Swordfighting 101 (w/kayla vern) (closed)

Hunter and I arrived at the training grounds a few minutes later. As if it knew where it was, Windbreaker transformed into a 3-foot long sword. The celestial bronze glowed in the sun, and the hilt fit perfectly into my hand.

Hunter's stomach had finally stopped being such a pain in the a** and agreed to settle in a cooperative way as Hunter took his two daggers from his belt. He twirled them simultaneously to get familiar with them once again since they had been collecting a little dust, gripping the hilts. He tucked them back into his belt while walking over to pick up some spare standard armor that the camp had laying around and put it on in case Jay managed to get a hit on him. He spared the helmet though since it was too heavy and he honestly put a little faith in the other Hermes kid not to take a swing to his head.

"How about you practice on some of those dummies over there first so you can get familiar with your sword, your weapon should be like an extra limb to you in combat. We can spar afterwards." Hunter instructed, pointing to a couple dummies to his far right.

I walked over to the straw dummies, blank stares on their burlap faces. With the sword in my left hand, I raised my sword high and slashed down hard. The strike left a large gash in the dummy. Once I got my flow, I hacked and slashed the dummy with speed and precision. It was just like handling a lacrosse stick, only this stick was made of magic metal for killing monsters. And with my final slash, I raised Windbreaker and flicked my wrist, bringing the sword in a circular motion up and over the dummy. I expected the cut just to stick deep, but instead I slashed all the way through the dummy, decapitating it. The motion was considered a wrap check in lacrosse, but I was slighlty surprised I could turn it into a move on the battlfield. I turned to Hunter. "So how was that?"

Hunter whistled at the end watching as Jay decapitated the dummy. The kid was a natural with his sword, it took Hunter himself a few days to get used to a sword but it was harder than most since he was more naturally inclined towards daggers. "Pretty good. Wanna start sparring? Just try not to cut off my head though." Hunter pleaded.

"Let's do it." I said, putting on some chest armor. We got into our battle stances. I took the first move, attempting the wrap slash once again. Hunter saw it coming, and easily rolled out the way. I took swings and the armored parts of his body, but I was only to land one or two hits. When I retreated back, there were one or two modest sized gashes on his chest plate, but no real signs of damage. I smiled; I always liked a bit of a challenge.

The kid was fast, he'd give him that. But Hunter had three years of experience with combat. He took his daggers, easily swinging them to his left side and rolling backwards on the ground before Jay could counter attack and Hunter stood back up. He resisted the urge to throw his daggers at the other boy since that wouldn't really count as sparring and just maiming. He stood his ground, waiting for Jay to attack and took up the defense.

I knew brute force was only going to do but so much, so I came up with a plan on the fly. I tried for another wrap slash, this time attempting to hit him with the flat of my blade to stun him instead of cutting him. This would hopefully give me a opening for another set of strikes.

Hunter blocked Jay's sword, crossing his daggers to push back pressure. The slash knocked him off balance, momentarily catching him by surprise as the flat of it hit his face. He fell beck with his two daggers at the ready and wiped his cheek to feel a small welt forming. Hunter grinned and spit on the ground nearby his feet, "Not bad at all."

It was awesome that my plan worked, but I couldn't get too excited just yet. I charged once more, aiming at his right shoulder. I was hoping to distract him enough that I could sweep his legs out from under him without him expecting it.

Hunter saw the sword coming for his shoulder and ducked under it when it came close enough, swiftly going under it and moving behind Jay, elbowing the back of his neck and kicking the back of one of his knees. He pulled back again in case the other boy was going to swing blindly at him, moving out of that area of danger.

The force of the kick was enough to knock me off my feet. I rolled back onto my feet into a defenseive stance. My knee didn't hurt that much, but my neck had a big bruise on it. However, my adrenaline easily overpowered my pain as I waited for Hunter's next move.

