An hour later, Kassidy returned to the room. Looking at Ava, who was stretching in a corner, he let out a small smirk and said, "Are you going to quit?"
Turning around, Ava looked at Kassidy and said, "No."
Nodding, Kassidy said, "Good." Then, reaching into his cloak, he pulled out a short sword that was silvery gray in color, with a hilt that was flat on one end and hooked out on the other. Tossing it over to Ava, Ava caught it with a confused gaze.
"No more games then. Strike."
Thinking for a moment, Ava eyed the leather-padded iron sword to the right and thought for a moment before nodding. Weighing the sword in her right hand, she realized that although it was smaller than the sword before and didn't have a leather coating, it was just as heavy as the training sword from before. Lifting the sword up, Ava steadied her movements for a second before striking down, mustering as much force as she could.
Watching the sword come towards him, Kassidy stood unmoving and didn't react. As the sword crossed the line where Kassidy would have deflected it before, Ava couldn't help but frown. As Ava was hesitating and wondering if she should deviate the sword to the side, suddenly, a dark flash appeared, and Ava felt a biting pain as the sword was knocked out of her hand, and a blister appeared between her fingers.
Biting her lip, Ava stared at Kassidy warily, carefully sliding her injured hand behind her and her free hand toward her waist.
Staring at Ava, Kassidy finally said with a hoarse voice, "Again."
Squinting her eyes, Ava eyed Kassidy before finally moving towards the sword, keeping her eyes trained on Kassidy the entire way. Grabbing the sword, Ava squinted a little as the weight of the sword pressed upon her injury but ignored it and passed it to her left hand.
Moving back to the center of the field, Ava stared at Kassidy and couldn't help but hesitate. Although this was training, Ava couldn't help but feel stiffed, being forced to attack in the same overhead motion every time. But understanding that the point wasn't to actually fight Kassidy right now but rather to ingrain the motions into her habits, Ava held the sword firmly and lifted it up before swinging down yet again.
Again, as the sword was just about to hit Kassidy, a black flash appeared. Expecting it this time, Ava gritted her teeth and held onto the hilt of the sword tightly, and slightly adjusted the sword to clash directly with the flash in order to deflect some of the momentum. But, as she had put in most of her weight and force in the initial flash, Ava was only able to slightly deviate from the trajectory of the sword, resulting in loud scratching noise as the sword was once again flung out of her hand.
Looking at her empty hand and the slight trail of blood running between her thumb and pointer finger, Ava let out a sigh. Looking up at Kassidy, Ava said with resolution in her voice. "Again?"
"Again."
Nodding, Ava ran over to the sword and grabbed it again, not bothering to watch Kassidy this time around. Following the previous clash, she had all but confirmed that if Kassidy wanted to kill her, there was little she could do to fight back. The man outclassed her in strength, which she didn't find surprising, but more importantly, he outclassed her in agility. The fact that she could only see a black flash proved that she wasn't able to track the trajectory of the sword properly. In an actual fight, using a sword, she would quickly be whipped into place, and using a dagger, she would die before she got close enough to try anything.
Picking up the sword, she passed it to her right hand and gritted her teeth at the stinging pain that came from the feeling of leather on her wound. Turning back to face Kassidy, she struck down once again.
…
Later that evening, Ava couldn't help but rub her fingers together regretfully as she sat at a dining table waiting for Lily. Although she approved of Ghost Hand's skill and didn't regret her training, she couldn't help but wish she had managed to keep one hand intact. With how things were, it would be rather hard to eat dinner tonight without experiencing some suffering.
After a little while, Lily made her way over from the main building of the Foxes Respite. With some curiosity, Ava couldn't help but wonder if Lily got much work. After all, over the past few weeks, she often seemed rather free to play around with Ava. But looking at her beautiful scarlet hair that cascaded down to her shoulders and her shapely body, Ava couldn't help but doubt her conjecture.
Shaking the thoughts out of her head, Ava remained seated, lifting one hand to wave at Lily, who let out a cheerful smile in return. Walking over, Lily couldn't help but let out a small frown before cupping Ava's hands, which were coated in a thin layer of gauze. "What happened?"
Glancing at her hands for a moment before shaking her head, Ava said, "I made a couple of mistakes while training."
Biting her lip, Lily looked at Ava for a moment before sighing. "Forget it. Have you seen Ahri yet?"
Lifting her hand, Ava let out a small smile and gave Lily a look.
Looking at the gauze, Lily let out a small laugh and said with a slightly evil tone, "Oh, ho! So you're gonna bully your older sister now, are you?" Then, taking advantage of the fact that Ava's hands were incapacitated, Lily reached over and slightly tickled Ava on the waist.
Squirming, Ava let out a small laugh while smacking Lily on the back with the heel of her hand, "Stop it, stop! Haha, Lily, come on. I'm going to hit you if you keep going."
Reluctantly, Lily retrieved her mischievous paws before scratching her chin and eying Ava's hands. A cunning glint flashing through her eyes, Lily said, "So… I see little Ava hasn't eaten yet. Could it be that you want your beautiful sister Lily to feed you?"
Biting her lip slightly, Ava stared at Lily with a slightly reproachful gaze.
Letting out a grin, Lily said, "Tell me that I'm the best sister ever, and I'll reluctantly help my little Ava."
Squinting, Ava glared at Lily before slightly turning her body and shouting, "Ahri! Haley! We're over here."
Startled, Lily turned around.