Clear Disadvantage from the Start

Staring across the clearing, Torus made eye-contact with his Master, waiting for her signal before the fight would begin. Typically, people needed a ref to ensure the two parties would start at around the same time; however, that was unnecessary for a member of the Divine Race. 

Their reaction times were actually so fast, that the millisecond Sophia mouthed the word 'Go', Torus' figure was already moving.

Rapidly dropping onto all-fours, Torus felt it as his hands pressed into the ground, smelled the clear morning air, felt the wave of wind brush past him, his mind enhancing to its peak in preparation for the engagement that was sure to follow. 

Muscles tightening, Torus finally released the energy that was slowly building up in his limbs, bursting off the ground and sending a pillar of dirt into the air where his limbs once pressed into it. 

At a breakneck pace, Torus dashed forward, rushing at a speed he would've previously found unachievable. As he approached her, Torus could see the slight widening of her eyes and the little gasp she let out, clear surprise at his improvement evident in her appearance. 

As he caught sight of this, there was only a single thought that flitted through Torus' mind, 'It seems Master hasn't paid as much attention to my training as she previously stated if she's even surprised by this,' he thought. 

Even after the revelation she had gotten upon looking into Torus' eyes, Sofia still wasn't prepared for the extent to which Torus had improved.

As his figure flashed forward, slightly shimmying from side-to-side in an erratic pattern, Torus left afterimages in his wake. However, the shocked-still Sofia only lasted a brief second, quickly being replaced by the clear-headed one almost immediately. 

Realizing that her previous tactic against her disciple would no longer work, Sofia decided to use an attack of hers that Torus had never seen before, attempting to catch the inexperienced combatant off-guard. 

As she stared at him, Sofia's gaze sharpened, a dangerous light flashing within it. 

It was only thanks to his experience fighting within the woods that Torus felt it, his eyes widening as his figure rapidly shifted to the side, his instincts roaring at him that this was the correct action to take.

And right as that occurred, there was a slight sound of 'Poof!' as a hole around a meter deep appeared in the ground right where Torus would've landed, and a slight nick appeared on his cheek that sent a slight spurt of blood into the air. 

With eyes squinting, Torus continued his movements, now raising one of his hands to run along the cut of his cheek, thoughts in disarray, 'I didn't even see her attack!' Torus exclaimed inwardly, eyes widening in shock. It was only now that Torus finally realized the hard truth - in all their previous fights - his Master had been taking it easy on him. 

As he analyzed the last few seconds of combat while still continuing his movements, Torus' eyes eventually sharpened as he finally pieced together what had just occurred. Inwardly, he exclaimed, 'Her eyes!' Torus realized, feeling as if he had been foolish in the past. 

He had always assumed that the extent of what Sofia could do were those little blades of sharpened air that she sent careening at him; however, Sofia's Aspect had nothing to do with blades, it encompassed sharpness.

As she had previously explained, the way a person used their Aspect was entirely up to them, 'I've been far too naïve in my way of thinking!' Torus thought to himself bitterly, realizing he still had a long path before him before he could even hope to reach his Master's level. 

As she watched him, Sofia could see the look of enlightenment come over his face, to which she let out a brief nod of approval. 

After a second to let him fully digest this revelation, Sofia spoke up, "That's right," Sofia softly began, breaking the silence that had so-far consumed the battlefield, "The little blades of sharpened air I previously sent at you are actually a very weak way of attacking. 

One of the more powerful ways that I attack is actually using my sight; have you ever heard the saying of 'Someone having a sharp gaze' or 'someone's gaze sharpened'?" Sofia asked, the two still engaging in a fierce battle as every so often the ground would explode in a random area, only for Torus' figure to rapidly contort so as to dodge the attack, his breathing coming out in ragged spurts, gaze shifting every which way as if preparing for an invisible enemy.

At the words of his Master, Torus shot her a look that said, 'Where are you going with this?' 

Looking at this expression, Sofia only let out a small chuckle before continuing, "Well, I decided to take those sayings to the extreme with my Aspect of sharpness, I managed to learn how to actually sharpen my gaze. 

Whenever I do so, I can choose to send out little invisible blades that slam into the ground at an incredibly fast speed, something incomparable to the blades of compressed air I've been using up 'till this point." As he listened to his Master's words, Torus' eyes widened in shock, 'So that's how it is!' he thought. Still, Torus couldn't help but wonder why exactly she was telling him this, sending his Master a look of suspicion.

As she noticed this however, Sofia only let out a small chuckle, "You must be wondering why I'm telling you this. In truth, you're right to wonder, most people wouldn't bother to explain their attacks to you. However, there's no reason for me to hide it as there's nothing you can do to stop it, and you can use this as a learning experience for the future," Sofia softly exclaimed. 

And as her words came to a halt, her gaze sharpened once more as she stared directly at Torus' figure, causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand on end. As she looked at him, Torus felt an impending danger, so he rapidly threw himself to the side. 

As he did so, his eyes continued to track his previous location, letting out a breath of relief as he watched the area he had just landed from explode in a cloud of dust.

Still, he had little-to-no time to feel relief before he once more felt that sense of danger, his tail lashing out and sending his figure careening to a new location with a fierce slam. 

However, as this occurred, the sense of danger barely left him for half a second before returning, causing him to have to dodge once more. This process continued to repeat itself as Torus finally understood the words of his Master - she had been taking it easy on him, not sending out the attacks as fast as she could previously. 

Now that she was attacking him at a much more rapid rate, Torus found he had barely any room to breathe.

As his figure flickered left and right, a bead of sweat rolled down his cheek, his mind running at full capacity, 'Damnit, if this continues, I won't be able to keep up this dodging much longer. Think Torus, think, there has to be a weakness to this!' As Torus racked his mind while letting his body move on autopilot, he began to slowly rack up slight injuries to himself as his figure began to slow slightly, the injuries healing on their own at a pace almost as fast as he racked them up.

Feeling the pressure of his current predicament, Torus' eyes eventually lit up as he finally realized the solution to his problem, 'The eyes!' Torus exclaimed, a crafty gleam flashing in his own as he glanced at his Master. 

It was pretty clear based on her explanation and her actions that Sofia needed to be looking at where she wanted to attack, meaning that if she wished to send out these attacks, she needed to be able to see her opponent. 

As he thought of this, Torus couldn't help but to admonish himself internally, 'How could I have not thought of such a simple solution sooner?' Torus berated himself, feeling a not-insignificant amount of embarrassment at how long it had taken him to come up with such a seemingly simple solution. 

In truth, while the answer was rather obvious, Torus couldn't be put fully to blame. 

He not only had to come up with a solution while in the midst of battle, but also concentrate on limiting the damage his body received to a degree that he could heal from while consuming the least amount of stamina at the same time.