Chapter 489

Having Gina come in, learn about their Clan and begin the process of changing i was not a matter of days but weeks. She knew better than to come in and begin major changes immediately, though there were some fixes very quickly. Among other things, she hired a security company to help install keycards and fobs to help restrict access to to deeper levels in the Clan headquarters and a new IT head. 

Significant changes, including upgraded mobile phones with proper virus and security software. It amused Arthur a little, that such things had to be even considered, but he was grateful someone was thinking of it. He did, however, keep his old phone after deleting the majority of his personal logins and wiping everything but his old gaming data. That had started a small fight, until such time as the information was properly 'partitioned' for security purposes. 

No way was he letting his six year kingdom builder streak go to waste.

In the meantime, he kept up training with his tsifu who had taken to the new building with bemused enthusiasm. Utilizing the new workout machines to incorporate a fitness regime along with the attached smoothie and protien bar, the new Clan members were often seeing massive gains in their physicality.

The only problem being that the transit time between the old school and the new headquarters was a bit of a killer. Arthur had sent them looking at locating a place for his tsifu nearby, though still separate. Thankfully, the old students who weren't interested in joining the Clan but wanted to still study were enthusiatic about helping in that - if nothing else to ensure the old man kept coming back.

In the meantime, Arthur spent his time split in training. Physically with his tsifu, working with others and learning to push his body to ever greater heights of movement, flexibility and range. The addition of movable, alterable terrain in the large, gymnasium sized training hall allowed the Climbers to play, to make full use of the terrain and their bodies to bring forth new and interesting techniques.

That they had multiple new victims made it even better.

Right now, for example, Arthur was facing off against a dozen senior students. Each of them were supposedly close to graduating, ready to enter the Tower in a few months if they passed his tsifu's assessment. This fight was just one of them, and when the call to start rang out, they charged Arthur.

Along one side of the hallway, a movable rockwall had been shifted into place, such that Arthur could utilize it to jump, leap and fight from. On the other side, a series of foam boulders - hard enough to hurt if you landed upon, with just enough give that you were unlikely to be truly broken - were clustered across the ground.

Down the center, an open pathway; littered with just a few divots and rocks to keep everyone mindful of their movement. The closest thing they could build without spending even more money on a more irregular terrain. Now, the group charged, the majority coming down the center to hold his attention, two pairs split off either side to flank and a third, hanging back ready to reinforce.

The entire fight was made even worse for Arthur in that he was blindfolded, his senses cut off as Shadow Sense and his Yin Aura spread out before him. Nor was he allowed to utilize his more dangerous skills, so no Energy Darts of any kind. Perhaps if he had managed to understand and build the Yin Energy Darts andadjust their strength, he might have been allowed to utilize them; though a part of him doubted his tsifu would have let him have it that easy.

No, this was purely a physical fight, no major Tower techniques. However, he was allowed a few things, and most of all, the terrain.

Which was why when they dashed straight at him, he went left for the boulders. They were big enough - just about - to allow him to break up the pair a little as they came. The jian wielder who he targeted - straight sword and butterfly knife in both hands - was smart enough to retreat almost immediately, fighting for time when he realised who Arthur's target was as he darted around the boulder.

However, he was slow. Too slow. Human slow.

Spear thrust forward, dipped at the last moment and then rose, smacking aside the arm that came to block it. Overpowering the knife-wielding hand as angle changed, thrusting upwards. Arthur didn't manage to get the point all the way into the chest, only managing to land the strike in his chest. The blunted tip, capped and protected, caused the man to fall over with a whuff.

Arthur ducked, sensing the shifting shadows, the movement of his opponent behind him as the other attacker leapt over the boulder, one hand on it as he swung a foot in an attempted kick. Air rushed over him, brushing his hair. A retracted spear, spinning around his body caught the second attacker in the chest, blocked only by the tonfas brought forwards.

Not that it helped, since Arthur just stepped up, swept his feet out from under the man as he kept it pinned then tapped him gently on the head with a released hand. A kill, at least by the rules they were playing. A true kill, if he had utilized his Focus Strike in truth. 

A whistling noise, the shattering of clay bullets made Arthur wince. The pelted stone made him move, shifting out of the way and behind another boulder, stumbling around an unseen edge. He cursed under his breath, ducking low, head cocked to the side as he juggled the new figures. Six more rushing in, two more hanging back but not far behind. A sling wielder, already loading their next bullet and swirling it up.

He could stay, but flanked on both sides and unable to see, he would lose. Not against six, not yet. No matter how fast he was. On the other hand...

Pushing into the ground, he burst out from behind the boulder. Moving so fast that the instinctive shot by the sling wielder was too slow, Arthur already gone. One, two, three steps at an angle as though he was targetting the one furthest from him on the left, only for a conjured step as he leapt took him high into the air. One step in the same direction, before pushing off at an angle off the cloud as he rotated his body. 

Spear dipped, struck downward like a staff as he spun through the air like a top. Weapon leading the way below, striking at an angle and speed that caused his opponent to miss his strike. Arthur slowed the movement of the spear at the last moment, fractions of a second before it struck the unrptoected shoulders and back so that it bruised, not concussed.

Then, landing with one foot outstretched on a second cloud, inches from the swinging parang below him, he leapt again. Taking himself out of the way, bounding across the space to lunge forward with his spear at the sling wielder who had foolishly chosen to try to reload rather than retreat.

A third cloud step took him higher, long before his opponents could get to him. Allowing him to cross the space between them, to charge across the gymnasium floor where his opponents could not reach to attack those who had tried to flank him. Taking those two out, in the open ground where they were only just now reaching was easy enough, a matter of quick jabs, a feint and a slipping tip that brought them both low.

Turning around, Arthur ran the numbers in his head - the count of the figures he sensed, shadowy presences outlined in light and dark and those he had taken down. Twelve to start, six down but five presences before him.

That made no sense, but he waded in, ignoring his concern for a brief moment. Engaged the group as they rushed back, this time in a tighter formation. Three spears and a staff that kept him back, or were meant to at least, if not for the fact that he was stronger and could batter the polearms aside before slipping in to cut at extended arms and legs.

He could do more, if he was not as concerned about slowing down the strikes just before he struck. Even padded, even armoured as his opponents were in bought or borrowed safety equipment, his attacks could break bone without control. And he needed even more of it, with his greater physique.

A momentary lapse in concentration as a new distraction appeared caused a scream to rise up. He winced, feeling the strike that had come down too hard on a leg judder up his arm, as he retreated and turned. Too late though, for the clay ball shattered against his left arm.

"Hit!" Cried out a voice from the side, and dutifully, Arthur dropped the spear from that hand.

Rather than stay still, he leapt away, conjuring cloud steps to give him space and distance. One handed, he spun around and threw the spear, more like a discus than a javelin such that the twisting end of the spear flew through the air and struck the sneaky enemy slinger who had stolen the weapon from his dead companion.

Three standing, one crippled. Not a bad number to fight, if he could utilize his other arm, but difficult with only one himself. Lurking on the cliff face, Arthur waited, a small smirk on his lips. Difficult - except they had to climb to get to him, and he still had his kris and they would have to drop their spears themselves to reach him.

The fight was over, the only question was how many more injuries he'd pick up before he was done. It really wasn't fair, a second threshold Climber against normal mortals. He’d have to up the difficult again, next time.