Chapter 192: Give me a sword

The following morning, Amelia was seated in the spacious courtyard that had served as their battleground the previous day.

catching the morning dew glistening on the leaves. Seated on a wooden bench with one leg crossed over the other, Amelia watched the training session taking place before her with quiet focus.

Albert stood in the center of the field.

In his grip was a wooden sword nearly longer and broader than his entire body. Yet that didn’t deter him from handling it with utmost seriousness.

Facing Albert was a tall, imposing man who also wielded a wooden blade.

His name was Cassian.

He belonged to the dragon kin as well, though he was not a Heavenly Dragon—he was a half-blood, born of dragon and human lineage. Even so, his physical build was fundamentally different from that of an ordinary human. His muscles were clearly defined beneath his attire, two small horns jutted from the sides of his head, and patches of refined scales extended across his neck and arms. His eyes carried that unmistakable, distinct glint characteristic of dragon descendants.

Cassian was one of the individuals Amelia had recruited to train Albert.

And Albert didn’t treat him as a mere instructor; from the very start of the session, he strove relentlessly to prove he could match him blow for blow.

Albert lunged forward.

Raising the wooden sword with both hands, he brought it down with immense force.

Cassian retreated half a step, parrying the heavy strike with effortless ease. With a swift flick of his wrist, he redirected his blade back toward Albert’s shoulder. Albert raised his sword instantly to block, refusing to yield an inch of ground. Capitalizing on the moment their weapons locked, he pivoted quickly, attempting to slip his blade past his opponent’s guard.

Cassian raised an eyebrow, shifting his torso backward just in time.

The wooden blade grazed past his chest.

"Better," Cassian remarked calmly.

Albert gave him zero breathing room, launching immediately into his next assault.

This time, his movements lacked the chaotic randomness of his earlier duels. He was observing. He was studying Cassian’s rhythm. Every time the instructor parried a strike, Albert sought to exploit the minute openings left in the aftermath. A few of his sequences even forced Cassian to adjust his footing rather than remaining rooted in place.

Amelia observed the exchange from afar, a small smile touching her lips.

Albert was evolving at an astonishing pace.

His raw physical strength wasn’t the only attribute improving—he was learning how to analyze and process mid-combat, which was far more critical.

Yet, ultimately, the disparity in experience remained vast.

Cassian suddenly pivoted, striking Albert’s weapon from the side with a sharp, calculated blow. Albert’s hands trembled violently from the impact. In the next instant, the wooden sword slipped from his grip, flying high into the air.

Albert’s eyes widened.

Yet rather than retreating or waiting for the weapon to descend... he unfurled his wings.

Bursting upward at terrifying velocity, Albert launched into the air, intercepting his wooden blade mid-flight. Instead of falling back to the ground, he executed an aerial midair roll, raising the blade high above his head.

Then, he dived.

He resembled a raptor stooping down upon its prey.

Cassian watched the descending strike without moving an inch. He didn’t raise his sword to block. He waited. He waited until Albert drew within striking distance.

Then, he moved.

With blinding speed, Cassian swept his blade upward, striking a hyper-specific weak point on Albert’s weapon.

Crack!

The wooden sword shattered completely right before Albert’s eyes.

His features froze. Before he could react, Cassian clamped down on his arm midair.

"Huh?!"

Cassian yanked Albert downward with immense force, slamming him onto the ground and pinning him in a single fluid motion.

Thump!

Albert slammed into the turf.

"Cough... cough..."

Albert gasped for breath, his eyes staring blankly at the clear blue sky above.

Moments later, the sound of rhythmic clapping broke the silence.

Amelia was applauding from her seat on the bench. "Well done, Albert."

Albert raised his head toward her, an involuntary smile breaking across his dusty face as he pushed himself up and wiped his cheeks.

"Your growth is rapid," Amelia said, resting her chin on her hand for a brief moment. "You know... that was actually a very fine maneuver."

Albert’s face lit up with genuine delight. "Really?"

"Yes," she replied, adding smoothly, "Were it not for a few minor technical flaws, that would have been a decisive finishing blow."

Albert nodded enthusiastically.

Cassian, standing beside him, let out a soft chuckle and turned his gaze toward Amelia.

"Would Lady Amelia mind elaborating on those minor flaws that led to Albert’s defeat?"

His tone carried zero mock or sarcasm; he asked with absolute, genuine seriousness.

He wanted to test her.

Since taking up service under her, he had heard countless accounts regarding Amelia—her intellect, her tactical genius, and her standing as his Supreme Master’s daughter. Yet rumors were cheap. Seeing the reality with one’s own eyes was an entirely different matter.

He wanted to discern for himself: Was Amelia merely an exceptionally bright child, or did her martial understanding truly match the towering status she held?

Amelia met his gaze with a serene smile.

"When diving from above in that specific posture, you ought to have coated the blade in an additional layer of condensed Aura."

Cassian raised an eyebrow.

Amelia continued unimpressed, "Aura reduces atmospheric resistance around the edge, allowing the weapon to cut through the air far better and maximizing the descent velocity."

She pointed directly at Albert. "However, the primary flaw lay in your wrist alignment."

Albert glanced down at his hand.

"Descending at that specific angle left your wrist completely vulnerable to hyper-extension or fracture upon impacting a solid counter-strike." She glanced at the splintered wooden debris on the grass. "Furthermore, executing a high-velocity dive using a standard wooden training sword was a fundamental miscalculation. It was trivially easy to shatter simply by targeting its structural stress point."

Silence descended upon the courtyard.

Albert remained mute.

Cassian simply stared at her for a prolonged moment.

A child of her age was diagnosing advanced martial errors as though she were a veteran grandmaster who had overseen thousands of battlefields. It was not mere theoretical book knowledge—she understood precisely why the strike failed, what variables needed adjustment, and how to optimize it.

Cassian smiled, his eyes glinting. "Fascinating."

He shifted his wooden sword into a single-handed grip. "Hmm..."

Looking straight into Amelia’s eyes, he spoke: "How about it, Lady Amelia? Would you care to demonstrate your own sword skills?"

Amelia raised an eyebrow.

Albert looked at Cassian in sheer astonishment. "Lady Amelia?!"

Cassian laughed softly. "Worry not, young master. I shall not harm her."

He redirected his gaze back to Amelia. "I simply wish to gauge her capabilities firsthand."

Amelia stared at the wooden blade in his hand, then shifted her gaze back up to Cassian’s eyes.

"Me?"

"Indeed," Cassian smiled, raising his wooden weapon into a high guard stance. "You dissected Albert’s flaws with supreme ease. So I wish to confirm one more thing."

His eyes locked onto her with absolute focus. "Can you execute what you speak?"

Silence held the courtyard for a brief second.

Then, Amelia hopped off the wooden bench.

Her feet touched the grass without making a sound.

She held her head high, looked at Cassian, and extended her small hand.

"Give me a sword."

Cassian’s smile broadened—only to vanish completely in the very next instant.

Because something fundamental shifted in Amelia’s eyes.

She was no longer the child who had been casually sitting on the bench watching practice.

Her eyes had grown unnaturally, eerily calm.

Far calmer than any child’s eyes had any right to be.