Avy's Burn Affinity Training [Solo]

Avery flipped back, barely dodging the frost dust shot aimed at her legs before firing a barrage of bullets at her target as she dashed to the right. Meanwhile, Castiel laughed cockily as usual, swinging his giant battle axe in one hand like it was nothing as he easily deflected all bullets coming his way.

What he didn't expect was the last bullet being a small ball of highly condensed ice. The blonde triggered it to create a small explosion of sharp ice shards right in front of him. But being the skilled combatant he was, he used the flat surface of his ridiculously big axe to shield himself from the shrapnels. That was all Avy needed, a distraction, as she appeared behind him with eyes still glowing a bright blue from her semblance and her flamethrower gauntlets ready.

"Haha! Good! But not good enough!" she heard him growl as though he had expected this to happen.

Triggering her blue flames, she was highly surprised as Castiel's left arm blazed and he dashed forward to increase the distance between them before turning around, releasing a flame shot to collide against her own flames. Much to her surprise, her flames dispersed while the fire ball went straight through and collided right onto her side of the torso.

"Gah.." Avery gasped and jumped back in defense, clutching her side. She winced at the burning feeling and her eyebrows lowered in confusion. With her anti-dust armour, his dust shouldn't have this much of an effect on her, so why...?

She didn't have the luxury to wait as he was dashing at her and swinging his axe down. The gunslinger spun to the side with minimal movement, shifting her weapon to guns and raised it to fire bullets at him. She was about to follow up with another attack but the burning pain prevented her from doing so. Avy whimpered and jumped back again this time finding a wall to lean against for support.

"W-wait... time out.." She muttered breathily, clutching her side in pain. "I think the armour deactivated."

"No, it didn't." Castiel responded with a grin. "I simply increased the intensity of the fire dust to break through your aura and inflict burns. With your flamethrower, I assumed you were going for the same thing against your opponents. However, the difference is my flame intensity is higher than yours which makes the burn more painful."

As usual, Castiel used his semblance to heal the burn on Avy's side, much to the latter's gratitude. "And while we're here, how bout I help you with upgrading your flamethrower, eh?"


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It's been a while since Avery had seen her uncle working on any weapon or device. The proud yet happy-go-lucky of man didn't concern himself of the family's business, yet it didn't mean he wasn't knowledgeable about it. Of all three siblings, Castiel was actually the best at fixing or creating technological weaponry and armour. He simply didn't share the same passion when it came to the business aspect of it.

Thus the young gunslinger was somewhat honoured to see him giving a hand on her flamethrowers. Giving a hand was an understatement; he was practically the one doing all the fixing while the girl was beside him watching silently as he fixed the weapon fluidly like it's no one's business. There were times she questioned his decisions but still remained silent, then realised soon that it's like a puzzle piece that all connected together to give the weapon a more powerful flame power. Not only was she fascinated, she learned a lot of things as well. "And here you go. Try it."

Avery stared at her golden pistols and gingerly took them like they're something fragile. After shifting them to their flamethrower gauntlet form, she gave it a light wave and twist finding that they were formed snug around her forearm. Stepping away from her uncle, she pulled the trigger, then producing a burst of blue flames. She frowned and tilted her head.

"I don't feel any difference..." she mumbled as she pressed the trigger a couple more times to test it out. "Yeah, nope."

"That's because I only upgraded the intensity of the heat while keeping the rest the same so you wouldn't have to adjust." Castiel then walked to the multi-level rack to get a piece of metal rod. "Here, try it on this one."

A short clang reverberated throughout the basement as the metal rod was unceremoniously thrown to the ground. Doing what he said, Avery pointed the flamethrowers to the rod and pressed the trigger. It released raging blue flames like always with the recoil pushing her back an inch. But what made her eyes widen was how quickly the metal rod melted. Her previous flamethrower couldn't even put a dent on one metal and yet here's her flames now, able to melt a rod.

"Wow. I'm impressed."

"Of course. You're talking to me, kiddo. I don't settle for anything less than the best." Castiel flashed one of his creepy smiles with matching thumbs up for extra effect. Avery snorted and rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. If you're really all that great you would've increased the flame range too." Avery teased. She knew that part was impossible as she already tried several times to lengthen it and still couldn't do anything. Though seeing her uncle's grin widen, her own smile lowered and her eyes widened. "Don't tell me you can?!"

"What'd I say. It's me." Castiel laughed obnoxiously. "But with your current physique, I can't increase the range without it dislocating your arms. Settle with this for now. Your flamethrower is used for close to mid range combat and your guns can do the long range. No need for an increase in flame range."

Avery nodded and looked down at her flamethrowers. Then a smirk curved on her lips as she shifted her gaze back at him. "Now to continue our spar with my new overpowered flamethrowers..."

The huge figure of a man returned the same level of cockiness spreading his arms wide. "Show me what ya got. You'd still be eating dust."

[exit]
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