Chapter 240

Scáthach POV

I took slow steps towards the Red-Haired girl. She looked tense, ready to fight. I admired her quick battle stance, I could only find a few faults in it and they were ones that could be worked out over time.

I allowed my Blood Lust to leak out to better project my presence. I wished her to take this fight seriously, to instinctively be on guard.

She did not freeze up in my presence, which was a good sign. It showed dedication to her training and combat ability to not lose her composure even if she was rather young.

She spun the sword in her hand, it shifted in strange ways, something I was still not too familiar with. She held it up, a barrel pointed towards me.

It was a gun now, how quaint.

I was aware that the people here used weapons that shifted into various forms. It was not my place to dispute their methods, but I could not see myself adopting such a thing.

The weapon flashed, projectiles coming towards me. I took a step forward and swayed to the side, my eyes never leaving hers as the bullets flew past me.

"Y-you dodged my bullets!?" She exclaimed.

"You showed me where you intended to shoot." I said simply. "If I could not see the path you aimed down and the movement of your fingers to pull the trigger, my years of hardship would have been a waste." Guns are a modern weapon, but their mechanisms were rather obvious to deduce at a glance. Well, dodging the bullet itself would be no trouble, but I do not believe that a proper lesson to teach her at her current level.

With that, I kicked off the ground, launching myself towards her. My spear struck out, going straight for her mid-section. She pulled her shield up to block, letting out a pained noise as she was knocked back. She did not dwell on it as her weapon shifted once more, taking the form of a spear – or rather a javelin.

I raised an eyebrow as she brought her shield up to block my vision of her spear, stepping back into range with her weapon.

I gave her a chance to make a move, her spear striking out with a fairly decent speed. I would acknowledge that she was physically capable for a human of her age. This Aura of hers was certainly doing much to enhance her abilities.

Her strikes were precise and quick, aiming for any perceived openings. But there was still an air of amateurishness to them, making them rather easy to predict even if I hadn't been far beyond her in physical ability or experience.

I merely tapped her spear to the side with the shaft of my own, letting it sail past me harmlessly.

She saw it was a futile effort and changed her stance once more. Her weapon shifted again, changing into a sword this time as she swung it towards me.

It was the smart decision to switch her technique up after seeing how little she was able to do to me previously.

I watched each of her movements, each time her sword flashed out at me, each time her other arm – her shield was swung as well. It made me briefly consider going back on my word and maybe taking another student just to see what she could achieve.

I kept my speed low enough for her to follow, each step I took to dodge was well within her ability to counteract. However, I would only smile as I noticed her attacks changing patterns slightly as I continued to weave around her weapons. She was starting to predict me and try to anticipate my movements.

Amusing.

Flicking the butt of my spear, it lashed out, hitting her on the side, or rather her Aura. It didn't matter that she hadn't taken any real damage; it had thrown off her rhythm completely, having struck in a minute opening she revealed. She stuttered, falling to a knee for a brief moment before quickly scrambling back to her feet, returning to her stance once more.

Good tenacity.

I leveled my spear with a mocking smile, hoping to ignite her fighting spirit a bit more.

Based on the expressions she made, I believe I fulfilled my objective.

"Haaah!" She let out a shout as she spun her body and threw her shield at me.

I merely tilted my head out of the way as she came running at me.

Childish.

I pulled back my spear to thrust, only to jerk my body to the side as her shield came flying back into her hand, brushing past my hair.

I blinked for a moment, realizing what just happened. One of those Semblances? Some sort of Telekinesis?

How interesting.

I planted my foot firmly, giving her a small window to react as I thrust my spear forward at her. What I did not expect was for her to leap into the air and roll over my spear, trying to counter attack.

I scowled, spinning my spear in hand and slammed the shaft into her side with a little more force than I had used previously.

"I've seen enough." I stated, tapping my spear against my shoulder.

She slowly pulled herself up, gasping slightly as she recovered from the blow.

"You…..I couldn't even land a hit on you." She looked a bit shocked by the revelation of how outclassed she was.

"You are a thousand years too early to think of even being my match, child." I snorted. "If I allowed myself to be struck with such flamboyant movements, it would shame all those who learned under my purview."

"F-flamboyant movements?"

"What else do you call those rolls and jumps? What came over you to leap into the air like you had done? You left yourself wide open for me to strike you when it would have been more efficient to either block with your shield, or deflect my blow and follow up with a straight thrust of your sword."

"I...it seemed like a good idea at the time?" She said meekly.

I shook my head with a sigh. "You are too used to playing to an audience, child. Your movements looked elegant, but you left yourself too open too many times. If I had not wished to see your potential, I would have been able to exploit them even more. You have a problem of telegraphing your moves."

"That's..." She went silent.

I am surprised that no one had pointed this out before. Either her past trainers had been incompetent, or they preferred it in such a way. Fake fight, playing to the cheers of the crowd. There could be no argument that she had developed herself splendidly. She was comparable to some of those people fighting the Nuckelavee Grimm, and they were many years her senior. However, it did instill some bad habits into her movements, which could prove fatal if they were allowed to festered.

And…..she seemed like a nice girl, I didn't mind having some fun and lending a hand.

"Well, are you going to rise up and correct your mistakes?" I twirled my spear once more, giving her a moment to reorientate herself. "You will never land a blow on me, does that shatter your fighting spirit, child? Will you give up, or will you come at me again?"

She stood up a bit straighter, a look of conviction in her eyes. "You said that I'm telegraphing my attacks?"

"Indeed, you are easy to predict, and you make large, unnecessary movements that lead to easily exploitable openings." I nodded.

"Then I just need to fix those." She frowned, taking a stance. She flew at me once more, her weapon shifting into her spear as she stabbed out.

