Chapter 83: A Martial Artist's Required Course
Faced with Ashikaga sensei's teasing, Asagiri simply shook his head and answered with effortless calm.
"Just reading for fun."
"Sure." Ashikaga sensei nodded without committing to anything. "As long as you take first place in the spring exams, I don't care what you do."
Then she turned to Asuna and Kei, pointed at the rack of wooden practice weapons, and lifted her chin.
"Pick what you want. Who goes first?"
Both girls hesitated for a beat.
From the wall, Asagiri was still reading his AWP sniper rifle component guide like it was perfectly normal lunchtime material. Without looking up, he spoke lightly.
"Don't worry. Don't let Ashikaga sensei's thin gold rimmed glasses and stern middle aged aura fool you. She's a direct descendant of the Ashikaga shogunate, trained in martial arts since childhood, and she's the kind of noble warrior who can sit on Shuchiin's board." He flipped a page. "So don't go easy on her."
"Okay."
If Asagiri said so, Asuna decided she would not hesitate.
She walked to the rack, selected a wooden sword similar in style to her Exorcist Longsword, and stepped in front of Ashikaga sensei.
"Ashikaga sensei, please choose a weapon as well."
"No need."
Ashikaga sensei bent her knees slightly, clenched her left fist at her waist, and extended her right hand forward. Her breathing stayed steady as she settled into a stance.
"Talk about me using a weapon when you can touch me."
Asuna's brows drew together.
After the last Dungeon, after cutting down so many Special Infected, and after being strengthened again and again through her exclusive talent, she was no longer someone an ordinary person could compare to. Her "weaknesses" were strength and defense, but that was only in comparison to her speed and agility.
Even against adult men, she was already stronger than most.
No matter how skilled Ashikaga sensei was, empty handed versus a sword still sounded like arrogance.
Asuna's competitive spirit flared. She tightened her grip and spoke, voice low and controlled.
"Ashikaga sensei. Let's begin."
"Please."
The instant Ashikaga sensei said that one word, Asuna's figure flashed forward.
The wooden blade shot toward Ashikaga sensei's left shoulder with fierce momentum, a clean thrust meant to end things fast.
But the next second, Ashikaga sensei shifted with minimal movement, as if she had already seen the line of attack before it existed. She slipped past the strike, then flicked a hand chop lightly against Asuna's head.
Asuna, unable to retract her force in time, staggered. Before she could fall, Ashikaga sensei caught her left wrist and steadied her.
"You're very fast."
Asuna regained her balance. Ashikaga sensei adjusted her glasses with a calm push.
"But your intent is too obvious. You committed too hard. When I dodged, you couldn't change your move, and you gave me a fatal opening."
As she spoke, she walked to the rack and took a wooden sword for herself. Then she looked at Asuna again.
"Weapons are an extension of the user. But a martial artist's body is also a weapon."
Her gaze swept over Asuna's posture.
"Your movements say you're used to one handed swordplay. That doesn't mean your left hand can be dead weight."
She shifted the sword into her left hand, then performed a smooth, controlled flourish. The motion was clean enough to look elegant, but sharp enough to feel dangerous.
"Even with a one handed sword, you must train until both hands are reliable."
Asuna did not argue. She nodded seriously, imprinting every word.
Now she understood why Asagiri had dragged their homeroom teacher into this.
Ashikaga sensei's physical ability was not overwhelming, at least not compared to Asuna's enhanced body. Yet her combat technique, her prediction, her ability to coax openings and punish them instantly, were on an entirely different level.
"Hoo…"
Asuna adjusted her breathing. Her eyes sharpened with stubborn resolve as she raised her sword again.
"Ashikaga sensei. Please continue."
"Oh?"
For the first time, Ashikaga sensei's usually calm expression shifted slightly.
"Interesting. You really are a talent worth shaping."
…
Several hours later.
Night had fully fallen.
Under the dojo lights, Asuna and Megumi were exhausted to the point they could barely move. They knelt on the wooden floor, hair soaked with sweat, uniforms heavy with dampness, lungs pulling air like they were drinking it.
