Φ With his fist lodged into the ground, Gurmand says, "The bug has been crushed."
Looking up at the old woman with his fist still lodged into the ground, Gurmand says, "I will send someone over to repair your building. Thanks for the support."
She gives Gurmand a thumbs up, but her expression quickly changes.
"What's wrong?"
She points at his fist, and looking down, Gurmand says, "Huh?"
Feeling pressure on the other side of his fist, Gurmand moves his head, and underneath his fist, he sees Orb still alive. At Orb's back is a large amount of snow which cushions him, and against Gurmand's fist are Orb's feet with his legacy activated on them, a spirit energy coursing.
"Looks like I need to apply a bit more pressure," Gurmand says before he starts pushing down on Orb.
But then Orb kicks Gurmand fist up a foot over his feet, then he says, "Red branch battle arts; Skyflower."
Then in an instant, he sent two powerful kicks at Gurmand's fist, throwing both of his hands into the air. Using this opening, Orb flips backwards, then, using snowboost, he kicks forward, and smashes Gurmand in the soft tissue of his kneecap, making his leg buckle.
Then he kicks himself back, and Gurmand prepares a fire breath, but Orb quickly retreats into a narrow alley, and there he stops for a minute to take a breath and think this over.
Though Gurmand quickly moves to the alleyway and starts to breathe fire into it, Orb quickly kicks off both walls again, and again, using that to climb up the building, and when he reaches the rooftop, he runs along it as the fire follows him closely.
Then with a snow boost he lunge towards his lefthand side of the front of Gurmands face, and punches at his eyes, but as the scally eyelid closes and protect Gurmand some of the skin on Orb's fist vanishes.
As this falls he quick switches from a punch to a grab within a millisecond, that allows him to keep all the force of his lunge, and then using that force he create ice against Gurmand face, and then while forcefully shooting a massive amount of snow out of his left foot, Orb start to slide down and around Gurmands face in a circular fashion. And as the rotation builds up, he reaches Gurmand's neck, and holding onto a scale on his face, Orb smashes his foot in Gurmand's neck, and says, "Helix battle arts; Spiral!"
Gurmand takes the blow, and says, "Is that really all you go-."
Soon, Gurmand's words are interrupted by him spitting up blood, and Orb says, "It seems the spiral moves right through those scales!"
"Let's see you try and land that again," Gurmand says while swatting at his neck.
Jumping back, Orb waits for another breath of flames, but Gurmand moves up close and throws a punch at Orb, which Orb tries to block with a punch of his own, but the size nd physical strength difference sends Orb flying back. Even with his legacy activated, the 24-meter humanoid monster with a buff and scales that are almost as hard as Cyrus's overpowers him completely, and with speed comparable to a wolf, Gurmand rushes forward on all fours towards Orb.
When he reaches Orb, he sends out one blow after another, which Orb constantly tries to meet with his fist, and is constantly overpowered in return for his arrogance.
But after being hit with a [particularly strong blow that sets him back], Orb manifests a giant amount of snow around his foot, and then quickly shapes some into a fist, he sends it towards Gurmand with his spirit energy flowing into it.
The ice remains connected to the rest of the mass since he is unable to shoot it off and simply clumps up his snow to send it forward.
When the snow is about to hit, Gurmand Orb turn it to ice, and it smashes Gurmand in the face, but as he quickly recovers, he sends a punch towards Orb, and Orb continues to send massive ice punches towards him.
Both send out a rush of their respective attacks, and they clash again and again, but it takes Orb a little longer to prepare his attack, as well as costing a lot more mental energy.
So little by little Orb slows down until Gurmand manage to strike him again, sending him flying backwards into the side of a building, which Orb lands on the side of freezing his legs as Leverage.
Orb quickly starts to run on the side of the building, but then Gurmands jump on it as well, sinking his claws into it to give himself leverage. But Orb continues running, trying to reach the top of the building.
Gurmand takes a deep breath, then towards Orb he blows super cold air that freezes Orb's body. Orb freaks out for a moment, and Gurmand says, "I try to control my body temperature; you should have watched out for this."
Gurmand lunge forward and says, "Let the frostbite break your body into nothing, you fish heater."
From Orb leg, he creates ice which breaks the ice he is surrounded in, and then, quickly kicking off the ice, he jumps over Gurmand and says, "I don't feel the cold, idiot."
Landing behind Gurmand, he looks at him as Gurmand turns around, and says, "Red branch battle arts; Passiflora."
With a powerful lunge, Orb moves at high speed and smashes Gurmand in the face, knocking him back, but Gurmand quickly counters with a punch, sending Orb into the air.
Φ He is keeping up the attack to not let me build up Helix battle arts, and using Red branch battle arts with my fist isn't getting me anywhere. If only I had a spear, I could pierce his scales and be done with this vegetable hater.
As memories of Setanta flash through my mind, I say, "No, that isn't true."
