Chapter 305: Scathach feels weirdfor several reasons
"Victor, your fighting style has become weird."
"...?" Victor looked confusedly at Scathach, "What do you mean?"
"I feel like I"m fighting multiple people at the same time."
"…Huh?" Victor was even more confused now.
Scathach touched her chin and began to speak her thoughts:
"All beings in this world have their own type of mannerisms, something like an action you always do, sometimes subconsciously."
"For example, whenever people want to think about something deeply, they usually strike this pose." Scathach pointed to herself.
"They pinch their chins and start thinking, as if it were some kind of a "ritual" that helped focus their minds."
"All beings in this world have these kinds of actions while fighting, but you? You have a lot of these things, and it"s completely weird because none of those mannerisms get in the way of your fighting style."
"Oh... I understand now." Victor nodded, indicating that he understood Scathach"s explanation.
Basically, it was something like what his mother always did.
"Every time my mother wanted to explain something to me, she would raise her finger up as if it was a way for me to pay attention to her."
"She always did that."
Habits, tics, involuntary actions of the body that you always do but don"t realize.
Scathach looked at Victor even more deeply, "It"s weird, it"s like I"m fighting a legion of people."
She could see through it, thousands of beings, she felt like she was fighting a war against an army all by herself, but the problem was that this army was not comprised of ordinary, weak people.
They were an army of powerful people.
"Interesting..." She found this situation quite amusing. She thought she would have something to teach her disciple in terms of his physique.
But it looked like he hadn"t forgotten to train his basics.
"He didn"t ignore my teachings, his foundation remains strong." She had her suspicions as she watched the fight with Anderson, but it was always good to check it out for yourself to be sure.
Victor was an irregular, a being that was something close to an atomic bomb in power and abnormality. Scathach had always known that, and because of that, she had always emphasized the importance of the basics to Victor,
Much more than even to her own daughters and other disciples, to whom she"d only mentioned its importance in pa.s.sing.
"Regardless of what he decides to do in the future, his body must bear the burden of future new techniques." Those were her thoughts at the time she was training Victor.
And for that reason, and for other reasons too, she taught her personal techniques that were only taught to her daughters.
The martial art that Scathach created was the definition of her way of thinking. This martial art "perfected" the foundation of its pract.i.tioner.
But she never thought that because of these martial arts she taught Victor, she was able to take him to a whole new level.
"Is this because of your natural instincts?" Scathach had no way of knowing, but she was sure of one thing.
"If he keeps training like this and never loses focus... Maybe, just maybe... In the future, he will become an existence close to a G.o.d of War, a being who knows all the martial arts in the world, and can use all martial arts perfectly and without disadvantages."
Scathach still thought this was absurd as even the War G.o.d Ares took thousands of years to perfect all the martial arts he"d learned.
But she also knew that the same G.o.d of War procrastinated a lot and, like all the Greeks, went around making hundreds and thousands of children with mortals.
He had enough children to fill a small town of 20,000 people, those 20,000 people being his children.
But Victor didn"t have that kind of degenerate disposition and preferred to stay with his wives and take care of them.
So as long as he didn"t lose focus, it was possible.
"Yes...Maybe he could even become someone who could-..."
"Scathach?"
"!!!?" Scathach"s entire body visibly flinched as she was surprised by Victor"s sudden voice.
"..." When did he get so close to me?
Scathach narrowed her eyes as she looked ahead, seeing Victor"s face.
Badump.
Her heart beat a little faster.
"... Strange, I didn"t feel anything when I saw that worm Adonis, but why is it different with him?" She was extremely confused but didn"t let it show on her face.
"When did you get close to me?" She asked in a neutral tone. She wanted to know what he did to get close to her without her noticing.
"..." Victor showed a small smile when he saw Scathach"s slightly red face, a face that she didn"t seem to have noticed, then he spoke:
"I just walked." Victor didn"t lie.
"…Eh?"
"Were you so focused on your thoughts that you didn"t notice me calling? I"ve been calling you for a while."
"..." Scathach looked at Victor as if she had heard the greatest bulls.h.i.+t of her life.
"... What? What kind of bulls.h.i.+t is he talking about? I, Scathach Scarlett, was lost in thought and didn"t feel someone approaching?"
That"s impossible.
Even if she was sleeping, she would feel the presence of any being that approached her.
Even in adversity, even if she was weak and exhausted, she would always keep alert to her surroundings, even going so far as to "sleep with one eye open". This was a habit that she"d painstakingly developed and it could never be undone, it"d become part of her being.
"And this man is saying that I got lost in thought? And did I not notice?" Scathach narrowed her eyes.
For a moment, she even thought that Victor was lying, but she knew he hadn"t lied to her.
So the problem was her...
But she refused to accept it.
"Fuuuh..." Victor blew into Scathach"s ear.
"!!!" The woman"s entire body visibly s.h.i.+vered, and she quickly looked away, her face redder than before.
"Look, you got lost in your thoughts again." He commented in a gentle tone.
