Chapter 8: A Classing of Blades
It had been an hour since Legosi performed the leap of faith and became a fully fledged assassin. The awakening, as Elise called it, truly put everything in perspective. He now understood the meaning behind the assassin's creed and realized that he had only previously touched the surface of it.
Legosi wanted to go and tell his pack, but couldn't thanks to the welcome celebrations. With this in mind, the gray wolf headed to the Drama club's building. It didn't take him long to find it, but something unnerved him.
"What should I do?" the wolf thought to himself. "I know the plan and I already have a good reputation with the club's leader, so why am I so nervous? It can't be my social anxiety, Mentor T'Challa helped me get rid of it."
Legosi was so busy trying to pinpoint the source of his inner turmoil that he failed to notice someone coming up behind him, something his teacher would no doubt scold him for later.
"Hey man! What's going on?!" a loud and cheerful voice all but shouted, causing Legosi to jump.
Before the wolf could react, an arm wrapped around his shoulders. He looked to his right where he saw a muscular arm covered in orange fur with black stripes. He then looked to his left where he saw a tiger grinning at him.
"Um… Hi?" Legosi said with a raised brow.
"Hello comrade!" the tiger responded in a foreign accent, still grinning.
"Can I help you?," the large canine asked. "Also, who are you?"
"The name is Bill," the large feline said while pointing at himself with his thumb. "And no, you can't be helping me right now, but I bet I can help you! You're here for the Drama club, right?"
Legosi, who didn't answer right away, inspected the feline. He could tell from his accent that this Bill character was from eastern Russia. Combining that with his thicker than average coat, the wolf concluded that he was a Siberian tiger, which was the strongest of the known tiger races. This of course, explained his admittedly large build.
"Yes, I am," Legosi answered, adopting a confused demeanor so as to not make himself seem suspicious. "I was actually about to go inside when you snuck up on me."
"Were you now," Bill said mischievously as his face got uncomfortably close to Legosi's. "Then why are you standing out here? Come, come, we have many new friends to meet!"
"I was just making sure I hadn't forgotten anything before I went in," a now irritated Legosi said as he put a hand on Bill's face and pushed him away. "Also, you are way too close."
The tiger let out a laugh as he was pushed back while still keeping his arm wrapped around the wolf.
"Well, if you are to make a good impression, I can help you. See, I just became a member of the acting team and I have many ideas that we can use."
Legosi shook his head before shrugging off Bill's arm.
"Thanks, but I already have something planned. Louis helped me come up with it after I beat him in our sword fight. I was just thinking about the technique he wanted me to use."
The tiger snorted before letting out another grin.
"So you're a sword fighter, eh?" Bill asked, his grin turning mischievous once again. "Then how about you and I have a sword fight of our own? I've seen that Louis guy and if I'm being honest, deh, I'm not impressed. My sword technique runs circles around his and I bet you'll have a lot more fun fighting me."
Legosi frowned at this. While it's true Louis' swordplay wasn't the best it was still very well honed, thanks to training with true masters. His forms were good and left few openings. It was the type of swordplay that could only come from someone who spent countless hours practicing it, something Legosi respected.
"If you speak like that, then I have my doubts about your so-called technique. A real swordsman is able to tell how good someone is with just a glance. After fighting him, I could see how much time and effort Louis put into perfecting his swordsmanship."
"What's more, any swordsman worth their salt knows to let their blade do the talking. If you're as good as you say, then you would see that Louis is worthy of acknowledgement. I'll admit that he's no master, but the fact that he's dedicating himself to the art and not just treating it as a hobby shows that he deserves respect."
Bill frowned, he didn't understand why this wolf was defending Louis. It's true that the red deer had some skill, but he was an experienced novice at best. Still, that comment about letting their blades do the talking struck a nerve.
"If you really believe that, then why not prove it?"
"What do you mean?" Legosi asked, tilting his head in confusion.
Bill let out a smirk.
"You and I are both men of the sword, yes? So why not let our blades do the talking. You and I will duel in front of drama club, and if you win I will acknowledge Louis as a swordsman. However, should you lose, you will admit that boy is no swordsman.
Legosi thought about this for a moment before a question came to mind.
"How will that solve anything? Wouldn't it be better if Louis dueled you himself and proved his skill?"
"Ordinarily yes, but not here," the tiger began to explain after seeing the confused look on the wolf's face. "The one thing all swordsmen have is the ability to read people. We are able to tell if someone has potential after a single glance."
