บท 38: Bladeheart II
POV Kaspian Bladeheart
This is going to be a test of fire for Claire's mentality, facing someone who emits an aura as sharp as Mr. Kingscrown is something that cannot be done every day
That's why I decided to give Claire this opportunity for growth, instead of satisfying my personal curiosity, testing her skills
This will help her grow mentally and she may get something more out of this sparring, as Mr. Kingscrown clearly understood my intention
Which is surprising considering his age, at first I thought I might be wrong about his identity when I saw him, but the trigger for my speculations increased when Cynthia Goodsky called him her disciple
His way of walking, the constitution of his hands and the strength of his grip clearly belonged to the person I met two years ago in my office in Xyrus
Although he seems to remain anonymous, I think he could get better opportunities with a sponsor
I know he is not of noble descent by his surname and the hidden way he lives, but I think the royal family would be willing to make many concessions considering his talent
I wonder if they are even involved, unfortunately I promised to keep it a secret and I do not plan to get on bad terms with someone of such potential in the future
As I closed my thoughts I could see that both were ready to start the sparring, so I immediately emptied my mind of any unnecessary thoughts and focused on the fight
Claire looked tense, but tried to be agile according to her fighting style, she quickly shortened the distance at high speed
Julian, on the other hand, saw each of her movements calmly and prepared for the clash of swords that Clare wanted to propose
The clear difference in their behaviors could be seen, Clare although she appeared calm, her movements showed that she was anxious
Unlike Julian who was like a calm lake observing each of the variables around him
When Claire had her opponent within reach, she launched a fierce and precise thrust at his vital part in the chest, just as I had taught her, and her attack was loaded with fire magic
Julian, on the other hand, did not flinch at the speed and accuracy of the blow, on the contrary, he moved his body quickly to execute a diversion and launch a counterattack at Claire's neck
She quickly, noticing his intention, moved agilely to his side, avoiding the blow and preparing to execute several more thrusts
Julian began to intercept each of her blows, redirecting Claire's momentum and making her feel more tension in her arms
So far it might seem even, but there is a difference, Julian has not yet used his elemental magic
He has only been restricting Claire by using the enhancement of his body, which is not easy considering that he is in the solid Orange stage at his age, and with my training he does not lack technique
But the other boy is several steps above, who will have trained him?: his technique, vision, speed and reaction are first class, he along with the adventurer Note could easily be the strongest adventurers in the guild if we only talk about sword skill
It would be very interesting to see what a fight between those two would be like, taking me out of my thoughts a sharp sound hit my ears "Clink" a strong clash of metal against metal
I saw Claire backing away with a grimace of pain on her face, she had clearly been the loser in the crossing of swords
But her expression was not just that, she looked furious, at that moment she increased the amount of fire magic that surrounded her and shouted "stop playing with me and fight seriously"
The flames around her roared according to her emotions, dancing fiercely through her sword
Julian opened his eyes wide because of her change of attitude and words, but quickly seemed to understand the reasons for her way of acting and immediately passed his hand over the sword he was using while speaking "Miss Claire, do not misunderstand me, I did not mean to disrespect you at any time by not using more than my enhancement magic, I just enjoy sword battles more than magical ones" after saying that the air around him changed and flames of violet and white tone emerged from him
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POV Claire Bladeheart
I once heard my uncle say that depending on the ability and control a mage has over his magic he could do things that seemed impossible
Especially the nobles, having more advanced knowledge, sometimes developed spells outside of any standard, but I could never imagine seeing something like what I was witnessing in front of me
Those violet flames, along with the white ones, looked beautiful and felt eternal, but above all the chill that kept running down my spine told me that those flames were very dangerous
At some point in the past I thought about wanting to reach the blue fire because I believed it was the highest form of mastery over the element, but now I'm not sure
Those flames that I had never seen, that I had not even heard of in the Flamesworth family, were incredible
The heat I felt was at least at the same level as the blue flames and above all the way they swayed gave an impression of mystery and beauty
"Glup" the only thing I could do when I felt the increase of heat in the environment was to swallow, while squeezing the handle of my sword harder increasing my grip
I admit it was my mistake and narrow-mindedness, which did not allow me to recognize this person, it is a lesson I will remember for a long time
But at the same time it is also an opportunity for me, I do not want to give up, I do not want to lose in an unsightly way, at this moment I only have one thought in my mind, I will overcome those purple and white flames
With that determination I increased the strength of the flames that surrounded me and taking a position of impulse I ran directly towards Julian in an attempt to prove to myself that I can overcome myself
----------------------------------------------------------POV Julian Kingscrown
Claire is really amazing, her agile movements combined with her flexibility, added to Kaspian's fighting style leave her in a very high position in terms of talent and potential
