"Haah haaah, are... you... serious? I can barely stand up... and you want me to continue? Give me a break!"
Kazuki wheezed as he lay on the ground, covered in sweat and dirt. Hikari reproachfully glared at him before letting him rest, revising the training session they had just gone through for mistakes Kazuki had made.
(3 hours ago)
"So today we will be doing sword training?" Kazuki asked as he took out the training sword he had received from Hikari.
"Not necessarily. I still don't know exactly how much magic, swordsmanship, and martial arts you have learned, so I am just gauging your abilities. Now don't waste time with idle chatter and take a stance."
Hikari remarked before taking out a sword of his own, but unlike the metal sword Kazuki had, his was made of wood, which puzzled Kazuki.
"Are you going to spar with that sword?"
"You think you could cut through it just because it is made of wood?" Hikari challenged as he himself took a stance.
Kazuki shrugged, it wasn't his place to give advice.
"Stop the circulation of mana through your mana veins, and don't strengthen your sword with mana. Only spar with pure sword techniques."
Hikari commanded before readying his sword.
Kazuki nodded before taking a defensive stance, his instincts warning him that he would not be given a chance to take the initiative, which turned out to be true.
"Begin!" Hikari shouted before immediately disappearing from his position.
Kazuki barely dodged the sudden slash from behind by crouching, quickly plunging his sword back towards Hikari's chest before it was deflected by Hikari's own sword.
*tch*
Kazuki's sword hand was in an unfavorable position, so he tried to jump and create some distance between them, but Hikari blocked his path by continuously striking him, forcing him to defend.
*grunt*
Kazuki was already struggling against the never-ending assault when Hikari aimed for and struck his leg, making him lose his balance. Hikari saw his chance and, without waiting, quickly struck Kazuki's sword hand, disarming him.
Kazuki was dumbfounded. He also observed Hikari's sword and realized it wasn't chipped even after being in direct contact with his sword. While his own sword was bent out of its original shape.
"Surprised?" Hikari asked as he handed Kazuki another metal sword. "Want to prove me wrong again?" Hikari taunted, trying to rile Kazuki up, which worked as Kazuki all but snatched the sword, determined to at least push Hikari back.
He couldn't have been more wrong.
(present time)
"How long are you going to whine for? You have a lot of improvements to make in your battle style."
"You haven't taught me anything! You've just been beating me for the past 3 hours! In what world is that sword training?!"
Hikari clicked his tongue before clearing the ground of broken swords and summoning two wooden swords.
"You have no natural flowing techniques. You compensate by brute forcing your way, but if you ever fight a decent swordsman in close quarters, you won't be able to do anything." Hikari chided before elaborating further.
"The few defensive moves you do have are either too obvious or don't give you a chance for counterattack, making them meaningless."
"Now I want you to focus your eyes on me and follow everything I do to the letter. Copy my every move as it is, and you will realize the difference between us."
after only one spar
".....My footwork," Kazuki lamented as he realized his glaring fault. Even after he had just sparred for 30 minutes, he wasn't tired because he hadn't moved more than 15 yards.
Even his body movements were efficient, and he never once overcut his strikes.
"The main reason why I asked you not to use magic was to show you what you currently lack clearly. Even if I had defeated you with magic, you would just think that I am better at magic than you, but you wouldn't be able to pinpoint your own mistakes."
When Hikari explained, Kazuki found it to be true. Even after their previous spars, he wasn't able to accurately pinpoint what he lacked, so he just questioned something that Hikari hadn't explained yet.
"Why did you use a wooden sword?"
To this question, Hikari made a big smile and said,
"To make it clear that you are not even at the level where sword materials might make a difference. I could fight you with a stick too, but you might accuse me that the stick is an artifact."
As Hikari was gleefully explaining this, Kazuki finally reached the conclusion that Hikari quite enjoyed seeing him suffer, both mentally and physically.
'Sadistic b*****d' Kazuki grumbled before resuming the training session.
Memories of this day would haunt Kazuki for a long time....