Defeat. Defeat. Defeat. In the past, not even once was Dunnford able to defeat Ignes.

The outer training ground was an open field layered with soft grasses. Under those grasses was a hard soil without rocks, the perfect ground that couldn’t be blamed for sloppy footwork. The leaves of those grasses were wet—the skystorm, Dunnford assumed—but the soil was dry.

There were barrels full of varieties of wooden swords inside the training ground. Ignes had tied her hair to a bun and was carefully picking which wooden sword to use for the spar. It looked like she was being cautious and picky with her wooden sword, but Dunnford knew better: she was considering on whether she should give him and Ray a handicap. Dunnford’s sword skill had improved over the years; but the same must held true for Ignes. How big was the gap between them?

‘Is she really stronger than Freya?’ Ray asked, still not believing.

‘That feeling of being helpless against Freya, she can give the same.’ Dunnford watched Ignes pull out two wooden swords from the barrel. One a sword of normal length gripped with her right; another, a short sword gripped with her left. Nervousness crept inside Dunnford. ‘She’s not going to hold back,’ Dunnford warned Ray.

Ray was still doubting Dunnford’s statement on Ignes being stronger than Freya. He then saw Ignes practicing her swing, slashing the air in front of her with both her swords, creating a visible ‘X’. A smooth movement that was comparable to Freya’s, where there was hardly any waste of movement. Only now was Ray convinced on Dunnford’s statement.

‘What’s the plan?’ He asked Dunnford.

***

We’re going to use our number advantage to its fullest, Dunnford had answered.

Ray and Dunnford approached Ignes from two sides: Dunnford on the front and Ray on the back. Each of them held their wooden sword with tight grips in front of them. Slowly but surely, the both of them closed the distance in unison. Ignes was only looking at Dunnford and showed her back to Ray. There was no hint of her being pressured by this strategy. She stood there, still; calm; and composed.

This tactic will fall within her expectation; and although she will be unreactive, she will respond to us.

When the distance was lessened to a range within her expectation, Ignes swiftly turned away from Dunnford and dashed toward Ray. The 2 wooden swords looked menacing in her hands and Ray couldn’t say that he had experience fighting against a dual sword wielder. Still…

She’ll break our strategy by severing the weakest link. And that means she will target you, Master Ray.

This was within expectation.

When she dashed toward Ray, following behind her was Dunnford. Ray would like to land a few hits on Ignes if possible, but at the very minimum he should survive for 2 or 3 seconds before Dunnford could catch up with her.

Do not. Be deceived by her appearance.

She lifted her left hand, appearing to attack with her short sword, but as soon as Ray’s attention was distracted by it, she stopped and swung the sword in her right hand instead. Unable to dodge, Ray held his sword to the left in an attempt to block her attack. When their swords made contact, Ray’s block broke and one of his grips loosened and let go. Despite her appearance, the swing she delivered was heavy. What kind of trick did she do?

‘My left,’ she said.

The short wooden sword traveled toward Ray’s head at a threatening speed. Normally a sword wielder would have to correct the position of their sword before launching another attack, but Ignes could skip that process by using her other sword.

Ray tilted his head up, swaying back to dodge. Would he make it?

Swish. The sound of that swing was sharp.

The wooden blade made contact with the tip of Ray’s nose. But only that.

When she fails to eliminate you, Master Ray, she’ll without a doubt try to gain control of the spar. She’ll…

Ignes stepped to the side, refusing to be caught and pinned from both sides by Ray and Dunnford.

You’ll have to keep following her.

Dunnford stepped to the side, following Ignes, and so did Ray. There was no escape; and this time around she decided to face Dunnford, the stronger of the two.

Only then will the battle begin.

***

Kokuri walked through the streets of Lune without any fear. Still she wore her flowery purple kimono without any anxiety of being found by the Zenist. If anything, she wished to be found by them. If they did, then perhaps they would challenge her, and maybe one of them would be able to kill her. But even that thought couldn’t bring her dead pitch-black eyes to life. There and then, she would never know…

Although the passersby were crippled by fear, they were sweating cold and constantly checked their surroundings, they continued carrying their daily lives. But why should they continue with their daily lives when they could die? Right now. I can kill all of them, Kokuri thought, her hand crept toward the kunai hidden under her kimono. She would bloom the street with crimson, but her hand stopped. They’ll send another sword saint if I’m too hasty. The thought of being killed over and over by a sword saint was something Kokuri not fond of.

But maybe the sword saint they’ll send will be different.

She looked at the passersby surrounding her and wondered what would happen if she just pulled her kunai and killed them. What kind of expressions would they show her? How beautiful would they be once they died? Her hands crept to her kunai once more.

Thud.

Her shoulder bumped another woman’s. A woman with an azure blue hair wearing a broad pointy hat. She had a violet haired companion beside her.

She’ll be the first to die. Her fingertip touched her kunai.

