Chapter 276: Conviction

“Begin!”

The moment the match started, Ravilenna exploded forward. Her boots slammed against the training mat hard as she quickly closed the distance between us.

I held my ground, letting my hearing lock into every subtle shift in her body, particularly around her right arm and thighs.

A high diagonal strike from her right-hand side.

Before she could even draw her blade back for the strike, I took a half-step to the side, intentionally shifting my upper body out of the way, and the moment she attacked, it flew past empty air.

Her eyes widened in shock. She landed her foot without executing a follow-through, her momentum halted. But she didn’t let up. Pivoting instantly on her heel, she chased after me, pressing the offensive with a new strong momentum.

With my ears granting me ample time to react, I could afford a loose, fluid posture.

As she approached, her eyes locked onto mine with an intense glare, I heard her body telling me her plan.

Her left wrist is twisting upward.

I jumped back, letting the second blade swing past another set of empty air, missing me entirely.

But before that strike even reached its end, I heard a rapid, explosive strain in her right arm. She was aiming for a lightning-fast follow-up thrust straight at my throat.

It caught me off guard by how quick it was, but I managed to quickly duck beneath her blade and nearly stumbled down.

Ravilenna ended up shooting right past me, her momentum carried her into an awkwardly overextended stance. Her back was practically open for me to strike. Just one tap from my sword, and I would’ve won this match.

But…

I merely stood in place, preserving our now neutral distance.

I learned from Myura that a fight with a dual-wielder would be satisfying and eye-opening due to their quick, relentless nature. I wasn’t going to let this match end too soon before Ravilenna could gather her rhythm, and especially not before Feyt got an ear-opening moment.

Let’s have fun!

Ravilenna spun around, her eyes narrowed as she stared daggers at me. She gritted her teeth and charged right back in. Her twin blades turned into a blur of clattering wood. A high left strike, a low right thrust, followed by a sudden fluid spin meant to sweep my legs. It was as relentless as I had hoped.

I predicted all of those moves as she was making them, allowing me to dodge and weave through them; however, with each subsequent move she made, I found myself less and less confident I could handle them.

I learned then that the first strike was always the most telling through muscles, but each subsequent follow-up was faster than the last, since it carried the previous moves’ momentum.

I backed off, dropping my stance into a fluid, relaxed guard as before. I stared down at her exposed back, a wide, genuine smile breaking across my face.

Alright! I’m actually learning things! And she’s getting faster too!

I’m sure she nailed down her rhythm by now—

As Ravilenna turned towards me, my smile faltered.

Ravilenna slowly straightened her posture, her knuckles turning white around her hilts as she raised her head, locking her eyes onto mine with a razor-sharp, burning glare.

“How much more… do you intend to mock me?” she said, her voice trembling with rage.

Huh?

W-Wait, did I go too far already?!

Before I could even attempt to defend myself, Ravilenna let out a furious battle cry and charged forward again, swinging both blades with twice the ferocity as before.

I wiped the grin clean off my face, snapped my posture firm, and strained my ears once more.

Dammit, I messed up!

Ravilenna closed the gap in a blink of an eye, her twin blades raining down on me in a frantic, relentless storm, even faster than before.

Left.

Right.

Left.

Low.

Right.

High.

Sweep.

She was significantly faster than she was moments ago, to the point even I could barely keep up with my ears. She was chaining moves as if they were one.

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I didn’t know when she might stop, and I nearly took a hit due to failing to predict that.

I knew right then and there that I had taken her too lightly. She had gone from a boisterous young lady to a woman with pure conviction in her eyes. Every time I didn’t take the chance to hit her exposed back, I was essentially mocking that conviction, as if I was toying with her.

I should’ve learned my other lesson from Myura. At this point, even if I won, she would likely never spar with me in the future, regardless of our past.

But I shoved the panic and guilt to the back of my mind. Apologizing now would only sound like another insult; the only way to respect her conviction was to match it with absolute, unbroken focus.

I pushed Feyt’s hearing to its absolute limit, tuning out every irrelevant sound in the chamber.

I continued to dodge, parry, and deflect all of her attacks. I was even trying to find openings that I could slip into. But she was so relentless; there were none. I wouldn’t know when she might stop attacking, or when she might pull back.

But then, I caught something in my ear. Something, like her behavior, had become different.

Her breathing.

The sharp, ragged bursts of air rushing through her nose. The way she took a deep breath before a heavy string of attacks, and how she pushed different volumes of air for every move.

A realization hit me.

Her breathing… it told me everything.

Listening to my opponent's muscles allowed me to predict what move they would make before they could even execute it. However, it was restricted to one or two moves at a time. And as I had experienced before, I had less and less time to react as my opponent gained momentum or chained their attacks.

But by listening to Ravilenna’s breaths. Or rather, if I listened to how deep she inhaled, I could predict not just her first move, but the entire sequence after it. A massive, deep breath wouldn’t just lead to one attack; it would inevitably fuel a string of them.

