Dmitry's Secondary Magic Training (Private)

Long ago, there was a powerful king by the name of Koryu. This king had at his disposal, among other things, seven legendary knights. One of these knights, his names lost to the annals of history, was known as the Knight of Destiny. This man, like the other six knights, possessed a special ability that aided him on the battlefield. In his case, the knight could see into the future and predict events that would unfold around him. Naturally, this made him nigh unstoppable in combat, allowing him to read an opponents moves well before it was made. Rather than some grand spectacle of a performance, the Knight of Destiny became feared as an indomitable opponent by simply out maneuvering his enemies at every turn. Even mages dreaded to fight against him, for he could anticipate whatever spell they threw at him and deal with it accordingly. 

Eventually, the knight's service with the great king was concluded, nearly all of his battles ending in victory. Not long after, he found a wife and started a family, the descendants of whom shared a portion of his power. Somehow, the descendants of this man found themselves in a valley to the north of Mount Hakobe, living as a part of a tribe. The centuries continued to pass and that tribe was destroyed, it's only survivor and the last of these descendants leaving the mountain valley alone. This survivor, a gray haired boy with mismatched eyes, was named Dmitry Kazakov. 

That boy, now a mage at 18 years and a member of the magical guild Lamia Scale, stood at the Serene Cliffs looking out at the ocean, pondering that very knight. He had found out not long ago that he was the heir these abilities, having experienced them first hand in an incident his guild had gotten wrapped up in. 

That was why he was here.

It was Hati who explained the nature of this ability to the mage, having been around long enough to see the knight for himself. The wolf spirit was quite shocked to discover that his pupil was in fact a descendant of one of the fabled seven knights and saw a whole new avenue open in front of his summoner. Dmitry studied a bit about conceptual magic after the incident at Salsano castle, eager to find a more effective way to utilize this ability. 

Unfortunately, there were no records within Zuo Grand Library that indicated a type of magic revolving around the concept of destiny. There was Arc of Time, a type of lost magic, but it focused more on the physical implications of time, rather than the conceptual application. Therefore, in order to apply this foresight further in combat, he would have to forge his own school of magic from scratch. This endeavor would take many years and it was likely to never match his Nature Spirit Invocation, at least not in his life time. But doing this give him a whole new edge in combat, acting as a trump card up his sleeve. 

Dmitry closed both his eyes and inhaled deeply, taking in the smell of salt in the air. He was moving into fairly uncharted territory, not just for him, but for magic in general. However, it would be a tremendous waste if he didn't utilize this power, this legacy, to it's fullest extent. It could even be considered an insult to the knight who cultivated the ability in the first place, though Dmitry wasn't really concerned about that. Still, if pursuing this new magic would allow him to avoid losing what he cared about, then it was well worth the effort. He would develop a more advanced means of utilizing his inheritance, thus becoming more than just a summoner.

"Enjoying ourselves, are we?" A voice much older than his asked, picking up on how much more at ease Dmitry felt in natural areas.

"Hey, you tellin' me you'd rather be in a city?" Dmitry answered with another question, the crash of waves against the cliff side in front of him. He had come here before during his C rank exam, when Kihia sent him on a journey through a cave that ended with a cryptic message about his future. Hopefully, this new found ability of his would let him decipher that message, but that wasn't going to happen today. He opened his eyes and turned around to face the 51 year-old exorcist, Dante Luminoso. "Well, I guess you got a half decent point there, Mr. Kazakov." The rather peculiar holy man said. 

Dante had joined Dmitry not too long ago, the two having met on a job Dmitry took in Beanstalk village. Though Dante's reasons for following Dmitry were vague, he decided that the pseudo-priest wasn't a danger and would prove rather useful. He had already proven to be an asset during the aforementioned job, displaying deadly fighting techniques and holy rites that were on par with magic. The reason Dmitry brought Dante out to the serene cliffs was to aid him in the beginnings of this new style of magic, as he needed someone to throw a decent amount of precise attacks at him in order to further explore the future predicting aspect of his ancestry.

"Alright, Padre." Dmitry said to the man in the holy vestiges. "Let's get started." He walked away from the cliff and got about five feet away from Dante, crouching down into a low stance. Dante responded by getting into an upright, refined stance, as opposed to Dmitry's rather animalistic one. "Whenever you're ready, mage." The exorcist responded with a grin.

