Chapter 522: Training Owyn - Part IV - Sparring

The moment of Owyn’s first fight since coming to Norneau had arrived, and admittedly, he had some mixed feelings about it.

For one thing, the potion he’d been given had more than simply revitalized him. It had left him with a jolt of energy that made him feel faster than he had even before the day’s training, which consequently made him wonder if Arc had just dosed him so she’d have an excuse if she lost. Out of curiosity and respect, he elected to eschew Amarena’s offer of weapons to meet Arc on her own terms.

The second thing was they’d also picked up an audience member, Arc’s half-sister, Opal, who looked just as much a demonkin as Arc herself, if a bit closer to what he expected from the few he’d glimpsed before his adoption by the Titan Hunters.

Never spoke to a demon before coming here and now I’m neck-deep in them. He chuckled a little and scratched the back of his head as he saw Opal talking very rapidly and seemingly without breath to Ferro as the two gossiped about some place called the House of Gems, before she handed Ferro a small, palm-sized card with some fancy writing on it.

"Hey!" Arc shouted up from across the patch of grass. "You should stretch. I wouldn’t want you to injure yourself." The look on her face was unusually hostile... Was it because he had been staring at her half-sister?

"We’re sparring. Aren’t injuries to be expected?"

"Are you saying you’re alright with breaking bones?" Arc raised an eyebrow at him.

"Isn’t that what healers are for?"

"What kind of dragonshit training did you do?" Arc asked incredulously as she pulled her leg up past her ear, surprising Owyn with her flexibility.

Owyn turned to hide his blush a little. "Mostly, ah, just fights as a kid and with whatever I had to hunt. Bears and stuff..." The clan healers had mostly been the sort to let anything short of a broken bone heal itself, and Owyn had suffered through more than a few beatings until he learned how to roll with the punches and give as good as he got.

But he’d never had to face off against someone less than half his size...

"Alright! You two ready?" Amarena shouted. Before anyone could answer, she added, "Go!"

A tiny, surprised sound escaped Owyn’s lips as Arc sped towards him. He almost started to surge his mana before remembering this was supposed to be an unenhanced sparring session. In the breath it took him to process, Arc narrowed the distance to within a step before he lowered his body and raised his fists.

Before he knew it, Arc was battering his arms with punches, landing four strikes as she tested his defense before suddenly sidestepping and planting a blow into his lower ribs.

How the fuck can she hit so hard?Owyn wondered. He didn’t think she was using any enhancement magic, but it sure felt like it.

"Come on! Fight back!" Amarena shouted. "Punch her in the face!"

"Whose side are you on?!" Arc hissed back as she ducked under Owyn’s punch before kicking the offending arm out of the way. Somehow, she managed to plant her foot into the joint of his inner elbow and pull herself into the air. He was just starting to think that he would never punch a pretty girl in the face when she decked him with a punch to the temple that made the world explode into sparks of light.

Owyn started to stagger back, but some instinct made him grab at Arc before she could fall away, and he found himself grasping her by the ankle. Far from granting him any particular advantage, Arc surged her body onto his arm and leveraged her weight to swing herself over his head, nearly dislocating his shoulder as she twisted him around and landed.

"Ow! Ow! You’re going to break it! Fuck!" Owyn cried out as he felt pain shooting up his arm and across his shoulder. He couldn’t see her now, but Arc had his arm in an uncomfortable lock, and worse still she was pulling against the joint of one of his fingers.

"Give up?" she asked, panting a little.

"Yes! Ow!" Owyn shouted, feeling immediate relief as Arc let go of him. He took his arm into his other hand and held it, checking quickly for damage. "Gods damn, you fight like a ferret!" he winced, opening and closing his hand quickly. She’d been so fast and flexible, he barely knew where she’d end up next, let alone how to counter her strange fighting style. Most giants would punch it out, but Arc had used the openings in his defense to start manhandling him into a losing position.

