Adopted Soldier
/ Adopted Soldier 31 Oliver's unexpected skill
Setsuna's senses were heightened to his very limit. He saw Alex slide his feet forward and due to Setsuna being tense the entire time, when he saw Alex move he quickly evaded. Yet the strike he was waiting for never came, this was a bluff and a simple one at that.
Now in an awkward position after trying to evade, Setsuna couldn't move in time when Alex's real strike came. "MEN" once again without seeing the strike but hearing the hit, Setsuna fell to the ground. The referee couldn't decide if that was a clear hit or not since he himself couldn't see the strike as well.
"That was a clear strike." Ken spoke up for the referee. Hearing the opposing team's coach, the inexperience referee ended the match with Alex's victory.
Setsuna was no match for Alex, since he wasn't even able to see his strike. Yet instead of getting demoralized by the extreme difference of strength Setsuna had his fighting spirit burning even brighter than before. He then approached Alex and pointed his shinai at Alex's face and proclaimed. "Next time I'll beat you!" After saying his piece he went back to his team.
Alex was going back to stand beside Rachel, but as he turned around at the corner of his eye he caught sight of Ken moving towards him. Alex tilted his head a little bit and a shinai past through the space where his head was and landed on his right shoulder. Alex pointed his shinai at his back without looking, and it landed on Ken's right shoulder.
Oliver who saw Alex's counter move without looking made him feel like he was watching an anime. Sayaka on the other hand was looking at Ken's movement with a serious look in her eyes, but after awhile shrugged her shoulders and stuck onto Oliver's arm. Oliver fully concentrated on Ken and Alex's confrontation ignored Sayaka who smiled seeing Oliver wasn't going to detach herself from him.
"What is a sword to you?" Ken asked Alex without moving his shinai from Alex's shoulder.
"The sword is a tool for murder. Sword techniques are just killing skills. Since it is for killing, then obviously it should seek to kill in one strike. Superfluous things are all abandoned in pursuit of the limit of speed and power. Concise and precise movements are all one needs." Alex responded to Ken's question.
"Hahahaha the same answer as him. Kid who is the one who taught you the way of the sword?" Even though he already knew the answer Ken still asked Alex.
Alex hearing Ken's question wanted to ask why he should tell the man who his master was? Still its not really a problem even if he told him... So that the situation will end Alex decided to answer Ken's question.
"The one who Instructed me in the way of the sword was Ryu Yamato." When Ken heard Alex's answer he started laughing merrily. The sharp aura he was constantly releasing seem to double.
"Hahaha I knew it! So the master beats me, and the student beats my disciple. The world truly is small" Ken retracts his shinai and retreats back to his post.
When Oliver heard the conversation between the two he got super excited. Wasn't Alex living his dream life! He was strong had a stoic face, smart and transferred in the middle of the semester. Wasn't Alex like a novel protagonist?
Rachel who heard the conversation started wondering if this Ryu fellow was also the one who taught Alex unarmed combat. Since it was similar to their family's martial art, this Ryu might be related to her very own deadbeat father.
Setsuna on the other hand felt a burning rivalry. So Alex's master beat his own master and now Alex beat him. The losing streak of master and disciple needs to end. Setsuna promised himself to double his training and surpass Alex.
The match continued onward, the next battle was between William and the one who kept on insulting Cromer's kendo team. Still shaken by Alex and Setsuna's match the Hillman student couldn't perform as well as he was suppose to and the match ended in a draw.
The next match was also anti climatic the captain of Hillman's Kendo team easily beat Noel, showcasing the superior skill of Hillman's team. Aside from Alex's overwhelming performance, William's battle was a fluke since his opponent wasn't in the best mental state. While Noel's lose was within prediction.
Since each team had one win they needed to fight one more battle for the tie breaker. On Hillman's team they decided to send out their captain Souske. Alex then nominated Oliver to be their representative wanting to see how good he really is.
Noel and William seeing Alex's confidence in Oliver as well as remembering his stellar performance, believed that Oliver might show a similar surprise.
Oliver got ready on one side while Souske was on the other. When Souske saw that Oliver had no chest plate he was suspicious. Seeing Oliver had a bigger frame than him who was called a gorilla was wary of Oliver, what doubled Souske's vigilance was the he was sent to fight the last match instead of Alex, which made Souske think that Oliver might be as strong or even stronger than Alex.
