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Chapter 74: A Nekomata's Teachings (III)
Shizuka lunged at me. The Dark Forest went quiet, as if it was waiting to see what happened next.
I had been expecting it, yet she still almost slipped past me. She closed the distance between us in less than a heartbeat, her claws aimed at my throat. The strike was fast, precise, and carried the weight of a teacher who wanted to remind her student exactly how far he had to go.
I met her with the Heirloom Sword.
The impact rattled my bones and sent a shockwave through the clearing. Her strength was immense, belying her slender frame, and I could feel the Senjutsu energy gathering around her claws like a second skin.
"You are not the only one who has been holding back," she said, a smile playing on her lips. "I have been hiding my claws behind a sweet smile for decades and it fooled so many of you cute students. But tonight, I think I will let the cat out of the bag." She flexed her claws.
"Meow~ If you ever wanted to know what this old cat lady can do, you are about to find out."
Her claws scraped against my blade, and I felt the Senjutsu energy seep into the metal, trying to disrupt my grip. I twisted, breaking the lock, and used my wings to launch myself backward, creating distance.
"Then show me, Sensei. Do not mind if you wound me since I am a Vampire with immortal regeneration. Besides, I want to see what you are capable of too."
She did not disappoint.
Her form blurred, and suddenly she was everywhere. My eyes alone could not track her, so I leaned into my vampiric senses instead enhanced beyond belief, such as auditive and olfactive senses that made a Vampire famous.
I felt her presence to my left, then my right, then above me. She was moving so fast that afterimages trailed behind her like ghostly copies, a dozen Shizukas swirling around me like a whirlwind of golden light and deadly claws.
"You are thinking too much!" Her voice came from everywhere at once. "This is why it is easy for me to overwhelm your senses and send you in the wrong direction. A predator would not stay still to react, no, it would jump head-on at their prey."
She struck from my blind spot, her claws aimed at my ribs. I pivoted, the Heirloom Sword coming up in a delayed block, and I felt the impact jar my arm. The force of her blow sent me skidding across the moss-covered ground, and I had to plant my feet to keep from falling.
She appeared in front of me, her golden eyes gleaming. "Your form is good. But you are thinking too much. You fight like you are reading instructions instead of just moving. Who taught you to fight like that?"
I blinked, caught off guard by the question. "I learned from a few different people. Why?"
She tilted her head, studying me. "Because your style is precise. Too precise. It is like you are following a manual instead of letting your body do what it knows. You have this way of fighting that irks me. You are trying to go by the book, but you fail to consider that fights are chaotic and totally unpredictable. Just allow yourself to flow with the fight."
I absorbed her words, letting them settle into my mind. She was not wrong. I had noticed it myself during my spars, the way I would hesitate for a fraction of a second before committing to a strike, the way I would second-guess my instincts.
"I think I am aware of what you say, but it is something I instinctively rely on. Unlike you experienced Yokai, I have been a Vampire for too short a period to gain that much needed fighting experience. It is easier for you to tell me my moves feel wrong because they lack that smooth instinctive snap."
"I learned to fight by the book, and if this is how I succeed, it will be hard to change."
I met her gaze, letting her see the honesty in my crimson eyes. "But I will work on what you touched."
"Then let me see if you understood what I told you so far."
Her attack came again in a rapid succession, and I decided to face it head on. I flowed around her strike, my body dissolving into blood mist for a fraction of a second, reforming behind her. The Heirloom Sword came around in a sweeping arc aimed at her back.
She spun, her claws meeting my blade, and the impact sent sparks flying into the dark.
"Not bad. You caught on quickly, Tsukune-kun." Her voice was warm with approval. "But I have another question for you."
She pushed against my blade, and I felt the Senjutsu energy surge through her claws. The Heirloom Sword flickered, its silver light dimming for a moment. If I kept blocking, she would disarm me. So I let the sword dissolve into shadow and stepped into her guard.
"What would you do if your Vampire abilities were sealed away by Holy Light or other Spiritual methods? What if they were fully gone? If you could not turn into mist? How would you react?"
The question caught me off guard, and for a moment, I faltered. It was a scenario I had not considered, a weakness I had not accounted for. What would I do if my powers were stripped away?
"I would find another way to handle it. Such as using my body as a weapon."
"Then find it now."
She surged forward, her claws aimed at my chest. I did not have time to think, only to react. My body moved on instinct, and I felt something shift inside me, a new understanding of how to flow with the fight rather than against it.
My palms were already glowing with crimson energy as I activated Hemomancy, shaping the blood in my veins into twin daggers of hardened crimson. I cast the blood mist around the forest, blocking the view of this Nekomata.
Shizuka's eyes widened, just a fraction. She had not expected me to adapt so quickly and improvise by using my Hemomancy ability.
"Clever way of hiding your attack. But cats are hard to be caught, even if they are chased into water."
She closed her eyes in the usual way she had it, that lazy closed state of her eyelids. Her ears began to twitch, and I realized she was using her hearing to track my movements through the mist.
Then her claws moved, meeting with my daggers.
The daggers I threw at her were deflected, but I still chased my advantage by arriving in her melee range by using my wings to create that much needed boost of speed, closing in instantly. I used Silent Draw, the quick-draw iaido strike I had learned from Silent Swordsman, and aimed for her shoulder.
She hummed with interest, and blocked the Silent Draw with her claws enhanced by Senjutsu and even Touki. The impact sent a shockwave through the mist, clearing a small space between us.
"Your attacks are becoming less predictable, Tsukune-kun." Her voice carried a note of genuine praise. "You are learning to attack with the flow."
She used her tail to strike at me, a whip-like motion that I had not anticipated. But when I sensed the danger, I used my Devil-like wings to block it, countering with my Hemomancy as I created a bunch of thick and heavy blood chains to constrain Shizuka's movements.
