Vows and Bullets
Chapter 70: Sparring Session (Part 1)

Chapter 70: Sparring Session (Part 1)

What did he just say? My movements were easy to predict? How could that be? I had been training since I was young. My master taught me everything there was to know about combat. From all sorts of martial arts to handling different weapons, bombs, poison, and everything else—I learned them all! That’s how I managed to pass the Agent Application Test in Mythos and reach where I am now.

Yes... I worked so hard to achieve those levels of skills, and yet, it still wasn’t enough for him? Were my standards too low, or his’ was simply too high?

I knitted my brows, hearing those words. In an angered tone, I asked him.

"What exactly do you mean by that? I worked tirelessly to learn these skills, and no other agent has ever defeated me except you, so fine, I’ll accept your criticism. But tell me what exactly is predictable with my movements."

He halted his movements, and so did I, waiting for his answer.

"It’s because you work by the book," he said. "For example, in martial arts, we are trained to block this way and attack this way—and that’s exactly how you do it. With me as your opponent—someone who also has been trained and taught the same thing—I can easily tell how my opponent will evade whatever attack I am about to do. That’s how it becomes easy for me to predict."

My eyes widened in the sudden realization. He was right. If, in the future, I ever encounter an enemy who’s familiar with the same martial arts I know, or the same skills I know, then it would be hard for me to subdue the enemy. And for me to only know about this now after all the missions I took before... wasn’t I lucky? If I had encountered such a difficult opponent before, like Agent Helios, I probably would have lost.

’So that’s why I felt like he was just toying with me during my rank-up test. It turns out my movements were predictable for him.’

Gulping the hard truth, I looked at him straight in the eye and asked again.

"In that case, how do I avoid doing it by the book and be unpredictable?"

"It’s a highly complex skill, but not impossible," he replied, raising three of his fingers. "I call it the ’three-headed monster’ approach."

"Pfft. What a weird name," I chuckled. "Why three-headed monster?"

"It’s because you need to think three different things simultaneously."

"What? Is that even possible?"

"With enough practice, you should be able to do it."

I raised my eyebrows, doubtful about it, but still, I asked more.

"Okay. What three things should I think about?"

Raising one finger at a time, he explained the idea to me.

"First, think what attack you’ll do. Second, think about how the opponent will block it. And third, think about how to counter that block. That way, your attack will be—one, the normal attack, and two, a quick follow-through of how to counter the block your opponent will do. Your blows should come right after the other with only a split-second interval, or less, depending on how fast your opponent is. If you do it too fast, he will easily evade the second attack. And if you do it too slow, your counter will not work."

"I see! That really makes sense!"

’Woah. So this is how a Top 1 agent thinks. No wonder he’s unbeatable. I’ll make sure to master that skill! Now that I know the idea about it, the only problem I need to solve is how to apply it.’

"In the event that your opponent is too fast," he added, "or could also predict or evade the second counter you do, then instead of a three-headed monster, you need to become four-headed, or five, or six."

"H-Hold up! I’m still trying to grasp how to do the three-headed monster technique. Don’t go confusing me by adding more. Let me practice it first!"

He chuckled at my reaction.

"Alright. Come at me then. Try to apply what you learned."

"Ha-ha. Sure, why not? Just a heads up, I’m a really fast learner, so don’t be surprised when I manage to learn your complex skills within today."

"Be my guest," he smiled and bowed his head.

And so, we resumed our sparring session. We were supposed to do light training, but now that I have a new skill to learn, the plan needs to change a little.

Soon enough, the silent combat training room we filled with sounds of punches, blows, kicks, blocks, and heavy breaths.

"Not like that."

"Do it again."

"There you go."

"You miss this part."

"Yes, like that."

"Again."

On and on, his instructions echoed in my ears as I tried to follow them. Whenever I missed something, he would chop my arm, back, leg, or whatever part of my body I missed something. Truly, this was a very complex skill to learn. The idea about it sounded easy but doing it was another whole lot of matter, even for a fast learner like me.

"Haah... Haah... Haah."

My breath was already running out but look at him, still barely sweating. How the heck could he do that?

Curious, I asked him.

"Tell me, how come your endurance and stamina are too high? Are you really human? Or are you some kind of robot pretending to be human? There’s no way a normal human can have that much."

"Pft! Ha-ha-ha-ha!"

He laughed out loud at my question.

"Hey! I’m serious. How do you do it?"

"As much as I want to teach that to you, I’m afraid it’s something that comes with the body you are born into," he answered, half laughing. "There are trainings to enhance them—the normal cardio training, but each person’s body has different physical capability to sustain rigorous activities in a prolonged period of time. Mine is simply that high," he shrugged, sounding so confident and smug again. "There’s one thing I’m curious about, though."

"Hm? What is it?"

"With this kind of stamina that I have, I wonder how long I can last in bed. And most of all, will you be able to keep up?"