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.
[attr="class","augusttext"] Asahi would awaken early one day on a Sunday morning to the sound of a knock on his bedroom door. He would get up to greet whoever it was however when he opened the door there seemed to be no one in sight. But what the black bull would find is a note taped to his door. The note was for a mission order where he would once again be participating in an inter squad training. Asahi was slightly annoyed at the early wake up but he got just a little happy about going to train with someone from another squad, after all the last time he did this he got a new element out of it. This time he may get that or more. [BREAK][BREAK] He continued to read the note and see that this time he was to train with a member of the silver eagles, the squad that used to only allow nobles into their ranks. Asahi would then go on to get dressed and prepare for the day by packing a small day bag which included a small lunch. Thinking on the fact that he was to train with a silver eagle Asahi would let out a sigh and think *I hope I don’t get paired up with some noble who thinks they are high and mighty… I hate those kinds of people* He would then shake the negative thoughts before he would head out the door and towards the designated meeting place, listed on the mission orders. [BREAK][BREAK] As he would arrive to the location he would see none other than Yahiko standing in the open field waiting. This field was in a pretty remote location so only one with the location would know how to find it, prompting Asahi to say “Yahiko? What the hell are you doing here?” Yahiko would laugh then say “The captain told me to come along with you and maybe get some training done. He said some super strong guy was gonna meet us here. He said the guy even has you beat, and he is a new recruit to a different squad!” Asahi would begin to rub his chin as he pondered his friend’s words. *Stronger than me aye? This should be interesting, I been waiting to meet someone to test some things against.* he thought to himself. [BREAK][BREAK] He would then sit down his bag, before sitting down beside it. He looked at Yahiko and let off a grin saying “I think I should be the judge of that no?” Yahiko would then put on his serious look for just a moment and say “Yeah ok, you’ll see.” He would then quickly return to his very goofy demeanor.
The wildlands, it had been some time since he had last been there. When he had last been here, it was to aid a bunch of scholars in a delve heading deep into the earth. At the time, he had first met with two magic knights from the blue rose and crimson lion squads, not even being a knight yet himself. Truth be told, becoming a knight had never really been something he had set his sights on, though the fact that he had to keep taking on odd jobs just to make ends meet and had to gamble on whether or not he’d get to eat dinner and sleep in a warm bed eventually pushed him to consider it. For him personally, signing up with the silver eagles was mostly just intended as a joke for some rather obvious reasons. He wasn’t a noble in any way, shape or form.
Wandering through the tall grass, he could feel the small animals moving along the ground, as well as the birds in the air overhead. Letting the rays of sunlight warm his body, his attire wasn’t exactly meant to provide any kind of heat or insulate what warmth his body generated. No, it was just a black shirt, black baggy slacks, a pair of dark grey loafers and a thin grey scarf. Even though this was supposed to be some joint exercise, he didn’t see the point in coming over all dressed up in the colors of his squad. More over, since he had come here straight after rounding up a rather troublesome dungeon alongside Hania in the region, he hadn’t had a chance to switch out his attire. Not that it mattered, he was just going to get dirty again out here anyway, or so he figured. Not having the slightest clue as to what they were supposed to be training, he kept an open mind.
When he thought about who he was supposed to be meeting, Gawain had felt it odd that the silver eagles would willingly mingle with the black bulls. At the time of joining the squad, he wondered that the sole reason why they had allowed him in was because the captain had seen something in him, though the boy had never bothered to ask. But for a squad revolving around nobility to work with one that seemed to primarily just take in strays, peasants and commoners just felt odd. But that didn’t matter, Gawain wasn’t the kind of person to object to things based on labels. He’d even been known to work with rogues in the past, and his own records weren’t exactly considered to be clean either. As it turned out, the bull he was meant to be meeting up with was considered to be a bit of an issue for his own squad, as he had generated a bunch of black stars and even got demoted at some point.
