"W-where are we going?" I asked quickly, I just bit into the muffin in my hand.
"To the square, we're going to have a sparring." Taylor almost tripped over her feet.
"W-what?! No!! I can't hit a boy." I huffed.
"Taylor, you couldn't hit even if you tried." She frowned now and we walked in silence to the plaza, it was really close, just a block and a half away so I left my bike at the cafe, my observation haki reaching far enough to see if a villain tries to steal it. Once in the plaza I walked to a secluded spot and stopped "you have aura right? " Taylor tilts her head in confusion.
"aura?" dear sir, I sighed.
"Co." I said as I approached her, she took a step back, she flinched when I placed a hand on her cheek and blushed deeply "Now, close your eyes." I waited until she did "For it is in passing that we attain immortality. Through this, we beco a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and free from death, I release your soul and, by my shoulder, I protect you." when I finished the chant I pushed my aura towards Taylor, the chant, wasn't really necessary, but I liked it a lot so replicating it didn't cost anything, it was the first ti I used my aura to release soone else's aura, but I rembered the feeling of awakening my own, so I pushed in the sa direction, Taylor's aura clung to mine, almost eager to be released.
I took a step back slightly once Taylor's aura surged, that took a lot longer than I thought, nothing debilitating, but sowhat disconcerting, maybe because Taylor had too much aura, an aura that now showed a yellow color, not bright, but softer, slightly green giving a feeling of poison or toxic, mine was weird, normally it was an erald green, but if I pushed it hard enough it could turn orange yellow, like the sun, the first was Zoro's and the second was Yoriichi's, now, I didn't know which one ant that I had dominance between the two.
"I-I, wow!" Taylor said as she looked at her body, I guess she was feeling the effects of having aura, the feeling of power and strength that ca with unlocking the aura was easily identifiable "w-what is this?"
"Aura, the manifestation of one's soul, every living being has one," I began to explain, "it's a necessary source of energy for all hunters, and so heroes, it can be used for defense, offense, healing, and other applications if you have enough imagination and discipline to achieve it."
"Amazing." Taylor said dreamily as she continued to inspect her hands. "Does everyone have aura?"
"Yes and no, everyone has the potential to awaken it, after all, it is your own soul, but only hunters and heroes use the aura actively."
"what, why?"
"It is a tool and a powerful ally during fights, especially against the monsters of the doors, the monsters do not have an aura since they do not have souls, they are the antithesis of us and because of that, the aura causes more damage to them than against other people."
"Wait, do all hunters have to have their aura unlocked?"
"Not really, you can beco a hunter without an aura, but it certainly becos quite difficult if you don't have an aura, in addition to what I already ntioned, the aura itself serves as a shield and increases your strength."
"Great," she snorted amusedly.
"Now that we've settled that, sparring." I said raising both arms in her direction, Taylor frowned.
"I'm not going to fight you." she said seriously, I rolled my eyes and took a step forward, Taylor thought I wasn't really going to hit her so I gave her a hard blow to the solar plexus taking all her breath away, the funny thing about the aura, it protects you from damage but the pain and repercussions of localized hits still cos, so Taylor fell to the ground and grabbed her chest struggling to breathe.
"Still no fight?" I asked mockingly, it took her a few monts to catch her breath enough to get up, I could see she was finally taking this seriously as she got into position, a clumsy and inexperienced position, she took a step forward, trying to defend herself without hurting but I easily hit her foot while grabbing her wrist throwing her once again to the ground "That's it?" The mockery was effective when I heard her growl and stand up again, it was slight, almost imperceptible but I felt the insects getting on top of , curious, I thought she hadn't thought of that possibility yet, even so, I didn't say anything, I wanted to see how far I would go doing that, this ti I let Taylor take the initiative, I easily blocked her inexperienced blow leaving her slightly unstable and threw a punch, this ti Taylor managed to dodge it.
Another fun fact, dodging a punch is useless if you don't know how to use it to your advantage. Taylor was right-handed and dodged the only place she could defend herself, her left arm, and without any formal training she left herself wide open when I landed a punch straight to her jaw bringing her to her knees once again. I smiled even wider when she stood back up.