The spirit mage rushed the holy man and threw a quick, left jab at his face, followed by a hard, right hook to the ribs. Dante parried the jab effortlessly with the back of his wrist and slammed his palm into the top of the fist performing the hook with his left palm, sending the blow harmlessly downward and leaving Dmitry exposed. The expert fist fighter then sent a strong chop towards Dmitry's neck with the hand that had deflected the jab, fully expecting it to be blocked. As soon as the mage confirmed said expectation, Dante swung his left foot towards Dmtiry's temple in a brutal round house kick, which he just barely managed to duck.

Keeping up his ruthless assault, the older fighter let his foot swing over Dmitry's head on it's momentum before pivoting on his right foot, place the left firmly on the ground, and swinging his right up into the air, bringing the foot down on top of Dmitry. Dmitry blocked the leg with both arms, but the force of it still pushed down on him. After that, the young man stood and lifted Dante off the ground with the leg he brought down on him. Dante responded by landing on his hands and leaping back on to his feet. 

The exorcist threw six powerful jabs to Dmitry's upper body at an incredibly fast pace. He was able to block the first four, but the fifth caught him in the solar plexus and the last punch slammed into Dmitry's nose. Dante then performed a flawless spinning back kick with his left foot, which collided with Dmitry's chin before finally sweeping him off his feet with his right. Dmitry lay on the ground, bloodied and bruised by the vastly superior fighter in front of him.


Dmitry blinked as the vision of his beating passed, allowing him to react just as Dante began his assault.

As blocking all the attacks in the flurry to come would likely prove impossible, Dmitry moved to the right just as Dante began to throw the first of six punches. As the fist hit nothing but air, Dmitry threw a right hook at the holy man's chin. Anyone else would likely take a hit under such conditions, but Dante managed to duck just in time, before using his right leg to sweep Dmitry off his feet. The sage in training groaned as he felt his back hit the ground, remembering the same position in his vision. Still, at least he didn't have the same bruises and for that he thanked this ability. It seemed that even the power to see into the future couldn't top pure skill, at least not at the level that Dmitry could utilize. 

Dante held out his hand to help the mage to his feet, impressed by the skill he showed at such a young age. He also took note of how Dmitry was able to avoid that first punch so easily, as if he knew it was coming. "So you really can see into the future," he said as he pulled his sparring partner to his feet. "I almost didn't believe it, save for the fact that you don't seem like much of a liar." Dmitry put a hand his back as Dante expressed his surprise, wishing he'd avoided that sweep. "Yeah, apparently I can," he said, not quite as impressed with his ability as the man who floored him. "But as you can see, I don't get everything. So far, it's only shown me stuff that would either kill me or, in this case, leave me brutally maimed." Dmitry shot Dante an accusing glare, a little more than angry about the extent of the attack he was going to deliver.

"Hey, I was sure you'd dodge it." Dante said with a shrug and his best attempt at an innocent face. "And did you prove me wrong?" Dmitry's glare continued, the mere fact that he predicted the move speaking volumes of the state it would have left him in. "You know, you seemed pretty shocked that I got out of the way in time..." He said, leaving the implication hanging in the air, before sighing heavily. "How's about we take five, padre?" The old exorcist laughed and took a seat, enjoying the sea breeze. Dmitry on the other hand laid himself out on the grass, trying to think of what else he could do to stimulate this ability.

'Don't tell me you're tired already, boy.' The voice of Hati rang out from within his mind.

'It's not that,' Dmitry responded. 'It's just that I need all my focus on this ability for it to work and that's harder to do when I'm in some kind of pain.'

'Come now, boy,' Hati said, beginning one of his lectures at the right time for once. 'What is it that you are trying to do? See into the future? Is that truly all? That much I truly doubt. What you're trying to do is master not time, but destiny, to things that while linked, are not the same. Time is a physical entity, something that will inevitably wear away at all things. But Destiny is a concept, something you humans know best. It is the idea that something in particular awaits us all, instead of just death and decay. The idea that there is a moment that life does not simply result in, but rushes toward, like a river moving towards the ocean." Dmitry realized that Hati was right; he needed to look at this from a different perspective. The techniques he was trying to produce were much like his spirit magic, in that they utilized a particular form of perception to apply magic to a certain purpose that was be otherwise unreachable.

