Chapter 37 Chapter 27: Her Duel (2)
Everything she tried backfired. She could neither stop the pulling force nor change the direction with her wind element. Then an absurd idea got into her head. Yasmine stopped pushing against the ground and instead made Aaelin her anchor.
What she did was exactly the same as her opponent. Since working to free herself was almost useless, she pulled towards her opponent, narrowing her eyes.
A glint of surprise appeared in the eyes of her opponent, and she prepared a full-slash. It appeared her opponent was doing the same as both of them clashed together with the sword.
The wind roared, and the air warped and churned, discharging spirit force from the clash.
Aaelin shoved his sword with the earth elemental full-slash. Unlike wind element full-slash which releases gales of blades at the opponent, Earth element full-slash cannot do that, but what it can do was not the other elements can. Yasmine felt like the weapon that blocked her sword was not a sword, but a hammer instead. A thousand-pound hammer. The pressure it brought was not something she could handle. Her sword pulled away, and she barely managed to keep it in her arm.
The two of them fell to the ground, as there was no gravitational force to let them fight in the air. Yasmine withdrew instantly and took her stance. Sweat beads formed on her forehead and cheeks, while the man before her was in far better shape.
Aaelin's body shot towards her, and Yasmine did not engage immediately like the other time. She could barely fight, much less challenge someone who had a couple of years of experience more with his abilities. Ignoring the incoming attack, she shot upwards in the sky, trying to get used to flying. First, she needed to figure out how to levitate. All she could do was shoot up, down, or move around in sudden lurching.
She shouldn't have been frustrated since it was the first time she was using gravity for real, but that smiling face of the young prince made her disheartened.
Aaelin's figure appeared in the sky as his sword turned darker and heavier. "Stability takes time," he said, and walked in the air towards her. His steps were orderly, as if he was stepping on some invisible glass in the air. "Try to move your anchor in the direction you want to go. It will be problematic at the start, but it's the easiest way to learn."
Yasmine thought about it and found the reason to be reassuring. While walking on foot, she had to move her legs. Then why not while using the dominion of gravity? She tried to force the push at 30 degrees to her point of mass.
In the next moment, her body shot perpendicular to the 30-degree push as well. Knitting her brows, she moved in the direction towards her opponent.
Aaelin welcomed her, still standing nonchalantly in the air. When she was just before him, he pulled his sword in a full-slash, drawing some gravitational push with his earth attribute. The move was far more terrifying than anything she felt during the match, weighing against her violently.
Yasmine raised her eyebrows, noticing her opponent using the gravitational force in two directions. Even though she knew nothing much about the ability, she could tell if she tried, it would be disastrous.
She was barely keeping herself stable in the air, much less using it on two ends like him. Instead, she pushed more force against the surface of the ground and twisted her body using the wind elemental full-slash.
She dodged his blow, giving him a gale of swift wind, yet her opponent was still standing there. Biting her lip, she tried to find a way to get away, though nothing that would help came to her mind.
She could not use her wind stance in the air, nor could she pull up against someone who had trained far more time with the ability. Worse, her spirit force is already on the verge of running out.
Aaelin seemed to know that as well. "Let's finish this then," he said, and pointed his sword at the stones on the ground.
Dozens of stone splinters, small or midsize, rose in the air, and with a swing of his sword, all of them rushed towards Yasmine, churning in a storm of stone splinters and dust.
Yasmine weakened the push and came to the ground, but the stones did not stop in their course, still shooting at her with the push from Aaelin. Sucking in a deep breath, Yasmine called the gale for the last time. With her arms gripped hard on the sword, she swung with all her strength.
The gale wind pushed into one single line and ignored the stones to make its way towards Aaelin, twirling in its way.
Aaelin was really surprised. He immediately pulled his earth-attributed into a full-slash and managed to block the wind, though he was a dozen yards away by that time. Moreover, in his shock, he forgot to stop the stones from hurting her.
He thought the silver-haired girl before her would stop the stones from hurting her, yet she went for an attack against him. He was about to shout for his father, but found there was no need to.
"That's enough," Gareth said, and the stones stopped at his command, coming to a halt just before Yasmine. Even the dust was in the air, came to a sudden stop. It remained like that for a blink of an eye before dropping to the ground.
Lord Gareth walked towards her and the others followed him. With him were the other three, including her father. Her father was an unreadable expression—and she knew what it meant. Disappointment.
But in the next moment, he gave her a smile with a slight nod of approval. That did not make her feel better.
She was looking down when she heard a voice.
"Stand up," Lord Gareth said, coming right before her.
She did, shaking her head a couple of times.
"Aaelin, what do you think about her?" Gareth asked his eldest son, who joined him in a moment.
Aaelin tilted his head and looked at the silver-haired girl, who stood stiffly. "She's beautiful," he mumbled.
A pebble hit Aaelin straight on the forehead as he complained to his father.
"I asked you about her performance." Gareth glared at her son.
"But Father, I answered that about her performance, too." Aaelin came back with a save, though she only got a curt glare from her. "I think she has a good head but lacks experience. She was maybe a little too tense in the battle and made a few poor decisions, like coming at me straight. Her techniques were fine, but have not gone through enough actual battles. That being said, I was surprised to see her showing such progress on her dominion."
Gareth nodded as if it was enough of an evaluation for her. "Yasmine," he called. "Do you know about the history of the sword you are holding?"
Yasmine knew a few things about the sword, but she also knew it was not her place to answer.
Gareth lifted his head to show a scar on his neck. "Do you see this?" he said. "It was over a decade ago during the war when thousands of Ruthalynian soldiers surrounded me and my men. I had barely a hundred against a thousand trained Ruthalynian soldiers. At that time, your father was by my side. If not for him, I would not be here today.
"I didn't just give that sword to Rogan because he saved my life, but also because it was a sword worthy of him."
Yasmine nodded and looked at her father. All of these words meant one thing to her: she has failed.
"By far, you are still unworthy of holding your father's mantle," Gareth said, and released a breath. "There are over a dozen knights in the empire who can use the sword better than you, but since your father has decided, and I have seen your potential, you will learn to become worthy of it."
"Yes, sir," Yasmine said at once resolutely.
"Unlike those dozens, you have something better. Do you know what it is? Potential and time. You are barely eighteen, at the cusp of your growth. Keep at it, and you will be good in no time."
"Yes, sir."
"At ease," Gareth said, but Yasmine did not, standing like a spear even with her fatigue. He thought about it and looked from Rogan to Yasmine again. "Have you killed anyone before?"
Yasmine shook her head hesitantly. "I have not, sir."
"I expected as much," Gareth muttered. "For the next two months, you will train with the soldiers and prepare for your next test. I don't have to tell you that my niece is quite a picky girl when choosing her Honour Knight. Work hard."
Yasmine was startled and looked at the leaving figure. "Does that mean--"
"Yes, you passed," Gareth said. "Amara asked for a lady Knight, and I don't think there was any good lady Knight available that she had not rejected yet. Work hard."
Yasmine could not believe it, actually. She actually succeeded. Oh, Ishar. I succeeded. Though it was only the first test of her conquest, she actually succeeded, and got the approval of the Highprince of Steel.
All her frustration from the match sipped away, and Yasmine found herself with a new resolve to perform better in the next test.
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