Especially her resilience and tenacity to not fall in the midst of adverse situations, what a terrifying woman, normally anyone who saw the purple or white fire would run away scared, not even mana beasts are an exception
I still do not understand why the author erased her from the main story, she could have had a much more important role with her talent
As I cursed the author in my mind, I felt the increase of mana around Claire, her flames became much more intense and in her eyes I saw a predatory look with only one intention to hit a blow
She was aware that in her current state she could not beat me, but still she did not give up on victory and plans to give everything of herself now
She approached me at high speed using explosions on her feet, and pointed at my chest a thrust
Quickly, I turned my body to avoid the blow, but she anticipated my movement and her rapier followed me with a horizontal cut at the neck level
That surprised me although I am limiting myself and not using Laplace, my reaction speed is superior to hers, yet she was able to keep up with the pace of my movements
Before the sword made contact, I deflected her cut at the same time as I ducked, took momentum and reappeared right behind her, launching a cut against her neck
But before even touching her, she ducked dodging the attack and being with her back to me, jumped with her sword pointing at my face, also with the impulse of the flames under her feet the movement was much more aggressive and powerful
The movement surprised me so much that I barely had time to dodge and still left me a small cut on the cheek
This happens to me for underestimating her, I thought as I touched the wound on my face, Claire did not give me too much time to think and immediately began to attack, from stabs, to horizontal and vertical cuts
But they were all repelled, she seeing that her attempts to attack were failing decided to attack my flanks, she started from left to right throwing cuts or stabs
I matched her movements and with small jumps we clashed multiple times, while I retreated she advanced, also my flames got entangled in a fierce competition with Claire's, leaving a clear winner
She gradually saw her resistance and mana reduced and gradually began to show signs of fatigue
Her movements were becoming wider and slower, I did not want to see this kind of unsightly presentation from her, so I decided to speed up a little
I launched a series of cuts, to her whole body, not with the intention of hurting but of exploding the flames that she had wrapped around her
Getting the desired result, Claire flew out by the explosion and fell with her back on the floor breathing heavily "ha-ha-ha-ha"
As I approached her, I sheathed my sword and put it in my dimensional ring
I knelt near her head and used wind magic to cool the surroundings, she made a grimace of dissatisfaction when she saw that I had not used wind magic in our fight
"Your face will wrinkle if you make those expressions" I said looking at her with a gentle smile
She pouted, but obeyed and stopped wrinkling her face
After about two minutes of waiting by her side I said "You are amazing for someone your age, do not take me as a standard, keep working hard, I'm sure you will be as strong as me in the future, if you need help to train I'll be around for four months here in Xyrus, just talk to Director Cynthia"
After that, I lightly touched her nose and pulled it, she made a grimace of pain looking at me with annoyance, but I did not care "that's for the cut on the face" I said as I stood up from her side
"Director Cynthia allows me to escort her to her office" I spoke as I approached her
"Of course, Mr. Kaspian I'm sorry I can't accompany you to the door" she said as she called one of the guards outside the room to guide them both to the exit
After that I went with Cynthia to her office, on the way I asked "how have things been going with the academy?"
"Busy the next year is approaching the inclusion of the other races and I have to prepare many things, also with the spy constantly lurking I feel headaches" she said as she took her forehead in sign of pain
"Don't worry if they are going to make any move you will be the first to know after me" I replied trying to reassure her
"I heard from Virion that you spent the last months helping the princess and one of the most important guards of Elenoir" she said without looking at me
"Yes it's true, I found some things that could give her a unique opportunity for growth in life"
"Does that have anything to do with the Dire Tombs?" She spoke finding her gaze with mine
"If the Alacryans had set a trap for me," I spoke in an apathetic tone.
"You managed to escape without being recognized, as far as I can see. Kaspian only mentioned your downtime and I didn't receive any information about the Alacryans looking for your true identity," she replied.
"It wasn't easy, they were meticulous in luring me in by creating a big incident. Because of this, I know they became much more cautious and I can't keep moving as I used to," I said as we entered the office.
"So you plan to advance your entry to the academy?" She asked somewhat excitedly.
"You know that my idea is not to attract attention as an elemental squad, for that you already have Arthur, besides I have my own plans. Is Avier with you?
"He didn't go out to meet his people, he told me he'll be here in about three days," she answered.
"Well, I guess that gives me some time, it's already very late today, so I can't go anywhere, but I plan to visit Gideon tomorrow."
"Speaking of that, I think the leaders of the three kingdoms have already found evidence of life on another continent, although it is still in the confirmation stage, it is almost certain that in a maximum of three months, they will have solid proof provided by Gideon," she said in a serious tone.
"That's precisely why I want to talk to him, things must follow their course and he must inform them," I said in a somber tone.
"After this, the movements of the Alacryans will become very active," Cynthia said in a worried tone.
"I know, the preparation time is coming to an end and we only have a very difficult war ahead of us," I also thought that not only is Agrona the Asura of Epheotus not our allies either, with a solemn look.
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