Monica showed no sign that she wanted to pause or rethink her attack. The slight surprise she felt when her first strike missed was imdiately replaced by a renewed offensive focus.
She was not going to let him get away. Twisting her body with fluid grace with a smooth and easy movent she seamlessly converted the montum of her previous swing her missed attack into a new one.
Her wooden practice sword now whistled through the air towards Eric’s head. It moved in a vicious dangerous arc.
Even though the blade was made of wood not sharp steel Eric knew from painful past experiences in other practices that its impact would be strong.
Delivered with Monica’s evident strength and skill it would be powerful enough to cause serious pain. It might even give him a concussion if it hit him cleanly.
As Monica spun to make her new attack the world for Eric once again resolved into that strange heightened state of perception. He saw the glowing blue line again.
It was clear.
It was tracing the path her sword would follow through the air. This ti the blue line was aid directly at his head. He knew exactly where she was going to hit.
This ti with the predictive blue line giving him a fraction of a second more warning than her initial lightning-fast strike had Eric had just enough ti to react defensively.
He quickly lifted his own wooden sword. He brought it up in a desperate attempt to shield his face and head from her incoming blow. He had to do sothing.
But in his haste his rush to defend himself and because he was still unaccustod to judging the true force behind an opponent’s blows Eric made a crucial miscalculation.
He made a big mistake.
He underestimated the sheer power of Monica’s strike. He assud that his simple wooden practice sword the sa kind she was using could adequately block or deflect her powerful attack.
He thought wood against wood would be an even match. He was wrong.
The mont Monica’s wooden sword collided with his the difference in the force behind their strikes was imdiately apparent. It was obvious. There was a sharp sickening crack.
The sound of wood splintering filled the air. Eric’s wooden sword unable to withstand the incredible impact of her blow snapped cleanly into two pieces.
The top half of his sword the part with the tip flew uselessly away into the garden. He was left holding only a broken stump.
He felt the unmitigated force of her strike almost instantly. It ca through the remnants of his shattered sword. It was a jarring impact a hard shock that his arms which still lacked true warrior’s strength couldn’t fully absorb.
He wasn’t strong enough.
The wooden blade of Monica’s sword though its direct path was partially impeded partially blocked by the broken pieces of his own weapon still ca down hard.
It connected solidly with his head.
However because Eric had managed to raise his sword however ineffectually it turned out to be and because he had partially absorbed so of the initial impact of her strike the full montum the full power of Monica’s attack was significantly reduced.
He wasn’t as seriously injured as he might have been if the blow had landed cleanly without any block at all. His broken sword had helped a little bit.
Still the sword did hit his head. And a sharp lancing pain exploded through his skull. It was like being hit with a hamr. Stars montarily burst behind his eyes.
He saw flashes of light.
The force of the impact sent him stumbling backward. His legs felt weak and they gave way beneath him. He couldn’t stay standing. He landed heavily on the ground dazed and disoriented.
The world seed to spin around him for a mont.
All of this from Monica’s missed first strike her follow-up attack Eric’s broken sword and Eric collapsing on the ground happened within a matter of just a few seconds. It was very fast.
Monica too was quite surprised by the rapid sequence of events. First Eric had sohow managed to avoid her initial surprise attack. That itself was a feat for soone she thought was unskilled.
Then he had even anticipated her follow-up second strike and had actually brought his own sword up in response trying to block her. She had felt the impact when her sword hit his.
She had felt his attempt to block. Though she had also registered with a warrior’s keen instinct the distinct lack of true cultivated strength in his arms. His block was clumsy it was untrained.
Yet it had been there. He had tried.
Watching Eric sprawled on the ground Monica took a deep breath. Her chest rose and fell as she regained her composure her calm. She stood up straight. Her stance was still perfectly balanced ready for anything.
She looked down at Eric with a critical appraising gaze like a teacher looking at a student who had failed a test.
Did Father make a mistake in judging this boy? she thought to herself. A flicker of doubt or disappointnt crossed her mind. He possesses no real strength in his arms.
He has no true martial foundation no basic training. How could Father think he could surpass him?
Then again a familiar disdainful thought surfaced in her mind. What could I truly expect from a boy belonging to a small insignificant kingdom like his Estoria? Such places rarely produced warriors of genuine caliber of real skill.
She had always looked down on smaller weaker kingdoms.
Turning away with a dismissive air as if she was done with him Monica began to walk off. She apparently considered the exchange the practice fight concluded.
She had seen enough.
Then as if she rembered sothing so piece of unfinished business she paused. She stopped walking. She looked back at Eric.
He was slowly pushing himself up from the ground.
A dazed confused expression was still on his face. He had one hand gingerly touching his throbbing head where her sword had hit him.
A smirk a cool and condescending smile touched Monica’s lips. It was not a kind smile.
"You do have so potential," she said her voice carrying clearly in the quiet garden. It was loud enough for him and Alina to hear. She let the statent hang in the air for a mont as if giving him a small complint.
Then with an attitude of unquestionable superiority of soone who thought she was much better than him she added "Not to surpass the Emperor... but you have enough potential to serve under —as my subordinate." Her words were like a final dismissive slap.
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