8 A Friendly Spar

Burne woke up early as it was going to be his last day in Ishval. He was to leave for Amestris tomorrow morning so today was the last day he could enjoy Ishval and check out the rest of the books. That being said…

There wasn't much to Ishval.

It was a very small place with not many people in it. He expected to find a few alchemists in Ishval but nearly every alchemist preferred to stay in hiding. The warrior monks stayed hidden and only appeared when Ishval needed protection. 

"I am going to the library, Mr. Adolf." He said before walking out of the inn. 

'I need to teach Ammon some proper defensive moves. It would be a waste of talent if the ruffians decided to take revenge on him.' He thought on his way to the library. 

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"So are you going to take the offer?" A man asked with a kind smile on his face.

The man was muscular with blonde hair and a long blonde beard. He was the current patriarch of the Armstrong family as well as the father of Mira. He was Philip Gargantos Armstrong.

"I… Yes, I am." Mira said. "That's that step I need to take to fulfil my dream and to make the Armstrong family shine."

The man grinned. "Then what are you worried about?" 

"I am worried about Catherine." She confessed. "Alex went to join the state, Amue and Strongine are busy with their own careers and rarely visits home. When Alex left, Catherine cried for a week. It wasn't not much of a problem for me because I was already part of the military before she was born. But I don't know what she will do if I leave as well." She looked at her father. "I am also worried about you and mother. You two are getting old and I am not sure if I should leave you three on your own."

The man adopted a proud yet gentle smile. "Mira… I love all of you equally, but you make me the proudest." He confessed. "But there is no parent in this world that would want anything other than the success and happiness of their children. You… my child— don't have to worry about us. I am still healthy enough to look after the family and we have servants as well."

Mira was silent.

"As for Catherine." He continued. "Throwing tantrums is something that every child does. You did as well. But as they grow older, they understand the value of dreams, goals and life. She will understand and I will do my best to keep her smiling." 

Seeing that she was still in doubt, he sighed.

"Listen Mira. You are going to be the major general one you accept this post. That will be the proudest moment for the Armstrong family. I want you to join it. I can handle this family for two more decades, so you don't have to worry about anything else."

Mira sighed but smiled as she knew he was right. "I will accept the post then." She said as her father grinned. 

But she still had conflicting emotions. "But I will have to leave the day after tomorrow." 

This made the man a bit sad. "Looks like we won't be able to throw a big party to celebrate your promotion. But no worries, we will be celebrating it amongst our family."

Olivier nodded. "I will try to talk with Catherine."

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"You just keep on surprising me, Ammon." 

Ammon laughed. "Thanks, Burne. Your tips helped a lot." He said as he shattered a massive rock with a touch. "You were right… disassembly is a great style."

Burne nodded as Ammon continued. 

"I tried organic alchemy but it turns out that I suck at organic." He said. "And I seem to excel in disassembly." He laughed. "I will look into the other forms in the future, but for now I want to pursue the disassembly alchemy." 

Burne smiled. "That's good."

Ammon continued practising his alchemy on a multitude of different elements. Looking at his progress, Burne remembered how his grandfather used to praise him for succeeding in alchemy.

Ammon possessed nearly the same level of talent as him. And if he had a teacher like he had his grandfather, Burne believed that Ammon might reach his level in less than a decade. 

"Hey, Ammon." He called the boy that was engrossed in destroying rocks. 

"Yeah?" Ammon asked without turning around.

"How about we have a little duel?"

Ammon instantly desisted. "Huh?" 

He was unsure of how to respond. He knew that he was no match for Burne but he was also excited that he could test his abilities against a veteran.

"Don't worry, it's just a friendly spar. I want to see how much you can utilise this style in combat." Burne assured. 

Ammon agreed as it was the best way to measure his strength. 

Smiling at his decision, Burne jumped from the rock he was sitting on and walked in front of Ammon. 

"Come." He said, standing a few feet away from him with his hands inside his pockets. 

Ammon contemplated the possibility of Burne planning something but that was not what mattered. Burne was testing his alchemy so he relaxed a bit and took position.

Burne stood there with the laziest stance while Ammon was vigilant. 

Burne was roughly ten meters away from him. 

'*Phew* Here we go.' Ammon transmuted the land below him into sand before throwing it towards Burne. He had hoped that it would weaken his vision. 