Setanta Passiflora was far stronger than what I managed to output. The fact of the matter is, I am just not utilising Red branch battle arts well, despite all the time in Setanta's body.
Though still, there is a way.
-1 month earlier-
Location: Red branch knights training group.
Φ Smashing his head into the side of a wall, Orb sticks up his arm, and says, "I AM ALIVE!"
Pulling his head out as the rest of the Red branch knights approach him, Orb scowls at himself and says, "I still can't do it!"
Rolling around on the ground throwing a tantrum, he says, "Dammit I still suck at everything!"
A series of squires looking at Orb start whispering to themselves.
"What does he mean sucks at everything?"
"It's only been a month, and he is already capable of doing most of the forms to the same standard as us."
"How is this even fair. All the training I have done, and I am still outmatched by him."
Orb, crossing his legs and sitting up, says, "My senses are sharp, but the instantaneous speed boost from Red branch battle arts is hard to keep up with. If I mess up a bit, I just lose control and start crashing into things. In the middle of a battle, doing this could be a death sentence. What am I going to do?"
Walking up to me, one of the knights looks at Orb, an older woman, and she says, "Maybe you should go a bit slower. You're currently using both spirit energy and Red branch battle arts. It might be a bit too fast for you right now."
"But even without spirit energy, Setanta was still faster than I was right now."
"Orb, you're not a fully beastkin, you only have some traits, this is extremely detrimental to your use of the style. Red branch battle arts as a style was made knowing that beastkin could use their heightened sense to keep track of their surroundings while going at high speed, you simply can't do the same."
"You might be right, Fionna. Taking things a bit slowly might be better."
"I have to disagree with that."
"Dumnorix?"
"I think you're doing fine so far."
"Did you see how often I smash into the wall?"
"Yet you kept managing to stop yourself from splitting your head open by reacting just in time. You're getting there little by little. Not everyone can handle high intensity at the start, but Orb, I think right now you're underestimating the options you have when dealing with this issue. Especially with your Helix battle arts."
Poking at Dumnoirx eyes, the fierce cat beastkin Fionna says, "Stop with the cryptic advice, it's this same nonsense that made a bunch of the squire do stupid things like gathering their sweat and drinking it!"
"To taste one's sweat and tears allows one to understand how much they have worked up until their point."
"IT'S DISGUSTING!"
As they fight, Orb sits with his fingers on his chin and says, "Underestimating my abilities?"
-Present-
Φ As my mind constantly shifts, I say, "My options."
Feeling a surge of inspiration flow through my mind, I say, "I can keep going."
Gurmand rushes at me, blowing even more fire from its mouth than before, so I say, "Red branch battle arts; Tulip!" and then in a series of ever-changing patterns I take off around him.
Gurmand, using his fist, smashes the ground where I am, and with his tail, he whips around, almost striking me. Each of his strike come close to hitting me, and he says, "If you really think your movement is hard to keep up with, I suggest you go a bit faster."
I would if I could, but I would then be unable to control myself at that speed. But there is a way to get past that.
I start to speed up, and as I do, I start to flip and spin around, building up rotational energy, and as I do, the world around me becomes a bit easier to perceive.
My body I far more used to being in this motion than it is just simply moving. By combining both motions together, I am able to handle the high speed slightly better than I was able to before.
I am not a full beastkin, my senses are simply not sharp enough to be able to keep track of my surroundings using my senses alone. But as I spin and flip, my body moves around, allowing me to actually take note of my surroundings instead of relying purely on my animalistic side. Now it makes it easier for me to move at high speed without crashing into a wall.
As I dodge, I move closer and closer to his head, and when I reach it I say, "Helix battle arts; Spiral!"
Then hit him with a head, and as the shockwave moves through his head, he swings his arm at me, which I kick off and go flying backwards onto a rooftop.
Right now, after the spiral energy flowed through my head, enhancing it after the headbutt, I should be able to handle even higher speeds now. The moment my foot lands on the rooftop, I say, "Red branch battle arts; Passiflora!" Which sends me towards Gurmand, who has jumped onto the rooftops.
I start to jump, spin and twist in the air as I approach, building up more and more rotational energy in my body, preparing for my neck attack!
Knowing how fast it would make me, I am sure I won't be able to control myself if I use it, but I can use that to my advantage, nevertheless!
As my foot touches the ground from the air, I say, "Helix battle arts; spiral snowboost!"
I use the spiral energy I have built up to jump forward while activating snowboost, and combined with the acceleration from Passiflora already through my body, I jet toward Gurmand at a speed I can barely comprehend.
Even with the boost to my senses from the spiral, I still can't keep up. But that's fine. Using my legacy, I create a giant snowy mass at my shoulder, and the moment I push into Gurmand, I freeze it, and the force from it all sends Gurmand and me flying through the city.
Then, as we hand in the air, I create more snow, shape it into a fist, and then, turning it into ice, I smash Gurmand down out of the air with it onto the ground.