"Okay!"
Matsumi started jumping around energetically to warm himself up.
A time limit for Matsumi is just a challenge, and a challenge…is a game.
Without his own knowledge of it, his mana started to beat again with each of his jumps. It just so happened that his mana pulsed at the same time his feet touched the floor. In that moment when he dashed forward how he imagined Desmunê did…Matsumi blasted forward. Crashing through the wall, the hall and even into the room across from the one they were in. He had essentially vanished from where he previously stood.
"You're going to pay for that!"
The people in the next room angrily yelled at the top of their lungs as they ran over to the now hole in the wall. Desmunê snickered under his breath as he pulled out another cigarette. He saw the potential in matsumi's eyes the moment they saw each other.
"I'll pay for it dont worry!"
Desmunê walked over to where Matsumi was two rooms over.
"Thats a hell of a step you took."
Matsumi was covered in dust from the walls he had broken through. He slowly stood up as he felt the same pull from his chest again but also his gut now.
"That's how you do it right? I beat the challenge right?! I did feel it in my gut, Barg! You were right!"
"Yeah you did..but it needs to be much smoother than that..and with less power. We don't have any money..so destroying the building isn't an option…but that was good especially for your first try.."
"So, that means you have to call me cool now! Go on!"
His dumb smile in full display, it got interrupted by his cough as the dust started to bother him.
"I didn't destroy the building anyway, just a wall."
"It did hurt a little though…"
"Yeah a wall thats apart of a building..Absolutely not. That was definitely a flash of mana but that wasn't the flash step. That was more like a burst..Maybe you could use that in your arsenal though."
"Yes it was! It was just more explosive!"
"You Idiot. The purpose of the flash step is that nobody can see your explosiveness. It's supposed to be instantaneous. Seamless and Effortless. The speed may be impressive but you never hid your level of output. Any decently skilled person would see that. And then they'd have a high chance of dodging or defending. Even in sports a motion like that can be useful 1 or 2 times..but eventually you'll burn yourself out and the opponent will be able to read you."
"Then I'd just make it count that one time!" He laughed. "I can do it again, right here!"
"As long as you keep the destruction of the property down do it as many times as you wish. We need serious practice right now."
"Where should I aim it this time? Oh! I'll just go to you! If I hit you, I lose. But if I don't, I win!"
"What? Fine. We can do it your way.."
She annoyingly prepared for him. Her feet slowly touched the ground as she landed and stopped floating. She waited for him to come forth.
This time he walked backwards down the hall to get a little bit of distance between them.
"Okay, wake up mana!"
This time Matsumi didn't do his jumping routine. His mana was steady but he wasn't aligned with it like before. In a moment Matsumi's image appeared in front of Barghest, he had moved with much less power than before. He flailed his arms around to keep his balance as the sudden momentum almost pushed him into Barghest. He continued like this for a second before freezing in place with his arms outstretched. Only a few inches from Barghest's face.
"Woah! Steady! Perfect!"
Because of his movements and her experience Barghest simply plucked his forehead hard with one flick, a large force going through and hitting Matsumi in the head. Not hard enough to injure him, but hard enough to actually push him back and off his balance completely as she read his move.
"That isn't it."
She scoffed at his attempt but understood that he was still new to this. His balance was thrown off but he centered himself again before he could fall.
"Hey! I didn't hit you!"
"That's right which means you lose this round. That attempt was better than the last, but balance is the most important part of the flash step. You're not skilled enough to use it at that level yet. The basics come first Matsumi. You have to stay on your feet and make sure the movement is more fluid."
"More fluid?"
"…Think about it like skating. Incorporate things from that in here. In order to pull off any trick you need the correct balance and fluidity in order to get it down to perfection. Fighting is the same as playing. Skating mimmicks our drill here. You have to use your mind too. You need to stop to think and then in a split second surpass your very limits."
"Oh…I get it now."
This whole time he was thinking of this completely differently. Treating it as a special magic he didn't understand yet. But he just needs to think of this like any other trick. He stepped back again, his eyes were more focused.
"Just like skating.."
Matsumi stood still, looking at Barghest. As he decided to blink, he found himself right next to her all of a sudden.
"More fluid and I didn't touch you! That means I did it right?!"
Barghest watched his movements but looked down.
"No…I don't think you're having enough fun. I don't think you're fast enough. Do it again. One more time."
"Wha- You're right! And only did it once!"
Instead of walking back, he used this ability to appear back where he was.
"It can't end that soon!"
This time he was grinning ear to ear. When he would vanish again only to appear with Barghest once more.
"Haha!"
He did it again, appearing somewhere else. Then again, another location. Again and again, until he was appearing all throughout the hallway. Laughing his head off all the while doing it. The dust on his body being flung everywhere by his movements.
"Alright Matsumi thats enough!"
Barghest could still see his movements, but people in the small hotel were baffled and amazed at his high showings of speed in succession. Desmunê grinned, understanding that Matsumi had finally gotten it down by now and only in a few hours.
"I can keep going!"
Now that he captured what Barghest's instructions really meant, he found himself having almost no difficulty. He didn't want to stop at all after learning about this. His whole life he'd relaid on his own natural ability. Never experiencing what magic could really do, but now he had something for himself. No way was he just gonna stop so soon.
"MATSUMI!"
Barghest raised her voice this time and called out to him in fury.
"You're going to burn your mana reserves before you can even get more practice in! Quit while you're at it already!"
Matsumi looked over to Barghest, slowly coming to a stop after her outburst.
"Geez…I was just getting good too…"
"Yeah but then you won't be good if you keep going. Either way i'm glad our process worked. Now it's time for stage two."
"Stage two? What is it?"
"Since we're going to base all of your techniques off of the flash step and thats technically the only spell you know we can build different kinds of flash steps in order for you to have variety. Now we're going to take it up a notch. Usually..most skilled fighters already use this technique but for someone your age it would be great…The double and triple flash step."
"I already did like a hundred! Weren't you watching?"
"For every hundred you have to do two hundred..and for every two hundred you need to do four hundred. The goal is for you to make hundreds of movements faster than light itself…at that point no matter the opponent you'll still be able to dodge and flee..even if they're hypothetically as fast as you. All you need to do is react."
"Four hundred? But that's so many.."
Regardless if he could do it or not, the huge number took him out of it. He was good at it, but he was still Matsumi. So his mood worsened a little.
"I don't think it's something we have to master or even do today..but that's the goal now that you've got the actual technique down. It would probably be best if you got some rest though since Heldor's tower approaches slowly."
"Ok, if you say so. How much longer until we go to the Tower?"
"Only one more day until your school leaves. Hopefully with the venture I can regain some of my old strength..which will hopefully be enough for you to do some solid work."
"Oh! You won't be a junior version of yourself anymore! Awesome! I never worried even a little bit!"
He waved his hand in a dismissive motion before catching a small glimpse of his finger, bearing the ring from before. His face changed, it was weird. You couldn't really tell what emotion he was feeling, neither did he.
"Not necessarily. Getting my original body back will take a lot of time. However, regaining the strength I was once had is possible through strenuous amounts of combat. Heldor's Tower is perfect for me to test myself at the same time as you."
"Either today or in one hundred years, it doesn't matter! I believe you can do it! Plus, you're like super old! A few more years probably isn't that much."
"I don't consider myself old considering that I will technically live forever so long as i'm not destroyed…but if that's what you think."
"No old person considers themselves old, duh! We still have a day so I'm going to try and find some place to take a nap."
"Whatever you want go ahead."
Barghest waved her hand dismissing him from his work.