"ALRIGHT, for this next set of weapons, we have the two different types of targets." Cor started out explaining.

"Here we have the close combat targets that are designed to represent the main body of your opponent. This doesn't work for all of the enemies that you will face, but it will give you the general idea of where you need to strike." He said as he gestured towards the targets that looked like the upper torso of a person.

"For these targets we will use the wooden daggers so that we won't actually cause any damage the targets. The other set of targets are set up for you to throw the daggers at the target. This can be used to either, immobilize and sometimes even kill your opponent. For these we will use the actual steel knives since we need to get them to stick into the wood.

"The main focus is to help you out with your aim. This one will be treated more as a shooting range since the daggers do have a tendency to miss their mark and bounce off. So while your throwing the daggers, no one is to move from the line until all of the blades have been thrown." Cor explaining. "Each group will work with their assigned target. Your goal is to work on your technique and you accuracy. Ignis why don't you show us how the drills will go for each set."

"Very well." Ignis said as he grabbed a set of wooden daggers first and went into the first roped off area.

Ignis went over several different strikes and how best to use the blades to slice at the neck, and the main arteries by the arms and legs. Then he went over how to immobilize a more difficult foe by slicing open the stomach and neck by simply cutting straight across. You caught your breath as he dragged his hand across the neck of the dummy as he demonstrated. You silently hoped that you would never have to use that technique, or worse yet, have it used on you.

Once everyone seemed to understand the basics for the drills, he moved out of that area and placed the wooden daggers back down on the table. Then he grabbed four solid black steel blades from the other table and walked into the other roped off area. He walked in and stood on a line that had been made in the dirt. He told everyone that the first line was at the ten foot mark from the target and would be where everyone would start from. Then once everyone was ready, then they could move back to the twenty foot line. No one could throw from the back, though if the other person is on the first line.

"Ignis, why don't you give us a quick demonstration." Cor said with a smile.

"Certainly." Ignis replied.

Then Ignis walked back to the first line and lined up with the first target. He glanced at the target for a minute as he put his left foot forward and his right leg back. Then he took one of the four blades that he had in his hand. He then aimed the blade tip towards the target with his right arm extended. He paused as he took a deep breath. Then he leaned forward and brought his right hand back to his shoulder. Then quick as light, he threw the blade right at the target and got it to stick in the wood with a dull thunk.

Then he just simply grabbed the next blade and did the same thing, but this time he didn't take as much time. Thunk. The next blade was even faster. Thunk. The last one looked like he didn't even aim and it still stuck. Thunk. Then he paused for a moment as he looked at him target. He had gotten all four blades to stick and they were really close to the center. Your eyes were wide as you stared at the target.

"Good warmup Ignis." Cor said as he watched Ignis walk up to the target to retrieve his blades. "Now let's see what you can do."

Ignis nodded as he walked back towards the line again. But this time he didn't so much as raise his hand to aim. Instead he just focused on the target and got into his stance. Then with quick succession he quickly raised his hand and released the blade only to be immediately replaced with the next blade until they were all thrown. Thunk......thunk...... thunk......thunk, echoed through the air as each blade stuck into the wooden target. And again he stood back and looked at the blades as they were in their tight cluster near the center of the target. Then he stepped forward to retrieve them again.

"Aww come on Iggy." Gladio said. "Stop holding back. I've seen you cut vegetables faster than that."

Ignis stopped and gave Gladio a glare while still smiling. Gladio gave him a daring look back. Ignis just dropped his gaze and walked to the twenty-foot line as he shifted the blades to his left hand while he kept his head down. Then he stopped on the line with the blades in his left hand. As he raised his head up, he looked over at you as he pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. He gave you a bit of a devilish grin as he dropped his hand. Then he turned around quickly and again he quickly threw each blade with a quicker succession. Thunk....thunk....thunk....thunk, could once again be heard echoed through the air. This time though the blades weren't quite as close. Ignis turned around and looked, but this time he seemed to be a bit confused and perhaps a bit disappointed.

"I thought Gladio told you to not hold back Iggy?" Noctis shouted with a devilish grin.

