In this world, Magic is Everything. All people, all races, are granted with the power to perform mystical and magical feats via grimories, mystical tomes granted to each and every child on their 15th birthday. Those blessed by the mana can have their names written down in legend.
Shattered Grimoires is the work of the mind(s) of Ardere & Shattered Grimoire's staff. All characters and content are copyright their creators, and may not be replicated without their creators' permission. Black Clover is owned by Yuki Tabata and published by Viz Shonen Jump. All images belong to their original owners. The theme you are currently viewing was made by Eliza of ElizaCodes exclusively for Shattered Grimoires.
How the times had a tendency of changing up rapidly for someone who was oh so willing to embrace it. For someone who trained as hard as Gawain did, a chance presenting itself with an invitation of joining a magic squad had been rather enticing. In fact, it was almost too good to pass up on. Where one might have expected such an invitation to come from one of the squads that dealt more with commoners and the regions further to the north. His former mentor for instance had been a very high ranking member among the black bulls, and had always taught him to stick to such squads as they didn’t deal in any kind of bullshit. In a way, Gawain figured the man might have been right about some of it, especially since he had been met with a bunch of side-eyes ever since he had taken up the offer of joining.
For among the magic knights, few squads held more prestige than the Golden Dawn, Silver Eagles and the Crimson Lions. So to be invited by one of those felt like an opportunity he shouldn’t pass up on, even if it was just to pick on the snooty nobleman’s sons and daughters that got funneled into it based entirely on their last name and zero merit. Whenever he got the side eye from one of those people, all he could do was respond with a slightly obscured middle finger or the sticking out of the tongue. It was perhaps childish, though one could argue that he was currently the youngest member of the Silver Eagles with the age of fifteen, while those that looked at him with some degree of distaste were almost twice his age. Not that it mattered, he had been brought in by the captain of the eagles, a notable member of the Silva family, who themselves were known to be quite the snobs even by noble standards.
Though part of him still wondered why, he hoped that it was because the man had seen the value in having him around for his drive to improve himself. There was no point in having members of a magic knight squad that were just in it with the intention of remaining stagnant for however long a time. And from what he had heard, there were plenty in his squad that had exactly that goal in mind. They were made part of the eagles for all of the prestige that it entailed, bringing back a certain glory and renown to their families and houses. For people like them, people like Gawain were considered an enemy, plain and simple. Some random teenager who hailed from no noteworthy family and had no real renown to speak of in their circles and no fortunes to lay claim to, yet still worked hard to climb up the ranks, it was unsightly.
It meant that if he managed to climb the ranks in a short amount of time, that questions would come rising to the surface as to why they themselves were still at the rank of Intermediate 5th or 4th, while someone who had only just joined up surpassed them within a month. Luckily for him, there were plenty of others within the squad that had already spotted these outliers within the organization, people who had the same goals of ascending the ranks and showing the rest of the squads what it meant to soar. Though few of them would actually speak out about it openly as they did not want to bring down the wrath of certain houses upon themselves, or risk getting into a kerfuffle with their own squad mates and risk expulsion, the teen did appreciate their kind words. While being a member of the eagles, he had already completed several noteworthy missions across the country and uncovered the secrets of two locations marked as ‘magic dungeons’.
During this initial month of being a silver eagle, he had managed to pull himself up from being a mere Junior 5th class to Intermediate 4th, thus surpassing a bunch of nobleman’s sons and daughters who were quite content with staying at their current ranks as it meant having to do no real work. For them, getting to spend their time in the confines of their own homes, flaunting their silver eagle coats and cloaks in public and showing up at social gatherings where they could babble away about their own so called ‘encounters’ as magic knights, it was more than enough. They were the kinds of people who had become magic knights for all the wrong reasons, using their station as a means of furthering their positions within their own families, as well as building and expanding their own personal enterprises. None of these things had anything to do with what being knights was all about.
It was a shame, though it was their own choice entirely. The sad part however was their willingness to stoop low enough to where they would try to tackle others just so they could stay ahead.
No longer capable of holding Gawain back as he had already reached their rank, thus coming to enjoy some of the perks of being in the limelight, these people instead began focusing on others that were close to climbing out of the Junior ranks and into the Intermediate ranks. Though he had only really been a knight for little over a month now, stories came out about local gangs attacking fresh and capable additions to the squad or extorting their families. Stifling their growth and making it so there was less competition among the eagles, it was at this point in time that Gawain began looking into the matter himself. The boy knew that it was going to be difficult to actually pin anything on the people who were in charge of these attacks, though he had already gotten it into his head that others within the silver eagle squad were responsible. Not so much because it seemed convenient, but because of what his former mentor told him.
He had always told Gawain that those in power would do anything to stay in power, that those who stood in the spotlight would do anything to keep being seen by the rest of the world, and to keep their talons clutched around the ones they deemed beneath them. Unlike Griswold, Gawain did not outright hate nobility in all of its forms, believing that bad people needed to be rooted out regardless of their social standing or the amount of money they had in their vaults. And seeing as how he had already dealt with gangbangers before in the not too distant past, he believed that he might be able to root them out. The annoying part was getting one of the junior knights to speak up about their experiences, being scared to the point where they feared speaking out about the things they had been through, believing those that had orchestrated it might have further plans for them if they did.
While understandable, it made the ashen haired teen’s work a lot more difficult while consuming considerably more time. But he wasn’t going to let him stop it, as there was always the local enforcement to visit and look into. Over the course of the next week, the boy spoke to some members of the local authorities, inquiring about gang related violence and violence aimed against magic knights. Much to his surprise, this too was met with a certain degree of pushback. Undoubtedly coming as a result of rich benefactors promising a good sum of money so people might keep their mouths shut, Gawain was luckily to meet the single officer that was willing to speak up. Meeting with the woman after dark on the other side of the royal capital, she told him about how his fears were effectively tried and true. Officers had in fact been bribed to look the other way and keep evidence from seeing the light of day.
At this point, Gawain was actually starting to get quite giddy, as this whole thing was starting to feel like a treasure hunt. More than that, it was a hunt to get to the bottom of whoever was putting so much bad out into the world from behind the cover of an organization that was meant to bring about good. Perhaps this was one of the reasons why the captain had allowed him to become a member of the silver eagles. Because in spite of his lack of blue blood or vast amounts of wealth, the one thing about him that was tried and true was the fact that he was incredibly gifted at adapting and adjusting to his surroundings while trying to uncover hidden riches, treasures and other such things. Perhaps if he believed this gift might be used to root out any rulebreakers and toxic individuals from among their own ranks, allowing a commoner to enter their ranks was a risk he was willing to take. Though he had to admit that it was a bit of a stretch, if this was indeed the reason, he couldn’t fail the captain’s trust.
And so, during that same night, Gawain went out into the lower city where some of the attacks had supposedly taken place. Making sure to wear his silver eagles cloak, not a single criminal would be able to walk near him without knowing exactly what he was, and why he might have come. Keeping an eye on his surroundings, the boy began utilizing his Ki as a means of reading his direct surroundings. Because during his time spent in the barracks and the squad headquarters at large, Gawain had learned that Ki was capable of picking up on so much more than just potential threats to his personal safety. It also allowed him a faint sense of reason when it came to the intentions of others, being able to feel it to some degree when someone was lying to his face or when someone merely pretended to like him but actually hated his guts.