Dmitry sat up and began racking his brain for the first spell he was to invent. What could seeing into the future contribute towards a school of magic? Was seeing into the future really all this ability amounted to? Perhaps it was giving him a glimpse into what governed this concept, what governed destiny. What was destiny? Dmitry grew up away from most humans, so abstract concepts such as this tended to confuse. The awfully truth was that Hati, a spirit, understood quite a few human concepts better than the human he raised.

"Hey Padre," Dmitry said, wondering what Dante could add. "How would you describe destiny?"

The exorcist looked over at the mage, who was still lying on the grass. "And don't give me any crap about it being 'where god takes us' or some such shit." Dmitry added. Instead of being offended like man a holy man would, Dante chuckled at his companion's aversion towards religion. "I suppose it's only natural that someone with your abilities doesn't have much use for faith," he said in response to the after-statement. "Let's see...I believe destiny can be many things. One might see it as a combination of things, leading up to a single conclusion, a destination. Although, it's not so much where we're going, as it is where we end up. We may intend to go in a particular direction with our lives, but where are lives actually take us is a whole other story."

 Dante looked up at the sky, as if there was some hidden meaning behind the clouds passing by. "True, I do believe god has a hand in it. But I also want to think that god has the smarts or maybe the compassion to let us have a hand in it too. And if we all have a hand in that end result, then it's not up to any individual one of us; all of our actions play a part."

The gray haired medium thought about what Dante said, particularly the part about 'where we end up'. Something about that phrase clicked in Dmitry's mind, like it had applied before. He thought back to all the fights and otherwise dangerous situations that he'd been through in his life, trying to figure out what it was about that phrase that nagged at the back of his mind. Had there been a time when he had to think about where he was going to be? Now that he thought about it, almost any occurrence of magical combat forced one to think about how long it would take for them to reach their target. But was there some way that his ability to see the future factored in? It couldn't simply be about knowing how long it would take him to reach a given point; that by itself was almost completely useless.

Perhaps...perhaps he could...bridge the gap, between where he was and where he was going to be. Not just getting to that place faster, but being there, instantly. Could...could this power let me do that? He asked himself. The more he thought about it, the more he believed it could work, though it would take a bit to get everything right. Still, it seemed impossible that he could glimpse into the future and not have some unconscious understanding of how 'destiny' functioned. What Dmitry needed to do now was tap into that understanding somehow, if only just a portion of it. He rose to his feet and looked in front of him, picking out a spot on the grassy field behind the cliff. About ten feet would likely be as far as he could go. But just that wasn't enough. He had to consider everything that could factor into this spell: distance, time, how fast he's moving, what's in front of him, whats around him, and even the whether. 

Dmitry had to fully realize not just where he was going, but where he will be. Otherwise this would fail.

Dmitry thought to the times when he used this ability, trying to search each memory for the sensation he felt, the state of mind he was in. It was his best bet to utilize the information absorbed by his sub-conscience in a new spell, allowing him to bridge the gap between his 'now and then'. He couldn't just perceive the area he wished to be in, but instead he had to fully comprehend the course that will take him to that destiny. Slowly but surely, the gears began to turn and pieces that made up this small step began to fit together. Once he was sure that everything within his psyche was in the correct place, he began welling up his magical power and focused it towards this sensation.

 As soon as he was 'primed', as it were, he let out a surge of willpower and focus, much like he would when bonding with a spirit. While doing so, he took off at a run, as if he were going to sprint ten feet in front of him. All of these factors melded together to create a slip between the place he was, and the place he was going to be, eliminating the 'journey' and skipping straight to the 'destination'. Dmitry vanished from where he was sprinting and reappeared nine feet in front of where he was originally, without even seconds between the start and end. Suddenly appearing somewhere else entirely was a shock to say the least, causing the young man to promptly trip and tumble across the ground.

Dante shot up off the ground with a gasp after seeing Dmitry defy the laws of physics, a loud snapping sound course through the air in the spell's wake. "My god..." the older gentleman managed to get out. He had come across magic before, but never had he seen anyone suddenly invent magic in the blink of an eye. 

