The sword slashed through the wind, swung from below. Arriving at the dummy weapon however, all of its momentum vanished away. Standing there with his muscles screaming from the tensity, Lutiel gnashed his teeth whilst trying to pry at Folvana’s sword.

  Regardless, she effortlessly pinned his blade, eyeing his somewhat bloodied face through a straight mien. Moving instantly, a simple motion allowed her to evaporate his stance. His weapon flying back down to the grass, Lutiel’s unguarded body invited itself to the lady.

  Another gash appeared whilst his clothes tore apart around the arm before blood swiftly poured out. Clenching his jaw at the pain, the man didn’t lose focus in the slightest. His feet moved away in a succinct flow, briskly avoiding another attack.

  The weapon’s tip descended perilously close to his neck, barely missing before the man veered forwardly. Putting himself in the first stance Folvana had taught him, Lutiel swung the metal, only to feel his arms tremor incessantly.

  “Ugh,” the man mumbled through his teeth, witnessing the girl put her sword against his adroitly. Lutiel could do nothing against the lady in front of him. Even if his sword was deemed to hit her, it still wouldn’t. ‘Haa,’ still, through an internal sigh, Lutiel continued to feel the battle’s rush.

  She had once again made his stance stagger, his blade accelerating to the side whilst she cut through his flesh, but he didn’t dare stop for a second. With a wheeze, he briskly omitted the thrust at his chin before clenching the jaws, his instructor suddenly changing directions to beat his skin black and blue.

  “Weren’t we supposed to spar with just the two stances I learned?” He was quick to complain, but the girl in front of him didn’t reply. Continuing to go forward, she swung the sword at his defenses. Pried away once again, a nick appeared around his left cheek in the time he tried to dodge.

  “Will you believe your enemy in a real battle? Any moves are allowed before an opponent,” she said with a cheeky tongue, despite the calm demeanor. And, as if to show the truth of her words, Folvana lurched forward, making him flinch.

  Looking at his reactions however, she leaned back and kicked his torso thunderously, the man swiftly falling to his knees. “See?” The lips asked, watching him gasp for air. “Stand up and continue.”

  ‘I wish I could,’ he muttered internally, promptly looking up at the cold stares coming from her eyes. Biting his lips, Lutiel raised his right knee and supported himself up through it, swiftly standing along the grass again.

  Although a few harsh breaths escaped his mouth, the lips glued themselves together, resting calmly as he raised his sword above the right shoulder.

  At the same time as he finished putting on the stance, Folvana acted. Walking forward with a stance of her own, she yet again sparked at him like lightning. The man acted quickly and replied back with his blade, however, the result was very much identical to prior.

  Right as the swords met, they hesitated for a fleeting breath before Folvana’s might overpowered the man, slipping him from the path and resulting in another injury. ‘Fuck,’ cursing inside whilst clenching his jaw, Lutiel nippily gathered himself, seeing as she made no attempts in stopping her approach.

  The sword had already arrived near the man’s chest, for which he brought his blade’s base up, stopping the sudden thrust. Even though he staggered against the ground faintly, the veiled soil was swiftly uncovered by his footwork, creating more and more pits inside the grass after trying to evade her assaults.

  Most of the attempts were still rendered unsuccessful, but the man was at least able to get in a few attacks of his own. Though, each of them ended up similarly.

  Flying through the space while cutting the wind apart, his weapon swiftly plummeted at the wood, his arms trembling as he couldn’t splinter her sword. Like usual, her figure moved despite him trying to hinder her mobility, however, making her eyes open wider momentarily, he went with her. Clasping their weapons with the brinks, he stopped his tutor from reaching the already tattered skin.

  Even though she cut through at the third try and started to attack once again, Lutiel’s composed gaze scoured through her, unswerving. Following the lowered stance along a sword slashing upwards, he swiftly replied with a strike down from above his shoulder.

  A harsh thud sprung out as their forces met, followed by a grating brush along the metal’s edge. She swiftly eased her way outside of his clinch, grazing the sword away before slashing down diagonally.

  She lingered at the left breast of the man, however, the slash from the side he performed stopped her approach, only for a while. Once again getting his sword stuck in the dirt, she dug through his abdomen with the blunt, wooden tip.

  His jaw clenched up immediately, but he couldn’t stay in the position after seeing the girl readying to head for the unshielded shoulder of his. Quickly making up a stance from the current position, he guided the sword along his left leg before arriving underneath the wood.

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  Halting her movements, the girl stared at him with dubious eyes, effortlessly getting away. Still, despite his harsh breathing and sluggish movements, Lutiel made sure to stop the incoming attack.

  On the other hand, Folvana lightly pushed at the swinging sword, throwing his arms off the pace. Standing before the unshielded man, a faint waft ignited her image, flowing together towards his face.

  Staring unhesitantly at the sword heading right for his face, a droplet of sweat trickled down his bridge. Looking at the wooden tip pinching against the cusp of his nose, Lutiel saw as the sweat bead swiftly gained a crimson vibrance, mingling with the blood before dripping on the ground.

