Cleaver Of Sin

Chapter 694: Soup

Asher’s body came to a stop for a moment, as though allowing Williams’ senses to recalibrate and return to reality. Williams panted, his chest rising and falling heavily, his black eyes flickering forward towards Asher’s position. Sweat filled his body, his clothes were torn from head to toe, his clothes also soaked not just in sweat but in his own blood as well, as injuries marred his body extensively and without mercy.

His brain flooded him with information about the pain, his pain nerves super-firing and telling him to stop the madness, as he had already gained enough. But Williams simply steadied his breath; he didn’t need to guess, he knew Asher had given him a window of a couple of seconds to catch his breath, so he adjusted his breathing rhythm accordingly, forcing his body into a brief state of recovery, however fleeting it might be.

"Your next lesson will be something you have zero knowledge of, feints," Asher spoke as he waited, standing calmly. The seconds ticking away, the moment ten seconds passed, he vanished from where he was, his rapier already singing towards Williams’ eyes with lethal force and precision, its trajectory accurate and unchanging.

Williams didn’t react to the attack; to him, this was a feint. Asher hadn’t targeted any vital organs until now, so him targeting the eye meant his attack was a feint. His true goal was probably another part of the body, something less direct but far more deceptive in execution and intent.

With that thought, he reacted, his sabre flashing towards his side as he guessed that was where Asher’s attack would land. But to his surprise, the clash of metal never came. All that happened was the tip of the rapier coming to a stop, merely inches away from tearing into his eyes, as Asher had halted his attack in time with complete and absolute control, showcasing a terrifying level of precision.

"Just because I said the lesson was about feints doesn’t mean all my attacks will be feints. It’s left up to you to decide which are feints. While your earlier guesses were correct, as I’ve never aimed for vital organs throughout this spar, at the end of the day, it was a trap, and you fell for it like a child," Asher explained, his tone even, almost indifferent.

With that, Asher immediately attacked again the moment he was done speaking, Virelass flashing forward like lightning, his target Williams’ shoulder this time. But Williams reacted, and just as their swords were about to meet, Asher changed the direction of his attack, as the shoulder strike had been a feint all along, layered with intent.

His rapier tore through Williams’ second shoulder like a knife through butter. He didn’t pause; his rapier spun over his palm with dexterous ease as he slashed again at Williams’ neck. Williams reacted, but Asher shifted his sword path again, as that had been a feint. However, Williams had anticipated that this time; he immediately adjusted to Asher’s feint as he moved to intercept the attack that was now heading for his thigh instead of his neck, his instincts sharpening under pressure.

But the moment he was about to block, Asher’s rapier vanished again, as though it had never been there in the first place.

’A double feint,’ Williams thought to himself in shock. He was barely adjusting and trying to keep up with a single feint, just for Asher to stack two feints together with seamless execution, as though such complexity was second nature to him.

With that, pain bloomed across his elbow as he felt metal tear through his skin, another clean strike landing with ease and ruthless accuracy, leaving no room for error or hesitation.

Asher shook his head. Williams had zero knowledge of feints, so he decided to stop. The boy would need to learn everything from the ground up on his own before he could properly contend with such techniques, as anything further would simply overwhelm him beyond reason.

Before Williams could understand what was happening, he saw a foot tearing towards his head. He was stunned, wondering if he had seen wrong, wondering how Asher’s rapier had turned into a foot. And with battering force, Asher’s foot slammed into Williams’ temples with maddening power, leaving no room for defense.

The impact snapped Williams’ head in the opposite direction. The sheer force behind the attack tore him sideways, as though his head was dragging the rest of his body along. In a blur, his body slammed into the Astra energy barrier Finch was hiding behind, a resonating boom echoing through the enclosed space due to the forceful and violent collision.

Williams was snapped out of his Zone state due to the sheer impact, his consciousness threatening to fade, but his will kept him awake. The moment his eyes snapped towards Asher’s position, all he saw was another foot tearing towards his chest. He immediately dove to the side as he dodged with every ounce of strength he could muster, refusing to fall just yet.

Asher’s foot thundered against Finch’s Astra barrier. The barrier shook as though it was going to collapse at any moment, but it remained firm as a compressive circular wind ring exploded outwards from the point of impact, distorting the surrounding air.

Asher gazed at Finch for a moment, then broke eye contact as he turned towards Williams and spoke, "Just because you and your opponent are locked in a weapon fight doesn’t mean they can’t switch to another part of their body. This was never a weapon lesson or a weapon spar to begin with. Don’t expect your opponent to fight you with only their weapon without switching to something else," his tone calm and instructive, carrying no hint of strain or exertion.

Asher walked slowly. He could tell Williams was already at the limit of what he could learn; he was barely standing physically, although mentally the boy wanted to keep going. But at the end of the day, biology couldn’t be overwritten through sheer will alone, so Asher decided to end it before the boy collapsed entirely under the accumulated strain.

Asher closed the distance again, at a slower pace this time, his rapier moving. Williams immediately moved to block, but before he could parry or use any form of defensive technique, all he saw was a liquid, a hot soup, splashed across his face, obscuring his vision instantly.

It left him stunned and confused, and with that opened window, Asher drove a knee kick into Williams’ sternum with brutal force. Williams’ body slammed into the wall this time, his body dropping to the ground weakly, his fingers giving out as they could no longer hold the sabre, his weapon clanking noisily on the ground as Williams sat without a shred of strength left in his body, utterly spent.

"And lastly, don’t expect your opponent to be conventional; expect them to do something out of the norm or even dishonorable. If we were outside, I would have used sand, pouring it into your eyes, but there is no sand here, so I had to use soup," Asher spoke as he walked towards Williams, who sat against the wall as he breathed heavily, each breath labored.

Arriving before Williams, Asher lowered himself into a squat as he spoke, "Always expect the unexpected, Williams, that is the final lesson for the day," he stated calmly, his words carrying a quiet finality that marked the end of the brutal yet instructive exchange.