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Watching the pair of them spar was like watching a dance, Malos thought. Jin whirled around, fast but not pushing himself to his limits. On the other end of the clashing blades, the boy (he wasn't much of a boy anymore, but he acted like one sometimes and Malos couldn't see him as anything but) stood on the balls of his feet, constantly shifting his positioning, balance, and position to dodge Jin's attacks. He was doing remarkably well.
He'd showed up a couple of weeks ago now. He'd heard rumours of a white haired man in a mask and taken a random shot in the dark that the man could be Jin, and he'd been right. Ever since, Jin had been fixated on the boy. Malos hadn't even heard the full story yet. Not that he couldn't guess, of course. The boy appeared to be a blade, but he had no driver and no aptitude for his weapons. He recognised Jin, followed him around like a little dog. Knowing what he did, Malos could put the pieces together.
"Actually try to unbalance me," Mikhail called, dodging three successive strikes from Jin. "I can deal with a couple of bruises if you actually hit me."
"This sword could very easily cut your arm off," Jin said firmly, keeping up his pace. "You don't need to be any faster than this to hold your own against most human opponents. Don't push your luck."
"But what if I have to face opponents like me?" Mikhail asked. "Or any blade, for that matter? Blades are far faster than humans."
"I'm fast," Jin said, swiping unsuccessfully another three times. "Your agility is admirable. It will not be quite so impressive if you're unbalanced due to a missing limb."
"Can I even lose one at all?" Mikhail asked with a shrug. Malos tried to pretend to not be listening intently. The kid always shut up when he approached. Maybe he was overly curious, but he wanted to know what was actually going on.
"I think it's better not to take the risk," Jin said. "Things may be a little different for you now, but you're still human."
Mikhail scoffed, but didn't say any more. He just dodged away from Jin's every move. Jin tried switching rhythms, switching the force and direction of his swipes, but each time, Mik was too fast to let them even come close to grazing him. "I won't believe I'm human until the Praetor himself makes me his equal."
Jin let out a hollow sounding laugh at that, and the smile he shot at Mikhail didn't look genuine at all. He swung again and again, still to no avail. "We still can't take the risk about what parts of you are human," he said firmly.
"Maybe I should take a shot at him," Malos suggested, stepping out of the trees and more into the clearing. Mikhail, predictably, jumped and lost focus, allowing Jin to lunge in and catch him in the side. He gasped, stumbled, and fell to the ground under the weight of the blow. "Try not to be so easily distracted."
"Well I didn't know you were there!" Mikhail protested. "You took me by surprise." With an indignant look on his face matching his tone, he pushed himself up off the ground and returned to a fighting stance.
"An enemy won't fight fair," Malos reminded him. "If you're fighting a driver, their blade can get you from behind."
"People aren't so keen on fighting as a pair anymore," Mikhail said, a wry grin on his face. "I don't need to know how to combat people like that."
"You need to know how to fight multiple opponents," Malos said. "So go on. See if you can dodge both of us. Realistically you also need to be able to fight back, but I imagine that's beyond you for now."
Predictably, the teen rose to the bait. His eyes narrowed and his grip on his two fan shaped weapons tightened. "Try me," he said, shifting even lower and clearly focusing intently.
At first, Mikhail had no success. Maybe he was still shaken by Malos' appearance, or maybe he was afraid, or perhaps he just wasn't good enough to face two opponents. Then he started to get frustrated, which didn't help him one bit. But, gradually, he started to last longer and longer, and then Malos realised how he was doing it. He was intently focusing on their patterns of movement, the way they attacked, and he had learnt it with remarkable speed. If he could learn the styles of drivers and blades from different titans, there would be very little stopping him from being almost untouchable in battle. But retaliating was clearly a problem. After all, in a dance, there was no need to stab your partner.