This part brought a smirk to his face, as it reminded him of a tale his former mentor had once told him about how he had fried someone and tossed their remains over the edge of the pier and into the open ocean, thus generating a couple of black stars for the bulls. Even though he had done so, Griswold had never gotten demoted, which got Gawain wondering as to just what this guy must’ve done to receive such a harsh treatment from his captain. Not quite sure yet as to whether or not he’d actually ask this question, the boy figured he’d scope this person out a bit before getting into the meat and potatoes. Arriving at an open space in the region roughly fifty by fifty meters, he could tell that the ground beneath his feet had been trampled and battered time and time again, likely the result of other training sessions that had transpired in the past.
When he saw the only other people he registered within the immediate area, one of them was entirely unknown to him, though the other rung a bell. It was the same guy he had gone out with to cut lumber that was to be crafted into magical brooms for the magic squads. When last they met, it seemed that the guy had been a bit ticked off when Gawain had made an assessment to his age and the level of physical capabilities. It made him wonder whether or not he would hold any kind of resentment for that or not. As for himself, he hardly cared for such things, he just enjoyed the knowledge that he was right about things. So when he approached the two, he just waved and smiled.
“Yohoho, are you two here for the joint training?”
[attr="class","augusttext"] As Asahi and Yahiko would go back and forth with their witty banter, the magic knight they were waiting for. As Yahiko had said earlier this knight was a new recruit, having even less tenure than what Asahi did, yet his power was great. The two would hear a call out, asking if the two of them were there for the joint training. *That voice… I’ve heard it somewhere before that must be…* The black haired swordsman would look up and see none other than the white haired teenager Gawain. Seeing him now wearing a magic knight mantle would quickly cause Asahi to jump up and say “Hold on your Gawain right? When we met back then were you already a magic knight? And kept it a secret?” Yahiko would have a bit of a confused look on his face but he would then understand what was going on before saying “Ah you two must know each other. What a coincidence!” [BREAK][BREAK] Yahiko would then put a big smile on his face before sliding over towards Gawain saying “But you don’t know me! My name is Yahiko, but im not really here to train. Think of me more as an observer, just here to motivate and support when possible.” His smile would then quickly go away as he would approach Gawain’s side, and would begin to whisper into his ear. “You are here to train him. Our captain has given you full permission to do whatever it takes to get him up to speed. Just don’t kill him obviously…” Yahiko’s face was very serious as the orders he received about this mission, were very different than what Gawain and Asahi had gotten. [BREAK][BREAK] Asahi had saw the small exchange between Yahiko and Gawain but he did not bother to question what was said. Instead he would simply yell out saying “Are you two done or can we get started with this training? I don’t wanna spend all day with this.” Yahoo’s face would then quickly return to a smile before he would turn to face Asahi and say “Sorry bro but we are probably gonna be here all day. Who knows maybe even days as in multiple haha.” Asahi would then look at Yahiko and could tell that behind that smile he knew more than he was letting on, however he wouldn’t push the issue just yet. He would instead play along, acting as if he was stupid and clueless. [BREAK][BREAK] Asahi would then make his way over towards where Gawain and Yahiko were standing and said “So what will we be working on, oh great magic knight? Well actually, am I the superior rank here?” He would question himself before looking to Gawain to provide a response. As he waited for Gawain to answer he would look towards Yahiko before saying “If im the leading officer here then I guess what we train would be my decision no? However it seems very clear to me that we all must have gotten different orders for this mission.”
Even though it hadn’t been a spectacularly long time ago, it was nice to be remembered in a somewhat positive manner. With all of the things he had been doing in the time between their meeting, ranging from various magic dungeons, a plethora of missions and the systematic eradication of a vampire and his brood, it was safe to say that he had been up to quite a lot. In that time, his drive towards rapid and elaborate self-improvement hadn’t been idle, pushing him to far greater heights and making almost every aspect of him better than it had been before. Even though he barely had any stars to his name yet, he knew that it was only a matter of time before the paperwork on his recent dungeon came through. When Asahi inquired as to whether or not he had hidden the fact that he was a magic knight from him and wondered as to who of them held the highest rank, Gawain casually replied.
