Onigumo

Ring-ring-ring...!

The dismissal bell rang. Vice Admiral Tsuru ended class right on time, picked up her textbook, and turned to leave the classroom without any intention of dragging things out.

Sephiroth gently nudged the soundly sleeping Smoker beside him.

"Huh!? Is school over? Let's eat!"

Smoker woke up groggily, took out two cigars, lit them, and put them in his mouth.

Sephiroth covered his face with one hand and said helplessly:

"The next class is swordsmanship. We need to change classrooms, so move it. Stop dawdling!"

Smoker scratched his head, thought over the schedule, and muttered:

"Oh! I think so..."

As Sephiroth walked out of the classroom, he complained to the old chain-smoker beside him:

"By the way, don't you plan to pay attention in class?

Military theory is a skill every senior officer needs to master, isn't it?"

Smoker curled his lip at that, widened his eyes, and shot back:

"I dropped out in elementary school. Do you think I can understand that stuff?"

"..."

Before long, the thirty Military Academy students arrived at a spacious swordsmanship dojo.

At that moment, a tall, fierce-looking man in a silver-gray suit, with long hair and a helmet on his head, was already waiting in the dojo with Zephyr. The two seemed to be chatting and laughing about something.

Seeing that all thirty students had arrived and lined up, Zephyr introduced him to everyone:

"This is Commodore Onigumo. He is also your senior. His attainments in the Six Powers and swordsmanship are both very high, so I specifically invited him to serve as your swordsmanship instructor."

Onigumo took a pack of cigarettes from his suit pocket, pulled one out, lit it, and put it in his mouth before speaking unhurriedly:

"The key points of swordsmanship are actually very simple: speed, strength, and timing.

No matter how flashy a technique is, if it cannot harm the enemy or kill them, it is all pointless.

Conversely, no matter how plain or clumsy a move may be, if you can seize the right moment to attack and kill the enemy, that is the best result.

The purpose of learning swordsmanship is to kill enemies more efficiently, so sometimes using firearms or other weapons for support is also a very good choice..."

"Ahem!... Onigumo, this is a swordsmanship class. Please do not mix in too much other strange stuff."

Zephyr coughed lightly, signaling for him not to take the lesson too far off track.

Onigumo did not say anything in response. He simply took a bamboo sword from a basket beside him.

"Fine! I'll demonstrate several standard offensive and defensive techniques for you..."

As he spoke, Onigumo demonstrated a set of highly standard attack and defense techniques one by one, roughly explaining how the moves connected.

"Simple demonstrations and explanations are not much to look at, and they do not mean much for teaching.

Those brats had already trained in basic swordsmanship before entering the Military Academy. Giving them a few more sets of moves will not be of much use...

Onigumo, let me test how far your swordsmanship has improved. I'll also teach them a few practical combat techniques while we're at it..."

"Is that so...? Ever since leaving the Military Academy, I haven't sparred with Teacher Zephyr in a long time..."

At those words, a gleam immediately flashed through Onigumo's eyes.

He returned to the basket. The long hair behind his back rapidly writhed and split into six hair-hands, which took another six bamboo swords from the basket. Together with the two swords in his hands... there were eight in total!

"Perfect. I'd like Teacher Zephyr to give me some guidance on the Eight-Sword Style I developed myself..."

When the thirty Military Academy students saw Onigumo holding six long swords with his hair, they all gasped instinctively.

"Onigumo, you need to understand that having more weapons does not necessarily mean you have the advantage..."

Although Zephyr said this, he too picked up a bamboo sword in each hand.

As a top expert with abundant combat experience, Zephyr had encountered quite a few masters who used blades. He had also received systematic swordsmanship training in his youth. After stepping back from the front lines and beginning to train talent for the Marines, he had taken up swordsmanship again.

Therefore, although he was better at unarmed combat, his broad mastery of martial arts meant that even when wielding blades against an ordinary swordsman, he could still hold his own.

After taking a dual-sword opening stance, Zephyr smiled and said:

"Come. Let me test your Eight-Sword Style!"

Onigumo did not waste any words. In a flash, he rushed before his teacher and swung all eight long swords like a raging storm. The series of incredibly fierce attacks left the Military Academy students stunned.

Clack! Clack! Clack!...

The bamboo swords of both sides struck and collided at astonishing speed, leaving afterimages in the air.

"Your attacks are very dense, and your power is quite good too, but..."

Zephyr swung his two bamboo swords to block while dodging, yet he looked extremely relaxed.

"You have overlooked one problem. No matter how many weapons you can control, your attention is limited..."

Amid Onigumo's dense, dazzling sword attacks, Zephyr's twin swords rapidly crossed and danced, repeatedly knocking aside the six bamboo swords held by Onigumo's hair. Under Onigumo's surprised gaze, he caused all that hair to become tangled together like a mess of knotted threads.

While Onigumo was thrown into confusion, Zephyr seized an opening and thrust one sword at the latter's throat. Yet he stopped just short of it and finished what he had been saying:

"Therefore, the more weapons you control, the more openings will appear in the details..."

"Thank you for your guidance, Teacher Zephyr. Once I return, I will definitely find a way to devise a complete set of offensive techniques..."

Looking as though he had learned a great deal, Onigumo nodded and slowly controlled his hair to undo the knots.

"All right! I have taught what needed to be taught. Now we begin practical training... Attention!"

"Yes!" ×30

"Starting now, form pairs and spar in swordsmanship!"

"Yes!" ×30

Everyone walked to the basket and took out a bamboo sword.

At that moment, Tokikake wore a lecherous grin as he quickly walked up to the long-legged beauty:

"Gion, I..."

Before he could finish, however, Gion turned with a smile and said to the silver-haired youth beside her:

"Little Sephiroth, you carry a blade around all day, so your swordsmanship should be pretty good, right?

How about we spar?

Don't tell me you're scared?

Though even if you are too afraid to fight me, that would be perfectly natural!

After all, big sis has already reached the level of a swordsman..."

"..."

Gion's provocation was far too crude, and she was obviously using him as a shield to reject Tokikake. Sephiroth had not intended to pay her any attention.

But a swordsman...?

In this world, swordsman was a title with considerable weight.

Of course, the gap between its upper and lower limits was enormous.

At the upper end, they could split mountains and sever seas. At the lower end, they could only cut steel.

In truth, using the ability to cut steel as the standard for judging whether a swordsman was one was not particularly accurate.

For swordsmen with good weapons, such as Great Grade Blades or Supreme Grade Blades, the difficulty of cutting steel was greatly reduced.

Therefore, on top of cutting steel, one also needed to be able to release a Flying Slash to be considered a qualified swordsman.

The current Sephiroth was merely a swordsman who knew how to use a blade. There was still some distance between him and a true swordsman.

Bogard, who had guided him in swordsmanship some time ago, could at most cut steel. Releasing Flying Slashes was still beyond him, so he could not yet be considered a swordsman...