Chapter 148 - Will You Let Me Help You ?

Alan waited until Kevin had finished to equip and when he signaled to him that he was ready, they began to fight.

Ashton, who was looking at them from afar with wide open eyes, had thought at first that it would be Alan who would teach Kevin but apparently he was completely wrong.

It was already the third time, in 10 minutes, that Kevin had easily disarmed Alan.

And each time, Kevin had taken the time to show to Alan his movements in a slow motion and a parry to keep him from being disarmed.

It was mind-blowing, and after just 30 minutes, even though he, who was just a beginner and didn't know anything about fighting techniques, could see that Alan was starting to assimilate the movements that Kevin was teaching him and the fight seemed a lot fairer now.

When Ashton looked around he realized that many mages had stopped to observe them and there were even fighters, easily recognizable by their muscular bodies, who seemed fascinated by their fight.

The more time passed and the more the fight intensified, the crowd which had now gathered around them forming a circle, cheered them every time one of them made a spectacular movements, this training was starting to become a real show.

Ashton had also stopped doing the exercises Kevin had given to him and he had joined their supporter crowd to continue to enjoy their fight.

When finally out of breath they had both stopped fighting, they had been rewarded by a thunderous applause and enthusiastic exclamations.

Surprised by so much noise, they looked around and they felt a little embarrassed that they had become the center of everyone's attention.

They were so immersed in their fight that they hadn't noticed there were so many people around them.

Alan thanked them all and kindly asked them to disperse, and he took the opportunity to remind them to keep training and not to get distracted.

After that everyone had gone back to their own practice, Ashton came over to them and said : "Wow, that was so awesome !"

He looked at Kevin and then said : "I won't ask questions, but please, let me stay with you, I want to learn how to fight like this."

Kevin smiled at him and said : "Don't worry, if you train hard you will learn how to fight with your own fighting style, what you have just witnessed is only a way to fight.

We are mages after all, all together with Ian, we are going to create spells that can be useful to us during a fight.

Whether we are alone or in a group, we must learn to adapt to all situations."

Alan nodded and said to him : "I agree, it would be a waste not to use our elements in a fight ... Ian is coming, what do you want us to do ?"

Kevin then said : "Can you take care of showing Ashton the basics ? I would like to talk to Ian a bit."

Alan nodded and motioned for Ashton to follow him, but before he left Kevin wanted to know something so he asked him : "Ashton wait ! What are the elements you have an affinity with ?"

Ashton answered him before following Alan : "Water and earth."

Kevin smirked, that was perfect, he wanted to test a theory and Ian and Ashton who were both powerful mages would help him to see if what he wanted to do was feasible or not.

But before that he had to know where exactly Ian's problem was coming from, according to Liam's explanation, it might not be as simple as a fire accident, and he really didn't know if he would be able to help him overcome his fear of fire or not.

Ian greeted him and asked him curious when he saw that Alan was giving basic combat lessons to Ashton : "Does Ashton know about you ?"

Kevin shook his head and said : "Not yet, but he is already part of the organization and with the potential he has, it would be a waste not to train him.

Of course he suspects something, but he is smart enough not to ask questions and to take advantage of what we have to offer to him, moreover, I'm going to need his remedy, and so, it's a give and take."

Ian nodded and told him : "Ashton is a real prodigy, his family are very proud of him, but he has never seemed happy before.

Seeing him cheerful and enthusiastic like this is a real relief ... By the way, why are you going to need his remedy ?"

Kevin scratched his head a little embarrassed but Ian was way too close to Alan, he couldn't risk telling him the truth, so he said : "I'm sorry I can't tell you … Not yet ..."

Ian smiled at him and said : "It's okay, don't worry, I trust you, I saw the way you handled things yesterday and I'm very impressed, just know that you can trust me too, okay ?"

Kevin sighed in relief and said : "It's not about trust, knowing why I need it will put you in a tough spot, and I don't want to put you in this kind of situation."

Seeing that Ian nodded and didn't insist he finally asked him : "Before we start training I have several questions, and whatever you are going to choose to reveal to me that will stay between us."

Ian had a bad feeling about this but he told him that he understood and that he could ask his questions.

Kevin, who was a person who liked to get straight to the point, then said to him : "Liam told me about your pyrophobia, and he told me that it was due to an accident when you were just a teenager, he didn't go into details, he was hoping that I could help you overcome this fear, but for that, you have to talk about it with me.

If you don't want to, I won't push it, and we will just focus on your earth element.

I will try to find a good use for it during a fight, actually, I already had several ideas that I would like to test but we will see that later.

Right now it's up to you, will you let me help you ? I won't judge you and I will be honest, that's all I can promise."

Ian hesitated, lot of things were going on in his mind right now, he wasn't sure if he should be mad at Liam or thank him for telling Kevin about it.

After a few moments he asked Kevin, looking him straight in the eye : "How old were you when you killed someone for the first time ?"