"You actually did it."

Dmitry looked in the direction of old exorcist, who was walking towards him. "Yeah, seems like I did." He said as he got up, wobbling a bit after he did. Dante grabbed his shoulders and helped him stay upright, a concerned look on his face. "Guess everything just now caught up with me..." Dmitry said as he regained his footing, the spell he just performed taking a toll on him. The mage wasn't surprised, to be perfectly honest. He had just compiled nine feet of sprinting into a single second, so it only made sense for him to feel it all at once. Normally, such a short distance would be nothing, even if he had been out of shape. But to have it compressed like that was disorienting to say the least.

"Take it easy, Dmitry," Dante said with mild concern in his voice. "Maybe you should just sit down." Dmitry took his advice and sat down on the grass, Dante taking a seat a few feat away. The tribal-turned-mage had left his hat back in Hargeon for once, considering it unnecessary for this trip. Consequently, he could feel the cool breeze going through his steel colored hair, helping him to relax a bit. It seemed he was going to have to get used to the feeling of any kind of physical activity being compressed into a single moment. All the same, this spell would give him an enormous advantage in combat, as it would not only let him get closer to his enemy in a shorter amount of time, but it would also let him commence his faster.


"I guess congratulations are in order," Dante said, breaking Dmitry out of his thoughts. "It looks like you just invented a whole new school of magic, doesn't it? I gotta say, I've never met anyone who made their own magic for themselves." The mage smirked. "Don't go gettin' all excited yet, Padre," Dmitry said, looking back out at the sea. "I still got plenty of work to do before this is ready."

With that, he looked up to the sky, reflecting on his journey thus far. It had been a few months since Dmitry joined Lamia Scale, looking for a place to call his own. He wondered if he had found it yet, a home. It wasn't something the former nomad knew much about, having been without one for the majority of his life. He certainly had to admit, there were people in his life now that he cared about and would protect. There was Seikatsu, the soul mage who seemed more then a little depressing. Still, Dmitry worried what would become of the wanderer, mainly because they were so similar in their history. The biggest difference was how they felt about what had happened to them.

Then of course, there was Kateri, Seikatsu's daughter. She had stumbled into the guild not long after Dmitry and upon finding out who's daughter she was, he made it his business to look out for her. There was also that Shairako guy, whom Dmitry wasn't entirely sure about. Still, the spiritual medium heard a voice in his head on a daily basis, so he didn't have much room to judge if someone was all there. Sure, the guy seemed a bit eccentric, but overall he seemed alright in Dmitry's book. Another late addition to the guild was Aquataca...whatever his name was. The kid seemed a bit timid at first, but Dmitry could sense a fire in him. It would only take the right circumstances to coax such a thing out, though he hoped an event like that would never have to occur. Aku had plenty to deal with as it was without adding that kind of strain. However, it seemed all to likely that it would happen whether they liked it or not. Dmitry just hoped that the kid was ready for it when it came.

Among the people he had met since joining the guild was also Kihia Avoa, the guildmaster of Lamia Scale. For someone in a position of such authority and respect, he seemed rather humble. All the same, Dmitry knew full well the enormous power he commanded, as was demonstrated at the start of his C rank exam. Any man who can slow the movement of the spirits with magic is a force to be reckoned with.

Enola Gay, the maid of Lamia Scale, was the one who welcomed into the guild. Well, he did get tackled by another member, one Quincy Zephyr, upon entering the guildhall. There was also a girl named Hakumi Nazu, who was probably the first person to put Dmitry in the position of consoling someone. Another new recruit that Dmitry was there to greet was Shulk, a young mage with some fairly unusual gadgets. Then there was Sayrn Firion, a woman with an unhealthy obsession with poisons. 

He even became friends with a mage from outside the guild, a rather curious woman named Mao Nakiri. She seemed to be fascinated by his ability to sense spiritual activity, but then, she seemed to also be fascinated by, well, everything. It also bears mentioning that she had some pretty unusual physical features, namely the ears and tail of a rabbit. As it turned out, she suffered from an intense case of amnesia, the cause of which was unknown. After talking to a friend of her's, Dmitry learned that she only seemed to know her name and the means by which to utilize her gem magic. It also seemed that she was only just now showing concern for her memory loss. Her friend, a librarian by the name of Silabus, seemed to think she might be better off not getting those answers. It was only natural; he didn't know what it was like.