Hunter rose his eyebrow as he stood, waiting for a strike to appear much like Jay was waiting. He put a small smirk on his face in amusement at the fact they were both doing the defense. He didn't usually go on offense but if it came to that then it came to that. He strode forward in one large step, feigning to attack one of Jay's side while coming at the other with another of his daggers.

I saw the feign coming from a mile away. I brought my sword down to my hip to block the dagger, the sound of bronze on bronze making a huge clanging sound so loud I thought the whole camp heard it. I knew my other side was wide open, so I braced myself for another incoming strike.

Hunter's dagger pierced Jay's armor in the side, making a slight gash in it. It barely tore through though since that's what the armor was for, protecting its wielder. He blocked himself by making a solid X with his forearms just in case as he backed away.

I thanked the gods for armor, for without it Hunter couldve easily pierced an organ. I was breathing hard and sweat drenched my clothes. Nothing had drained my energy like this before. My body was screaming for rest, but I couldn't give up just yet. I knew I wasn't going to win this fight, but I at least had to give it my all. I rushed towards at Hunter with all of my strength and attempted one last wrap slash aimed at his thigh. I collapsed before I could even register if I hit my mark or not...

Hunter didn't put on any protection for his legs, only the chest armor so when Jay slashed at his thigh, he could feel the blade pierce through his skin. Although he wasn't a stranger to pain that cut hurt like a b****. He grinded his teeth together, and looked at the injury. It was deep but nothing ambrosia couldn't fix and thankfully he always kept an emergency stash in his pockets. He took a bite of it and felt the wound starting to heal as he made his way over to the other boy who had collapsed in exertion. Technically this was Jay's first fight against a trained demigod so of course he'd be exhausted. Hunter picked the boy up, slinging Jay's arm around his shoulders and grabbing his waist, making his way over to the benches on the sidelines. He set Jay down on it and sat down himself. It'd take a while for the ambrosia to heal his leg and putting pressure on it wouldn't help.

I woke up about an hour later, the sun high overhead. Hunter was sitting next to me with a bag of what looked like fudge squares next to him. Too exhausted to even ask, I reached into the bag and popped one into my mouth. It tasted like a banana and Nutella sandwich, my favorite snack. I suddenly felt a lot better. I sat up and stretched. "Well... that was fun." I said casually, smiling at my sparring partner.

Hunter snorted, "Until you passed out. Try not to put your everything in a battle, it might kill you. Work on your stamina and endurance." He commented. "If you wanna go at it again I'm up for it."

I got up and stretched. Windbreaker was still in its sword form, placed carefully on the side of one of the benches. I picked it up and did a couple of slow slashes to get used to its weight again. The bronze reflected the sun like a mirror.
"Well, I can't say no to a good challenge. I can go for another round or two." I said, holding my sword high. "Let's rock out"

"Sure thing, just don't fall asleep on me Sleeping Beauty." Hunter taunted as he took his daggers out of his belt again and preparing for an attack. He wasn't going to make the first move this time.

I lunged and struck high, and then quick as lightning ducked down for a leg sweep. I had to keep him off balance if I was going to even stand a chance this time around.

Hunter easily blocked Jay's strike with his two daggers pushing against the sword but didn't anticipate when he fell backwards. He scrambled backwards clumsily, crab style, to try to keep a distance and jumped back up. He crouched low, slashing his daggers right after left at the other boy's legs.

I rolled to the side, and feigned to the right. I then delivered another kick to his back.

Hunter scowled as he felt a kick hitting his back. He tumbled backwards not so gracefully and stumbled back up on his two feet, straightening himself and getting in one good stretch to ease the ache until he went back into battle. He slashed upwards on Jay's chest with one dagger and brought another horizontal cut close to his neck but had the restraint to pull backward and used his forearms to push him back.

I leaned backward Matrix-style, landing on my hands and flipping backwards. The upward slash make a large lowercase L on my armor, and the other slash came so close to my neck that I felt the near tip of his dagger just graze my skin. I regained my balance and then stepped forward, spinning on my heel and slashing at his abdomen.