Ding-a-ling-a-ling!
The bell signaling the end of class rang, and Vice Admiral Tsuru finished right on time. She picked up her textbook and turned to leave the classroom, with no intention of prolonging the lesson.
Sephiroth gently nudged Smoker, who was sound asleep beside him.
"Huh?! Class is over? Let's eat!" Smoker woke up dazed, yawning widely, then pulled out two cigars, lit them, and put them in his mouth.
Sephiroth covered his face with his hand and said helplessly, "The next class is swordsmanship, and we have to move classrooms. Come on, don't dally!"
Smoker scratched his head, trying to recall his class schedule, then muttered, "Oh! I guess so..."
As Sephiroth walked out of the classroom, he complained to the old smoker beside him, "By the way, aren't you planning to pay attention in class? Military theory is a skill every high-ranking officer should master, right?"
Hearing this, Smoker pouted. He widened his eyes and retorted, "I dropped out of elementary school. Do you think I could understand that?"
"..." Sephiroth could only fall silent, realizing the bitter truth.
Soon after, thirty Military School Students arrived at the spacious sword training dojo. At this moment, a tall man in a silvery-gray suit, with long hair, wearing a helmet, and a fierce face, was already standing in the dojo with Zephyr, waiting for them. The two seemed to be chatting and laughing casually.
Seeing that all thirty students had arrived and lined up, Zephyr introduced them, "This is Commodore Onigumo. He is also your senior. His accomplishments in the Six Styles and swordsmanship are very high, so I specifically invited him to be your swordsmanship instructor."
Onigumo took a pack of cigarettes from his suit pocket, pulled one out, lit it, and put it in his mouth. Then he said casually, "The main points of swordsmanship are actually very simple: speed, strength, and timing. No matter how sophisticated a move is, if it cannot injure or kill the enemy, then the move is useless. Conversely, no matter how simple or clumsy the movement, as long as you can grasp the timing of the attack and kill the enemy, that is the best result."
Onigumo puffed on his cigarette, exhaling a thin stream of smoke. "The meaning of you learning swordsmanship is so that you can kill the enemy more efficiently, so sometimes, using firearms and other weapons appropriately for supplementary attacks is also a very good option..."
"Ahem!... Onigumo, this is swordsmanship class. Please don't mix in too many other strange things." Zephyr coughed softly, gesturing for the other party not to let the topic stray too far off track.
Hearing that, Onigumo said nothing. He took a bamboo sword from a basket beside him. "Alright! I'll demonstrate some conventional attacking and defending techniques..."
As he spoke, Onigumo demonstrated a series of very standard attacking and defending techniques to everyone one by one, and roughly explained the transitions between movements.
"Simple demonstrations and explanations aren't interesting at all, and the teaching significance isn't great. These kids have already practiced basic swordsmanship before coming to the Marine Academy, and adding a few more sets of movements won't be of much use..." Zephyr interrupted. "Onigumo, let this old man try and see how much your sword ability has improved, and teach them some practical fighting techniques along the way..."
"Is that so...? Since leaving the Marine Academy, I haven't sparred with Zephyr Sensei for a long time..." Hearing that, a flash of light immediately shot from Onigumo's eyes, his fighting spirit burning.
He walked back to the basket. The long hair on his back quickly writhed and split into six hair-hands, pulling out six more bamboo swords from the basket. Adding the two swords he was already holding, that made a total of eight!
"Alright, I'd like Zephyr Sensei to guide me in the Eight-Sword Style swordsmanship that I developed myself..."
Wow!
When they saw Onigumo holding six swords with his hair, the thirty Military School Students all gasped involuntarily. This was an unusual sight, even in this world full of oddities.
"Onigumo, you must understand that the more weapons you have, the more advantageous it is..." Although Zephyr said so, his own hands each took a bamboo sword as well.
