As Ilaya was getting busy changing clothes. Ivana was wondering what to teach her
'In this modern world, nothing can beat the lethality of firearms. A sword meant nothing if you got shot from far away. But to me who has supernatural powers, swords and daggers are always my main weapon. The gun is just that, a sidearm'
Ivana thought as she looked at Ilaya whose face was crestfallen. She wanted to teach her to fight using blades, but she's worried that she's not going to use it anyway
'She obtained trauma about blades, so maybe she's not going to be able to show the potential of blades. Is guns the only way for her?'
Ilaya noticed that Ivana was staring intently at her and she almost wanted to run away. In the end, she apologize
"I'm sorry for using you as a scapegoat alright. I'm just afraid that Nicole will leave me and I'll be all alone in the base"
Ivana shook her head as she said
"Come here"
Ilaya cautiously walked towards her as she prepared herself for Ivana's attack. Ivana noticed this as she snapped
"Walk faster! You're so slow!"
Ilaya was startled by her shout as she ran towards her immediately and said
"I'm sorry! I'm just scared by your eyes! I know that you're going to use my fast recovery to train me so I'm scared!"
Ivana became surprised as she said to Ilaya
"That's a good method. I wonder why I didn't think of it"
"Ah?"
Ilaya was stunned for a moment before she wanted to shout
'She didn't think of it!? Now that I said it, she's surely going to use it!'
She saw Ivana who's grinning to herself and she despaired. But contrary to her expectation, Ivana just stood up and gave Ilaya a pistol and a dagger. As Ilaya had the weapons in each of her hands, she heard Ivana said to her
"Ilaya, what will you use?"
Ivana stared at her blue eyes and said seriously
"With guns, you can kill enemies far away. But it's going to be useless if your enemies got close to you"
Then, she pointed at the dagger and said
"With this blade, you can protect yourself if they get close. But you're basically bathing yourself in their blood. You will feel the blade plunging into their flesh. You know exactly what I'm talking about"
Ilaya nodded as she became sad. Then, she said to Ivana
"I want to use both"
Ivana was surprised with her answer. She thought she'd be reluctant to use the blade because of her trauma. Then, she smiled and said to her
"Alright. I'm going to lend you a weapon for now in one of my collections. I'll send you your later your very own"
Then, Ivana retrieved her pistol and dagger from Ilaya as she walked towards her blade collection. She opened one of the glasses and took out a tachi. It's a short one compared to a katana, so it's perfect for her
Ivana gave her the sword as she said
"This weapon is a tachi. A smaller cousin of a katana. It's a two handed sword that specializes in cutting. I'm going to teach you some basic movements to train whenever you had a free time after your strengthening your body everyday"
Ilaya became enamored at the tachi as she looked at the scabbard. The handle and scabbard are colored black and the handle felt good to hold. Then, she slightly pulled out the blade and she saw that it's silvery with slightly blue color
'This is pretty and cool!'
She's starting to understand Ivana's hobby of collecting blades. They looked awesome. However, she really didn't know how to use it. Then Ivana said to her
"Don't use that yet. You can be wounded since it's your first time holding a blade. We'll use a practice sword in this test. Use that when you will just perform slashes for your daily training"
As she said that, Ivana walked towards the corner and picked two wooden swords. Soon, they sat on the floor, facing each other as she listens to Ivana explaining to her
"When using a long single edged sword, like a katana. It's more effective if you use your two hands to wield it. When the blade is a short one, you can use one hand to wield it"
Ivana looked at her and asked
"Why is that?"
Ilaya looked at her wooden sword as she held it in one hand. She lightly swing it and she soon found her answer from just that
"If it's longer, it's awkward to wield it with one hand and inefficient. The same goes to the short sword. Holding it in two hands is going to be troublesome. Somehow, it feels odd and I'm going to be laughed at"
Ivana nodded and said to her
"You get the logic. So, I'm going to show you the basic katas of a tachi so make sure to remember it. It's a short one compared to a katana, so you'll have a much higher chance of understanding it faster than other swords"
Ilaya nodded like a good student and Ivana sat up and she started explaining while doing movements
"When you slash, your dominant hand will push the blade downward, while your other hand is the support that will pull the blade. Like this"
Ivana brought the wooden tachi upward, and abruptly brought it downward
Swoosh!
Ilaya saw and remembered her posture from start to finish. She stood up and mimicked her. She copied her opening stance as she slowly brought her wooden tachi downward. But she did it in slow motion
She's studying about the logic of pushing and pulling of the sword. Ivana saw her movements as she watched Ilaya mimic her. She thought that it's quite remarkable that she got it in just explaining and one example, but there's something bothering her
Then, Ivana corrected her multiple times as she's starting to get irritated. She showed her again the proper slash and Ilaya copied her again but…
"It's your left hand. That's the problem"
Ivana said to the exhausted Ilaya while bringing up her palm
"Ilaya, punch my palm with your right hand"
Ilaya became confused for a moment before she held the wooden tachi in her left hand. Then, she became secretly excited about punching her as she didn't hesitate at all!
Twack!
Ilaya looked dumbfounded at her hand. Her punch didn't even manage to move her hand a bit!
'Is she an iron or something!?'
Ivana didn't pay attention to the dumbfounded Ilaya as she looked at her hand. Then, she said again
"Now punch with your left hand"
Ilaya repeated the previous process as she threw a punch to her palm
Twack!
This time, instead of her turning happy for punching Ivana. Her left hand hurt from the punch!
"Aww!"
Ilaya felt like her left hand was dislocated! As she's dancing a strange dance from the pain. Ivana said to her
"So it really is your left hand that's the problem"
Ivana pondered for a bit before heading towards the corner. Then she pulled out a short sword as she headed back while saying to Ilaya
"You're not suited to a two handed sword. I have a solution to that, but it's going to take so long. Here. Try this"
Ivana held out a short wooden sword and Ilaya took it. She felt the weight of the sword and she noticed that it's comfortable in her hand. Then, Ilaya walked back as she stretched out her hand. She pointed the sword at Ivana and soon said
"I like this better"