“You probably are, I’ve only been a knight for about a week or two now. Being a wanderer was boring so I figured I’d try to become a knight. I signed up for the silver eagles as a joke, didn’t think I’d get in on account of being a nobody and a peasant. But here we are!”
Showing a toothy smile as he came clean about his reasoning behind joining a magic knight, and the silver eagles in particular, he still thought it funny that they had broken their own rules to let him in like that. Now that he was a silver eagle, he was actually the most capable one out of the bunch, not counting captain Nico. Maybe that was why he had been requested for this join exercise, or maybe it was because he could do certain things the others couldn’t. It was no secret to him that a lot of the members of the squad were sons and daughters of noblemen that were just clinging to their current seat as a means of garnering respect from the other noble families. He also knew that those mages never did shit, and were actually quite lousy casters that only had some natural skill to work for them.
When the other guy started talking, introducing himself as Yahiko, Gawain just nodded as he listened to what he had to say. From the sound of it, he too was a member of the black bulls, but was not part of the training exercise. Claiming that their captain had allowed for full permission towards doing whatever Gawain imagined would be best for the exercise, a fiendish grin appeared on his face. It made him wonder if Malcolm was still their captain, in which case it all made perfect sense, at least based off of Griswold’s stories about the man.
“Alright! Sounds good to me! No killing, just Maiming!”
Immediately after responding to the notion of everything but killing being acceptable, the ashen haired boy began bending through his knees, leaning from one side to the next before bending his spine in odd ways so as to fully shake himself loose. Even though he had no idea whatsoever as to what they were supposed to be learning or teaching here, the least he could do was get himself in a position from where he wouldn’t sprain any muscles quite as easily and could truly give it his all. IF such a thing were to be required at least.
“Quite frankly, I don’t have a clue as to what we’re supposed to be training, or what rank we are and who might be higher. I just know that I get paid every month for doing what I like, exploring dangerous dungeons and kicking as many asses as my foot can reach.”
When he was called a great magic knight, Gawain could tell that it was meant as a mocking joke, which was something he was totally okay with. He didn’t mind a bunch of jokes and jabs here and there, especially since no one was watching them for any signs of professional conduct. And even if they were, they more than likely would find the teenager lacking in that area. Then again, they hadn’t conscripted him into the magic knights based on his code of conduct and perfect morals and ethics. They had conscripted him because he was one of the most promising and powerful fifteen year old kids in the entire country. Somebody people could try to sculpt into a shape they preferred, molded into something that could be used for the sake of the country, such things were invaluable to such orders as the magic knights. Not to mention the bragging rights it gave the captain when he could claim a boy who had only recently picked up his grimoire could already outmatch and outpace most adult magic knights in the other squads. He knew for a fact that Nico would get a giggle out of that.
“So pray tell, Sir Asahi the Demoted, what did your captain send you here for? And for what reason did my captain send me here?”
Done with his stretching and pretty much ready to get down to business, the boy took off his scarf and loafers, placing them stacked on the floor in a spot where he could find them again more easily. In terrain that was bulldozed and battered as this one, Gawain felt like making actual skin contact with the ground would be most beneficial, while not having a scarf that might blow over his face and cover his eyes was a good idea regardless. So as he stood there, barefoot in the flattened dirt, he waited for whatever it was that Asahi and Yahiko had been sent here with. One of them had to know after all, as he himself certainly did not.
