Chapter 89
"Shirou, show me what you are capable of."
Saber stood opposite him, clasping the shinai loosely in one hand, waiting for him to make the first move.
It had been Caster's suggestion to him that he train with Saber, and during their little chat this morning, Caster had also brought up the topic with Saber. After a short discussion between Saber and Shirou, they had asked for permission to use the dojo, bringing us to the present.
While it was true that Shirou would absolutely not be participating in any battles between Servants, considering their power, he could still be targeted by enemy Masters. Thus, Saber considered it necessary to at the very least ascertain what he could do, and then do her best to improve his chances of surviving if he ever came to blows with an enemy magus. She would teach him physical combat, and Caster would be in charge of the magical side of things.
Judging by her Master's physique, he at least had decent strength and stamina among his peers, though it was far from enough to confront a magus just with that. He had mentioned training daily as well, so she supposed at the very least she didn't have to build his discipline from the ground up.
Shirou had trained in kendo before, so he settled into the orthodox stance that most kendo users used, his right foot forward, with his left foot behind, the heel off the ground. His right hand grasped the tsuka (hilt) near the circular tsuba (crossguard) of the shinai, the left hand holding near the tsukagashira (pommel). The fingers were relaxed, with no open spaces between them. Aligning the shinai with the center of his body at waist level, he adopted a chudan, the middle posture.
In his youth, he had crossed swords with his father before, but they were both amateurs, with no consideration to form. In the end, the only thing he took away from those 'lessons' was how to deal with an opponent with a long weapon. Later on, he had served as the practice dummy of Taiga for a while, beaten blue and black until he could barely stand. He had managed to pick up the proper starting stance back then by observing Taiga's starting form, but not much else.
"Are you going to fight in those clothes?"
It wasn't a problem per se, he was just surprised she was wearing a skirt to fight with him. She looked down at her clothes, blinking in surprise.
"Ah, what I meant was that I thought you'd wear armor."
"I see. Indeed, it would be disrespectful to you if I fought like this. Very well, allow me to change."
Before she could do so, Shirou stopped her.
"It's fine really, it's just a misunderstanding from me. If I could choose, I'd rather fight you in that dress."
He'd only ever seen Saber fighting in armor, but if she could practice with him in her dress then that was fine too. After all, she did look much better in a dress, at least to him. Saber didn't seem to understand him though.
"It would be impractical to fight with this clothing though."
"No, I mean you look good in them."
Saber widened her eyes, putting her hands on her hip.
"Is that so? I don't think they suit me very well though."
Shaking her head, she focused back on what they were supposed to do.
"Enough chit-chat. Let's start training."
Lifting her shinai into her usual stance, two hands gripped tightly around the hilt.
"Come at me, Shirou!"
"W-wait, already? We're just going to fight?"
Shirou backed away, his feet automatically backpedalling from the pressure exerted from the small blonde in front of him.
"What's wrong Shirou? I can't improve your body in a mere few days. Techniques cannot be acquired overnight. In that case, the only thing I can offer you is experience. I'm a bad teacher anyways, so anything more would be difficult."
"But-"
*Shwip*
*Don*
Shirou's world was turned upside down as he realized he was lying down on the tatami mats, and then the pain on his left leg hit him.
"―――A―――Haa, haa, haa... ow――ouch, ouch, this is broken, I'm sure...!"
"It's only a bruise. With Avalon, it should heal quickly."
"W-wait!"
Shirou desperately crawled away from the diminutive Saber, now exerting such a strong pressure that she looked like an oni from Japanese folklore in his eyes.
Raising her shinai, he felt the killing intent sharpening to such a degree, it was like naked steel pressed against his neck.
"Sa-GYAAAHHHHHHHH!!!"
The sun was setting by the time Shirou was unable to move.
"―――Haa―――haa―――haa... "
At this point, if he could properly form thoughts, he would've thought it was a miracle he was still alive. It was also a miracle that there was no blood at all on the ground with how hard she had hit him, and it was even more of a miracle that his clothes didn't tear with how big his bruises were swelling up all over his body. If one looked at his face, they wouldn't be able to recognize it as Emiya Shirou. The only thing that could be used to identify him was his red hair.