-----
Almost an hour, it took almost an hour to break her Aura, I was really impressed, yes, she was fighting back hard, but she was throwing punches with the strength of an adult, Taylor at no point ca close to hitting or even grazing , anwhile she kept receiving blow after blow, face, jaw, chest, stomach, ribs, legs, thighs, I hit almost her entire body and it still took almost an hour to break her aura, it was impressive, but the most incredible thing was her determination, she realized after the third blow that it was impossible to defeat , even so she kept standing to face , even though it was completely useless she kept throwing punches and dodging with no effect, even when her aura broke, she continued and now that she was full of bruises and pain, she still continued.
But the scariest thing was how quickly she learned, Taylor was focused, determined to a ridiculous level, the more we fought the faster she reacted thanks to her insects on my body that gave her the ability to follow my movents with her quirk in a spatial way, sotis she managed to predict even before I started to move, she dodged my attacks more easily each ti, she hit with more precision and more firmly.
The worst thing was that she was copying my movents, replicating how to throw a punch, a kick, how to cover herself, how to move, they were all rough and formless copies but she quickly fixed it, she didn't show any signs of pain on her face or body but I could feel the insects growing more and more frantic, it seed like this Taylor was still able to push her feelings into the surrounding insects to avoid feeling them, even so, she didn't stop, she was gasping for air, certainly running in the morning had helped her get so stamina but not to the level to fight for an hour straight without a break, but her eyes still didn't waver, they burned with pure determination.
I went from being a complete novice to having a surprising level of fighting skill, I still lacked the level to be able to face soone really trained, but I was sure I could defeat any gang mber without formal training or even the least trained martial artists, I really wasn't a hand-to-hand combat specialist, I learned in this world about so martial arts for unard combat, but my specialty was and always will be swords.
Unfortunately, once her aura was broken, she could no longer withstand the blows, now the damage began to accumulate in her body so that only 10 minutes later she could not stand up despite her look that refused to give up, she was completely a ss, sweat everywhere, a split lip, bleeding from the nose, beginnings of bruises all over her body, her clothes full of dust, even so, it seed that she was not going to give up.
"I must say, I'm impressed," I said sincerely as I bowed slightly.
"C-can I keep going?" She tried to say between gasps as she tried to stand up while letting out moans of pain, she rolled her eyes and hit her forehead with her finger, which made her fall helplessly onto the grass looking at the sky with her arms and legs outstretched as she breathed heavily.
"Let help." I crouched down beside her and placed my hand over the wounds without touching them, really, aura was quite flexible once you learned to use it as more than a shield, localized healing to help others in ergency situations was more than feasible and extrely easy, it wouldn't do anything for serious wounds, but bruises and scrapes? That would heal them easily and quickly.
"M-much better, thank you." She said as she tried to stand up shakily, she was extrely tired and her legs seed to give out so it was hard for her to stand.
"Well, that was fun ." I said with a smile, she snorted with a grimace "we should do it again." now she paled.
"W-what?" I asked almost horrified, I almost burst out laughing.
"You have potential Taylor, a lot, but you lack training, do you want to do it?" I asked with a smile, she seed surprised before putting on a conflicted expression.
"Yes." I sighed tiredly.
"Excellent!" I said excitedly, and I wasn't faking it, it was really fun to see Taylor in action, I didn't know if it was her role as the lead that gave her an edge or it was all her, but I certainly wanted to see how much Taylor could grow "it's a date."
"Date?!" she exclaid while blushing, but I could see a smile on her lips growing, an idea occurred to , let's see what cos out of it.
"I'll text you letting you know." she said before I walked over and gave her a firm kiss on the corner of her lip, I could feel her stop stiffly as did all the bugs around her, they seed so still it was unnerving, the only thing moving on Taylor's part were her eyes which widened in shock, I let out a laugh before turning around to leave "see you later Taylor." I waved over my shoulder, I didn't wait for a response as I was sure I wouldn't get one anyti soon, I headed to the coffee shop to get my bike.
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