[attr="class","augusttext"] After hearing Gawain say how he would only maim Asahi Yahiko would smile say “That’s the spirit!” However the older magic knight would wonder to himself *Seems as if his orders were very vague also… I guess im the only one with the real orders. Oh Malcolm…* The duo of bulls would then listen to how Gawain would say he had no clue what they were supposed to train, but he was just happy to be getting paid kicking ass and doing what he loved. Asahi would nod as he would reply saying “Yeah I too enjoy that part of being a magic knight…” [BREAK][BREAK] Yahiko would soon speak up saying “Ok so I guess I will tell you guys why we are here… Umm our young newbie knight here knows a skill that the captain wants you to have.” He would look to Gawain before looking back at Asahi and saying “Well a few skills. He wants to properly grow you Asahi. To be fair if you had of put your training a priority sooner in life, you would be about on par with Gawain or better at your age. Instead you are far below your potential, and the captain wants to fix that.” [BREAK][BREAK] Asahi would grab Yahiko by the collar of his shirt before saying “YOU SHOULD BE THE LAST PERSON TALKING ABOUT GETTING STRONGER! YOU ARE WEAKER THAN ME AND WE KNOW THIS!” He would be comedically shaking Yahiko as he yelled at him, with the blonde replying with a laugh saying “I may be weaker but im not here to be strong.. I have utility.” He would then remove Asahi’s hands from him before grabbing him and throwing him to the ground. Looking down at his friend from above Yahiko would say “Gawain is gonna teach you how to use Ki. You have no sensory ability at all, you need a way to fight without your eyes. Ki is from your homeland is it not? So learning it shouldn’t be too hard, at least not the basics.” [BREAK][BREAK] Asahi would then get himself off the ground before looking to Gawain and saying “You know how to use Ki? I wish you would’ve said that when I first met you, I’ve been trying to figure it out for a while by myself. Im not very good even with all the books and stuff I’ve studied.” Yahiko would watch as Gawain would take off his boots and scarf, prompting him to take a few steps back to his original position out of the way. Asahi would also witness this and cause him to take off his jacket and scarf before chuckling saying “Straight to it huh? Well I guess since we know the objective now, you can tell me how we will go about learning this. I don’t need a weapon I would assume?” [BREAK][BREAK] The objective was now set Gawain was to teach Asahi the technique known as Ki. Asahi had tried to learn on his own in the past but was unsuccessful. As the black haired swordsman would follow suit with Gawain and begin to stretch, he was hopeful that this time would be different.
“They want me to teach you how to use Ki? Hmm… seems like it would’ve been easier to teach a cat how to bark like a dog and roll over…”
Bringing his hand to his chin while looking up at the open sky above, the boy began thinking to himself how one would best figure out how to do this kind of thing. Teaching things wouldn’t be all that difficult if there were some kind of useful literature on the subject, though Gawain could honestly say he hadn’t ran into anything like that yet. He had personally been given some pointers by Griswold, who was a master of Ki and quite frankly should have known what to say when it came down to it. Unfortunately for him, the best he had gotten out of it were some vague statements regarding sensations and some monologue about feelings. Not the kind of thing that could easily be transferred to someone else when they themselves had no idea what said sensations or feelings felt like.
When he had learned how to do it, he had begun by focusing on the little things, little thing being true in every sense of the word. Upon learning how to pull it off, he had rapidly been forced to grow more accustomed to it by running for his life when he got attacked by a pair of juvenile mountain lions. Having to keep accurate track of their exact location while keeping his eyes on the road ahead of him as he made a sprint for safety, it was only after he was done running and in a safer place that he remembered how he could have just turned around and blasted them halfway across the country with his magic. Perhaps it was the whole sensation of being attacked by wild animals, or maybe the teachings of Griswold with regards to not harming the local wildlife, or maybe it was a bit of both. Or maybe he simply forgot how to magic. It all seemed relatively fair and perfectly plausible.
“What I mean is uhm… Ki isn’t exactly the kind of thing you teach someone else by using theoretical statements and verbal lessons. I can’t just tell you to ‘experience the world’ since you’d have no idea what to look for. Experiencing the world comes in all kinds of manners like feeling the wind on your skin, seeing the colors of the grass, the blue sky, the yellow sun, as well as hearing what goes on in your surroundings with your ears.”
