“So, let me get this straight,” asked headmaster Max. The woman looked between three young men. Carter Gestalt, who was currently the largest threat to her current station. Khalif Masters, who’d potentially given her a falsified name, and seemed to be the protector of the young man next to him. As well as Dashawn LeeRoar, a relative to the foreign Oligarch, Ram Palomino.
“None of you can tell me why not one, not two, but 11 of my school's trams collided mid air, forcing much of the schools safety guard to be pulled from all over the school grounds, leaving much of the Climbing Challenges area unattended?” The three young men shook their heads at the same time, and rather than waste anymore time hoping the young men would tell her the truth, she waved a hand over her desk and the hologram of the security grid zoomed in showing a scene familiar to every person In the room.
“Is this truly necessary headmaster? I said I would pay for the damage caused. I don’t know that you should—” Arson tried to stop the viewing, but the headmaster knew full well why the young man didn’t want to watch the fight again. Though he’d originally tried to bring the altercation to a quick conclusion, that was before he himself also got riled up and caused a level of mayhem unseen on the Climbing Challenge grounds since his mother was a student of Adroit Academy.
“No, I think we should watch this, as the notification displayed to the school recently is most likely due to your continual overstepping in matters of the administration!” Arson sighed, looking first left at Khalif who shrugged, and then Dashawn who did the same.
The video began with Arson rising from his seat on the first tram the group was riding on. A back and forth began between Carter and Dashawn. The former notably trying to stop the bounty hunter in front of him from continuing to attack those around him, while the latter decided that Carter’s mere decision to talk was enough to strike.
Even though the headmaster had seen the footage multiple times by this point, she still winced at the first kick Dashawn delivered to Carter’s chin. Carter stumbled back a few steps, chuckling as he wiped blood from his mouth.
Carter then took up a defensive stance that Dashawn laughed at, disappearing in a flash, but when he struck out the second time, Carter just barely managed a block, a block that Dashawn wasn’t expecting that Carter fully countered, dishing out a spin kick of his own. Instead of words, the discussion was halted completed as both young men started to test one another.
It was obvious that Dashawn was the far better fighter. His attacks landed more flush, his accuracy unrivaled. His blows landed, far exceeded Carter’s. Even the power of his blows seemed to be unmatched… At first.
After a while, however, Dashawn had had enough of playing with his foods, and had said as much through a violent string of near nonsensical slurs, increasing his onslaught to an entire stage of combat above what had been seen prior.
The bloody beatdown began in full and Max chose this moment to speak up. She felt that that moment was the perfect time to discuss with the young men, the many opportunities they had to stop fighting before matters had truly become out of hand. Even though she felt the situation was far beyond reasonable at this point, what occurred next was above and far beyond the use of common sense, discipline, or any reservations for self control.
“In this moment here, Dashawn, did you not feel your disregard for the lives of the weak to be careless and fraught with a lack of sympathy for those weaker than you?” Dashawn’s jaw dropped open before he erupted with anger.
“This sparking piece of—" started Dashawn.
“Dashawn!”
“Woman, do you see my face? Baby moms is gonna act a fool when I show her. I’m bloody purple, woman, purple and he—”
“I can’t even touch my lips, bra. I can’t even kiss my broad if I wanted to. Do you see what he did to—“
“Dashawn!” The headmaster’s last eruption caused a weight to feel the room, and the headmaster looked around at those gathered, all affected with one exception. Dashawn froze, Khalif looked down as he sat back in his chair, and even the flying safety guard members all took a step back in her office. Many in the room trying to step away in fear, as Carter Gestalt looked around confused as to what was happening.
“You okay, Khalif,” Carter asked putting a hand on the young man’s shoulder. Khalif looked at Arson in that moment, becoming confused at Arson’s question, thinking the answer to be obvious, looking between him and the headmaster.
The hologram video continued to play, Dashawn now kicking Carter so many times rapid fire that his body’s bounce off the side of the tram’s interior caused the air train’s path to shift out of place abruptly, pushing the train toward a head on collision with another hover tram.
“And you, young man, you at any point could have stepped in to stop this. You have many abilities displayed in this video that prove you had many opportunities to collect your friend and leave safely. What made you decide that allowing for this to continue?”
“I mean, come on, are you being for real?” The glare Khalif received made him look around.
“Seriously, that was a serious question? Did you not see the Tournament of Scions? I would rather put my hand in a blender than—“
“Young man, you expect me to believe that a man of your age and status, had no means of removing a potentially stronger opponent from the situation and stopping all that occurred next!” Khalif frowned, and turned toward Carter and Dashawn, his brows rising slowly.
