Chapter 11 - School Life (2)

"En garde!" Gloria suddenly rushed at me. Her posture was low as she tried setting up a high kick.

"Damn it, Gloria! Can you at least give me the time to warm up!" I readied up my stance.

"Ha!" Gloria kicked upwards, her feet slightly missing my head as I barely dodged in time.

However, my guard was instantly broken by her powerful kick. "Tch!" I pursed my lips before pivoting sideways, trying to get a better angle.

"You're not escaping!" Gloria spun with her right leg and leaped with her left leg to chase after me. She threw a right straight at me, which I barely managed to parry to the side with my sword.

"Got you," I smirked as I swung the wooden sword diagonally.

Gloria grinned, "Not yet," she used her front leg to leap backward ever so slightly, avoiding the wooden sword with the skin of her teeth. Then, Gloria used her back leg to skip forward and delivered a mean, mid-side kick that hit straight at my stomach.

"Guh!" I slightly winced, but my eyes still focused on Gloria's movements. From what I knew about Gloria these past few weeks, she would not relent on her attacks in the slightest. And like I thought, Gloria continued to push forward. She delivered a barrage of attacks, combinations of punches and kicks, sticking her body close to me and not giving me any space to swing my sword.

"Ora, ora, ora, ora, ora, ora!"

'If this continues, I will be lying on the mattress again. Come on, Vaan, think. Think about what you can do.'

My eyes brightened up as I suddenly thought of an idea. "I can use that," I softly muttered. I let go of my grip on the wooden sword with a sly smirk aimed at Gloria. "Hm?" the latter flinched for a moment, and that was enough time for me to get out of her pressure. Grabbing the blade of the wooden sword, I did a reverse slash at Gloria. She avoided my reverse slash, but my attacks did not end there. I pushed Gloria with my kick while correcting my grip simultaneously.

Noticing what I had done, Gloria's face contorted, "Shit…."

"First Form: Severing!"

Gloria crossed her arms, trying to block the wooden sword. Alas, it was futile as she got blasted away from my attack.

"Hah, hah, hah. This makes 2 wins for me, Miss Gloria," I raised my thumbs while I slumped to the floor, exhausted. "Don't get cocky, brat. Look who's still standing," Gloria said after recovering from my attack. "Haha, a win is a win, Miss Gloria," I grinned. "Hah, fine. Two wins for you now. But I'm still ahead with 3 wins," Gloria shook her head. "Here," Gloria extended her hand. Grabbing her hand, Gloria helped me to get up to my feet. "So, do you still want to continue?" Gloria asked. "No, I'm spent," I panted hard. "Well, then I'm leaving," Gloria walked up to the changing room. After a while, Gloria came out with her security uniform, "Clean up properly, yeah?" she waved her hand.

"Okay…. Wait, clean up?" I looked around at my surroundings. Gloria smirked before quickly leaving the training hall. The mess inside the training hall and the many broken pieces of equipment from our match and Gloria's training earlier were lying around the floor. Imagining Dorothy's threatening tone and scary face made my body shudder. "Hah, how am I going to explain this…." I let out an exasperated sigh.