Some Swordplay And Teachings.

As Zyl arrived with Ellie, Darwin was already standing at the middle of the training ground with two swords at hand.

He tosses one to Zyl and said,

"Get into position, boy."

Zyl and Darwin are now standing toe to toe against each other with their swords drawn out and there was a huge silence surrounding the whole training ground.

The spectators already had their bets placed and now are eagerly but calmly spectating the spar.

They know very well as how this spar will turn to a duel since Zyl is now known to be passionate whenever it comes to warfare.

"Once again, show me your swordplay and I'll help you out on the places you are lacking in."

Darwin made the note before the tip of their swords clashed. Then after, did Zyl rush at him but had already decided to limit himself to Darwin's rank, being S rank.

Their swords clashed against each other and with just little or no observation, it was obvious that Zyl's strikes pack a punch, which get to force Darwin's wrist to set in motion.

This made Darwin's hand on which the sword was being held with to move back in correspondence to the sword hits that were still easily defended by him.

Zyl being lost in a state where he has to forcibly control his output while trying to figure out a way to have his sword make contact with Darwin's skin and luckily enough for him, he was able to think of a means to do so.

With his arms stationed in a way to go upwards and with his current display of his swordplay, he was quite confident that he would be able to achieve that since Darwin will take him quite unserious.

He decides to go for the head and predictably, Darwin's blade got positioned to parry Zyl's attack against his head causing Zyl to make a sudden twist with his hand and go for the torso.

To be more precise, the trajectory focused at Darwin's ribs and to his surprise, Darwin was quick enough to parry the strike, thereby, causing Zyl to take two steps back.

He didn't withdraw there and charged straight back in, first, an attack against Darwin's right leg which was actually a feint as the main idea was to strike Darwin's arm if he is to parry the feint attack.

Unfortunately for Zyl, Darwin stretched his arm forth to parry it and unknowingly for Zyl as well, Darwin was able to see his sword's path and twisted his wrist to make the sword move in a clockwise movement and stationed it upright, thereby, hitting off against Zyl's sword which brought imbalance to him.

Darwin twisted his wrist once again to make the edges face Zyl by positioning the sword horizontally and then, he suddenly went for Zyl's neck, only to halt his sword as it was an inch away from Zyl's neck.

With a sigh, Zyl drops his sword and lifts his two hands in utter defeat and to the shock of the spectators, they cheered as many were able to make the right bet while others rushed at Zyl and punched him to the ground in disappointment but Zyl accepted those punches as a way for him to accept his defeat.

After a while, everyone got off him and headed towards the group of people who are responsible for organising the bets in order to brag and give excuses as well as bargain for a better loss.

A hand was stretched out towards him, Zyl looked up to see it was Darwin's.

He took hold of it and helped himself up with Darwin's aid.

Darwin then passed the sword back to him and decided to give him some pointers,

"Your sword packs a punch but to be honest, it's nothing if the areas you strike are being defended perfectly, that is where techniques come to play.

For example, being able to feint an attack which was meant for my right leg not knowing that you were just waiting for me to position my sword while you go after my wrist, that indeed, is a nice idea for a strategy.

You see, we have the feint technique, the counter attack technique which I used on you, the sword dance technique, the fencing technique, the domineering or overpowering technique and the footing technique.

The feint has to do with the bodies flexibility and it's adaptation.

People somehow conclude that it's main goal is to just create a fake attack while forgetting that the fake attack has to be real enough to the extent that it won't be questioned.

Again, we also forget that the second attack shouldn't be the last.

The feint technique is an attack pattern that deals with repeatable backups in such a way if the enemy parries an attack, a counter measure is taken to strike again with another attack, even if that gets parried, another attack is carried out and so on.

An advanced feint technique assures you to return back to the first feint attack after the third or fourth as well as, on the second attempt of the third or fourth feint attack, the next attack switches to a whole new combo attack pattern with the previous attack being the new first feint attack.

As for the counter attack technique, it deals with three main pointers which are; dodge or block and attack, misbalance and attack, block and then body repositioning and attack.

To be more precise; firstly, you dodge or block the enemy's attack and attack from a blind side or attack quick enough to exert critical damage by striking the sword into possible vital organ targets.

For the second, you block, parry or ward of the enemies weapon thereby, throwing the enemy's balance off the scale and then, charge in with a critical strike.

It can be done by either kicking your enemies to fall back and charge right in or with your palm, push off the enemy's weapon while striking in harmony or double handling your sword to ward off the enemy's weapon and going in for a strike.