It could be debated whether or not being able to make out such things made one happier as a person, though it most certainly aided him in his work as a knight. Continuing to make his rounds, before long, the boy could sense that the air around him was beginning to change, growing thicker as he experienced an aura of angst when passing through a somewhat darkened locale. Moving underneath an overpass, it did not take long before a group of men descended upon him like crows on a fresh corpse. Undoubtedly believing him to be some kind of hapless, witless child that had grown too big for their britches, one of the men began acting out.
“You lost kid? Or have you come to deliver on the promise the old man made?”
“I can assure you I’m not lost. As for the promise made by the ‘old man’, are you sure he’d like it if you spoke about it so plainly out in the open like this?”
For a moment, the man and his cohorts fell silent as they thought about what to do next. Merely looking at one another as if trying to discern just how much Gawain knew, the boy himself was more than content with pretending he knew everything already when he in fact wasn’t aware of a single thing.
“Hmm… perhaps not, though he’d be wise to remember that he’s not the boss of me, or any of us. He’s just another cash cow waiting to be milked dry, as taking on some junior knight such as yourself is hardly worth the money he promised us. Maybe if we beat you up, he’ll have proof of that fact, as well as a reminder to send his payment, stat.”
In that moment, a grin appeared on Gawain’s face as his eyes narrowed. Even though the information provided to him did not really rule anything out nor did it name anyone specific, it was clear that he had found the men that had been involved in beating up his colleagues. This presented him with exactly one clear course of action: to beat up these men and show them that he was no mere junior knight, and that they’d be wise to share any information they had on the person that had promised to pay them for this vile act. Taking off his cloak, folding it neatly and placing it on the ground beside him, Gawain took a deep breath as he fully focused on his Ki. Knowing that this act would reduce the speed by which he could maneuver about as a result of the sheer focus required to essentially predict the actions in his vicinity to some degree, when fighting bigger numbers, that trade-off was a small sacrifice to make. One he could make up for with magical might.
“Guess what Assbutt, once we’re done with this little demonstration, you’re going to tell me everything you know about the ‘old man’ that purchased you and your brigands to assault my colleagues. Refuse, and I’ll send those few remaining teeth so far down your colon, you’ll be able to chew your turds next time you go to take a shit.”
Once he finished speaking, both the man he spoke to and the people that surrounded them burst out into laughter. Not sure whether they liked the fact that he made a quip about asses, butts, colons and turds or because they believed him to be some weak little boy that was about to get his own teeth kicked in, Gawain joined in on the laughter. Obviously, this did not sit well with the men, who were now just as confused as they were fed up with his crap. No sooner than after Gawain had finished laughing along with the other men did one of them decide to put an end to things before it could start. Through the use of his Ki, he could tell that someone was coming up from behind with the intention of flooring him. Holding a club and coming down on him with a downward strike, all of the surrounding brigands including the man himself seemed shocked when the boy moved aside so far that the club just came down against the cobblestone path and shattered against the stone floor.
Turning around, Gawain hit the man in the chin with a quick left backhand, followed up by him spinning his body about on his feet so he could build up enough moment to swing a right hook against the same point on his jaw. With a concussion now just about ensured, the man’s eyes rolled into the back of his head as he came fumbling down like a useless sack of potatoes. In that moment, the men that surrounded him realized that they had made a rather grave error when they categorized him as a junior knight, as well as easy prey. Allowing his mana to flare up, all those that surrounded him were allowed to catch a glimpse of just how far beneath him they all were, and that the only advantage they had was in numbers. And truth be told, those numbers could be cut down in an instant if he was willing to risk structural damage to the surrounding buildings and collateral damage among the populace that might be using the overpass, just going about their daily lives.
Just looking around a bit while holding out his arms, almost as if saying ‘Come at me bro’ in a non-verbal manner, it was clear that the brigands had become rather reluctant in their approach. Such was often the case when dealing with a band of weaklings that were only good at preying on the weak by utilizing larger numbers and even bigger postures. At the end of the day however, all of it meant nothing when faced with a superior opponent. And if nothing else, Gawain was at the very least superior to these numbskulls.
“With that settled, why don’t you all just settle on down and tell me exactly what I asked for. You won’t be getting any payment for the rotten things you pulled, though you’ll at the very least be spared the fate of your friend over here. Mind you, this is your one and only warning, there won’t be another.”
At this point, the joking quips and funny remarks had gone out the window, as both the expression on his face and the tone of his voice had become utterly devoid of humor. Both had made room for nothing more than a stark stoicism, a rather frightening and sudden change from the boy that had stood in his shoes just a few moments ago. As his eyes wandered around, looking at each and every one of the men, he could tell that some of them had taken a step back while others had refrained from reaching for any weapons or grimoires. That much was good at least, as it allowed for the already tense situation to settle down a bit. Though he knew better to believe that this was completely over now. After all, a cornered rat might be small and seem insignificant, though that was when they were at their most dangerous point.
Whether it had been to save face or because the man truly believed he stood a chance, the one who seemed to be the leader of this ragtag bunch of assholes stepped forward. Revealing his grimoire that was hanging from his hip, he placed his hand flat on top of it as an earthen crust formed around his arms like brass knuckles. Getting into the basic boxing stance, the man appeared to be quite light on his feet for someone his size, which proved that he had a decent amount of skill as a brawler. But being a good brawler wasn’t going to cut it. Placing one hand on his back while holding the other in front of him, gesturing at the man to come at him, the brigand leader launched himself at him like a bull. Ducking underneath the blow, the man easily punched a chuck out of the overpass, seemingly not damaging the knuckles in the slightest. Factoring this knowledge into his overall calculation of the man’s prowess, Gawain also noticed something else. Something he had also felt when the man wielding the club had assaulted him.
For some reason, he seemed lighter on his feet and less physically restrained when he utilized his Ki. Wondering whether this was the result of his training, the difference was minimal, though it was an upgrade none the less. Shortly after a chunk was punched out of overpass, a second attack came in, a sweeping kick coming in to knock him off of his feet and set him up for a rock-hard punch to the gut or face if he were to make an educated guess. Jumping over the sweeping move, the man used the momentum of the sweep in order to come at him with a powerful backhand similar to the one he had pulled moments before, albeit empowered with earth magic. Extending his hand and pointing his palm towards the man, Gawain released a controlled burst of compressed air, knocking the man across the street and into a pile of stacked bricks. Since the bricks were several meters away, most of the brigands that had gathered witnessed their leader being flung across the street like a ragdoll and decided sticking around was no longer in their best interests.
Slowly beginning to trickle away until none of them remained but the one he had knocked unconscious and the man that had been blown across the street, Gawain was by no means under the impression that he had won, or that the man had given up. He had managed to get a clean hit in and remove the disadvantage posed by having numbers stacked against him, causing him to grow overconfident in his approach. Making his way across the street to where he had sent the man flying off to, he stopped a few steps away from him, his senses locked on him like the eyes of a hungry seagull on a loaf of bread. As promised, he wasn’t going to be stating the question again, as doing so would make him look weak and indecisive. So when the man began to rise to his feet and formed a strange hand seal, no time was wasted to respond in a manner that was both violent and would set an example. Pointing his finger at the man’s knee, a single bullet was released, piercing straight through it and coming out on the other side where it dug a small hole into the ground.