Ignis gave him an annoyed looked. Then Noctis walked over and grabbed two more sets of four blades. Then he walked into the roped off area and gave them to Ignis. Ignis tried to argue under his breath with him. But Noctis gave him a look that made him sigh as he rolled his eyes while taking the additional two sets. When Noctis was coming out of the target area, he gave you a shit-eating grin. Then Noctis turned and crossed his arms in front of himself as he got ready to watch Ignis again.

"Are you sure Noctis?" Ignis asked Noctis. "I wouldn't want to make you look bad." He finished with a grin.

"You can't make me look bad if you don't do it, now can you?" Noctis teased back.

Ignis rolled his eyes again. "As you wish." Ignis said then turned his attention back to the blades in his hand.

He seemed to arrange them in his hand based on the type. Then he walked down a bit so that he was in the middle of both targets. He studied both of the targets for a minute. Then he turned his attention back to the blades. He made a couple of adjustments to the blades order, then he turned his back to the targets again. This time though he kept his head down and his eyes closed. He stood there for a minute and did nothing. The suspense was driving you crazy. What was he waiting for? Was he really that nervous? Perhaps he was going to change his mind and not do it. But just as you thought that he would never move, he surprised you once again with his quick movements.

He quickly spun around and threw two blades over hand at lightning speed at the first target. Thunk, thunk. Then he turned slightly to the left as he threw a third straight out to the side at the same target, thunk. Then he did a forward roll and stopped on his knee. Then he turned towards the second target and threw two more over hand, thunk thunk.

Then he did a side roll back to the right so that he wa facing the first target again and launched two more back at the first target, thunk thunk. Then he did a forward roll and launched two more at the same target, thunk thunk. Then he did a backflip and launched two more at the second target, thunk thunk. Then he stood up and turned around and faced everyone as he launched his last one straight back at the second target, clink.

Ignis stopped dead in his tracks with his eyes wide open as he slowly turned around. He knew that that wasn't a good sound. But when he looked he was surprised to see that the last dagger had indeed stuck, it just happen to stick in the handle of another blade that was sticking out of the stump. Ignis dropped his head and shook it as he walked up to the targets to retrieve all of the blades.

Noctis and Gladio started cheering. "That's our Iggy!" Gladio shouted.

"That's how it's done Iggy." Noctis cheered as he clapped for him.

Even Cor was clapping.

"Nicely done Ignis." He said as he watched Ignis grab the blades off of the targets.

You were in too much shock to really say or do anything.

Where the hell did that come from? You thought as you just stared at him as you half clapped. I didn't know that he could do that?

You stood there is shock as you watched him. He examined the handle of the blade that had been hit with the last blade. He then rubbed it against the stump to remove the burrs. Then he turned around and walked back towards you.

Noctis looked over at you and saw your face, and smiled. Then he turned his attention back to Ignis as he walked back out of the target area. Ignis stopped when he was by the table and placed the knives back down. Then he walked back over to the group. Gladio and Noctis both patted him on the back.

"That was incredible." You said as you stared at him.

"Come now, that's nothing special." Ignis said as he pushed his glasses back into place.

"Stop being so damn modest Ignis." Noctis said as he nudged Ignis in the arm.

"Yeah." Gladio chimed in. "I know that you have been working on that for months now. Take some pride in getting it down pat like that."

"He's right you know." Cor said as he walked closer to the group. "You have made great strides in becoming very proficient with your weapon of choice. You should be very proud of yourself."

Ignis smiled as he looked down to the ground.

"Thank you for that. But I did damage one of the blades by being to careless." He said as he kept his gaze dropped.

"You did. But the damage wasn't enough to destroy the blade. But it could have been enough to finish off a foe." Cor responded back.

Ignis looked back up at him in surprise.

"Keep it up and you won't have any issues with the Kingsguard training." Cor finished as he placed a hand on Ignis' shoulder.