It appeared that she accepted my tutelage for now, I shan't hold back then.

As soon as she entered my range, the butt of my spear met the side of her head. She was knocked off her feet, tumbling to the ground.

"That was merely the most obvious issue with your style of fighting, Child. You have other avenues you need to improve on."

"I didn't even see that…." She breathed out, slowly rising back up, rubbing her head. Her Aura had protected her from the majority of the force, but it was still a swift strike to her head.

"Your instinct needs work." I ignored her comment. "And your weapon – " I raised my spear, pointing at her own.

"W-whats wrong with my weapon?"

"You are using it improperly. You are integrating four different weapons into your combat techniques. Your shield, sword, spear, and gun. Yet, you switch to a single one, and ignore the others for too long. Either choose a weapon to focus on, or make use of the mechanisms behind your weapon. For instance, there is no need to only use the gun when you are at a distance, and you have the ability to retrieve your weapons at will, why are you not utilizing that more effectively?"

"I-I don't like showing off my Semblance, it's…..unfair."

"Unfair?" I snorted at the incredulous statement. "Child, it is an ability manifested from your soul. It is no more unfair than someone having more Aura, or something being born physically stronger. There is no excuse why you hold it back. At the very least, you should use it to disrupt my own momentum, pull at my spear when I'm about to attack and an opening would be perfect for you to exploit."

"Erm…..I tried." She said bashfully. "Is your spear not made of metal?"

I tilted my head. "I see, it's not telekinesis but a type of metal control." That was interesting as well. "Regardless." I slammed my spear onto the ground. "Stand up straight, retake your stance, and try again. I have but a few hours to spare, we shall see if you can learn anything in that time."

***

Wilhelm POV

"Home sweet home I suppose." I stepped out of a portal, Salem still on my arm as we walked onto the stone floor that was her castle.

The illusions around us faded as she finally withdrew herself from me. "I prefer it to the city." She turned her nose up at the notion.

"So you didn't enjoy our stroll then?"

"…..I did not say that." She huffed. "It was…. pleasant enough."

"Would you be against me taking you out again sometime?" I asked.

She paused, looking at me for a moment. "I wouldn't be against it." She said quietly.

"And would you be upset if I called it a date?" I quirked a smile.

There was a slight twitch at the corners of her lips as she crossed her arms. "Call it what you want." She said dismissively.

Well, I feel like I made some inroads with her. She was still a little distant, but I guess that's to be expected. I'm fairly sure she'd be very blunt with her refusal if I did something she didn't like or pushed her in a way she wasn't' comfortable, so I felt okay with how things were progressing.

I Should probably bring up the matter of my Harem soon before we went any further. While I had no shame about it, it's also a difficult conversation to have.

"Salem…"

"Yes?" She answered.

"I…..think you're very beautiful." I gave a gentle smile, earning a bemused one from her. "It's rare, but I've enjoyed the few times your sense of humor has come out. I think your laugh is adorable, and I find your elegant demeanor very attractive, and don't get me started about when we begin talking magic. The way you light up when it's mentioned, when we go back and forth about it. I admit, we don't know much about each other yet, so I wanted to say this before things went any further." I took a deep breath as her attention was focused solely on me. "I have….a harem."

She looked stunned into silence. Like she was frozen in place, a blank expression staring back at me. "A harem?" She repeated, finally breaking the silence.

"Yeah, I have multiple –"

"I know what a harem is." She scowled, making me slam my jaw shut.

….yeah. Well, I hate to come clean, it's not like I wanted to string her along until we finally had something to speak of. While I had other secrets, those weren't quite as romantically stifling if they became known. If it ended here, I could only say it wasn't meant to be.

"Why are you telling me this now?" She demanded an answer.

"I've never been coy with my intentions. I didn't want to build any kind of relationship on a lie." I smiled tremulously.

She snorted. "Yes, I believe you made your intentions VERY obvious." She accompanied with an eye roll before letting out a long breath. "You have put me in a position I've never been in before."

"I used the Relic of Knowledge to look into the Grimm, and I happened upon you. I saw some of your life, many things that led up to this point. At first, I was curious, a whim to see you for myself. Admittedly, I was attracted to you at a first look, so I didn't see an issue popping over. After spending some time together, well, I realized there was a little bit more there. And knowing some of the things I knew...I want to see you smile more. I want to make you happy."

I wouldn't argue, beg or anything like that. If it didn't work out, it didn't work out and trying to force anything would only have made things worse. I told her all I had weighing on me, what my feelings were and my intentions, and if she doesn't accept, then I'll say goodbye.

"Make me happy?" She practically snarled at the notion. "How utterly foolish. Your sentiments are naïve and childish. I should have dismissed this entire thing when it first started." She threw her arms about, annoyance clear on her face. "Do you think I would be won over by a few fanciful words? Do you think this Queen is someone who would fall over myself like some love-struck maiden at your confession? How ridiculous I've been to even allow myself to humor these thoughts before."

I let out a sigh as she blew up, not saying anything in my defense. "I won't overstay my welcome then. Goodbye Sal --"

"Did I tell you to leave?" A growl escaped her throat, eyes glaring at me. "You don't get to run away after dropping that on me." She huffed.

"I will be retiring for the evening, to revaluated certain thoughts." She glowered towards me before turning away. She began walking towards the exit.

I was stuck in place, almost frozen on how to act before she stopped and looked back at me. "Your room is available should you desire." She added, in dare I say, a gentle tone, before she disappeared down the hall.

I let out a sigh, though a small smile formed on my face.

Salem sure was hard to read sometimes, but...this isn't a completely bad sign.

***

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