Trials of the Bounty Hunter: Chapter One: A Lesson in Creativity

Nova pointed the blackened edge of her sword, Sternspalter, at the shaky young girl standing across from her.

"Don't worry, Seida. I promise no harm will come to either of us during this exercise."

"I-I still don't know why you can't just show me this normally!" Seida blurted out. "I know I'm too straight forward, but-"

"The only way for you to truly grasp what I'm trying to teach you, is for you to face me, I could tell you all day about how to use your element in battle, but only seeing how I apply mine firsthand will make it click. " Nova started to explain, cutting Seida off. "The way you fight now, you'd never survive on your own. You're too predictable. We'll start as soon as you launch the first attack."

"But-"

"Seida."

Nova watched as Seida's face soured, no doubt realising that she cannot talk her way out of this. After a moment of deliberation, sparks of flame started to light in her hands. Nova smiled, as a torrent of flame roared towards her. She took a breath, and plunged her massive blade into the ground, willing the earth to rise out with the blade as she lept into the air.

"A fine attack, but too easy to dodge!" Nova flipped in the air, using the weight of her sword as a fulcrum. Her eyes locked with Seida's, as the young girl's face went white with realisation. With a smirk, Nova yelled out. "Let's see how you handle this!" With a massive swing of her blade, she launched the stones in a hail of rock towards the young girl. Nova looked up as she landed from her leap, curious as to how Seida would react.

"That's not fair-!"

Nova watched a Seida scrambled to counter her attack, wildly fanning flames above her, trying to vain to melt the rocks falling upon her. Nova saw the panic set in on Seida's face, and started towards her apprentice to pull her out of the way. Nearly there, Nova thrusts her hand out to grab Seida- just as the girl's feet burst into flame, propelling her backwards away from harm as the rocks land, kicking up dust. 

"Woah-!" Seida yelled out, surprised at her own actions.

"Good, Seida!" Nova smiled. "Fire can be used for more than offense, as long as you think creatively!"

Nova was suddenly taken aback, as the cloud of dust infront of her burst into flames. Reacting quickly, she plunged her hand into the ground and pulled the earth into a small wall to protect her from the flames.

"Good one, Seida!" Nova yelled out at her apprentice.

"That wasn't too much, was it-?" Seida asked, timidly.

"Not at all!" Nova beamed with pride, looking up at her student to see the young girl ready to strike again. "You used your flames to propel yourself to safety, and even capitalized on the dust from my attack to counter! There's only one thing I would have done differently-"

"What-!"

Seida's voice cut into a yelp as Nova placed a hand to the ground, willing the earth around Seida to shift, causing the young girl to fall to the ground. Before she could stand back up, Nova shaped the earth around Seida's hands and feet, pinning her.

"I would have moved to keep line of sight, you can't feel your opponents around you through the earth like I can."

"Nova-! Let me go-!"

With a short laugh, Nova undid the binds on her student, and walked towards her to help her on her feet.

"You did very well today, Seida. Going forward, remember that the only limit on how strong you can be, is up here." Nova tapped her head. "As long as you use this properly, nothing will be able to stop you, not even me."