Feeling the ground, and his vision blink, William isn't that surprised by Roman's fast movements. It is the same as he thought before. He has no chance to force things up, so it is best if he voices nothing.
This little toss doesn't stop William who is still in control of his Emblem and clutches his right hand. The Vector can be physically grabbed, but they can't flow as he sees fit.
For example, they float around Roman's grasp, unable to escape his clutching fist while he is forced to the ground. Roman sees it, so he kicks his side, and releases his grab. All it did, is making William travel a dozen or so few feet away. The Inner Enchantment causes less friction against the concrete, which is a surprising effect of this Skill.
“Hmph!” William frowns while wanting to complain, but Roman is indifferently staring at him as if expecting another attack.
“You can come again. I am curious about your regular fighting experience. It's good to see what you are capable of, so I can include better ideas in this.” he told William casually.
“You could have just asked me... I am young, I know that very well, but unlike what you don't know, I grew up Outside. I have about 5 camps worth of experience, and 3 of them were military camps. I have some fighting experience, but they are nothing like training of a Walker, I suppose.” William explains a little bit of himself, which is, at this point, unnecessary for Roman to know. He already knows some things about this boy, but it isn't a lot by any means.
Now, he thinks William indeed knows some martial, or military training, which isn't bad at all. In his own experience, many young people start with it before even turning 10. It eases their body and starts some preparations to have a better life at this age. With the constant struggle against the Dark, the military is one of the prime forces of the current age.
At least in this part of the world, it is to the benefit and in the Federation's name, of course. At least in the Canadian borders, where William grew up, many people are yet to be completely wiped out. It was the USA that struggled in many parts, but Canada was yet to be butchered.
“Of course, you know something... I know what your words may look like, even though I may be a Walker for decades already.” Roman says, placing his hand beside his hips. “What will it be then? You are standing already for so long. Are you expecting some sort of miracle to occur, or do you expect the Trial to be easy, and people there will be nice?”
“Not knowing doesn't explain anything. I don't want to be hurt. Is that hard to guess?”
“No pain, no gain. That is a saying in almost every Walker's dictionary. Remember...” Roman pauses and a surge of dark shadows appears behind his back, making his whole body disappear. “...That” Then he reappears right before William's blink ends.
Roman pushed his knee to his right hand, upwards. William's legs no longer have firm ground below them, but he still manages to take this attack without being short of breath. The force still travels around his upper body, forcing him up without him noticing.
He is in mid-air, about 4 feet from the ground.
“Now, how will you defend? This is no longer what is a human capacity to withstand, you know? You are no longer like a tiny, clueless brat! Your first, kicks and attacks with your Claw or Hand can cause every normal human to die. And don't even...” Roman pauses, watching and talking as William starts descending. He is planning yet another kick, and William sees it and places his right hand to defend.
“... let me start with goddamned Dark beings!” Roman utters the remaining sentence, and his regular feet turn to a flash of dark energy. It is fast, and William only sees a sudden dark before his eyes.
The next thing he feels is a distinct feeling of a hard something behind his back. He feels it nonetheless of the Inner Enchantment.
Right... It should be concrete. Roman wasn't so nice by this proper attack, and William ends up feeling the concrete as he travels in a straight line for 100 feet towards the distant wall.
“Ah. That felt good. It's been a while since I used this small and weak style. It certainly brings back good memories for sure.” Roman sights in a good mood, and walks towards William, who falls to the ground from about 6 feet from the wall. The surrounding wall around him has many cracks, indicating that his landing position wasn't easy by any means.
This time, rather than before, William doesn't have trouble breathing. In fact, he lost consciousness completely.
Still, only for a moment, as his mind awaken in the next moment of falling to the ground.
There, he doesn't know what happened, but he still feels the connection to his Emblem, and his Vector Hand is still alive. Even though he lost consciousness. It is something that already happened once a few days ago, and he knows this isn't normal.