The chains shot toward her, wrapping around her limbs, her torso, her tail. For a moment, I thought I had her.
She countered by speeding up, showing me how high her agility truly was. She slipped through the gaps in the chains like a cat navigating a constrained terrain toward a mouse, her body twisting and contorting in ways that seemed impossible.
Then, after following her nimble movements, her claw was about to strike at my throat. I blocked perfectly using the Heirloom Sword, the blade meeting her claws with a shower of sparks.
In terms of raw strength I did not feel overwhelmed, but I was not arrogant to believe I could outtake Shizuka in terms of speed.
I continued to harass Shizuka with my Hemomancy while doing the heavy blows using my sword. My Sword Mastery, Blade of Stillness and Silent Draw complemented each other, creating a rhythm that was becoming more fluid with each exchange.
She matched me strike for strike, her Senjutsu energy flowing like water around her body. Every time I thought I had an opening, she was already there, her claws aimed at my exposed body parts, but Alucard's Mail was proving itself for the reliable and high-rated piece of gear that it was.
Every time I thought I had forced her into a corner, she slipped away like smoke.
"You are doing far better than when we first started," she said, blocking a strike that would have taken her shoulder. "Your movements are becoming more fluid and they seem also less forced which makes them harder to read."
We were locked in a clash, claw against longsword, and I could see Shizuka's expression. Her golden eyes were bright, her smile wide, and her tail was swaying with a quiet satisfaction.
'She is enjoying this. Maybe too much for my own good.'
I could not help but smile back, even as I felt the strain in my arms. Compared to how Silent Swordsman was fighting, Shizuka had this wildness to her. There was no fixed pattern, no predictable rhythm. She was chaotic, and utterly unpredictable.
Maybe sparring only against Silent Swordsman and the occasional spars against Inner did not truly help me in shaping my fighting style to begin with. It helped me in gaining the much needed fighting experience that I was lacking, but sparring constantly against the same partners would make it easier to adapt to their fighting style and enter into a routine. It became harder to evolve to the next level.
"What can I say, it just proves that you are a great teacher, Shizuka-sensei."
"Meow~ Do not start with the flattery. It will not save your skin from my claws."
She surged forward, her palm aimed at my chest. I recognized the attack from earlier, the one that had sent me flying across the clearing. But this time, I was ready.
I used Yoki Reinforcement along with the boost granted by the Legend Boots to my speed and also enjoying the passive boosts of the Dragon's Helm, Root Eater's Resilience that reduced the damage from earth- and nature-based attacks by fifteen percent, combined with Alucard's Mail Rune Ward that granted another reduction to physical damage by twenty-five percent and magical damage by fifteen percent.
And being a Vampire myself, I was truly built like a DPS/Tank Hybrid.
Once again Shizuka's claw met against Heirloom, the impact that resulted sent a shockwave through the clearing of the Dark Forest, and to my surprise the impact shuddered through my arms and cracked the earth beneath my feet under the power delivered by Shizuka's blow.
'No wonder Koneko was displayed to have such a monstrous power. She was coating her blows using Senjutsu for sure, but instinctively since I think at that point she did not know how to use Senjutsu properly.'
"Awwy, you managed to fully resist the impact. You even learned how to properly use Reinforcement at the last second to trick Sensei into false confidence." Shizuka waved her right hand as if it got hurt, her voice carrying a hint of curiosity.
She stepped back, her golden eyes narrowing with amusement. Her tail curled behind her, and I felt the air around her shift, growing heavier.
"Then let me show you how Yoki Reinforcement is exploited to its highest potential."
She shifted her stance, and I felt her Yoki surge. Her claws extended, and the golden-green light of Senjutsu intensified, wrapping around her hands like a second skin. Her eyes, already sharp, seemed to sharpen further, gaining a predatory focus.
The air around her began to shimmer, and I felt the pressure of her presence pressing against my senses. She was not holding back anymore.
"Are you ready, Tsukune-kun?"
I tightened my grip on the Heirloom Sword, my wings spreading wide behind me. The blood mist around us began to swirl, responding to my will.
"Don't keep me waiting, Sensei. I am all here waiting for you."
She smiled, and then she moved. Her intensity started to scale higher and higher, climbing past what she had shown me in our earlier exchanges. The golden-green aura around her claws brightened, and I could feel the weight of her Yoki pressing against my own like a physical force.
'This feels like I am tackling a Boss Fight and it is currently entering another phase of the fight.'
She closed the distance between us in a heartbeat, her claws aimed at my chest. I brought the Heirloom Sword up to block, but this time, she was too fast. Her palm connected with my chest, and a wave of energy exploded outward, sending me crashing into a tree.
The impact drove the air from my lungs, and I slid to the ground, gasping. My body ached, and I could feel the wounds beginning to heal, but it was slow, slower than it should have been.
"I am using Senjutsu to slow your regeneration," she explained, walking toward me. "It is one of the many applications of the Senjutsu energy. Once you learn to control it, you will be able to do the same to your enemies."
I pushed myself to my feet, every muscle burning and my joints screaming. The bark of the tree had splintered where my back had hit it, and I could feel a bruise forming beneath the Alucard Mail. "You could have warned me."
"And miss the look on your face?" She smiled, a playful glint in her eyes. "Never."
I shook my head, a rueful smile tugging at my lips. "You are enjoying this too much, Sensei."
"Of course I am. It is not every day I get to spar with a student who can actually keep up with me. Usually, I have to hold back so much that it is barely a warm-up. But you?" She tilted her head, her golden eyes gleaming. "You make me work for it."
"I am glad I could entertain you."
"Meow~ Then entertain me more. It has been ages since Sensei had this much fun since joining the Yokai Academy."