Emily is training as usual in the forest, deeply concentrated on her activity of blocking the rocks. Her master approaches her, stops the machine, and ends that part of the training.
Master: "Well, your abilities have increased quite a bit. You went from fifteen seconds to three minutes. That's good progress."
Emily: "Tha... thank you. What's next?" She wipes the sweat from her forehead, supporting her full weight on her legs.
The warrior looked at her for a second, contemplating her dull gaze. He had seen her in recent days without her usual sparkle. Although that cold look had allowed her to progress, it seemed the light she once emitted was now hidden. He just sighed, walked over to the bokken, picked up both, and looked back at his student, who was still recovering her energy. After a few seconds, he throws one of the bokken at her, hitting her and causing her to fall flat on her back.
The girl yelled, "HEY, WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM?!" As she finished the sentence, she realized the adult was standing over her, ready to strike her with the wooden sword. In that instant, her anger and everything else disappeared.
The adult, in a swift movement, attacks the young woman. Realizing she couldn't grab the other sword, she quickly thinks to block with her forearms, initiating a fight where she seemed completely outmatched. The man's fast attacks far surpassed her; she could only watch, looking for an opening to escape, focusing on blocking the most damaging blows.
The young woman continues to be pushed back while receiving blows from the adult. Noticing a tree close behind her and anticipating the strongest attack he had launched so far, she takes a risk by firmly planting her hands on the ground to push off, managing to lift her entire body using only her hands for support. She rises, dodging just in time the destructive attack that leaves a small crater in the ground. Emily, now in the air, manages to grab a tree branch, then lets go, falling back to the battlefield, but this time on her feet. She looks at the adult and says, "ARE YOU CRAZY? YOU COULD HAVE KILLED ME!" The result was the same; the man was already in the middle of another attack, which she dodges, even though it only released a great current of air that cleanly cut down several trees in its path.
She realized that resisting the fight was useless; she had to fight. She takes the stance she had been training with, awaiting her master's blows. This time, she blocked almost all of them; only a few that exceeded her reaction speed got past her guard. They maintained a fair fight until she thought she saw an opening and tried to strike the warrior. He, with the tip of his weapon, deflects her fist to the ground and with skillful precision places his weapon at the girl's neck, exclaiming, "Five minutes."
Emily: Surprised and tired, "Ex... ex... excuse me?"
Master: "You can now use the blocking techniques in a real fight. It's time to teach you a sword style of your own."
Emily: Even more surprised, her mouth agape, "What?"
The man approached her, grabbed the back of her clothes, and lifted her up. Giving her the bokken he was carrying, he said, "What don't you understand now?" The girl gave up asking about this strange practice, for lack of a better term, and only asked, "What do you mean by 'style'?" He looked at her and pointed with the bokken he had previously thrown at her, saying, "In these arts, there are millions upon infinite types of styles that can adapt to what you seek or your personality. In your case, Védelem will suit you well, a defensive style focused on disarming your opponent or incapacitating them without injury."
Emily: "But... won't you teach me how to cut?"
Master: "What for? Cutting isn't for you."
Emily: "Of course it isn't! You just throw attacks at me, and I just have to let myself get hit."
Master: "That's not you. I gave you an opportunity to knock me down before I made that hole, but you simply discarded that idea and preferred to escape the conflict. When you accepted that you had to fight, for five minutes you never wanted to counterattack more than just once."
Faced with these arguments, the girl realized he was right, so she deigned to look and listen carefully to her master's words. He stands in front of her, bending his legs, and says, "Watch closely. This is the basic stance of this style. Separate your feet a bit, bend your legs, knees pointing outwards, relax your abdomen. Grip the tool placing your right hand at the bottom of the hilt and your other hand above it. Finally, bring your arms to one side, leaving the central point of the sword protecting your head. This is the basic stance. Now, do the same."
Emily imitates each step exactly, looking at her master, who says, "Good. But I'll tell you something bad about this style: in that stance, there is a huge waste of physical strength. But it's solved by making this minimal change: put your left hand at the bottom of the hilt and your right hand at the top. You'll notice your forearms are now crossed..." Emily just observes the small change to her stance when she hears a firm "Good" from her master, followed by a strong blow against her wooden sword, making her close her eyes without losing her posture. A great gust of wind seems to stun the area. When she opens her eyes, she realizes nothing happened to her. She hears her master's words: "I think you're ready. Let's begin..." He moves away from her. "...I hope with this you understand a fundamental concept: I give you a style, but once you have it, you can modify it as much as you want. I'm teaching you how to stand. The rest is up to you."
A few weeks passed, and Emily spent them training, learning the techniques, enduring and improving the postures, how to position her arms, whether to tense or relax her muscles. The days were fierce, where she only blocked the warrior's attacks with increasing precision, obtaining great improvement in her skills.
One day, upon arriving at the cabin, she sees her master waiting for her.
Emily: "Hello, Master!"
Master: "Good. I think it's time we trained in the backyard of my house."
The young woman steps away a bit, hiding behind a tree to take off her coat, revealing she was already wearing her training clothes. When she said she was ready, she saw the warrior smile at her and then say, "Well, let's go, we have to train..." The young woman opened her eyes wide in surprise, watching as the adult seemingly melted, leaving only a large lump of clay on the ground. Emily stared in horror and with a fearful expression screamed, "AAAAHHHHH!"