Then Cor nodded to Ignis as he slightly squeezed his shoulder before he dropped his hand and turn back to the whole group. "Alright. So now it's time for everyone to give it a shot. For the groups for this exercise, I want Gladio with Noctis and Ignis with (y/n). Gladio, I want you to take the lead as you and Noctis go through the drills with the close combat dummies. The two of you will start off with the strikes against the dummies at first. Then I want you to work on your defense. You will go up against each other and work on your blocks." Cor explained to Noctis and Gladio.

They both nodded then went to the table to grab their daggers before they proceeded into the roped off area.

"I think it goes without saying that Ignis will be the lead with the throwing range." Cor said to the two of you. You shyly smiled at Ignis and dropped your gaze. "I don't think that I need to tell you have to show her how to handle these. So you train her how you see fit to get her started." Cor said to Ignis.

Then Cor walked over to watch Gladio and Noctis.

You stood there looking down for a few moments as you waited for Ignis to start. You were excited and nervous all at the same time. You had never thought that you would be learning how to throw a weapon. Let alone have Ignis show you how he had just flung around the blades like they were a seasoning that he was spreading onto one of his dishes. Who would have thought that Ignis was capable of wielding a knife like that so well that he could take out an enemy without him ever touching them.

"Are you ready?" Ignis asked you.

"Yeah." You said as you looked back up at him.

Ignis smiled back at you as he saw that you were a bit nervous.

"I think that you might find that this is much easier than you think." Ignis said with a smile.

"How is that, considering you make it look like child's play?" You asked as you looked up at him and gave him a puzzled look.

"I'll show you." Ignis said with a smile. "Come on, let's get some blades and you'll soon see what I'm talking about."

You nodded back at him then followed him over to the table were the blades where sitting down. "To help us find out which blades will feel the most comfortable for you, we will take in all of them so that you can try them all out." Ignis said as he gathered up most of the blades. He left one set on the table for you grab. "I'll have you start off with those."

You looked at the blades and noticed that they were one solid piece of metal that seemed to be missing the handle since there were holes that ran the length of the grip. The other strange part, was that the blade was shaped like a tear. Plus it was really fat in the middle of the blade, while the rest of it was thin. You picked one up and noticed that it was heavier than the average knife that you had ever held.



"Well I guess this shows that we can't use just any old knives for this can we?" You said as you looked at the blade closer.

"No." Ignis slightly laughed back.

"They aren't balanced right." Ignis said as he took one and balanced it on one finger at its half way point.

"These are known as clamshell blades. They are perfectly balanced to allow for a clean rotation as they are thrown at your target. This allows for a better chance that they will stick to their target." Ignis said as he handed you back the knife.

"Each knife is slightly different, but they all should be balanced if they are to hit their mark. Come on I'll show you." Ignis said as he walked into the roped off area.

You picked up the rest of the blades and followed Ignis as he walked up to the first line. Once he got to the line on the grass he placed all of the blades on the ground. Then he turned his attention to you as you walked up to him. He smiled as you approached, he was starting to get a bit nervous himself now. He wasn't quite sure how you were going to react to this, but he wanted to show you what he really knew.

"Come step up to the line and have your left foot forward and on the line. Then have your right foot back. You always want a steady stance so that you can wield the weapon with the most strength and control." Ignis said as he stood by the line while you got into the stance.

"To start off though, you always want to learn your target. This even counts with these type of targets. Depended on the wood that they are using, will determine how well the knife will stick. So wood, like cherry, is softer than others, so it will tend to allow for the knives to stick easier. Other wood, like oak, are much harder and it will take a lot more force to get it to stick. But this helps us to learn how much force we need to use against different types of targets. You wouldn't want to use the same type of weapon on a Garulet that you would on a Bulettie. The shell on the Bulettie would cause the blade to bounce off. Whereas the Blade would kill a Garulet in one strike, well maybe." Ignis explained. "This target happens to be cedar, so the wood is about in the middle, so it works great for learning the halfway point."

"How long have you been doing this that you know this so well?" You asked as you looked from the target back to him.

Ignis dropped his gaze and started rubbing the back of his head.

"I started learning this when I was about seven." Ignis quietly stated.

"Seven? You mean to tell me that you have been doing this for half of your life already?" You stammered back.

