"You still haven't fully grasped just what it is I'm trying to teach you, Perry." Khars muttered as I threw a litany of offensive moves at him – a punch here, a kick there. He evaded each of them, but in such a way as to appear as though he hadn't moved at all. His mastery of martial arts far eclipsed my meager understanding of [Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist] and it showed. "But that, ironically, should be the least of your worries. Right now, why is it that you cannot hit me?"

I didn't answer. I didn't have the luxury of answering. Instead, I focused all my efforts in fighting, using [Flesh Shaping] to increase my muscle mass in bursts or to force my heart to beat faster, shredding itself in the process, but increasing my speed and dexterity to levels I've not experienced before. There were the two moves, I found, that allowed me to somewhat exchange blows with Khars on a somewhat even level. But it wasn't enough. Though, I can't say I wasn't glad to have discovered such potent abilities, both of which were even recognized and recorded by the system as being actual skills that I could now activate and use with an absent thought.

[Muscle Burst] – Explosively increase the muscle parts of select body parts, increasing speed and power for a brief moment at the cost of cracking your own bones.

[Niko Style: Possessing Spirit] – Speed up your whole body by forcing your heart to beat three times faster than the usual amount, pumping a substantial volume of blood into your bloodstream. Prolonged use my cause heart damage, but who cares about that?

I had full control over both abilities and the best part was that neither of them were limited in terms of cost as they were simple extensions of my ability to reshape my body however I wanted. When used in conjunction with [Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist], I was essentially able to bypass the need for my enemy to wait for me as I could easily use the energy that was generated by the sudden increase of muscle mass to send an attack. [Niko Style: Possessing Spirit] also made it far easier to defend myself against Khars' obscene barrage of powerful attacks, each strike likely more than capable of denting the thick plates of tanks.

That said, the gap in raw power between us was still an insurmountable breadth that I could not yet bridge. And it didn't help that Khars also had the advantage in martial ability, too.

A combination of [Niko Style: Possessing Spirit], [Muscle Burst], and [Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist] allowed me to unleash a punch that moved so fast that the air itself shattered and cracked, my skin flaking and burning off from the insane surge of speed I'd subjected it to. It was so fast, in fact, that every single joint essentially broke apart. The punch should've been faster than Khars' reaction speed – easily capable of hitting him before he could dodge it. And yet, he did.

Every attach I threw was evaded easily.

Why?

"You're predictable, Perry." Khars said, countering with an axe kick that tore open my chest and ripped through my rib cage as though all my muscles and bones were made entirely of wet paper. He moved too fast for me to react. Predictable, huh? What could I do that was far outside the usual physical attack? In hindsight, a lot, actually. With full control over my physical self, I was theoretically capable of just about anything I wanted. Gritting my teeth, I sharpened my rib bones and then unleashed them as flesh-piercing tendrils. Khars took a single step back, just out of reach. The Custodian chuckled. And there I saw that I'd landed several cuts on his bare chest, none of them even remotely close to an actual injury. "Okay, that was actually unexpected. Nice."

I then reabsorbed my bones, alongside all the bits of flesh and blood on the floor. "But not good enough."

No, it wasn't. I needed to be more creative with how I made use of my body, more creative with how I gave new shape to my flesh, bone, and sinew. And, I needed to still be able to use [Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist] on top of that. My mind raced for new ideas, but I found none. Ultimately, I decided I'd let the battle dictate what I needed to do.

Let my instincts take over, as Khars told me again and again.

I rushed forward again, but I had a plan this time. Rearing back my hand for a telegraphed punch, I exposed my chest – an obvious opening, something I'd learned that Khars almost never took, unless he was absolutely certain. Considering all my limbs were intact, he wouldn't attack me there. And, thinking back to what I did earlier, I'm pretty sure my plan was pretty good. And so, I charged.

Khars looked me over for a moment before deciding entirely that he did not want to engage directly. So, instead, he pivoted to the side. I twisted, still maintaining the obvious gap in my defenses. Khars stepped forward. I wasn't sure what attack he was looking to use, but I suppose it hardly mattered. Because I was going to attack first. I stepped towards him as well, before sending the most obvious punch he'd ever seen. Khars did not bother avoiding it, since I hadn't used [Niko Style: Possessing Spirit] or [Muscle Burst] to enhance the attack, which meant it wouldn't tingle him at best.

Not quite the perfect setup I'd been hoping for, but good enough. As he got within range, I sprung my trap. My chest burst open. And, this time, I weaponized just about everything that could be weaponized. I calcified my flesh, blood, and sharpened all of it into wicked points, alongside my bones, into a veritable horde of tendrils, which I then used conjunction with [Muscle Burst] to send surging towards Khars. The Custodian stood in place, against my expectations and proceeded to catch and break off every single tendril I'd sent towards him. Not a single one of them came close to even cutting his bare skin.

Flow with the battle...

So, what did I need to do in this moment? Well, I needed to apply even more pressure than before.

With but a flicker of my will, I reabsorbed my tendrils and began pumping even more biomass into them, causing them to multiply, each one branching off two become two and two becoming four and so on. I wasn't entirely sure what lesson I was supposed to learn anymore as Khars kept pushing me to use abilities that were beyond the scope of simple physical martial arts. So, I escalated in turn, because – otherwise – I'd just be losing. No amount of martial arts – at least, for now – could possibly bridge the gap between our physical powers and, even then, Khars was just better than me at fighting.