Dmitry also gained a powerful new spirit since he joined, one of the four elementals. One might even say he had Mao to thank for that, since he likely wouldn't have found out about the spirit if it weren't for her trip to the Grand Library. It had been bound to Zuo's labyrinth by the former Master of the guild, the Earth Guardian Zou Cii. Dmitry had no idea why Zuo would do such a thing or if he even did it intentionally, but the spirit of earth absorbed the memories that were made in that guildhall, including those made by Zuo Cii. After forming a psychic bond with it, as he did with all the spirits he summoned, the memories poured into the spirit mage, causing him to become attached to the guildmaster, even though he barely knew him.

After that, Dmitry made up his mind that he would not only protect the guild and it's members, but also the memories he gained from the spirit he contracted in the labyrinth. He knew better than most the value of memories and he would never let himself forget this legacy, the legacy of Zuo Cii.

Everything seemed to be changing for Dmitry, his whole world beginning to open up. He would have never expected to have so many friends or even know so many people. Usually the social novice would forget someone five minutes after meeting them, not really caring about who they were or what kind of people they might be. Now it seemed he was meeting new people all the time and on top of that, he actually cares about some of them.

 Dmitry was still trying to understand his own kind, having spent more time with spirits than people. But he found himself understanding more and more what people were like, not just there ill intents as he had long understood, but the things that make them tick.

It seemed so long ago that he was left all alone, save for the spirits that followed him. At first, it was only Hati, as Dmitry had yet to come across the others. But before long, more and more began surrounding him. Before long, spirits were the only company he kept, no longer interested in spending time with humans. It took quite a while for him to realize how foolish he was.


[Flashback] Ten years ago...


A young boy, with steel gray hair, a sky blue right eye, and a gold colored left eye sat alone in the middle of a forest. At least, he appeared to be alone, the woods devoid of human life save for him. The child was no older than eight and seemed rather thin, most likely from lack of eating. He also seemed to have bags under his under his eyes and his skin was rather pale, signs that he wasn't getting as much sleep as a boy his age should. Most people would likely take pity on such a child, seeing him as a symbol for all the worlds struggles. And for taking such pity and having such thoughts about him, the boy would be disgusted with such people. The simple truth was that at the end of the day, no matter how hungry he may be or how little sleep he got the night before, little Dmitry Kazakov was alive, far more than he could say for the other people in this valley. 


He likely would be dead if it weren't for the unique nature of this mountain valley, the beings that stirred about in this place. And of course, the unique ability with which he was born, a gift to some of those born in this place. Fate and perhaps Nature itself had spared him and him alone, leaving him all alone.


Well, not entirely...

The young boy stared at the wound with resentment, seeing it as a symbol of his greatest problem. The greatest issue he faced was that no matter how much weight he gained back, he was still a human child; there was little to nothing he could do to defend himself. The wound he was currently treating was given to him by his own blade, after he fell down a hill. If something as simple as that could wound him, there was no telling what an animal or, if he ever came across one, a person could do to him. He needed a way to defend himself, regardless of how small he was or how big his opponent could be. 


"Hey, uh, spirit," Dmitry called to the being he was linked to, still talking out loud. "Wolf guy."


'It's Hati,' the wolf said with an exhausted tone, having given up on teaching this child to speak with his mind. 'What is it, boy?' 


"How do I get...you know...tougher?" The child asked. "How do I keep people from hurting me?"


This query roused Hati's curiosity, causing him to turn his full attention to it's answer. 'Tougher, eh,' He said to Dmitry. 'No, my boy, you are plenty tough already. What you need is to become powerful. That is how you keep from getting hurt.' 


Dmitry cocked his head, confused by the words of his mentor. "What's the difference?" He asked. 'Tougher means you can withstand getting hurt more than others,' Hati answered in his usual, sage-like voice. 'You already have that. What you need to acquire is the ability accomplish a given task, such as defeating an opponent. That, boy, is what's known as power. There is a form of power that I can teach you to use, something that does not require size or strength. A power that exists within you.'


