During the day, rumors and whispers could still be heard behind Kane's back, but he only looked forward to training the fifth stance.
After lunch, he went out to the training ground, but he didn't know who his tutor was, so with his eyes, he looked for where the fifth group was gathering.
Among the talking and laughing recruits, he saw a tutor he didn't know.
An older man with a glowing pipe in his mouth and unusual facial features and clothing, with no armor, which made him stand out from the other tutors. He immediately realized that it must be the fifth group and approached the tutor.
"Tutor Nilon let me through to the fifth stance."
"He? Aaa, he told me something."
He replied, taking a puff on his pipe, in a strange accent unfamiliar to the boy.
"You're practically at the very end now, since you managed to get to the fifth stance, you could say you're closer than further.
But starting with the formalities... My name is Rikimaru Eizo of the rank of Attack General. I'll tell you in advance that I'm not from this kingdom, but through the fall of my country as a result of the Gables War, I became a military officer in this country."
"The Gables War?"
"You haven't heard of it?"
"No."
"Actually, you weren't yet in the world at the time, so it's no surprise. In the north, the natural border of the Forsteck kingdom is a mountain range called Yoman. But it's not just a strip of mountains followed by more lowlands, it's a whole area the size of this country all covered with mountains.
On the Yoman Mountain Range, just twenty years ago, there were five small mountain nations that constantly fought each other for land and influence. It used to be one big mountain kingdom, but after the death of the King, the country was divided into districts among his five children, who began to fight each other for influence. My country lost in this war, as a result of which enemy armies slaughtered my compatriots, so I had no choice but to escape."
"You can see that you are not from here, even after such a long time"
"Fact, I stand out, but that's because I try not to forget my culture."
When Rikimaru's tutor said this, Kane again looked him over from top to bottom with his eyes, and only up close did he notice the unfamiliar weapon at his belt.
"What kind of sword is that? I've never seen one like it."
"Are you going to question me about everything now?"
"May I?"
"No, but as for the sword, it's called a katana, I got it from my master when I was young. It has already passed some, but I take care of it so that I can continue to use it. Among other things, the fifth stance I'll teach you comes from the Yoman area, so listen carefully.
It's basically a combination of everything you've learned so far, speed, strength, sword wielding, and reaction time. Just as the rest of the stances are for defense or simply fighting, this one was created for one purpose only - to kill quickly and efficiently."
When Kane heard this, his body went through sudden chills.
"The fifth stance is a counterattack aimed at killing the enemy quickly and effectively.
At the moment of the enemy's attack, you make a quick and powerful swing of the sword from below to hit his sword, and as soon as you make an upward swing and hit the sword, right away, you can't even wait a second, you turn your wrist or your hands so that the blade is facing the enemy and finish him off with a straight cut down.
Everything takes a second or two during the fight. If you properly make a swing with the sword from the bottom to top at the very beginning, the opponent should lose control of the sword and will be open to attack.
The key then will be to quickly turn your wrists or the sword in your hands so that it is pointed with the blade towards the opponent, because if you don't, you will hit him with the blunt side of the sword, unless the sword blade is double-sided, but this depends on the weapon. My katana, for example, has a blade on one side, the weapon you get as a Lower Knight has a blade on both sides.
Is everything clear?"
"Yes sir!"
With each salute, an unpleasant feeling continued to accompany the boy.
"May I see by example how to perform the fifth stance?"
"You can, but to make you remember better how it works, I'll show this attack on you."
"On me?"
"Yes, but he will use a wooden sword, at most, you will be a little battered".
He grinned in the boy's direction, as if he derived satisfaction from hitting recruits with a piece of wood.
"Position yourself in front of me and attack with the first stance."
Kane was slightly irritated, in truth, it was the first time he had crossed swords with someone so experienced, until now, he had only fought recruits.
He assumed the position for the first stance, and they stood in front of each other without flinching, waiting for his opponent to move.
As soon as he moved, Rikimaru momentarily hit Kane's sword, with such force and speed that it fell out of his hands and fell a few meters behind him. With his hands empty, he watched as the sword came towards his head.
Sensing that he was going to flinch, he closed his eyes and anticipated the inevitable pain.
But despite the passage of several seconds, nothing happened. Slowly and hesitantly, he opened his eyes, and saw the tutor's sword stopped inches in front of his eyes.
"Did you see? That's what it's all about, from a well-aimed strike, you are defenseless and an easy target for your opponent. At this point, you would be dead."
Kane breathed a sigh of relief, falling to the ground as his body's stress left him, beginning to understand how useful this stance is.
"Something else, or can you handle it?"
"Then how do I train the fifth stance? Dummies are suitable?"
"For the fifth stance, we have special equipment instead of dummies. Look behind you at your group, it looks like a hurdle, but it's weighted with boulders near the ground.
You have to hit the horizontal bar from below the hurdle in such a way as to toss it up, then, before it has time to fall, hit the bar from above to bring the hurdle to the ground while it's still in the air.
In this way, you will train both strength and counterattack speed at the same time."
"So you have to use enough force to toss it up long enough to retract the sword and strike from above?"
"Yes"
"Ehh... then how many times do I have to do it to become a Lower Knight?"
"Five times is enough, now to training."
The tutor walked away from Kane, leaving him alone with his sword before the next challenge. Although with his previous stances he was slowly starting to feel monotonous, here he sensed something useful and a new challenge.
"Well, it's time to begin."
Picking up his sword from the ground, he began to look for a free hurdle to practice on. As soon as he approached one, he tried, as usual, to analyze the tutor's movement in his head to learn the stance faster.
"For now, I think I'll hold off until the toss, only then will I start hitting it from above in the air, there's no need to do two things at once to start."
He gripped the sword with all his might with both hands, so hard that the corns from daily training throbbed with their pain, as if someone had sprinkled salt on his wound.
Kane positioned himself and took his first swing from below, but froze in place on strike for one unexpected reason.
Despite using a lot of force and speed, on strike, the fence only lifted slightly off the ground, almost invisible to the eye.
"Just that much? It's now with all your strength."
He made another swing, using the full force of his hands and bracing his wrists, but even so, the hurdle, instead of rising upward, only jumped a few inches from the strike and fell to the ground.
"Am I doing something wrong, or am I too weak?"
He began to wonder, continuing to attack from below, with each strike of the sword, slowly falling into a trance of training.
"I grabbed the sword tightly, my wrists stiffened, I used all my strength and speed, and still almost nothing."
He wondered with each strike what he needed to improve to succeed.
Only after a few minutes of striking, when he had warmed up and felt every muscle and sharpened his senses with each strike, did he begin to notice a problem in his stance.
"With each strike, I feel the same thing, hands, wrists, and arm is strong and sufficient, but the forearm, with each strike, feels like such an empty hole compared to the rest of the arm, not muscles.
It will have to be strengthened somehow in the short term, two days won't take me, and I don't have much time either, in two weeks, the Lower Knights are leaving..."
He stood in front of the hurdle, staring at the ground, pondering a solution to the problem.
"From the strikes alone, my forearm should get stronger, and without exercise, I'll have to waste a week or more.
The hurdle has moved upward slightly, so it's not bad, just need to improve the strength."
As he decided, he began to train the fifth stance with a clear goal - to become a Lower Knight in 2 weeks, which proved more difficult at the very end than he expected.
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