Chapter 267: Overtime Class

A few minutes after combat class had officially ended, only a handful of figures remained in the room.

Instructor Liz was currently shooing the last lingering student out of the heavy double doors, while Lionne stood rigidly by the side of the mat, watching the two of us finish our warm-ups.

Instructor Liz tapped the tip of her training blade across the floor as she walked over to the two of me standing in the middle of the training mat.

“Didn’t expect you two to bother me after class,” she said, lightly rubbing the back of her head. Her coat hung off one shoulder. Then, she smirked as she picked up her sword, leveling it toward the middle of the two of me. “So, you two want revenge? That it?”

I shook my head as Carine. “No, we just wanted to hear your thoughts about our growth over the past few weeks.”

Though I say that, I totally wanted revenge. With this new eye-and-ear technique, I was practically vibrating with anticipation. I didn't just want a critique; I wanted to force this monster of an instructor to actually try. I wanted to make her acknowledge that we grew, at least a little bit.

“Hmm…” she hummed, tapping her sword at the back of her shoulder. She cast a lazy eye toward the high windows, where the afternoon sun was beginning to dip into the horizon. Then, she scoffed. “Why not? Who knows, I could probably ask for some overtime pay for this.”

“Thank you for accepting our duel, Instructor,” I said through Feyt. I drew the standard-issue wooden blade, adjusting my fingers. “I hope we won’t let you down.”

I adjusted my grip with Carine’s custom-made wooden blade as well.

“Oh, trust me,” she rolled her shoulders like winding up a punch, her lazy demeanor vanishing the exact moment her feet planted onto the center mat. Her eyes locked onto us as her smile took on a predatory presence. “It’ll take a lot to impress me, so give it all you got.”

A few paces away, Lionne stood straight as a board, taking her role as temporary referee with relative seriousness. She raised her hand high, holding a towel once more.

“Ready?” she asked the three of us.

We each gave slight nods as responses.

Then, her hand flew down.

Both of my bodies exploded forward.

I didn’t rush in blindly like last time I went up against her. Instead, this time, I activated both of my new techniques. I focused Carine’s eyes on every micro-movement she made, while simultaneously listening to both her heartbeat and her muscles with Feyt’s ears.

Using both of these techniques, I could map out every move she might make moments before she even did it.

Instructor Liz’s smile didn’t fade away; her body remained entirely defensive as we approached.

I threw my first strike as Carine, a sharp diagonal cut, already prepping for a quick follow-up strike as Feyt from the opposite flank. Liz blocked both of them with two casual movements of her blade, but I kept the pressure high.

From the right, to the left. From high up, to down below. I kept my attacks relentless and varied, while she kept blocking or dodging them with ease, her feet dancing backward as we kept pushing.

I was no longer surprised by how easily she blocked my strikes, however.

After all, I wasn’t trying to hit her. I was just baiting a move out of her.

Then, as we were slowly backing her into the edge of the mat, she finally took action.

Through Feyt’s ears, I heard the sudden, violent contraction in her leg muscles. Simultaneously, Carine’s eyes caught her arms stiffening for a fraction of a second.

She was aiming for an explosive move. Judging from the sharp, focused direction of her gaze, she wasn't aiming for our bodies; she was aiming for our swords.

As I predicted, she pushed back against the mat and performed a devastatingly heavy swing. It was a sweeping, high-velocity strike meant to smash into our weapons and shake our grips loose.

But I already knew it was coming.

Both of me managed to pull back from the arc, dodging it at the absolute last second. Her blade whistled through empty air right where our blades had been.

Instructor Liz’s eyes widened for a moment as both of us and our swords escaped completely unscathed.

Sensing the massive opening left by her overcommitted swing, we seized the chance to close in on her. But she reacted incredibly quick as well, instantly stepping back to regain some distance, right as we were about to close up the match and trap her.

“Oh, so you two did learn something new!” she yelled, excitement coating her voice. She readied her blade once more, taking on a more aggressive stance. “Let’s see what you got then.”

This was a side of Instructor Liz I hadn't seen yet. The casual smirk was still there, but the raw, unadulterated bloodlust radiating from her stance was entirely new. A cold rush of adrenaline spiked through both of my bodies.

She’s finally taking me on seriously.

““Gladly!”” we chorused in perfect unison.

I pushed both of my bodies on the offensive once more.

Instructor Liz began her march toward us as well.

Thankfully, using both Feyt’s ears to hear her muscle contractions and Carine’s eyes to map her attack trajectories, I managed to anticipate each and her every move. It allowed me to keep up with a pace that would have completely overwhelmed anyone else.

We exchanged attacks after attacks, parries after parries, deflection after deflection. The training hall echoed with a deafening, continuous cacophony of colliding wood. It was a high-intensity battle of attrition, a grueling test of stamina to see whose arms were going to go numb first.

Obviously, against someone as experienced as her, I wouldn’t survive that battle of attrition, so I did the best thing I could.