"..." She bit her lip in frustration, her heart was beating faster than before, and her face was completely red.
"You good? This is not like you, you"ve always been alert of the things around you."
"… I know, right? I also wonder what"s going on, maybe I"m sick?" She thought to herself but refused to say anything, but she had a little problem to deal with right now.
"Get away from me a little..." She gently pushed Victor away.
"...?" Victor gave Scathach an odd look but nodded as he said, "Sure."
"....."
The group on the side looked at this scene with dead eyes.
What is this romantic comedy? Why were they seeing a "pink" mood like flowers were in the air?
More importantly, was this the strongest female vampire in the world? The woman all vampires feared? The one called by many countries the Crimson Devil?
Even some demons feared this woman!
And yet, here she is, acting like a teenager in love!
"...Sometimes I feel immense frustration watching that woman." Sasha commented.
"I understand you, daughter. I really do." Natas.h.i.+a nodded with a dead look, and she continued:
"If she continues like this, she will create her own galaxy around herself. Her density level has far surpa.s.sed that of a black hole."
"... Pfft."
"..." The girls looked at Eve with a neutral gaze.
"What?" The Maid, who almost laughed, looked at everyone with a neutral gaze.
Girls like Eleonor, Sasha, and Natas.h.i.+a narrowed their eyes.
"...Victor"s maids sure look like Kaguya." Eleanor commented.
"Oyy, what do you mean by that?" Kaguya narrowed her eyes.
"It may not look like it, but we are different from each other. It"s just Eve who looks a lot like Kaguya." Bruna commented.
Roberta then added, "Perhaps this is an effect of them being close in their roles in the Clan?" She touched her finger to her cheek.
"But you"re not wrong, us Maids do share some of Kaguya customs and mannerisms. After all, she is our "leader" and the example of the ideal "Maid"."
"Why are you emphasizing the words "leader" and "ideal"?" Kaguya narrowed her eyes at Roberta.
"... Well, we all know we can"t be like you, considering you have a privilege that no one else has, not even the master"s wives, so no matter how much we look and act like you, we"re not you."
Nod, Nod.
The others nodded in agreement.
"Huh?" Did Kaguya not understand what privilege they were talking about?
"Hhhhmm, Hhhhmmm," This time, all the Maids nodded together as they heard Roberta"s words.
"...." Sasha looked at Kaguya with a neutral gaze:
"You don"t seem to know what that privilege is."
"Lady Sasha?" Kaguya looked at Sasha.
"Let me explain it to you then." Sasha a.s.sumed a serious expression and said:
"You get to stay with Victor 24 hours a day in his shadow. If you wanted, you could also pull Victor into your shadow and create a world for just the two of you."
"Oh..." She finally understood what the girls were talking about, but a doubt appeared in her head:
"Is that considered a privilege? I never thought about it, to be honest... I"ve just been doing my job."
"...Violet would literally trade anything to acquire that ability and privilege."
"...Not just her..." Natas.h.i.+a commented silently.
"Umu. For a yandere, being close to your loved one 24 hours a day is a great desire…" Maria nodded her head while smiling.
"The fact that she doesn"t know that kind of p.i.s.ses me off a little bit." Roxanne commented casually. However, she wasn"t serious, she was just trying to fit in with the girls. After all, if we were to talk about connection, she was the one who had a deeper connection with Victor than anyone else.
She was literally connected to Victor by their souls.
And all the girls present knew it, except Eleanor, of course.
Because of that, when Roxanne said that, the words fell into the girls" ears as a form of provocation.
"...."
All the girls who knew about Roxanne looked at her with dead eyes.
"...This b.i.t.c.h, is she serious?" A vein bulged on Natas.h.i.+a"s head.
"She"s definitely serious." Sasha narrowed her eyes.
"Sinner..." Bruna commented in a low voice.
"...Ara...?" This didn"t go as planned. Roxanne broke into a cold sweat when she felt the red eyes of all the girls except Eleanor.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
"!!!?" The girls turned away and looked at the explosion site, and soon they saw Victor and Scathach fighting again.
Victor was using his Odachi, and Scathach was using a spear...?
The girls who knew Scathach well looked at this scene with a look of pure shock.
"...N-Natas.h.i.+a." Eleanor stuttered when she called out Natas.h.i.+a"s name.
"Y-Yeah?"
"Didn"t Scathach say she would only ever wield her spear against a worthy opponent…?"
"Yes...."
"...So... Why is she using it for a simple workout then?"
"How the f.u.c.k should I know!?" Her face screamed incredulation, with the underlying message of "Do you think I"m a seer, b.i.t.c.h?"
But what the f.u.c.k is going on? What happened while they were talking?
"…." A silence fell around them as the girls just stared in shock at the force of their "training". Every time the Odachi and Scathach"s spear collided, a part of the ground was cut.
Sigh.
Roxanne breathed a sigh of relief when she realized she was no longer in the girls" focus and internally thanked her master for the sudden outburst.
BOOOM, BOOOM, BOOOM.
