61 Chapter 61: Heated Exchange (1/2)

”Ugh…!”

I could hear Dong Fang Yue Chu complaining from his corner in the dojo. Dad had prepared a special training menu for him – one was for him to do non-magic martial arts like the rest of us, but the second portion of his training involved him practicing fire magic. I could see Dong Fang Yue Chu's crimson flames flickering at the edge of my vision, but I was in no position to worry about him.

Wham!

Dad's sword caught the crown of my head despite my best attempts to block it and I dropped to the ground with a groan.

”Your defenses are too lax,” he told me as he offered me a hand. I accepted it and allowed Dad to pull me back to my feet.

”Again?” I asked.

”Well…” Dad glanced over at where the rest of my juniors were training. And his eyes stopped on a restless Troy, who was hammering a punching bag to oblivion. ”Normally I would like to, but let's not keep our guest waiting.”

”Oh!”

I nodded and backed off, waving toward Troy.

”Okay, all of you can stop your training for today.” Dad clapped his hands. Dong Fang Yue Chu looked incredibly relieved as he stopped conjuring his flames, and my three juniors turned to watch their dojo master curiously. Dad smiled and gestured to Troy, who had also come to a stop after a single hammer blow that knocked the poor punching bag off its suspenders and sent it crashing untidily into the ground.

”Oh?” Harvey looked pretty excited, though that guy was enthusiastic over just about everything. ”Are we having a new lesson today?”

”Sort of.” Dad nodded and then cocked his head toward Troy, who couldn't help but smile and crack his knuckles. ”As you've probably already noticed, we have a special guest today.”

Originally Troy wanted to spar with Dad immediately, but my father didn't want to detract from his training schedule, so he asked Troy if he minded waiting until our daily training was over for the day. In return, he gave Troy something to hit, and the latter went to work on it with a vengeance, happily pounding the crap out of the poor punching bag. Right now, the poor thing was rolling around helplessly on the ground, dented and crushed.

”So are we finally going to duel?” he asked.

”Yeah.” Dad studied him and nodded. ”You've become a lot stronger since our last exchange.” H cocked his head toward me. ”Like Richie, you've been accumulating quite a lot of combat experience, haven't you?”

Troy grinned. ”You know it.”

Dad sighed. ”Well, looks like this is going to be a tough battle. I'm getting old, so please go easy on me.”

Please…Dad was only in his thirties at most. It wasn't as if he was getting any weaker. In fact, his magic was growing stronger, if I was any judge.

He turned to look at us. ”Watch this battle closely. I'm sure you'll learn a lot from it. Especially you, Richie.”

”Yeah, okay.” I nodded. Let's be honest, I was probably the worst martial artist to have existed in Dad's time.

Troy stretched himself as he jogged into the big space in the center of the dojo, and Dad merely waited with his arms crossed. When Troy dropped to a combative stance, raising both his hands in a standard kata, Dad finally put one foot out and stretched out a single hand as if to beckon his opponent to come at him.

”You can begin any time you're ready,” he said.

Troy grinned and sprang forward immediately, throwing a punch. Dad deflected it by smacking the dark-skinned martial artist's hand to the side, but the latter responded with a hook from his other hand. Dad brought his other hand up to parry the blow – not by blocking his fist head-on, but by swinging his arm inside of Troy's punch and striking the latter's forearm to shift the trajectory of the fist. As a result, Troy's fist merely flew past the side of his head, missing entirely.

”!”

Troy's expression betrayed a glimmer of surprise, but he was quick to recover, bringing his knee up. Dad took a step back, avoiding the knee, and then jerked his head and chest back to avoid a merciless swipe from Troy's hook. Spinning to the side, he struck the dark-skinned martial artist's collar bone with a chop. The latter flinched, but he struck Dad's arms, knocking them away, and then punched him in the chest.

Again, Dad was able to whirl away to the side to avoid the fist, and then he cut his hand down upon Troy's elbow, causing the arm to slip aside. With a series of sharp, precise strikes to Troy's face, neck and chest, he forced his opponent back. Troy managed to raise his guard and defend his face and neck, but he was forced to withdraw.

Not because Dad's strikes were powerful. But they were sharp, swift and precise, aiming lethally for Troy's weak points.

Despite being beaten back, Troy grinned in feral delight, his eyes gleaming.

”It's been a while since I've received your Wing Chun!”

Dad merely smiled and then rammed his elbow against the side of Troy's head, opening up a wound. Troy staggered backward, blood streaming down his face.

”Less talking, more fighting,” Dad said, and then flicked his hand at his face again. Troy managed to block that strike, but Dad kicked him in the knee, causing him to buckle and fall over. Troy gritted his teeth and pivoted on his other leg, throwing a vicious punch that Dad was forced to sidestep. That bought him more than enough time to launch his counterattack.