As a screeching howl of pain and anguish came from the man’s throat, his earthen knuckles disappeared as he reached for his leg. Followed up by a swift kick to the head, Gawain made it clear that he was no longer playing. He wanted to know the name of the man that had paid these goons to attack and brutalize up and coming Silver Eagle juniors, and he wanted to know now. Holding a fist up in the air as he remained stoic, the man held out his hand, gesturing at him to cease his attacks. Deep down, the youngster already knew that the fight had been over the moment he busted his knee up, though he could not relent. People like these, they understood only violence because they lived a life where violence was the only thing that got them anywhere, that got them anything. For as sad as it was to see and to have to do such things to another person, the fact that this man had orchestrated similar beatings on his colleagues made him feel a lot less bad about it.
“Hold on… just hold on for a second… ungh… Brixton. Brixton Fenwick.. he’s the one you want. He paid us to rough up a bunch of juniors… set up a faux mission to get them here, said he’d pay people to look the other way… offered to pay a lot of money if we did as he asked.”
“And what gave you the impression he wasn’t just going to let you take the fall for it. If he had this much pull with the authorities, it wouldn’t matter if you knew his name and his face. Are you really this stupid or just eager to hurt people for a buck?”
Perhaps it was high and mighty coming from him, hypocritical even, given the things he had done to people during his years of captivity on Skjaergard. Back then, he was willing to do just about anything if it meant getting some food and a few hours of sleep, even if it meant killing a drunk with a rusty and dull knife and ditching their body in the marshes in the middle of the night. It was the kind of thing no one on Cloverian soil would ever understand. Even those that had no money to speak of still held on to some semblance of freedom here, as well as being able to count on some aid from the magic knight squads. But when one was a foreign slave living among the Villtsung, the only person that mattered was the one that purchased you from the raiders. If they were unwilling to feed you, you weren’t being fed and could go without food for days at times. Life as a slave was worth less than the life of a stray dog, as they at least managed to get some scraps here and there and could go to sleep when they wanted to do so. Even now, those days were hard to forget.
“Didn’t have much of a choice… Life can be difficult for us commoners here in the city. Selling contraband is hard without the right people being told to look the other way.. Sometimes we need to do these kinds of things to make sure those eyes remain closed..”
“Right… you tell yourself that. Rest assured, I’ll send some officers your way to treat your wounds and lock you up before you bleed out. If you’re clever, you’ll spin a story about who attacked you, unless you want everyone to know you got beaten half to death by a fifteen year old boy…”
Leaving the man behind, Gawain did exactly as he promised he would. Telling the first officers he came across where to go to find an injured brigand that had assaulted him, the issue was no longer in his hands. Truth be told, the boy couldn’t give a rat’s ass what happened to the man, as he had already wasted most of his life away being a criminal. People that went that deep down the rabbit hole never truly emerged with the intention of starting a better life. It was all that they knew now. But with the name Brixton Fenwick, at least his investigation could continue, though he would need to be clever about it. With the brigands being taken down a few pegs, it was likely going to ruffle some feathers and put people on edge, which was exactly what he both wanted and did not want. With no one to point the finger directly at him, if the man wished to save face, this Brixton wouldn’t be on his trail for a while. But if he went about shaking the tree too violently too quickly, trouble was certainly going to find him before he was ready to confront the man in question.
It was around this time that Gawain had managed to climb almost all the way to Senior 5th class, leaving the vast majority of his peers behind him as he began to push himself towards a somewhat coveted position. The title of Vice Captain. From that point on, it was more or less certain that if the seated captain was to ever step down for some reason or another, the vice captain would come to take over. By now, Gawain had come to understand that both of those positions would more than likely never be his, based entirely on the fact that he could not be considered a commoner, let alone a noble. And in a squad that seemed so fixated on one’s birth, rising beyond the station he held right now was nothing more than a pipe dream. Oddly enough, that was something he was quite fine with, as he had never planned on joining the magic knights to change them from the inside out.
That said though, the things he had set in motion a month ago did very much fall within the category of changing things from inside. The attacks on the junior magic knights perpetrated by a bunch of brigands and goons were just the first portion of a bigger problem, one Gawain had managed to uncover with the aid of a female officer and a few brave victims that had been willing to speak up, knowing that doing so might have painted another target on their backs. While it had taken some rather unsatisfactory means of combat to beat information out of unsavory people, the name he had uncovered was by far the most important thing he had managed up until now. However, what this had left him with was no real way of going about taking this man down without bringing the whole of Clover down on his ass. And as it were, Gawain was nowhere near strong enough yet to take on a magic knight squad, let alone one or more of their captains.
That kind of thing would require a lot more time, a lot more training and a lot more advancing of his own power. But the goal here was not to fight all of the magic squads or their captains. The goal was the clear out the rubbish from within the organization. And that kind of thing, it started out small with aiding some junior magic knights that had gotten harassed. Eventually however, it would grow to the point where those instigating these kinds of harassments and attacks were brought to justice. It was why right now, Gawain had been planning out ways in which he might get closer to this “Brixton Fenwick” character. And as it were, he believed he had figured out just the way to do it. Within the silver eagles, there was a man called Fenwick. Adger Fenwick. In Gawain’s eyes, Adger was one of those individuals that had joined the eagles because they were the spoiled son of a nobleman, which was exactly what he was. He was also among those that had looked down on him for being of common birth.
It was only after he began looking into the whole situation regarding the Fenwicks that the boy started putting things together. Adger was a knight that was just there to hold a seat so that both he, his father and his family could lay claim to the bragging rights of being affiliated with the eagles, using their tight knit relationship as a means of driving up business. Because of this, junior knights that began ascending the ranks within the silver eagles got singled out, harassed and beaten so they either removed themselves from the magic knights entirely or simply stepped back into the shadow of these nobleman’s sons and daughters, a place where these individuals believed they belonged. But that was about to change if it were up to the ashen haired teenager. Because of his more recent promotion after claiming another handful of stars for the silver eagles in his name, Gawain knew exactly what it would take to get closer to Brixton: By going through his son Adger in the most delightful manner imaginable.
Knowing roughly where he could find him and his entourage around this time of day, they were usually within the halls of the silver eagles headquarters, looking for some missions so easy a child without feet could leg it. Whenever new missions got posted, they were always there to take out the easiest ones, which would make it quite easy for Gawain to confront him on his crap. Wandering through the headquarters, it wasn’t long before he found Brixton’s son, holding several low effort missions in his hand and laughing with his ‘friends’. At times like that, Gawain couldn’t help but wonder if people like that truly didn’t understand that the only reason they had friends was because their dad had political power and more money than he could realistically spend within a single lifetime.
“Taking the easy road again I see, your father must be quite proud of you. How is your father, still harassing juniors so you look like less of a lazy schmuck?”
Coming out with the verbal assault right out of nowhere, a bunch of other silver eagles stopped in their tracks, simply looking at the verbal fight that had just popped right on up. At this point, Gawain wasn’t at all bothered by what might come out of it, as everyone was aware of the fact that this was Adger’s modus operandi. He willingly left little to no work for the actual junior knights so they had no chance of really rising through the ranks and potentially surpassing him. And now that there were so many eyes on him, there was no way for him to not retort in some shape or form.
“Obviously not. Who else would the people of this country need to rely on for safety? You? These other bumpkins?”
“I probably needn’t remind you that I managed to outrank you within a month right? The proud son of Brixton Fenwick, surpassed by a no-name bumpkin from the forsaken realm. I can only imagine the kind of spanking your daddy gave you when he found out about that.”
