It took almost half a year, but finally the day came when master Fiore showed me his special technique. It involved parrying by hitting the opponent’s blade in a very specific place - precisely in the middle - and quickly striking back with a circular motion of your wrist. Ideally, such a strike should be directed at a vital spot of the enemy's body, like the jugular or the axilla vein, to ensure immediate demise. In short, it had to be quick and precise.
To my surprise, I got a chance to test this technique in a real fight just a day later. Some men came to master Fiore’s residence, claiming that he cheated them in a game of dice. They demanded that he give back his winnings and then some. Fiore calmly said that if one of them could defeat his apprentice in a duel, he would gladly give them what they want. They agreed - leaving me no choice but to do the same.
My opponent was a skilled swordsman, but he had no chance against the special riposte technique. He was lucky that we used training swords - if not, my strike would surely leave him on the ground, bleeding to his death. The angry men left, vowing that one day Lorenzo Fiore would pay for his tricks and lies. And he did… but that’s a story for another time.