Chapter 2: Art of the Sword

Ebony skin, silver hair, and pointed ears; she was a stunning beauty and drew both men’s and women’s gazes. Her outfit didn’t reveal much skin, but her leather pants accentuated her curves, and her white shirt was tight-fitting. Noah found himself bewitched as well, despite her attempt to kill him the first time they met. The sun had just risen on the first day at the academy, and he was gathered out in one of the training fields with about twenty others, ready to begin their first lesson in swordsmanship from a national hero. At the moment, it wasn’t just a sense of honor that currently filled them.

“Good morning, all of you. I am Valia Zodiac, and I will be your instructor in the art of the sword. Whatever your level of skill is, be it total novice or self-proclaimed genius, you will receive the same level of tutelage. No matter how talented or experienced you think you are, you are still children in my eyes, and you have a lot to prove. Those of you who have already relinquished the thought of taking the path of a swordsman, know that just learning the basics from me will make you a force to be reckoned with.

Now, I want to get a sense of your skill levels, and there is only one real way to figure it out.” She pointed to her left, where two barrels of varying types of swords had been put out. There was another pair of barrels to her right, full of hand-and-a-half swords, like most knights carried. “Those swords were donated by the blacksmiths of Uther, and I want each of you to pick one that fits your preferences. I want you to fight me with nothing less than the intent to kill.”

This shocked many cadets, mainly those who had gotten in purely on magic ability. To suddenly fight a mock battle against Valia Zodiac required courage and affinity that they simply didn’t have. All of the cadets rushed to the barrels to try and grab the best sword; hopefully, one that they were used to using, or at least that fit somewhat naturally in their inexperienced hands. Noah managed to snag a one-handed leaf-blade sword.

“You, you’re up first,” Valia said while pointing to one man. “Your name?”

“Highroar, ma’am. Sorn Highroar.” Noah didn’t recognize him from the brawl, meaning he was probably a mage.

“Well, like I said before, Cadet Highroar...” She drew her sword, an elegant khopesh blade. Noah had encountered it already, dodging by mere inches when it was swung at his neck several nights ago. “I want you to come at me with the intent to kill. However, you are not to use magic of any kind. The rest of you, step back and pay attention.”

The space was cleared, and the master and student faced each other. She gave the word. Highroar, holding a longsword, appeared to be maintaining his courage and launched himself into a steady charge. He swung at her from the side with all of his strength, and she blocked with little effort. Their blades collided, and she simply flicked his away. She stepped forward and rested her blade on his shoulder, stopping him in his tracks.

“I’d step back if I were you.”

He pulled away and was given enough time to form some semblance of a stance. Valia went on the offense and swung wide like he had, but with a perfect pose and execution. Her attack broke through his guard and narrowly missed slicing him, done so intentionally. Once more, she let him steady himself. “Again!” He tried once more to attack her, only to be knocked to the ground with the same ease displayed earlier. “That’s enough. I see you have much to learn, but fear not, for I will turn you into a proper knight. Go back among the others. You, you’re next.”

“Cadet Ken Rilgis, ma’am.”

The young man that stepped forward was armed with a scimitar, and with just his stance and sharp eyes, he displayed his experience. He shot towards her and made an elegant swing. Valia deflected it with the tip of her sword, but before she could lean in for the counter, his next attack came, forcing her to block. He was fast, able to pull back from a swing before she could parry it and immediately try again. Ting! Ting! Ting! She blocked three attacks and was then blocked in turn when she retaliated.

They continued on like this, with Rilgis managing to barely hold his own. He displayed some notable finesse, but Valia was still lazy with her movements, able to block and attack with the smallest amount of effort. He wasn’t even a challenge, and he was soon knocked to the ground.

“Decent. You can rejoin the others. You, you’re...”

“Wait! One more chance!” Rilgis exclaimed.

“Now, now, don’t get too ahead of yourself. All the children get a turn.”

