“Parry!”
Clang!
“Side-step! Lower your guard!”
Clang!
“Arrow, dodge!”
Pang!
The flat of Gracian’s sword reached Theo’s side, digging deep enough into his ribs to make quite the worrying sound.
‘Fuck…’
Breathless, Theo fell to his right knee before tumbling over to the side, dropping his sword and rolling away in a desperate bid to keep the fight going.
“Oh?”
Gracian didn’t give him even the slightest opening, expressing his pleased surprise just as he threw another strike.
Deprived of his weapon, Theo focused entirely on dodging, reading the movements of his senior’s entire body to position himself for another escape.
Jump. Dash. Retrea… LEAP FORTH!
Sensing the opportunity, Theo prepped his foot for an escape to the back, only to then kick the ground with his feet instead, diving right underneath Gracian’s sword and opening his arms as if he wanted to hug his hips…
“Sloppy!”
Holding nothing back, Gracian twisted his wrist and smashed the back of Theo’s head with the pommel of his sword, sending him tumbling straight to the ground.
“Ugh…”
The small rocks hidden within the earth painfully marked Theo all over, not even sparing his face as the momentum of his fall made him, quite literally, eat dirt from under Gracian’s feet.
‘Breathe in, breathe out…’ Closer to losing his patience than ever, Theo took a moment to rein in his emotions before gathering his strength and pushing himself off the ground, all so he could spit out the dirt he had taken a bite of and breathe again—this time properly, through his mouth.
Yet, as Theo rose, he noticed the difference.
Gracian, who would normally retreat by now and ask his standard question of what Theo did wrong…
He didn’t move from the spot where he had sent Theo to the ground, holding his sword—as usual—on his shoulder while looking down at Theo with a complicated expression on his face.
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“Is it just me, or did you do something since yesterday?”
At first, Theo entertained the idea of trying to hide the truth. It was just a fleeting thought, however.
‘I used to be of even higher rank than him, albeit not in swordsmanship. And I bet I could tell if someone grew stronger through means outside the field I would be tutoring them on.’
Theo locked his eyes on his mentor for a moment before breathing in again and finally picking himself up from the ground, retreating a few steps in silence to pick up his sword, then turning back to his senior—albeit without raising his weapon to indicate readiness for another bout.
“I did indeed. Just a small trick to set the foundation for my magical development later on,” Theo said in the most casual voice he could muster, all while screaming ‘this isn’t your business’ with a tired and outright bored expression.
“Oh, I see,” Gracian’s face darkened a little as he lowered his sword to a combat-ready stance. “So you’ve decided to go with half measures?”
‘What?’
This conclusion was so far removed from the truth that Gracian’s remark actually managed to catch Theo off guard. And just like Theo himself a moment before, when given an opportunity… Gracian was more than eager to take it.
Pang!
Theo raised his sword, almost too late to block Gracian’s stepped horizontal slash. Yet, as he blocked with a part of his blade far from its center of balance, his sword gave in under the force of his senior’s strike, the handle nearly wrestling itself free from Theo’s wrist.
But Gracian’s strike didn’t stop there!
“In swordsmanship, there are no half-measures!” he screamed with a noticeable amount of anger in his voice as he pressed the attack.
This time, however… he attacked with his sword’s edge rather than the flat. And as soon as Theo’s parry failed, Gracian’s sword pressed on…
‘Shit!’
Having no time to think and sensing the killing intent in Gracian’s voice, Theo’s instincts took over.
Theo’s eyes widened. His heart beat harder, pumping more adrenaline-rich blood through his veins than usual. The mana within him stirred up.
Pang!
The sound of swords clashing filled the air, even though Gracian’s blade merely bounced off seemingly nothing, filling the arrogant swordsman’s face with disbelief.
But just as it had become the norm, Theo didn’t waste the opportunity.
Repelling the sword by redirecting it with a simple, extremely ordinary surge of mana, Theo brought his arm in a circle away from his chest, slashing away…
Only to let the handle of his sword go, sending it flying just an inch from Gracian’s face. But rather than stopping there, Theo continued his slight spin, going as far as lunging with his off-leg, shooting his off-arm in the senior’s direction…
For but a single frame of existence, Theo recalled the moment when this man slaughtered his friends. When he pierced his very own heart. When he smiled at the corpses as Theo was about to breathe his last, seeing them as nothing but random flies to swat away.
And within this single frame, Theo’s rage ignited just as his fingers closed on Gracian’s throat, ready to crush his windpipe by closing his fist…
“Khe…”
The moment of Theo’s rage passed. And so did the moment of Gracian’s surprise when his student suddenly managed to—seemingly effortlessly—overcome the master who had bullied him for the past week.
Still, contrary to Theo, Gracian held his sword, ready to rain down strikes on Theo’s unprotected side…
But he didn’t do it. Just as Theo opted out of squeezing down on Gracian’s throat, his eyes locked on a vaguely familiar set of lines that appeared right over his senior’s face.
***
[System: Condition Check]
[Conditions Fulfilled: 461/512]
[Calculating Range]
[Plunder possible]
[Do you wish to plunder:
***