Months quickly passed where Dorian spent most of his time training. He and Shiela had grown ever closer, she dropped by as often as they would let her. Her new favourite spot was on top of Dorians shoulders. Dorian with all his fatherly love of course made sure that she sat there nearly every day. Soon enough it became a kind of ritual, everytime Shiela would come over to eat lunch and dinner, afterwards he would carry her back to her training area.

Dorians abilities had grown a lot, he could now shift the maximum distance of 120 meters. Shun said that trying to do further was a terrible idea. It could destabilize the atoms and body parts could go missing or you may outright die. Well, and a father couldn't risk his life without an incredibly good reason now could he. The term ´father´ had taken some getting used to but he now truly thought of himself as Shiela´s father.

There were times were he actually forgot he had adopted her it just felt so natural. He still hadn´t seen the rest of the group he had come here with. Two more months till their individual training would be finished and they started doing missions together. The strangest thing was that they had not been training as a group. They had however trained to fight together with all kinds of people. The instructors believed it would be better if they learned how to co-operate well with different types of fighters.

After all you wouldn´t always have the same squadmates to fight by your side. You might suddenly gain an ally or lose one when you least expected it. It would not do to hit your ally by accident after all. The most eventful thing that had happened was that Dorian had started working on a technique of his own. He was taken to a healer once because he had ended with one of his needles straight through his hand.

Shun, confused by what had happened, and while continuously berating him, rushed him to a priest. He was worried about what a wound to the hand could do. Not being able to use your hand properly was a risk he did not want to take. A cripple assassin isn´t a very good one. Dorian was excited hehad been working on the technique for a while, now it was finally time to show it to Shun. They were going to duke it out in a one versus one fight.

This time they headed to a room without the wires. They would fight one another for the first time since they had met. Apperently the word had spread around and a large crowd had gathered. Shun the great assassin had taken a pupil, this was unheard of in the first place. Not only that but his pupil also possessed the rare internal magic. What kind of warrior would miss a fight like this, just watching it was a good experience.

His friends were there as well, they had changed quite a bit though. Jorin had grown a bit, he had let his blond hair grow out. It was long and tied into a braid at the bottom of his neck. He wore a simple white robe without any embalsihment on it. His staff was the same , even though it was beautifully carved and wel cared for it was not embellished. He a regal aura flowing around him. The young man looked wise, and saintly.

Then there was Blaitz, He had gained a large amount of muscle over the past months. It did nothing for his quickness and lither look however. He was not wearing a shirt just like his instructor. There wasn´t an ounce of unnecessary fat to be seen on his body. He now wore the scimitar on his belt like it belonged there. He had also let his hair grow, Dorian was unsure whether to call it hair or a mane. His orange fur was topped by dark brown dreadlocks. His hair reached to his lower back. He looked more like a savage beast than a person if Dorian was honest.

Vor had, believe it or not, actually grown even more. The giant entman was now at least 2,8 unless Dorian misjudged him. His face had hardly changed but his body seemed to have bulked up quite a bit. Although it was hard to tell because Entmen did not have the same muscular structure as other humanoids. His face was as stoic as ever, he somehow seemed even more unmoveable though. As if he had grown roots into the stone on which he was standing. The young entman seemed to be growing a beard aswell. The dark green patch was moss, Dorian was almost certain that it really was moss.

Viyella was wearing what seemed to be elven armour. Which meant she only had a breastplate covering her breasts. The breastplate was made of some kind of green non-reflective metal. The metal was embroidered somehow with what seemed to be wood. She had a dark green dress beneath it that reached her ankles. The tunic was cut to the hip at the sides as to give her more mobility. She had a new bow on her back that looked to be a masterpiece of elven craftsmanship.

Lalin stood next to her surprisingly, she was wearing something that was made entirely of different kinds of fur, she looked more like a barbarian than anything else really. Her hair was messy as well and there was a chaotic glaze in her eyes. It was almost like she was suffering from insanity. Suffering from insanity might be the wrong word for it. It seemed that whatever she had she wasn´t suffering from it. She was enjoying every damned minute of it. Possibly her training had turned her into a beserker of sorts. One of those people he had heard of that basked in their savagery and let their anger flow.

Last but not least was Gladiel, He was wearing a duelling hat with a feather sticking out of it. His clothes showed a worksmaship that Dorian suspected were from the same tailor as his own outfit. He had also grown a blue mustache just as magnificent as his tutors, his hair was tied back in a neat ponytail. He honestly seemed like a nobel of sorts.