The class continued like that, with Valia putting the cadets through their paces. Noah observed each match with meticulous eyes, studying her movements and patterns. Her skill certainly lived up to the reputation. She was an unreachable enemy humoring her students, and even after defeating them, not a single silver hair was out of place. As for the cadets, some of them displayed skill and talent, but not many and not much. However, when fighting Valia, anyone would look weak in comparison.

Eventually, Noah was chosen to step before the ranks. He faced her and readied his stance. He had no desire to stand out, so his plan was to last just until the third exchange and then take a dive. He was used to holding himself back to avoid unwanted attention. In past lives, he’d play the role of the average student, the unremarkable employee, the simple citizen.

He zoomed in. Swing. Block. Counter. Block. Thrust. He went through the motions, using the same skill level as those before him, and soon enough, let her knock his sword from his hand. “Damn,” Noah chirped as he reached down to pick it up.

“You’re not done yet.”

He stopped. “Ma’am?”

All the other cadets similarly perked up. Several had dropped their swords in their bouts with her due to intimidation or inexperience, but she never said anything.

“I need you to come at me with everything you have, so I know what I have to work with.”

“Ma’am, that was all I could do. You didn’t leave me with much room to maneuver.”

“You didn’t flinch once and barely blinked. Your breathing remained steady the whole time. I didn’t faze you at all, yet you could only fight at that level?”

“I’m used to fighting with a spear and don’t have much experience with a sword,” he said as he reached down to retrieve his blade.

She grabbed his hand and turned his palm upwards. “These aren’t the calluses of a spearman. This is not a request, nor is it a game. Shyness has no place here or on the battlefield. You will fight me with everything you have, just as you will fight the enemies of Uther. Understand?” It was rare for someone to see through his guises like that. Was it because she was an elf, or warrior’s intuition? He faced her once more. “Begin.”

Noah remained unwilling to reveal his real skill, but he had to feed her something. This time, he went on the offensive and upped his speed a little while deteriorating his balance and agility. He wore an expression of frustration and tried to make it look like he was desperate. Valia allowed him to push her back while she measured his strength, but soon enough, she slipped past his guard and put her sword to his throat.

“How much longer are you going to play the fool?” she hissed.

“Lady Zodiac, I mean no disrespect. I’d be very grateful if you could let this go. I just—”

“Enough. Go back to the barracks and collect your things. You’re done here.” She turned away from him in disgust and was about to call up another cadet.

“Wait,” Noah said. In his mind, he was cursing. ‘So much for blending in.’ “One more chance.”

“I have no desire to waste any more time on you.”

“A drop of blood.”

“Excuse me?”

“If I can spill just one drop of your blood, you’ll let me stay in the academy. That sounds like a fair wager, does it not?”

Her sour mood softened, and the rest of the cadets were bewildered. None of them had been able to so much as ruffle her clothes.

“Very well. I’ll give you one last chance. But this time, I won’t hold back either. You might not make it out of here in one piece.”

“Thank you. Do you mind if I select a different sword?”

“If you need to. Choose wisely, as I don’t want you claiming that the sword is the problem.”

Noah returned to the barrels and grabbed a sword without glancing at the others. However, everyone else had rejected it for blatant reasons, and they stared in confusion when they saw it once again. It was a large claymore with an oversized guard, heavy enough to throw the wielder off their balance and almost as tall. The blade, rusty and dull, had a crack halfway up. It looked like some blacksmith’s early attempt, likely deemed a failure before ever seeing battle. He faced Valia once more and raised the sword.

“That’s the sword you want?”

“Yeah, this’ll do.”

He simply assumed a stance to the cadets, but Valia’s eyes, sharper than her sword, saw everything. She saw his focus, his killing intent. He wasn’t looking at her as an instructor, but as an enemy to destroy. The next moment, he shot towards her like an arrow. He raised the blade high and brought it down towards her like a great hammer. Rather than block it, she stepped out of reach and let it bury itself in the ground, then stepped in for a sideways slash. Noah launched himself forward, using his sword like a pole vault to raise the pommel and block her counter. He then kicked the buried tip, knocking it back towards her into an uppercut attack. She stepped to the side to dodge, and Noah swung his leg up and once more kicked the blade towards her. She blocked the attack, only for a third kick to the blade to force her to disengage.