Opal burst out laughing at this. She seemed... less interested in Owyn now that he’d lost.

"Take this as your first lesson," Amarena said, as Arc made some very ferret-like sounds of annoyance at Owyn’s comment, "Most serious fights are over in seconds, if not a minute. That’s how we train here, and that’s how you’ll train at least once a day while you’re in this house... assuming you’re enough of a warrior to keep up with Arc."

Owyn felt a fire rise inside him. He felt a little humiliated, but not because of Arc so much as his lack of preparedness. He’d thought he was taking this seriously but even so he hadn’t actually thought about what to do. Amarena’s challenge was clear, however, as she waited for him to answer.

"Let’s go again," he said, brushing a thumb across his chin.

The next round went much like the first, only this time Owyn managed to block and dodge a bit longer, lasting up to the point that Arc started throwing elbows and managed to cave his leg in by the knee before latching onto his back and choking him out. The damn ferret was too small for him to reach backward, and after forcing him to surrender a second time, Owyn happily took Amarena up on the option to arm himself with a blunted spear.

By then, Arc was showing clear signs of fatigue. She was definitely slower for their third bout, and Owyn even managed to force her onto the defensive thanks to his greatly expanded reach. Yet the moment he thought he had her, having cornered her with a massive sweep to set up a kick, she suddenly jumped onto his leg and threw a flying sidekick into his throat.

As Owyn gasped and sputtered, Arc stole the spear from his loosened grasp and tapped him on the chest with the blunted head.

"Match to Arc. Seriously, boy, you did even worse with a weapon than without one," Amarena assessed.

"Are we done yet?" Arc asked, tossing the spear to Amarena who caught it.

"You’re exhausted. Have you been skipping out on your endurance training?" The moment she tossed the spear to Owyn, Amarena’s full attention was on Arc. "If you want to be a Dragon Knight, you’ve got to be able to sit a saddle for hours before a potential fight."

"A fight with who?! No Dragon Knight dismounts to fight kaiju, and it’s not like anyone actually fights off of their dragons except during tournaments."

"How many times do I have to tell you that if you don’t challenge yourself, you’ll never grow?! I’ve seen plenty of Knights think they’re dragonfire only to get put out because things don’t go easy for them! You want to end up-"

"Like Atikka?" Arc interrupted. "Come on, say it! That’s what this is really about."

A sudden wave of mana froze Owyn in place. He felt like a deer, pinned by the gaze of a predator, even without Amarena looking at him. The woman took one step forward, and Owyn saw that she left a deep impression in the soil.

"You may not be my daughter by birth, but I am one of your mothers. And if you become a Dragon Knight, you will ultimately be my responsibility as Knight Marshal."

"So what, you’re going to stop me from becoming a Knight before I even get the chance? Treat me like her? How is that fair? How is that right?"

Amarena straightened. The pressure of her mana seemed to change in character, if not intensity, stilling like a viper in perfect position to strike. "It would do right by the people whose lives you risk by not listening. It would be fair to the dragon whose lack of training could kill you if you cut corners. But to answer you: No, that is not my decision. You will get your chance, the same as any other."

And then came the words spoken by parents since time immemorial.

"I’m disappointed in you, Arc. If you cannot improve for your own sake, then do it for the lives you’ll be entrusted with if you succeed." She turned, her steps heavy, tail oddly stiff in a way it hadn’t been before.

The moment the door closed, the oppressive mana went with her, and Owyn caught himself panting a little as if he’d just run another ten great measures.

After a long, awkward moment, Ferro spoke. "I’d understand if you don’t want to resume your training," the catkin said.

"I’m going to my room," Arc announced, her voice angry and shaky at the same time. "Might as well before Father finds out..." She stormed off before Ferro could come up with a response.

After a moment, Owyn met the eyes of his remaining host. "I would like to continue. But if it’s alright to ask... Who’s Atikka?"