Fight with Master

Torus' eyes flew wide open as his figure rapidly shot out of bed, making a mad dash for the bathroom wherein he performed all of his early morning amenities.

For anyone who knew him, they would understand this sight to be unusual for the usually very lazy young man; however, if they were to know what events would play out that day, they wouldn't be nearly as shocked. 

Today was the end of the month as well as the day he and his Master had agreed would be the end of their bet. Considering that the pair usually have their sparring session at the start of the day, Torus was in a panicked state, worrying his late-night blacksmithing may have caused him to awaken late for their meeting. 

Now that the day had arrived, Torus found himself far more energetic than he had previously expected, not feeling any of the anticipated nervousness.

Pondering on this as his figure continued in its movements, Torus muttered to himself, "I wonder if it has anything to do with the intense training I've been putting myself through this month, maybe it's caused me to grow more confident in myself?" Torus muttered barely audibly, idly musing to himself as he stepped out of the shower before walking over to the sink where his clothes were resting, currently having a towel wrapped around his head to dry his hair which had grown increasingly long over the past month from its previous neck length. 

As he came to the sink and reached out for his clothes, Torus subconsciously glanced at his reflection, marveling at the apparent changes he had undergone. 

Gone was the slightly muscled youth who still had a look of inexperience between his brow and baby fat on his cheeks, now came a young man with sharpened features and a slightly predatory look, his gaze seeming as if belonging to a beast. 

Where he was once a decently fit young man, he now had a far larger muscled build; however, due to his height, the muscle mass gave him a larger-than-life appearance that would cause those that viewed him to see him more as a bear than a man.

Even as he slipped the shirt over his head, one could still see faint outlines of his chiseled chest and pecs through his shirt. 

However, the most notable change to him was most definitely in his aura. Where before he seemed to come off as a slightly goofy and laid-back teen, he now seemed like he could fit in with the beasts within the forest, as if he were now more beast than man. 

After staring at himself for a period he felt was a little too long to not be a bit narcissistic, Torus turned around before heading out of the bathroom, finished with all he needed to do. 

After stepping out, Torus made his way down the stairs, letting out a slight "Goodbye!" to his parent's and giving his mother a kiss on the cheek before stepping out, ignoring the knowing looks they were giving him.

It only made sense that they would know about the bet he had made with his Master considering how close the trio was, so Torus wasn't surprised at their reactions. 

Shaking his head to clear it of the wayward thoughts, Torus slightly bent down - the muscles in his legs tensing and flexing - before dashing off at a rapid pace toward the forest he and his Master used for training. It took no time at all for him to reach the clearing, his speed far eclipsing what it once was barely a month prior. 

Taking a moment to muse to himself as he arrived, Torus' thoughts turned to a peculiarity he had noticed recently, "Speaking of which, I've noticed something up with my God Seed for the past few days, it's like I can instinctively feel something is off with it." Torus mused as he vigilantly watched his surroundings, staring at the trees flying by, making sure there were no beasts nearby. 

Soon however, Torus' figure began to slow down, and the reason for that became apparent as his slowing figure soon shot through the tree line, coming to a halt in a clearing.

This was none other than the clearing he and his Master used for training. And as he came to a stop, Torus glanced up to see his Master already within the area, casually resting against a tree with her eyes closed, seemingly meditating. 

However, even with how silent he moved, Torus watched as his Master's eyes slowly opened, leveling a calm stare at him. Sucking in a cold breath of air at this, Torus thought to himself, 'Damn, it seems I still have a long way to go considering Master noticed me so easily,' Torus bitterly thought. 

Still, there was no serious self-reproach within it, she did have quite a bit of experience over him after all, a gap he felt both determined and confident he could overcome given enough time. 

Torus knew that he would eventually catch up to and even surpass her - he needed to if he ever wanted to find his parents. 

As this thought flitted through his mind and his thoughts wandered to his missing parents, Torus' eyes gained a far more hardened look, his hand clenching into a tight fist that dug deeply into the meat of his palm, deeply enough to leave white markings and nearly causing it to bleed.

Seemingly not noticing his change in state of mind, Sofia approached her disciple in a saunter, coming to a stop before him with a teasing grin on her face, "Are you ready to lose?" She asked him teasingly, her voice clearly showing the challenge the words contained even if her face didn't quite convey the same meaning. 

However, as Torus glanced up at her, Sophia felt startled at the stare he leveled her way; the look was heavy and seemed to contain an almost animalistic anger. 

After a moment, this look seemed to vanish as Torus returned to the present moment, a look of confusion flashing on his face for a second before disappearing, his expression slowly reverting back to normal. 

The look of primal rage seemed to vanish, being replaced by a look of confident assurance as the words finally registered in his brain, "Master, you should be careful with what you say; after all, you're only getting me more fired up!" Torus stated, mouth moving up into a wolfish grin.

Sofia was still lost in thought, thinking back to the look on his face prior to his returning to the present. The main thing that seemed to keep flashing in her mind was the look in his eyes; the way they seemed to shine with wrath. 

As she thought back to that look, a full-body shudder went through her, though of fear or something else, even she couldn't determine. 

Taking a moment to think to herself, 'That was no normal level of anger. I wonder what he was thinking about,' Sofia thought, mind distracted and not really catching what Torus had said after. 

As she stood stock-still with a dazed expression however, Torus had already moved to the center of the clearing and was performing some basic stretches, a grin of excitement etched on his face. 

Just from the way he was almost vibrating with excitement at the prospect of the battle, Torus' thoughts weren't surprising, 'I can't wait to fight Master once more, it's been too long since I've had a clear showing of how much my strength has improved. 

I wonder if the changes are enough to surprise her?' Torus thought, letting his mind wander as he leaned himself backward, bending so far down his head nearly touched the ground, stretching out in preparation for the upcoming spar.

After a moment of standing in a daze, Sofia regained her wits before turning back around, looking down at the figure of Torus with a strange glint in her eyes. 

Contained within this glint was a look of readiness, her thoughts something along these lines, 'I guess I probably shouldn't underestimate him so much.' Sofia thought. Little did Torus know that he had inadvertently made his win condition in this fight much harder for himself with that brief glimpse she had seen of his unnatural anger. 

With no way of knowing just how intense this fight was going to be, Torus let out a simple, almost naïve smile. The only thing that was a bit off-putting about his expression was the bloodthirst that could be seen licking at the corners of his expression, just waiting to be fully released. 

Along with his bestial instinct, Torus had found a love for combat, the stronger an opponent was, the more he looked forward to exchanging blows with them.

In fact, his love for fighting stronger opponents had reached such a point where he now felt disappointment at fighting those weaker than him. 

He had mused at the time that the reason behind this was probably a combination of his Aspect as well as his love for learning, the two had combined into an ungodly need to fight stronger and stronger opponents to improve himself. 

It had reached such a point where Torus could now only be accurately described as a battle-maniac. 

Taking a deep breath to reign in his broiling emotions, Torus turned back to his Master, giving her a look as he stood near the center of the clearing. The look he had sent her was rather simple, it was a single three word sentence of, 'Are you ready?'

Upon seeing this look, Sofia gave a simple nod leading Torus to head toward his corner of the clearing, standing with his back against a tree as he closed his eyes for a moment. 

What Torus was doing was simply adjusting his state of mind in preparation for this battle, trying to reach his peak state so he could show his all in it. Opening his eyes, a sharp glint flashed through them for a moment, before disappearing once more.