Belliger seems to enjoy humiliating the other GUOSIM shrews in hand to hand combat. He's been spending a lot of time with the training sword, taking on sometimes two shrews at once, but still coming out victorious. On one hand, it's good that Belliger is this skilled with a weapon, but on the other hand, if Belliger's not as good as he looks in comparison to the other shrews, it could be quite the dismal situation for the GUOSIM... That's why he's giving pointers as he goes. "Now, y'see, the reason I 'ad th'chance t'impale y'there was b'cause y'left y'stomach open to attack far too long. Try t'be on guard more, fight d'fensively..."

It's the thrill of competition that draws Mercedes to the training grounds. A smirk alights upon her face as she watches Belliger train, recognizing the shrews in combat with him as some of the ones that were recruited the past day. The shrew femme stops at the weapon stand by the entrance, sticking her swept-hilt rapier and main gauche in the ground by their points next to the stand. Mercedes chooses an arms length short sword with a thin wooden blade, tacking a few practice swings to be sure it's the one she desires for a fight. "I zee vou are a seasoned warrior, Belliger." .. another swing of the short sword.. "Ven vou are feenished vith the recruits zere, I'd like to have a go."

Belliger finishes off a fight with a quick two slashes across the chest to an unwary recruit. "If you're gonna use an axe, y'd better build up some strength. Otherwise, stick to th'sword." He nods, watching the shrew walk off to spar with another one of the recruits... Then he spins to face Mercedes, bowing, and taking his stance. "I'm game for ye." He grins, flipping the edge of the sword up a few times in a taunt.

Mercedes continues to smile impishly as she bows toward him in turn, pushing her sword out, bringing it toward her nose, then flourishing it down at an angle in classic salute. "Good, zen let us get started." The shrewess crouches into a fighting position. Her sword is held out while her free hand arches behind her in a curious fighting stance. She doesn't attack just yet, simply circling Belliger and watching him intently.. eyeing for any strengths and weaknesses that will aid her in combat.

Belliger spins, watching Mercedes intently... "Rapier, I see..." He switches stances to one built more for powerful, focused swings. Once he does this, he stops spinning and starts circling along with Mercedes, taunting her with another flip of the training sword.

..and Mercedes taunts right back, slapping at his sword with her own blade once, twice, thrice.. Still she maintains her smirk, and her muscles are tensed for quick movements that are inevitable in a fight. "Endeed.." she responds; rapiers have always been her specialty- light enough for her stature, yet deadly enough when used properly.

Belliger laughs, chopped breaths escaping his mouth... And he moves. He waits until Mercedes is on a back step, and, gripping the sword with both hands, leaps forward, executing a vicious upward diagonal strike at Mercedes's waist.

Mercedes may not have the power, but she certainly posseses the speed. Her smirk fades for a split second as the attack is executed, her footpaws moving rapidly into a planted position. Then, taunt muscles working quickly, she springs backward, not even attemmpting to parry or block her adversary's blade - after all, it'd probably break her rapier clean in half. While Belliger is finishing off his attack with his blade in the air, she moves in, dodgeing to the side with a duck so that she is positioned behind him. She thrusts her blade forward, still in her unusual fighting stance, toward his unprotected back.

Belliger uses the momentum from the swing to spin around and swing again to deflect the thrust to the side, and steps backward. "This... This's -much- better." He steps in again, throwing a more conservative downward swing towards Mercedes's shoulder.

This time Mercedes is able to lock blades with the swing executed with less strength as before. She immediately bends under Belliger's force, gritting her teeth as she struggles under his sword not to fall. With quick, though measured actions, she pushes Belliger's blade off to the side, side-stepping to the side of him. Then, dropping to the ground, her foot sweeps toward the shrew male's ankles.

Belliger is starting to notice Mercedes's speed now, especially as he falls onto his back, which kicks up a small cloud of dirt. Although he's on his back, he still keeps his bearings, and holds his sword at ready to block anything that might be thrown at him while he's on the ground.

Mercedes’s blade is held in place as she attempts a swing downward at the shrew. Snickering under her breath, she immediately jumps back, waiting for Belliger to get up and once again circling him with slow, measured steps. “Vou are a rather good fighter, I must admit, Belliger,” she offers as she moves, her breath coming hard.

Belliger keeps his sword in one paw as he plants the other firmly on the ground, kicking his legs and twisting as he pushes up in the air, and he's in a crouched position on his feet again. Also breathing heavily, the shrew nods twice, and rolls his neck around quickly, cracking the bones. "Not so bad y'self, Mer." This time, Belliger chooses to wait for Mercedes to take the offensive.

Mercedes sees her chance from Belliger's waiting. She moves in, her front footpaw closing the distance of several feet. Her blade circles teasingly in the air as she advances, thrust forward in a jab at his chest in a sudden movement. The shrewess doesn't wait after the attack, choosing to duck and step to the side once again and -trusting in her speed- she jabs again at his side. No sooner than this attack, she side steps yet again and jabs.. doing so until she's met each compass point.

Having knowledge of rapiers, Belliger paid no attention to the teasing circle-swing, and deftly jumped backward at the same time as Mer's first jab, predicting that it was coming before it happened... So, when Mer then sidesteps to jab at his side, he's ready and swings heavily downward at the ducking shrewess's head... But she sidesteps again, and he's forced to turns around and swing again, sidestepping himself to dodge the third jab... And again, he's forced to sidestep the fourth jab, which he -barely- dodges, as he swings downward at the ducking shrew, powerfully and quickly.

Unfortunately, the shrewess hasn't thought much into the future after her attack has ended - after all, most have fallen to it. She attempts to step to the left as Belliger's sword swings down, though to no avail. It clips her on the hip, sending her to her knees, face grimaced in pain. Augh, that'll leave a bruise alright. Quickly as not to allow Belliger any advantage to his hit, she jumps up, limping sideways and holding her rapier up in a defense position.

Belliger smiles as he connects, and wastes no time furthering his assault on Mercedes, who is now in her defensive position. Swinging his sword powerfully and quickly, over and over, aiming for shoulder, then waist, then ducking and slashing at her upper leg, then spinning out of his duck and slashing across at her neck.

Her speed has been reduced, though Mercedes doesn't let that haunt her. She continually backsteps out of the slashes, bringing her rapier up vertically before her face to connect with the neck hit. The weight behind the attack, though, sends her tumbling to the ground. Erg. But.. what's this? Mercedes eyes her position, seeing Bell's exposed underbelly and wasting not time in jabbing at it- hard.

"...Erg..." To tell you the truth, Belliger wasn't planning on Mercedes falling backwards like that. And yes, his underbelly was very exposed. And yes, he's paying for that, now. He staggers backwards, and falls on his behind, gasping for air a few seconds... A hushed silence falls over the watching shrew-crew, who had been betting and cheering this whole time. Funny how battle draws your senses away. Belliger slowly stands up, tossing his sword on the weapon rack, and offering a paw to help Mercedes up. "Good fight, matey." The shrew-crew begins to clap admiringly, then returns to sparring with each other, attempting to mimic some of the two shrew's maneuvers and techniques.

Mercedes takes the hand with a nod of gratitude and stands, resting her weight on her good leg. "Endeed, vus a gud fight Bell. My admiration to yore battle techniques." Then, with a bow, Mercedes limps off to the entrance, trading in the training rapier for her real one and leaving toward the fire pit.