I created a trap.

Surging forward as Feyt, I feigned an attack, intentionally throwing my body weight into a massive, heavily telegraphed swing. I made it look like an all-out, desperate strike, committing so deeply that Liz was forced to execute a fast, horizontal swing she couldn’t possibly redirect mid-motion.

As expected, she dodged to the side as fast as she could to let Feyt's momentum pass. Feyt’s sword sliced through the air, nearly hitting her shoulders.

But that was exactly what I was hoping for.

Already expecting that precise dodge, I had already charged forward as Carine towards that exact spot before Liz even moved there. The moment Instructor Liz’s feet touched the ground to plant her weight, Carine’s sword was already mid-thrust, driving straight for the opening.

Liz's eyes widened in genuine surprise. With her balance momentarily caught between the dodge and the landing, she quickly scrambled, raising her sword in a frantic, last-second attempt to deflect Carine's thrust.

However, in that split-second decision, she already forgot about the other me.

“There!” I yelled as Feyt.

Using the momentum of my missed swing, I twisted my entire torso, redirecting my wooden blade back into the fray with all my effort.

Unable to react to a second, simultaneous attack in her state of split-second recovery, Instructor Liz froze.

She let out a short, surprised chuckle as the sharp clack of wood resonated through the quiet room.

She managed to deflect Carine’s thrust. But in the end, Feyt’s blade stood silently right in front of her neck.

Silence stretched in the room as the three of us remained frozen in place.

“Well, color me surprised,” Instructor Liz chuckled, breaking the silence. “You two actually got me.”

Only after hearing her words did it register with me.

I… won?

I actually won?!

A wave of pure euphoria rushed through both of my bodies at the exact same time. I had to actively restrain myself from pumping my fists in celebration.

I actually managed to outmaneuver someone as trained as Instructor Liz. Sure, she probably underestimated me a little, but the fact of the matter was, I won.

Beside us, Lionne finally remembered how to breathe. "M-Match over! Winner, Lady Carine and Sir Feyt!" she squeaked.

Liz took a couple of steps back, stretching her body straight with a lazy groan. Once she relaxed, she stared at us with a familiar, provocative smirk. “You know, I’m kind of annoyed. I thought I told you to focus less on your partner in battle, but it seems you did the exact opposite instead.”

Then, her smirk shifted into a genuinely confident smile. “But hey, what works, works, yeah? Good job, you two!”

Another wave of euphoria passed through me. Having the recognition from someone like Instructor Liz had cemented the fact that I truly did grow stronger.

“It’s an honor to receive your praise, Instructor,” I said as Carine, offering a polite bow.

“Yeah, yeah, don’t bother thanking me,” she said, waving her hand as she circled me. “It was great fun fighting you two; I should be the one thanking you… Though—”

Before I could even blink, she blurred behind Feyt. Her hand shot out and clamped firmly onto his right ear.

“Wha—?” I yelped as Feyt.

Then, she yanked hard.

“Ow!~ Ow, ow, ow!!”

A sharp, stinging bolt of pain flared through Feyt’s head, and it echoed cleanly through Carine. Both of my bodies winced violently, eyes squeezing shut. Carine’s hands flew up in instinct to clutch an untouched ear.

“I-Instructor?!” I yelped as Carine. “What are you doing—?!”

“Hahaha! So you still have the same problem, huh?” she laughed, completely delighted as she kept yanking. “It’s almost like you two share pain! Man, this is kinda fun.”

Fun?! For who?!

Instructor Liz finally released her grip, giving Feyt’s head a playful pat as both of my bodies let out a long, shuddering sigh of relief, while I slowly rubbed my ear as Feyt.

She stepped back, resting her hands on her hips with a smug grin. “Consider that your reminder not to get cocky just because you managed to graze my neck once. Keep practicing, and try to fix that problem I just showed you, alright?”

Did you really have to yank my ears just to prove that?!

But, as frustrated as I was, she had a point. Though I learned a new technique to grow stronger, I still hadn’t trained myself enough to ignore sudden distractions from echoing through both bodies, be it intense pain, a conversation, or other things.

But there was still time until the preliminary rounds would begin. There should be enough time for me to learn how to build a wall between both of my bodies, I hoped.

"We will keep that in mind, Instructor," I said as Carine, my voice smooth and perfectly controlled once more. I simply offered a respectful nod as Feyt, my hand finally dropping from my slightly reddened ear.

And with that, both of us left the room, with Lionne trailing just a step behind.

Instructor Liz really was something else. To be able to read our movements so thoroughly, instantly pinpoint our greatest vulnerability, and seamlessly exploit it on a whim, she was a true monster in a battle. Even though I did win against her, I still felt like there was so much more I could learn from her.

It made me wonder: if there existed an instructor that could push us this hard and offer such invaluable insight, were there any other noteworthy instructors lurking in this academy that I could spar with or learn from?

I didn't know the answer yet, but I sincerely hoped I would cross paths with one soon.

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