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The gallery had formed a ring around the room and at one end of the room stood Shun already waiting for him. Dressed in the same outfit he always wore he stood ready to face him. Dorian walked into the ring and the viewers closed the gap behind him spreading out so everyone could have a good view. They stood opposite each other, they stared each other, aware, ready for movement. The atmosphere tensed as the two fighters prepared to make their moves.

Without any sign or warning Shun shifted behind Dorian striking out with a powerfull blow. Dorian nimbly dodged the attack and spun into a back heel kick. Just before the kick could connect on the blocking Shun, Dorian shifted to suddenly change the angle of his attack. The kick suddenly came from a totally different angle. Shun however had been prepared and had dropped to a knee he spun to break Dorians balance. Dorian shifted himself in the air just above the kick and spun his other foot into a kick which Shun blocked with a crossed arm guard.

The two fighters backed off and stared at each other again. The crowd cheered them on watching the awesome display between the two skilled assassins. The exchange between the two had lasted only a second but the adrenaline was pumping its way through their veins. Pupils dilated in excitement the two stared at each other. Shun slowly drew one of his blades balancing it in his hand. Dorian flicked his wrist and a blade dropped in his hand.

Time to show off my new party trick, Dorian thought to himself with a grin. Shun shifted forward and Dorian focused himself like the point of a needle. Concentration hitting the peak of what was humanly possible he waited for the blade to strike his skin. Shun struck forward swinging for his jugular. No mercy in his cold attack, Dorian was Shun´s student and Shun was fully aware that if he did not go about this seriously he would lose.

The blade came ever closer to Dorians skin, He could feel the flecks of the atoms of the knife in his minds eye. He ´saw´ them drawing close to his skin then he moved his atoms. He slowed them and made them flow around, between, over and under the knife. For those that were viewing from the side it seemed as if the knife had just swept through his skin but it had not left a wound. Not a scratch to be found on his neck.

Shun was just as astonished as the onlookers, he stared at his student in surprise while passing him. Dorian not wasting the chance he had just made delivered a quick palm strike to the solar plexus knocking all air from his lungs. Before Dorian could flow into his next strike Shun had already shifted to distance. Dorian shifted towards him but before he could even finish his attack Shun had already recovered. The control of his atoms he forced his lungs to relax and suck the air back in.

The two started shifting from one spot to another attacking with movements even the expert eyes of the onlookers had trouble following. Shun made another slash with his knife but yet again it passed straight through Dorian. Dorian had been working on this technique for the last few months and it had gone wrong here and there. One example was the needle through his hand, he had lost concentration halfway through and it had gotten stuck.

This technique had major drawbacks however. First it needed an intense amount of concentration, second the stamina cost was incredibly heavy as well he could use it perhaps a dozen times before he was at his limits. So he had thought long and hard about how to use it in battle and decided the best way would be to use it at a moment that would leave his opponent open. When fighting multiple opponents he could use it to cause psychological damage on the ones that were watching.

Fighting an opponent your blades couldn´t harm was naturally incredibly taxing on a soldiers mind. Shun however was nowhere near a regular soldier and would not be so easily fazed. It was enough to make the man carefull however. He could hear his friends cheering him on, Blaitzes roar was especially audible. He could see Shiela bouncing around waving her fists cheering him on from the corner of his eyes aswell.

Taking a deep breath he went back on the attack. The two experts went at each other holding nothing in reserve. Eventually Shun decided to use a trick of his own, a puff of smoke appeared from a little ball he had thrown. The puff quickly encircled the ring, suddenly Dorian could feel the shift in the smoke as something came from behind. Reacting smoothly he moved to face the attack only to see that there was nothing there. Suddenly the gleam of cold metal appeared from his back and pricked softly into his back.

´Gotcha!´ Shun said triumphantly.

´Got you aswell!´ Dorian said and then Shun saw the turned back knife pricking the major vein in his legs.

´As expected of my student´ Shun said laughing happily. Dorian grinned at him.

The onlookers hadn´t seen the exchange but they had seen the outcome. They roared as they saw the two standing there with knives pointed at each other's vital spots.

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This chapter has been edited by sk8late!

Much thanks for him for the hard work, mistakes will be less frequent now. Yaaaay for you guys.

He also had some tips here and there. Most i took, some i changed.

Thanks for reading hope you liked it!