"Our observations have come into conflict over deer. Therefore, by dueling, we will see who was correct in this matter since the swordsman with more skill would also be the one who did a better job of gauging him."
Legosi looked down. It wasn't a very strong argument, but it held some weight. Despite being an assassin for a short time, the wolf always noticed how observant the more veteran members of the creed were. Mentor T'Challa and Elise would always pick up on the smallest twitch and instantly know who their mark was.
"Very well. I accept your challenge and agree to the terms."
Bill smirked at this, knowing he was about to show just how superior his swordsmanship was.
The two entered the Drama club's room and were welcomed by all in attendance. Legosi was amazed by how many different animals there were here and how colorful the decorations were. Bill meanwhile, was blown away by all the amazing costumes and props that were on display.
After managing to separate himself from the tiger, Legosi continued to greet the other club members before noticing two students sitting off to the side.
One was an anteater who looked overwhelmed by all the animals. The other was a mongoose who seemed irritated by something. It was clear from their scents and their body language that they didn't want to be there.
The large canine knew what it was like to be nervous around crowds, but this meeting was too important for them to stand idle. His teachers had drilled into him the importance of making connections during first meetings as it would only become harder to do so afterwards.
Usually animals would split into groups afterwards after such an event and anyone left behind would find it next to impossible to fit in.. It was a herd/pack mentality that even the assassin's still followed and it was this mentality that would cause them to block out any newcomers.
With all this in mind, Legosi decided that he would make the first move. He was an outsider and from what he could gather, so were they. It made sense for them to form their own group within the herd that was the Drama club.
"Hello, my name is Legosi. It's nice to meet you," the gray wolf said as he held out a hand for them to shake.
The anteater turned his head so fast from the introduction that Legosi thought he might have cracked his neck. Legosi noticed how the anteater's eyes kept darting between his face and his hand. It was as if a simple greeting was a foreign concept to him.
The mongoose, on the other hand, just scowled at him. Legosi couldn't tell if he was genuinely upset about being bothered or if he was just trying to seem intimidating. He wasn't emitting any killing intent or seem to harbor any ill feelings. Which meant that his scowl was most likely used as a defense mechanism. It wouldn't be the first time Legosi met an animal like that, nor would it be the last.
"I'm uh, I'm Kibi," the anteater said as he shook the large carnivore's hand.
"Kai," the mongoose sneered while putting his hands in his pockets, refusing to exchange handshakes.
Legosi smiled and nodded at both of them.
"Nice names. Are you two joining the club as well or are you already members?"
"I'm just joining today too," Kibi answered, now feeling a little less nervous.
"Same here, but it wasn't exactly my idea," Kai snorted.
"What do you mean?" the wolf asked.
"My family wouldn't get off my back about extra curricular activities. They went on and on about them looking good on college forms and all that other BS. The Drama club seemed like the least annoying one and so, here I am."
"Um… alright," Legosi said with a sweat drop.
He was about to say something when he felt a familiar arm wrap around him. He let out a quiet groan of annoyance before turning to see Bill grinning at him.
"Hey Legosi! I see you've started making friends already. You tell them about our performance?"
"Performance?" Kibi asked.
"Yep!" the tiger answered far too enthusiastically. "It turns out we're both swordsmen and so we thought we'd have ourselves a little spar for everyone to see."
This caught the mongoose's attention.
"You're a swordsman?" Kai asked as he looked at Legosi. "Does that mean you're a part of the acting team or at least applying for it?"
Legosi shook his head.
"No, I'm not. I'm actually looking to join the backstage team."
The three were taken aback, but for different reasons. Bill and Kai were surprised since a swordsman like him would have been perfect for the acting team. Kibi, meanwhile, thought it was odd since almost all of the carnivores here were part of the acting team. He also thought the wolf was rather good looking and would be great on stage.
"Why would you wanna be a backstage hand?" the Russian tiger asked. "Didn't you say you beat Louis?"
Everyone's eyes widened at this. Unknown to the group, some of the other club members were listening in. When they heard that one of the new recruits beat Louis, they started whispering amongst themselves.
"He beat Louis?" one of the animals watching the group murmur to his friend.
"Yes, he did," a familiar voice said.
Everyone turned around to see Louis approaching the group with a smile on his face.
"It's good to see you again, Legosi. I'm glad you could make it."