"Well yes. But that was also when I started living with my uncle. That's also the time that I started my training. So for me, everything started then." Ignis explained as he got quite as he dropped his hand.

"But that's not why we're here today." Ignis said as he pushed his glasses back up his nose.

You smiled and dropped your head.

"Your right. I'm just still having a hard time wrapping my head around how you did that earlier. I've just never seen anything like that before." You said as you glanced back up at him.

Ignis smiled back. "It can be a bit much, when you've never seen it before. But that was what actually caught my attention for this weapon." He said as he smiled back. "Well let's start off with you finding the balance point on the blade. I want you to balance the blade on your index finger."

"Your kidding right?" You asked as you looked over at him with a strange look.

"No. I'm being serious." Ignis said as he saw you searching his face.

"Ok." You said then you did as he asked.

It took you a few moments, but you finally got it to balance.

"Good. Now keep your finger there, but now grip it with the rest of your fingers." Ignis finished.

You did as he asked.

"Now you're ready to throw the knife at the target. Holding it there allows for a natural rotation of the blade as it flies towards the target. Now when you first start out, to properly throw it you need to bring your hand all the way back to your shoulder." Ignis said as he got in the stance and brought his right hand all the way back to his right shoulder.

"Then your going to snap your hand forward and release the blade right as it is lined up with the target." Ignis describing as he was moved his hand through the motions.

"It should end with your fingers pointing towards your intended target. Be sure not to release at the wrong time or you will miss your target. If you release the blade to soon, it will either hit their face or it will fly right over them. The same goes if you release it to late, except that it will either hit the ground or their groan. The face and groan can be affective at stopping a foe, but unless you aim it just right, it won't take them down."

"You have spent a lot of time doing this haven't you?" You asked as you were starting to get a bit nervous.

Ignis chuckled as he looked down for a minute.

"Perhaps." Then he smiled and looked back at you. "Now you try. Aim at the target first with the blade in your hand, then bring it all the way back to your shoulder. Then let it fly."

"Ok." You said as you nervously breathed out as you brought the knife forward.

You aimed it at the center of the target, then you brought your hand straight back then quickly flung your hand forward and released the knife.

Clang!

Went the blade as it missed its mark and hit the wood broad side.

"It's ok." Ignis reassured you. "Try it again."

You took another deep breath, then tried it again.

Clang!

You felt your heart sink as the second blade hit the dirt.

How the hell did he make it look so easy?  You thought as you could feel your frustration starting to grow.

Ignis was about to move when you threw the next one.

Clang!

Damn it! You thought as you flung the last one at target.

Thunk.

You stared at the target for a moment. You had gotten it to stick, but this one was in the front left leg of the target. You dropped your head out of frustration.

Ignis gave you a small smile.

"It's alright.  No one gets it their first try."  He said as he put his hand on your arm.  "Why don't you go ahead and grab the knives so that you can try again." 

You nodded as you sighed. Then you walked over to grab the knives that were now scattered all around the target.

How did he do it? You thought as you knelt down to pick up one of the blade.

You tried to picture him as he stood there when he first started you out. The stance was similar to the one that you had been using with the training that you and Monica had been doing.

I'm pretty sure that my stance it good. You thought as you picked up two more blades.

It's got to be when I throw. But what part of it? You thought as you were about to grab the one sticking out of the leg.

"For any blade that sticks in the wood, make sure that you work it out to the wood." Ignis called over to you.

You stopped and gave him a confused looked.

"Rock the blade back and forth as you ease it out.  Otherwise you stand a chance of breaking the wood apart. In the field it would ok, but we do want to be able to use these targets for a bit." He said with a smile.

You nodded back and did as he said. Once you had the blade out you stood up and walked back over to him.

"Alright let's try this again shall we?" Ignis asked as you stopped on the line.

You silently nodded at him.

"First I want you to watch, again." He said as he grabbed the four black blades that he had used earlier.

You noticed that they were similar to the ones that you were using, but they seemed to be flatter on the blade. Plus the blade itself seemed to be dull expect for the tip. You watched as he got back into the stance. Then he lined back up with the target by aiming the blade straight ahead. His whole body seemed focused on the target that was in front of him.