Victor and Scathach clashed over and over again. Every time it looked like Scathach was going to hit Victor"s body, he dodged it by millimeters.
The same was true of Scathach.
Victor was swinging the huge Odachi around as if it were a normal Katana. This, however, was normal due to his strength which was much greater than a normal human.
But the girls had a doubt.
"How the f.u.c.k is he managing to fight with that huge Odachi?" Maria asked.
"Indeed, shouldn"t an Odachi be at a disadvantage against a Spear?" Sasha spoke confusedly and then looked at her mother and asked:
"What do you think, Mother?"
"...Hmm..." Natas.h.i.+a tried to a.s.sess the situation, but the only answer she got was,
"The secret is our abilities, I think?" Natas.h.i.+a spoke with certainty and, at the same time, with doubt.
"...?"
"Look, Victor"s reaction time is insanely high, you know?"
"Yes, after all, he has the powers of the Fulger Clan." Sasha spoke up.
"I a.s.sume that"s why he can fight normally even if he"s at a disadvantage?" Natas.h.i.+a wasn"t sure if that was it.
"You"re right about that, but you forgot something... The secret lies in the difference in height." Eleanor spoke with more certainty.
"Hmm?" The girls looked at Eleanor.
"Oh, you"re a Greatsword user like him, huh?"
"Yes, the principle with the Odachi is the same. Even though the blade is bigger than my Greatsword, the principle still remains the same."
"Only tall people can use a large bladed weapon properly. What he"s doing is basically using an odachi like a Katana."
"Thanks to his height, thanks to his reaction time, and most importantly, his movements and positioning,"
"Look." Eleanor pointed at Victor.
Before attacking Scathach, Victor pulled the Odachi back, ran towards the woman, and when he came within a meter or so of the woman,
He held the Odachi with both hands and cut in a horizontal slash.
Scathach easily parried the attack with the spear handle, but Victor was not discouraged.
He pulled his sword back again, and in an incredibly short time, he started attacking rapidly, in several different directions.
Up, down, left, right.
An impossible combo sequence, but it worked on Victor because of his extremely high speed.
Scathach parried all attacks as she used the spear"s shaft in a parry technique and knocked the blade off its course, creating openings to approach him.
With an odachi that has such a big blade, close-range attacks must be hard to parry, right?
WRONG!
Without even using any powers, Victor jumped back a little, just as Spear was going to pierce his heart.
The sound of two blades clas.h.i.+ng was heard by everyone.
TINK!
Victor quickly pulled away from Scathach and came back to attack again.
"...Did he manage to fend off that impossible attack? And this weird form of defense." Surprisingly, Eve commented this time as she looked at Victor"s position with curious eyes.
He had his arms fully extended, but he still managed to defend himself in that strange way.
"Victor is a vampire, a vampire whose strength is very high, coupled with his reaction time,"
"In a fraction of a millisecond, Victor jumped back and used his long arms to pull his sword blade in front of him."
"He managed to do that because of his wrists."
"His wrists?" Natas.h.i.+a asked.
"Yes,"
"Look." Eleanor stomped on the ground, and a dirt Odachi similar to Victor"s appeared in front of her.
She extended her arm all the way to the right.
She flicked her wrist down as she held the Odachi, and just like Victor, the blade was in front of her.
"Ohhh..." The girls understood now as she demonstrated.
"Usually, this should be impossible to do because of the weakness of joints, coupled with the power of the attack, the hand would usually be dislocated, but Victor is not human, he is a vampire."
"When a vampire is strengthened, his whole body is strengthened along with him."
"Because of that, he can do this." Eleanor, to be honest, was a little shocked. It was a strange fighting style, but it was efficient. Proof of that was that he could handle Scathach in training without getting beaten up.
"Of course, there is another, easier alternative to defending against that blow."
"The power of ice..."
"Yes, he could just cover his entire left arm with the power of ice and hold off Scathach"s attack or use a counter-attack technique and deflect the attack."
"...He can also do something similar to what he did in Anderson"s fight."
Eleanor opened her eyes in shock when she heard Eve"s voice:
"...Oh, that"s true. He could just create a different weapon, something like a small s.h.i.+eld to deflect the attack."
"...." A silence fell around everyone, and the only thing that could be heard was the sound of Victor and Scathach fighting again.
"Honestly, this fighting style is irritating." Natas.h.i.+a spoke.
"Yes, he can adapt to any situation. Although his weapon is the Odachi, he could always create other weapons to change the way he fights in a fight, and that"s a pain in the a.s.s to deal with if you"re his opponent." Sasha spoke up.
Nod, Nod.
Eleanor agreed with the two women.
"…Ugh, in short, my master is amazing!" Roxanne felt her head hurt from hearing so much that she didn"t quite understand.
"That was always an absolute truth." Bruna laughed.
Suddenly Victor and Scathach stopped training and looked at the girls with a cold look:
"What are you doing? Get back to training!" The two roared at the same time.
"!!!" Feeling the pressure of the two terrifying beings combined, the women"s bodies trembled, and they replied:
"Y-Yes!"