After dinner, Sebastian's mother had cut his long, straight, white hair from neck length to just an inch or two. His striking, cold blue eyes really contrasted with the white of his hair.
He cleaned up the hair and quickly went to bed in his room, which he rarely slept in.
Most kids in the village would kill to have a room like his, but Sebastian really enjoyed sleeping out in nature.
He went to sleep quickly, cuddled up with Cindy, who slept all the way from dinner until Sebastian woke up from his sleep.
Sebastian specifically went to sleep and woke up early to get ready with his father.
He told him that he just happened to wake up at the same time as him and couldn't go back to sleep.
Sebastian happened to be standing outside the room while his dad styled his hair.
After his dad was done and left the house to do his duties.
Sebastian did the exact same thing to his hair and also left the house.
Later in the day another lecture took place, and Sebastian once again attended and purposefully sat right in front of Twain.
"This is going to be a sparring day. If you guys thought you sparred a lot in the past, then you're not ready for this."
Another elder began the lecture this time.
She was referred to as Elder Estelle.
"As you grow over the incoming years, your body is going to change drastically. That would take place even if you weren't refined, but since you are, it's amplified. Not only that, but the presence of your beast only adds to that. With all of that said, I wanna keep today as simple as possible."
"You guys know the drill: find a partner and punch each other."
She added on afterward as an afterthought.
"Oh, and your beast should do the same."
Everyone stood up and looked around, making their choice.
Usually it would have taken place a lot faster since in the past everyone was cleanly placed in tiers based on their fighting ability. But now, due to the advent of powers, things had changed.
The tier list had to be entirely rebuilt.
Sebastian decided to play it safe and choose someone who in the past was low on the list.
Her name was Candace. She was a simple girl with red hair who was the daughter of a carpenter.
Overall she was completely average at fighting, and that was good for Sebastian.
He lost a fight against Jade he should've won and needed to rebuild some confidence and experience fighting with his new abilities.
He approached her and her companion. Her beast was one of the grass eating wusses that Sebastian had mentioned previously.
A skinny young deer with prominent grand antlers who had a weirdly confident stance.
"You're fighting me today."
Candace hadn't even seen Sebastian approach and jumped.
"O-okay."
They found an empty spot and waited for Elder Estelle to give them the green light.
"Remember, all of you now have enhanced healing; no need to hold back. Just don't kill each other, please, or your parents will be mad at me. FIGHT!"
At that moment everyone's abilities activated, and their beast too.
Sebastian would have usually walked her down with his hands lowered to his side, but he decided to try something else.
He raised his hands to his sides and waited for something to happen.
And happen it did.
Cindy's calves grew brown fur and grew in size. She began bouncing from side to side and lunged at Sebastian.
She arrived in front of Sebastian, and it was a good thing he already had his hands raised because a fist faster than anything he had personally seen almost hit his face.
He moved his left hand and blocked the punch with the back of his hand.
Candace quickly retreated and shook her hand to get rid of the lingering pain.
'I found it,' Sebastian thought.
Sebastian's father had told him to keep things as simple as possible, and he found a tactic that would do exactly that.
Their beasts stood not too far away. A strange thing took place between the two.
Neither of the two had activated their abilities. This made them the only two living creatures on the field who were still in their normal state.
At first Cindy had a tense stance and was baring her teeth at the skinny deer prepared to launch at him. But she noticed something weird.
The deer wasn't showing any aggression. It stood there with its chin raised as if the battle was already won.
Cindy refused to let the creature pride beat hers.
She immediately stood up as tall as she could and raised her chin.
The deer saw this and was insulted.
His chin only went higher.
Cindy saw this and was aghast.
She did the same.
This was repeated multiple times until their heads were pointing straight up to the clouds.
Eventually the deer got so upset that it activated its ability. All four of its skinny legs grew in size, and it gained a weird glow to them.
Cindy saw this and activated hers too.
The deer ran straight at her at high speeds.
Cindy dodged to the side, avoiding the antlers, and tried to retaliate, but the deer was too fast and already left her striking range.
Back with the humans, Sebastian got close enough to Candace and launched a punch at her. She easily sidestepped it and backed away. This happened several times over.
Sebastian was growing tired of this.
"Come on, Candace, don't be a coward. You know running is frowned upon."
During sparring, running as a strategy was not liked. In the eyes of the elders, no one gained anything if all your opponent did was jump around and try to do no damage to you.
His words seemed to work as she readied herself and blasted towards Sebastian. She threw another punch to his face that was blocked in the same manner as last time.
She then tried to run around to his blind spot and punch him, but he was able to rotate fast enough to block this.
Candace took a second to collect herself.
'Punching isn't working,' she thought.
Sebastian had a much harder time activating offense than Candace did with her speed boost. But while he had some defense, she had none.
She scanned his body up and down and realized that the bone armor was located only on his hands.
This time she launched towards him, and instead of a punch, she threw a kick towards his outer thigh.
Sebastian wasn't able to react fast enough to block these kicks with the speed she launched them.
Since it worked once, Candace stuck with it.
She bounced around him and peppered him with various kicks. One kick to his outer thigh, one to his calf, one to his inner thigh.
Sebastian was still in a defensive stance, and he really tried to block them with his fist but could barely even raise his knee in time to check them. There was no way he would be able to react to them in time.
Once she saw that he couldn't react to her lighter kicks, she sped up even more. These kicks carried serious force with them and serious danger.
The first one of these to land caused Sebastian to hit the ground and have to roll to get back up quickly.
Candace was elated. This would be the first time that she would beat Sebastian in a fight.
'These powers change everything!'
Her attacks gained more confidence and speed.
After a few more kicks, she wanted to win.
'I'm going to end it!' She thought excitedly.
Candace got into position and blasted towards Sebastian. Moving faster than she ever had before.
She neared him and jumped, launching a flying kick towards his abdomen.
Before she could even realize it, his fist began moving.
His hand struck out in a backhanding motion that he was becoming more and more familiar with. His tensed hand accelerated to meet her shin bone midair.
The speed and force she had arrived and launched the kick, combined with the force Sebastian struck out with his fist, made for a dangerous combination.
As the bone-plated hand and leg met in the air, the bone made a disgusting noise.
CRACK
Sebastian could feel her shin bone fracture around his hand and her lower leg start to bend in ways it shouldn't have.
Her body kept flying through the air as she rolled on the ground.
"AHHHHHH!"
Everyone else's fight paused when they heard the bloodcurdling scream come from the little girl.
Sebastian just stared at his hand, constantly recalling the feeling of her bone warping unnaturally around his fist.
Elder Estelle soon approached and stood directly in between the two. She looked at Candace, still screaming on the ground, looking at her own broken leg. Then she looked at Sebastian, who was still stupefied.
She went over to the girl and picked her up carefully, though not carefully enough. Candace passed out from the pain and shock.
Elder Estelle walked past him on her way to a designated tent to tend to her injuries.
"Good job, Sebastian." She said calmly.