Chapter 89

Marinette's P.O.V:

I squeaked loudly as I just barley managed to duck out of the way of Damian's strike.

"Wow. You're really going for it." I said as I backed up a few steps.

Damian didn't answer, but instead kept a strong and determined face as he assessed me. After circling me a few times he went in for another strike right at my hip, which I just managed to slap away with my hand.

"No." Damian stood up strait and relaxed his stance to look at her. "That's a good way to lose a hand. What if this were a real sword?"

"Oh, right." I shook my head. "My bad. Let's try that again."

"Don't forget you have your own sword as well." Damian got back into his stance. "You ready?"

"Ready."

Again, Damian went for me without hesitation only this time I was better prepared for it as I rolled away with a bit more style. I found myself in an almost dance like state with Damian as he led with his attacks. Keeping in mind with what he said, I used some of the fencing techniques Adrien and Kagami had taught me to parry his blows. After a few minutes of this back and forth, Damian finally called for a break.

"You never told me you fenced..." He raised an eyebrow at me.

"Well I don't really. Adrien and Kagami do and they have taught me some things here and there. If you want to see some real fencers you should go and talk to them. Kagami's even training for the Olympics next year."

"I see." Damian nodded. "Fencing is a great basis for sword play. It's nice to know that you aren't a complete beginner."

"When it comes to fighting anybody with any sort of weapon, I would say that I'm not a beginner. I've seen a lot of akumas with all types of weapons in my day."

"Okay." Damian smirked at me. "Then I won't hold back this time."

"Oh, finally showing me your true strength, huh?" I smirked right back. "Bring it."

"Don't you hold back either. Show me what you got, Angel." Damian got back into his stance.

"Wouldn't dream of it, boy wonder."

This time, our dance was a whole lot more intense. Every strike was done with purpose and precision as well as every parry. It almost seemed like everything was perfectly choreographed. I would even pick up on Damian's moves and mirror them later. After about ten whole minutes of this, Damian called for a break again.

"You are a brilliant woman, you know that Marinette?" He smiled at me, a little out of breath.

"Well I am learning from the best. You really do know how to keep a lady on her toes. All of you do." I point over to where Jason and Bruce are fighting with Selina and Tim.

Damian nods as he looks over at the group sparring. "I guess we should move on from striking and parrying then. You seem to have a rather good concept on all of that. Let's move on to distance fighting."

"Distance fighting? With swords?" I look at him with confusion.

"Sure." He gently takes the practice sword away from her. "Think of it as knife throwing or axe throwing but with swords. It takes a bit more skill to get use to it but it can be very useful in many different circumstances." He walked over to the weapon wall to put up the practice swords and take off one of the real ones.

"We are going to be throwing a real sword around in here?"

"No, not in here. We aren't crazy." Damian pushes a hidden button on the wall, similar to the one I used earlier to get to the surveillance room. A second later, a door shaped hole in the wall swung open to reveal another room. "This room is specifically for target practice with different weapons. Father even made it bullet proof and sound proof so Todd can blow off some steam with his guns." He waved for me to go in first.

"Wow. How many secret rooms does this place have?" I walked through the two-foot-thick door way to see a long room with a few glass dividers towards the very front which were most likely used to divide the throwing places up for multiple people and dummies at the very back. I also noticed surveillance cameras in every corner of the room, which was odd because I didn't see them in the surveillance room earlier.

"Well counting the cave downstairs I'm pretty sure we have 9? Father could be hiding more though. We mainly just have a lot of shortcuts to other rooms though and not necessarily whole hidden rooms."

"I would love an actual blueprint of the manor one day." I joke sarcastically as I walked over to one of the throwing stations.

"You and me both." Damian closes the door behind him as he follows me in.

"I was in the surveillance room earlier and I didn't see the live feed from these in there." I point to one of the cameras in the corner of the room.

"You probably wouldn't because they are motion censored." He explained as he walked to the end of the room to set up a rather simple circular target.

"We aiming for the bullseye, are we?" I asked as he was walking back.

"Yep. I want you to watch my form so you can understand exactly how to throw it. Swords aren't weighted the same as an axe or a knife so you have to throw them a bit differently to get them to stick. My way of throwing isn't the only way too, so keep that in mind."

"Okay." I nodded. "Got it." I stepped back to give him some room as he approached.

I watched in absolute amazement as he threw his sword with uncanny accuracy, hitting the target directly in the center.

"Did you get that?" He looked over his shoulder at me.

"Uhh, I think?" I smiled at him.

"Okay. Let's see you give it a try." He walks back over to the sword to retrieve it from the target.

Handing the sword hilt first at me. I gently take it from him and step up to where I need to throw it. I look back at my soulmate for a moment to see him give me an encouraging smile. Taking a deep breath, I think back to Damian's movements and try my hardest to mimic them as I finally throw the sword. I watch as the sword sticks at the very bottom of the target.

"Well..." I look over to Damian. "I actually hit the target at least."

"That's far better than my first time throwing a sword." He chuckles.

"Yeah but weren't you like 5 when you threw your first sword?" I rolls my eyes.

"6 actually. But I get your point." He looks over at the sword. "You still did very well. The target is at max distance in here after all. I think with some more practice you'll get it in no time."

"What do you think I did wrong?" I asked as I watched him go and retrieve the sword again.

"Well its all a learning experience. Trial and error. Aim a little higher next time."

"That's simple enough I guess." I nodded as I took the sword from him again. "Let's try this a few more times."