The consciousness is directly responsible for the use of the Emblem. It seems there is another piece of a mystery that he doesn't understand, but he for sure knows that it's not a piece of bad news.
Forcing himself to stand up with the use of his Vector Hand, he manages to do so, before Roman arrives.
Looking at him with a perplexed look, Roman is considering if another hit would break his will a little bit more. He isn't all that interested in seeking his fortitude for the battle. Not before Samuel's deal is over, at least.
Although, Roman knows this isn't all that strange thing to do either. In the Academy, some consider this to be a regular practice to give new blood. It is a thing to consider. A powerful push against the wall to see their standing and the little power that could have. With the use of such power and setbacks, they would give the youths a taste of the greater power.
It acts as a learning experience and motivation to continue to seek greater power. Another mention is that if you are unwilling to even survive such treatment, you are not fit to be a Walker of the Academy.
Though, when one is born the Walker, it usually ends there, since the world already set some expectations for your future. It may be a rather grim one, but that's what happens when the apocalypse keeps on thriving, and Dark beings roam the world.
“Did it feel good?” William asks as if he didn't lose consciousness. His hand is still used for his stability since he feels his wonky legs trembling amid the chaos within his innards.
“Sure it did. Did you lose consciousness just now?” Roman asks.
“My emblem is still active. What do you think happened?”
“Nothing much, if that's the case. With that said, I want to keep going with this defense training structure today. Tomorrow will be me, on the defense instead, and the day after that, the last day with combat spar of the whole experience. How does that sound to you, William?” Roman asks, giving a rare smile to William as if he has no ulterior motives behind his actions at all.
“To me, Roman.” William pushes his Vector Hand upwards, no longer using it as a support. Instead, he stands or at least tries to stand firm. “It seems like you want to kill me instead.”
“Really? Are you complaining already?” Roman says, feeling wronged as if this is a normal thing to do. Though, he feels a tinge of satisfaction and melancholic feelings in this state of effort.
“Does it matter if I do? I will do this... training defense, or however, you called it. It will be just me, defending? You are asking me to openly be bullied... How unfair, but you better bet I will keep going. I won't stop because of your little power.” William looks at him with a firm gaze. His eyes are full of power, vigor, and a bit of crimson.
“Alright... You may force things up a little if you want, while I will do the same. And since you say so like that, I won't stop or believe in anything else. Defense through your Inner Enchantment is well done by now, though it feels like a general way one could fight with armor. It acts even around the head to some extent if you didn't notice. There are also some ways to overcome the whole process of Inner Enchantment. All it needs is to feel and see the presence of your cycles and circling Vectors that make your Inner Enchantment. Though, it requires good eyes, plenty of experience, and corresponding power to push against the defense. Your has some irregular pathways, but they can change completely if you will upgrade them, or strengthen your Vectors or your Skill. For that, it's still early for you, but you seem to have a great affinity towards taking the hits rather well, so don't be that afraid. At least for now...” Roman quickly talks over his thoughts.
“I do? Should I feel glad or miserable?” William asks back, yet
Roman doesn't feel like wanting to comment on his question, so he continues his small examples that are better told now, before the next course of action.
“Inner Enchantment is a type of rather flexible defensive power. Yours is at rank 0, while Rank 1 may be the same, different, or similar to the previous rank. It could get stronger, stranger, or filled with certain benefits. 1 example I will give you is that Rank 2 Inner Enchantment and above can obtain the benefits of focusing the defense on a specific part of the human body. Thus, enchanting the effectiveness as if you have the defense of rank 3 and above shields.”
“Isn't it broken?”
“I wouldn't call it using this terminology. Everything is fair and square against the Dark beings.” Roman argues while going through some more benefits of the Inner Enchantment is William's core power. In fact, it's the only defensive skill that William has, so his lecture is important and he takes time with his explanations.
It is so long for William that he couldn't help but end his Inner Enchantment state, while his Vector Hand destabilize too.
