Spirit Taming

Chapter 497: Battle Inspiration

"I would have stayed in the forge but Grace said that we had to do battle training as well as forging." Ralph's slight annoyance was all for show. He was more than glad to follow Grace's recommendation since the rest of the group had gathered up and started to head toward Purple's home.

"If you stayed in the forge then I would have a hundred more small metal things to sell that make no sense. Look at how many curved needles you made! Maria only needs a few of them for possible injuries. Now I have to sell the hundred you made!" Isa's opinion was clearly more toward the fact that Ralph had used way too many ores and metals to do small things like this.

"That's training! If you want some good armor or better weapons then how about you just hire someone? They already trained making things like those needles and mastered the small details to make real weapons. I can just make ingots for you to sell instead. That should lose you money." the immediate hot response from Ralph was enough to make the rest of the group groan.

This entire fight between Ralph and Isa had already happened twice since they had headed out. It was just a circle that had no winner. "Can we just focus on what we will train? We should all be able to learn a bit from Purple since he can compete with Clark. I can use the new sword techniques I learned. Why can't all of you think about things like that?"

"Really Reese? You spent an hour already this morning going through all the sword movements you know. And now you want to take up all your time redoing it again and again. why not work on footwork too?" Jerold had made a competition with Reese to some degree.

Where Jerold had focused on his movements and how to avoid people or trouble, Reese had been focusing on the battle forward learning. The sword techniques that rounded him out and added to his desire to be better. To be able to take a beast head on in a harder battle.

"Yeah, I think we should all be wondering what the hell that was." Maria stopped and the others nearly ran in to her. She had heard a sharp crack. The sound of something literally splitting through the air had breaking stone.

With the curiosity growing, the group started to push forward only to find that Clark and Purple were battling it out at a furious pace. From what they could see, Clark was blinded by his own focus. Purple on the other hand was using everything he had to counter and defend. There was barely any room for Purple to respond to Clark's attacks in any form or fashion.

The battle was spectacular. A sight that even the tournament they had been in before would have greatly risen above any other display of battle prowess.

Meanwhile, Clark was feeling the constant flow of information as he refined the energies that his beasts shared with him. The sheer amount of control that he had was constantly growing. As if he was finally settling in to his own body. As if he had not been complete in any form.

The sharp cracks of his black lightning spear hitting the ground when he missed was just more evidence of the strength that came from using these energies. This training battle had clearly reached a new level that would not happen normally during sparring.

"There's something wrong with his spear. Look at where it touched, the stone gets gray and looks weaker." Ella pointed out the odd phenomenon. Clearly, she had no answers for this event. She had to find the solution but just observing appeared to be wrong. However, she also knew that there would be danger in joining a sparring session that she didn't understand.

"Look at Crim, Shy, and Devi. they look like they are in their own weird meditation too." Brad looked a little red faced as he watched the training. He had been doing his own training but was feeling fired up seeing that there would be an impossible challenge to take on. However, he did use his better judgment to help the group discover what might be going on.

As the group looked at the three beasts, they could understand that whatever was happening was greatly affecting the bonds between their friend and his beasts. That this was some massive undertaking that most likely would improve Clark beyond what they understood.

"Ah, screw it. I am going to fight him too." Brad Lost to his own desire to become stronger. He called out to his beast revealing the armor, shield and sword. He could care less about what repercussions might appear. He trusted in his strength and defenses to at least block one or two attacks. Let alone deflect them.

The sudden intervention caused Clark to dash back away from the sword stroke that came along with a following shield slam. Brad felt that he was fighting the air more than he was fighting Clark since his attacks had not been able to even get near him.

The speed was definitely beyond what Brad had known Clark to possess. However, the following strike that Brad managed to see in time was looming over him. Using his beast's shield, the spear tip was deflected to the side and cracked down on to the stone training ground again.

Chips of stone flew up and hit Brad but he was filled with the realization that he would be unable to handle a full on attack like that from Clark.

The force had been enough to vibrate his beast's body and his own bones. It had even left a clear scratch across the shield where other attacks would have not done so. This was not at all normal. "Doubt you can handle that!" Maria ducked around Brad and struck out with a dagger. She had a higher speed than Brad and had used his larger size as a hiding place.

The strike would have hit Clark right on the shoulder, but with a slight breeze, the black lightning spear was spun to deflect the dagger to the side. It opened Maria up to a following attack. Clark's palm would have slammed her back if Reese and Jerold hadn't made a move to attack as well.

The sword and Reese's dagger both came from opposite sides making Clark bend over to dodge the sword and deflect Jerold's dagger.

This flexibility Clark was showing was well beyond what most people were capable of. Maria was shocked to see it since she was only more flexible after she had begun her own training. She had gone out of her way using the brutal method of healing after training her body then starting over and over. It had led to exhaustion and stress but great results.

Yet Clark had somehow surpassed what she had reached in such a short time.

Before Clark could jump forward and attack again, a wave of cold mist pursued him from behind. Grace had prepared herself while watching everyone else fight. She didn't see any downside of going against Clakr in this way. He was clearly the most powerful one of them and therefore, he would be the best to train against right now.

When Clark withstood the first that hit him as if it was nothing, she could only gasp in surprise. The training to get used to the ice and cold overall had been harsh on her and everyone else. Yet, Clark was able to easily handle it. He even appeared to grow more ferocious just by taking the attack head on.

"Bastard! How did you get so far ahead!" Ralph's angry growl was enough to signal he was attacking. But with his annoyance came strength. He had been training in the forge. Without any clear example, he had gotten stronger by forging heavier metals over and over. His ax swings were carrying enough force to do damage.

The fact that he was swinging one in each hand attacking multiple times forced Clark to dodge instead of attack as he was before. But when he reached out and grabbed one ax before kicking Ralph back, everyone went silent.

They felt that they had reached an odd standoff. This Clark had taken many steps ahead of them. "He said he was training for a full twenty four hours straight. This is his new style and technique. If anyone wishes to join us, we are going to take shifts." Purple looked partially exhausted.

It was astounding that he had reached this form after just three hours of difference between Clark leaving and coming here.

"I will take the next shift then. Everyone needs to study his movements while learning." Ella was very calm, however, the call of her beasts made a great effect on everyone. She had called doubt the living mist and the earth prince. Both of which drew a lot of her energy. Even Ella was inspired seeing that Clark had fully dedicated himself to refining every single aspect of his battle style.

She would gladly pursue this as well and use every ounce of energy and strategy with her partners.