“Let's get sparring, shall we?” I heard Carmine’s words repeat in my head again—They echoed like a threat. Her aloof, happy-go-lucky demeanor changed in the instant her gaze hardened. Her glare fell upon me like a guillotine.

I felt a cold sweat working its way down my forehead, the wet bead crawling across my skin uncomfortably as Carmine spoke.

“Thirty seconds.” Carmine spoke in a threatening tone. Shifting her hands as she unsheathed her blade, calling it ornate would have been a total understatement—It was as opulent as an entire castle, forged into a single black blade.

The handle was a pristine black, extending long enough for Carmine to comfortably grip it with one or two hands. Etched into the handle all the way up to the small hilt were golden lines that glimmered with mana brushed into them before flowing into a midnight-black blade. The blade itself was so dark that I could see my reflection cast within it even from the sizable gap separating the two of us.

“Try not to get cut?” Carmine requested before she made the first move. She stepped in with her Katana raised high, swinging her arms down with enough force to leave her blade whistling through the air.

My eyes went wide at the approaching blade—I felt frozen in place from the sudden change of demeanor that Carmine had taken. I barely even reacted in time to stop her blade from finding its rest somewhere inside of my skull.

I stepped back, quickly shifting the grip on my blade as I turned the edge upwards to take on the force of Carmine’s strike. I felt both my arms and legs straining from the strike, a jolt of pain shot its way through my back from the blow, but I still held my ground.

Carmine didn’t wait however, she kept pressing down with her overwhelming strength until I was forced to step back. My arms shot down and I strained to even keep a grip of the blade in my hands. Carmine kept her assault pressed on, a thrust of her blade came in even faster than the downwards strike.

I clenched my teeth and stepped in and to the side—The same way Carmine had blacked my own thrusting strikes earlier, I brought my blade across in an upwards arc aimed at her stomach.

Carmine twisted, swinging her legs across in a sweep that took me clean off of my feet. I fell down hard, landing on my back without my blade even coming close to hitting her before it clattered to the ground beside me.

My entire body locked up from the pain of the impact, stars danced across my vision from my head slamming into the ground. When I did finally regain some focus I saw Carmine’s blade, mere inches away from my eye.

“Hmph,” Carmine harrumphed and stepped back as she sheathed her blade. “Your movement is sloppy.” She commented dryly as I pulled myself back up.

I let out a shuttering groan of pain as I stood up, my entire back felt sore now—And I could feel wet liquid leaking out from the back of my head, not quite to an extreme, but I knew it was more than enough to start smearing my hair with even more grime.

“What else do you expect?…” I asked, slowly picking my blade up as I did so.

“Not much really, I just wanted to see how you could handle a partner who knew how to fight—And you couldn’t, so now I know what to train you with,” Carmine answered as her nonchalant attitude quickly returned. “How's your head feeling?” She asked quickly.

“It’s pounding… and I’m seeing stars.” I answered with a pained breath. I quickly gave up on the idea of standing, my back aching so much that I fell back down onto my rear with a pained grunt.

“Chew on this,” Carmine said as she offered an odd looking azure flower to me—The very same kind that Helina had offered to me before. “It manages pain pretty well.”

“Thanks…” I muttered as I took the flower. Plopping it into my mouth I began to chew slowly, savoring the pleasantly minty taste it left behind. It took several moments for the pain relief to settle in, but when it finally did it left me feeling well enough to at least stand up.

“Pick up your sword,” Carmine commanded as soon as I stood up straight. Panic quickly rushed through my body—And it must have shown on my face as well. “We’re not sparring again right now, just practicing some basic motions.” Carmine added calmly.

“Alright…” I let out a sigh of relief as I spoke. Listening to her command I bent over, grabbing my blade off of the ground and then stood up with it in hand.

“You already have a few basic motions down—A strike, a thrust, and a few other slashes, so I won’t focus on those too much,” Carmine explained, pausing for only a moment to be certain I was listening. “Let’s work on blocks and parries instead, it doesn’t matter how good you are at attacking if you can’t defend yourself for long enough to close the gap.”

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“I guess that makes some sense.” I agreed with her—While I didn’t think my strikes were particularly good, they were certainly better than my non-existent blocks.

“First, let's work on your grip.” Carmine stated as she moved over to the weapon racks. Her own blade disappeared into whatever storage item she had on her, she reached out and grabbed another blade that looked nearly identical to my own scimitar.

“You want to hold your sword in a way that doesn’t let the blade twist in any way you don’t want it to—I’ll try and get some targets for us to practice with before the end of the week, so until then you’ll have to find the basics of how it feels.” Carmine explained as she walked over to stand beside me. She halted in a basic stance, standing with her back straight and one foot extended a single step forward. Both hands remained on her blade, one at the hilt and another just above the pommel.