"Hoo… hoo…"
Asuna tried to use her wooden sword to force herself upright again, but Ashikaga sensei stopped her.
"That's enough for today. If you keep going, you'll injure yourselves from over exhaustion."
She looked down at the two girls, and there was clear approval in her eyes.
They were moldable. Both of them.
Asuna's strength was her fierce competitive spirit. At the start, she could not even brush Ashikaga sensei's sleeve, yet she never quit. Each failure only made her sharper, more stubborn, more relentless.
Megumi's strength was her emotional stability. Her mind was calm, her reactions controlled, and she was difficult to read. Ashikaga sensei could not tell what Megumi was thinking from her expression at all, which made her movements unsettling in a different way.
Ashikaga sensei had accepted this training only because Asagiri asked. At first, she had assumed it was meaningless.
Now her opinion had changed.
Training these two was not a waste of time.
"Their training ends here for now."
Ashikaga sensei turned her gaze to Asagiri, who had been leaning against the wall the entire time like a bored spectator at a tournament.
"Next, it's your turn."
Asagiri straightened, rolled his shoulders, and smiled.
"Finally? I was starting to get bored."
"Then wait a moment." Ashikaga sensei's tone stayed flat. "I'll get what we need."
She disappeared behind the partition at the back of the dojo.
When she returned, Asuna and Megumi both froze.
"This… guns?"
Not wooden swords. Not polearms. Not even something that belonged in a traditional dojo.
Real firearms, the kind carbon based lifeforms invented after their cool down period.
Ashikaga sensei held a black handgun in her left hand and a rifle with camouflage coating in her right. With the gold rimmed glasses and her calm face, she looked like a reborn middle aged soldier king who had taken a wrong turn into a museum.
Modern weapons inside an ancient dojo. The aesthetic was so wrong it became surreal.
Asagiri, walking toward the center, chuckled.
"Relax. They're not loaded with live rounds. Rubber bullets."
Asuna's brows knitted, worry rising.
"Is your special training… fighting Ashikaga sensei while she has a gun?" Her voice tightened. "With bare hands, that's impossible to win, isn't it?"
Before Asagiri could answer, Ashikaga sensei spoke, indifferent.
"That's hard to say."
She set the camo rifle aside. Then she pulled back the pistol slide, released the safety, and looked at Asagiri from about ten meters away.
"A martial artist must be prepared to face all weapons. A gun is also a weapon." Her voice was steady, almost cold. "Bridging the gap in weaponry with skill and experience is a mandatory course."
Asagiri laughed under his breath.
"You're almost fifty. How do you still have chuunibyou?"
Ashikaga sensei pushed up her glasses, expression tightening just slightly.
"I'm thirty eight. Not almost fifty."
She was still mid sentence when Asagiri lunged.
In that instant, Ashikaga sensei raised the pistol and fired without hesitation. A faint smile lifted the edge of her usually serious mouth.
Yes.
This was what a martial artist was.
Use anything. Exploit anything. Even a "dirty" opening, even a sudden strike, as long as you are the one left standing in the end.
"Bang!"
In the split second before the shot, Asagiri shifted his line of movement. The rubber bullet grazed his cheek and tore past.
"Hm. Good judgment."
Ashikaga sensei's eyes narrowed. She aimed at his chest and fired again.
Asagiri dodged a fraction too late.
The rubber bullet slammed into his right chest near the shoulder.
"Bang."
Just watching it made Asuna and Megumi chests ache in sympathy.
But Asagiri did not stop.
He did not even grunt.
As if pain simply did not exist, he kept charging straight in.
Before Ashikaga sensei could fire a third time, Asagiri was already on her. His hand closed around her wrist, locking it down.
"Ashikaga sensei," he said calmly, "you lost."
.....
[Check Out My Patreon For Advance Chapters On All My Fanfics!]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03]
[Join Our Discord Community For Updates & Events]
[https://discord.gg/MntqcdpRZ9]