Chapter 115: Understanding His Weakness
Over the next ten minutes, Leo was pushed back by Hen seven times, as whenever he tried to charge, the Major simply dismantled his approach with frightening ease.
It didn't matter how fast he was. It didn't matter how precise his movements were.
Hen was simply on a different level.
Leo had tried everything in his arsenal—each time adjusting, adapting, tweaking his approach.
But it always ended the same way.
The moment he stepped into Hen's range, he was either struck down with a devastating counter or deflected like a ragdoll, unable to land even a single clean hit.
—---
The Eighth Attempt :-
This time, Leo activated (Mirror World), splitting into two perfect illusionary clones as he closed in from different angles, forcing Hen to divide his attention.
With his real body concealed among the three, Leo aimed to bait an opening—waiting for Hen to strike at the wrong clone before launching his actual attack.
In what seemed like a solid plan in his head.
But unfortunately for him, Hen did not fall for it.
Instead, the Major exhaled slightly and moved with absolute precision.
WHAM!
A single devastating palm strike shattered all three versions of Leo in an instant, revealing the real one in the process.
And before Leo could react—
BOOM!
Hen's elbow slammed into his shoulder, sending him tumbling across the training ground once more, as Leo coughed, struggling to get up as he felt a deep ache radiating through his entire body.
*Crack*
*Crack*
Hen cracked his knuckles, shaking his head.
"I thought you would've learned not to rely on this move too much after your fight with Khyaal," he said, his tone carrying mild disappointment. "Illusions of this level don't work on Grandmasters. You're using them like parlor tricks instead of real weapons."
Leo wiped the blood from his lip, breathing heavily.
Hen's eyes narrowed slightly as he continued.
"Be more creative, Skyshard. There's more than one way to use illusions that overwhelm the senses.
Layer the illusions you have on you, and maybe you can achieve the desired effect—" Hen advised, as a flicker of understanding clicked in Leo's mind.
Hen wasn't rejecting the use of illusions.
He was challenging him to use them differently.
And come up with a new approach.
—---
The Ninth Attempt :-
On his ninth attempt, Leo took a deep breath, this time layering his deception into something far more complex.
Rather than simply creating clones, he combined (Vanish) with (Mirror World) with (Blade Switch).
A multi-layered assault, which unfolded in layers.
Flicker.
Leo disappeared from sight—his presence vanishing completely.
Simultaneously, two illusionary clones manifested in different directions, each mimicking his attack posture.
And then—
CRACK!
Leo activated (Blade Switch), instantly swapping places with one of his clones at the last possible moment, while also creating more clones using (Mirror World) that Vanished in and out of perception, to momentarily overload Hen's senses.
As this time, even Hen hesitated for the briefest of seconds.
It was the slightest falter—an instinctive response to a sensory overload—his perception momentarily swamped with conflicting signals.
And making the most of it Leo struck.
A well-aimed palm strike, infused with every ounce of his strength, slammed into Hen's ribs.
BOOM!
It wasn't nearly enough to do damage.
But Hen actually moved—his foot shifting half a step backward.
As for the first time since the spar began, the entire class collectively held their breath.
"Well, well…" Hen mused. "That's more like it."
He rolled his shoulders, his stance resetting.
"But you're still far from good enough."
And with that, he vanished.
Leo barely had time to react, before a crushing impact slammed into his chest, sending him rocketing backward once again.
His body tumbled across the training ground before he finally managed to stop himself, gasping for air.
His ribs ached, his vision spun.
But this time—
He smiled.
Because for the first time in this fight, he had actually forced Hen to react.
And that, in itself, was a minor victory.
"Again—" Hen roared, as finally, he began to take this sparring session with Leo with slight seriousness, versus the complete nonchalance that he had before.
—-----------
(Two hours later)
Two hours later, as the Practical Combat Class ended, Leo had to be immediately rushed to the infirmary, as he had seven ribs and four limb bones broken.
For two hours, he weathered the beating at the hands of Major Hen, trying out all his skill-moves in different combinations, until in the end, his body gave out because of the myriad different injuries that it sustained.
"Fuck, it hurts—" Leo cursed, as the healers worked on him to mend his bones, however, although his body hurt bad, his mind was in a state of joy.
'I was definitely right in my decision to not progress any of my existing core skills except [Full Counter] as apart from it, the others are simply not functional enough—' Leo thought, as after facing Hen, he no longer had any lingering doubts about the need to overhaul his skill-set.
However, the question remained on what exactly was it that he needed?
'I don't need a skill that can block all-out magical attacks.
My natural speed is very high, and if there's a chance that I can dodge an incoming attack, it's always better to dodge than to block–' Leo thought, as he grit his teeth in pain, while the nurse popped his broken bones back in place to mend them.
'This means, I don't need skills like Mana Wall, or Water Wall, or any types of defensive block walls, meant to stop attacks coming from one direction.
What I need instead is a defensive skill that can help protect me from instantaneous damage from attacks I have no chance at dodging.
Something that deploys faster than the time it takes me to dodge, and that can cover my full body—' Leo realized, as he analyzed exactly what he needed for now.
'And for my second skill. What I need is an attack move that pairs well with [Blade Switch] and is not lethal like [Kill Strike].
Something that overwhelms the opponent from all sides at once, ripping apart their defences through relentless pressure—' Leo thought, as he started to visualise the move that he needed.
'I need something akin to 100 sword slash, or something similar, that can leave a 100 or more gashes on my opponents body, instantaneously–' Leo concluced, as after thinking about his current move-set a lot, he realized that his natural speed, coupled with [Blade Switch] already gave him all the mobility he needed, but what he lacked was pure attack and defence options.
To solve this, he could now head to the Academy Archives and select the best moves that fulfilled his set criteria, after which he could start working on mastering them, by including them in his daily-training.
So far, for the past week, he had been singularly focused on pushing [Absolute Vision] from (Intermediate) mastery to —-> (Advanced) mastery grade, however, with him feeling like he was close to that goal, he decided to pick up more options today, so that the moment he hit that target, he could get started on mastering a new skill, without wasting any time.