The Academy Life (Part 5) Weapons

Sisha stepped up first. It wasn't that the other two were reluctant. Lia just wanted to see Sisha's fighting capabilities.

She picked up an axe roughly 36 centimeters in length. Long enough to be efficiently wielded by both hands, yet capable of being held with one. Spinning it in her hands a few times, she smiled, obviously pleased by its weight. Her grin widened when she saw a few throwing axe holsters. She strapped them to her waist before stepping onto the makeshift arena.

Shino drew his sword and entered a very specific and weird sword stance. He had two hands on his sword, and his arm was raised to his shoulder, sword pointed at Sisha.

Lia thought the stance was wasteful and inefficient. Most of her tutors had taught her that clenching your muscles and being strained wasn't optimal.

Shino moved towards Sisha, bringing his sword down at a 45° angle. She blocked it with the shaft of her axe and kicked towards his chest, forcing him back a half step. Sisha tried to take the opportunity by tilting the shaft of her axe so his sword would slide down.

Instead, his sword was pushed out and away from their bodies, throwing her dominant arm wielding the axe in a wide arc. He had effectively parried her block, creating an opening. His leg moved swiftly and swept her leg out from under her, knocking Sisha to the ground.

She landed heavily but didn't stay down for very long. She rolled back with enough force to launch her back onto her feet, axe still in hand.

Shino didn't let up. He moved into position for another downward slice. His movements seemed clerical, almost like they were being performed by a machine.

His strike missed wildly as Sisha saw it coming. Her body moved underneath his strike, and she swung her axe towards his abdomen. He blocked it with his gauntleted hand, and Sisha clicked her tongue in minor annoyance.

He jumped backward, once more entering his bizarre sword stance before speaking. "Alright, your defensive capabilities are pretty good. Lets see your offense."

Sisha repositioned herself and took a deep breath. She took one step forward before releasing a sudden burst of speed. Her axe came down heavily, now wielded with two hands. It collided against his sword, but his arms suffered no strain against her blow.

Sisha suddenly let go of the axe and dropped low, drawing two small axes made for throwing in the same movement. She swung them in an upward slash. His body tilted back to avoid the swing.

He jumped back before sighing. "Well. I'll go ahead and clear you for the advanced heavy weapon class next year. You're more than capable. Definitely more skilled than I am allowed to teach this year."

Sisha nodded. "I thought that would be the case. I have been training for quite some time."

He nodded at Sisha before turning to Lia and Lacey. "Which of you two will be next?"

Lia was deep in thought. 'Saro, that sword stance seems completely inefficient. It seemed like a brute force method.'

Saro nodded. She was currently sitting in their headspace analyzing the fight. 'Swords are a tool, much like any other. It did seem somewhat inefficient. Regardless, I'm sure it would work in a real fight.'

Lia pondered a bit harder. 'Typically, people who prefer swords do so because they're viewed as the "noble's weapon". Usually, they're graceful and elegant. I'm just wondering if he fought that way because his opponent was using a typical brute-force weapon type.'

Saro nodded. 'He was, I'm pretty sure. It would allow him to get a much better grasp on how his opponent was thinking.'

Lia didn't respond. Instead, she snapped back to reality when Lacey grabbed her arm.

Lacey smiled awkwardly. "You spaced out."

Lia nodded. "Sorry. I tend to do that sometimes when I think too hard. You should fight next, Lacey."

Lacey nodded in response. Her eyes seemed to harden before she picked up a rather plain-looking sword. She looked towards Shino. "I don't entirely know my strength yet, but I'm also really inefficient with a sword. I've never truly wielded any weapons."

He nodded. "I still like to test my students. It gives me a better grasp on where they're at and who they could best spar with."

Lacey nodded as she moved into position. Shino assumed the same stance and surged forward. His sword came down at a 45° angle, and Lacey swung hers to meet his. She used what she thought was the correct amount of strength to parry him.

There was an extremely loud *Ping* as Shino's sword was flung back with an extreme amount of force. Both of his arms were launched back and the sword was completely knocked out of his hand. It flew for a few meters before clanging to the floor.

Everyone stood there shocked for a moment. Lacey chuckled awkwardly and Shino sighed. "That's on me. I didn't expect you to be that strong. I didn't use enough force, and you used way more than I thought you had."

Lacey looked around awkwardly. "I..uh..sorry..?"

Shino moved to pick his sword up before once again moving into position. His sword stance was the same. "It's alright. We'll give this another go."

Lacey nodded and Shino launched forward once again. His sword came down much heavier, and Lacey attempted to parry him once again. Unfortunately for her, the first parry seemed to have landed by sheer luck, and she totally missed. Shino's sword hit Lacey's chest rather hard and she was sent tumbling. It would've been a fatal blow if the sword wasn't made for practice.

He nodded. "You'll fit perfectly in this class. Sorry for that extremely heavy blow. I expected you to attempt to dodge, or move out of the way. I also had to know if you had any unnatural talents."

Lacey immediately began to stand up. "I'm fine. It didn't hurt that much if I'm honest."

Lia had been analyzing the situation. 'Saro, that blow would have at least cracked a rib on a typical person. How is she completely fine? There's no magic cast on this area, is there?'

Saro didn't answer immediately, but when she did, she sounded surprised. 'There's no magic in this arena. From what I can tell, Lacey is practically fine. I'm not entirely sure what just happened. You're right though, it should've at least cracked a rib or bruised one. Her mana flow spiked suddenly after she was hit.'

Lia mentally nodded. 'We'll mull over this a bit later. It's our turn now.'