She stepped back, given no time by Noah, as he swung at her from all sides. The sword’s weight and reach made it clumsy, but he used that to his advantage. He blended his moves together, not a single spark of energy going to waste. He’d swing wide, and if Valia dodged, he’d use the rotational momentum and spin around to make a second attempt while moving towards her. If their blades locked together, he’d swerve around to the side to catch her with the longer reach of his sword. When its weight proved unwieldy, he’d kick the blade towards her, both to enhance the attack and to try to catch her off guard.

As long as he kept moving, continued harnessing the sword’s momentum, he could control its trajectory better than if he had paused between attacks. His movements were wide and obvious, but also fast, and any gaps opened for only a moment and then sealed back up. He kept showing her his back, something a foolish newbie would do, but Valia knew that if she tried to strike, she’d be the true fool. He had total control of his breathing, pushing his body to its limit so that he could keep this bombastic assault going when even seasoned warriors would be left exhausted.

Despite his skill, Valia neutralized every one of his attacks, always blocking or stepping out of the way. When Noah fought the Harajin, he recognized them as skilled assassins, masters of combat, but she clearly ranked above them, and he sat somewhere in that margin. What surprised him, though, was what she did when she finally stepped back out of his range, taking an offensive stance with a smile on her face, embodying a coy predator that had found something capable of putting up a real fight.

“Now we’re talking. You can attack, but let’s see how well you can defend.”

Noah flashed a small grin and readied himself. “Let’s go wild.”

She leaped towards him, attacking not as an instructor sparing with a pupil, but as a true warrior. Noah blocked the first downward swing, managed to parry the attack from the right, and avoided a sharp thrust to the center. She was attacking mainly from the sides, so he kept his sword pointed downward and used it as a narrow shield to block her. However, her moves increased in speed, and Noah was soon forced to change his tactics. He went on the attack, swinging from the left, and let her block and repel the attack, but Noah grabbed the blade with his bare hand and closed the distance, this time shoving her with the edge.

Half-swording, it was a technique perfect for an unsharpened blade. The user gripped the sword by the blade for greater thrust and leverage, or to hammer the enemy with the pommel. In this case, he was holding it by both the handle and the center of the blade. It left him with a short reach, so he didn’t give her any chance to create space. He got as close in as possible to more effectively attack and block.

Noah’s movements were all rapid-fire, giving her no chance to make a powerful swing. All the other cadets noticed the difference in how Valia was fighting. In their bouts, she’d let them push her back to coax them to fight harder, but now, she was being forced to retreat for her own safety, and she as well was surprised. In her long life, this wasn’t the first time someone had used half-swording against her, but never in such a style as Noah’s. At the moment, she had no idea of the nostalgia flowing through him. The weapons were different, but the moves were the same as when he was training for the Marine Corp and learning bayonet and buttstroke combat.

Soon enough, she began to get a sense of his moves and went back on the offensive, pushing him back. Noah had anticipated her adaptability, expecting no less from a warrior like her, and moved on to the next stage of his plan. Her attacks were once more coming from the sides, and Noah blocked and deflected them all, just waiting for the right moment. Finally, she raised her sword for a crushing downward strike to hammer through his guard. He blocked the attack, and while it drew blood from his palm, it gave him what he wanted. The force of her attack was the last blow needed for the cracked blade to finally snap, drawing frightful gasps from the other cadets. For the briefest moment, Valia displayed utter shock. Had she gone too far? It was time to call this off.

No hesitation, Noah spun around and kicked her in the stomach with all of his strength, sending her flying. All the cadets gasped once more in awe and horror. He had actually managed to land a blow. It wasn’t the drop of blood he had promised, but Valia Zodiac, the Sword Goddess, had been struck. The kick had pushed most of the air out of her lungs and knocked her off balance. She staggered back to reform her stance, but Noah wouldn’t let her get away.

