Debauchery of a Soul-Eating Wraith

"Well, what do we have here?" Asked an East Sect disciple who strutted over to get closer to the Squad. As he moved, his fellows moved with him, goofy smiles on their faces and clearly a sense of superiority,

"Border Knights," another Disciple said, "Or in other words, trashy failures who could never make it into the Martial Temple. Or sometimes, they are just commoner who lack the right-- connections. Hahaha."

"Hey, they are not all bad," a third Disciple mentioned with eyes roaming over Ember's body and then falling on Carleine with the clear undertones of lust.

The others sniggered along in agreement and Evian just let out a sigh. It was just as he had expected and it had not even taken half a minute after Zayda was gone for it to begin.

"Hey, do we have to wait for Zayda here?" Gryon asked.

"Yeah," Carleine said, "This City has more than its fair share of buildings, let's wait somewhere else."

Gillert opened his mouth with his expression showing an intention to agree with the suggestions but Evian had already walked closer to the gathering of Disciples.

He stretched himself to the full extent of his impressive height and flashed a grin that was so false, every one of the Disciples who saw it flinched for a second.

"Seniors! Your eyesight and deduction are impeccable," he said happily, "A few glances at us and you already have us figured out. As expected of geniuses of the Martial Temple studying at one of the greatest sects."

The Disciples recovered from being taken aback by Evian's false smile and the one at the forefront regained his superior smile, adjusted his stance, placed his hands at his hips, and cleared his throat,

"Good, good. I expected futile resistance but you're smart Trash, aren't you?"

"Well, I do get by," Evian said with a shrug. His smile, while false, accentuated his handsome looks all the same. Something that filled the Disciples' hearts with envy before they shook themselves with the thought that it was so silly for them to feel inferior in any kind of way to someone who had no real chance of making it to the level of prestige they currently had.

"Hmph, well then," the front-most Disciple said, "As long as you know your place. How about getting your filthy trashy selves away from the Sect."

"But, we're not even in the Sect," Ember pointed out, quiet so far and feeling a strange inclination to be angered even if the rest of her Squad were being amicable.

"Well, you're close enough aren't you?" the Disciple said with a disparaging snigger, "We worked so hard to even get close enough to breathe in the Sect's air, don't you think it would be unfair if you get to enjoy that for free?"

"Wha-?" Ember started and took one step forward before Evian stretched a hand across her front to caution her to stop while he stretched three fingers toward the Disciple,

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"Three!" he said.

"Three what?" the Disciple asked confused.

"If you manage to land three hits on me before I land them on you, we'll leave but if I land three hits on you before you land them on me, then you will have to kowtow to me," Evian said with a smile.

"What-?" the Disciple started but Evian interrupted with a wagging finger,

"And I don't mean some half-hearted kowtow, I mean a deep one with your knees hitting the ground with a powerful thud and your forehead smacking against the floor enough to cause dust to rise.

I want to feel your earnest sincerity in that bow, 'Senior'."

"You think I'll agree to this?" the Disciple asked with the thought of kowtowing to this Border Knight Trash, right in front of the Sect, already leaving a bad taste in his mouth.

"Are you already thinking of losing? Wow, is the prestige of the East sect that low? 'Senior', I expected confidence... This self-doubt is frankly quite pathetic.

Oh, but I guess I can't blame you. The Martial Temple Sects must be all talk and superiority glances rather than actual fighting prowess.

It's a shame. I thought today was my chance to spar against someone much better than me and give me some insight into the level of power I can't hope to reach but now I can only shake my head in disappointment.

Oh well, if you don't want to--"

"Trash, that's enough out of you!" the Disciple yelled to stop Evian's long-winded insults.

"So you agree to the spar?" Evian asked.

"Of course. But if I win, you don't just walk away, you Kowtow to me and you lick my boots," The Disciple said with a grin.

Evian shrugged,

"Fine," he said and then stretched a hand toward his opponent, "Come!"

The Disciple's lips twitched,

"Such arrogance," he sneered but he indeed charged at Evian who remained in place.

Evian never lost his smile.

It might have been because of how much they wanted to intimidate the 'Border Knights' but the Disciples never hid the pressures of their Orders and it was quite impressive. They were all at the Fourth Order with a good few being a good number of steps ahead of Gillert but they were still in the Fourth Order and thus fell right under the crux of Evian's Phasing domain.

Evian knew he had to be careful to pass off his Phasing as impressive evasion so he could not rashly use it. At least not until his opponent was close. So he needed to stand his ground and wait for his chance.

The Disciple that charged at him was quick. He possessed speed Evian did not yet have but right when the Disciple's punched out, Evian moved.

The Disciple grinned because even then, his blow was on track to land but then something strange happened. His fist appeared to pass right through his Opponent's body and before he could truly process it, the body was gone and a knee was sinking into his stomach.

*BAM*

"Ack!" he groaned but a fist came toward the side of his face next and he knew he had to get away.

*Whoosh*

Evian clicked his tongue in apparent annoyance at his Opponent's escape and then he dashed towards said opponent.

They were about a foot from each other when the Disciple took on a decisive stance and packed so much power behind his blow that it moved with even greater speed but again, something strange happened;

His blow was going toward the trashy Border Knight's head and he was sure he was about to make contact only for his fist to pass through said head like it was a mirage.

'What?!" he wondered with widened eyes but the mirage moved away from his fist and in the space of a second, two slaps sounded against his face.

*pah* *pah*

There hits!

"This can't--" the Disciple started to say before Evian took advantage of his shock to land a heavy blow on his face that disoriented him further and sent him to the ground.

"Argh!" the Disciple yelled, "What the hell are you?"

"How does that matter?" Evian asked with the false smile he had been giving them since only for his expression to shift into a cold, frowning look with just a hint of killing intent,

"Now, Kowtow!"

The words were backed with a cold pressure that sunk into the Disciple's body right through his pores causing an almost instant reorganization before he got into position and kowtowed hard to fulfill Evian's conditions.

His knees hit the floor with a heavy *Thud!*

His forehead slammed the ground with a *Bang* that caused dust to rise in a small cloud.

"Enough of this!" another Disciple called and Evian nodded,

"Very well," he said, "Come at me next. If you fail, you'll do the same as he's doing!"

"I won't fail!

Thirty seconds later...

*slap* *slap* *slap*

Struck into the ground, the 'valiant' disciple received the same order as his fellow...

"Kowtow!"

... And fell over to bow as deep as the said fellow.

Three others tried after that and suffered the same fate before everyone realized they might be out of their depths. Without an understanding of how their most proactive brethren had lost when Evian's attacks had especially looked so simple, the gathered East Sect disciples were quickly of the mind that there was no way Evian was a Border Knight.

He had to be making use of some high-end evasion techniques that could only be afforded to special members of the Martial Temple.

They had no idea why he hadn't boasted of that identity from the start and rather lured five of them into bowing to him but no one wished to share that fate and slowly backed away to return ever closer to the Sect grounds.

Meanwhile...

'Damn it!' the five kowtowing victims groaned almost simultaneously.

Losing was annoying enough but even worse was the embarrassment of bowing in broad daylight and in active view of passersby who watched and took the chance to mock the high and mighty East Sect disciples.

If news of this were to spread within the Sect, the Five felt they were in for a beating for having brought shame to the Sect by losing. Alas, they could not bring themselves to stand to their feet.

They felt trapped by a cold presence that caused them to shiver and not dare to get on Evian's bad side and so again, they groaned in their minds, and yelled almost simultaneously,

'DAMN IT!'