“Is this lady for real? Why do I feel like I’m being blamed for this whole fight? That don’t seem real to me. Is this really happening? I only came in here cause I thought I may have to speak on you two’s behalf, but now I feel like I did something wrong somehow…?” Carter once again shrugged, and looked back toward the headmaster even as the second train came into view in front of them all.
“As the owner of the shadow avatar, you will no longer be seen as a cultivator that cannot make change, Mr. Masters, but I can tell by the stress emanating off you that you know the truth of my words…” Khalif’s eyes shot toward the headmaster, narrowing as he analyzed the words spoken, before he sighed and looked away.
Then the trams collided, not in a way that was truly problematic at first. The safety guards set in place through many runic systems caused the two trams to bounce away from each other softly like badly aimed bumper cars. However, Dashawn’s next kick that sent Carter out the end of one train and into the next began a series of events that the headmaster believed Dashawn would forever regret.
Carter was shown on screen standing up, after sliding through the majority of the second tram on his back. Once he’d dusted himself off, a white golden aura began to drift from Carter’s body and he too became a blur, a single word heard through the recording before everything changed.
“Move…!” The words were repeated in sync with the footage those gathered in the room saw, many unintentionally showing their fandom over the young man sitting before the headmaster. Khalif mumbled underneath his breath that how maybe the young man with a customary catchphrase being chanted in her very office should be held at fault. Many if not all there were familiar with Carter’s chant in Uni-Vare being something he often recited before he caused havoc. Max didn’t care. She knew the young man staring back at her expectantly wasn’t as easily disciplined as her other students, especially now that she was certain he knew the truth about the Climbing Challenge all around them.
“Well there is no denying the truth of your statement, Mr Masters,” Max said with a glare in Khalif’s direction, before she turned the glare on Carter, now seen charging toward Dashawn at a near indiscernible speed on the hologram before them all.
“But this was completely unnecessary…”
What unfolded next was a contest of kicking arts that Max believed would change the ambitions of many students within the Climbing Challenge grounds to do things well above what they were truly capable of. She’d seen it before, and knew she would see it again.
I must temper this storm before it can brew into true chaos…
“Wait a minute, did you just use that one guy’s catchphrase, the one from the Tournament of Scions,” Dashawn said with a scrunched brow. He pulled out his flatscreen, scrolling through feeds, watching snippets of captured video from the blood bath that had taken place, occasionally sneaking glances in Carter’s direction.
Meanwhile the battle between Dashawn and Carter unraveled at the seams. At first, Dashawn kicked Carter almost 8 times for every single kick Carter managed to land. Dashawn’s movements superior in every way shape or form. Then a slow frown crept on to the young man’s face, when Carter managed to kick him in the shoulder, then transition that same kick into a counter, unbalancing Dashawn’s next strike completely.
For the first time since the fight had started, the dread-headed young man stumbled backward, and before he could balance himself entirely, another chain of kicks was sent in his direction.
Carter hadn’t suddenly become a better fighter, but now relied on one thing that he’d always been able to rely on, a factor the headmaster had not only seen when she’d looked through his mind, but had naturally witnessed first hand becoming a part of his being, and that was his unpredictability. A changing of flow, cadence, or rhythm that left many if not most affected by Carter’s broader understanding of many things, rather than a mastery of one or a few things.
Max herself was a master of one form of power and magic, and since her childhood only lost to individuals that fought and had experience against many fighters, rather than one fighting style. She’d been taught that this was a restrictive path that many fell into once the belief that any one style of magic or martial form reigned supreme.
Many rise when overlooked, but more fall when overuse of any one form becomes the crutch upon they stand their pride.
Carter charged, and Dashawn sent out a kick powerful enough that it shattered every window within the second tram. Dashawn had moved so quickly that his transition from the first hover train to the second was missed, yet he still wasn’t moving fast enough.
Fear had set in and though the dread-head’s every strike was mighty, Carter was still able to rotate, twisting his body through the air, and rolled over the kick easily. Then easily managed to launch himself off of the attack, sending himself high enough that the next heel drop he performed in a flash ended with Dashawn being sent soaring for the first time in their bout.
“Yo, I fought Carter Gestalt and didn’t die!” Dashawn looked around, and many inside the room nodded in his direction, as if he’d accomplished something grand, but the headmaster and Khalif spoke up simultaneously, stealing bits of wind from the young man’s excited sails one after another.
“He didn’t use mana, bra. His lady is more of a threat than anyone in this entire school combined,” said Khalif, laughing as he rolled his eyes.