Chasing after her, he grabbed the snapped blade and threw it like a knife. She narrowly reformed her guard and deflected it. It flipped through the air back to him, and he caught it, then lashed out with both halves of the sword. Now, with their weight split up, he could attack and defend simultaneously. Valia had said that only one sword could be used in the match, but Noah’s fight with the Harajin had reminded him of the strength of dual-wielding combat. He lunged, hurling slashes and jabs as fast as his body allowed. Valia was once more on defense, trying to regain her bearings. She finally jumped back out of his reach and reformed her stance. She appeared out of breath and visibly sweating for the first time, with a lock of silver hair now hanging out of place. She was smiling, as she now understood.

Noah had planned this, every stage of the battle. He picked that sword, broken and worthless, with the three fighting styles in mind. Such ingenuity and recklessness, but with the skill to back it up. All of her instincts told her that she had to stop, that things were becoming too dangerous, and that she had to abide by her responsibilities as a teacher. But the way her heart was beating, the way her sweat made her shirt stick to her skin, the way her fingers clenched her weapon so tight that they hurt; it was exhilarating. How long would it be until she could enjoy herself like this? If she let this battle end, she’d always regret it. She wasn’t going to back down. She wanted to see how far this would go.

She again went on the offensive and came at him in the form of a tornado of death. Noah faced her with the same strength and tenacity. In his right hand, he held the handle of the broken sword to catch her attacks, as well as send some of his own. The shard, held in his left hand, was his main form of offense. Because it didn’t have a handle, he couldn’t apply much force and had to be light in his strikes, but just a scrape would be enough to end it. He used every trick and maneuver he could think of, almost juggling the two blades.

Still, he was just barely keeping up with her. Valia’s sword mastery was like nothing he had ever seen before. The speed of her moves was matched by their complexity. She could switch and reverse her grip on her sword so easily, even spinning it around her fingers like a propeller. It was like her sword was a shapeshifting liquid, becoming whatever she needed it to be with each passing second. It was the same with her body, every movement made without even the slightest delay or hesitation, as if she could see the future. After living more than a hundred lifetimes, he had encountered his deadliest opponent.

The two of them were at a stalemate, one that left the other cadets in stunned silence. Not only had Noah outlasted them, but he had also outclassed them. Most couldn’t even follow the movements, as the two fighters had become a living blur, blocking, attacking, deflecting, and dodging at near-impossible speeds. The sound of blades colliding was like the ringing of sleigh bells, while the sparks produced could be seen clearly, even in the summer sun.

With both Noah’s skills and Valia’s so brilliantly displayed, many young men and women didn’t know what to think or how to process it. Some watched while trembling, fearful of the killing skills they were witnessing. They knew how quickly their lives would be lost if they tried to fight such a battle, and what little chance they’d have of survival if they made enemies of these two. Despite the warmth of the morning, others shivered as despair filled their stomachs like cold mud. This was a chasm they could never hope to cross, a level of strength forever out of their reach. A few watched with steely eyes, grateful to be where they were. They knew that to witness combat like this was nothing short of a privilege, and they tried to learn everything they could.

Finally, Noah and Valia separated, the two of them gasping for air and pouring sweat. Noah’s hand was bleeding from gripping the sword shard, and his clothes had plenty of tears from narrow misses of Valia’s sword. For all his effort, he managed to leave a single scratch on her cheek, from which budded a lone drop of blood.

“I think we’ll end it there,” she said. “If we fought any harder, magic would inevitably get involved, and if that happens, one of us would probably be killed.” If her magic was as powerful as her skills, Noah was sure he would be the one to die. Were he in his prime, he could have fought her to a proper draw, maybe even defeated her, but that was a long time ago, and he had grown rusty.

“I agree. Thank you, Lady Zodiac. That was a good match.”

“You’ve impressed me and given me a fight I will long remember. I’ll have to keep my eye on you.”

She stepped forward and examined his injured hand like before. Her movements her gentle, with a tender look on her face. Noah was subtle with his glances, memorizing every detail. His heartbeat was unstable, and not because of the fight. He had encountered dwarves and various beastmen, as well as seen a few elves from a distance, but to be so close to Valia, this elegant creature, sent a tremor through him that he so rarely got to experience.