'It is called Magic...'

[End Flashback]

(Present day)

'Feels like a lifetime ago, huh old man.' Dmitry said to the spirit wolf, having learned how to speak with his mind long ago.

'Only to a human like yourself,' Hati replied. 'As you might recall, my kind have no sense of time; it might as well have been a minute ago.'

'Yeah, yeah. I get it, old man.' Dmitry remembered how weak he was back then, but more than that, how foolish he was. To make the mistake that he did, that took a special kind of fool. 'To be fair, you were a mere child.' Hati said, having heard those thoughts. 'It doesn't matter', Dmitry replied. 'It was foolish all the same.' Though he chastised his eight year-old self, he would return to that place and reclaim what he lost once he was ready. It was only a matter of knowing when the right time was. 

But that was for a later time. 

Right now, he had to focus on the task at hand: creating his next spell. He had rested long enough and it was time to move on with this training. The trick of it was what he should attempt next.  But what else was there that he could do to utilize this clairvoyance of his through magic? He could already affect his own future by reacting to what he sees and he can also speed that future up to get the jump on his enemies. What else could would this power allow him to do? 

Perhaps he was, once again, looking at this from the wrong perspective. Up until now, he had only considered his own destiny. But was it also possible to affect the destiny of someone else entirely, pushing things in his favor for just a moment? If he could accomplish something like that, it would give him an enormous advantage in a one-on-one fight.

But how would he accomplish this, rewriting somebody's destiny? What kind of destiny could he install for them? Obviously, there were limits to what he could produce with a spell like this, considering the conceptual nature of this sort of magic. It seemed unlikely that he could make them do something they wouldn't have chosen to do themselves, let alone kill them outright. Something like that would cost far too much magic power for him to be able to produce, not to mention the level of understanding it would take for it to be possible if he even had that kind of power.

Then there was the issue of actually affecting a destiny outside of his own, something he hadn't begun to understand. Dmitry had a hard enough time just speeding up his outcome, let alone changing it. To change someone else's would require him to delve even further into the sensation of using this ability. The clairvoyant mage closed his eyes and focus once more on the feeling of using his inheritance, trying to pick out that individual sensation as he did before. Perhaps he couldn't specifically change his opponent's destined outcome, but maybe he could link it to his and create a short lived destiny for both parties. One that would favor him in it's result.  

Even then, the effect would have to be a simple one. If it was too complex, it would fail to take root, leaving Dmitry with nothing but spent magic power and possibly even a damaged timeline; he did not need the chewing out from Kihia that would come with something like that. Misplaced priorities aside, Dmitry would have be extremely careful with what he was about to attempt, the true ramifications of this magic finally setting in. If he screwed this up, things could get very dangerous for both him and his training partner, though he decided to keep the details of that particular issue to himself

Dmitry stood up and looked over to his exorcist companion, rolling his shoulders and cracking his neck. "That time again, huh?" Dante asked as he saw his young friend stand, getting to his feet as well and walking towards the mage. The two took up the same stances as before and proceeded as such.

After about thirty seconds of Dmitry throwing attacks at Dante that didn't even come close to there mark before just barely avoiding the counter attack, the holy man threw a straight punch with his right hand at the spirit mage's head. Dmitry saw this as his opportunity and ducked under the fist before slinging a hard left hook at the priests ribs, pouring magic power and focus into the same sensation as before. His intent was to produce an artificial destiny, one that would be linked to both him an Dante. If the spell went as planned, then it would become Dmitry's destiny to hit Dante. Conversely, it would become Dante's destiny to be punched in the ribs by Dmitry, allowing for a sudden turn in the tide against an otherwise untouchable opponent.

Dante, as predicted, moved out of the immediate path of the fist, expecting it to miss entirely as it would in any normal situation. However, while it indeed seemed like the punch hit nothing but air, Dmitry's body began to follow the path it laid. His feet slid across the ground, as if he was being pulled by the force of the fist he had thrown. The mage began to turn towards Dante's body, which at this point was fairly exposed to attack. Dmitry's fist followed it's target, the exorcist's abdomen, and went straight for his gut, which was now facing it's direction. Dante's eye's were wide as it seemed all to certain that this attack would connect, despite having moved out of it's way.

