Chapter 357 – The Knights' Sword Dance

Mildred took one deep breath. Perhaps because she had mentally prepared herself to face a superior opponent, her fighting spirit seemed to outweigh her tension.

“I shall begin.”

“Come.”

Mildred wrapped her Fighting Spirit around her kicking leg and closed the distance in an instant. The Greatsword strike swung down with ferocious momentum was nevertheless caught by Lazaro’s Greatsword. It seemed he had deliberately chosen to block the first Tachi strike head-on.

Lazaro stepped in, pushing with the guard as if to deliver a body blow that sent Mildred flying back. Mildred immediately regained her footing and caught the sweeping torso strike coming at her with her own Greatsword. At the heavy impact, Mildred’s brows furrowed.

Lazaro’s Greatsword was wrapped in Fighting Spirit, but he was manipulating its properties to transform it into striking power. While he had reduced its lethal capacity, the impact carried a penetrating heaviness in exchange, and a direct hit would still likely result in serious injury.

However, there was no hesitation visible in Lazaro’s movements. Whether he considered holding back to be disrespectful, or whether this was after gauging Mildred’s skill with that first strike…

Greatswords flashed dazzlingly between them, clashing with heavy metallic sounds. The moment one thought they had been knocked back by the collision’s impact, another Slash Attack would already be unleashed in return.

Lazaro Parried Mildred’s strike and stepped in, delivering a blow as if striking upward with the guard. Mildred didn’t resist the Parry. Twisting her body to evade it, she used that momentum to unleash a Slash Attack that seemed to chase after Lazaro from behind.

This—Lazaro caught it with his Greatsword swung behind his back without even looking. As he pivoted his body to swing his sword, a Fighting Spirit Slash Attack flew toward Mildred.

Mildred met it head-on, cutting it down with her blade wrapped in Fighting Spirit, and they both charged forward.

Two blades ran wild. They exchanged positions as if dancing, bringing down their sword tips, stepping in and striking upward. With each movement, metallic sounds rang out and sparks scattered.

Both offense and defense moved at an absurd speed that seemed impossible for such large weapons.

But this wasn’t because she possessed physical strength like Grace. It was because she wrapped Fighting Spirit around various parts of her body at key moments, reinforcing her instantaneous power.

Striking and stepping. Footwork and weight distribution. Sword Arts and Martial Arts. By utilizing the essence of these elements, superhuman movements became possible.

Lazaro moved like flowing water. A gliding footwork that kept his body completely level. Mildred’s timing and interception were momentarily delayed.

“Guh!”

Unable to fully withstand Lazaro who came charging in using his Greatsword like a Shield, Mildred grimaced. Lazaro continued pressing forward. But Mildred’s disadvantageous position lasted only a moment. Her entire body glittered with Fighting Spirit as she forcefully pushed back against Lazaro with raw power.

For an instant, Lazaro’s body lifted into the air. Mildred instantly concentrated the Fighting Spirit wrapped around her body into her blade.

“Haaah!”

With a spirited cry that could tear cloth, she stabbed the ground and immediately swung her blade upward—a Shockwave shattered the ground, breaking floor stones as it swept upward.

Combat Skill, Earth Split Wave. A Technique where one drives their sword into the ground, causing Fighting Spirit-imbued debris to erupt and shower the opponent like buckshot. There should have been no way for the floating Lazaro to avoid it.

Lazaro intercepted it mid-air. Concentrating Fighting Spirit in his right palm. He spread it wide and slapped it down as if to crush the stone buckshot and Fighting Spirit Shockwave.

Without pause, he then Parried the sword of Mildred who came flying in. He drove a Palm Strike toward Mildred’s side as her balance wavered. At the last moment, Mildred also blocked it with her palm wrapped in Fighting Spirit.

Knocked back, as they separated. Sword and sword flashed like dancing, scattering sparks. Both leaped sideways. Exchanging blows while suspended in air. Landing and crossing. Turning and colliding. Not stopping or stagnating for even a moment. They traded Slash Attacks as if dancing.

The distance opened for just an instant. Lazaro drew his sword far back, charging forward while hiding the long blade behind his body.

That preparatory motion—the Technique that delivered an upward Slash Attack while tearing through the ground when he used it against me.

