Amelie looked at the man who she called “master”. There were few people who she would call that name. Kotori was unaware but she would train with Yooma on their off days. It was regrettable that it had to end like this.

Amelie had grown quite a bit from the girl who used to be in the wood elf village.

She was often seen as an accessory to Kotori but she didn’t mind. Kotori was a fine leader and even though she sometimes made some harebrained scheme they all had worked out so far. She trusted Kotori’s decisions. It was odd she would give Kotori so much respect especially since Kotori was still a child but she didn’t feel like Kotori was a child at all. Maybe when she was trailing Kotori in the forest but ever since then Kotori had not carried herself in a way that a child her age would.

Amelie herself had spent much of her time being dragged along. She wasn’t a very assertive girl at all really. She enjoyed being a follower.

Kotori had given her a bit of confidence. Ever since the encounter with the Boss she had learned that to get anywhere she had to speak up.

She was strong enough to admonish Kotori for killing the bandits in the village they visited. Even though she understood why Kotori wanted to kill the bandits. She still couldn’t morally accept it.

Still, she couldn’t say that she felt completely satisfied. Amelie was still human, and she was still prone to the jealousy that people are wont to have*.

*this grammar is kinda weird, but I’m using “wont” in a old-timey way

Watching Kotori grow at this blitzing sped while she tagged along for the ride didn’t sit well with her.

And how that that she was looking at the man who gave her, the first sense of strength since leaving the village.

She looked at Yooma, no longer their slaver but her teacher. She watched him hold up the sword the way he always did.

Yooma always said he was not attached to any particular style and was a student to fighting in general. But she knew he had his weakness.

The way he would slightly drop his guard during an attack or how he was uncomfortable on heavier weapons. She knows he was more comfortable using the whip Katana’s he was using right now.

When she leaped towards Yooma to combat him she left up a pile of a cloud of dirt. This was to slightly conceal her movement and get in close.

Yooma must’ve seen her intention and dropped his no-dachi which dissipated into light instead of combatting her he retreated into the nearby hedge garden while slashing at Amelie with a new pair of whip katanas.

Despite seemingly being out of range of the blades Amelie stopped, the blade whipped past her face and clipped a nearby hedge in half.

Yooma’s range was deceptively long with those swords and she had to get in closer where the range matter less.

She once again charged into his range. Dodging the snaking blades that slipped past her. She was using the nearby hedges as cover as she slowly made progress towards Yooma. When she was about 5 feet away Yooma dropped his Katana’s and materialized a tanto and Katana in his hand. Amelie was well aware that this was Yooma’s default fighting style and the one he was most comfortable with it. With the offensive Katana in his right hand and the defensive tanto in the left, it would be difficult to land a hit in with her singular blade.

She slashed at Yooma testing his guard. As her sword was dropping down to cut Yooma she saw a glint of silver from the edge of her right periphery vision.

She quickly stopped attacking and moved out of the way. She then felt a searing pain in her right side.

[ah… I need to be more careful]

Her right side was burning.

She looked at Yooma again. The position of his Katana and Tanto were switch. The Katana was now on his left hand.

[He’s ambidextrous?]

She had always sparred with Yooma using his right hand.

She had underestimated the power of Yooma’s [Sword Smith] Skill.

Yooma was a person who used it to the greatest extent. Unlike a normal person who would simply use it to switch weapons, Yooma used it as a surprise tactic.

[He must’ve changed the sword in his hand as I was slashing towards him.]

Such a thought was helpful but it was too late to make this realization. She had already sustained an injury.

Thankfully she could still fight. The cut was large but mostly superficial her ribs taking most of the brunt of the blow she had manages to slip away before Yooma could land a heavier hit.

Still, it now hurt to breathe. Each time her chest expanded to take a breath the wound would flare.

Yooma took a readied stance again

“Remember what I told you, never underestimate your opponent, the most learned warriors will still find themselves surprised in the heat of battle,” He said a small conceited smile on his face.

He launched into a blistering offensive. Amelie was now put on the back foot.

[He’s left-handed?]

Yooma’s offensive was much stronger than when they sparred with his bokken*

*Japanese wooden practice swords

She now realized that he had handicapped himself by not using his main hand in their sparring sessions. Yooma had taught himself to be ambidextrous but obvious one would feel most comfortable on their main hand.

She retreated while blocking the flurry of blades entered her vision.

Despite his laid-back attitude, Yooma was no pushover when he fought seriously.

Typically, in any offensive engagement, one could be considered the attacked and another could be considered the defender. The goal of the attacker is to keep up “tempo” and overpower or chip away at the defender. The goal of the defender would be to wear out the attacker or bait the attacker to lose tempo while not losing themselves

These are the rules of war and Amelie had such concepts drilled into her head by Yooma.

Her [ninjistu] was a martial art that attempted to bait the attacker into losing their tempo. But Yooma gave her no such openings. Each attack was well defended and stuck into the breaks in Amelie’s guard.

[I need to find an angle!]

Kitsura

Amelie rn: "No senpai this is our fight!" bonus points if you get this reference

Happy reading~ Might start building a chapter backlog by writing more than 1 chapter a day.

No peaking pervert! :p