Jamie stood beside Arden and watched Jaden step inside the square of the sword coach.

"Was there any need to say that?" Selina questioned, her violet amethyst-like eyes locked on Jade.

He didn't reply and ignored her. Seeing that, Arden furrowed his brows and nudged him, "Why did you say those things?"

Jamie turned his head towards him, his face was calm as he also glanced at Selina for a moment before answering, "I just thought about making it easy for them."

"Making what easy?" Questioned Arden as he was left confused by Jamie's words.

Annoyed by the flurry of questions, Jamie heaved a sigh and responded.

"They are not simply fighting to know how good we are with the weapons or how swiftly we can kill something or someone — They are doing this to reveal what we usually hide from the world. Don't you know they say that one can know your heart by crossing blades with you?"

Arden turned silent at his words and only spoke after a few moments, "I don't get it."

Jamie turned his head towards Jaden and spoke with a shrug, "I knew that much."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Arden asked with an offended expression, a vein throbbing at his forehead.

However, Jamie didn't reply. Instead, he pointed at Jaden and spoke, "He is about to start."

***

Jaden stepped within the square and looked at the sword coach, his bright blue eyes gleaming faintly as he used the passive ability of the Mark of Nature to glean the realm of the masked figure before him.

'He is an Expert...' he mumbled in his head.

The sword coach frowned behind his mask and thought, 'I felt like he used Realm Scan on me... but isn't he a shadow marked?'

He shook his head, throwing the strange thought to the back of his mind as he asked hoarsely, "Why did you pick the sword?"

Jaden's grip tightened slightly as he looked at the sword and spoke with a faint smile, "The sword was the only weapon near me in the time of need."

"So you picked it out of necessity?" The sword coach questioned as he leisurely leaned forward with his sword as a cane.

"We all lifted the weapons for one reason or another... It matters not if I pick it up because of necessity. What matters is that I complete the task I picked it for," Jaden replied with the same smile before sheathing his knight's sword.

"You do speak quite well, let's see if you can use the sword just as well," the sword coach said as he straightened himself and lifted his knight's sword.

"Let us begin," he added before stepping forward.

Jaden's grip tightened even further as he took his battle stance, and seeing that stance, the sword coach stopped in his tracks.

"You... you never learned the sword from anyone, did you?" He questioned. He sounded dumbfounded by what he saw.

'It's a stance created through real combat instead of discipline or training...' he thought.

"I did not," Jaden answered as he used [Gale Steps] to decrease the distance between them. As he reached beside him, he swung his sword with all of his might.

Swish...

But the sword coach blocked it—

Thhk...

—without even taking a step, he stared at him and spoke flatly, "The sword is about posture, not strength... if it were, then the strongest man would also be the best swordsman."

He raised his sword and swung it down.

Swish...

Jaden jumped back and used [Gust Step] to increase the distance between them.

The sword slashed through nothing and stopped an inch before touching the ground, "You have ingrained magic spells in your combat style... which is awfully hard to achieve. However, it also makes you rely on specific choices."

He stepped once and suddenly appeared before Jaden. He swung his sword in a wide arc, and Jaden lifted his sword to block while strengthening himself using [Skin Hardened].

Thhk... Ttrr...

Steel met steel, and Jaden's knees buckled slightly; his sword vibrated upon the impact. He looked at the dark plain mask. Into the eyes of the sword coach as he gritted his teeth.

He once again used the [Gust Step] to jump back and let out a shallow breath.

But before he could catch his breath, the sword coach moved. Jaden took his stance and waited for the sword coach to attack.

He heard a step on his right and turned to attack, but pain shot up his spinning head as the sword coach hit his nose with the pummel.

Thuk...

"Ugh!" He fell to his knees with a groan. The sword coach glanced at him and turned back.

Seeing him do that, Jaden spoke through gritted teeth, his voice shaking as pain numbed his thoughts, "W-what are you doing?"

"You can not continue anymore," the sword coach replied without turning back.

Jaden stood up, blood running down his nose as he questioned, "Who decided that?"

The sword coach halted in his steps and heaved a heavy sigh before turning around, "I wish, this is not a hot-blooded facade."

Jaden wiped his nose and looked at the sword coach with intense eyes. The sword coach disappeared once again, and the sword fell once more.

Swish...

Like before, Jaden used [Gust Step] to jump back, and just as he did that, the sword coach sheathed his sword and spoke flatly, "You lost."

"What?" Jaden muttered with a confused look.

The sword coach responded, "Look where you are standing."

Jaden lowered his head, and he was standing outside the square. He bit his lower lip and walked back to the others, defeat weighing on his face.

Right after he reached them, Maria appeared beside him and questioned with a frown, "Why were you holding back?"

Selina was the one to answer her question, "He can not use his main sword art without using mana..."

"Huh?!"

______

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