TBATE: The Rook

Standing across the old man , I let my arms dangle freely to the either side. I tossed the wooden sword to the side. The old man raised a brow at me.

"Won't you be using a weapon?" He asked, cracking his index finger.

"I prefer hand-to-hand", I replied to him.

It was useless to act like an innocent child in front of him. He was shrewd but what amazed me was his ability to accept things as they were.

"Very well. Show me what you got", he said and dashed towards me.

I am not sure why I should oblige to his call of showing him what I got but I guess he wants to test me for something, evaluate my worth or just trying to satisfy his own curiosity. Whatever it is, it will bring me nothing but benefits.

The conversation from before was a lot to unpack , we really have an enemy but by the way they talk about it he's nothing to worry about it's just that my mom needed time to grieve , I'm not sad or even angry about it i don't know him , so the other question where was this Rose family in the novel did they die or betrayed this continent I need to investigate about it.

I was able to tame the first four shikigami , it was surprisingly easy to tame them it could be doe to my mana , the elemental magic or maybe because i have a lot of attack abilities and diversity , I will also hide my abilities from my family for the time being at least till I get strong enough .

As I was busy with my inner monologue, I felt jab directed at my solar plexus. My body caved in, and feet shifted a quarter of an inch. His jab slide right past me. Using the palm of my hand, I directed his blow smoothly away from me. A small opening appeared in his defenses from my action towards his shoulders.

Taking advantage of it, I delivered a straight foot jab at his shoulder blade.

The straight foot jab is an effective technique to catch your opponent and off balance them or to counter their attacks as they close the distance to throw them.

It was an effective technique and one of the basic kick techniques used in Muay-Thai martial-arts. While it is used mainly to target the mid-section of an opponent, I had directed the kick at his shoulder. This is because this move involved hitting with the base of the foot. 

Augmenting my foot at eighty result in a powerful blow.

The old man stumbled a few steps back. His eyes widened at me, a look on his face that indicated longing. Suddenly, he started cackling like a maniac.

"You brat , You are really interesting , I already like you", he spoke although I didn't ask him to like me.

"I will get serious now", he said, his cheerful expression being replaced by a more animalistic one. Silver aura surrounded him, his eyes gleaming in a blue hue .

"Here I come", he said and vanished.

His speed was astonishing. Enough to perception blitz most people. I closed my eyes and focused. Wind mana coalesced around me in a thick green sheen. I remembered my research about my favorite element. Not just the wind, but the nature itself. 

Focus.

The movement of wind , The change in wind pressure from the usage of mana , Wind blowing ,Wind moving in irregular pattern because of someone manipulating it.

Old man was a wind mage and His transformation included integrating with a high-level mana beast's will , With my eyes still closed, I felt the movement in wind.

Wind fluctuated behind me.

Tilting my neck, a bit to the right side, I dodged a blow. Opening my eyes, I gripped his hand clad in a silver aura and ignited blueish green flames. The flames stuck to him as he pulled his hand away from me and created some distance. 

But I didn't allow it.

Closing the little distance between us, I used the same martial arts technique again,

In this situation, I had deemed the Muay-Thai arts to be optimal.

My hands can't breach his defenses and attack at the same time. The diverse selection of complicated kicks in these martial arts were the most suitable right

now.

Using mana underneath my feet, I exploded it in rapid succession. The ground beneath me splintered as I closed the distance. Cacophonous booms resounded as I arrived just in front of him.

Even though I couldn't see his face under the silver aura, I could tell he was getting distracted by my techniques. 

His brain wasn't able to comprehend the techniques I was using. When his brain is split into two equally arduous tasks, all I needed was to add complexion in my attack pattern.

I jumped up to his level and using the 'Slapping Foot-Thrust', I bent the kicking knee towards his already hit shoulder. Just as he was about to defend it, I used a quick leg extension to hit him with my foot. Usually, the top of the foot is used but also the whole foot can be used to strike the target with this technique.

His head jerked back from the impact of the blow as he fell on his back. 

Augmenting my legs, I quickly dashed backwards, creating a significant distance between us. 

Not giving him time to recover, I conjured multiple wind and fire spells and directed them at him.

His prone form moved at impeccable speeds and started dodging my attacks. 

His movements were fluid and accurate. 

But the kick to the side of his head had dealt a significant damage. 

Every now and then a spell would hit him when he could've easily dodged it.

The silver aura around him started to flicker as his movements became sluggish.

In a head on fight, I would've lost because of the small reach and extension of body.

However, dealing a big blow and then overwhelming with spells could help stall until his backlash occurs.

He did a big mistake. 

If he fought in his normal form, he could've fought better since he would've had better stamina. 

But since he tapped into his beast will form, his stamina ran out quickly before he could make use of it.

Either way, his loss was something that was inevitable.

After a few moments he fell to the ground and the silver aura around him subsided.

His breathing was shallow and erratic. However, despite his loss he had a content smile over his face.

"I guess I deserve this for being arrogant, buahahahahaha", he said and stood up, still laughing like a maniac.

Dusting his clothes , his gaze landed on me lifting his hand trying to touch my shoulder before it touched me i Casting a veil of increased gravity on him , I made him loose his footing stretching my arm towards his mouth and hold his jaw open making a mana blade in the other hand lifting it slowly towards his mouth.

" yhsy aft not gojenh bsggh" translated , you are not going to rely shove your hand down my throat. said my grandfather sweating 

" sorry gramp it was an order from the higher up I don't have a choice " I said in a sorry tone 

" nooooooo"

I did the last move to show my worth to this old man so I can have more benefits.