; Tristan was now wishing that he could've swindled more than 600 dollars when facing this madman. And then Orion spoke with a smile again.
"I guess that's it for today! Go back to your room and take a shower! That should be enough excitement for today!" Orion left while Tristan was stunned at what had happened to the trees.
While they finished their short spar, Caliel watched it all go down in one of the windows upstairs with a tired look as she held a genever in her hand: "Are you kidding me, Orion? You know what? As long as Tristan isn't too hurt, then I guess a few bruises are ok…" She sighed as she began to drink the Genever from her hand.
(A/n: Genever is a type of gin from Scotland)
"Ahhhh~ This is some good shit right here~ Scotland was a perfect place~ I feel so much better already~" She grinned as she walked back to find a room for herself.
(POV: Tristan Devroop Akvash)
I was still standing there looking at all of the trees that were cut down, thinking to myself.
'Well, holy fuck!! That was pretty exciting for me!! Sure, I had my ass beat BADLY, and that was my second time almost being bisected, but shit, I had learned a lot… Do you have anything to say, Zil?' There was a momentary silence in my head before Zil finally said something.
'Oh, come on, Zil!!! When did therapy ever help the common man, huh?!?! All it ever did in this time period was lobotomize people into mental retardation!! You're overestimating the value of people probing our mind and being like, "You need help." Nobody needs to hear that!!!' I shook my mind and walked back to the house to find the shower.
<*Sigh* At least I tried… Also, your next seeking is drawing near...> His last words, as he stopped talking, made my heart pound again with excitement.
The last seeking was an insect that eroded everything in its presence and this time, something completely unknown will be in front of me!!
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(3rd POV: Omni)
Tristan walked back to the house with a smile as he looked forward toward new horizons… While Caliel looked weirded out when seeing his goofy ass grin that looked like a gremlin on bath salt. But another thought popped up in Tristan's head.
'Did Orion forget that he made me bring all of that luggage? Ah, hell no... That bastard must've forgotten to pay me that 600 bucks!!! I'll make sure to sue your ass for CHILD ABUSE!!!' His goofy ah grin quickly turned into rage as he ran to find Orion for round two over money.
And Caliel, who watched how fast his face changed, started chugging down on her Gin out of "necessity".
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(A/n: Tristan was a complete amateur who lacked training but had a knack for learning on the spot for combat, whether hand-to-hand or using weapons. If he were to use his shadows on top of it, then he could be very versatile, especially with his regenerative properties and weapon creation from his shadows... but that won't mean shit if Tristan had his head chopped off or had been cut to pieces. And yeah, booy!!! 50,000 views!! Let's gooooo!!)