“Holding a blade like this offers a lot more control, but it comes at the cost of being easier to disarm with a heavy strike,” Carmine continued before sliding her bottom hand forwards, meeting both in a unified grip directly under the hilt. “It’s harder to prevent your blade from twisting when holding higher up, but it gives you a stronger grip to help avoid losing your weapon—Try them both, swing your blade a few times.”

My eyes had remained intently locked upon Carmine as she explained the basics, turning my gaze back to my own blade I nodded slowly—Copying the stance Carmine stood in.

“Like this?” I asked as I moved my hands around the handle of the blade. It took several moments to find a comfortable position to grip it from, twisting my hands around as I moved into a handful of basic downward swings—Carmine just nodded and left me to move around as I pleased.

After a lot of effort in shuffling my hands around I found a relatively comfortable position to hold my blade in. With my foremost hand directly under the hilt and my other hand near the center of the handle.

“How’s this?” I asked as I turned my gaze to Carmine.

“If it's comfortable then it will work for now—Until you can start cutting a few things you won’t know for certain how it feels,” Carmine cleared her throat before stepping around in front of me with her blade raised. “But that’s more than good enough to start learning some motions.”

“First up is a basic block. Swing your blade at me slowly, I’ll show you the motions.” Carmine requested, holding her own sword at the ready by her side.

“Alright.” I complied, taking a step forward—I brought my blade overhead before swinging down with it as slow as I could manage. Carmine stepped in with me, raising her blade up she turned to block the edge of my blade with the flat of hers. She reinforced the flat with the palm of her spare hand, taking the strike and blocking it with absolute ease.

“You don’t want to block something you’re not absolutely confident in stopping. If they’re using a heavier weapon than you, they’ll almost always win that clash—So more often than not you’ll want to parry instead,” Carmine explained as she stepped back, readying her own sword. “You try now.” She commanded.

I took a step back as well, giving her a quick nod of my head for my readiness. She took a step forwards, bringing her blade up and down in a single slow and smooth motion. I met her strike with the same motion she had met mine with—Stepping in I raised my blade, turning the flat upwards while reinforcing it with my opened palm. I felt the harsh pressure run directly down into my wrists and elbows alongside a returning twang of pain from my still sore back.

“Mmmf…” I groaned as I stopped the rather gentle strike, receiving a small smirk from Carmine.

“See? Blocking is good to know, but it shouldn’t be your only option,” Carmine stepped back again, readying her blade. “Strike me again.” She commanded with a firm tone.

I took in a deep breath, bringing my sword back, I stepped forwards into another overhead strike. Carmine countered by keeping both hands on the handle of her blade. Blocking the strike with the edge of the blade she shoved it to the side, sending me stepping forwards rapidly to catch myself.

“Parrying is far more effective at defending than blocking. But it’s harder to master,” Carmine stepped back, raising her blade as I regained my posture. Turning to face Carmine again I hoisted my blade up, watching her posture anxiously. “Let's keep going, practice parrying and blocking.”

Carmine began forwards, striking at me. Our practice continued like this for hours, striking and parrying, blocking and counter attacking. The clanging of metal, the dropping of sweat—Even the occasional drops of blood when one of our strikes went too far. By the time Carmine stepped back even she was breathing a little heavier, sweat beading at the edges of her brow.

“I think that's enough for today…” Carmine sighed out, bringing the back of her wrist to wipe away the gathering sweat.

“Finally…” I groaned as I rolled my sore shoulders around. I was drenched in sweat, I could still feel some blood caking the back of my head—Dirt and grime covered my arms from where I had fallen down a multitude of times during the sparring match. “What do I do with this sword?” I asked, looking at Carmine.

“Keep it, you got that Spatial Ring—So no point in me carrying it around for you. Plus, having a weapon on hand never hurts,” Carmine answered as she turned around, starting back off to the school. “I’m off to take a bath, clean up and rest up Kirin.” She called out as she began to just walk away without another word.

“That’s it?…” I wondered aloud. Carmine didn’t answer my question however, already walking away. I watched her for a handful of moments before a sigh escaped my lips, my sword disappeared into my ring—And Akemi can prancing over to me with an excited yip.

“Sorry… I’m way too tired to go sit in the dining hall tonight—Can you wait for the morning?” I pleaded with the Kitsune. Her eyes widened with a feeling of betrayal marking them, but thankfully it faded away once I leant over to give her a few gentle chin scratches. With a content sigh I stood up, beginning my way back to the school.