Although his blade was drawn, I felt none of the pressure from earlier. Kaito pointed his blade at , holding it in a relaxed manner.
"Co, try to kill ."
I looked at the blade in his hands, then at the blade in mine.
’Is he serious?’
"I won’t attack you. So don’t waste my ti. Co at with intent to kill."
Not willing to push his patience any further, I walked cautiously towards him, blade leveled in a stance I rembered from the manual.
As soon as I was close enough, I struck, thrusting the blade towards his abdon.
His blade was already there, easily blocking it with its flat side.
It was like slamming into a brick wall. A vibration ran along the length of my blade, then my hand, nearly making lose my grip on the hilt.
I wordlessly gritted my teeth before entering into the stance again.
There was a path to getting stronger right before . No matter what it cost, I had to take it.
I went for his legs this ti, yet his blade was there again, easily making mine slide off it. I went for his head next, only to be blocked again.
His neck, blocked.
I targeted damn near every part I could, till a growing dizzy spell forced to stop and take a breather. My body felt more tired than it should be.
Yet all the while, I hadn’t managed to make Kaito move an inch, not even to dodge. The man remained wordlessly in his initial position, having only moved his sword.
He’d countered all my moves with ease, exploiting every single error I made with my imperfect technique, whether it was overcommitting, a crooked swing, or even my stance not being balanced.
In the end, attacking him was like smashing myself against a brick wall. Which wasn’t very surprising; he was a paragon, after all.
The man, for the most part, just indifferently examined . After deeming the small break—a re two minutes—over, he began speaking again.
"There is will. Not very clear, not defined well enough. But it is there, the will to do harm. Your technique is still lacking."
"Activate that ability of yours; perhaps it may help in your efforts."
I pushed myself upright, suppressing my nausea before moving to follow his instructions—imagining the technique, taking a stance, then moving to hit again.
However, before the tip of my blade even neared him, the man slapped it away with a re flick of his sword.
"There it is again. You’re dancing. Your attention is split between too many things. Try again."
I filtered through his words, trying to find what I was missing. Will. As he said it.
My mind filtered through all the fights I’d been involved in: from the brawls against nobles, to the simulations with all the horrors in them, to my very first fight against the ’nurse,’ and even beyond that to my previous life.
In all of them, I hadn’t been a trained fighter, relying on aggression where I could and wit where that failed . I hadn’t won them all, especially in my past life.
But one thing I was certain I had in all of them was will. To win, to kill, harm, or maim my opponents. If not that, then at least to survive.
What made now so different?
’Could it be that I don’t want to hit Kaito?’
The re mory of what happened with the skinwalker was enough to kick that out the door.
’Then what?’
The only real fights I had used [Error Sense] in were back in the simulation, back when I was using a crossbow.
There had always been so distance between and my opponents back then. I could fully focus on reproducing the technique perfectly before taking my shot.
Close combat was different. I had to juggle keeping track of my opponent, reacting to his moves, and rapidly engaging him, while at the sa ti attempting to adjust to the perfect technique.
Simply put, Kaito was right. Trying to do too many things at once made everything diocre in totality. I couldn’t focus on getting my stances exactly right, and that split attention was reducing how invested I was in the fight.
Or, as Kaito put it, my will.
The only way I could think of to properly deal with this problem was to practice long enough with [Error Sense] that the moves eventually ingrained themselves into my muscle mory, to the point where I’d be able to execute them nigh perfectly without relying on the ability, allowing to focus on the fight.
But that was sothing only consistent training could achieve. It wouldn’t help now.
Right when I was about to give up and return to attacking Kaito mindlessly, a thought flashed through my brain.
’What if I could combine both of them?’
Will and the technique, using [Error Sense].
I went to work on it imdiately, visualizing the technique perfectly before imagining all the moves aid at Kaito, aid at harming him, at killing him. The best ways of doing so.
There was a slight throbbing in my skull, but I ignored it. I activated [Error Sense].
I felt nothing. No buzzing, no feedback. Nothing. It failed. [Error Sense] failed to activate.
In cases like this, the problem was usually with my definition. Sothing similar had happened to back at the hospital when I’d first started testing out this power.
The attempt felt like a bust, yet I decided to give it one last try.
I imagined.
This ti, not just the basics manual. Everything I knew about the rapier: from the explanations in the manual, to how Maki used hers in our spars, and most importantly, how Kaito typically blocked.
With all this gathered, I defined perfection.
A set of moves from all I’ve gathered and understood that would let slip past Kaito’s guard and enforce my will. My will to kill him.
The throbbing behind my head increased, and I was slamd by a sudden sense of vertigo that almost knocked off my feet. Worse still, I could feel the ability devouring my essence at rates far above its normal, ager consumption.
Yet regardless of all that, I couldn’t help but find myself grinning.
There was a heavy buzz running through my body.
It worked.
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