Ichor

Commander (Part XVI)

Year 20 - Commander
Planet Earth

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"Ok, you all should know that daggers are best for quicker fighters. People who can get under their opponent's guard and render their longer-ranged weapon useless," Annabeth started after formally introducing herself. "But what if your opponent is also using a dagger? That's what this class is about. So take out your weapons and pair up," she instructed.

The Chaos Soldiers taking this course did so obediently. They weren't in full armor, just casual training uniforms, which relieved Annabeth. She didn't want to pretend to be super serious. She could definitely do it, but her style of teaching was similar to Percy's. As a child of Athena, she modeled her tactics after the most effective teacher she had known, which happened to be Percy.

As she went around to correct some habits or point out suggestions, she noticed that Mason walked in to observe. She'd be lying to herself if she didn't admit the general's presence put her on edge. It felt more like an examination than before. Now a Chaos Army leader was judging her instead of just its soldiers.

"Ok," she yelled to get their attention. They quickly stopped sparring and listened in. "I want to demonstrate a few moves, so I'm going to need a volunteer."

No one looked enthusiastic to step up, but one woman had the guts to spar with the demigod known for her mastery with a dagger.

"I volunteer," the soldier offered as she took several steps closer.

Annabeth nodded in respect before asking, "What's your name?"

"Lieutenant Valery Ronds, A Division, ma'am."

"Thanks for volunteering, Lieutenant Ronds. We'll start off slow. A simple, yet difficult move to quickly disarm your opponent."

Annabeth and Val got into defensive positions.

"First," Annabeth explained, "you're going to have to get into close quarters because you've got a dagger. Problem is, they do too. So what do you do?"

The soldiers thought it was a rhetorical question, so they didn't answer. After an awkward beat of silence, Annabeth decided to provide the answer.

"You get outside of their range while maintaining your own. This is best done from the side of their wielding hand. If you manage to sidestep and turn your body so it's a smaller target while moving closer past the weapon and down their dominant arm, you can break their hold of their dagger. Like so," Annabeth said before demonstrating it in slow motion on Val.

Sure enough, Val's blade dropped from her hand and Annabeth moved her own dagger up to the soldier's throat. She did this a few more times and increased the speed each time. Then she had Val try it herself. Once she was able to do so at a reasonable speed, they tried the maneuver in context.

"Alright," Annabeth ordered, "we spar until one of us can successfully disarm the other. But I'll warn you, I'm not going to go easy."

Val smirked back unfazed. "Didn't think you would, ma'am," she replied.

They blocked and parried and sent strike after strike towards each other, each getting in a couple of good hits, but Annabeth's hits were more precise than Val's. Eventually, Val tried to overpower Annabeth, but that left her more exposed than before. Annabeth let her wear herself down a little more as the stronger strikes came down. Then, she went for it and disarmed the Chaos Soldier.

With her dagger at the woman's throat, Annabeth asked, "Do you yield?"

"I yield," Val answered with a smile. "That was an amazing duel, ma'am."