Chapter 7: Ch 6

After attending a rigorous physical training class with Master Feng, who was a fanatic when it came to intense obstacle courses, Cedric made his way into the darkest, most unvisited corner of the building-  where his daily personal training class took place.

“Come on in, young Cedric, you don’t have to knock every time, you know?”

Cedric opened the old worn down door slowly, fearing as usual that it might break if he wasn’t careful.

“I’ll presume you’re warmed up?”

“Ah-yes, Master Valblin.”

The old man, whose monstrous frame and tacky robes never seemed to match his long grey hair and beard like that of an official, swung a wooden sword repetitively at the air without looking Cedric’s way.

“Were you adequately pushed to your limits today?”

“Yes sir, Master Feng took much care in throwing ice water on me anytime I’d look to be slacking even a little, so I was able to beat even Geraint and Jorge this time,” Cedric answered with a stone face and thumb up.

“Ohhohoho, what a splendid subordinate young Feng has turned out to be, despite his inexperience as a teacher. It’s thanks to him you’ve gotten to be so scrappy and wildly aggressive.”

“But sir, isn’t Master Feng already in his thirtie-”

“Ohohhh?”

“Yes, sir, a mere baby such as myself hopes to someday be like the young Master Feng.”

“Hmmm, I’m going to have fun knocking that cheeky tone out of your mouth, hoho.”

“But sir, I believe my tone is as respectful as ev-”

“Shut up and grab your weapon already, will ya?”

Not wasting anymore time, Cedric took his vest off and retrieved a wood sword off the rack on the wall, and took a few practice swings.

Stepping out into the middle of the spacious training room where they did battle daily, Cedric waved the sword out in front of himself, his demeanor completely changed.

“Ohoho? A scarier face than usual, eh? I’m afraid your scary face won’t make up for your lack of power, hoho.”

Ignoring his taunt, Cedric shot in on Valblin’s left with a low stance and firm, angled grip on the wood sword. His deliberate lunge looked sure to score an undercutting strike.

A second before contact, the old man twisted away, delivering a deflecting swing with one hand.

Still twisting, the old man shifted his momentum to his right foot and swung his left leg high as Cedric staggered from the counter.

Cedric barely saw the incoming blow, and could only watch as Valblin’s foot struck the middle of his back.

“Gah!”

Flying forward, Cedric managed a sloppy front roll to keep from face planting.

Valblin was deceptively quick despite his overwhelming size and strength, and exceptionally skilled at masking his attacks like this. The man had a very refined, technical precision to go along with his power. He was simply too good at straight counters and overpowered offensive blows, so coming at him head on was out of the question.

Due to this, Cedric’s strategy never changed: dart at the old man from the side, striking at wild angles in search of a blind spot.

He had to work ten times harder than he would against Mel or Quentle to land a strike that merely equaled the output of Valblin’s. Most of those strikes would fail to give him any sort of advantageous position, and even when they did the old man would effortlessly knock his sword away at the last second.

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Still, he would press on, with the thought that if he got inside his range of comfort, he could land at least a sidelong blow.

His persistent attacks continued, yielding no result yet again. He began to tire, body throbbing from Valblin’s stinging counter attacks. Sensing that the session would end soon, whether by time constraint or his body giving out, Cedric went on one last wild attack.

Feinting to his left, he streaked by the old man’s left side once more, leaving space enough to steer clear of any counters. Executing a diagonal slash that slightly deflected Valblin’s sword downward, Cedric continued his flight around the back of the man.

Knowing the old man’s superiority in a standup fight, Cedric then tried something insane. He’d somehow gotten the inch he needed to execute his idea , as Valblin seemed to react a bit late to his circling move by swiveling about with his sword at low guard.

Cedric had been working exceptionally hard at doing one thing: slowly backing the old man into the corner of the room.

Instead of turning around to attempt a futile back stab, Cedric continued toward the wall, and leapt up with all his strength.

Kicking sideways off the right wall, and then making to kick off the left like a distorted stair step, he contorted his body to look down at Valblin, his sword gripped and ready.

As he kicked off the left, however, his left foot slightly slipped, decreasing his outward momentum.

He looked with bared teeth down at the old man, thinking he might still be able to land a glancing blow across his right shoulder.

“Hoho?”

Of course, his expectations betrayed him. The old man simply couldn’t be caught off guard that easily.

Sidestepping the sword, Valblin reached his left arm out, and grasped onto Cedric’s wrist.

“Ah-”

With no time to think, he was pulled out of the air, and thrown directly into the skyward elbow Valblin had just raised.

His stomach felt like it was going to burst, and all the air seemed to escape from his body all at once.

“Kughhh!”

He immediately dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes, where he curled up, gasping for air.

“Ohhohoh, well now, that ought to teach you not to ever do something so stupid again, eh?”

“Kuuuuuughhhhhh, Uuuuughhhhhhh, Kuuckkckkkkkhhh?”

The blow had left him in a pitiful pile. Once he’d finally found some air to take in, he started dry heaving so hard the blood vessels in his face popped one after another.

“You understand, do you? That trying something flashy like that on a real battlefield is the quickest and easiest way to get yourself killed?”

“Hgeeeeessgsshhhh ShiiiIhhhhRrrHhhh-”

“Hoh! Good, now never present yourself so desperately before me again! This isn’t the way your father taught you.”

With that, Valblin hung his sword up, dumped the large basin of water he always prepared over Cedric’s head, and made for the door, shutting it with a very low, indistinct sigh while his eyes remained forward.

After some time, Cedric finally recovered, and drug himself to the wall where he slumped over.

“Hahhh, hahhh, that old bastard…I swear… I’m gonna kick his ass…so hard…one day…seriously... He doesn’t even realize… I resort to stunts like that because… attacking him is… impossible.”

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