“You are lucky that he wasn’t trying to kill you, young man. I worry that we’d have one less seat filled in this moment,” Headmaster Max said following up Khalif’s own statement. Carter couldn’t help but chuckle then, until the headmaster’s glare snapped back in his direction, and Carter stopped.
“Sorry… mouth shut, I promise.” Carter went back to watching the footage in front of them all and Max couldn’t help but sigh watching him. The young man was analyzing his fight in a way that she’d only seen powerful fighters do so. Looking for where he’d made mistakes and could improve. Checking for areas where he’d done well and should remember how useful his tactics were in those moments, a sign that whatever art he’d been learning from Dashawn was valuable enough for him to keep within his arsenal.
Just like the king of this realm tier, I see… I don’t doubt that with time, you’d be selected as the next Arsenal of Maelstrom, or take the title of that woman…
The headmaster who wouldn’t dare even whisper the name of Carter’s protector. The video message she’d received the day the young man arrived from The Jade of CloudLake still gave her chills. The brief message had been what made her look into the young man, and now from what he and his friend group had just triggered, she was glad she hadn’t ignored her gut instinct to evaluate Carter in every way she could.
“Headmaster max, do you mind sending me a copy of this, I’d like to—“ The headmaster shook her head.
“Dashawn’s master nor his sect would allow this. From what I can see, you already learned enough of his art to use the basics of the dead art, Flow of Will without any instruction or aid. I have no need to cause any potential problems that showing such favoritism would cause,” said Max.
“Wait, he was for real when he said he’d not practiced with the masters of my martial forms,” said Dashawn, looking down at their fight once more.
Carter had closed in all of his attention on what played out on the desk in front of him, not wanting to miss a single moment. He wouldn’t gain another opportunity to see the action from the schools security system from what Max knew, and the level of focus she now witnessed made her wonder if she could even gather his attention back without turning off the hologram entirely.
“The young man beside you has had no formal training from sects, only personal masters from what our school has been able to gather about him,” said the Headmaster. Dashawn looked over at Khalif, only for the young man to smirk at him.
“If I told you who his masters are, you’d jump out of this tower neck first, my guy, trust and believe. I still don’t believe it myself sometimes,” Khalif said smiling. Yet his eyes told everyone in the room that’d heard him speak, that he was being entirely serious.
“Hey this kick you are about to do right here... how did you make all that mana flow into your leg without breaking your bones?” Carter asked, pointing toward Dashawn’s figure on screen. Carter had rushed toward Dashawn in that moment, while the dread-head had slowly crouched, his muscles bulging slightly throughout his entire lower half, just before he spun through the air performing twin kicks. This made the gravity in the area heavy enough that the trams flying by spiraled off, veering into the ground, nearby towers and even adjacent trams.
“Oh that is easy I just—” started Dashawn, before the headmaster’s snapped fingers and slight shake of her head in the young man’s direction stopped the flow of words. Dashawn looked between the headmaster and the Cultivator next to him, and nodded slowly, not speaking another word. Carter sighed then spoke into his watch.
“Hey Anna,” said Carter, still watching on screen as an eruption of Carter’s own mana allowed for him to rush through waves of gravity as if they weren’t even there. As if he was one with nature and the pressure flowed around him like a simple breeze.
“Yes, sir?” A dazzling face made from stars spiraled into view on his watch face and smiled up at him. Carter still watching the footage intently. The next few moments of battle far more valuable to him than anyone else in the room.
“I need you to send a message to Jasmine for me after you have confirmed the style of hover tram being used at Adroit Academy,” started Carter, the AI on screen nodding as he spoke.
“Send a dozen of the same style trams from the warehouse for me, please, and offer overtime to any mechanics on staff who would like to…” Carter trailed off when it happened on screen. The young man watched himself vanish from one point and reappear a fraction of a step out of the range of his opponents next kick, and Max knew that he was able to distinguish what he’d just done. His affinity for teleportation shown so minimally that the others in the room still missed it, even though the footage was slowed for their own viewing purposes.
“Sir…” said the AI, pulling Carter’s attention enough for him to respond, but not look away. The headmaster only then assured that it was Carter’s learning from Dashawn through combat which had directly resulted in unlocking something within the young man. Unknown talents that had pushed his combat abilities just far enough that the Godling ability of teleportation had become a possibility for the Cultivator before her. A cultivator that she didn’t know was already on the hunt for anyone who could make this a reality for him through instruction and training.
“Sorry, offer overtime to those willing to fix the trams we destroyed, and have them report to Xani. I’m going to need her to turn this place into a real challenge before I start my own climb once more…”