"Light" Sparring

"Wow, it snowed a lot yesterday, didn't it?"

"Yeah…"

Boosh!

Today I am going to train with Ordos. I've been slacking these couple of weeks and I'm not really confident in my skills right now. I want to see if I still got it.

Right now I was venting flames, melting the snow around us. The snowstorm that hit yesterday stopped at sunrise. The surrounding scenery was nothing but snow.

"I think this should do," Ordos canceled his fire spell and stepped back. Looking around, there was like a wall of snow around us. Well, they are about to get destroyed soon.

"How about we do some light sparring? We don't wanna look all bruised tomorrow," Ordos suggested while he cracked his knuckles.

Tomorrow is the ceremony. Hmm, I guess it wouldn't hurt for us to do some light sparring.

"Alright then. Melee only. Any complaints?"

"Nope, let's do it."

I tossed my weapons aside and raised my fist. I was thinking of trying out my new blade but this could do. A little hand to hand combat wouldn't hurt… in other terms obviously.

"Let's do it!" Ordos declared and I immediately dashed forward while throwing a punch.

Ordos stepped to the side and I missed. He then wrapped his arms around me and the next thing I knew, I was suddenly suplexed into the ground.

SLAM!

He'd let me go and I felt an aching pain in my back.

"On earth, I used to take wrestling classes. Let's see how you'll handle that." Ordos said as he readied his fists again.

When I got back onto my feet, I threw another round of punches which were easily blocked by Ordos.

"C'mon Seiya, you aren't slacking, are ya?"

"Shut up."

I threw another punch and he caught my wrist. He pulled me closer to him and I received a sucker punch in the face.

"Ack!"

I fell onto my back and buried my face into my hands. Aww shit, that actually kinda hurt.

"Aww, what's wrong? Little Seiya got a boo-boo?"

Now he's taunting me just because he managed to get two clean hits on me.

"Shut up before I kick your ass."

"Oh really? But so far you haven't gotten a single hit on me."

"Huh, it's like you want to get hurt," I'd retort as my arms slowly shifted into their spirito forms.

"You want to get serious? Well then looks like one of us isn't going to get out of this unscathed," Ordos replied as he did the same.

"And we know who that is going to be."

We exchanged long glares before we dashed towards each other and clashed.

We'd hit each other in the face and I felt one of my teeth break. We continued to exchange a few more punches and kicks, then we backed away from each other.

I'd spit out two teeth in total and wiped the blood dripping from my mouth. Ordos on the other hand just stretched his arms, totally unaffected.

Seems his durability has gotten higher. I'm going to have to punch him with full strength if I'm going to do some damage.

I dashed forward and threw a massively telegraphed punch. Ordos got ready to block it but right as soon as my fist was about to hit, I immediately ducked and swept his feet. Then I did a rising kick, striking Ordos directly in the stomach.

Activating my wings, I quickly flew above Ordos and slammed him with my heel, sending him plunging into the ground.

Crash!

Descending to the floor, I slowly walked up to Ordos and clapped my hands.

"Is that all? I expected more than that," I taunted back at him as he slowly stood on his feet.

"Oh, now you're gonna get it."

Suddenly he appeared in front of me and threw a quick punch which struck my chest. I didn't feel anything but he did catch me off guard.

I performed a roundhouse kick which he easily blocked but I used that as a chance and quickly did a spin kick, hitting the side of his abdomen. But that seemed to not have affected him.

Ordos quickly grabbed onto my shoulders and kneed me in the stomach. Then he tackled me into the ground, following a suplex right after.

"Ough!"

He'd get up and jumped away from me.

"Still unpredictable as ever, but your senses have really gotten dull."

Damn it, I'm getting tired of hearing his mockery. He won't be laughing after what I'm about to do next.

I quickly got up and began accumulating mana into the center of my body. Then I quickly released it and a slight explosion erupted around me.

After that, I was staring at Ordos who's expression quickly changed. Nervously, he wiped the sweat that came down from his forehead.

"S-Seiya… uhh…"

No more bullshitting your way out of this one Ordos.

I roared and appeared directly in front of him. I grabbed his shoulder and repaid him with a knee to the stomach. I then grabbed him by the neck and slammed him into the ground.

Ordos quickly got up and punched me with all his might. He managed to do some damage but it wasn't enough to stagger me.

I quickly threw a punch which smacked him across the face. I continued to punch him until he looked like he already lost.

I then got out of spirito form and watched as he fell face flat into the floor.

"Wanna take back your words?"

"N-no fair… you're like a speed demon… you literally move… at the speed of light."

"Heh, don't worry, you'll get it soon. Just not now."

"I think… we should stop it here. Toxic..."

"What did you say?"

"Nothing! Let's uhh, go back already."

"Yeah, can't look like shit tomorrow. Let's get you up."

Crack!

"Huh? What was that?"

"What was what?"

I looked around, inspecting my surroundings. However, there was nothing but snow in sight. Hmm, I swore I heard something.

"Nevermind, let's go."

***

After that, I brought Ordos back to his home and reminded him about tomorrow, just in case he forgot.

Along the way back to the inn, I used shadow mending in a nearby alley to clean up my bruises. I checked if there were people nearby before I did this and luckily there weren't.

Before I exited the alley, I heard a faint noise that sounded awfully like a cat.

I turned around and there was a box. The noise got louder as I approached the box and when I peeked inside, I saw three white kittens inhabiting it.

They looked at me and started meowing at me. I looked around to see if there were any people nearby. I even used shadow vision but I sensed no other beings nearby. Looks like whoever placed them kittens here didn't want them anymore.

But… I think Nyx is enough. I don't need more cats. I'll just let the next person that finds them take them.

That's what I thought, but looking back at the kittens again, I just felt bad and didn't want to leave them.

…

And so I took the box with me as I returned to the inn.

Sorry… they were just too irresistible. I'm a cat person. I like dogs too, but I lean more to cats. They are quiet… well most of the time.

Returning to my room, I set the kittens out of the box and let them roam around on my bed. I watched as they played around and I may or may not have cuddled with one out of temptation. Nyx was watching as I was playing with the kittens and she got jealous as she jumped into my arms.

"Ah, jeez Nyx, you'll get your fair share of playing later."

Hmm, that reminds me, I need to start getting prepared for tomorrow.

I walked over to my closet and opened it. I took a look at my black suit and took it out to try it on.

After wearing it, I looked at myself in the mirror. It is exactly how I imagined it to be. Fits perfectly and suits me well.

I stared at myself in the mirror for a while and then I looked at my long hair. Maybe I should cut that… but I kinda like it.

I think I'll just leave it. I can just tie it back anyway so it doesn't really matter.

When I took the suit off and placed it back in the closet, it was already dusk. Damn, I'm gonna have to sleep early today. I have two reasons. One, so I can get prepared for tomorrow, and two, so I can get rid of these bags under my eyes.

I think I'll be able to sleep peacefully today with these kitties. Umm, I mean cats. Cats… yeah.

Well then, can't wait for tomorrow. I get to see Aurelia again.

Hmm… maybe…

I opened up my drawer and stared at the box that held the ring I bought yesterday.

…

Nah, it can wait. For now, I just need to rest. Maybe I'll take a shower before I do that, actually.

I then heard party noises coming from the floor. God damn it, when do they not party?!

"Shut up! I need to sleep!"

Ahh screw it, I'll just take a quick shower when I wake up tomorrow. I need all the sleep I can get. Seems sparring with Ordos drained my stamina really quickly. I'm really slacking.

I'd hop onto my bed and forced myself to sleep so I wouldn't wake up from the racket they were making downstairs.

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