Whether Mildred knew this Technique or not, she raised her heels and adopted a Stance that could respond to attacks from any direction.

However, the Technique Lazaro unleashed wasn’t a Slash Attack. He accelerated with a kick wrapped in Fighting Spirit into Greatsword range and stepped in. From point-blank range, he then delivered a Thrust toward her solar plexus with the pommel concentrated with Fighting Spirit. A move that turned her anticipation—born from sharing the same Style—against her. Or perhaps it should be called a feint.

Mildred’s body flew backward. Not because she was blown away, but because she deliberately leaped back as she was struck.

While spinning through the air like a windmill, Mildred accurately launched a Fighting Spirit Slash Attack toward Lazaro. A strike meant to disrupt Lazaro’s trajectory as he stepped in for a Pursuit.

But Lazaro leaped sideways for an instant, kicking and shattering floor stones as he charged in. Mildred managed to block the sweeping strike mid-air, but was nevertheless swept away. Sent flying far back, she collided with the wall. However, at the moment of impact, she concentrated Fighting Spirit in her back to minimize damage.

Even so, it must have been quite an impact, but she immediately kicked off the wall and charged toward Lazaro.

A smile played on her lips. Was it delight at Lazaro’s skill, or admiration? They slammed into each other, crashed against one another, swept through with strikes, evaded Slash Attacks that grazed right past their bodies, were knocked back and charged in again.

Mildred, wrapped in Fighting Spirit from head to toe, pushed Lazaro back with reckless, full-power attacks. Perhaps an uncharacteristic use of brute force for Mildred.

“Ooooooooh!”

In that brief moment when distance opened, Mildred launched a Slash Attack in a diagonal trajectory. A massive, whip-like wave of Fighting Spirit swept down from above at an angle. Stepping in further, Mildred’s sword tip bounced upward as if retracing the exact same path it had just swung through.

The delayed wave of Fighting Spirit falling while flexing, and the sword sharply bouncing upward from below at a diagonal. Two Slash Attacks meant to sandwich their target were about to converge on the single point that was Lazaro.

This—Lazaro charged straight in to meet it. His entire body glittered with Water Mirror Fighting Spirit. He caught Mildred’s sword with his Greatsword, concentrated the Water Mirror Fighting Spirit in his left arm, and slammed a Back Fist into the Fighting Spirit wave. Two destructive metallic sounds overlapped explosively. Gliding his blade forward as he stepped in, he used that momentum to deliver a body blow to Mildred.

“Gah!”

Mildred’s body flew through the air. This time, it wasn’t her leaping back—she had unmistakably been blown away by Lazaro. Rolling across the floor, she raised her body as if bouncing up—and.

“—I yield.”

Mildred said while exhaling ragged breaths. Lazaro’s sword had stopped—just before her neck, at a distance where it might or might not be touching.

“It was meaningful time. I witnessed the refinement with which you’ve sublimated my sword into a Style.”

Saying this, Lazaro sheathed his sword. Mildred also stood up while regulating her breathing.

Were the Techniques Mildred used created based on Lazaro’s Techniques? Both the Earth Split Wave and that final Technique resembling Swallow Reversal… They shared similarities with the Technique Lazaro used that sharply bent his sword’s trajectory.

“But they didn’t reach you. In both minor techniques and feints, you were superior. I’m painfully aware of my insufficient training.”

“Is that so? That final strike surprised me. Had it not been for Water Mirror, I don’t know if I could have withstood it. At that moment… who knows how the match might have turned.”

Lazaro raised his left hand. As if to substantiate his words, that hand trembled slightly. Had it not been for Water Mirror, huh?

Or if he had been pushed a bit more and hadn’t managed to blow Mildred away, the battle situation might have turned against Lazaro… perhaps.

While the victory ultimately went to Lazaro, it seemed Mildred’s sword wasn’t completely out of reach or ineffective.

After widening her eyes, Mildred bowed to Lazaro. Lazaro returned a knightly salute before turning and coming toward us.

Mildred watched his back, looked at her own palm, then clenched her Fist and gave a small nod.

A goal to aim for… or perhaps a guidepost. Had Mildred found it? While neither joy nor frustration could be discerned from her expression, I thought I detected something like a refreshed clarity that had settled within her.