The large carnivore let out a smile of his own as his tail began to wag.
"Well, I wanted to make a good first impression. If I'm gonna be working with everyone here, then I should at the very least come and introduce myself."
Louis nodded before turning his attention to the rest of the club.
"Alright, listen up everyone. This is Legosi and as you just heard, he defeated me in a swordfight during his tryouts."
The other members started whispering and murmuring to each other.
"Now, I'm sure many of you would agree that talent such as that would benefit the acting team greatly. However, when I offered him such a position he turned it down in favor of joining the backstage team. I'm disappointed, but I respect his decision and I ask that all of you do the same."
Everyone nodded their heads in response.
"Good. With that out of the way, I am happy to announce that Legosi did agree to a small performance. As such, he and I will be performing one of the fight scenes from Adler, a play that we will be working on in the coming months."
"In order to put on a genuine demonstration of his skill, the swordplay will not be scripted. Therefore this will be more akin to an exhibition match, similar to what you would see in some of the sports clubs. Are there any questions?"
When he saw that no one had anything to say, Louis started to move on until he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around and saw Legosi with an apologetic look on his face.
"I'm sorry Louis, but Bill here said he wanted to duel me. He said that he's a swordsman too and that he wanted to see my skill firsthand and I agreed to the match. I know we already had an arrangement but I think we'd both be interested in seeing what Russian swordsmanship is like."
Louis honestly wanted a rematch with the wolf since it was obvious he had been holding back, but to see a new sword style was something he couldn't pass up either.
After taking a moment to mull it over, the red deer agreed to their proposal. Not only would he be able to see a new sword style, but if the tiger was as skilled as he seemed then he would be able to see more of Legosi's hidden talents.
With the go ahead from the head of the acting team, Legosi and Bill headed up to the stage. They walked over to a rack that was being pushed in by a peacock.
"Hey you two," the bird said with a smile. "My name is Dom and I'm the head of the backstage hands. As you can see, we've made multiple prop swords of every type. We have rapiers, long swords, cutlasses, daggers, greatswords-"
"Do you be having Shashka?" Bill asked, interrupting Dom. "Shashka is best sword in all of mother Russia!"
Dom tapped his beak for a moment before looking back at the much larger animal.
"Sorry, er, Bill?"
Bill nodded.
"We don't have a Shashka specifically, but I do know it's a type of saber, which we have plenty of."
The orange and black feline slightly frowned at that, but then let out a large grin.
"In that case, I will be taking the saber, two of them in fact!"
This caught everyone by surprise since they didn't think they would meet someone who used a two sword style of fighting.
Before anyone could comment, Dom gave the striped cat two sabers that he made sure were exactly the same.
In an instant, Bill took the blades and began a show of his skill. He twirled, swiped, and slashed with the two blades while performing a few acrobatic techniques. After finishing his display with a side somersault, Bill pointed one of the blades at Legosi, beckoning him to fight.
Ignoring the taunt, the wolf walked over to the rack and picked up an eagle-pommel sword. A one-handed longsword that he held in his right hand. It had a simple cross handle, but with two silver wings as the arms of the cross. He also picked something else up, but no one could see what.
With their weapons chosen, the two carnivores stood at opposite ends of the stage and took their fighting stances.
Bill's stance had him crouching slightly with one leg forward and his body turned slightly sideways. His right arm extended in front of him and his left arm extended behind him. He had both swords pointed upward and his feet were light, showing he was ready to react to anything.
Legosi's stance was similar to a fencing stance with some noticeable differences. His body was turned sideways with one foot in front of him with his heel slightly up. His back foot was turned outward and his sword was pointed down. He had his left hand behind his back, showing the dagger he grabbed to everyone but Bill.
"So that's what he picked up," Louis thought to himself, intrigued by the fighting style.
The teacher that watched over the Drama club stepped forward. He was a male raven that was a bit taller than Louis. He wore an open brown overcoat over a black dress shirt and a red tie. Upon getting everyone's attention, he spoke.
"Alright you two. In this scene you two are generals under the lord of the underworld. You have both volunteered to go after Adler after seeing how your regular subordinates failed despite their superior numbers."
"Your lord tells you that only one of you may have the honor of taking Adler's head. Both believing you are the best suited for the task, you boast of your swordsmanship. Hearing enough of your arguing, the demon lord commands you to settle this with a death match.