However...

Dmitry blinked twice when his fist collided with Dante's stomach, yet he felt it go no further. In fact, it seemed his knuckles were suddenly in pain, as though he'd just punched something other than a soft underbelly. Before he could discern the nature of this disturbance, a fist plowed into his own gut. Unlike his experience, there was no resistance from Dmitry's stomach and as a result he was sent about five feet away from exorcist, landing once again on the ground. What the mage failed to consider, was that a fighter as well trained and experienced as Dante could tighten his abdominal muscles in response to an incoming hit, protecting his diaphragm and preventing the breath from being knocked out of him. 

Dmitry, on the other hand, was wheezing on the ground while trying to catch his breath, which had been thoroughly knocked out of him. "Oh, uh...sorry about that," he said in an apologetic tone, realizing he'd gone a bit overboard. "But I'm sure I didn't hit any vital organs, so you've got that going for you." 

"Gee, thanks a bunch." He managed to get out during his struggle for air. Thankfully, it wasn't the first time this had happened to Dmitry, though that might not actually be a good thing depending on your point of view. Before long, he was on his feet again, breathing with the best of 'em. It seemed that while he could guarantee the attack wouldn't miss, it could still be blocked like any other attack. Now that he thought about it, it seemed unlikely that he would be able to use this with a long ranged attack. When a projectile leaves it's sender, it's destiny undoubtedly becomes it's own. It seemed far to complicated for Dmitry to ensure a ranged attack hits it's mark, given how difficult it was to ensure his fist managed to reach its target.

Maybe he was beating around the bush a little too much, going for more round about spells when there was likely a much more effective way to use this magic. What if there was a way to harness destiny in a more direct sense, a physical sense? Once again, Dmitry pondered the ramifications of the idea known as 'destiny', hoping to glean some sort of insight he was currently missing. 

What is destiny? Destiny is the concept of an allotted future, something that will inevitably come to pass. But does inevitable necessarily mean singular? There are simply too many variable's that can occur in one's life for each life to have one destination alone. If that truly were the case, than his ability to see into the future would be meaningless, the events he'd seen unchangeable. There was only one other possibility: there are hundreds, maybe thousands of destinies that all occur at the same moment, producing billions of different results. What Dmitry had been doing up to this point was simply singling out individual outcomes, leaving so many others untouched. 

But how did this help him? Understanding that didn't help him formulate a spell capable of using destiny in a direct phisical attack...did it? Perhaps there was something else there, among the billions of future events and realities. Perhaps there was an underlying principle hidden within this concept, something that could be drawn out and given form, form that he can wield. 

All of these destinies, all of these outcomes. 

All of them differant.

All of them conflicting.

All of these realities simply occurring, with no plan or rule.

No order...and there it was.

There was Dmitry's answer: chaos. The underlying principle of destiny is most certainly chaos. And chaos was something he could draw out and wield. Something that he could use against his enemies. But most of all, chaos was something he could use to protect the things that mattered to him.

"Go ahead and take a break," Dmitry said, walking past Dante. "I'm not gonna need a partner for this..." 

"Well, if you say so." His sparring partner said, a concerned look on his face at those words.

After walking a few more feet, Dmitry stopped and held out his right hand, covering his wrist with his left hand as if to stabilize it, before he began to once again focus on the sensation of seeing into the future. By now, the process was far less difficult and what he was about to attempt was somewhat familiar due to his spirit magic. As the feeling of using his foresight began too well up inside him, he focused that feeling into the palm of his hand. After a bout a minute of this intense focus, he began to pour magic power into the same spot, trying to contain as much in the small space as he could. Dmitry's objective was to draw out and materialize the underlying principle of chaos within his own destiny, much like when he gives form to the spirits he is bound to. 

Soon, the area in front of his hand began to shimmer, though not at a constant rate. The frequency of this shimmering was erratic, pulsing in and out of being. Soon that shimmer became a glow, but just as before there was an inconsistency to it, like a light bulb running on a faulty power grid. However, this time when the glow faded, it seemed just a bit darker in that spot then before. Believing this to be the first sign of what he was trying to produce, Dmitry increased the amount of magic power he was funneling into this spot, hoping to get a stronger result. Soon the glow became brighter and the after light darker, though there was also a perceivable tremor emanating from it.

