The glistening transparent long sword shimmered as Gregory waved it about. Kellen was panting with sweet dripping down his lean body as he tried dodging the trajectory of the swinging longsword.
'That prick made any contact with this thing shock me on purpose!'
He was being repeatedly smacked with this sword like shock baton as he tried to get used to the different movements of a sword.
Trying out different movements to try to dodge the sword was difficult, since failure meant receiving shock therapy, but Kellen did his utmost to adapt to the new type of combat.
'This is really difficult when compared to just hand-to-hand combat. I keep trying to read the movements of the sword but it doesn't look like that is helping at all.' thought Kellen as he assessed his performance up until now.
If he considered that every time he was shocked meant receiving a fatal blow from the sword then he would have been dead at least one hundred times over by now. At this rate, Kellen new he would be getting nowhere if he didn't consider changing his approach.
'When I was facing him while he was unarmed, I didn't have a tough time reading his punches or kicks unless they were a feint. At that point I needed to pay more attention to his stance and the changing movements in his hips and shoulders...'
By using this way of thinking, Kellen decided to focus his attention away from the sword and look closer at the dummy's movements of his shoulders and hips. It took a few tries and a few shocks before Kellen was able to start distinguishing the linking movements of the sword to the dummy's stance.
'There!'
Kellen notice that which ever shoulder dropped or raised meant he would be receiving a slash from that shoulder's side, along with a low or high slash depending on the raise or lowering of the shoulder.
Discovering the connection between the movement of the dummy's body's and the longsword, Kellen successfully dodged the attack by ducking under the incoming sword. However, instead of moving backwards like he always did he stepped closer to his opponent, and noticed that the movements of the longsword were completely useless at this close of a range to its target.
"Got ya!" said Kellen as he wrapped his arms around the dummy's one sword wielding arm, close to its shoulder area, and pulled down over his own shoulder.
The longsword was rendered useless as the Gregory's shadowy body hit the ground with his back after being thrown by Kellen.
Kellen then took the sword that had fallen out of the dummy's grasp and slash its shadowy transparent like neck. The dummy's image shattered and reappeared like normal beside Osiris.
Osiris was getting a kick out of the kid being shocked like a cow running into an electric fence, but he was still impressed by the speed at which the kid learned through fighting experience alone.
"Seems like you've got a handle on hand-to-hand. Let's see how you manage with that sword." said Osiris as he snapped his fingers to summon another sword for Gregory.
Osiris wanted to see if the kid truly was a combat genius or simply just lucky by trusting a gut feeling.
Gregory walked back over with the same longsword in hand and faced off with Kellen.
'I have no idea what I'm doing...'
Kellen had never wielded a sword before and the closest thing he could equivalate it to was a baseball bat he had swung back in little league before his parents had died.
He didn't understand the different stances one would use, or even know when of any, so he locked into the only one he knew, which was a baseball batting stance.
Osiris laughed to himself as he looked at the funny looking stance the kid had taken against Gregory.
"All your missing now is a ball! What are you standing like that for... Are you trying to hit a home run!" said Osiris as he chuckled at the inexperienced kid.
"Stupid old man..." mumbled Kellen embarrassedly as he stayed in his stance and readied himself for the dummy to attack.
With Kellen's new strength it wouldn't have been to difficult to hit a homerun back in his old world and probably could got an out of the park one at that. But this situation was completely different from hitting a baseball, and he had to focus even harder to read the incoming attacks of the sword while even trying to deflect them!
'All those TV shows I used to watch with my dad made it look so easy...' thought Kellen as he tried to imagine the different movements he had seen from those shows like StarWars.
Now that he thought about it, the shock baton like swords they were using were kind of similar to those lightsabers. However, he soon found out that the movies and real-life were vastly different as he was only able to deflect the first attack before being shocked again.
"Damn it!" yelled Kellen as he was shocked a few times after failing to block Gregory's sword swings.
His form was extremely crude and unbalanced, which didn't allow for him to adjust fast enough in order to deflect the attacks after the first swing.
'Looks like even geniuses need some help...' chuckled Osiris to himself as he continued to watch the runt getting his body shocked repeatedly after failing to receive more than one attack.
He let Gregory shock the poor kid a couple more times before he decided to intervene for his first "lesson."
"Gregory stop for a moment and come here for a second!" said Osiris as he waved his summoned dummy over to himself.
"Ha..."
"Ha..."
"Ha..."
Kellen panted as he planted the longsword in the ground with both of his hands to rest for a moment as he watched Osiris and the dummy.
"You've got some good eyes but that will only get you so far... What you lack is foundation. Here, watch Gregory for a few moments before continuing." directed Osiris as he snapped his fingers and a thin barrier surrounded the dummy.
Inside this barrier, time seemed to have slowed down half a step, as the dummy began performing his sword movements.
Kellen watched extremely closely and followed the different movements of the dummy while also paying attention to its footing.
He could instantly tell that his batting form was very different from a sword stance and only offered him a single action. Whereas the dummy's stance was very balanced and could be interchangeable with different steps and sword swings.
The slow rendition of the dummy's movements offered Kellen insight into a new world, unlike his previous one and the fantasy like nightmare he was transported to, but a fascinating and beautiful one; world of swordplay.
He felt more embarrassed of his crude batting form he had used and understood the reason for the old man's laughter. When compared to this beautiful and intricate art, his brutish and crude movements were like sand before glass.
'Since the longsword is supposed to be used with two hands and is heavy, if I only rely on my arm strength then I won't be able to have quick movements or be able to adjust after a swing... But if I use the centripetal force of my body I can swing and react faster, and by adjusting my steps or footwork I can avoid losing control of the sword's momentum after a swing...'
Kellen took mental notes of the differences between his crude and lacking form and the graceful movements of the dummy.
Eventually the thin barrier surrounding the dummy fell and the movements of the dummy were completed. The real challenge Kellen faced now was whether he could adopt the flowing movements of the dummy and make them his own.
Osiris shooed Gregory over to Kellen after he let the kid take a few moments to practice what he had seen.
"Alright! Try to perform the new actions you just saw while facing Gregory now!" said Osiris as he pushed Gregory towards the awkward moving runt.
'After seeing him adapt to the hand-to-hand combat by picking out Gregory's different flaws... I have a theory as to what this brat's greatest potential is. He's a visual learner that can copy and adapt to what he sees...' thought Osiris after he studied the different types of progress he made during the mock combat.
Osiris still wasn't completely sure whether his theory was correct or just an aimless assumption, but with these next few matches he believed he would soon discover his answer.
Kellen finished his sloppy version of what he had seen the dummy perform in the little "time bubble," and prepared himself with a completely different stance than his previous one as Gregory rushed over to him.
'Time to try out my first form!' thought Kellen excitedly.
The first swing of the dummy's sword came towards him and was deflect like before, but what was unlike the other times, was a second parry that clashed against the next sword movement and pushed the dummy backwards a step.
"I can see it now!" shouted Kellen as he prepared himself to launch a counter.
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Final chapter for today; I hope you enjoy! If you want to read more of my writing, check out my other book I've been working on for awhile titled: It's Nothing Personal, Just Business. These two works are my first projects I've tried my hand at, so I appreciate all the support and advice I receive. I'll see you guys tomorrow when I release the next two chapters for this work, as always, much love guys! :)