Feeling the tension rise in the air, it became almost tangible. As it were, Gawain was quite capable of behaving like a truly intolerable imp, which worked out in his favor during situation such as this one. With the goal being to get on this man’s very last nerves, he knew that he couldn’t be the one to instigate the fight itself or issue the challenge. One way or another, he would need to bring it out, which he imagined might come a lot sooner if he brought up his family, put his father out there by name and mentioned how he had been outranked as fast as he did. At this point, Gawain just stood there, smirking with a toothy grin from ear to ear, with Adger Fenwick standing almost twice as tall as him. It was like David and goliath, if David was an impetuous child and goliath was a semi-incapable nobleman’s son. When the older of the two seemed to be at a loss for words, the last bit of extra weight got piled on as Gawain turned around and made it seem as though he were walking away.
Utilizing his Ki when he turned around and began walking away, it allowed him to keep some measure of control over the area. Even without eyes, it helped him visualize who was where within the room, as well as keep his focus on Adger, who seemed to resort to some kind of dirty trick. Crumpling up the mission documents into a ball and throwing it at Gawain, the boy merely dodged it, being able to feel as the ball approached him. Even though the use of ki made him slower to some degree, it was quite honestly at a point of being negligible at this point. Once the ball got into his sight, he walked over to it as it fell to the ground, picking it up and unfolding the ball so it could all be read properly.
“Find the missing cat, Junior rank mission. Clean a lady’s windows, Junior rank mission. Oh, and this one seems like a prominent one too. Pick up groceries, Junior rank mission. Man, I have to say, I imagine even our captain might have some difficulty completing a mission of that gravity. It seems I was wrong about you, you clearly aren’t out here trying to undermine the rest of your squad. You’ve got your father for that, don’t you?”
With that last statement, Adger’s face turned pale as all of the color left his body. Afraid of what Gawain might say next, he pointed his finger right at him as his frightened facial expression tried to make room for a more angry and threatening one. Not failing to see through this, the whole attempt just made the man feel that much more frightened in the face of Gawain’s presence, knowing that him throwing out more words that might stain the name of the whole family would likely get exactly the kind of rise out of him that he had been aiming for. All it took now was one last push to get him over the edge.
“You shut your mouth right now, or I will shut it for you!”
“Why is that, are you afraid I’d tell people about how your father paid a bunch of brigands off to harass and beat up your fellow magic knights? Or are you going to have him silence me too?”
Following up on those words, everything fell silent, aside from a single knight in the corner gasping loudly as he seemed to not be able to believe that anyone would be so up front about the dealings of the Fenwick family. Through some brave people and their willingness to speak up, the boy was aware of the amount of people within this squad that had been met with harassment and bullying, not to mention actually being ganged up on by lowlife scum trying to make a buck or two off of it. As it were, Gawain didn’t do all of this for himself, he did it for everyone else, as well as for the future of the silver eagles. If they were to once again thrive as a magic knight squad, they needed to clean out their shit by pulling the bad apples out with tree and all, starting at the roots and working from there until everything was once again doing fine. And it was all going to start with this fight.
“Outside. Now!”
Leading the way towards the courtyard, Gawain already knew at this point that the goal was to lead him towards the training grounds. Once there, Adger wished to make an example out of him, as well as to rectify all of the things the boy had just put out there in the open. Things like these, they were the kind of djinny one would not easily put back inside of their bottle, which was exactly what the ashen haired boy had been betting on. As such, he just followed the guy outside without a single complaint, along with quite a few other magic knights from their squad that were rather interested in seeing where they was going to go. Among them were some of the people that had been harassed, as well as those that had been beaten and bruised, people that now had the idea put in their heads that this was all due to Adger and his father Brixton pulling crap behind the scenes. Even though he did not possess the means to do so, Gawain could almost smell the scent of retribution in the ear. So when they reached the training grounds, little to no time was wasted.
Standing in front of Adger, Gawain taunted him into attacking first, goading him to the best of his abilities as only someone his age could. Flashing his bare naked ass cheeks at the nobleman’s son, his face turned to a shade of red that put most tomatoes to shame as he reached for his grimoire. Bringing it about, it flipped open, revealing a tome that was coated in various types of precious metals such as silver and gold. With a bright flash of light, Adger began coating his clothing in a layer of armored plating, as well as a plethora of swords that began floating around him. Counting a total of eight, Adger picked up one for each hand as he crossed them in front of him. With the motion of a slash, several of the blades on that side of the man’s body began rotating in the air, reaching higher and higher speeds with each rotation as they kept building up to their total momentum. At this point, Adger began approaching Gawain at a reasonable pace, followed up by three blades launching at him like buzz saws.
Even though he hadn’t imagined this would be going any other way, Gawain could tell that there was no way this would just remain a friendly spar or a demonstration of skill. If the man managed to wound, maim or dismember the boy, he would just try to talk it off as some kind of horrific accident, something his family would more than likely push onto the other noble families and higher ups within the organization. While it would certainly put a stain on his name, as long as it meant removing a potential threat to their monopoly of petty crimes for the sake of stagnation, it was the kind of risk Adger was willing to take. As the first of the blades came towards him, Gawain stepped aside, allowing the blade to pass him by just as the second came. It was quite clear that there would not be a very big window for him to counter the assault, let alone get a shot in at the mineral mage. Through the use of his Ki, Gawain could feel that the third blade was going to be right behind the second, meaning just stepping to the side a second time would not work.
More than that, the first blade he had dodged had already started coming back around for a secondary bout. So instead of evading, he brought his hands towards one another in front of his chest, prompting the release of a powerful surge of pressurized air. Making contact with the blades in front of him and the one coming back from behind him, all three were cracked as they were sent flying across the training area. In moving outward, the surge also hit against the armor around Adger, pushing the man back a couple of meters though leaving the armor itself undented. This wasn’t a good sign, as it appeared to have not just dampened the blow, it also greatly reduced the amount with which Gawain might be able to knock him back. A normal person would have been sent flying with this kind of hit, so pushing him back a good two or three meters was nothing. As a frown appeared on his face, it seemed that a proper counter attack was in order.
Beginning to close the distance between the two, Gawain could clearly see and even feel as the armored knight brought his blade down from above with a one handed strike. With a swift barrel roll, the boy moved out of the attack’s way as he got up to the man’s rear. Even as he rolled, he sensed through the floor itself how heavy the blow that missed him truly was, which proved yet another aspect of this armor to not just be there for the sake of protection. Augmenting both defense and offense, the amount of force behind the strike made it difficult for the knight to pull any punches once he was halfway in, which was a good thing to know. So as Gawain had rolled along the floor and made it to the man’s rear, he pointed his index and middle finger at his exposed back, beginning to riddle it with pressurized air bullets just to see the kind of damage it might inflict upon it.
Knowing this attack to be focused entirely on penetrative force rather than blunt force and the ability to knock one on their ass, the sight of small dents along the back area of the metal plating did not exactly fill him with joy. Pulling the blade from the ground and coming around with a sideways slice, Gawain allowed himself to fall backwards, seeing the cutting edge of the sword pass right by his face as he fell on his back. Using the momentum of this fall to push himself into a backwards head roll, he put himself back on his feet, or at least attempted to. While his eyes could not see it in time, his extrasensory capabilities picked up on three fast moving projectiles making their way towards him as the mineral mage had to follow through on the strike. Had his armor not put so much of an emphasis on pure power, he might have been able to move right after Gawain in an attempt to lob off a leg, truly a missed opportunity.
