Ilaya was gasping for breath as she felt that many parts of her body were bruised terribly. She looked at her sword and saw that it was nicked all over. Ilaya was sitting on the floor and she raised her head, only to see that Ivana, who's looking down on her with her smug face
Ilaya gritted her teeth as she stood up. Then, she dashed forward and swung her sword horizontally that aimed at Ivana's right side. Her sword was met with the tachi
Tak!
She then saw the tachi's tip headed towards her chest as Ivana used the rebound of the clash to redirect the path of her sword
'Shit! Her sword is really like a snake!'
Ilaya hurriedly sidestepped to evade as she felt the spine of Ivana's blade graze her chest. She then turned her sidestep into full rotation as she swing her sword in the left side this time, only to be blocked by the tachi
As they're clashing, Ivana smirked at her and said
"Not bad. You're starting to use the advantage of women. Their flexibility"
Ilaya was really annoyed by her talking as she grabbed the wooden tachi by her left hand and she thrust her short sword to Ivana's face. As the tip of her sword was only a centimeter in Ivana's skin, she felt a huge force hit her in the right side of her torso as Ivana whipped her left leg
Ilaya flew to the side and she crashed to the floor
"Cough!... Aghh!"
Ivana said sternly to her as she put her wooden sword in her shoulder
"Are you crazy? Why would you gripped the enemy's blade? Do you want to lose your fingers? If we're in a battle, your fingers are all over the place by now. Along with your corpse"
Ilaya, who's sprawled on the floor complained in her mind
'Of course I would never do that! It's just I wanted so much to erase that smug face of yours and make you stop talking!'
Ilaya stood up as she readied her stance again. Ivana saw this as she frowned. She always noticed that Ilaya's left side was full of openings. She also had a habit of attacking on the right side. Maybe due to being right handed, but, her left hand was always making a strange movements
'I'm missing something'
Then, Ivana saw Ilaya rush again and she thrust her sword towards her chest. She immediately struck it to the left side as she changed the direction of the tachi and brought it to her neck. Ilaya's left hand moved again and she scrambled to evade her strike
'There is it again. Her left hand is moving awkwardly during the whole fight''
As Ilaya regained her balance, she was about to rush again when she saw Ivana turn around and walked towards her collection. Confused, she asked her
"Where are you going? Admitting defeat?"
Ivana scoffed at her and said
"Don't talk nonsense. I'm training you, not playing with you"
Then, she reached the wall where Ilaya was previously. She looked at the silver shield as she took it. After studying it. She walked back and threw the shield to Ilaya
"Use this. I think I know why you sucked so much. I can give you another blade for you to become a dual sword user, but due to your left hand being useless in attacking, I guess a shield will do"
Ilaya became flustered as she caught the shield. She looked at it and turned it to the back. Then, she sheepishly smiled to Ivana and said to her
"I don't know how to use this"
Ivana glared at her and said
"Just use it"
With that tone, Ilaya immediately fumbled around and secured the shield in her left arm. Then, she took a different stance as she brought the shield close to her chest, and she hid the sword with her body
Then, she rushed forward as she slid the tip of her short sword to the rim of the shield and aimed it downward. To Ivana's thigh. Her plan was to hide her attack by the shield and to not give her time to predict where her attack will land
Ivana saw the tip of the short sword emerge behind the shield when Ilaya closed in on her. Then, she used her tachi to redirect the sword from its intended path. When she plans to counter attack by using Ilaya's power against her, to her surprise however, she manages to deflect the sword, but the shield is coming at her!
She immediately jumped back to evade Ilaya's charges. As she landed, Ivana stared at Ilaya's eyes
'I knew it. She's incomplete with just the sword'
Ilaya meanwhile. Her eyes sparkled as she suddenly became happy and ecstatic. She happily asked Ivana
"You jumped right!? You left your spot!"
Ilaya always noticed when she's being beaten that Ivana always stayed at the same place the moment the spar began. This annoyed her so much that every swing of her sword was to make Ivana leave the spot, and failed because of her tachi. And every attempt to push her out with her body ended up with her being kicked and collapsing to the side
Now however, Ilaya finally forced her to leave her spot!
'I did it!'
As Ilaya nearly cried from happiness, Ivana said to her
"Yes. I left my place, but you didn't hit me, so you didn't win"
Ivana looked at the wall clock and she said to her
"That's enough training for now. We need to leave soon. It's already 8 now"
Ilaya nodded as she walked to the corner and put her wooden short sword in the wooden box. Then, she removed her shield as she put it back on the display. As she turned back, Ivana said to her
"Meditate for about 10 minutes and reflect about our sparring today. Think of your mistakes and what you can do to improve. Simulate and visualize my movements in your mind and think what efficient move can you make at that time"
Ilaya nodded as she sat in the lotus position. Then, she closes her eyes. As Ilaya was deep in her meditation, Ivana observed her after putting her practice sword to where it belongs
'She's still rusty, but she has potential. It seems that I have a new hobby. When her body gets stronger. We'll increase the intensity of the spar. And when she can stay on her feet for about a minute. Then, our powers will come into play'
Ivana turned around and headed to the living room as she grinned
'This going to be so fun'
As Ivana was being excited. She felt her phone vibrate as she took it out. She saw her Intelligence department head was calling her. She frowned and answered the call. She asked
"What is it?"
The man in the other line said to her worriedly
[Boss. We have received an Intel that the eight organizations will be gathering one week from now. I believed that they will discuss the upcoming attack against us]
Ivana thought of a bit before grinning as she said
"It's an opportunity for us. Make sure that you find out where the gathering will take place"
The man answered her
"Yes boss. I'll find it"
Ivana nodded as she said
"Good. If that's all, I will hang up now"
Then, Ivana ended the call as she stared at her phone. She said while smiling dangerously
"I'll let you all taste your own medicine. Just wait for it"
Then, she walked towards her wardrobe and picked some clothes to wear. When she had all her necessities, she headed towards the bathroom. She wanted to take a bath to remove the sweat all over her body
…
In an unknown location. A man with a scratch on his face asked his subordinate
"Did they take the bait?"
His subordinate nervously said
"Yes boss. They've probably received the Intel just now"
The man nodded as he said
"Good. It's time to remove those leaders anyway. I hope she'll take action personally"
His subordinate nodded as sweat dropped from his face. Then, his boss said to him
"You can go now. Remember the plan"
"Yes boss"
The man with a scratched face walked towards the table as he heard the door closed. He then picked a bottle of liquor as he poured it into the glass. After putting an ice to his glass, he took a sip as his expression turned melancholic
He sunk in his own world as he drank in silence