The Strings Being Pulled

Ch 66

"Alright, so speed and strength seem fairly good though endurance doesn't seem all that well." Asher states.
"Your endurance teaching was exhausting before, what'll we do now?" I question.
"Oh yeah, well it'll be no better this time." he states. "So I'll be hitting you but each hit will become less gentle and you'll be dealing with them to make up for your lack of durability and endurance."

I'm a little nervous now, which I haven't been in a long time actually. My three emotions has been calm, pissed or loving these past years. Well, guess it's back to this. Good old days, of me burning a mailbox...

I sigh, that won't happen but I might end up having a few bruises by the end of this. Knowing Asher, he'll avoid injury so that's good but I still will have to put good effort into this. Wonder how Asher came up with this idea, I'm guessing it's because we have to rush more and only have half a year now.

The only reason I tripled in strength during five years was due to bottled up anger for a good part. I continued to teach myself fighting even without my teacher and put some of the anger I had into getting better at fighting, now I'm a powerful demon that can burn a lot of things.

"Alright, first hit." Asher kicks while aiming for my head, the leg comes from the side and I manage to block with just a hand, pretty weak even if it could crush a normal person's skull and slow but we're only just beginning. The second one is a knee to the stomach, I block it with my forearm. It's only blocking, no dodging or hitting back.

Third one is slightly more powerful but nothing much. Fourth one is a simple kick but almost too fast and I barely block it with my arm, if this is what I'll deal with from now on then it's definitely clear much more energy needs to be put into this. So that's what he means with the endurance part, the first three hits seemed just like an exercise or warmup.

Though this was an unexpected switch, guess new teaching methods are gonna kill me. Fifth hit, he only really just kicks but it's no joke no matter how he fights. The hit is fast and much more powerful causing a huge wind, I block it just barely again with my hand. This continues, the speed never changes but it keeps getting more powerful, by the twelfth one, we've already wiped out all snow in the area just with the amount of wind that comes from his hits.

"You're handling it well." Asher states, there's some kind of mischief in his voice and I'm starting to think I'll be seeing whole new side of teacher Ash. Not the same as five years ago. "Let's try a different style, keep all of your guard up."

I prepare myself and suddenly feel a lot of hits coming at once, each one is difficult to block and draining my energy, fast. My breathing isn't exactly calm and there's less precision with my blocks and then my reflexes take over as my head moves to the side with Asher's hand almost stabbing it, his vampiric traits he has, his nails are long and sharp now.

"I think you're trying to kill me." I state.
"Not at all, I trust you enough to dodge that." Asher smiles.
"Isn't this endurance...?" I question.
"Of course, with each move, you kept handling better and better enduring them all, that last one would give a glimpse of how Weller fights." Asher answers. "I remember the fight vividly though I'm not exactly sure if he'll fight the same with you as he did with me."

Guess Asher is right, that could of definitely killed me if it weren't for my reflexes. Karma for putting him in the hospital maybe? Still a bit brutal but you know what, fine with me. A dangerous side of Asher is interesting even if he has different intentions to it.

"Ready for much more brutal hits?" Asher asks. "You can also start dodging more."
"Yeah...you're gonna kill me most likely but go ahead." I answer. "Why such a deadly method by the way, aren't you concerned?"
"I am but here's the thing, I'm not fully aware of how strong you are other than knowing you're very strong and that you could've handled that, though I won't go as far as to try causing any fatal injuries." he answers.

"It'd be good if we had a general idea on what level you are now so I am also going with 'deadly' methods to test you aswell and I admit, maybe not the brightest but I'm not sure what could work." Asher continues. "So I will need your full consent on this and try my best to observe, if you need to stop then tell me."

I nod, though he looks a little worried, I am fine with this level of brutality. There isn't much time left, but it seems Asher has less confidence in himself with teaching...

"Asher, be confident." I say.
"It's difficult, it really seems as if you don't need me to teach you anymore." he chuckles. "I'm proud but are you sure with this?"
"Of course I am, you know much more than me and even if I were stronger than you, I'll always go to you if I need advice." I answer.

He smiles and then it's back to training. Much more difficult and I end up with few bruises, nothing too bad but it hurts a lot.

..............................................................

Mm yes, progress