But making up for the fact that he was physically incapable of following right away were the three remaining blades that hadn’t been chipped and discarded yet, coming at him like a swarm of buzz saws aiming to tear into his flesh. Finishing his backwards head roll, Gawain felt a stinging pain in his leg as one of the blades cut right past it before getting stuck in the ground. Not letting this dissuade him from continuing the fight, blood seeped out of his wound as the boy rose to his feet, evading the remaining two swords with a quick and unexpected burst of speed. This burst of speed however was not something that came out of nowhere, nor was it something he was physically incapable of. However, whenever he utilized his Ki, he knew that it came at the cost of some measure of speed, the sheer amount of focus required reducing the pace with which he could move up and about.
But for a moment or two, just like it had done a month ago during his fight with the brigands in the lower city, it seemed like that restriction just up and disappeared. Not sure if it was going to stay gone or if it would just come back sooner the more he thought about it, Gawain decided not to let it dictate his next moves. Believing that the restriction had been temporarily lifted because of the sheer pain he endured, now would be the time to make the fullest use of it while the adrenaline still surged through him, numbing the pain to the point where he could keep standing on it. Once it wore off, his typical brand of acrobatics and nimble movement was off the table. Taking a deep breath, Gawain yet attempted to close the distance between them, once again getting up close and personal with the armored knight. Making it seem like Gawain was going to try and punch him straight in the gut, both he and the knight knew that such a thing would likely break his fingers.
Much to his own shame, Gawain hadn’t yet learned how to augment his body with mana, thus the whole concept of physical reinforcement was currently lost on him. As such, this whole move was nothing more than a feint, aiming to capture a response from Adger so that the boy might land a devastating blow. Sensing the return of the whirling blades coming, this time around, he managed to evade them without actually losing any speed whatsoever. In fact, it was as if he could evade the blades at his full capacity. More than that, he could accurately sense the kind of attack that was coming straight for him as Adger attacked him with both blades. Coming in with a wide arc from both sides, the swords would act as a pincer in an attempt at quite frankly cutting him in half. Which, with the sheer force behind the blades, he might actually be able to do if all went well. But all would not go well, all would not go well for him at all as all of this was according to plan.
Waiting for him to reach a point at which he would no longer be able to hit the breaks, everything came together. Up until now, Gawain had been on the defensive the whole time, educating himself on exactly how fast the man could move, how hard his blows struck, how hard his armor was and how durable his blades were. More than that, he had learned that once he reached a certain point of momentum, Adger would be incapable of hitting the breaks and had to follow it through, this being the main weakness to his whole style of fighting. The thing Gawain would exploit to the fullest. Bending through his knees, Adger too followed suit by lowering the impact point of his blades, adjusting it accordingly. However, unlike his previous moves, the teenage mage wouldn’t try to duck or dive underneath this attack. Instead, he jumped up as high as he could, the bent knees acting as a spring that sent him up into the air and over the two blades that clashed together beneath him.
Taken up into the air some one and a half meters above the floor, it felt almost as if he were soaring through the sky. Feeling like an actual eagle about to land on a hare hiding in the tall grass, Gawain formed a half ox seal over his chest while extending his arm at Adger’s torso. Pointing his open palm towards the armor, he released a very potent burst of pressurized air. This time, it wasn’t a burst that would flow out into all directions and send everything that came at him into another direction, nor would it just meet it with a counteractive force. Instead, it was a localized blast that aimed to push its way forward until it couldn’t go any further. Ripping forward with the speed of striking thunder, the blast began pushing against the armor as Adger got pushed back, his armor trying to dampen the blow while the pressurized air tried to rip the armor asunder. It was a show of force on both sides, but as Adger began to get pushed back, it was all over the moment he tried to lift up one of his legs to shift his footing.
Having the other leg lifted off of the ground instantaneously, the armor plates got turn to bits as the silver eagle was flung across the training grounds, his whirling blades that were still floating and preparing to come around for a third or fourth assault falling to the ground and breaking down into a glittery sand-like pile each. Coming to a grinding halt when his semi-armored self got tossed into a wall, the armor that had surrounded him had broken down into the same sandy texture as he just lay there. The concussive force behind the attack should have knocked the guy right out, though there was still a portion of him holding on to consciousness. It was admirable and proved that if the guy really wanted to, he could make it as one of the more powerful knights within the silver eagles. It was just a shame that he had let a mixture of pride and entitlement get to his head, just like his father had.
Walking over to him, Gawain stared down at the man who he himself believed to be in his early twenties. His jade eyes seemingly glowing in the light as he just stood there without saying a word, he allowed Adger to marinate in his defeat for a while. Along with it, he would allow the surrounding magic knights that had witnessed this fight a moment to truly grasp what had happened here, as this was the retribution they had been dreaming of. The kind of retribution against a foe they did not know existed, a person who had actually been hiding in plain sight this whole time. Now, everyone had witnessed the fall of one of house Fenwick at the hands of a peasant, which would make the topic of how Brixton Fenwick had paid people to assault junior mages spread a whole lot faster along with it. While he didn’t doubt the fact that he might get reprimanded for this or questioned by the vice captain or the captain himself, all of this had gone exactly as Gawain had hoped it would.
Name of Spell: Perforate Elemental Type: Air Pressure Rank & Spell Type: Senior | Attack Creation | Sensory (Homing) Range & Speed: 80m | 45 m/s Mana Cost: 30 | 15 Stats Effected: - Applicable Perks: Overpowered | Quick Shot Description: Putting his index and middle finger together while pointing his thumb up, Gawain will point his right hand at his target, using the tips of his index and middle fingers as a vocal point from which it is fired. This spike is roughly two meters wide with the purpose of puncturing the target. The attack itself is lethal on direct hits, capable of leaving deep cuts and lacerations, broken bones and breaking most structures, dealing Senior rank damage. For every 30 Control, an additional shot can be fired. In addition, the accuracy and chance to hit can be further improved by utilizing Homing rules, including following the target in adherence to those same rules. The bullet follows the target that was initially pointed at until it hits, runs out of space or hits another object. To those without at least 30 sensory, this spell will be invisible, appearing as a wispy green ball to others.
“And now you lay there, brought low by someone who only recently became a magic knight. It makes me wonder, are you happy about how life worked out for you? Does it fill you with joy knowing that your lack of effort and the political pull provided by your father kept you in your spot? Because I couldn’t imagine the feeling of having my pride crushed by a fifteen year old peasant boy.”
With those words, Gawain turned around, looking at the other people who had been looking at the fight. While no one would cheer, shout, applaud or whistle, it was clear that a lot of people here were quite happy about the way in which things had gone down here. Even though the man had taken a beating, his tenacity was commendable as he refused to go out, yet couldn’t find the strength to actually get back up. In truth, Gawain was quite lucky as his magic normally wasn’t all that capable of busting through defenses, which meant the fact that his magic was on another level made the difference in this case. And it was a good thing that it did, as he had left himself truly prone to being attacked when he released that burst of air. Speaking without turning around, part of him wanted for Adger to suffer more, though he also wished to extend some measure of an olive branch. One the man would realistically only ever take if he were in any way against what his father had done.