‘I’m sorry!’ said the blue haired woman. Although brief, she apologized like she meant it. She even stopped walking for a while.

Upon further notice, Kokuri realized that the woman carried with her a staff with a gemstone at the end. A magician. Her hand moved away from her kunai. Kokuri had… soft spots for magicians. ‘No problem,’ she muttered under her breath.

The woman then smiled and walked away with her companion.

She’s going to die either way.

***

Dunnford was right, as much as Ray hated the thought of it, he had to admit Ignes’ strength. 5 minutes had passed and none of Ray’s nor Dunnford’s attacks were connecting. Although her style of fighting was different from Freya, the feeling of helplessness she gave was the same.

From behind her, Ray swung his sword from the side. And although she wasn’t looking at him, she was able to block his attack with her short sword. It was as if she had eyes behind her back. To make matters worse, she wasn’t running out of breath. In fact, she was still able to speak leisurely mid-fight.

‘Not bad, Dunnford,’ she said as she parried Dunnford’s sword. ‘Your coordination and sword skills have improved.’ She parried another of Dunnford’s attack and dodged Ray’s. ‘Yep, not bad. But not enough.’

Then that came.

Different, but of the same type.

A slow; precise swing coming from Dunnford’s lower left. This swing was slow; and yet it was fast because it was efficient, it traveled through the shortest route with the least resistance. Despite Dunnford’s eyes being able to follow the sword, it was an attack that one could see but couldn’t dodge.

Everything except the traveling wooden sword seemed like a blur in Ray’s eyes. It was the same. Similar to the attack that Freya used to take down the Undefeated Dunnford.

Thump! The sword hit Dunnford’s temple, blowing him away. Dunnford collapsed violently to the soft grass and went unconscious.

The attack that bypassed his Special Magic. Unlike Freya who couldn’t explain how her attack worked, Ignes must have known it. Ray was smiling and shivering at the same time. He was close to discovering the answer to Freya’s swing.

Maybe… Just maybe…

Ignes looked over her shoulder. ‘You’re ne—’ she cut herself short, her eyes showed surprise.

Ray was no longer holding his wooden sword with both his hand. Rather, he held it with only his bandaged right hand, leaving his left hand free, and pointed the blade toward the ground, keeping it beside his waist.

‘That’s unwise,’ she remarked. ‘That style doesn’t age well.’

She knows this?

Ignes approached Ray swiftly and delivered a diagonal slash from below. Ray swayed to the right to dodge the slash and countered, but his attack was blocked by Ignes’ short sword. Exchanges such as this occurred for a minute and so; and from the way she casually chatted whilst fighting against Ray, he could tell that she wasn’t taking this seriously. That feeling of being helpless against Freya, Dunnford’s words echoed in Ray’s mind, she could give the same.

‘Not bad,’ she said as she delivered more attacks with both her sword. ‘But why this style?’

Ray couldn’t find the air to answer that question, dodging Ignes’ flurry of attacks was taking a lot of work. All of a sudden, Ignes stopped. She lowered both her swords, not showing any sign of continuing her attacks.

‘Why this style?’ she repeated.

She wanted an answer, but what could Ray possibly give to her? Because the person that currently taught him used that sword style? Because he would like to know how the style would fare against her? No. It was because Dunnford was down. It was because he was now fighting one on one against Ignes. Because…

‘This has—a chance of—winning,’ he believed.

Disappointment showed on Ignes’ face. ‘That’s where you’re wrong. That has no chance of winning. It’s a style with flaws.’

Flaws?

Ignes dashed toward Ray. How did she still have the stamina to dash?

Ray didn’t brace himself for what was coming. Freya’s sword style was dependent on dodging, so there was no need for him to raise his guard. What he needed to do was to observe his opponent carefully and respond accordingly.

Ignes’ swords were still low, almost touching the ground. She then crossed her right arm to the left, communicating her move to him.

A slash from below, her left.

Ray swayed to his left, dodging the wooden sword. Swish. It felt as if that sharp sound was close to cutting his ear. As Ray was about to rise back up, he found Ignes’ short sword traveling from above toward Ray’s neck. He couldn’t dodge that.

He remembered the blow that had knocked Dunnford unconscious. He thought he too would suffer the same fate, but Ignes stopped short; and in the end the sword only touched his neck.

That wooden sword remained there for a moment. It was there as if to carve that defeat deep in Ray’s mind.

Not finding balance in his position, Ray fell to the soft grass under him.

I lost immediately the moment after Dunnford was down, he thought as he was forced to look at the blue sky. The sun above seemed to glare at his defeat. The frustration that came due to his weakness overwhelmed him like a crashing wave.

‘You’re good,’ Ignes praised him with a smile. That sincere smile of hers looked wicked to Ray because she won. ‘If you’re not hindered by your wounds, you would be equal to Dunnford in terms of sword skills alone.'

That did not make his loss feel any better.

***

She looked familiar, Freya thought, placing a hand on her shoulder.