Then, for the last main pointer, repositioning your body, so that if you're going in for the strike while neglecting the enemy's weapon, whose motion was suspended, the suspended strike won't land on you while you deal the finishing blow.

This particular pointer can be turned into perfection if the footing technique is applied in it.

This technique requires mainly of high strength, dexterity, reflex and speed. These two techniques can be applied in other weapons as well.

Then we have the sword dance technique, whereby, flashy movements of the sword are made and are accompanied by flashy footsteps or dance moves, thereby, putting the opponent into the state of confusion of not knowing where the attack will come from.

The last statement indicates precise and fast movements but again, the flashy sword movements are not meant to be blunt, feint or weak, as well as the footsteps or dance moves applied to it.

The flashy sword movements are meant to be possible legit attacking patterns whereby, wherever the sword is positioned, it is eligible to make a critical attack as it will be balanced by the body's current position as well as enhancing the strength applied to the strike.

Here, stamina, flexibility, strength, balance and speed is required.

To master a sword dance using a normal sword is hard but deadly if mastered as well as it being impossible to master with a two hand heavy sword unless the user has crazy strength allied stats and mostly deadly on how fast they will be when they switch to light weight swords.

These are the reasons why it is normally performed with a katana and a Calvary sabre.

Then the fencing technique, of course, it should be obvious, it's all about thrusting and withdrawal using a rapier sabre or could just be translated in general weaponry as the thrusting and withdrawal technique whereby your major aim is to strike in or thrust in as fast as possible while being able to withdraw quickly immediately, change position, thrusting once again and repeat over and over again.

It's the most disliked technique in swordsmanship as it requires a lot of stamina, strength, speed and dexterity but when it comes to spearman-ship, it's the basics of the basic, much more like you are dealing with a short spear and this technique is as well, applicable to claws, daggers, lances and spiky knuckles.

The domineering and overpowering technique, a general technique for heavy weaponry mastering.

Heavy swords, mallets, halberd, war hammers, iron rods, even heavy knuckles.

With the much aid of aura and extreme strength, enough to break every enemy's defence while being built like an impenetrable boulder.

Full cladded armour with this style is simply a suicide mission and can only be overpowered by mages, espers or warriors with higher amount of aura and strength.

Finally, the footing technique, consisting of two major pointers and more like a general technique for both the flexible and inflexible and also inclusive to every weaponry.

The first pointer being positioning which all deals with foot placing in other to support upper body movements and make it easier to achieve.

For example, if you used a footing technique, when I parried your feint attack during our last exchange, you would have been able to reposition your self by ducking and strike my exposed ribs.

Then, the other being just footwork.

Here, you train your leg muscles to be flexible as a rubber as well as being sturdy.

Being able to parry a vertical strike, lift one of your legs, using the opponent's weapon as a wall by pushing yourself a bit off making a spin while the other foot is still positioned erect and having its muscles do the twists for proper flexibility and striking your enemy from a blind spot and unknowingly.

Again, being able to charge at your enemies while exploring various directions in order to put your enemy in a state of confusion as he won't be able to know from which direction you are coming from.

It takes a lot of speed, flexibility, lower body strength and good reflexes as it's mainly used for dodging, risky when attempting an attack or counter attack and best when you're using for weapons that require a lot of jumping around.

Now boy, ready your sword, out of these techniques, you better make sparring with you worth it." After his last statement, Zyl let's off a chuckle, took a stance and the two resumed their training while the rest joined in and sparred with each other.

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STATUS

Name: Julius Devonte Zyl.

Age: 379 years (?? Realm age), 17 years (earth realm age).

Str: 1110, End: 1180, Agi: 1060, Dex: 1034, Sta: 5040, Mana: 0, Force: 0, Aura: 10,998.

Stats Rank: Legendary Rank.

Main Ability: Extreme adaptability (god rank).

Unique Ability: Weapon Mastery (god rank), Resistance (demi-god rank), Personal Force (demi-god rank), Invincibility (demi-god rank), Ability Control/Mastery (god rank).

Other ability: Poison resistance (peak), Venom resistance (peak), Pain resistance (peak), Mental resistance (peak), Cold resistance (peak), Heat resistance (peak), Burn resistance (peak), Freeze resistance (peak), Gravitational resistance (peak), Electric shock resistance (peak), Pressure resistance (peak), Sword mastery (peak), Halberd mastery (peak), Bow and arrow mastery (peak), Knuckles/Fist mastery (peak), Unwavering body (peak).

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