“Uh... I forgot I had it activated all this time...” He scowls, hiding a smirk while panting his obvious excuse to wait to get better.
“Well... That didn't take that much longer.” Roman says, tossing a timer in his palm.“I was actually stalling for some time already to see how well you would take my hits. You did well. For a start, it is 13 minutes and 30 seconds. You took 3 significant hits from me. All of them included using Rank 3 Skills to certain effectiveness.” Roman reveals his try, but William isn't the least bit surprised, as glad. It seems this Instructor before he knows his staff, but it seems to him he has way too much fun in this than himself.
Sighing, William stops his Emblem and stumbles to the ground. Sitting, he looks at Roman. “I guess the combat is really harsh when it comes to the upkeep of the Inner Enchantment.”
“It can save your life, so I expect you to work hard on this. Though don't take my word for granted. If I wanted, I could cease your defense useless, but that goes without saying.”
“I know. I know... You are plenty powerful, Roman.”
“Good that you understand it. The very same can be said about Dark beings. Even certain attacks from Dark beings of Rank 2 could care less about your current defenses. I bet it's passable for Rank 1s, but that's considering the average ones, while it all resolves around your flexibility with that.”
“I see... I will work hard on this.”
“Right you will. Rest for 5 minutes. Then I will keep going a little milder, to see different things and results. You will have to endure this, as I am not so gentle.” Roman orders, not giving William any choice for retaliation.
Thus, William keeps sitting down, collapsing into a cross-legged position in a try to rest as much as he could.
It doesn't take long for him to rest his mind, but his legs still feel a bit wonky. Trembling a little, he doesn't know the true reason for that, but it soon stops exactly 5 minutes later.
Roman gestures for him to stand up, preparing for the next course of defense and bullying lessons.
“This will be called high-intensity training. A low number of rest may do certain benefits for any Walker, and so does the intensity. I am not one to usually practice it too much, but I heard of this from a colleague in the Academy. It's supposed to lengthen the effects of the Inner Enchantment, but it's quite stressful. Tell me when you feel like you are about to pass out with exhaustion. Until then, you will get a nonspecified number of rounds for up to 10 to 14 minutes. 5 minutes break will be between each round.” Roman tells, making his intentions known to William, so he at least won't panic too much.
“So all I will have to do so is to survive?” William says while standing up.
“My attacks? Sure. Let's call it something like that. It's a rather poor interpretation of this learning style from my memory, but should be sufficient. Now, watch out.”
At the end of the wordy efforts, Roman activates his Emblem, which is hiding on his back. William already guesses so, but he still doesn't know what it looks like.
The flow of the dark, dense and powerful Vectors makes small, very slow rounds around his body. All it took was only a couple of seconds.
Then, Roman activates one of his favorite Skills. “Endless Dominion.”
His whole body enters the state of shadowy vectors, appearing somewhat monstrous, as his own voice is strange. His whole persona seems as if the shadowy flames make his body, but not really.
His hands, feet, knees, shoulders, and even his face is behind the shadows., making him seem like a demon more than anything else.
What is only special are the eyes behind the dark undertones.
“Enter your state.” Roman's rough voice sounds behind the dark.
It surprises William how deeper it sounds now, but it is nothing comparable to the whole appearance of this demon before him.
William enters his own stance in a couple more seconds than Roman, who takes less than 2. It shows the difference, but as well certain rules, that can't go beyond the physical means.
Roman can still strike without fully activating his emblem, but he knows that it wouldn't be able to injure Rank 7 monsters.
As for defending? Sure. It is enough.
Injuring or killing them? That doesn't seem good enough.
Those are the limitation, but by no means they are a bad thing. Fully activating the Emblem has its benefits and also some negatives. Like the strain on the mind, and the draining power of the Emblem. With the activation being over, Roman does something very unexpected once again.
As if in slow motion, William sees his fist rising up from his hip. It is aiming toward his right side, while Roman himself is taking very slow and steady steps.