"Alright!" Nick says as he claps his hands together, once Grover and I have trained Cursed Power Hiding for a while. We've gotten pretty good at it, with me being naturally better than Grover. But as Nick says, just as Cursed Power Burst, only in combat do you get really good.
"So what Cursed Power Technique are you gonna teach us next?" Grover excitedly asks.
"Since Cursed Power Sensing is a bit of an extension of Cursed Power Barrier, we'll practice Cursed Power Barrier now," Nick answers.
"But we can already use Cursed Power Barrier?" I reply.
"Yes, but can you use it at will?" Nick asks, causing me to cringe. "Didn't think so," Nick says, causing me to roll my eyes this time.
"Observe," Nick orders as he makes his way to a nearby tree. Nick then pauses, and chambers his right fist. With a battle grunt, Nick then launches his fist outwards, punching it into the three and shattering a bit of it, sending bark flying.
"Woah…" Grover and I marvel.
Nick then chambers his right fist again, before launching it outwards. But this time, before Nick's fist can connect with the tree, it begins bubbling with his pale yellow Cursed Power. Nick's fist then slams into the same spot of the three three, but this time, completely obliterates it.
"Woah!" Grover and I cry.
"How do we practice your Cursed Power Barrier?" Grover asks.
"By this!" In the blink of an eye, Nick appears before Grover, his body crackling with electricity. Nick then punches Grover in the stomach, sending me flying backwards, and causing me to wince. Nick then reappears before me, faster than I can react. Nick then punches me in the gut, causing me to spit up a little. I feel my entire body ache from Nick's punch, before I'm sent flying backwards as well.
"You two need to activate your Cursed Power Barrier at will to defend against my Cursed Power punches," Nick explains as Grover and I writhe on the ground in pain. "Luckily, Cursed Power Barrier should be the easiest Cursed Power Technique to learn," Nick then continues as Grover and I groan and push ourselves off of the ground.
Nick then reappears before me again, and just as before, I don't have the reflexes required to bring my arms up to block, and I'm sent flying backwards again from another one of Nick's punches, my back cracking against the tree.
"I don't get it, how is this helping to train our Cursed Power Barrier if you don't give us time to prepare it?" I grunt as I push myself up.
"You think your enemies are going to give you enough time to prepare your barriers?" Nick shouts as he reappears in front of me, preparing a kick to my jaw. But this time, I'm prepared. I flood all of my cursed Power into my chin, so when Nick kicks me, while yes, my head still violently snaps up and sends me falling backwards, Nick's attack doesn't hurt me too much. Well…too much is a bit of a stretch.
"Oof!" I grunt as I flop back to the ground. "What the Hell, what gives?! I used Cursed Power Barrier, but I still got hurt?!" I cry.
"Well that can be one of two reasons. One, because I used Cursed Power in my attack, so when you used Cursed Power Burst, your Cursed Power defended you against my own, so all you felt was the strength of my regular punch, which still hurt, but didn't send you flying," Nick answers. "The second reason relates to Cursed Power Sensing, which I've mentioned earlier. By using Cursed Power Sensing, you can gauge how much Cursed Power your opponent is using for their attack, and adjust your Barrier accordingly. But that'll come later. For now, we'll practice how quickly you can activate Cursed Power Burst.
Nick then zips over to Grover, aiming a punch to his gut. This time, Grover doesn't even attempt to bring his arms up to block, he just tanks Nick's punch. But when Nick's punch causes Grover to stumble a few steps backwards, he smirks. "Good, nice reflexives, Grover!" He says.
Nick then zips back over to me. I bring my arms up to block, pouring Cursed Power into them, but rather than Nick landing a punch to my stomach, I feel the nerves on the back of my neck sting as my head gets rattled around, causing me to drop to the ground on both hands. I turn and peer over my shoulder to see Nick standing behind me, his hand poised like he just landed a karate-chop on the back of my neck.
"If you don't know where your opponent is attacking, then your best bet for defense is to just spread your Cursed Power throughout your entire body. That way, you're sure to block the attack at least a little bit," Nick explains. "Of course, if you try that, then your Cursed Power is spread thin and you can't defend the attack as smoothly, but it's better no defense at all. We don't have limitless Cursed Power, afterall."
"Yeah, I think I figured that out," I grunt as I struggle to push myself up.
Nick then activates his electricity and zips away again, circling around me. Before Nick can attack, I activate my Cursed Power Barrier, spreading it thin throughout my entire body, rather than bulking it up in a single spot for defense. So when Nick roundhouse kicks me in the side, I'm not able to fully defend against the attack, both the Cursed Power and physical sides, and I'm sent stumbling backwards again. But my Cursed Power Barrier alleviated the pain, just a little bit.
Nick then zips over to Grover, aiming a roundhouse kick for his side. Grover blocks his arms to his side and pours Cursed Power into them to defend. As Nick's lighting-crackling roundhouse makes contact with Grover's arms, they begin bubbling with light green Cursed Power.
Nick then zips over behind me again. I spin around and bring my arms up to block, but then Nick shouts: "No arms!" Causing me to sigh.
"Alright, I have to do this without arms," I say as I turn around and lower my arms. I concentrate, pouring all of my Cursed Power into my neck, so when I feel Nick's leg slam into the back of my neck, I do stumble around a bit, but I manage to stay on my feet. My neck's still sensitive from that full-force karate chop I had to take, but unlike with the chop, I'm fine.
Nick then zips back away from me. "Good, your reaction times are getting better!" He says.
"Yeah, and in this forest which is rich in Cursed Power, I don't even feel drained!" Grover exclaims.
"But my wounds sure do hurt," I sneer.
"Should have blocked my attacks!" Nick laughs. "Now, we'll practice your Cursed Power Burst reaction time and where to pour your Cursed Power into to defend for a while longer before moving onto the next step of Cursed Power Barrier!" Nick says before zipping over to us yet again.
***
"Alright!" Nick says as he claps his hands together, once Grover and I have trained Cursed Power Barrier for a while. Both of us have gotten pretty good at reacting to Nick's attacks and pouring Cursed Power into the proper part of our body to defend, and since we're simulating real combat right now, Grover and I have both gotten pretty good at using Cursed Power Barrier. "Before we move on to the next step of Cursed Power Barrier, let's practice attacking with Barrier, rather than defending."
"Oh that's easy, both Luis and I have already used that!" Grover replies.
"You two already know that you can reinforce your bodies with Cursed Power, but did you know that you can do the same with tools, weapons, or any other object in your hands?" Nick asks.
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"Luis, may I see your katana for a moment?" Nick asks.
"Uhhh…sure," I reply as I unsheathe my katana and hand it to Nick.
Nick then strolls over to a nearby tree, and Grover and I follow. "Observe," Nick says as he turns and peers over his shoulder at Grover and I, before looking back to the tree.
Grover and I watch as Nick brings my katana ups and slashes outwards. "What are you doing, don't break it?!" I desperately cry.
My katana uselessly clangs against the tree, making a small dent in the wood and sending chips of bark flying everywhere. I let out a sigh of relief, seeing my precious katana unscathed.
"See, didn't break the tree," Nick says as he turns and peers over his shoulder at Grover and I, before looking back to the tree. Nick then brings my katana up again, and this time, its blade begins bubbling with Nick's pale yellow Cursed Power. Nick slices my katana outwards towards the same tree again. And this time, when the blade of my katana makes contact with the tree, it slices clean through it!"
"Woah…" Grover and I marvel as the tree crashes to the ground.