While he tried to put his experience to words, he felt like the more he talked about it, the more he alienated Asahi from getting the idea. The way the boy envisioned it, going about it all theoretically simply did not work for those who learned mostly from having to experience things, from having to go through things in order to fully grasp it for all it was worth. He was much the same when it came to properly learning stuff, though Gawain also had a mind that allowed him to rapidly learn new concepts by studying them from some dusty old tome. In a way, he imagined that that was what it meant to be prodigious. In that moment, he more or less knew exactly how he would need to go about this kind of training, and what kind of a foundation he’d need when it came to teaching someone else how Ki fundamentally functioned. Through means of a demonstration.
“In a way, all of that is Ki. Yet at the same time, none of it is. Hmm.. it might be better just to give you a demonstration I guess… Alright, use your hands and feet and try to land a blow on me!”
As he spoke those words, Gawain took a deep breath as he closed his eyes for a second. Temporarily muting the world and drowning out everything, he opened them up again just to experience anything and everything. Closing the distance so there would be about three meters between the two, he would allow Asahi the opportunity to fully close it and go into melee combat when he was fully ready to do so. Right now, it was all up to the black bull to take the initiative and get this demonstration under way, believing it to be the perfect stepping stone towards the next stage of their training.
[attr="class","augusttext"] Gawain would seem a bit surprised that he was here in order to teach Asahi ki, stating that it would probably be easier to teach a cat to bark. Such a statement seemed as if it was more impossible than it was difficult, but even so Asahi would keep his hope up and alive. Gawain would say how teaching ki was not something he could do by telling Asahi to experience the world around him or anything like that. He would then move on saying that trying to explain wouldn’t work but a demonstration would be far more effective. He would then tell Asahi to try and land a blow upon him using his hands and feet. [BREAK][BREAK] Asahi would smile before saying “You sure rookie? I am a swordsman after all, im not just some wand weird caster like you are probably used to dealing with.” He said this jokingly but also seriously as he knew the average magic knight wasn’t very physically built in nature, unlike him who’s magic relied on his physicals along with his magical power. Asahi would then simply shrug his shoulders before, placing his closed fist in front of his face as he prepared to take a shot at Gawain. [BREAK][BREAK] He knew Gawain was more powerful than him in terms of magic, but he would not be prepared for what was to come. The distance between the two was short being only about 2 meters or less, so Asahi thought landing a hit would be easy at this distance. Without any signal or warning Asahi would quickly throw two jabs at Gawain, one with the left hand which was followed up by the right. Yahiko would simply be sitting a distance away watching and taking notes on the progress of the training, as per his orders for the mission.
Not quite sure what to make out of a wand weird caster, he imagined that what was intended were people who just went around flinging spells and the like. In recent times, he had been dealing with a lot more casters than before, that much was certainly true, though he had essentially been among people who couldn’t actually use magic for close to two years. During that time, Gawain saw a lot of very skilled and capable combatants kill one another in single combat over some of the silliest things one could imagine taking a life over. Who got to claim the last few drops of mead, who had the bigger dong, who got to use the outhouse first, all of these were just some on a long list of verbal engagements that had been ended by an axe to the skull or a sword to the gut. While needlessly aggressive and in some times plain cruel, it did harden him to the reality of the world, and that not all combatants used magic.
“Quite certain, yes. Just make an effort and we’ll take it from there.”
Trying to maintain a pace that was only slightly above what Asahi seemed to be capable of, Gawain used what he had learned from both training and real world applications in an attempt at predicting the rough trajectory of the blows. While such a thing was fairly difficult as the amount of concentration required lowered his own speed by some measure, it wasn’t really applicable as he had already been limiting it of his own volition. Applying a method of prediction would never really work out well against those who were physically faster, while using it as a means of blocking attacks from enemies with superior strength would prove equally ineffective. Not being much of a betting man himself, Gawain went with the notion that Asahi was skilled when it came to the use of swords, knowing also that he could carry a bunch of logs with relative ease. However, from what he had seen, he couldn’t imagine the young man to be stronger than he was.
