Chapter 274: Drawing the Lines

“Begin!” the faculty member called out.

The moment the words left his mouth, Myura exploded forward.

With a low, guttural roar, she lunged across the mat. Her twin wooden axes were held wide, as she gripped them firmly. She didn't approach in a straight line; instead, she moved in a jagged zig-zag pattern as her boots dug deep into the training mat with powerful steps. In fact, her speed was almost unbelievable.

Not only is she a dual-wielder, but she also probably has [Enhanced Agility] too. ℯℯ𝘭.

Thankfully, I could afford to focus everything on Carine right now. After all, Feyt was currently in his dorm room, snoring like a log… even though the one who needed sleep right now was Carine, but that was besides the point.

With all the focus I had on Carine, even the most disorientingly fast movements could be seen clearly with these eyes of mine.

Myura closed the distance, bringing her right axe down in a fast, diagonal cleave aimed straight for my shoulder, while her left axe trailed closely behind, ready to capitalize on whatever defensive move I made.

It was the same principle I used to overwhelm my opponents with both of my bodies, but in a more compact package, and correspondingly, less effective, given that Myura has only one body.

I narrowed my eyes, locking onto the attack, calculating its trajectory and velocity in a split second. Then, in one swift motion, I jumped to the side, landing in the only place where both of her axes wouldn’t have reached, but my sword would.

I pivoted right after landing into a strong forward jump, thrusting my blade forward, aiming at Myura’s side. But she reacted in time, jumping back whilst lifting her axe enough to block the tip of my blade.

The impact reverberated up through my arms, but thanks to her jumping back, it wasn’t as strong as I expected.

Myura landed a few paces behind, her feet dragging the training mat as the momentum from her landing slid her back a little more. But the moment she stopped, she turned to face me, a wide grin plastered on her face.

“So, you’re not just a name, huh?” She brandished both of her axes once more as she glared at me even more intensely than before. “Let’s do this then!”

Myura exploded forward once again, her dark green ponytail whipping in the air as she launched a relentless series of attacks.

Alright, let’s see how far these eyes can take me!

I adapted to her speed after the first few exchanges. I blocked where I could, dodged where I could. Thanks to my eyes, I could easily analyze and tell if blocking was the better option, or if it would be better to just step away from it.

Any high attacks could easily lead her to snag my blade with the curved arc of the axe if I tried to block or parry, so those I would almost always avoid. Low attacks either have low power compared to her other strikes or are in a position where she couldn’t maneuver it cleanly, so it was safe to block.

That didn’t change the fact that her attacks were relentless though. Sure, it was only wooden axes; I doubt she would be able to be this quick with real steel, but just one strike from her blade would be enough to end this match, so I better treat it like real steel.

As we continued our series of fast-paced exchanges, with me on the defensive… I slowly realized something.

Every movement she made, every time she attacked, and everywhere she looked… Just from seeing and taking note of these things, I was able to deduce her actions in their entirety. So much so, I could picture lines.

Lines where her axe would reach. Lines where her eyes were looking. Lines where she would land after a dodge.

I knew exactly where the danger was, and more importantly, where it wasn't.

It was all clear to me. Clearer than ever before.

Is this how much my eyes could do with full focus?

If so, I should start taking naps more.

Immediately, I went to test these lines to their absolute limits.

Myura launched a ferocious overhead strike. In my head, I traced a line starting from her axe’s blade right to its final destination. Instead of taking a big jump to the side like earlier, I merely tilted my upper body slightly, just barely avoiding the imaginary line I drew.

Her axe passed by my shoulder; the air wisped past my shoulder.

Myura’s eyes widened slightly at the impossibly tight dodge, but she immediately followed up with a low-angle attack, already on its way to meet my hips. Again, I traced a line from her arm all the way to its target. With a tiny, almost lazy flick of my wrist, my blade redirected the strike.

Though I had just dodged and blocked both of her simultaneous attacks, I barely made my body move. I kept the same ideal as our exchanges continued, testing my fate.

I barely dodged her attacks in the nick of time.

I barely moved any muscles to completely block her attack.

In a way, testing my fate like this, it was thrilling.

Myura also seemed to have a change in her demeanor. The fierce, confident smirk she’d started with was entirely gone, replaced by a tense, trembling look in her eyes as they darted around, perhaps trying to find any sort of opening.

I finally got a perfect sense of her rhythm, and I decided it was time to end the defensive dance.

Myura launched a low strike, aiming for my knees with her right axe while her left hand was still recovering from a previous swing. I quickly dropped my blade to intercept the weapon, but instead of a simple block, I angled the wood to deflect it violently away.

For the first time in our match, I purposefully stepped deep into her personal range.

Myura’s eyes shot wide with sheer panic. After all, I had been keeping my face calm all this time, feigning that I was planning on playing defensively the whole time.

With both of her axes currently pulled too far out to swing back in time, Myura instinctively leaned her weight back and snapped her foot upward.

It was a desperate, panicked move to force me away. One I was trained in, one I experienced before. But judging from the sudden tilt of her hips and the way her heel was positioned, I could already draw a clear line of exactly where her boot would go.

Instead of backing away, I shifted tightly to the left.

Her foot whipped through the empty air right where my stomach had been a moment prior. Her momentum pulled her slightly forward, locking her into an unescapable posture, where both her arms and her legs wouldn’t be able to reach me in time.

In that moment, I drew another line. A line stretching straight from the tip of my wooden sword to the center of her throat.

I swung my arm, driving my blade forward along that exact path.

The tip of my training sword came to a sudden, dead stop, pressing firmly against Myura’s neck.

The explosive energy of the match vanished instantly. She froze, balanced awkwardly on one leg for a second before slowly letting her foot drop back to the mat. Her twin axes hung uselessly at her sides, her chest heaving as she stared at me with wide, unblinking eyes.

For three agonizing seconds, the practice chamber was dead silent.

Then, the faculty member cleared his throat, tapping his clipboard with his pen. “Match over. Winner, Carine Sareid of Class Honors.”

I calmly pulled my weapon back, lowering it to my side, and offered her a polite nod.

“Thank you for the match, Lady Myura. Your agility is quite commendable,” I said smoothly.

She was genuinely fun to fight against, and her fast-paced style was exactly the kind of variety I needed. Seeing and drawing out lines from her movement was exhilarating. I was actually about to ask her if she wanted to join our joint training sessions sometime.

But before I could, I noticed her eyes were trembling as she stared at me. She slowly backed up a step, her hands shaking slightly as she tightly gripped her axes.

"Y-You’re… a monster..." Myura muttered under her breath, her voice tight and barely audible.

Hey, that's a bit offensive. I’m just trying my best here.

Before I could voice any sort of defense or reaction, the official walked right up to me, presenting his clipboard to formally inform me of the point allocation, revealing that I had a whopping one point. By the time I looked up from the parchment, Myura was already making a swift beeline for the exit.

"Lady Myura?" I called out.

She didn't respond. She didn't even stop in her tracks. She just swiftly made her way through the heavy wooden doors of the practice chamber and vanished down the hallway.

I stood there, blinking.

Did I… take it too far?

I mean, I was barely dodging and barely blocking just for the thrill of it, and to test my limits. I didn’t mean to toy with her at all. But I could see how it could be perceived as such.

Maybe I'll ask Kyro to apologize to her for me later.

I really want to fight her again sometime.