At that moment, the stance Selina took left Melrose confused.
It didn’t belong to any orthodox knight school, nor was it like those unorthodox styles.
Her defense was full of openings.
Her fundamentals must be poor.
After only two weeks of rushed sword training, Melrose didn’t have high expectations.
When it came to hiding in the shadows, Melrose was indeed inferior to Vika, but when it came to a direct confrontation, she might be able to fight Vika, who was one level higher.
Perhaps she was more suited to be Selina’s teacher.
Just as Melrose was lost in her daydream, Selina made her move.
Without any warning, she attacked silently like a venomous snake.
Melrose suddenly felt a chill on her neck.
Countless experiences in her life made her instinctively swing her sword to protect her neck.
The clash of blades made a crisp sound, pulling Hajime back to reality from her fantasy.
Selina’s wide and aggressive attacks seemed completely random on the surface, but every strike aimed at vital points.
The result was something no one could have imagined: Melrose, an elite knight, was at a disadvantage.
Her moves were not at all like a beginner’s—heavy, precise, and seasoned.
Almost flawless.
If she continued to slack off, she would lose.
With that in mind, Melrose focused her mind on the duel.
Emptying her thoughts, she parried and then executed a V-shaped slash from above.
Melrose deflected Selina’s sword, raised her blade high, and slashed diagonally from top to bottom, left to right.
Selina, after being parried, remained calm.
She spun her sword in a circle, reversed her grip with a flourish, and blocked the first strike.
Melrose then twisted her wrist, palm facing up, and swung from bottom to top.
She thought this two-stage technique would surely suppress her.
However, at the moment of the block, Selina used the force to flip her body to the side.
The sword in her right hand, now reversed, passed behind her back to her left hand, and she attacked again in the same reversed grip.
The result was astonishing.
The two were almost evenly matched in tactics.
They gradually got into the rhythm, and the clash of blades grew fiercer.
Melrose’s swordsmanship was inherited from her grandfather, who came from a warrior family that had guarded the royal family for generations.
She had studied the family sword style since childhood.
Even among the younger generation, she was outstanding, securing her position in the Rose Knight Order at the age of seventeen.
With her talent, she might even hope to join the Imperial Guard.
She thought so herself.
But this girl, who had only appeared in her life two weeks ago, was already matching her, who had trained for years, even though she had just started.
Melrose couldn’t accept this fact.
If it really ended in a draw, she would be the one losing.
She had to use her ultimate technique.
“She’s going to use her ultimate technique.”
Outside the ring, Vika commented.
Her profession was an assassin; she had only learned basic swordsmanship.
But Melrose was different.
Don’t be fooled by her light armor—that was only for safe zones.
When she went to the front lines or non-safe areas, these light knights would switch to full-body armor.
Though not as bulky as the Order Knights, it was nearly impenetrable to opponents of the same rank.
Under evenly matched conditions, the only way to turn the tide was to unleash a secret move, a finishing blow.
Either kill in one strike or die on the battlefield.
But even Vika didn’t expect Melrose to use her ultimate in a spar like this.
Selina’s ability might be more outstanding than she had imagined.
Her physical condition was still lacking, but if they were on equal footing, how many people would she amaze?
Melrose didn’t have the leisure to think like Vika.
This girl’s strength exceeded her expectations.
But she couldn’t lose yet.
Because…
This was a battle for family status!!!
She erupted with all her aura, hot air surging around her, forcing Selina to retreat.
Accelerating her mana flow, she took a deep breath and assumed a drawing stance.
“Slash!”
The next moment, her figure vanished from where she stood.
Selina, in a blocking stance, quickly scanned her surroundings.
To her surprise, the strike came from the front.
Her body reacted before her mind.
She swung her sword to block, then released her grip, closed in, disarmed the blade, and executed a combination of military close-quarters combat.
Yes, Selina didn’t choose to meet force with force.
She opted for softness over hardness.
Someone had once told her: beyond ten steps, a gun is fast; within ten steps, a gun is fast and accurate.
Once you close in, it’s better to go straight to hand-to-hand combat than to draw a weapon.
No one would expect a swordswoman to drop her blade the moment she closed in and suddenly become a brawler.
Even Vika was surprised by this move.
Melrose was dazed.
Her sword was suddenly stripped away by the hand that wound around it in a strange way.
Then her vision spun, and she found herself pinned to the ground.
A small knife fell from Selina’s sleeve.
She pressed it directly against Melrose’s neck.
“The winner is decided.”
Vika announced.
The result was obvious, but Melrose couldn’t understand how her ultimate had been seen through so easily at the last moment.
Selina let go and pulled her up from the ground.
Audrey cast a cleansing spell on both of them, cleaning the dust and dirt off their bodies.
“Melrose, are you okay?”
Selina asked with concern.
She seemed to have turned back into the usual girl.
“I’m fine. That move of yours…”
“Don’t be too discouraged!”
Vika slapped Melrose on the back hard, almost knocking the soul out of her.
“Did you forget something?”
Hajime was confused for a moment.
“What?”
“The sword style you practice is aimed at monsters and heretics, not at humans. So your techniques are straightforward and pursue power. Our assassin lineage mainly focuses on fighting humans—we learn everything except direct confrontation. It’s normal to lose.”
She patted Melrose’s shoulder to comfort her.
Whether she believed it or not was unknown.
Selina also understood that this was giving her an out.
She suddenly started to think about one thing: was it really good to synchronize her past strength with the present?
At the same level, after learning Enhancement Technique, she could already compete with many geniuses.
This would inevitably attract the attention of certain people.
She had no recognized teacher, and the geniuses standing with her were all carefully cultivated by their families.
The human heart was a complicated thing.
It would inevitably invite deadly trouble.
The reason she had won was that Melrose had suppressed her strength to the third rank.
If her opponent was also human, she probably couldn’t fight above her rank.
Audrey cast some healing on both of them—there might have been scratches from the fight.
Vika was still trying her best to comfort Melrose, but her eyes were empty and she wasn’t listening.
Selina sighed, took one of her little hands, and without explaining to Vika, pulled Hajime away.
“Why… are we here?”
Melrose blinked.
In an instant, Selina had dragged her to the market.
“What else? You eat so much—your family’s food stores are already finished.”
“Um, I…”
“Stop blabbering. I’ll buy you whatever you like.”
Watching her back, it seemed to be able to ignore all worries and gloom.
Her laughter was as pleasant as silver bells.
Ever since Melrose could remember, her family had trained her with the goal of joining the Imperial Guard.
Countless elders whispered in her ears, calling her the hope of the family.
She trained day after day, never having her own thoughts.
Until this time, the captain told her to try to recruit a highly-praised nun.
She even specially learned the most fashionable demeanor of modern women for it.
But that appearance didn’t seem to attract the girl before her at all.
She had energy, temper, worries—her emotions were written all over her face.
Anyone who knew her would be drawn to her.
She was probably exactly the kind of person described in recent romance novels: a white moonlight in one’s heart.
Losing to her didn’t seem like a big deal.
In that duel just now, her aura was like a venomous snake.
Those flexible techniques were only possessed by someone who had been through countless battles.
She seemed to have many secrets worth digging into.
How should she start digging?