The training ground was enveloped in silence.
"Hmm..."
"..."
In a suitable spot, Theo sat down, with Aisha awkwardly sitting beside him.
Their eyes were fixed on Siena and Irene in the center of the training ground.
Just moments ago, Siena had lost the smile on her face, but upon looking at Irene, she smiled again.
"I'll allow you the first strike, Irene. A swordmaster once said that you should offer the first move to the weak, right?"
Siena's smile lifted only at one corner of her mouth.
It was a cunning smile, and Irene knew it.
"That's true, like how elders graciously allow their much younger juniors the first move."
Irene responded, likewise lifting just one corner of her mouth into a smile.
A true duel starts before the swords clash, or so it's said.
This was exactly that.
Aisha's mouth hung open in surprise.
'Wowa... this is gonna be awesome!'
Although she had a trauma related to fighting, watching a fight and actually participating in one were different matters.
Aisha couldn't take her eyes off the intense battle unfolding before her.
"I won’t decline then, Siena."
Irene lunged at Siena.
Swoosh!
Irene's longsword quickly jabbed towards Siena’s right shoulder.
"Heh."
But instead of blocking Irene's longsword, Siena lightly evaded and smoothly stabbed towards Irene’s right shoulder in a flowing motion.
"Hmph."
Similarly, Irene lightly dodged Siena’s thrust and took a backstep to create distance.
‘So, you're still not serious, Siena?’
Irene recalled the swordsmanship Siena had displayed against Julia.
Back then, Siena had played with Julia, the only first-year Knight Department student with a master-level trait, as if she were a toy.
...But this was merely a simple counterattack.
Siena clearly had no intention of being serious yet.
‘Let's see how long you’ll keep that up.’
Her attitude provoked Irene, who valued honor.
"Haah-hat!"
Irene stamped her left foot on the ground.
In an instant, she was under Siena's chin.
From Irene's fingertips, the practice longsword started to dance agilely.
It was the rapid thrusting technique Irene had demonstrated in the previous Knight Department's 2v2 Tournament.
That nameless technique was again executed through Irene's hands.
Siena's eyes slightly widened.
"Uhm."
Siena thought to swing her fencing sword quickly to parry all of Irene’s thrusts.
But Irene had grown even stronger since her fight with Neike, and Siena had been careless.
She was unable to parry all of the attacks.
"Hehe, I tried to parry them all, but it's a pity."
Instead of deflecting the attack, Siena lightly stabbed Irene’s right shoulder, the core of her attacks, with her sword.
"Argh, ugh!"
Irene's attack came to an immediate halt.
Siena spoke with amusement.
"Oh, interesting technique, Irene. Try it again."
"...I’ll go again."
Though her trump card was blocked instantly, Irene did not give up.
‘As expected, Siena has a high fundamental understanding of swordsmanship. Her body movements are also very light. In that case...’
Irene calmly contemplated and immediately devised another technique.
It was a variation of one of the Aslan family's sword techniques.
“Haa-ah!”
Irene, lifting her longsword high, rushed toward Siena, swinging it down from above with great force.
"Are you going for a slash instead of a thrust this time?"
Siena lifted her sword, aiming to stab the path of the slashing longsword.
Again, her intention was to seal off the core of Irene's attack.
However, Irene was not green enough to be caught by the same move again.
Whoosh!
Irene didn't swing her longsword all the way through but instead withdrew it midway, and swung it in the opposite direction after spinning around.
It was a technique that combined extremely precise control and the momentum of a powerful swing.
“!”
Siena, instead of clashing swords, stepped back to avoid Irene’s sword strike.
A faint smile appeared on Irene’s lips.
‘It works!’
Without losing momentum, Irene immediately swung her longsword.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
The slashing strikes, containing tremendous force capable of splitting rocks, unfolded consecutively from Irene's hands, although their accuracy was lower compared to thrusting attacks.
Sienna was too busy evading Irene's strikes to launch a counterattack.
Aisha's eyes widened as she watched the scene.
‘Even though she’s the top of the Knight Department... Was Irene always that good?’
Aisha knew to some extent about Siena's skills.
She had coincidentally witnessed Siena easily suppress an instructor with her swordsmanship during the last semester, simply because Siena found him annoying.
Aisha was secretly watching, but if it had been publicized, the instructor would have lost his job due to the disgrace.
‘Siena’s swordsmanship is already superior to most heroes.’
However, Siena only lingered around the 70th rank in the annual school rankings simply because she found it bothersome.
It was utterly incomprehensible from Aisha's perspective.
Aisha spoke to Theo, who was also watching the duel.
“Theo, Irene will win, right...?”
“Hmm.”
Unexpected words spilled out of Theo's mouth, different from what Aisha had anticipated.
“No, Siena will win. She’s not being serious at all right now.”
Theo pointed at Siena as he spoke.
“Look at that. Irene’s sword can’t even graze Siena’s clothes. It would have been the same even with a real sword. Although it looks like Irene is pressing her, Siena is just enjoying herself. From her movements, it looks like she's not even using spirits."
“Ah...”
At Theo’s words, Aisha refocused on the movements of Siena and Irene.
Changing her train of thought, Aisha’s used her trait [Sharp Vision] to analyze properly.
‘Irene’s attacks are relentless, but most of them are large, consuming a lot of stamina. However, Siena is not attacking back, just dodging, minimizing her stamina consumption... If Siena continues to dodge, in the long run...’
It was clear that Siena would take the advantageous position.
But this hypothesis stands only if Siena keeps avoiding Irene’s sword.
Just one successful heavy strike from Irene would completely reverse the situation.
“If Irene manages to land even one hit, the situation will completely change, won't it? Her sword is no joke.”
“No, she won’t hit her.”
Theo spoke with confidence.
His reasoning wasn't based on the difference in skill between Irene and Sienna.
It was because Sienna knew all of Irene's techniques.
Irene’s family, the Aslan, was one of the families that emerged a long time ago, influenced by a swordmaster traveling across the continent.
Naturally, the sword technique currently being used by Irene from the Aslan family was also developed under the teachings of the swordmaster.
And Siena’s teacher was that swordmaster.
A swordmaster from the Great Forest.
‘Skills and familiarity aside, Siena has been watching that sword technique for at least decades.’
Siena is roughly 150 years old.
Even if she had only held a sword for half of that time, she would have been wielding a sword for 70 to 80 years....
She’d know where the sword would go even with her eyes closed.
Just as Theo thought, Irene, breathing heavily, furrowed her brows.
“Haah, haah, haah...”
Irene, biting her lip, glared at Siena with frustrated eyes.
She swung her sword vigorously, revealing techniques she had never shown to anyone.
However, Siena effortlessly evaded every strike, as if she already knew where her sword would go.
“How, how can...”
“Hehe, Irene. I’m sorry. You might never be able to beat me in your lifetime. As long as you use Uncle’s techniques.”
Siena called forth a spirit and wiped away her sweat.
"But you should be able to defeat people other than me. Someone like that should protect Theo by his side."
Siena gripped her rapier.
"Watch carefully. This technique is something I learned during a time I'd rather forget, so I’ll show it only once."
As her words ended, Siena's rapier moved.
Anger, jealousy, sorrow, joy, beauty, and so forth.
At the end of that sword, no human emotions could be felt.
...Only the intention to precisely insert the sword into their intended locations.
"...Ah..."
Irene's eyes widened.
The smart girl quickly understood.
The swordsmanship that Siena was displaying was the origin of the swordsmanship she was using.
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