Chapter 573: Disarm
(Planet Dodo, Secret Training Facility)
After introducing the move, the Eleventh Elder excitedly rubbed his palms, laughing in a way that was more fitting for a boy eager to show off a new toy than a man of his status.
"I think [Disarm] is one of those moves that is better demonstrated than explained, so let me show it to you.
Lord Shadow Dragon, if you may..." he urged, his eyes locking onto Leo with a grin.
"Sure," Leo responded, as he unsheathed two daggers from his utility belt, the familiar weight settling into his palms as he rolled his shoulders once and stepped forward, assuming a balanced battle stance.
The Elder gave him a single approving nod, then clasped his hands loosely behind his back, speaking in that same calm, almost conversational tone as though he had more instructions left to give before the demonstration actually began.
"Good, good... now, keep your grip firm, do not loosen it under any circumstances, and focus on me," he said, taking two casual steps to the side, his pace slow, deliberate, and without even the faintest flicker of mana.
Leo’s gaze narrowed slightly, his fingers tightening around the hilts. The lack of tension in the Elder’s body made it impossible to predict what was coming, yet he refused to let his guard drop.
The Elder continued to circle him, speaking softly as though trying to keep his mind engaged on anything but the imminent strike.
"You see... people tend to expect great moves to begin with great effort, but often the simplest tricks work best when the target doesn’t even realize a trick is coming," he said, his smile never fading.
And then—
*Snap*
The sound was sharp and crisp, echoing faintly in the quiet of the training yard.
Leo’s eyes flicked instinctively towards the Elder’s hand, his focus momentarily pulled toward the noise.... as in that sliver of distraction, something invisible brushed against his wrists.
It wasn’t forceful enough to be called an attack. In fact, it barely registered at all. But the effect was immediate.
Both daggers slipped from his grip as though his fingers had forgotten how to close, clattering against the stone floor.
*Clang*
*Clang*
For a heartbeat, Leo simply stared at them, his mind parsing what had just happened.
The Elder’s grin widened as he spread his hands theatrically.
"That... is [Disarm]," he said, his tone holding both pride and amusement.
Leo slowly bent to retrieve his weapons, his gaze still locked on the Elder as he replayed the moment in his mind.
He hadn’t felt any force worth resisting, hadn’t even realized when his muscles betrayed him, which made this phenomenon even more bizarre for him.
"How?" he asked flatly, as the Elder took a step closer, raising his hand and pointing to his wrist.
"Lord Shadow Dragon, you must know about the Knee Jerk response, correct?
The one where if one applies pressure to the right spot beneath one’s knee, they kick involuntarily?" The Elder asked, as Leo nodded in acknowledgement.
He did know about the Knee Jerk Response, it was something doctors often used to determine if one had irreversible nerve damage or not.
"Well, this move sort of works the same way, but here you need to hit three spots at once, instead of just a single point.
You see, touching one does nothing. Touching two still does nothing. But if all three are struck at the same time, the body responds with a reflexive unclenching of the hand, no matter how strong your grip is," he explained, as he pressed those precise points on Leo’s wrists and showed him how his fingers became reflexively unclenched.
"Whoa!" Veyr said in amazement, while Leo turned his wrist slightly, examining it as though he had seen it for the first time in his life.
"Of course, in a normal duel, you wouldn’t be able to walk up and tap someone’s wrist three times without being cut down," the Elder continued. "That’s where the real skill lies—striking all three points without ever crossing blades."
He straightened, folding his hands behind his back again.
"[Disarm] is mastered in three stages. The first... is memorization. You must know the exact location of those points, down to the smallest fraction, and you must be able to pinpoint them on any warrior, regardless of their build, armor, or weapon. This is the foundation."
Leo nodded slightly, committing the words to memory.
"The second," the Elder went on, "is timing. Even if you hit the points, the move will fail if your enemy knows it’s coming. Their reflex may open their hand, but their mind will immediately tell them to regrip, and you’ll gain nothing. The attack must come when their focus is elsewhere. Misdirection is as vital as the strike itself."
Leo thought back to the snap. A simple noise, harmless, yet it had pulled his eyes just far enough to blind him to what truly mattered.
"And finally," the Elder said, "comes execution. You will learn to strike those three points without touching your opponent at all. But to do that, you’ll have to master wind magic of the highest order, not for power, but for stealth."
"You must send three separate pulses to those points, all at the same instant, and you must do so without leaving any detectable trace. No visible disturbance. No shift in mana they can sense. Against a Transcendent tier warrior or higher, even the faintest giveaway will ruin everything."
His gaze swept between the two Dragons, as if weighing whether they truly understood the difficulty of what he was asking.
"This is not about force. It is about subtlety. The moment the pulse is felt, the opportunity is gone."
Leo’s eyes narrowed slightly, already considering how to train such a delicate technique without being detected.
While Veyr whistled under his breath. "Sounds easy enough... for a miracle worker," he muttered, earning a sidelong glance from Leo.
The Elder chuckled. "It will frustrate you. It will seem impossible. And yet, when you finally succeed, you’ll understand why the Timeless Assassin favored it so much. One moment your enemy is armed... the next, they’re staring at their empty hands."
He stepped back, gesturing to the training dummies arranged in a neat row along the courtyard wall.
"For today, we start with step one, memorization. You’ll work on locating the points on these dummies until you can find them without thinking. Once you have that, we’ll layer timing. Only when both are flawless will we move to wind magic execution."
Leo rolled his wrists once, still feeling the faint echo of that involuntary release.
It was a unique move he would never think would be so simple in theory, but that was exactly what made it worth mastering in his mind.
"Take your time. The more precise your foundation, the deadlier your execution will be. Once you both can hit those points blindfolded, I’ll know you’re ready.
For now, I’ve painted them in the first few dummies, so you just have to hit them using your weapons of choice.
After you’ve done that a few times, there are a few hundred wooden dummies without any marks on them, so your task is to hit them at those precise points, and do it consistently.
Of course, I’ll give you pointers on when you go wrong, and inspect each hit you make to guide you on how to improve."
Leo and Veyr exchanged a brief glance, neither speaking, but both understanding the task they needed to perform ahead.
"Should be fun..." Veyr said eventually, as the duo cracked their necks and got to work.