“Be sure to tell your father who did this, I’d love to have a word with him at some point. So when you manage to pick yourself up from this defeat, be sure to meet with me again and we’ll have an actual talk.”
With that, Gawain left the silver eagle headquarters, heading towards the peace and tranquility of the forsaken realm. As it stood, he wanted the people that had seen the fight to get a chance to truly think about the things they had seen and heard today, not wanting there to be any kind pressure caused by his lingering presence. No, he wanted the people there to make up their own minds about the kind of squad they wished to be a part of. Besides, he still had plenty of work to do around the farm, not to mention an even greater level of training that yet needed to be done. After all, since his Ki had jumped up several levels at rather unexpected turns over the past month or so, Gawain felt like it was just about time for him to see if these changes that had occurred were temporary or if they had taken up permanent residence. Regardless of the outcome, without proper training and further testing, there was no way of knowing what either of the two options meant for him.
The things he had experienced, even though briefly were the kind of things that felt like they would be able to push his level of combat output to a far higher level. Maybe with that in mind, he might actually be able to finally learn how to utilize his physical reinforcement magic properly. With the level of sheer insight and prediction his Ki could provide, granted he could keep it at the level it was now, he could rough someone up fiercely without having to worry as much about getting clapped in response. More so, if the diminished level of speed was now well and truly gone, that would just make him into an even greater force on the field of battle. Picking up his broom, Gawain took to the skies as he thought about the things he should be doing first. In the back of his mind, the matter of Brixton Fenwick remained. He knew full well that laying down some considerable hurt on his son would just infuriate him further, maybe even pushing him to take more drastic steps towards the young eagle.
If it were to ever come to that though, Gawain wanted to be well and truly prepared, meaning he had to spend some time training and not being around the headquarters for a bit.
Deep inside the forest, in the same place where he had been attacked by a pair of mountain lions, Gawain moved through the treeline with his eyes closed. Using his extrasensory means of telling him where things were to the best of their abilities, he could feel everything around him with a pulse. He could feel the mice moving along the ground at a safe distance from the human that was now prancing through their domain. He could feel the buzzard he had heard earlier soaring high above the tree tops looking for a meal, as well as the hare that dashed off at the sound of the buzzard’s high pitched screech. The one thing he could not sense at this time were the two large felines that had once chased him out of this very same place. This time however, if they had had the gall to try going for him again, he was confident in his ability to send them packing instead as he’d be able to tell they were coming from roughly one hectometer, otherwise known as a hundred meters by his estimations.
Not only had he managed to remove the restrictions the use of his Ki placed upon his body, he had again managed to increase the total range at which he could pick up movement and presences, as well as feeling these with far greater accuracy. Even if he had his eyes closed, he could sense the general outline of things that moved through his extrasensory field of focus, meaning the only thing that currently mattered to him in regards to physical prowess right now was the advancement of his physical speed and the reduction of his reaction time. For as it were, it was as if he could feel mass, speed, energy and more, this being increased even further when he didn’t have his eyelids pushed together. When he had his eyes open, it was as if he could truly see things for what they were now. And while that might have sounded like the kind of thing someone would say after truly embracing some sort of religion that lifted their sorry selves from the muck of simply existing, this was not the case here.
Thanks to his increased senses, his ears, eyes and nose were now just extensions of a greater sense of self, a dome of awareness that existed around him at all times now. Through his training, he had even tried to use it when he was asleep, though this was something he still felt was quite difficult. To say that he felt reborn would be quite the understatement, as he had never been so aware of himself and his place in the world as he had before this day. In a way, he imagined that this was what it must have been like for an ascended being to walk among mere human beings, experiencing the world in a way that was impossible for regular people. But he too had now ascended, reaching a plane of existence only few would be able to reach, especially for someone his age. Up until this point, he had only ever known about one other human being that had achieved this point, this being Griswold himself, the man who had taught him how to use the fundamental basics of Ki in the first place.
Soon, he would begin advancing his magical might by mastering more spells that would allow him to repulse objects and people that ventured in places where they shouldn’t, begin working at the foundations of his own personalized style of physical reinforcement magic. Hopefully, he would have enough time to work his way through all of that before the Fenwick family would come up with a way to work against him for beating one of their own into submission. In a way, Gawain almost welcomed that confrontation as it would allow him to put everything he had now learned and mastered to the test to see just how powerful he had become.
For as high on life as he felt in this moment, the senses that had been bestowed upon him quickly registered that he was no longer alone, and that there were people encroaching upon his location even now. Not quite sure at to what they wanted, part of him could piece it together just based on their movement pattern. Now that he could essentially experience their movement now that they had entered into the range of his Ki, the only way in which they would be able to conceal themselves would be to effectively blanket out his Ki entirely, which wasn’t something most people were able to do as it more or less meant becoming a ghost. While there were undoubtedly those that could, these guys at least did not seem to possess the skills required to do so. How very accommodating.
Sensing something small originating from one of the presences as it moved towards him, Gawain dashed to the side ever so slightly, avoiding a thrown dagger that now stood upright in the soil. These guys weren’t kidding, so he couldn’t risk taking it easy whilst trying to figure out what they had come for. Once they got within visual range, it seemed that these guys were all in the business of extortion or assassination, perhaps both. Wearing dark clothing that gave away as little of their physical features as possible, they wore hoods and facemasks to further hide anything that might allow someone to put out a description of their features that was in any way accurate. Mixed with the throwing daggers and their nimble movements, they had clearly come prepared to deal with him. Or so it would seem at least, as that would have required intimate knowledge of his fighting style.
Thinking back upon his recent encounters, the only people that possessed such knowledge were the brigands he had beaten around for information, as well as Fenwick Junior. That was good. The information they possessed was based around a version of him that was less focused, not nearly as fast and not as physically strong as he was now. Even though he did not possess the golden stars to back up such claims, Gawain was counted among the grand magic knights in terms of strength now, both in the magical and the physical sense. If he wanted to, he could eradicate these guys on the spot with a literal flick of the wrist, though that would also destroy the serenity of the forest that surrounded him, not to mention the critters dwelling within. An unacceptable course of action that would make Griswold hate him forever, wherever he was.
Sensing only two of them, they both attacked him at the same time, which was just about the wisest decision they had made as assaulting him had been about as stupid as it got. Combining the data his eyes could gather based on sight alone with that which his brain registered through his Ki, he was capable of estimating roughly how fast these guys were moving, and it wouldn’t be fast enough. Just as the first guy was about to strike, Gawain registered a third guy entering into his range, which threw him off for a bit. Receiving a blow to the face, he stumbled back as he felt his noggin’ started to bruise, a mistake they would pay dearly for. As the second blow was about to come in from behind him, the boy hopped up in place, allowing the sweeping kick to go underneath him as he put all his weight into the descent. Landing right on top of the man’s shin, an audible crack could be heard as it caused a painful break.
Whining in pain, the boy punched forward, slamming his own fist into the incoming fist as a means of deflecting harm to his chest or head, though hurting his knuckles a good deal in the process. Leaping back several times as a means of putting some distance between himself and the assassins, he watched as the third guy positioned himself up in the canopy, using the cover to throw three small objects in his direction. Beginning to spring around the two guys in front of him in a semi-circle pattern, he knew that the thrown objects were all knives, which were best evaded in their entirety as there was no telling whether or not they had been laced with any poisons or toxins. While his senses were good and his Ki made him even sharper, he did not yet possess the means to sniff out poisons like that, though it was something he very much wished to learn, if it were at all possible.