"Now, you two are in the middle of an arena that is filled with your minions and your lord is watching. You both stare at each other, ready to put your lives and, more importantly, your pride as swordsmen on the line. And… ACTION!"
As soon as the word was uttered, Bill rushed forward and came down on Legosi with his already extended sword. Legosi sidestepped the attack and aimed for the tiger's midsection with a vertical sweep.
Bill jumped back, spinning on his heel and attempting to hit Legis with his left sword. Legosi deflected the attack and capitalized on the opening by kicking his opponent in the stomach, sending him skidding back.
Not one to be deterred, the tiger dashed forward. Just before he got in range, Bill jumped into the air while spinning around, increasing his momentum for a vicious sideways strike using both of his sabers.
Legosi blocked the attack with the flat surface of his weapon. He spun around the tiger and with one fluid motion thrusted his hidden dagger forward, aiming for the feline's neck.
Bill quickly ducked under the attack and jumped forward, trying to knee the large canine in the gut. Legosi countered by spinning on his heel and delivering an upward strike. The tiger snapped his head back, barely dodging the attack.
Using his momentum, Bill fell back into a handstand and pushed himself into the air, never once letting go of hisswords. Landing in a crouching position, the large feline launched forward, his sabers aimed straight for his opponent's stomach.
Legosi cartwheeled to the side, allowing his opponent to glide past him. Spinning on his heel to stand up right, Legosi held both his weapons out to the side as he looked at the tiger with eyes as cold as ice.
As soon as Bill landed, the wolf dashed forwards and broke into a deadly dash of steel as he unleashed a whirlwind of attacks. With an ever shifting rotation, he slashed and stabbed at his opponent's vital points, his body moving and twirling like a leaf in the wind.
Bill could do nothing as he was pushed back. Blocking, deflecting, and dodging sword strike after sword strike, each one becoming more deadly than the last.
All the club members and recruits could only stare as the room was filled with the sight and sound of the wooden swords clashing. The beautifully painted swords looked so real that they made the duel feel so real. With each slash, stab, sweep, block, and parry, their eyes are filled with the sparks from the clashing blades.
Having had enough of being on the defensive, Bill pivoted out of the way of a downward strike. In less then a second, the tiger jumped to the side before back flipping to the center of the stage.
Finally getting some much needed breathing room, the Russian feline readied his blades. Ready to end this, Bill dashed forward, running much faster than he had earlier. When he was within strike range, he stabbed his right sword forward while preparing his left sword for a sweep.
Legosi, having caught wind of the tiger's plan, used his dagger to redirect the stab and blocked the sweep with his sword, leaving the two in a deadlock. Not liking the position he was in, the wolf pushed forward, ramming his shoulder into Bill.
Bill, unable to react in time, got slammed by the attack, knocking him back slightly.
Legosi lunged forward, flipping his dagger into a toothpick grip. Once in the tiger's guard, Legosi spun around, maneuvering behind Bill and driving the dagger into the orange feline's back.
Bill felt the prop dagger bit home and his eyes widened. He realized that had the dagger been real, Legosi would have pierced his right lung. This made the tiger freeze up for a moment, which was all the large canine needed.
Legosi pulled back the dagger and spun around. Without hesitation, using his sword to slash Bill's neck, signifying a beheading.
Everyone froze. The world went dark for a moment as the last attack played through their heads. The club members were used to performing kill shots and lethal blows during their shows, but what they saw was the real thing.
Louis, who was watching the fight as closely as possible, managed to catch the one thing everyone else missed. It was the eyes.
In that moment when Legosi went in for the kill, he didn't have the same eyes he'd seen when they first met. No, they were the eyes of a killer. The eyes of someone who had seen actual bloodshed. The eyes of a true predator.
Before anyone could move, Legosi walked forward, leaving Bill to fall to his knees. He bowed his head and let out a smile.
"Sensei, was my performance to your liking?" the wolf barked.
The raven shook his head before letting out an excited grin.
"Was it to my liking? Boy, you were phenomenal. I don't know where you and that tiger learned to use swords, but damn if that wasn't the best fight I've ever seen. Every slash, every dodge, every parry, it all felt so real. And that finish, by Rex, I honestly thought I was seeing a real duel to the death! This goes without saying, but you and your friend are in! Welcome to the drama club!"
Legosi raised his sword in victory while all the other students cheered. All except for Louis, who had a very stern face on. It was obvious that he would be having some words with this wolf and if allowed, another duel.