Ivan Reid fully embodied the meaning of the motto of his sword school.
“As light as a cloud, as heavy as a storm!”
The Cloudstrider Sword Style may possess an abundance of techniques that caused its practitioner to become illusive and light, but the innovations of subsequent swordmasters caused it to gain a different approach.
When some of the methods of the original sword style were reversed, its practitioners became capable of borrowing the power of the storm to strengthen their attacks!
Their steps became heavier and their energy depletion grew more serious, but the reward for all of this was power!
Ketis had already been caught off-guard by Ivan’s initial manifestation of the storm. Now that she knew what to expect, she did not lose her sword a second time!
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
She maintained a solid, two-handed grip of her greatsword as she used the flat of its extensive blade to block the forceful strikes. She frequently turned around in order to meet the incoming attack runs. She also stepped back after every collision in order to absorb and bleed off the kinetic energy transferred to her body.
Different from his swift and light Breeze Steps, the movement technique that Ivan employed at this moment did not seek to evade at all. It actively sought out a confrontation!
The air shook around her as Ivan’s constant attack runs whipped up the surroundings and caused an echo of his power to linger after his passage.
The pressure he exerted and the will he radiated caused Ketis to feel as if she was a boat in a storm! The waves pushed her up and down and threatened to capsize her entirely. The surrounding became blurry to her as the storm around her grew stronger and more violent.
A normal swordsman would have succumbed at this point.
If they weren’t able to block the repeated charge attacks, the disorienting storm around them constantly gnawed at their focus and attention span.
The storm was incredibly distracting! Ketis struggled to keep her mind straight as Ivan’s repeated movements fed the storm.
From a top-down perspective, Ivan’s straight-line charges slowly turned like a wheel. It became clear that he did not wish to leave any area around her opponent untouched!
Ketis already sensed that something worse was on the horizon. Once the storm became strong enough, she feared that Ivan would leverage its power to unleash his killer move!
Although she wasn’t stupid enough to stay inside the trap, there was no way for her to escape the cage.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Ivan’s forceful attack runs weren’t about hitting her anymore. Instead, he utilized the force of his charges to push Ketis back to the middle and keep her in place.
“Damn bastard!”
The seeded competitor continued to treat her like a demonstration prop for his sword school! He wanted to end this battle in the most spectacular and visually-stimulating manner possible. Her participation was essential for him to pull off his show, so he ruthlessly suppressed her until he finished his preparations.
“How can I break this storm?!”
Breaking her opponent’s arrangements was her highest priority, but Ivan’s frequent attacks constantly put her on the defense. She could hardly keep herself afloat by blocking the incoming attack. How could she have any opportunity to launch a counterattack?
This couldn’t go on. She needed to do something quickly or get completely overtaken by Ivan!
Though the storm around her constantly pounded her mind with disorienting effects, Ketis was no slouch when it came to her mental fortitude.
As an Apprentice Mech Designer who was close to becoming a Journeyman, she had already condensed the beginnings of a design philosophy. Her core obsession and research focus kept a part of her mind stable and in control. She relied on it to remain sober so that she could figure out a countermeasure to her current predicament.
“What the hell is this storm? How come someone running around can induce such a drastic change in this environment?”
The storm wasn’t literal. It was impossible for a single human to stir up the wind to such an extent that they become strong and chaotic. It simply did not conform to science.
The reason why Ketis felt so pressured and burdened was because there was a mental component to the storm!
She only had to look at Ivan when he was charging to recognize the source of this phenomenon.
His body exuded a sensation that felt very familiar to Ketis. Having spent a lot of time in close proximity with Joshua, she recognized that Ivan had somehow managed to strengthen and empower his will in a way that allowed him to leverage it in a concrete fashion!
Just this realization alone was enough to upend her views about sword initiates.
While they weren’t necessarily capable of piloting mechs, their personal combat prowess was much greater than that of expert candidates and even expert pilots.
With just a small amount of willpower, they managed to develop several sophisticated means to channel it in a way that allowed them to alter reality in an inexplicable means.
“These guys are much further ahead than me when it comes to developing and expressing their superpowers!”
Compared to her original superpower, Ketis was too far behind! She was like a novice who started off from scratch while Heavensworders like Ivan benefited from a comprehensive inheritance.
Although it felt a bit depressing to her to recognize this disparity, she couldn’t afford to lose her focus.
She did not look at Ivan just to get demoralized!
Instead, she sought to grasp some clues that would allow her to break his game!
Seeing that much of her current predicament had to do with the willpower that Ivan actualized, Ketis rapidly started to think how she could use this knowledge to come up with a countermeasure.
She recalled her interactions and sparring sessions with Venerable Dise and Venerable Joshua.
She dug up some of the lessons she learned from Ves.
She thought back on her prior encounters against unfathomable opponents such as the Grey Watcher.
Different from other mech designers or swordswomen, Ketis had already become exposed to the more extraordinary side of reality. She even fought against an avatar of a dark god!
“Willpower is the key to their battle prowess. Every expert pilot and every swordmaster is very determined when it comes to their own purpose.”
