A Little Training

Kyran stood before a class of students. They were paired off, doing some light sparring. It had been a while since he'd been in Era. From what he could see, his regular students had gotten sloppy. He'd remained silent, his hands clasped behind his back as he watched.

The gym had been rented out for several hours. They were barely an hour in and Kyran was thinking even that might not be enough. "Karen, quit complaining and straighten up." He barked. Stepping up to another pair, he gestured sharply. They stopped. The redhead corrected the posture of the rightmost male. "Twist and hit, your momentum will give you more power than a straight punch."

A flash of magic caught his eye. Breathing deeply, the slayer reached for his own magic. It responded, if somewhat haphazardly. Hell had done a number on it. The teacher reappeared between two students blatantly breaking his rules. "No. Magic." Kyran growled, stopping each magical attack without much effort. They were D rank mages at best.

The students attempted to complain. Kyran smiled slowly at them both. "Oh assistant teacher Medea?" He called sweetly. A feline clutching a staff pushed off a wall. Golden robes hugged her muscular svelte form. A predatory grin appeared on her face as she stalked forward. The students paled. "Do you need something, Father?" Medea purred. The redhead grimaced but indicated the students. "Educate them in magical combat please." Medea licked her lips. "My pleasure"

As the students were dragged away, Kyran turned back to the rest of the class. He loved teaching martial arts, of passing down the Black Tiger style. However, he wondered if it was worth it. Would he be constantly dealing with trouble? Or could he eventually break through to them?

PWC 295

Yulia had gotten rusty when it came to physical combat. Magic was her lifeblood, and after depending on it to recover from her injuries she had grown a bit reliant. That much was obvious enough. However, her foundation was not unstable by any means. In the past she had been able to knock out several guards with one kick. Now was not back then, and she understood she needed practice. Thus she was here. Near the Rune Knights' headquarters, or at least not too far away in Era, there was a gym. She frequented it once in a while, but preferred to train outside of straying eyes. Her visits had let her know of an upcoming workshop type class that would be taught by a mage. Signing up was easy enough. If she decided not to attend, so be it.

On the day of, Yulia found herself approaching the gym. Nearly on time, she slipped into the back as things were just starting up and tried to remain as sedate as possible. Attracting attention to herself wasn't what she wanted at the present moment. It seemed like everything was going in an ordinary way when two of her fellow classmates ruined it. Using magic when everything was supposed to be hand to hand combat for now. She needed help with martial arts, and she had no intention of being kicked out, too. Yulia kept her magic under wraps and inside of herself. Not the type to make conversation, she glanced around for someone without a partner only to find that everyone else was paired up.

Yulia walked over to the teacher, who seemed to be contemplating the students. "Teacher. I arrived a bit late, sorry, my name is Yulia. First time here. Anyway, we appear to have an uneven number," she motioned vaguely at the classroom and then left it at that, deciding to wait for his response.

[Post WC: 318 || Yulia's WC: 318 || Thread WC: 613]

A student approached while he was in thought. He glanced at her as she began to speak. "Glad to have you here, Ms. Yulia. I am Kyran." Some of the students tried to call him Sensei. He'd shut that down right quick. Looking around, he saw her observation was correct. Now he wish he hadn't sent those two idiots away.

"Well, since we're short, you can pair with me." An audible gasp came from a few of his regulars. Kyran glared at them. "Shut up. I'm not that bad." One of the students raised a hand. It was Georgie. Kyran had almost torn off his hand when he'd gotten a little zealous. The redhead shrugged. "It's still attached isn't it?"

Kyran gestured toward the ring dominating the center of the gym. "We'll do an evaluation first." He hopped into the ring without much effort. Turning back to Yulia, he spread his arms wide. "I want you to come at me with everything you've got, magic included. Just buffing or debuffing magic though please, lets avoid destroying the gym. My hands will stay clasped behind my back. Hit me once or force me to use my hands. How long it takes will be your score. You have ten minutes maximum."

Kyran clasped his hands behind his back. "Come at me."

PWC: 220/515
TWC: 833

Yulia hid a smile of amusement when his students who were more familiar with the man visibly groaned, grumbled, and flinched at the prospect of him pairing up with someone. Was he really that bad? She found it vaguely amusing. An evaluation, then, it seemed. Following his lead, she stepped forwards and ducked under the rope surrounding the ring. Unlike this man, she wasn't predispositioned to bunny rabbit hops and had to go about it with a bit more purpose.

