Chapter 90. Mirror-Like Still Water (3)
As if the World of Impermanence was responding to Enoch's awareness.
Above the knight's head, a white phrase appeared.
? Sword Saint of the Waves
Enoch walked towards her without a word, extending his arm to the side.
Shadows shimred in his hand, forming the perfect shape of a two-handed greatsword, identical to the knight's.
Language was necessary for communication between individuals.
However, as long as both swords were identical. From now on, there was no room for words or language to intervene between them.
Click.
The lady knight in silver armor with a blue cloak draped over it also slowly lowered her stance and pointed her sword.
A complex stance where she held the sword hilt against her bent left arm and pointed the sword tip horizontally with her left arm.
In the taut tension that felt like it could snap.
Enoch imdiately understood the opponent.
Her sword style was the complete opposite of the Emperor's Supre Sword. It wasn't an aggressive sword style that sought to slash the enemy first. Enoch stared at the knight with his dark blue eyes.
Only, it was quiet.
The lady knight was staring back at with a sword tip that didn't budge.
There was no sign of attacking first.
If so, I would just move first.
Enoch gripped his sword and slowly took a step or two forward, then suddenly kicked off the ground forcefully.
[Explosive Sword]
Dark blue mana condensed and ignited in each part. Enoch sprinted forward with acceleration as if being repelled.
In an instant, the knight's figure drew near.
In the blink of an eye, both sides entered the sword's range. Without slowing down the charging acceleration, Enoch unleashed a vertically aid sword strike.
The space before him was cut with the speed of a teor. The trajectory of dark blue light plunged towards the enemy's head.
The silver knight raised her sword to counter.
The mont the two swords clashed, intense blue sparks flew and scattered in all directions.
Woong!
Enoch felt a sense of incongruity for a mont. It was as if his sword strike had been completely swept away by a gentle current of water. An ineffably strange feeling penetrated his mind.
Blocked? No. Impossible. No matter how much the opponent was a Sword Saint, she wouldn't be able to block the powerful strike of Explosive Sword head-on.
At the very least, her balance would be broken.
The mont I judged that. Suddenly, unexpectedly, Enoch's body, not the opponent's, tilted greatly.
As Enoch's eyes widened in shock at the startling fact. A beat late. He realized that the knight's sword had perfectly 'deflected and flowed past' his sword.
Feeling a chill, Enoch hastily turned his head to the side, and a sword emitting light blue light rapidly lunged, aiming for an opening.
Imdiately, turning his tilting body, he put all his strength into striking mana into the blade. Condensing, igniting.
[Fire Wheel]
Taah—! A tearing explosive sound of mana roared. Relying on the sword's maddening acceleration, he forced his collapsing body to rotate sideways.
The dark blue explosion erupting from the blade, the blade ejected by the recoil, carved a large circle and surged towards the enemy. Countering not with defense but with the fastest possible counterattack.
Just then. The trajectory of the charging knight's sword wavered once.
Instantly. The trajectory of the Fire Wheel was strangely deflected, and the arms that swung the sword were bent at a peculiar angle. A grinding sound echoed from Enoch's shoulder joint.
Surprise preceded the pain.
I was certain from the strike just now. This was the damage from the Fire Wheel that Enoch had unleashed to counterattack just now.
'Did she use my own strength against ?'
As the thought ca to mind, his heart pounded loudly.
The sensation of gripping the sword dominated his body and whispered.
I want to know. No, I must know.
Enoch imdiately returned to his stance and, with Explosive Sword, sharply cut into the knight's personal space, initiating close combat.
Kagagagagak!
Imdiately, the sharp sword strikes of the two swordsn tore through the surroundings at extrely close range, aiming for each other's openings.
The trajectory of dark blue light that Enoch unfolded as he advanced swirled like a storm in dozens of directions.
Against this, the trajectory of the knight's sword, marked with light blue light, lay quietly like the ripples of a lake.
The battle had already entered the realm of mind gas where they read each other's future moves dozens of steps ahead.
The chess notation woven by the trajectories of blades and sword hilts of the two knights. A clash of techniques at the peak of close combat, where a split-second mistake led directly to death.
The one who made the decisive move first was Enoch.
He threw a fake strike as if to receive the opponent's sword strike for a mont, deliberately lowered his blade, and rotated his body horizontally.
