Whatever the reason, they were in for a tough fight. They needed to be ready.
As for Xavi, wasting no time, he issued malicious threats. “An eyesore is what you are. I’ll crush you.”
They had no effect on Kuklo. While he faced a formidable enemy, he wasn’t exactly afraid, and the same went for his teammates. None other than Xavi had created the opportunity for Kuklo’s team to grow so bold. Having incorporated surprise attacks into their training, they had all flirted with death time after time. Each of them could brush off Xavi’s threats like so many specks of dust.
“We’re not going down easily.”
“You want to crush us? You’d better be ready for what’s about to happen then.”
With those fighting words, Cardina and Rosa drew their dual practice swords.
Xavi still seemed to look down on them, and his face was as red as hot steel. “You’re nothing but flunkers…”
“We’re no flunkers.” Kuklo drew his swords. “We’re soldiers!”
He returned Xavi’s glare, and just as their fighting spirits reached a peak, the instructor gave the command: “Commence combat!”
Kicking against the ground, Kuklo quickly closed the distance and slashed sideways with his swords. Xavi stepped back to evade the attack, but it didn’t miss him entirely, the tips of the swords grazing the bottom of his jacket’s collar. If the blades had been made of metal, his uniform would have been damaged; had they been the usual single-edged swords, the material would have torn. Kuklo stepped forward again and thrust his swords, but Xavi swayed to avoid them.
Defeating him won’t be simple. Kuklo knew that much. Among the pool of recruits, Xavi was a highly talented soldier. Jorge conceded the fact, so it had to be true.
Kuklo and Xavi stood apart from each other, both of them glaring at the other.
“I’ll kill you… I swear, I’ll kill you…” Xavi opened his eyes wide and slowly unsheathed the sword at his waist. What emerged was a blade shining silver-white.
That─ Right as the blade’s suspicious gleam gave Kuklo a bad feeling, Xavi brandished the short sword and stormed forth.
While Kuklo craved a straight fight, Xavi’s powerful arms would deal bludgeoning strikes. Pitting his strength against Xavi’s could only end in Kuklo being overpowered and crushed. Given Kuklo’s agility, it would be easy to dodge Xavi’s attacks, but going head to head with an opponent who was all about brawn and defeating him had its special appeal. It would surely leave Xavi’s pride in tatters.
Xavi brought down the short sword he’d raised above his head. The vicious blade sliced through the air, heading toward Kuklo with enough force to snap a bamboo sword in two. Rather than naively try to catch the blow head-on, Kuklo took advantage of his blade’s curvature to deflect it. But something else happened.
This… Kuklo’s eye opened wide. Far from deflecting his opponent’s blade, his practice sword broke cleanly in two, and one look at the damage revealed that it hadn’t been caused by blunt force. His sword had been severed by a sharp edge. In other words, the silvery-white weapon rushing toward Kuklo’s head was a live blade.
No wonder he’d had a bad feeling about it.
So Xavi really meant to kill Kuklo, and he intended to do it in front of a crowd. Yet, considering the guy’s personality, it couldn’t simply be a desperate and reckless act. He had to have some underhanded plan to get himself out of it.
It was too late to evade the blow. Trying to dodge to either side would get him cut down, and jumping back promised the same outcome.
The circumstances couldn’t have been any worse, in fact were panic-inducing, but Kuklo’s mind was as still as a lake. Yes, he had a fear of blades. When he was still in the sideshow, he’d been dealt knife cuts and nearly died from them. Now, though, he had the ability to overcome his fear, to maintain his composure, and to contemplate his next move.
I don’t need to dodge it.
Kuklo lunged forward, straight into Xavi’s space.
Escaping the range of the sword called for distance, but overcoming his fear and stepping in nullified his opponent’s attacks. Since a pummeling at close quarters couldn’t be ruled out, Kuklo had to stay on his toes, but his first priority was to avoid lethal injury.
Sticking close to neutralize the swing, Kuklo drove the pommel of his practice sword into Xavi’s exposed solar plexus.
“Gah.” A moan forced its way out of Xavi’s mouth, the blow having struck a vital point.
Seeing his chance, Kuklo swiftly hurled Xavi’s body away. After being tossed again and again by Rosa during wrestling training, Kuklo knew first-hand that with the right leverage even larger opponents could be thrown.
Xavi must have been knocked nearly unconscious by the initial blow. When Kuklo made a clean, textbook-worthy throw, Xavi didn’t even try to land safely and ended up splayed on the ground. The whites of his eyes showed, and it was clear that he’d passed out.
Kuklo breathed a sigh and looked to the rest of his team, whom he’d nearly forgotten.
“Call it a difference in experience,” joked Cardina, having already downed his enemy.
All of Kuklo’s other teammates had also knocked out their opponents while he’d taken his sweet time. None looked particularly tired or were breathing hard after what must have been child’s play.
Throwing a glance at Xavi’s unconscious figure, Kuklo picked up the short sword that had fallen near him. It was a live, standard-issue Iron Bamboo sword, the notoriously effective real deal.
“An ‘accident’ during the fight, I guess.”
“Huh?”
Cardina pointed to the short sword Kuklo held. “He tried to kill you, didn’t he?”
“Maybe he thought you’d falter if you saw a real one. Like that’d work,” Rosa said without a hint of drama. She probably would have charged straight into Xavi and unleashed one of her flawless throws.
“So, what do we do with him? This guy won’t stop hustling until you’re dead.”
“You can only turn the other cheek so many times, we need to take care of him. He’s a threat to military discipline, to say the least.”
Cardina and Rosa were in agreement that Xavi needed to be handed over.
Meanwhile, Kuklo didn’t care either way. It was safe to ignore Xavi, who could do him neither good nor ill. The problem, if anything, was the hassle that handing him over might entail.
Before long, the other teams put up their own results, and the second round of inspection matches was declared over.