  Taking the sword away before glancing at his heaving chest, Folvana stood in serene silence. Staring at his face that dripped blood for a while, Lutiel witnessed as she promptly raised an empty arm, his eyes flinching suddenly at the fleeting brightness coming outside of her palm.

  ‘What was that?’ He asked inwardly while the girl led her eyes aside. Quickly tracing his fingers along the face, he took the hand down before looking down at the clean tips. No blood was on his face anymore.

  “You’re growing more than I expected. Even though we started sparring only two days ago, you’re already able to respond to two successive attacks,” she praised the man while turning her head. Nodding faintly at her words, Lutiel's breath steadily receded back to normalcy.

  “Thank you,” he said tersely, however, staring into her eyes for a bit longer, his lips parted again. “Do you think I would be able to defeat human knights now?”

  The girl raised an eyebrow at the question, only for it to fall back a second later. “Not a chance. Even though you’re getting better at attacking, you still can’t do it confidently. Well, you’re not going to change that for a while, that’s why we’re doing this exercise. Which seems to work,” she said softly, staring deeply into his eyes. “I can see hatred starting to grow inside you. You don’t like getting hit, do you?”

  “Why would I?” The man asked, looking down at the arms of his jacket, torn apart and crimson in a few places. “I practically couldn’t move for the past two days,” he said with a slightly annoyed tone, making the girl toss a small smirk at him.

  “That’s the point,” she said, following up before his contorted eyebrows could furrow further. “Besides, from the way you’ve been moving around, I can tell you’re not getting sore.”

  “Yes?” He asked suddenly, listening to ominous words.

  “Of course, we have to raise the intensity,” she spoke, making him freeze in place slightly.

  “You’re kidding, right?”

  “No, I’m not one to joke around,” Folvana said with a straight face, looking at him solemnly before the man finally sighed.

  “What kind of intensity are you talking about?” He asked whilst sparing a glance. Although, despite moving his eyes towards the tree with a hollowed out portion of its bark, his head started to turn back on its own, looking at the lady without being able to do otherwise.

  Staring at her loose figure, his eyes widened and the hair swayed back, battling the soft wafts around them. Right in front of him, the sword’s tip appeared yet again, the girl silhouette having changed momentarily.

  Swiftly turning to the initial position, Folvana’s face kept its seriousness all throughout, only to break out into a faint amusement near the end. “This one. Though, we will increase the pace from tomorrow. You’re already wounded enough for today,” she said, somewhat easing the man’s face.

  “That being said, move into a stance. We’re not done just yet,” the instructor spoke, making him falter for a breath before giving the girl a nod in agreement.

  Thereafter, while she moved around him, Lutiel slowly delved into a stance. Folvana no longer made him replicate her moves. Rather, she circled the man with her sword at display. “Keep the pose up until I say otherwise,” her voice trailed along his ears.

  Moving the sword next to his right leg, he pointed it at the ground before staying there, breathing steadily whilst trying not to deviate from the position. Still, he firstly grit his teeth when a sword fell atop his flesh, albeit meeker compared to the spar.

  “Correct your legs,” she uttered from behind, to which he moved immediately. However, looking down to see where his feet were, he quickly yelped out painfully. “Why are you glancing down? Are you going to have such leisure in a battle?” Folvana asked away, leaving him to adjust the legs blindly.

  With four additional strikes along his legs, Lutiel could finally keep his stance through the space, standing there silently as the girl didn’t stop commanding his actions. A few tens of breaths fell out as he kept in place, meanwhile her voice brushed past his shoulders swiftly.

  “Change the stance into the first one I taught you,” she uttered, keenly watching as he calmly received the words.

  Turning immediately, only his torso differed. Yet, as soon as he stopped moving, the man groaned abruptly at the hit. “What’s wrong now?” He blurted out, but the girl simply continued her approach.

  “Your grip is off,” Folvana quickly informed, and he followed. Still, even if she didn’t aim for the wrists, the sword hit through the arms. “Position the sword better.”

  Similarly as before, a few more hits sprawled out of her before the man could finally rest with calm breaths. Yet, even his lungs started to hesitate the longer he handled the cold metal.

  Staying in the position while listening to the wind’s rhythm, he couldn’t help but grit his teeth slightly as his arms started to twitch. Threatening to fall after another tens of heavy breaths left him, before they could however, her voice sprung back directly from behind, catching the man off guard.

  “Move back to the previous one,” she said calmly, almost whispering directly into his ears. Moving under her words, the man happily led his arms down, swiftly pointing the blade back at the grass. No punishment fell upon him however, budding a seed of doubt inside.

  Instantly, his body flinched. Feeling a faint graze across his pants, he tried looking down, only for his head to twitch back forcefully. “Why are you breaking your stance?” She asked, with the same amount of solemnity inside her voice as before. “Do not move, despite any distractions,” the girl said whilst clinging to his jacket from behind, slowly beginning to tighten her grasp around his crotch.