Imdiately, a low upward slash, as if sweeping the ground, raised a spray of water on the surface of the Inner World and surged forward.
But the next mont,
Woowooowoong!
With a low tallic reverberation. The knight's sword imdiately beca entangled, twisting its trajectory in a strange direction.
Imdiately after, Enoch's body, while swinging his sword, was flipped into the air and flew away.
As expected. Again. Again, the sword's power had 'flowed away'.
Enoch imdiately landed, propped one arm on the ground, and landed with an acrobatic twist of his body. Retreating.
Seeing that, the knight pursued, scattering light blue sword strikes. Enoch also countered, swinging his sword.
Striking with swords imbued with bright blue light and sinister dark blue light, blue sparks scattered in all directions.
Enoch, who had adjusted his stance in a short instant, spun his sword around and quickly closed the distance to the enemy. Again, dark blue sword strikes raged like a storm, carving intense trajectories.
However.
The knight, with light blue light around her sword, simply moved her sword quietly, as if flowing, in the center of that storm. She never allowed a single attack.
And even in that mont.
Enoch was thoroughly analyzing the opponent to a degree that surprised himself.
'I'm getting a feel for what kind of sword it is.'
But it wasn't enough yet. To fully grasp the opponent's sword principle, he needed more certainty than now.
If so, testing it was the priority.
Simultaneously with that judgnt,
Enoch gripped his sword deeply beside his waist, took a stance with his body greatly bent forward, and stomped his right foot down with a thud.
Stomping the foot to maximize body rotation. The mont a strong spray of water erupted from the surface—
[Fire Wheel]
Taah!
Along with the recoil of mana igniting from the sword that had been pulled back behind his waist, the three consecutive strikes unleashed tore through space and shot towards the enemy like a storm.
But again, the knight's greatsword intervened mid-way.
The fiercely rotating trajectory of the Fire Wheel instantly plunged to the ground, tearing the surface that was the floor of the Inner World.
A spray of water burst out in all directions.
Taking advantage of the screen of water that unfolded before his eyes, Enoch imdiately returned his sword and leaped greatly backward. Creating distance from the opponent.
Enoch's dark blue eyes shone coldly.
With this, it was certain.
The Sword Saint clad in armor before him was thoroughly deflecting and flowing past the attacks.
Naturally. This was not a technique within the general category.
Normally, no matter what stance she took. She would be cut in half by the power of the Fire Wheel, along with her defense.
Then?
What kind of swordsmanship was she unfolding? What was the thod of wielding the sword? Was this the ultimate principle of the Sword Saint that she possessed, different from the Emperor's Supre Sword?
Thinking that far, Enoch's eyes suddenly widened.
Pitt—
Imdiately after landing upon retreating. A cold light blue blade sliced lightly across his cheek, grazing him.
The knight had already caught up to him.
He barely managed to turn his head to avoid it. Getting lost in thought during combat was suicide. Surely Enoch knew that as well.
But at the sa ti, he had to admit it.
Honestly, he was incredibly curious.
What was the sword principle he would gain from this Sword Saint? What kind of life force was lted and completed in the sword of a swordsman who had once held a transcendent aning?
A soundless smile ford on Enoch's lips for a mont.
The perfect talent for the sword that resided within him had already surpassed rely enjoying the battle before him, it was completely experiencing intense pleasure.
The sword dance being carved before his eyes was an ideal (理想) he wanted to grasp.
The sharp tallic clang where swung swords clashed was a signal that accelerated his thoughts.
His thoughts within his mind raced as if surpassing cognitive circuits. Enoch's dark blue eyes caught up to the opponent's sword trajectory, her movents and timing, her intention and aim in wielding the sword.
The mont he completely understood the entire principle of the sword that a Sword Saint had achieved by reaching the realm of a Sword Saint—
Enoch unleashed a sword strike filled with conviction.
[Explosive Sword]
Kwaaaaang!
Mana arrayed in both arms ignited. Again, a diagonal upward slash erupted from the ground towards the sky.
[—?]
In the extrely brief mont, it seed he felt a slight look of puzzlent from within the knight's helt facing him.
Explosive Sword. And an upward slash. It was a technique Enoch had used earlier. If so, she would simply deflect it away again.
