Violence begets Peace [Masteries #4-5]

Erek has spent quite a long time now training and utilizing martial arts as well as utilizing weaponry of varying types, his entire life has been spent fighting from the point of simple brawling as a child-- to the point of being actually trained in true martial arts and weaponry. Leading a life through the military, constantly training and honing his skill in both spars and real combat with his life on the line, he has built an incredibly solid basis for his skills before even entering the spiritual world-- this is important and shown specifically in "Not all Monsters wear Masks", where through his skills he completely obliterates entire squadrons of normal-- but well-trained humans without the usage of spiritual prowess.

Here we begin to build on the combat style that Erek implements, and that is a complete reliance on his body, specializing in turning anything he can get his hands on-- or if need be, his hands themselves-- into deadly weapons. Using knives and blades to dangerous effect showing skill in targeting in the most lethal, clean, and silent ways possible. Utilizing a mixture of his martial training, combat experience, and above all else-- medical knowledge, in order to target the weakest area's of the body and not punish, or cause pain-- but turn anything into an attack that can kill. This is shown throughout the entire combat side of this thread and is then used as the basis for all combat going forward.

In "Fellow Recruits" we begin to see parts of this once more in his superior combat experience to most individuals, as even against a fellow soldier who-- rusty or not-
- is clearly not lacking in the "experience" department. He is not only able to trade blows with the man evenly, but begin to overwhelm him, despite having far inferior reishi control, and far weaker spiritual weaponry and control in general. His knowledge of the combat styles are shown in that he is able to place his opponents form, but even without knowing its exact details-- he is able to utilize his knowledge of similar arts to not only take the attacks that Dresden threw at him in stride, but pick the combat style apart and find its weaknesses to achieve a tie (with a bit of help from blut).

This specialty and skill in swordsmanship, and knives in general is once more emphasized within the thread of "Soldier and Smith", where despite once more having a spiritual inferiority, through superior skill, experience, and combat adaptability Erek is able to hold his own footing against the mans attack. Utilizing deflection and controlling the force of attacks directed at him instead of using pure, raw force to block attacks-- showing his skill and control over both his body, and his weapons in order to perfectly deflect, parry, and counter smoothly without any holes in his own defenses that he isn't aware he is creating.

As his spiritual powers begin to develop, we see him begin to take advantage of that-- using immense power to emphasize that "kill with every attack" once more, the damage from his attacks, and learning to expand his horizons by dipping into the area's he previously knew but had considered pointless in the shape of grappling-based movements that could be turned incredibly deadly through his spiritually augmented strength. This is played on in both "From Student to Teacher" against a hollow, briefly so that he could create an opening and allow his fellow Quincy to line up a lethal blow, as well as in far more detail against Raphael in "Countless Oddities", where his superior skill, combat experience, and tactical usage of his surroundings won him a non-lethal spar.

This begins to add into his natural combat style-- allowing his horizons and skills to broaden even further than they were previously thanks to this obtained supernatural growth. Finally, with all of his bases covered in the buildup of his clear skill, we begin to dip into the laster-aspects of his combat experiences where we begin to see that his superior skill begins key in the serious battles that lead through his later growth.

This is emphasized in every major battle that Erek endures, starting from "False White Knight", in which not only is his tenacity, reiatsu, and skill in blut pushed-- but his raw skill, muscle reflexes, and ingrained combat capabilities are all put to an immense test in a battle of one against many. Erek is seriously injured, weakened, and gradually losing himself to his emotions-- and yet still manages to maintain a tremendous advantage in a combination of power and skill in order to tie with an opponent that, rightfully should have beaten him under normal circumstances.

However, the next true test of his skill is found in "Hell and Back", as well as "Vön", in these threads Erek is against someone with a tremendous spiritual advantage against him in every way-- Freyleif. Initially, in both threads, the only reason he is able to maintain an actual combat advantage is his superior skill, his mastery over utilizing his body in order to deflect the immense destructive power that she has at the last minute, again, and again. Turning her power against her, re-directing her attacks to injure herself with the terrain, nullifying any damage against him, as well as giving him his own openings to attack her once more with.

In Von, this is less emphasized and instead, the focus becomes on him utilizing his skills in multiple areas-- and despite her spiritual advantage, being able to move himself forward to deflect her immense influx of power away, and give himself the opening to deal a (once again) lethal blow, even if he halts at the last moment before doing so.

Continuing this line of thought, we see that Erek, using basically only raw skill and combat ability without his superior reiatsu, then not only defeats-- but toys with, two individuals that would be considered experts in their fields when it comes to weaponry and fighting in general. These examples are shown within "Delving into Bloodlines", and "The Friendly Smell of War" in which he toys with both Natalie, and Abel, before defeating both of them handly through sheer superior skill despite their clear experience in such subjects.

These instances alone, I feel already prove that the man holds tremendous skill in both aspects of physical combat-- however, I felt as though it needed something more due to how far along in his masteries these would place him. As such, I decided to go a softer route to prove his knowledge and skill-- since his peaking moments had been achieved, and there were clear signs of how combat was as second nature to him as eating was, I wished to emphasize those facts. The way I decided to do this, was through his teaching of others that had varying degrees of experience.

In the threads "Honing the Dull Blade", "Hone your Edge ", and "Welcome to Hell" we see this being used consistently-- showing his immense knowledge in martial arts, weaponry, and how to properly teach those of varying levels of combat experience, each with entirely different circumstances, combat styles, preferences, and lines of thought. Despite this, teaching them not only how to fight when it comes to actual skill, but showing insight on how others may use those skills against them in the future to help them grow in differing ways with other skills as well.

In conclusion, Erek has spent a tremendous amount of time over his last two entire arcs fighting, showing his skills, and teaching others in order to better them-- though they have not been the main focus of these arcs, they have been the secondary, and close to primary goal of both of them and has been one of the main driving forces that have pushed him forward into the situation that he now finds himself in. His combat style is designed to cause as much damage as possible, as quickly as possible, with the solid desire to cause individuals to never want to fight him-- and in doing so, increase the chances of using the threat of his power to encourage those around him to talk before coming to blows, honing himself into a living weapon.

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