It was then Kayden's turn to face Danchun and it had been a while since he had dropped his macho prejudices. His face was currently solemn, his thick eyebrows tightly knotted with concentration. The duel had not yet begun and he was already sweating.
"I am ready."
Swooosh!
Danchun sprang towards him unannounced and immediately attacked him with a flying knee strike. The young woman took off from the ground, grabbing the soldier's head with lightning speed and using her momentum to drive her knee into his nose. The method differed, but her aim was the same as her first bout with Connor.
Kayden was already on his guard and calmly parried the blow by raising his guard while leaning forward and tilting his head to the side. Without giving the young woman time to adjust her posture, he let his opponent's knee slam against his right pectoral, then locked his arm around her leg, blocking her in the air.
Far from panicking, Danchun retaliated with her other knee but Kayden was prepared and defended with his elbow, producing a loud painful thud. The dancer's knee was knocked down and she was momentarily thrown off balance.
Feeling his chance had come, the soldier pushed her chest back with his left forearm, causing Danchun to topple backwards, then ruthlessly tried to tackle her. The young woman found herself upside down, her long black hair sweeping across the grass.
The takedown looked like it was going to succeed, but as she swung backwards, she used the momentum to flaunt her terrific flexibility to everyone. Hanging upside down, she flexed her back muscles and contorted her torso in an extreme way, the back of her head literally facing her lower back.
This figure of gymnastics was realized in a split second and it happened that her head found itself for a brief moment between the legs of the special forces soldier. With a sudden bump of the head, the top of her skull hit Kayden's testicles and his face turned purple.
"Aye..." Ikaris hissed as he heard the pop of the impact.
After such a twist, the outcome of the fight was already cemented. This time she contracted her abs and performed a 180° sit up which brought her two elbows down on the top of Kayden's skull like sledgehammers.
The soldier was instantly knocked down and wobbled backwards, still instinctively holding Danchun's left knee. The young woman did not resist and let herself fall with him. As Kayden's back hit the grass, the knee wedged against his pectoral hammered against his chest a second time, slightly denting his sternum.
Ikaris and Malia shuddered as they witnessed the female Cultivator's ruthlessness.
"Do you understand the concept of sparring?" The teenager couldn't help but exclaim. "If they end up in a coma or dead how are they supposed to do their job as martial instructors?"
"Oh..." She replied indifferently.
A vein throbbed on the teenager's forehead. 'Are you fucking with me?' Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to calm down then said,
"These are normal humans. They can't recover from these injuries easily." Then losing his temper, he exploded, " Bloody hell! Can you explain to me how breaking Connor's nose and castrating Kayden was necessary to test them?
Danchun faltered, suddenly realizing she'd gone too far. But her guilt lasted only a mere second. Returning to her aloof demeanor, she stated impassively,
"In the sect where I grew up, this kind of friendly fighting was the norm. If someone ended up badly injured or disabled it was considered their fault. Only killing other disciples was forbidden and punished, but there were plenty of ways to get around these rules and avoid punishment."
Ikaris calmed down as he listened to her. He had almost forgotten that she had grown up in a society very different from his. In her world, the strong had all the rights and the weak had to accept whatever happened to them. Cultivation was fraught with difficulties, and a moderate death rate was considered acceptable.
However, Ikaris did not want such a society. Each of his subordinates was important, and despite his great talent since childhood he had always held the firm belief that anyone could achieve great things if properly guided.
"From now on, I don't want you to seriously harm anyone you test or train." He clarified explicitly. "And if you want to know what the limit is between a light and a serious injury, assume that after their training they should be able to resume their daily activities."
"I will do my best." Danchun promised with a deadpan face.
At that moment, Ikaris and Malia heard someone approaching them and they turned around. The newcomer's footsteps were light, muffled as if they were skimming the grass surface, but with their hearing it was as if someone was drumming on asphalt with their heels.
" Plume." The teen greeted as he recognized the Fae.
The Nature Sorcerer walked up to them with an ethereal gait and grinned cutely.
"I saw what just happened." She explained succinctly. "Treating these kinds of wounds isn't a big deal to me as long as they don't involve amputation."
The Fae didn't have extensive medical knowledge, but she could stimulate her patients' innate vitality. The energy and nutrients required came from their own bodies, so it was not without risk to a malnourished or dehydrated person. Still, if her patients were in good physical condition and properly nourished, they could withstand these kinds of Healing Spells without any problem.
"In that case I thank you in advance." Ikaris accepted her offer.
A green glow shone from Plume's delicate hands and she passed them over the two men's wounds like a metal detector during a body search. She winced as she paused over Kayden's crotch.
"Ouch... Poor guy... They've been crushed.."
Ikaris glared at Danchun, his eyes containing unspeakable meanings. The dancer shuddered as she met his gaze.
"Can it be cured?"
Plume hesitated, then answered truthfully,
"That will depend on him..."
The Fae didn't dare make false promises about such things. As for Connor's nose, it had to be put back in place first, but Plume was experienced with that kind of manipulation. His new nose would be identical to the one before the spar.
The two men regained consciousness a few minutes later, a little thinner than before, and when Kayden discovered the state of his crotch, he was mortified. Connor broke into a sweat as he realized the fate he had just escaped.
Thanks god, I've been knocked out immediately...
If he'd managed to parry the first blow he might have been in the same state. Just thinking about it made him shiver with horror, pale as a corpse.
Fortunately, Kayden was a hardened soldier and after receiving Ikaris' promise and Plume's guarantee that many Healing Sorcerers could heal such wounds he regained his nerve.
Danchun then continued to test the two men, but under the threatening glare of her Lord she controlled her strength and allowed the two fighters to show what they were capable of. After the unarmed fight, she then tested them with different weapons ranging from knife, spear or sword.
In the end, the result of these sparrings was satisfactory. In terms of hand-to-hand combat, the two men had a similar level of skill despite Connor being a professional fighter. Yet, in terms of versatility, Kayden was by far the more competent.
On top of being fairly skilled with most weapons, his commando experience also made him skilled in many other areas such as survival, espionage, infiltration, guerrilla warfare, assassination, etc.
Ikaris had high hopes for Kayden once his Sparks developed sufficiently. Having proven their worth, Kayden was named chief instructor and Connor hand-to-hand combat instructor.
It was decided at the suggestion of Magnus and Danchun that in addition to the volunteers, all men and women of Last Saint should undergo a daily physical and martial training routine so as not to waste their potential.
For those with back-breaking manual jobs such as woodcutters or builders, such a routine was overkill, but this problem could easily be solved by increasing their food servings of Demonic Beasts. Nevertheless, factoring in his meat supply and the projected growth of Last Saint, Ikaris quickly came to the conclusion that they would run out of food within a few days.
He had to find a solution quickly.