Imdiately after that, only a definite counterattack awaited.
Kaaang!
The knight naturally unfolded her flowing sword trajectory again. Then, as if deliberately using the power of the Explosive Sword against him. She lifted her body high into the air, making herself fly.
She soared up as if repelled into the sky, then suddenly twisted her body gently at the highest point and stopped.
The next mont, the knight descended, holding the greatsword high overhead with both arms in silver gauntlets.
A downward slash of devastating speed unleashed a sharp impact sound and fell towards Enoch's head.
The knight's decisive move surged, splitting the sky in two.
Just as the situation, the complete opposite of when Enoch first initiated combat and attacked, unfolded, and the knight's sure-kill strike was upon him.
Enoch calmly tilted his sword.
With extre concentration, for a mont, all sounds and scenes around him disappeared, becoming blank paper.
A world where only the gripped sword and the enemy's strike before him existed ca into being. The clear and still realm of Mirror-Like Still Water (明鏡止水) settled on Enoch's sword tip.
And Enoch muttered softly to himself.
"I see."
He gripped the two-handed sword over his head and tilted it, taking a stance. Dark blue light flowed like a ripple, drawing a new sword trajectory he had never drawn before.
Between the silver helt of the descending knight, the mont a gaze tinged with faint surprise pierced Enoch's skin.
Woowooowoong!
Enoch rotated once, tilting the greatsword to the side, matching the direction of the opponent's attack.
The trajectory of the knight's sword, which had been perfectly deflecting Enoch's powerful strikes until now,
─This ti, before the knight's eyes, it unfolded like a mirror image with a dark blue trajectory, as if showing off.
Kagagagagak!
The trajectory of the descending knight's sword imdiately beca entangled with Enoch's sword.
Imdiately, it twisted strangely as if caught in a current, completely deflecting away on an unexpected path, not towards the enemy.
In a split second. The gaze hidden within the knight's helt, clashing with the sword between her and his, although unseen, was tinged with faint surprise.
He had deliberately used an ineffective attack to induce her counterattack and completely reproduced her technique.
Awe towards the swordsman who had completely made the sword his own through a single battle.
The knight's sword strike, so neatly deflected, grazed only the air beside Enoch's cheek as it passed.
Above Enoch's view, who was looking at that with blank eyes. A white phrase appeared.
? Inheritance Complete
? [Reverse Flow] (Basic)
To overco deep frustration and despair, one had to advance even against the flow of life and death with a sword.
? Effect: Deflects the opponent's attack with the sword.
Enoch slowly turned his head and looked at the knight.
Above the horizon ford by the night sky with countless shining stars and the land.
The knight was getting up, holding her sword.
And soon after getting up, the knight slowly raised her greatsword in front of her eyes, holding it towards Enoch.
A gesture of courtesy shown towards the opponent with whom she had fought a decisive battle.
A beautiful and elegant appearance that would draw small gasps of admiration from others if they saw it. Enoch let his sword hang loosely for a mont and stared at it blankly.
With the night sky of the Inner World behind her. He could see her light blue hair flowing beneath her silver helt.
The figure of the knight, whom he would soon inherit again, soon beca transparent and disappeared along with the Inner World.
Enoch knew it instinctively.
[Reverse Flow] was about deflecting and flowing past the opponent's attack.
Needless to say, in close combat. If used well, it was a trump card technique aid at targeting a sure-kill counter, creating openings in the opponent.
But it didn't end there.
The basic swordsmanship achieved by a Sword Saint was not limited to simple sword-to-sword combat. It was the ultimate concept that a single person could achieve and complete with a single sword.
It was never just a single aning.
Naturally, it was also possible to apply and use the swordsmanship in unconventional ways.
He had already used the application of Form (形) when defeating Tantalus earlier. The form of swordsmanship achieved by a Sword Saint was not limited to simple movents.
Then?
In this world full of mages, he could clearly see 'how to utilize this'.
Enoch was already clearly sensing it intuitively.
Returning to reality, he slowly opened his eyes.
Turning his head, his gaze t his reflection in the training room mirror.
His eyes reflected in the glass were now shining dark blue, as if proving that he was inheriting another realm of the sword.
Finally.
It seed that his talents, which could now be called those of a sword genius, were beginning to awaken, one by one.
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