Taking advantage, he rushed towards Burne. But his eyes went wide when he felt his feet slip and body fall backwards. 

"Using the sand was a decent tactic but you have to remember that covering the place in dust blocks yours as well. You couldn't see what I was doing." Burne smiled. "And rushing towards the enemy after smoke screening is an overused strategy. Be a little less predictable." 

Ammon didn't expect Burne to be able to react so fast but he remembered that Burne has been an alchemist for far longer than him. And unlike him, the boy in front of him had proper training.

Thinking quick, he deconstructed the land below Burne, turning it into a type of quicksand. 

Burne grinned as he felt his feet sinking in the sand. But to Ammon's surprise, he didn't try to get out or even restore the original properties.

"Another tip." Burne said. "Try to use your opponent's move to your benefit." 

As he said that, the quicksand expanded— shocking Ammon. But what surprised him even more was that the sand below Burne elevated and then solidified, making a platform for him to stand.

"I barely used my energy to expand the quicksand and I used that saved energy to make this platform." He explained. "It can be the deciding factor when you are tired." Saying that he laughed. "And remember that an actual enemy will never explain his moves. Think of this as a lesson which might help you fight in the future." 

Ammon found himself in a bit of a pinch. Quicksand was something that a lot of alchemists struggled with. Creating a platform like Burn was not easy and he was not skilled enough to both mould and solidify the ground consecutively. 

And Burne's next statement made it even more difficult to escape. 

"Let's see how good your defences are." 

He clapped his hands together and Ammon felt the moisture around him changing. His shock turned into panic as he realised what Burne was doing. 

In a matter of seconds, water started to form around him and engulfed his body in it. Soon it covered his head, drowning him in a water bubble. 

"This is advanced for even the state alchemists." Burne confessed. "Maintaining that shape and state in the air is difficult but escaping the water bubble is extremely easy." 

Ammon started to suffocate as Burne continued. 

"But since water makes it difficult for the person to breathe, he loses his senses and starts to panic. Which makes them forget the basic things." He grinned. "Now, you don't have much time Ammon. Think or you might actually drown." 

'This mad man!' Ammon cursed in his mind.

"If I were an enemy, you would have been dead by now." Burne said. "All I need to do is freeze the water… or explode the hydrogen bubbles. They are highly combustible after all."

Seeing that Ammon was struggling and might drown for real, Burne sighed. 

"Water is the combination of hydrogen and oxygen, Ammon. It is the 'assembly' of those elements." He said. "Do what you want with that knowledge."

Burne was not going to let Ammon drown but he wanted to see if Ammon could figure out the escape route on his own. 

Ammon struggled but when he heard the word 'assembly', his gears started to rotate.

He instantly pushed his hand forward and started looking at the construct. In a matter of seconds, he broke the bonds between hydrogen and oxygen turning the water into gas. 

Getting out of the bubble, he started huffing. He started taking deep breaths to refill his lungs. 

Meanwhile, Burne was smiling while looking at the boy. As he saw Ammon recover a little, he jumped off the platform and landed in front of him.

"I am impressed that you were able to think in such a situation. But that is what will keep you alive in the future." He smiled. 

He had already turned the quicksand into solid ground as Ammon escaped the bubble.

"That should be enough." He said. "You are better than I expected."

Still huffing, Ammon looked up. "Thanks?" He said in an unsure way. "But you are a monster, Burne. You might be at the same level as the head warrior priest."

Burne didn't comment and instead smiled.

"I should be able to improve more after training… And after getting a proper alchemic tattoo. These gloves are not that efficient." Ammon said as he took off the gloves that had two alchemic circles printed over them. 

"That will help." Burne said. 'He is talented but he tends to not think much. After he broke the bonds between the oxygen and hydrogen, I could have easily caused an explosion that would have blown him to bits. I will have to give him a few more pointers before leaving.' He thought. 

"I would suggest you make a bigger tattoo." Burne suggested. "While the tattoo that I have on my hand works, it is still not very efficient because of its size." He paused. 'I cannot say that I don't require a circle to use alchemy.'

Ammon nodded.

"I am hungry. Let's go to the inn. They make great food." Burne said, making Ammon nod. 

"Alright."

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[A/N: I will edit it in a while. So yeah… it's unedited. I wanted to release the chap before taking a nap.

And we are at 50k reads WOOHOO!!!

Leave a paragraph comments for mistakes and errors.]

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