Knight | Celeste Academy Series BK #1

30th Chapter ♣ Stupid Witch vs. Idiot Devil

"Larkovia might be the smallest—but it has the biggest oceans and seas."

♣

Chapter Thirty ♣   Stupid Witch vs. Idiot Devil

The day before the duel was fortunately the weekend, so Valeriana was able to spend her whole day preparing herself for the fight. Seraphina was off somewhere managing important things and wouldn't be able to be with her all day even if she wanted to, so she was stuck practicing by herself.

She wasn't very fond of her solitude and found it somewhat boring to train on her own. She made good progress regarding her skill with the sword, even Seraphina herself certified it. Despite knowing that fact, she couldn't help but feel nervous about her approaching match.

The training yard behind the residence of the Twelve was where they trained as they please without ever needing to share with the other students in the academy. It was where Valeriana could be found in for the majority of the day. She would sometimes see one of the rankers coming to watch her, or train themselves, but they did not stay very long.

It was already noon, she realized. Seraphina promised to come to her before the sun set so that they could spend the time training. It wouldn't be too long before then. Time seemed to be running rather fast for Valeriana, so the period she spent exercising the things she learned seemed inadequate.

Panting, Valeriana lowered her weapon and wiped the sheen of sweat that glistened on her forehead. She took a deep, calming breath, before raising the sword she held once more in her hands. Valeriana started to swing it in swift, skillful motions. She could heard the blade slicing through the air, creating a faint whistle.

"I know that this was how Lady Seraphina said it worked. She did it like this . . ." she murmured, and tried to pull rapid strikes with her sword.

When she failed once more, she paused and thought for a moment. She started on pondering about how Seraphina was able to do the technique she showed her yesterday when they were training. She moved a bit too quickly for her to actually see—not to mention those feints. The lady gave her an explanation, but she could hardly understand what she meant.

'This technique is used only for last resorts or to end a fight.' She remembered the woman saying. 'We focus on feints. While some master swordsmen dismiss feints as a waste of movement and futile attacks that won't affect skilled opponents, there are ways to actually make it effective. One way is to back it up with attacks threatening enough that you'll strike fear into your enemy, but I doubt that would be successful since this usually only works on weaker opponents.'

"Yeah . . ." she muttered with an eye roll. "I doubt Zion is actually weaker than I am."

'That leaves us to the second way. The second way is to use it as your last resort.'

"At least I'll have a trick up my sleeve before I lose."

'Desperation can sometimes be unsightly, but convincing. You have to convince your enemy that you are ready to fight head on—sincerely, unhesitatingly, earnestly, and obstinately—for this to work. But, the most important factor you should consider is killing intent.'

"Killing intent. I don't understand. What did she mean anyway?" she asked. "Should I kill intentionally?"

Idiot. A voice in the back of her mind whispered. Probably her common sense rolling its eyes at her.