“Since you’re a cadet, I should chastise you for doing something so reckless.” She looked him in the eyes. Her own, gray, gleamed like diamonds. There was depth to them, depth he had never seen in humans. She called him a cadet, but it was evident in her eyes that she didn’t see him as one.

“Technically, yes, you should. But realistically?”

She gave a huff of amusement and smiled. “I’ll leave you to wrap it up. You can get it healed in the infirmary on your own time.” She then cleared her throat and turned to the rest of the cadets. “Now, who’s next?”

Noah returned to the group, and it parted like the Red Sea, for the most part. A few of the more hyperactive cadets began cheering and congratulating his skills. Ken Rilgis, the sharp-eyed youth from earlier, even approached and respectfully bowed his head. “That was an amazing thing to witness. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” he replied with a cheerful façade.

He had hoped to blend in among the cadets and go unnoticed. Unfortunately, that plan had been blown out of the water on his first day. He had to now focus on twisting the result to his benefit. If he could not be invisible, he could at least manipulate how he was seen. He humbly accepted praise from all those who gave it, shaping their first impressions of him while they were still malleable. Hopefully, his skills would put off potential enemies, and his mild-mannered acting would lower everyone else’s guard and make it easier for him to get what he wanted.

While Valia continued gauging the other cadets, Noah went to work fixing his hand. Along with their uniforms, each cadet had been given a canteen and a small pouch full of bandages. However, healing and mana potions were forbidden. It wasn’t much, but the bandages were clean, and Noah could treat his wounds. Soon enough, the rest of the cadets had been defeated, none of them putting up much of a fight, and Valia faced the crowd.

“Well done. Now I know what level each of you is on. Yesterday, you were told that the only weapons you can use are those the academy provides. What you weren’t told is that you are required to carry an academy weapon with you at all times. The standard is a sword, unless you can use warrior magic for a different weapon.” She held out her arm to the barrels to her right. “Each of you, return those practice swords and take one of these. They are what you’ll be using for all training and battles. Do not draw them until I say so.”

Noah and the other cadets obeyed. They brought back the donated swords, and each took their new partners. Once everyone had one, Valia ordered them to be unsheathed. Immediately, there was the sound of something fragile breaking and the cadets exclaiming in shock and confusion while holding broken swords, some even snapping off after only an inch.

Intrigued, Noah held his sword straight up and carefully lifted the scabbard. Glass, the blade of his sword was made of glass. In the corner of his eye, he caught Valia glancing at him, perhaps curious as to how he’d react. “Ok, you have my attention,” he muttered. Did she hear him? He thought she made a slight chuckle.

“This is how I learned to wield a sword, and if you can master it, you will be the greatest warriors of your generation.” She picked one herself and drew it without it snapping. “As you can see, you are each wielding glass blades. The glass on its own is strong enough not break under its own weight, no matter how it is held or swung.” She waved it in all directions, performing various tricks and acrobatics to prove its durability. “What you can’t see are the runes are on the tang, granting it two enchantments. I know what you are thinking, and yes, you can attack with it, but it is tricky. If the blade is a single degree off from the exact direction you’re swinging, it’ll break against your target. However, if the swing is perfect, it will be undamaged.”

She held out her khopesh and tapped the glass sword against its back. The sword’s angle was off, if only slightly, and it was a gentle hit, but the blade snapped like a thin icicle. It didn’t shatter into several small pieces like standard glass, but simply broke in two. Valia knelt and joined the broken ends of the sword. “That is the first enchantment. Even if it breaks, the second enchantment allows the blade to repair itself. Simply hold the pieces together like setting a broken bone and channel your mana into the handle. The blade will heal itself in seconds.”

True to her words, she lifted the sword, and it was as new. She once again struck it against the back of her khopesh, this time with much more force. However, both the swing and the direction of the blade were perfectly vertical, so the glass edge didn’t even chip. She continued smashing the two of them together at varying angles, always keeping the sword focused in the same direction as her swing, and it never broke.