As a top expert with rich combat experience, Zephyr had also encountered many master swordsmen. Furthermore, he had undergone systematic swordsmanship training when he was young. Now that he had retired from the front lines and started training talent for the Marines, he had also studied swordsmanship again. Therefore, even though he was more skilled in unarmed combat, by analogy, if he took a sword and fought with an ordinary Swordsman, he could still hold his own with ease.
After Zephyr took his initial Two-Sword Style stance, he smiled and said, "Come on, let me try your Eight-Sword Style!"
Swish!
Onigumo wasted no words. Swiftly, he charged forward at his teacher, swinging eight swords like a raging storm. The fast and powerful attack stunned the Military School Students, their eyes glued to the teacher-student battle.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The bamboo swords on both sides continuously struck and collided at incredibly high speeds, causing the bamboo swords to leave afterimages in the air, barely visible to the naked eye.
"Your attacks are very dense, and your power is also quite good, but..." Zephyr swung the two bamboo swords in his hands to parry and dodge, but his expression seemed very relaxed, as if he were performing a light dance.
"You've overlooked a problem. No matter how many weapons you can control, your attention is limited..."
Amidst the dense and dazzling momentum of Onigumo's swords, Zephyr's two swords quickly intertwined and danced, successively parrying the six bamboo swords Onigumo held with his hair. Under his opponent's surprised gaze, he caused all that hair to become entangled in one place, looking like a tangled mess, messy everywhere.
Taking advantage of Onigumo's state of confusion, Zephyr found an opening and thrust his sword towards Onigumo's throat, but he stopped a few inches away, finishing his remaining words, "Therefore, it means that the more weapons you can control, the more shortcomings will appear in the details..."
"Thank you for your guidance, Zephyr Sensei. After I go back, I will definitely find a way to devise a complete set of offensive movements..." Onigumo nodded with an expression as if he had learned something valuable. He slowly tidied his hair, untangling the knots, clearly having pocketed an important lesson from the fight.
"Alright! What needed to be taught has been taught. Now, let's begin practical combat training... Everyone, attention!" Zephyr returned to his instructor mode.
"Sir!" thirty students shouted in unison.
"From now on, pair up and start practicing swordsmanship!"
"Sir!" they shouted again, this time with even more fervent spirit after seeing the demonstration.
Everyone walked towards the basket and each took out a bamboo sword.
At this moment, Tokikake, with his characteristic lecherous smile, quickly approached the long-legged 'older sister,' "Gion, I..."
Unexpectedly, before he could finish speaking, Gion turned with a sweet smile and said to the silver-haired youth beside her, "Little brother Sephiroth, I see you carry a sword all day long. Your swordsmanship must be quite great, right?"
Gion leaned her face in slightly, her smile widening, with a challenging tone, "How about we spar for a bit? You wouldn't be afraid, would you? But even if you are afraid to fight me, it's understandable, right! After all, I, your older sister, have already reached the level of a Sword Master..."
"..."
Gion's provocation was too obvious, and it was clear she was using it as a shield to reject the persistent Tokikake. Sephiroth initially didn't want to interfere with their affairs.
However, a Sword Master...?
In this world, Sword Master was a very important and respected title. Of course, the gap between the upper and lower limits was also very large. Those at the upper limit could cleave mountains and seas with a single slash, while those at the lower limit could only cut steel.
In fact, using the standard of cutting steel to measure whether a swordsman was a Sword Master wasn't entirely accurate. For a swordsman with a good weapon, such as a Supreme Grade Sword or a weapon of similar caliber, the difficulty of cutting steel would be greatly reduced. Therefore, in addition to being able to cut steel, one must also be able to unleash a Flying Slash to be considered a qualified Sword Master.
Currently, Sephiroth was merely a swordsman who could use a sword. There was still a gap between him and a Sword Master. Some time ago, Boggart, who gave him swordsmanship guidance, could at most cut steel. He still couldn't perform a Flying Slash, so he couldn't be considered a Sword Master...