"When you line up, make sure that your arms are straight out from you so that you don't have to worry about the blade going off course." Ignis said as he pointed the blade at the target.

"Then you should only be bending your elbow as you bring your hand straight back." He said as he slowly brought his hand back to his shoulder again.

"Then you are going to fling your hand forward, like your throwing a ball. But in this case, right as your hand is starting to come down, you should be releasing the blade so that it will leave your hand and fly straight at your intended target. Like this." He said then flung his hand forward like a sling shot and set the blade flying. 

Thunk.

"Then once you have one stick, just keep your stance and grab the next blade and do the same thing." Ignis said. 

Then he sent the next one flying. 

Thunk.

"Then just repeat until you are out of blades." Ignis said, then sent the last two flying. 

Thunk..... thunk.

"Ok?" Ignis asked as he turned back to you.

"Now you try it on that target." Ignis said as he point to the target next to the one he just threw at.

You nodded, then lined yourself up with the target and took your stance. You then held your hand straight out as you aimed for the target. Then you brought your hand back. Then you took a deep breath and flung the blade once again. Clang.

"Hold on." Ignis said as he came up.

"Go ahead and get the next blade ready." Ignis said as he stood off to your right.

Once you had your arm stretched out as you aimed at the target, he placed his right hand on yours to ensure that you had a good grip. Then he straightened out your arm more and angled the blade tip down a bit more. Then he placed his left hand on your stomach an he pulled you close to him, then he moved you slight forward on your right foot so that you were slightly leaning towards the target. Your body started to tingle under his touch again. You had almost forgotten how quickly your whole body reacted to his touch.

He then moved his right hand so that it was wrapped loosely around your right hand. Then he brought your hand back towards your shoulder so that it was lined up with your upper arm. He stopped your hand just before you touched your shoulder, since he was standing there. You felt a slight shift in his breathing as he dropped his head towards your shoulder. You could almost feel his heart beat as he struggled to focus again.

Ignis closed his eyes as he dropped his head to your shoulder. 

I can't loose control. Not now. Ignis argued with himself as he felt his body starting to react to yours again. 

But your scent was overpowering to him as he took a rugged breath as he tried to control the growing urge to place his lips on your neck once again. He could feel his hands starting to shake as it became more difficult for him hold you like this. He slightly increased his grip on you as he tried one last time to control himself.

You felt his grip tighten and his breathing become rugged again. You could feel him struggling with himself as he tried to gain control again. You placed your left hand against his as you tried to distract him. You knew he didn't want to do anything in front of the others, but you understood his fight. For you were having the same issue. His touch was so sensual and gentle that it made you melt under his touch. You turned your head towards his so that your cheek could feel his breath coming from his lips as they slightly brushed against your skin.

"Ignis?" You whispered to him. "What should I do now?" You asked as your own breath was starting to get rugged.

Ignis slowly dropped his right hand as he brought it down to you side and placed his hand on your waist. "Keep a steady stance and keep you grip loose on the blade. Then lean in slightly and whip you hand forward and release the blade just before you straighten out your hand." Ignis said as if he was in a dream as he kept his eyes closed. Then he moved his head further back from you so that you could safety throw the blade without getting him in the process. Then he slowly released you and stood back up.

You closed your eyes for a moment as he spoke. Then after he moved his face away from yours, you opened your eyes back up and focused on the target. Then once he released you, you relaxed and launched the blade straight at the target. Thunk.

******Author Note******
First off, I just wanted to thank everyone for read my story. I am very humbled to have reached 1k readers. And that is all thanks to you. And I hope to see the numbers continue to increase as more and more enjoy this story.

Second, I had felt that it would best to split up Ignis' fighting style into the two ways that he used his blades against the enemies that they face. He doesn't just run in, in fact his tossing of the blades in the mark move is one of the most useful in the game to help target multiple targets with no planning necessary.

I hope to see you in the next chapter as we continue to watch how each of them show off their hidden talents with their weapon of choice.

Again, thanks for reading. :)
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