“Lady Zodiac, what about blocking?” Ken asked. “If these blades are made of glass, won’t they just snap if we try to defend?”

“You bring up an excellent point. Every swordfighter worth their salt knows to never block an attack edge-to-edge, as it’ll wreck your blade. Here, take this.” She reached into one of the nearby barrels and drew a steel sword from the sparring matches, then tossed it at him, nearly making Ken stumble to catch it. “Now, take a swing at me.”

He seemed uncertain for a moment, then stepped forward and slashed with all of his strength. Valia blocked the attack edge-to-edge, and to the continued shock of the cadets, the glass sword showed no damage whatsoever, while the steel blade was chipped from the collision.

“Your blocks and parries must follow the same principle as your attacks. If you focus your edge perfectly in the same direction as you’re exerting your strength, you can destroy enemy weapons without ever going on the offensive. Keep in mind, this technique has no margin for error. Every time you use it, it must be absolutely perfect. When you become knights, you can choose your style of blocking, whether you go the traditional way or my way, but this is the path to true sword mastery.

I want all of you to hook the sheaths to your belts, opposite from your dominant hand, and form a ring around me, no less than ten feet apart.” The cadets took their positions, making sure Valia was in their view. She secured a cadet sword to her belt and assumed the directed stance. “Before you can begin wielding your sword, obviously, you have to be able to draw it first.” She drew the sword in the blink of an eye, unsheathing the glass blade and swinging it at an invisible enemy. “You have to draw the sword perfectly straight, without twisting the blade or dragging it out of its sheath. Otherwise, the blade will break. Keep practicing until you can do it ten times in a row, then work on increasing your speed.”

Noah and the other cadets spent the next hour repeatedly trying to draw their swords without any damage. Even he found it rather difficult, as while he managed to successfully pull out his sword more times than anyone else, it was only one out of every dozen attempts. Noah welcomed the challenge, this new method of studying swordplay. Without magic, training like this would never have been possible.

At the moment, the cadets’ combined attempts sounded like a china shop during an earthquake. Each time their swords broke, the cadets had to pour in their mana, and after repeated attempts, the drain became impossible to ignore. Noah could sense the building frustration in many cadets, hear the subtle cursing and enraged nasal breathing, threatening to lead to full-blown tantrums. There was a noticable ripple every time he successfully drew his sword.

Valia paced around them, studying their technique and trying to offer advice where she could, be it how they bent their shoulders or the angle they drew from. There was little help she could give, as this most basic foundation couldn’t be taught, only learned through repetition.

Halfway through the class, Valia stopped them. “By now, even if you haven’t mastered drawing your sword, you should have a sense of dexterity and accuracy needed to handle it. I expect you to practice drawing it in your spare time until you can do it perfectly. For now, we’re going to move on to the next stage. Follow me over here.”

She led the class to an array of wooden constructs, each featuring a log, a meter in diameter, propped up at chest height. The ends of the logs, displaying fresh saw marks, had been painted like a compass, splitting into eight sections.

“Head, right shoulder, right side, right leg, chest, left leg, left side, and left shoulder. The lines depict the eight basic directions in which you attack your enemy, and you will use them to practice your attacks. You’ll be swinging at them every lesson. This will teach you how to control the angle of your swing.”

She took her khopesh and swung at the nearest log. She went with the grain at an improper angle and buried it in the edge of the wood. She then used her glass sword and swung at a different spot, against the grain at a perfect angle, and not only did the blade not shatter, but it also matched the depth.

“The slightest adjustment in the direction makes all the difference in the world. Regardless of your prowess or experience, whether or not your sword breaks determines your actual skill. Every time you have to repair it, I want to think about every time you’ve used a sword before, every time you failed to cut through enemy defenses or slay a monster. The reason for your failure will be made clear. All the times you succeeded, realize that victory came DESPITE your skill level, not because of it. You could learn the most elegant and deadly moves in the world of swordsmanship, but if your sword still breaks against this wood, then you’ll never reach true mastery.