Right now, her breathing was short and erratic. She was utterly pissed off, so her moves came in faster, hyper-aggressive bursts. But whenever she took those deep breaths, that was when she unleashed her truly relentless strikes.

I leaned into the rhythm, weaving through her continuous assault.

Duck.

Deflect.

Step right.

Step back.

Parry.

Suddenly, Ravilenna killed her momentum, coming to a stop a few paces away, keeping a distance.

Sweat dripped from her blonde hair, her chest heaving violently. She stopped panting and began to draw in one massive, deep breath. Her shoulders rose as she locked her eyes onto mine, her grip firm.

This is it! She’s going all out!

I lowered my body, preparing myself for a non-stop storm. I needed to focus every bit of focus on defense and completely abandon any thought of going on the offense.

Her body blurred forward. The first strike came from the left, a brutal high swing. I parried it upward, the impact vibrating straight into my bones.

Before the sound of wood hitting wood even faded from my ears, I heard her right sword thrust straight, aiming at my chest. I pivoted sharply, letting the tip barely miss me.

I heard her entire body writhing as she dug her boots into the mat. She spun, bringing both blades together in a wide swing that I couldn’t possibly block nor duck under. I sprang sideways to avoid it, but before her swing had even fully finished, she gave chase, pushing forward without a single pause.

Had I countered then—as I normally would have—I would have walked right into her trap. But I knew she still had some breath in her. She wasn’t done.

Another series of attacks followed, with me reacting and predicting them successfully, fully knowing she wasn’t going to stop.

Finally, her rhythm faltered.

I heard her chest empty completely. She had zero breath left to adjust her momentum, meaning her body had no choice but to commit every last drop of force into one final strike.

She lunged forward with a desperate, all-or-nothing thrust.

Because I knew she couldn't redirect mid-motion, I slipped past the outer edge of her blades, letting them fly uselessly past my shoulder.

While her posture was overextended and her lungs completely devoid of air, I stepped into her blind spot and delivered a clean swing.

It landed cleanly on her torso; the impact knocked what little air she had left straight out of her chest.

Ravilenna’s balance completely shattered. Her twin blades clattered onto the mat, and she stumbled backward, collapsing onto one knee as she clutched her chest, gasping frantically.

“Winner… Feyt!”

…

Ravilenna stayed down for a long moment, her shoulders rising and falling in rapid, ragged hitches. Her hands trembled as she forced herself onto one knee, pressing the tip of her second blade into the mat for leverage just to keep her balance.

I lowered my weapon, looking down at her with genuine guilt.

I… really didn’t read the room back there, did I?

Reluctantly, I took a few slow steps forward, coming to a stop a couple of paces away. I brought my feet together and lowered my head into a deep, sincere bow.

"Lady Ravilenna," I started, keeping my voice low. "I... I'm truly sorry. I didn't mean any disrespect by postponing my victory earlier. I really didn't mean anything bad by it, I swear. It was my—"

Before I could babble out any more awkward apologies, Ravilenna raised a single hand, cutting me off.

"Save it..." she panted, her voice raspier than usual as her lungs slowly recovered. She squeezed her eyes shut, drawing in a long, shuddering breath before exhaling through her nose. "...I know."

I blinked, raising my head slightly. "You know?"

"You just wanted a proper fight, don’t you?" she murmured, her tone covered with slight fatigue. "I could tell. Once you actually put your back into it."

She gathered what was left of her breath, braced her weight against her sword, and pushed herself all the way up. Her knees wobbled for a fraction of a second, but she caught herself, pushing her posture straight.

She let go of the blade as she regained her composure, letting it drop to the mat with a soft thump. She looked me straight in the eyes.

"You are strong, Feyt," she admitted. "I don't know what kind of Talents you possess... whether it's an Enhancement-Type, a Mastery-Type, or something else entirely…”

She crossed her arms, her sharp glare returning, but this time, devoid of the rage from before.

"However, it is clear to me that I was wrong about you. I was wrong to think a commoner like you wasn't worth standing by Lady Carine's side. Clearly, you have what it takes."

My breath hitched in my throat.

She's... praising me?

Wait, where is she going with this?

"However!" Ravilenna's eyes flickered with a fierce, burning resolve as she pointed a sharp finger directly at my chest. "Do not get comfortable, mere attendant. Someday... I will defeat you. And after you, I will defeat Carine, too. Mark my words."

I stood there in silence, blinking.

Seeing her like this, I realized that... I couldn’t actually see the girl who once accused me of stealing her laundry. It was as if a whole new person just introduced herself to me. But, in a way, I could still sense the same proud, boisterous nature behind her eyes.

The fact that Ravilenna was once in Honors proved she had the drive to take this academy seriously. Her behaviour during her time in Honors screamed: "I already made it, why bother?"

But whatever happened after that whole mess… it seemed to have forced that determined side of her back to the surface.

It seemed, somehow, that weird incident had a positive outcome after all.

A small, genuine smile broke across my face as I faced her straight on.

“I’ll be looking forward to it, Lady Ravilenna.”

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