Ken who scanned Oliver's stance and bearing, instantly figured out Oliver was a total amateur. Still he wondered if Oliver was just faking it so that everyone would let down their guard, he didn't even have a chest plate on. Also that muscular body of his, couldn't be made in just one day, he trained for that, but Ken was sure it was not muscles trained for Kendo, the calluses in his hands were wrong. If he was more inclined to using a sword the calluses would've formed in his palms, but on closer inspection his calluses was in his knuckles. Ken quickly concluded that Oliver was a unarmed specialist.
Ken's analysis of Oliver was pretty accurate, even though Oliver hated pain, he was still someone who was hardworking and wanted to improve. So despite the pain he felt the urge to become stronger so he still trained to become his ideal self.
Oliver was proficient in Karate as well as Taekwondo and even knows a bit of WingChun. Also even though he was never officially ranked he had a Brown belt kyu 1level of skill in Karate and a green belt level of skill in Taekwondo. The reason why he never gained an official rank was because Oliver was scared of getting hit. The reason why he build up his muscles into what it was now, was because first of all he wanted to become his ideal self, but second and most important reason, Oliver was scared of getting hurt. He was sure if he had enough muscle mass, he might be able to not get hurt after getting hit. Even now Oliver has never found out if his muscles can protect him from getting hurt since he has never fought anyone before.
Now Oliver stood in front of the Captain of the third strongest kendo team. Oliver was frightened to the point that he wanted to run away, still he couldn't do so... He needed to face this now and become closer to the person he wanted to be.
Seeing Souske looking at him seriously and brimming with fighting spirit, Oliver gritted his teeth and lifted his right arm holding the shinai. Oliver had zero experience in using a shinai, and had only seen some videos of people doing something Kendo like. With all of these facts Oliver decided to use his only advantage against Souske, his overwhelming physique. One slash downward with his strongest and fastest swing that was Oliver's plan.
When Souske saw Oliver's stance he was now sure Oliver was a total amateur, holding his shinai with one arm and lifting it up high like that, would make his strike slower than if he used two hands and his sword's stance was lower. Souske relaxed his guard a bit, since he felt a sudden sense of relief that Oliver wasn't a second Alex.
Ken on the other hand felt a bit disappointed. he had thought there was something special about Oliver, but it turns out he was just a stupid amateur.
The match started Souske had moved one step, it was just one step and the match was over. A horrible sound resounded throughout the whole gymnasium it was like the sound of thunder echoed in the gymnasium.
Everyones eyes looked like they were going to fly out of their eye sockets. The expected easy victory for Souske didn't happen. What actually happened was Oliver's shinai had broken in half after hitting Souske's head. There was even a little dent in Souske's helmet.
Souske had fainted by the shock of the strike. The members of Hillman's kendo team rushed towards their captain's side and removed his helmet. They checked if he was still breathing and he was indeed still breathing, he just fainted. The members looked at Oliver as if they were looking at a monster.
It turns out all of Oliver's effort to become his ideal self was not useless, at this moment it was proven that all of his hard work had meaning. Oliver noticed the gazes of the Hillman kendo team was directed at him, so he tried apologizing.
"Sorry I should've tried to hold back." Oliver bowed, but to everyone who saw this scene they didn't think he was apologizing. They thought that Oliver was honoring Souske by telling them he couldn't hold back since Souske was that good. The kendo team nodded their head acknowledging his statement.
The experts watching the match had different opinions.
Alex who saw the whole thing was pleasantly surprised. Oliver didn't use any technique, he simply used his great physique to win the bout. It was as if he was telling the opponent that he needed only to use his brute strength to win.
Ken on the other hand thought that Oliver though he only used his arm strength and didn't utilize the unity of his body, soul, and mind, or even just the unity of his body which was the hands the torso and his footing. No Oliver didn't bother using anything else aside from his arm strength, and the result was that devastating strike. If he had used a proper stance and technique the power of the strike would've easily doubled. Ken knew Oliver was an amateur, but now he categorized him as someone with potential.
Ken just thinking about that shivered in delight. There were two talented youngsters hiding in this tiny school. The other one was already taken by Ryu, but he might have a chance in asking Oliver to be his disciple.
Chapter end
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