Chapter 372 - Kendo Ranking Test ( 2 )

"Hahaha! Finally!" Rufus excitedly said after hearing Reiji's announcement.

Though he has been practicing Kendo with Diether for a long time now, he knows that Kendo has many sides to it and each practitioner has a difference in style.

One sample of it is that Diether is an Ittouryuu fan and he has a good balance between Oji Waza and Shikake Waza. 

On the other hand, Rufus mostly practices Oji Waza since he felt that initiating an attack is better than responding to it. 

He felt a lot more confident with his strikes after all.

As for the others, he's still unsure about their styles and wanted to see it for himself. 

"Calliope, you can watch on the sides while we make preparations. It would be a good thing if you can watch us and decide whether you want to learn it or not."

Reiji said to the young woman using Voice Link. 

Since he hasn't placed the woman as his wielder yet, he can't use the Sense Link which can trigger a conversation to only the specified target. 

On the other hand, Voice Link consumed a bit more energy but it can at least allow him to communicate with everyone in a specified area.

"Thank you for allowing me to observe, Sir Arcana."

"It's fine. It's not like this is a top-secret sword technique that can't be seen. Anyway, this is also difficult to learn even just by watching." Reiji said as he turned to his disciples to explain the rules.

"I will allow everyone to take a three-hour break so you can recall all the Kendo Techniques and have your body warmed up. You can also use this time just to take a rest. After all, you will not be allowed to use your Arcana or Magic Items in this battle. We will only compete using sword techniques."

"Yes, Master!" 

Everyone answered in unison as they looked at the wooden swords prepared for them. It has been a while since they used them in their training.

"This is nostalgic…" Diether muttered after holding the wooden sword.

He then looked at the dummies within the dojo as he approached one of them and started practicing.

After seeing this, everyone did the same and found their dummies to start practicing. 

Because of this, they learned that Stella and Stasis were actually Nittouryuu practitioners. 

Diether uses Jodan no Kamae most of the time;

Rufus and Mourad uses Chudan no Kamae; 

Finally, Vinete and Imane appear to be favoring Mu no Kamae or no stance. 

Of course, it doesn't mean that they will be using these stances during their fight later on. After all, they might just be trying to deceive their fellow disciples and surprise them with a completely different style later on. 

Anyway, they all started getting used to the weight of the shinai they are holding as they controlled their physical strength.

Pah! Pah! Pah!

Imane continued hitting the dummy as it produced some crisp and solid sound echoing in their ears.

"Hey… Are you telling me that Half-Imps have stronger physical prowess?" Stella asked Diether beside her as she watches the woman hit those dummies so easily.

"Yeah… They have different muscles… It might be difficult for us to fight them with strength." Diether replied as he started making his strategy. 

Since the Half-Imps' physical prowess is obviously greater than them, they have to fight against them differently.

Of course, Diether is already used to that since he was first taken by Reiji, he was only 10 years old. At that time, he was already fighting against stronger and larger opponents. 

This means that he's no longer being intimidated by these. 

Stella and Rufus were the same as they started to create a game plan in their heads. If they can't fight with strength, they have to compensate with their speed and technique. 

"Will I be in my 6th-Dan or perhaps 7th-Dan after I defeated all of you?" Rufus confidently spoke as he looked at everyone.

"Hahaha! That's funny, Rufus. I will make sure that it will not happen." Stasis laughed as he strike the dummy with his full force.

Bam!

The force was so strong the Dummy vibrated for a few seconds. If the dummy wasn't made of enchanted wood, it would've probably been shattered by that single blow. 

Diether only smiled at this as he looked at his dummy before hitting it with his sword. 

It wasn't a very strong hit like the Half-Imps are doing but a slow and simple stab.

Everyone who saw that would think that it would be easy to dodge such a strike even if he repeated that numerous times. However, they can feel that each of his stabs cuts the wind apart before hitting the dummy at the center. 

They can tell from the razor-sharp wind splitting apart that they have to dodge that stab at all costs. They can't parry such sword trust or they might end up being killed. 

That's right, they can tell that although it's a slow stab, Diether can change the stab's direction at the last moment before it hits the target. That is something dangerous and they have to account for that once they faced Diether in the battle. 

***

While everyone is having fun with their sword practice, Reiji has been observing them silently so he can see how much they've grown and see their achievement in the past few years they have been away. 

"Everyone looks good…"

Reiji muttered seeing that their sword stance, swings, footwork, and understanding of various sword techniques have reached a professional level. 

"Well, they have a good teacher… There's no way they'll suck."

Reiji said as he praised himself in the process.

He then glanced at Calliope who was intently watching Stella and Imane practice their sword. Well, perhaps because they have similar builds, Calliope wanted to see how they are faring with Kendo.

Seeing that the two ladies were actually doing really well, Calliope even started holding her sword as she imitates their graceful and precise sword swings. 

Reiji just chuckled at this and didn't mind her at all. 

***

A few hours had passed as everyone had taken their rest and readied themselves for the battle.

Noticing that the time has arrived, Reiji spoke in front of his disciples.

"Everyone, this will be a round-robin competition. Even if you get injured, this will continue for the rest of the day since I'll just heal you back to the peak if that happens, so show your best in this competition!"