"Shirou..."
Saber knelt next to him, putting her shinai on the ground as she stared at him in concern. Her hands reached towards his shoulders, prepared to flip him over to see how bad his injuries were.
"―YOSHA!"
Taking advantage of her opening, he struck, his motionless body suddenly twisting to swing the shinai still gripped in his right hand at her waist.
As casually as brushing the leaves of her dress, she raised her left hand caught the blade between two fingers, a mere application of her strength enough to stop it in place.
"It seems you are still able to continue Shirou. Stand up."
If you looked closely enough, one could see tears between the gaps of the bruises on his face.
After another hour of unspeakable brutalization, it was truly over.
Saber stared down at him, only the faint sound of breathing assuring her that he was still alive. She had made sure to strike non-critical areas with as much force as he could endure without going overboard, but there was only so much pain the human body could endure, even with how high his pain tolerance was. In addition, his spirit had also been attacked, the intense killing intent she constantly released at him wearing down his mental strength, frustration and shame at being beaten so easily each time chipping away at his mentality.
In truth, Saber was astounded at how stubborn he was. Even with his body on the verge of giving out, every time he still pushed himself up, body swaying as he tried his best to simply stand straight and hold his shinai. By the end of it, he was barely conscious half the time, his eyes sliding shut before Saber's shinai even reached him. Yet the fragile body of a human that should have succumbed long ago got back up over and over, going against a Servant with nothing but sheer willpower.
She was quite sure that prisoners tortured by Agravain for information endured less pain in a day then Shirou had just experienced.
Still, hopefully he would learn something from this. The experience of fighting, given to him through countless duels from the past few hours would teach him that at his level, he needed to constantly search for the perfect situation where everything aligned for him, in order to succeed and win. At least he managed to get to the level where he was able to block, dodge or deflect two strikes consecutively, even though she was holding back.
At the start, he could only endure the blows, taking one, fainting, waking up and then repeating the process. He was knocked out no matter what he did, so he could only get desperate and attack. But it was easily deflected, leading to his defeat. When he got used to that as well...
"Damn."
After an hour, he started being able to move the shinai's blade slightly to lessen the shock of the blow, and after a few more bouts, he was able to block the first blow before he fainted.
He gained composure, his instincts that let him understand he'd die the next second become keener, sharpening with each blow. It could also be referred to as being 'in the zone'.
So he committed to defense.
His instincts said "I'll be knocked out if that blow hits", so naturally he tried to avoid it. He would manage to elude Saber's barrage of attacks, then take a fatal blow while he waited for an opening to counter.
Each time he stood up, thinking he could last longer this time. From time to time, he would just rush at her since he was doomed anyways, attacking with wild abandon.
The two hours were just spent repeating that process over and over. He might not have become stronger, but his body and mind became accustomed to fighting. By the end of it, before he fainted for good, he was able to block the first two blows, forcing his body to move in spite of the pain that burned all the way into his bones. His mind didn't panic or relax too much in front of his enemy, allowing him to move as he wanted to. His body learnt that it was always one mistake from death.
Sitting down next to his battered and exhausted body, she flipped him over and stripped off his shirt to see how bad it was. With some difficulty, she managed to tug off the clothes from his swelling bruises, exposing his upper torso to the world.
Or what was left of it.
To be honest, it was difficult to find a patch of skin that wasn't discolored or swelling. Although she could already tell that Avalon was healing the older bruises, with the swelling less severe in some places, it was still a painting of purple and blue.
Shaking her head, she pulled the shirt back on and laid him on her back, carrying her off to their own room.
Thinking back on their training, she remembered how enthusiastic each strike had been. Throwing his whole weight behind his sword, he struck with all his soul, making them powerful. She had almost forgotten to deal with them, like watching a dog play gleefully. Her eyes turned gentle, thinking of the days when she saw the young knights in training at Camelot. Her Master didn't lose to them at all, in terms of endurance or energy. If anything he surpassed them in that respect.
Seeing the two pass by, Caster walked up to them, but after seeing Shirou and the pitiful state he was in, she changed her mind and walked away.