With more knives coming in along with a fourth person entering into his range, they too began throwing knives towards him, though at a slower rate. Believing all of this was just done as a means of distracting him, his gaze went back to the two melee combatants, which was when he saw that the two were pitting their mana together in order to rapidly heal his broken leg and any of the injuries that came along with it. Preparing to engage the men on the ground before they would be able to actually heal themselves up and get back into the thick of it, more knives were coming in, as well as a fifth presence. Becoming rather fed up and tired with both the knives and the rate with which these men were coming at him, he decided to lessen his focus on the knives to the point where he would just barely evade them in a relatively straight-forward sprint.
Finding it odd that this fifth presence came from an entirely different direction than these assassins, he couldn’t put his full attention on him as he had the combatants in front of him to deal with. When he took note of one of the knives being aimed to intercept him in his current trajectory, the boy hit the breaks while attempting to dash around it, which was when he noticed the scent of something burning, as well as the small amount of light near his feet. Halfway in his step, his gaze fell down to where the scent and light originated from, which was when he noticed a small burning bag attached with a line of rope to the end of the throwing knife. It was an explosive, one that would go off at any second now…
“Well shi-“
As the explosive went off, the area directly around it was blanketed in smoke, dust and dirt being blown about, followed by several thuds caused by a plethora of knives seemingly hitting a mark as they were thrown in en masse. By the time the dust and smoke settled, all of the onlookers would be able to see a wall of precious metals formed directly between the boy and the explosion, a number of knives stuck inside of it like a pin cushion. Had the wall not appeared when it did, Gawain would have been forced to resort to use his magic in defense, which would have undoubtedly caused a portion of the forest to be utterly and completely destroyed, along with any critters above and below. In that instant, all eyes were turned towards the fifth person, and hopefully the last person, that had made their way onto the scene. It was Adger Fenwick, son of Brixton Fenwick, and the likeliest person to have sent all of these people after him.
Locking eyes for a moment, neither Adger not Gawain really said anything, nor did they get the chance to really exchange any words as the assassins began moving again. Seemingly having run out of knives to toss about, the two that had remained out of physical combat dropped down, banding together with the two that had been engaged in close range. From what he could tell by the man’s actions, the broken leg had fully been healed, evident by the man rising to his feet and taking out a sharp blade. Without really saying a word, Adger took out his grimoire, casting a rather familiar spell that encased his entire body in a mineral rich suit of thick armor that protected him from most melee attacks, yet seemed to make him rather susceptible to certain types of magical attacks. Nodding at Adger, the other silver eagles nodded back at Gawain, seemingly having reached a state of mutual understanding, at least for the time being.
Once the assassins came in to take out their query, it was overly clear that they were only after Gawain, but wouldn’t hesitate to beat Adger down if he kept getting in their way. Splitting their attention so one would keep the mineral mage busy, the other three came for Gawain. But that was all fine, as he had just the spell to help him deal with this situation. Forming the seal of confrontation in front of him, his eyes began to glow with a jade hue, his body being enhanced with the power of air pressure magic that would push his physical speed to much higher levels. Making him almost twice as fast, once the three assassins got within range to start attacking him with their bladed weapons, they were all caught off guard by the fact that the boy who was only slightly faster than they were at first now moved at roughly forty meters per second, which was as good as impossible for them to keep up with.
But that worked out perfectly for the boy. Evading blows left and right, the sheer level of speed he maintained through magical means combined with his Ki, it was as if he could almost see them moving in slow motion, allowing him to not only deflect blows by applying what strength he had, but just step aside and have his opponent miss him completely. It was at that point that he realized that if he kept increasing his strength and speed, at least in terms of melee combat, all of these abilities mixed together would essentially make him a god among men. Breaking out into an almost uncontrollable laughter, it seemed that even the battle hardened assassins were beginning to break out in a cold sweat. Seemingly incapable of landing a killing blow on a fifteen year old teen, not even when actively working together with the three of them, the fact that they were apparently being laughed at just demoralized them completely.
What they couldn’t possibly know was that the boy was not laughing at them for even a minute, as he actually had a lot of respect for their cunning and guile, he laughed out loud at the prospect of being one of the most capable mages of his age that this country had probably seen for quite some time. Not far from Gawain, Adger was fighting his own battle, using his armored form that almost made him look like a golem to protect himself from attacks while actively aiming to land the blow that would end his fight. Unlike last time, it seemed that his fight against Gawain had pushed him to rework his spell, finetuning it to the point where his enhanced striking power no longer put him into a position in which he could no longer stop mid-strike. Instead, he was very capable of just holding his blows when they were evaded, even being fast enough at maneuvering to use those same limbs in order to parry blows from a sword.
Even as he was in the midst of his own “battle”, which had essentially turned into the boy playing with a bunch of grown assassins, Gawain could sense how Adger’s battle was going. Truth be told, he was quite delighted in the knowledge that what had happened between the two had pushed him to go back to the drawing board and bring about the will to become a stronger, more capable mage. It was exactly the kind of thing he wanted to see from his fellow silver eagles. No more people just sitting on the sidelines, frantically holding on to their seats within the squad by doing the bare minimum so as to provide their parents and families with bragging rights. It made him believe that flashing his cheeks as a means of infuriating the man actually served a purpose aside from him just liking to stir the pot while adding more fuel to the pyre.
Once he was done gloating, it was time for him to strike back. In the blink of an eye, Gawain had moved from his position, circled the group and appeared behind the three assassins. Forming the half-rat hand seal, a secondary burst of mana raced through his body, this time elevating his physical strength by more than twice the amount of striking power he packed at current. By the time the first of the assassins had turned around, a foot already hit him against the side of the head, sending him flying across the ground and leaving a notable skid mark along the ground where his body plowed all of the grass from the surface of the forest floor. Remaining motionless at the spot where he ended up, the boy didn’t even bother focusing on him anymore, keeping his focus instead on the three that remained. His strike wasn’t enough to kill, though he knew that striking a person more than once would very likely be enough to result in death from trauma.
Having kicked one of them to the side, he had already registered a blow coming in from his right. Using the back of his right hand to thrust backwards against the handle of the blade, he knocked it out of the assassin’s hand, spraining several fingers and the man’s wrist in the process. Following it up directly with a blow from his left hand, he felt himself connect with his target’s lower jaw so hard the man almost performed a full backflip due to the sheer force of it before falling flat on his stomach and remained motionless on the floor. With an audible moan, both the remaining assassin and Gawain understood one thing very quickly: This guy wasn’t getting up for a third attempt, as being knocked unconscious after having already broken his leg earlier was enough for most to call it quits. Which just left the remaining two assassins. With a swift forward dash, followed by him jumping up and landing his knee firmly in the man’s family jewels, Gawain quickly vacated the premises as he knew what came next.
Moving towards the final assassin that was battling Adger, he heard the man’s pained moans followed by him throwing up inside of his own face mask several times. In a way, he had hoped not to hear that much as the sound of someone gagging and throwing up the contents of their stomach never really filled him with a whole lot of joy. But now was not the time to dwell on such gross matters, as there was still one remaining threat. Having a neat little trick up his sleeve, Gawain called out at the remaining combatant before stopping in his tracks. Causing both Adger and the assassin to pause, the man broke away from the heavily armored mage and moved straight for Gawain, who just responded by seemingly punching the air in front of him, much to the confusion of everyone else. Then, only a tenth of a second later, it seemed as if the man ran straight into a wall.