Placing his educated guess on the fact that they would roughly be equally matched in the worst case scenario when it came to sheer strength, the knowledge that he was at least faster allowed him to use his predictive methods to some extent. And so, as the first jab was thrown at him without any kind of announcement, the boy was already prepared. When the first attack came from Gawain’s right, he stepped to the right as a means of moving out of its direct path, though a second attack came soon after from the right. It was a rather straight forward type of one two punch, where one attacked with one side before coming in with the other to build on their own momentum and look for any gaps in their opponent’s defenses. Intercepting the blow that came from his left by bringing about his own left hand and aiming to strike just below Asahi’s wrist with the back of his forearm, the goal was to essentially disarm the attack by pushing the arm away with greater force.
Right after he finished trying to push the arm aside by applying all of the physical strength he could muster without any kind of magical reinforcement, he would come in with a punch of his own. Aiming to jab with his free right hand after he tried to loosen and lessen Asahi’s footing, he’d restrain himself from hitting with full force in order to just dish out a moderately stingy bruise as a means of telling him to keep his guard up when going into melee range. Even though this was a demonstration and a show of skill, it was still a melee shuffle that required some semblance of self-defense.
[attr="class","augusttext"] Asahi was very swift and methodical with his first string of attacks, however he was not very correct in thinking that landing a hit on his fellow knight would be easy. Gawain appeared to have the advantage ever so slightly when it came to speed and so, the silver eagle was able to dodge the first of the two attacks with relative ease. All it would take is a simple slide to the side and he had avoided the hit, however this slide to the side would seemingly make him vulnerable to the next attack. [BREAK][BREAK] The second attack came in a similar manner to the first, however it would seem that Gawain had an answer for that attack as well. The silver eagle would use his own strength in order to grab Asahi’s arm and try to throw him off balance and seemingly block the attack. While stopping the attack would work Asahi would have a trick up his sleeve seeing as the two were now basically ‘locked’ in close range with each other. Gawain would soon enough attempt to send a jab at Asahi, however something made Asahi be able to seemingly sense the attack coming. He could not tell what the sensation was exactly but he just felt as if there was a weird tingle telling him the attack was coming. [BREAK][BREAK] Taking heed to this tingling sensation Asahi would prepare for whatever it was Gawain had in store, however even with Asahi knowing an attack was coming it did not help him avoid said attack due to the distance and speed between the two. As Gawain’s fist came forward Asahi would try to take his free hand and redirect the aim of the swing but he was very unsuccessful, with the fist landing straight into him. The young swordsman would slide back a few inches letting out a sigh as he thought *Shit… I can’t let him keeping hitting on me. That kid is a monster, and I feel like he held back which is crazy.* [BREAK][BREAK] After he had gathered himself he would wave his hand as a signal to hold combat for a moment as he would speak up to say “I just felt something before your attack. It was like a tingle of sorts, a sensation I’ve felt a few times before in similar situations. Is that sensation a sign that im tapping into the usage of ki? Or am I just tripping out right now?” Yahiko thought to interject but he would instead keep his thoughts to himself thinking *This guy is pretty skilled in hand to hand… although this is training Asahi is at a very big disadvantage without a bladed weapon, and due to his lack of speed. I shall continue just taking notes for now, his life seems to be in no danger from what I just saw.* [BREAK][BREAK] Asahi would then take a boxing stance with both his fist in front of his face before saying “Come on, im not gonna stop until I land at least one!” With the distance between them still being very short Asahi would lunge forward with his right fist, aiming a strong punch towards Gawain’s face. However this attack was nothing more than a trick as the next attack would use the opening created by this very wild punch Asahi at thrown.
“Hmm... depending on your threshold for pain, I imagine you might be tripping out. Ki isn’t so much an unconscious tingling in your head or back, it’s a rather clear sensation you feel when you’re in danger. Or rather, that’s where it all starts.”
