Panting, Ava stood in front of Kassidy and carefully held the short sword in her right hand in front of her, leaving as little gaps in her guard as possible. Carefully watching the man, she paid close attention to his movements, prepared to strike back the moment Kassidy made a move. Slightly glancing to the right, she couldn't help but eye the short sword that was about a meter away from her to the left. She had lost it earlier when repelling Kassidy's attacks, and if she could get it back…
As Ava was thinking, Kassidy noticed her eyes flicker for a second and didn't give up the opportunity. Lunging forward, he quickly thrust his sword toward Ava, aiming for her heart without mercy. Of course, if Ava was really unable to defend, he would quickly withdraw his sword, but Ava would still be left with a pretty nasty cut. Swords had no eyes, after all.
Watching the sword come towards her, Ava couldn't help but turn grim, quickly taking a step back to force Kassidy to overextend if he wanted to hit her while also swinging her short sword up to try to deflect the force of Kassidy's blow. Unwilling to give up the opportunity, Kassidy took small, steady steps forward and continued pushing Ava back.
Taking slow and steady backward, Ava was careful to ensure that while she was backing off, her center of balance was still stable and that her feet were still firmly on the ground. The last thing she wanted was to give a bigger opening. Moving back, she waited patiently for Kassidy to overextend and leave an opening, but although the man was putting significant pressure on Ava, his movements were still steady and calculated.
Realizing she was approaching the edge of the training area, Ava couldn't help but feel a little nervous and exerted more force in her strikes. Although this led to her being more vulnerable, it also increased the chances for Kassidy to mess up. Suddenly, as Kassidy was extending forward to strike once again, Ava mustered all her force and heavily deflected Kassidy's sword, placing them both in a state where they couldn't easily attack. Taking the opportunity, Ava quickly ran to the side, positioning herself so that she and Kassidy were now parallel to the wall she had just been backing up into.
Unwilling to let her escape, Kassidy angled his sword towards her back, but unlike before, where Ava had been taking slow steps back, she was moving much quicker this time around and practically running as she ran towards the center of the room where her second sword had dropped.
Realizing what Ava was after, Kassidy sped up his steps. Although Ava was marginally faster than him, if she stopped to pick up the sword, he would have a chance to land a heavy blow, ending this round of training. But as Ava was about a meter away from the sword on the ground, she suddenly turned around and struck a heavy blow on Kassidy, who was chasing behind her.
As Kassidy had also started running and was in a slight rush, his footwork was much less steady than before, adding the element of surprise. With any luck, Ava would finally be able to win an exchange.
But to her disappointment, when she swung back, she didn't even manage to come in contact with Kassidy or his sword, as he sidestepped back and then beside her, looking like a specter before knocking the sword out of Ava's hand and angling it towards her.
After a second, Kassidy lowered the sword and let out an approving nod. "Good job."
Confused, Ava looked up at Kassidy inquisitively, and he said, "Good acting, good strike. I used a higher level of footwork which is why I was able to avoid your strike."
Thinking for a moment, Ava nodded and picked up her two swords. Over the past two weeks, Ava had gradually moved away from simply training in static motions and had started sparring with Kassidy, of course, Kassidy, being who he was, would by no means coddle Ava during the sparring and would come at her as if he intended to kill her. Of course, that wasn't actually the case, or else Ava would have long since died.
Eyeing the beads of sweat on Ava's forehead and the slight heaving of her chest, Kassidy shook his head and said, "Tomorrow." Before walking out of the hall.
Annoyed, Ava looked at Kassidy's back and was tempted to throw a dagger, but in the end, restrained herself. Over the past two weeks, the greatest thing she had learned, perhaps, was that even though she wanted to continue training, that didn't mean that any of her instructors were willing to indulge her. Kassidy, for one, would simply leave when he had enough, while Vaylah had learned to hold back sweets and glare at Ava after failing to convince her through words alone if she kept pushing herself. As for Greg, who was her knife-throwing instructor, he was a simple person who wouldn't work longer than he was paid. Although to be fair, Ava didn't have much interest in continuing to do additional training with Greg, either.
Sighing, Ava picked up the two swords off the ground before placing them on a nearby rack before returning home. Although Kassidy had told her that the swords were hers, in her current condition, using a knife was still much more convenient for everyday life. Besides, if she left them here, someone would maintain them for her. Although Ava wasn't so stingy that she wouldn't buy polishing grease for these sorts of things, it was still better to let someone else do the handiwork.
Stepping out into the street, Ava quickly looked around and saw no sign of Kassidy, and she couldn't help but let out a sigh of admiration. Although she had taken a moment longer to put away her stuff, it hadn't been so long that she couldn't even catch a trace of the man. Over their last few sessions, there had been quite a few times where she had followed practically behind his butt and still couldn't track him.
Honestly, if she had a chance, she'd like to learn footwork skills from Kassidy as well.