Chapter 319: The Sinners Guild (Part 7)

"Alright, let’s see what you’ve got. Give it your all," I remarked, stepping back as the barrier formed."Heh, I’ve got this, prepare for your jaws to drop," Grinned Brid, swinging his weapon across, a large black warhammer.

He had a pair of bracelets on his wrists with white, glowing Mana Orbs embedded in them.

"<How long do I have to do this for, my Lord>?" Inquired Acedia with a sigh.

"Around a few times a week," I replied, as I took a seat a few meters outside the barrier.

"<That seems excessive...>."

Today’s the 17th of November, 2169, it’s been about a week since the Sinners Guild was officially opened.

We’ve conducted a number of training sessions for the Guild members, and the results have been pretty promising, we’ve got quite a decent crop of Hunters in our ranks.

Charlotte had responded to my request for an outdoor training space the next day, and got to work on it immediately.

There was an abandoned parking lot near the Guild, with no buildings in its vicinity, the Union converted it to an outdoor training area.

They completed it yesterday evening, so I decided to make use of it and have a look at Brid’s combat ability.

After that, Aria and I will spar for a bit, it’s been a while since we’ve fought against each other.

Aria and I had come out here with Brid to observe, I’d asked Acedia to be his sparring partner, I figured I’d try assessing from an observational point of view instead of getting involved myself.

"Alright, whenever you’re ready!" I called out, as Brid finished stretching and warming up.

I told Acedia to take it slow, stay on the defensive initially, then gradually start using counterattacks, and once the fight’s in full swing, to fight for real. Let’s see if Brid is capable of pushing him that far.

He was wearing an armored black tank top under a breastplate, with armor-plated gauntlets that went up past his elbows on his arms, dark brown trousers, armored plates over either side of his hips, and armored, tall black boots.

A few seconds passed as Brid eyed Acedia warily, letting out a slow exhale before swiftly rushing forward...given his build, his speed isn’t half-bad, his movements are pretty efficient.

Acedia’s eyes widened slightly as Brid put on a sharp burst of speed as he closed in, leaping forward and whipping his warhammer across at Acedia’s head, generating immense force as his arms suddenly buffed up.

Acedia swiftly ducked under the swing of the hammer, which whizzed past the top of his head, before springing back as Brid shifted his balance back and drove his right knee forward, but he was a bit too slow.

As he landed and regained his balance, he shot towards Acedia, getting low as he closed in before swinging his hammer across at Acedia’s knees, a sharp clang ringing out as Acedia swiftly lifted his left foot up and drove it down, slamming the bottom of his foot against the head of the hammer and pinning it against the ground, puffs of dust bursting out as the hammer collided against the dirt with a loud thunk.

Suddenly, Brid swung his head forward with a sharp snap of his neck, catching Acedia off-guard as his forehead slammed against the middle of Acedia’s chest with a thud, sending him stumbling back.

Brid swiftly whipped his hammer up, launching bits of dirt towards Acedia’s face, who closed his eyes, Brid immediately lunging forward and unfurling a powerful thrust of his hammer towards the middle of Acedia’s torso.

Acedia swiftly crossed his arms in front of himself, the head of the warhammer slamming against his forearms, his feet skidding back across the ground slightly upon impact, before he leapt up and over Brid as he shot forward with a sharp burst of speed and swung his hammer across.

Brid spun around as Acedia landed behind him and backed away, letting out a sigh. Brid exhaled slowly to compose himself, starting to circle Acedia while steadily closing the gap, while Acedia kept a close eye on him.

Brid suddenly rushed in, spinning his hammer across with a flick of his wrist before a thick cloud of dust erupted behind him as he leapt forward with a powerful burst of speed, swinging his hammer straight down towards the top of Acedia’s head.

Acedia took a swift step back to evade it, before weaving across while backing away as Brid unfurled a vicious barrage of swings and thrusts with his hammer, managing to graze Acedia a couple of times.

"He’s pretty good...it looks like he’s got a decent combat sense, and he’s clearly worked hard, he’s pretty adept with his weapon," Remarked Aria thoughtfully.

"Yeah, he’s better than I expected, and it looks like those brief bursts of power he’s been unleashing every now and then boost his strength by about twofold," I observed, as he continued swinging his hammer at Acedia.

"Mhm, that sounds about right, from the look of it. His technique is a bit rough around the edges, he could stand to sharpen up his movements a bit, but he’s at a pretty high level, considering that he only just graduated a week ago," Nodded Aria, as Acedia shuffled across to the right to evade a powerful thrust of Brid’s hammer.

Acedia then rapidly spun across, whipping his tail around and slamming it against Brid’s left side, sending him hurtling away to the right.

As Brid came to a skidding halt across the dirt, he quickly lifted his gaze as Acedia shot up into the air, firing down a barrage of lightning bolts.

Brid scrambled back onto his feet and raced away as fast as he could, swerving and weaving across the space to evade the attacks, before swinging his hammer up as a rapid blast of lightning came shooting down towards him, faster than he could react.

As his hammer struck through the blast and dissipated it as a sharp crackle rang out upon impact, before his eyes widened as Acedia came swooping down towards him with immense speed, the claws on his right hand extended out and crackling with lightning.

Brid took a quick step back and swung his hammer across, stiffening as Acedia came to abrupt halt, the head of the hammer whizzing past the front of his snout, before he launched himself forward with a powerful flap of his wings and drove his claws towards the middle of Brid’s chest.

Brid shuffled across to the left as fast as he could, gasping sharply in pain as Acedia’s claws struck the middle of his right bicep, a sharp crackle ringing out upon impact, Brid’s skin and flesh sizzling as Acedia’s claws tore right through his arm, severing it...