As Dmitry poured more magic power into it, the intermingled darkness and light seemed to take on a violent tone, switching back and forth at a faster pace as it began to take on a more tangible form. He winced a bit as the strain of containing this force became harder to bear, though he simply grit his teeth and continued, trying to see how far he could go.

The exorcist that had accompanied the him to the cliffs now looked at the chaotic mass with fear for the man wielding it. "Let it go Dmitry!" Dante shouted, the pulsating of this ball of chaos making itself known even to him. "Before it destroys you!"

'He's right, boy,' Hati said within Dmitry's mind. 'The damage will only get worse if you continue.'

'No,' The mage responded. 'I can handle it. just a little bit more!'

'Damnit boy! If you keep going, there will only be a little bit of you left!'

Dmitry ignored the spirit and kept pushing, his magic power reaching its limits. This level of magic was clearly beyond his control, he wasn't ignorant of that. But the more he delved into it now, the better prepared he would be in the future. However, despite the immense willpower he was exerting, the orb began to break lose of his grasp. It began to whip out at the area around with both darkness and light, tearing at the ground and increasing the load on Dmitry. He had lost control, that much was obvious now. All he could do at this point was contain the blast. The momentary chaos wielder released one last surge of focus and will into the area in front of him, urging the force raging about in his hand into that direction, before he let go of the sensation that brought the chaos here and braced himself for what he knew was coming.

The ball of chaos exploded in front of him, most of it's force released in front of him as he'd planned. However, there was still enough power in behind it to knock him several feet backwards...and onto his back...again. Dmitry landed with a groan as Dante rushed over to make sure the mage hadn't killed himself.

"You alright?" He asked with a modicum of concern. "That was pretty reckless of you, summoner." Dmitry sat up and held a hand to his now aching back. "Yeah, I'm fine." He said before looking towards the area he was in before manifesting that chaos. Just in front of where he was standing was a crater, at least a foot in depth and three feet in width. There were also marks on the ground where the darkness and light began losing control. "Well, it sorta worked," The said with a shrug. "Now if I can just get down the part where it doesn't kill me, it'll be ready." Dante chuckled a bit. "I'd like to think so," He said in a humorous tone. "I'm no mage, but I'm pretty sure not dying is generally a priority." 

The gray haired sage to-be tried to stand to his feet, only to get light headed and fall back down again. It seemed this one took more of a toll on him then the others, something he would have to eliminate through training. "Hey, don't rush it," Dante said, remembering that this happened earlier. "You'll probably get over that later on. You just have to give it some time." 

"Whatever you say, Padre," Dmitry said, before laying back down on the grass and looking up at the clouds. He couldn't think of much else he could try at the moment and his back was telling him he'd done enough for now. For now, he would rest up.

"It's been a while since I came here last..." Dmitry muttered as he thought about the last time he traveled to the Serene Cliffs. It was during his C rank examination that Kihia called him out here, leaving a trail of reduced spirit activity, a feat Dmitry had thought to be impossible up until that day. Then again, if there was anything being in a guild had taught him, it was that nothing was truly impossible.

 After that, he was made to travel through a cave that was saturated with an unusual presence, one that took the form of a man. Spirits rarely, if ever, took form on there own, let alone something so detailed as a human being. However, before he had even gotten to meet this spirit, he was made to answer the questions of three animal statues, each representing some form of desire. An owl that spoke of wisdom, a bear that spoke of power, a wolf that spoke of courage; each was well represented. But the answer he gave them baffled the stone avatars, causing them to burst into a fine powder, presumably from shock. If Dmitry were a proud man, such a thing might have boosted his ego.

Then the entire cave transformed, leading him to the spirit that called it home. He asked Dmitry what he meant by the answer he gave the statues, something that made him think for a bit. The answer he gave the spirit was one that he had just answered for the first time, realizing once and truly for all what it was he had been pursuing all this time: home. It was something he hadn't had since he was just a child, and as much as he hated to admit it, it was what he desired more than anything in the world. 

A home and the power to protect it.