Shame hits me like a cold wave. I glance down—and freeze. A mascot suit. A cute, finely stitched mascot suit, bright as candy under sunlit glass. I almost black out from mortification; dressed like this, in front of a man. But the wardrobe’s a dry well—I’ve got nothing else to wear.
I force a thin smile, like paper held in rain. “Mm… no problem. It won’t slow me down.”
“Oh…”
Jing nods again, polite as moonlight on still water. “Since you have such interests, this humble one won’t comment.”
…
Heat flashes up my spine like a struck match. I want to deck him, hard, like tossing a rock into a pond. What do you mean I like this? I’m the victim here! …Fine. He doesn’t know. Words are leaves in the wind right now—useless.
I exhale, a sigh skimming the surface. “Alright. What’s the condition to clear the Trial Lake?”
“The clear condition?” Jing studies me, eyes like ice over depth, then smiles. “Simple. Land three effective hits on this humble one.”
“That’s it?”
My eyes fly wide like startled birds. It sounds too easy. There’s got to be a hook in the bait.
“Indeed.”
He answers, sure as stone, then lifts his ice-blue katana and settles into a stance, a still crane before the strike. “If you’ve nothing else, let’s begin. This humble one dislikes dragging a fight.”
He speaks, and ripples ring out from him in perfect circles, like breath moving across a mirror. The world falls hushed. Only the lake’s low murmur remains—no wind in reeds, no fish flicking silver at the surface, no wings cutting the air.
Gulp.
Pressure rolls off him like a storm front. My throat works; I swallow a pebble of air and set myself, Sword Intent flaring like a blade drawn in moonlight.
“Be careful. This humble one will attack now.”
Courteous words drift like petals—and he becomes a blue streak, fast as lightning on water. In an eye-blink he’s behind me, body dipping, katana sweeping down like a winter brook.
!!
Clang!
I wheel around, reverse my grip, and drive the Shattered Light Sword down, catching the cut like a dam catching a flood.
So fast. Fear pricks me like sleet. Good thing I’d already let Sword Intent bloom, or I’d never have moved in time. If that had landed, it would’ve carved me open. No exaggeration—I’d be wrecked.
His speed outstrips my guesses by a river’s length. No wonder he set the condition at three clean hits. At this pace, the mountain grows sheer. I’m only keeping up by riding Sword Intent’s current—so how do I even touch him?
And I can feel it. That wasn’t his full tide. Two, maybe three tenths.
“Oh? Your reaction’s not bad.”
He steps back a few paces, praise easy as sunlight.
“Compared to you, I’m still miles off.”
I answer with a crooked smile, taste of copper and lake-spray. He held back just now. If he’d pressed harder, I wouldn’t have held. Instead, he eased off, gave me a breath like a gap in the rain.
“No need to belittle yourself. At your age, this humble one couldn’t beat even an A-rank beast.”
Whoosh!
His words barely settle when he blurs again, blue across blue, right in my face. I don’t dare hesitate. I raise my sword and meet him like tree against gale.
Clang. Clang. Clang…
On the glassy lake, steel kisses steel, bright and crisp, each note throwing up fans of water like shattered stars. The once-quiet surface heaves into waves, soaking my shoes like soaked reeds.
After a stretch, we part, breath steaming like morning mist. We’re even. His speed is a swallow, but my Sword Intent sketches his next step like ink finding paper. I don’t fall behind. I even almost tagged him a few times—shame those cuts glanced air.
“Haha, delightful! I didn’t expect your swordwork to sing like this. It’s been ages since a fight felt this free!”
He laughs, clear as a bell, and his aura climbs like a rising tide.
“As respect for you, this humble one will get serious now. Please take care.”
“Just what I wanted.”
“Excellent.”
We crash together again, the clash a thunderhead. The spray climbs a hundred meters, spears of silver rain drenching me to the skin. I flare a fire-aspect augmenting sword art, heat rippling like kiln-warmth, and steam peels off my clothes so weight won’t slow my steps.
Minutes pass; the duel burns white-hot. I slip an unexpected cut between heartbeats. Jing stutters for a breath—the door cracks. I flood Sword Aura over the Shattered Light Sword and unleash an offensive sword art at near-zero range, like a lightning strike under the eaves.
“Oh my. It seems your adaptability runs deep.”
He tosses me a glance, and then he’s water. His motion smooths to a stream, and every thread of Sword Aura skims past him by a hair, missing like rain missing the swallow’s wing.
Impossible. The word thuds in my chest.
I launched every strand of Sword Aura from almost kissing distance. Sword Aura flies like arrows on a tailwind—no way to dodge. Even blinking through space wouldn’t answer that fast. And yet he didn’t jump the board; he slid around the stones. No teleport, no spatial trick—just… natural. As if he’d merged with the lake, reading the flow to foresee my lines and slipping away like current around a rock.
“Don’t daydream in a fight, honored one.”
His voice drops like a pebble above me. He’s already overhead, katana about to fall like a waterfall edge.
“Damn it—Sword Qi Storm!”
I don’t have time to think. I draw Sword Aura tight and spiral it up, a tornado of blades, and ram it skyward to catch his strike. The cyclone drills through the lakebed like an auger, and a huge whirlpool yawns open, tugging at my stance like a hungry mouth.
Boom. Boom…
The result’s plain as ripples. I stop his cut—uh?!
“You’ve underestimated this humble one. Flowing Water Blade.”
That water-born feeling rises off him again. He swings the ice-blue katana sometimes swift, sometimes slow, like eddies and slack water. Somehow he knows the cyclone’s weak seams—the concentration points of Sword Aura—and every stroke hits true, scattering threads like dandelion fluff.
“What—what is this?!”
I detonate the tornado of Sword Aura with a snap, a burst like blown glass. While Jing is caught in the churn for a blink, I retreat more than ten meters, putting cool space and rippling water between us.