The only true way to contend against Ivan was to leverage her own willpower!
However, there was one major problem.
Her will wasn’t as powerful and condensed as that of Ivan! In fact, her willpower was only moderately stronger than the average soldier. Every veteran Swordmaiden possessed similar wills. While they were very determined in their own way, there was nothing special about it compared to true transcendents!
She already knew the reason why she was unable to evolve her will in the same way as an expert candidate.
“I’m a mech designer!”
It was common sense that mech designers couldn’t simultaneously be mech pilots and vice versa. This was especially true at the higher ranks.
While the explanations for this were rather vague, she already learned enough to know that they were two mutually-exclusive progression paths.
As far as she was aware of, no one in the galaxy had successfully become both an expert pilot and a Journeyman Mech Designer!
Logically speaking, the same rules applied to swordsmanship as well. As an Apprentice Mech Designer, she had already progressed far enough as a mech designer that she simply couldn’t adopt the mindset of a strong-minded battle maniac.
Just thinking back on the factually-wrong ramblings of Venerable Trey Walinski already showed her why expert pilots were never suitable to become mech designers.
That put her in a difficult situation. A sword initiate, especially a potential tournament winner like Ivan, possessed so many advantages that Ketis could not resist by solely relying on the will of a mortal person.
Was she destined to lose this match?
Would this be the end of her attempt to revitalize the Swordmaidens?
“No! I can’t give up! Even if I’m a mech designer, I’m also a swordswoman! I don’t believe I can’t exceed Ivan!”
She became more bullheaded than ever as she focused on struggling against Ivan’s will.
Even though her will still lost out by a huge margin, the more she focused on resisting the storm, the more she was able to clear her mind.
This was not normal!
Ketis clearly felt her will hadn’t grown firmer. It was still as normal as ever. Yet somehow, she managed to gain ground and regain more clarity.
“How?!”
Then, she felt it. Sharpie, her living sword intent, had become increasingly simulated by her determination to resist.
Against the constant pressure exerted by Ivan, Sharpie did not remain oppressed, but instead became more indignant.
As a spiritual construct that encapsulated Ketis’ strongest attributes, it did not incorporate the concept of defeat.
SWISH! SWISH!
The more Ivan tried to press Sharpie down, the more it pushed back. Her sword intent slowly grew sharper and more defined as it finally faced its first true challenge.
Ketis briefly recalled something that Venerable Dise had said.
The Swordmaidens resisted adversity. They did not cower against stronger opponents. Instead, they pushed back incredibly hard in order to show that they meant business!
The Swordmaiden Sword Style was geared towards fighting against opponents that were larger, stronger and tougher than the Swordmaidens themselves.
She realized she should never stay in such a passive position. Standing still and letting Ivan weave his trap without interruption was not the Swordmaiden way!
“Sharpie! Help me! Channel my will and show everyone that a Swordmaiden will never bend!”
SWISH!
Sharpie acted like it had been waiting for her declaration. It began to swell and express more power than ever before.
Several unexplainable changes happened in her mind. While Ketis was ignorant of what was going on, she clearly felt the effects.
Somehow, the fusion between Sharpie and her own willpower caused Ketis to become a lot more stable than before. The disorientations and the distractions whipped up by the storm suddenly became a lot more bearable.
Ivan sensed the change. “Have you finally become serious? You certainly took your time!”
He misunderstood her condition. To him, Ketis exuded a vibe that was similar to that of a sword initiate.
Different from the rivals that Ivan Reid truly worried about, the will that empowered Ketis was not as nearly as strong and stable.
She wasn’t a true sword initiate, after all. Even if Sharpie somehow allowed her to become someone she wasn’t, she had not gone through the grueling training and effort that enabled the most dedicated swordsmen to advance to sword initiates!
However, her personal life experiences weren’t any less difficult, and Sharpie was still an intrinsic part of her mind, if abnormal.
It was that last property that was the most important! Even if it was an artificial construct, Sharpie’s strength was also her own strength, which meant that there were no compatibility problems!
The only reason why Sharpie’s empowered will was not that stable was because this was the first time that Ketis and her sword intent did something like this! They were not familiar with channeling the power of a sword initiate while Ivan was already a sword initiate for many years!
“Hah! The storm has arrived!” Ivan suddenly boasted as Ketis kept condensing her will. His fencing sword began to shake as a violent vortex formed around its blade! “Our Cloudstrider Sword Style contains several powerful finishing moves. Sword Devil, you have the honor of receiving the attack that I am most proud of! Your journey in the Greater Omanderie Festival ends here. Accept this defeat and go back to the moving homeless camp where you originally came from. Our Heavensword Association does not accept your evil swordsmanship!”
Ketis and Sharpie were still in the process of getting accustomed to the latest changes. They still needed time to figure out how to make use of their new strength!
Unfortunately, Ivan wasn’t willing to give them anymore time. As some kind of tornado surrounded his fencing sword, he lifted it up and began to charge straight at Ketis with the force of a natural disaster!
“EYE OF THE STORM!”