The only way for me to win, to score even a single victory against him, was to use the full capacity of my body, without resorting to my other powers.

So, I reabsorbed all of the biomass around me. Long-ranged attacks won't work, but if I used this creativity from up close and personal? Khars had no means of attacking me from range; at some point, he'll be forced to throw a counter or, at least, engage me. So, I surged forward, only to find my head nearly ripping out of my shoulders as Khars practically blinked right beside me and threw a thunderous kick right into my head. My spine cracked and I was more or less decapitated, but that didn't stop me. With a simple flicker of my will, I sent tendrils of flesh from my skin surging upwards, piercing my head and preventing it from flying away. Khars followed up his attack with a punch to my exposed chest. But, before his fist could make contact, I parted my ribs, my flesh, and my organs from the middle. Khars' attack hit nothing but air, before I then used [Muscle Burst] to violently close the gaping hole in my torso, trapping and injuring his hand inside my chest cavity, wherein I hardened my bones around his wrist and his fingers, keeping the entirety of his left hand frozen and contained.

Save for the skin, his hand was effectively fused to my body, incapable of even the barest movement.

"Interesting." Khars muttered. "I'd wondered why you did not resort to using such abilities immediately. Congratulations. But this won't be enough."

I did not have the luxury of uttering a reply, but I did feel a great deal of satisfaction at lord Khars' indirect praise. But, the short answer was honestly something I'd be embarrassed to actually say: I just didn't think of it.

So, with his movement now greatly limited – and I would not imagine, not for a single moment, that the Custodian would slice off his own hand for a simple spar – I was left with a sudden and confusing advantage that I had no idea how to leverage. Because, just as Khars' hand was locked in my chest, I was also essentially locked to his hand. And the Custodian was far stronger than I ever was. And so, before I even realized the danger I'd willingly stepped into, Khars slammed me into the floor, like I was a hammer, cracking the ground apart and causing just about everything inside me to break apart into mush. My skull cracked. He raised his arm again, hoping to do the same thing a second time. I couldn't let that happen. If I did, my brain might just die. Before I could formulate a proper response, Khars slammed me down once more.

No thinking... just do.

Luckily, I used [Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist] to soften the blow, while dispersing my organs, liquefying my bones, and turning my flesh to gelatin to neutralize the impact. Though I did harden my skin to make sure I didn't just get splattered.

I wasn't even entire sure if such a thing would work. But, it did.

When I hit the ground, I felt nothing. I was undamaged, I realized. But, then, I'd forgotten something. In making my insides soft to absorb the impact, I'd essentially set Khars free. I watched as the Custodian simply pulled his hand away from the flesh that'd once held it imprisoned. "As I said, Perry; you're predictable."

Huh, well that was a massive oversight on my part.

As I reformed my body to fight once again, Khars sighed and raised his right hand at me, telling me to stop. And so, I did. "Let's stop here. I don't believe you can gain any further experience from this spar of ours."

"Perhaps, my expectations were too high, Guardsman. I had hoped that prolonged martial arts activity may allow you to develop Foresight, but that is, perhaps, something that may only be honed with intense training of your own." Khars continued. "That said, you fought well, Perry the Guardsman. You showed creativity and ingenuity, and courage in the face of insurmountable odds. That is more than commendable. And, more importantly, you're far stronger now than you were when we first fought. You know this, yes?"

I breathed in and steadied myself. The commendation felt nice, but I felt... hollow. Sure, I was stronger now than before, but it felt as though I hadn't grown at all. I didn't like that feeling. I hadn't even come close to pushing the Custodian to his limit. Khars claimed that he was fighting me seriously, but it certainly didn't feel like it. If he did, then he would've simply overwhelmed me with his offense and there was nothing I could've done to stop him. Still, I'd take whatever small victory I could take; after all, that was two out of three of the optional rewards, which was honestly pretty good. "What exactly is Foresight, lord Khars?"

"It is a warrior's instinct, I suppose," Khars answered plainly. "It is the culmination of one's martial prowess, allowing one to see ahead of time – in a sense – and predict what their opponent is going to do."

My eyes narrowed. "So, it's an ability that lets you see the future?"

Khars shook his head. "No. Not quite. In its simplest form; Foresight is nothing more than attempting to predict what your opponent is going to do next. A warrior's experience and martial prowess sharpens his predictions, makes them more accurate. In your case, you simply need more experience against a great variety of foes. That is enough for today."

"Of course, lord Khars." I said, bowing.

"We are nearing our destination. Get some rest."

And then, he turned and walked away. The other Custodes, who'd spectated, banged the ends of their spears against the floor, once, before turning and walking away. And, within seconds, I was left there, by myself. Or, no not really, because Katarinya rushed towards me, with Duncan walking after her.

"You were awesome!" The little girl said, tackling me and wrapping her little arms around my waist. I chuckled and ruffled her hair. She'd been watching the whole time, absorbing and learning all that she could. The same was true for Duncan. Katarinya pulled back and began punching and kicking the air. "You were all like pow pow pow! But Khars goes woosh!"

"Indeed, my lord." Duncan echoed. "You display of martial skill was spectacular. You should feel no shame for losing to one of the God-Emperor's chosen guardians. It is only natural."

"I know." I smiled. I did my best. It hadn't been enough to secure a victory. But, I suppose, I did better than anyone else did. And, for that, I should be proud.

Besides, the important part were the rewards I'd get out of this.

Quest Completed!
Rewards Received!
Optional Reward #1 Received!
Optional Reward #2 Received!