Answering the question in an ambiguous fashion, Gawain wasn’t quite used to people hitting the breaks in the middle of a spar, though he wasn’t opposed to it. Bringing his hands together as he just twisted the ring around his finger back and forth, he thought about the question a few more times, though he couldn’t come to the perfect conclusion Asahi more than likely wished to hear. Among the people whom he knew, and there weren’t all that many as of yet, Gawain was the only person he was aware of that even knew how to use Ki. The only other guy he had known that used it was no longer in the country, so there’d be no point in asking. But since his own experience with unlocking Ki had been a bit different based on how he had seen it be used in battle, his mind had more or less constructed ways for him to incorporate it and force it out.
Being told time and again that he was a prodigy in every sense of the word, the ashen haired eagle had never really questioned it to be true or not, because he knew that it was true. Just by looking at the people he had surrounded himself with, the way in which his mind and body allowed him to learn and master new things had been unprecedented. That said however, there was no telling how something like Ki might manifest for other people, so there was a chance that this ‘tingle’ Asahi had felt was in fact just that.
“Once you’re more attuned to it, it almost becomes an extra sense like hearing, seeing and taste. Maybe to you, the experience manifests as a tingle. To me, it feels like… images in your mind. I’m not quite sure how to explain it other than that, as explaining a feeling other people don’t experience is somewhat uh, challenging.”
Still struggling to explain what it really meant to experience the use of Ki, there was one thing he noticed about Asahi that he had noticed during their first meeting too. There were some things about him that were rather on the surface, things he seemed angry or upset about that he couldn’t really put away and hide all that well. Gawain was like it that in a lot of ways, as he held a lot of anger and resentment in his heart, though he managed to hide that away very well. Most that saw him just saw him as some happy-go-lucky boy, unconcerned with the future and unbothered by everything. Whenever people came to that conclusion about him, it meant that the ruse had been successful, believing that this kind of thing was more disarming when meeting new people or maintaining relations.
Bringing up his past, the men, women and children he had killed in some capacity and the reasoning behind it, that was all very much in the past. Sure, some of it had been incredibly recent, not to mention out of his control, though now that he was a citizen of Clover, none of those things were required to stay alive anymore. Besides, it wasn’t like a single person on this continent would understand even if he explained, so he was quite content with keeping people as out of the loop as possible. That said, it did grant him a few insights into the behavior of others, allowing him to know what to look for in order to spot certain… undesirable traits. Maybe with some help, the guy might be able to hone and sharpen all of those negative emotions into a weapon that was more balanced. If nothing else, the use of Ki should certainly aid in that.
“It’s not the landing of the hit that you should be worried about, it’s about the hit not being landed on you. Now don’t take this the wrong way, as I won’t presume to know why you received enough black stars to get demoted. Though one thing I’ve noticed about you? You’ve got some issues with the ol’ Angry, buddy!”
While brought up in a somewhat joking manner, he was quite sure of the fact that Asahi knew Gawain was serious in the point it was meant to represent. Because back when they first spoke, he couldn’t help but recall the fact that the black bull seemed rather peeved about the boy making an assessment about him in terms of age, level of strength, the works. Not knowing the guy well or well enough to really be in a position where he could begin figuring out what exactly it was that had put him on edge, an overly large part of himself felt like that kind of behavior was what had been leaning into the black star ordeal. If the topic still seemed interesting to him by the time this whole sparring session came to an end, there was a chance that he might ask him about it. But seeing as how he was rather prone to forgetting things that did not affect himself personally in the heat of the moment, it seemed highly unlikely.
As he was pondering for a bit, it seemed that Asahi had decided that the break he had called in had reached its conclusion as he began making his way forward again, more than likely in an attempt at getting that one hit in. Gawain however had other plans. This time around, Gawain would show his full speed, exceeding the speed by which they had been shuffling about earlier while also adjusting his physical strength to what the boy considered to be ‘normal’. That was normal, it was normal for him, as he had been restraining himself the entire time so as to not needlessly hurt anyone during this session. Using both his strength and speed to more or less block the punch with an open palm, he asked a question he had earlier forgotten, but one he felt would add more to this training than just venting aggressions. Remaining weary however, should there be more coming after the initial punch, he’d have to retaliate against that too.
“You know what, I forgot to ask. What kind of magic do you use?”