Though this was clearly not the case, what had happened was that Gawain had a trick that allowed him to carry his physical strikes that were imbued with physical reinforcement spells for a short distance, meaning he did not even need to make actual contact for it to land. At present, he could extend his blows by roughly four meters, though that was enough to take the rapidly approaching warrior off-guard as he had never seen it coming. Blasting him away at full force, the man’s flight was halted when he got slammed against the side of a tree, sliding down slowly like a bird’s crap when flung against a window until he sat motionlessly amidst its roots. There, he remained, just like the other assassins hadn’t moved from where they had been planted down after being firmly defeated. As both released their spells, Adger wandered over to where Gawain was.
“It seems you haven’t stopped training. A shame, I had hoped I would have been able to catch up by perfecting my spells and adding some new tricks.”
For a moment, everything after was quiet, uncomfortably quiet as Gawain honestly didn’t know how to respond to it. With the beating he had given the man after taunting him into issuing a challenge, he had hoped that Adger would have changed and bettered his ways, sure. But to think that it had come so swiftly and so effectively was not something he could have imagined, not even with the mind of a child.
“Before you speak, yes. Those men were sent here by my father. They’ve been stalking you for a while, gathering information and figuring out the right time to dispose of you entirely. Though it pains me to say it, part of that is because of me, as I provided my father with the knowledge regarding your style of combat and use of magic. Had you not pushed yourself to grow as fast as you did, you’d certainly have been killed today.”
Hearing the man out, there wasn’t a whole lot of reason for him to second guess the things he was being told, as he knew full well that he would have died here today if he had only been as strong as he was back when he first faced Adger in the training yard of the silver eagles headquarters. But to think that Brixton would send full-fledged assassins after him in an attempt to kill him, that wasn’t something he had truly given a whole lot of thought. Yet the proof was all around them, making it very difficult to ignore.
“When I found out what was going to happen, I rushed over here to keep my father from doing something he would regret for the rest of his life. Before out… duel… I never knew the things he had done to ensure my spot among the eagles, that he made it so easy for me to keep my seat. Harassing those junior knights was an unforgiveable act… but to think he would try to kill someone…”
By now, it was quite clear to see that Adger was actually struggling with the knowledge Gawain had placed upon his shoulders before, during and after their fight, leading him to confront his father about it and figure out the truth behind his dark dealings. In so doing however, he had redeemed himself as a mage, proving he was not just his father’s son, he was a worthy member of the silver eagles that tried to stand up for his fellow knights. Even if it meant actively working against Brixton.
“I see… so what happens now? Because I doubt any of these guys are going to speak up about their contractor, nor do I imagine you’d speak out, knowing it would send your own father to jail.”
“You’re right, I don’t think they will. I don’t think I will, though I will confront him on my own terms. This has to end, and it has to end here and now. No more harassment, no more sentencing people to death, no more securing seats for the unworthy… I’ll work hard to remain a knight, and I’ll keep my father in check, that much I promise.”
While he was not at all convinced that this would keep Brixton from trying to make moves against him again, the fact that Adger had come all the way out here on his own to try and keep someone alive that had put him on blast in front of at least half of the squad was something to be admired. Perhaps in part because he felt guilty about how he had treated him, and because he honestly had no idea where to take things from here, Gawain agreed with the terms posed by Adger. Allowing him to take things from here and to effectively act as his father’s jailor, the two of them shook hands, making it a gentleman’s agreement. Leaving the assassins where they were, the boy wasn’t exactly worried about them coming after him a second time, not after the thorough beating they had been given, not after the son of their contractor had acted out against them.
No, for now, the boy would just head towards the nearest tavern to get a nice meal, a hot bath and a warm bed for the night. With everything that had just transpired, both his body and his mind needed a good amount of rest to really let everything that had happened sink in.
Name of Spell: Throw Elemental Type: Air Pressure Rank & Spell Type: Senior | Attack Creation Range & Speed: 40m AoE | 45 m/s Mana Cost: 30 | 15 Stats Effected: - Applicable Perks: Overpowered | Quick Shot Description: Releasing a burst of air pressure to aggressively push away threats, this spell moves into all directions with Gawain at the epicenter. Activated by holding the hand horizontally, the back of the hand facing downward while pushing the tips of his index finger, middle finger and thumb against one another, the burst follows up straight after. The attack itself is lethal on direct hits, capable of breaking bones and breaking most structures, dealing Senior rank damage. Utilizing a fairly powerful knockback effect to blow back the aforementioned by up to thirteen meters + an additional 5 meters for every 10 Power, those who do not possess at least 30 sensory will be unable to see the spell itself. Those that do will see a wispy green dome coming into their direction before forcefully shoving them back.
Name of Spell: Pressure Input: Pace Elemental Type: Air Pressure Rank & Spell Type: Senior | Physical Reinforcement Range & Speed: Self | 40 m/s Mana Cost: 30 | 15 Stats Effected: +15 m/s Applicable Perks: Full Blitz Description: This spell is activated by forming the confrontation seal with his left hand, causing his eyes to glow with a jade hue. After the trigger is utilized, pressurized air mana begins to internalize and externalize, causing his physique to be elevated. In so doing, the internalized mana makes him capable of pushing his speed by an additional 15 m/s. To those without at least 30 Sensory, this spell is invisible, otherwise looking like wispy green breezes surrounding his body.
Name of Spell: Pressure Output: Purge Elemental Type: Air Pressure Rank & Spell Type: Senior | Physical Reinforcement | Attack Creation Range & Speed: 80m | 40 m/s Mana Cost: 30 | 15 Stats Effected: +Senior Strength Applicable Perks: Overpowered Description: This spell is activated by forming the half-rat hand seal with his left hand, causing his eyes to glow with a jade hue. After the trigger is utilized, pressurized air mana begins to externalize, causing his physique to be elevated. In so doing, it coats his right fist and left leg, allowing him to strike for Senior damage while being magically backed, thus allowing him to clash his Power against offensive or defensive spells. To those without at least 30 Sensory, this spell is invisible, otherwise looking like a thin jade layer coating his body.
As long as the spell remains active, this is something he can keep doing. Additionally, upon utilizing the spell, Gawain can also release a burst of pressurized wind in a chosen direction from his imbued fist. This can be performed once every round, with ammo rules allowing for an additional shot to be fired in tandem for every 30 Control. This blast is aimed at a single target, being roughly five meters wide, dealing a Senior amount of damage. To those without at least 30 Sensory, this burst of air is invisible, otherwise looking like a wispy mass of jade mana.
Post by Amaya Ravencrest✾ on Nov 9, 2023 9:23:04 GMT -5
Hello I will be grading your training today. :
As entertaining as this was to read, I can not approve it as this isn't Ki training or proper utilization of Ki. This is more of a personalized mission that resulted in antagonizing and attacking some assumed criminals that happen to be there along with this antagonization a noble within the same squad resulting in antics and spar that would most likely depending on your captain's decision to kicking you to the black bulls or have you removed from the magic knights as that is not the way a Silver eagle fights or handle themselves.
Along with the utilization of the Ki in this thread, the wording is more of a bleeding of sensory into the training more then the actual use of Ki.