Everything, huh? Including magic. Yet, only buffing or debuffing magic? That narrowed down the usage of magic considerably. Shrugging her shoulders, Yulia rolled her neck experimentally and then squarely stared the man in the eyes. "Very well then. A bit boring, but let's go," she murmured before infusing her body with a sudden coolness of winter. Her speed heightened, she dashed towards him in a straightforward but perhaps predictably unpredictable fashion, aiming for his left leg with a strike of her fist.

Had they agreed to use a wider variety of power, she might've simply teleported. Life was easier with magic, it really was. For now, Yulia would settle for peppering his torso with a flurry of kicks and then tossing a frosty orb of ice down onto the arena. It was large enough to cover the entire ring, and she held back. Rather than rain down a blizzard, she simply coated the floor with a frost-like magic that was not ice itself. It would debuff his speed in the area, slowing him down, and possibly make him more vulnerable to attacks.

[Post WC: 262 || Yulia's WC: 580 || Thread WC: 1095]

Kyran smiled at the girl's whispered comment. Being a slayer did come with perks. He was actively surpressing his magic but he would have thought his teaching the class exhibited his power. Time for a rude awakening.

She seemed to be moving achingly slow in his eyes. A D rank perhaps? He knew mages didn't always focus on speed. Seeing her muscles tense for the punch, Kyran shifted just enough to have the punch slide past. "Good form, if a little stiff" He commented conversationally.

A flurry of kicks was aimed toward his chest. He once again shifted enough to move each off its mark. It took some twisting and bending this time to avoid everything. Yet his feet stayed firmly planted. "Come now, you haven't even made me move from this spot." He felt the ice creep over his limbs. The redhead flashed a wry grin. "Better. Try more sweeping attacks. I'm faster than you, how will you compensate?"

The slayer aimed to make even this evaluation a teaching point. If not for this student, then for the others. They'd all abandoned their sparring to watch. It wasn't often Kyran sparred, namely cause he was extremely powerful compared to most of them.

PWC 203/718
TWC 1298

Insulting her form, now, was he? Or perhaps simply making an observation. Yulia ignored it either way, though she noted it in the sense of a student marking down whatever the teacher said somewhere in the back of their brain. Judging by what she had seen so far from the two attacks, he was determined to do as little moving as necessary. Even though she had used a few different resources in order to increase her own speed and slow his own, she still understood that he was faster than her. Otherwise, what was the point of him being a teacher here. There would be none, after all.

"If magical compensation doesn't mean shit," she answered his question out loud, "I suppose we can see your bunny hopping skills again." She swept a leg underneath his feet, either intending to knock him off balance (she highly doubted that would happen) or to observe his jumping form. They had an audience at this point, and Yulia's eyes narrowed slightly at her opponent. She was glad in a sense that her bloodlust had abated a lot since she had her fall from grace. This would be her first fight in a while. She began to use her whole body and a full range of motion, using the length of her arms and her reach in order to almost surround him as best as she could. Three more melee strikes using her arms. One aimed towards his abdomen, the other towards each shoulder.

[Post WC: 250 || Yulia's WC: 830 || Thread WC: 1548]

Kyran chuckled when the fighter took his advice. Perhaps he should be nicer, that had been a mean way to bait. His spell was already spiraling through his body as his feet left the ground. Over the leg and hovering in the air. As she attempted to box him in using her full body, he mentally applauded her. Yulia was a fast learner. Or perhaps she was merely remembering old talents.

The redhead shot into the air over her head. His feet hovered just out of her reach. "Would you like to stop or would you like to turn up the heat?" Kyran asked peering down at her. "I've gotten a good grasp of your general fighting skills. Should we continue, we'll go for no holds barred. Sound good?"

Teaching Yulia would be enjoyable. A challenge to overcome old knowledge, any bad habits and instill a new kind of fighting. Kyran felt a yearning to fight, to draw out what she was capable of. To see Yulia put everything on the line, fighting her hardest. It was the kind of battle he enjoyed. Each combatant testing themselves against the other, not from animosity but from a sportsmanship perspective. What would this young mage choose?

PWC 205/923
TWC 2471