Fighting Atofe

She advanced. It wasn't a speed Rudeus could not follow with his eyes. She had restrained herself to Saint-rank Battle Aura, just like when she fought with Moore using King-rank strength. A conscientious teacher, this stray thought cross Rudeus' mind.

Even so, despite using only Saint-rank speed, Atofe's movement technique felt ephemeral and phantasmal, like a ghost or a spectre. Rudeus, who was used to instinctively reading his opponent's movements in order to predict what they were going to do felt himself at a loss trying to see through Atofe's movements.

It was like very step she took was a feint that made Rudeus freeze with inaction.

'Was she going to zig to the left or zag to the right? Or perhaps she was just running straight at me. No, her body weight is shifting to the left, but how is she moving to the right? Eh, she clearly stepped forward but did the distance between us lengthen?'

He did not know how to react, since he couldn't even tell from which direction Atofe was advancing towards him. Was she going to swing from the left or the right? Was she going to thrust her sword forward instead?

Rudeus hastily brought up his sword to defend himself but before he knew it, his vision was already filled with red. A long diagonal gash was cut open on his armour and blood sprayed out.

Atofe had swung her massive broadsword from below carving upwards diagonally whereas Rudeus had tilted his sword to the right, erroneously thinking it was coming from that direction. He had completely misread the timing and angle of the attack.

Rudeus took a few steps back, still astonished at Atofe's movements.

'Amazing… This is a true expert!'

"Do you understand?" She simply asked.

Rudeus recognize the theory behind Floating Petal. It was incredible. Feints were layered over fakes in order to induce mayhem and disrupt the opponent's sense of what was real and what was only an illusion. Every movement made, even the slightest twitch of a muscle, was intentionally done so to deceive the opponent.

However, if he had to execute the technique… he would definitely look a lot more clumsy than the graceful Atofe. Even so, he understood enough to try and replicate the technique, even if it did not match up to the level of sophistication Atofe displayed.

He nodded in response, "Yes. I think I do."

"You think? You either get it or you don't." She chided his hesitance.

Atofe then noticed the blood still spilling out of his armour. "Oh, you better heal yourself first. I don't want you to suddenly drop dead while I am training you, ha ha ha!"

Rudeus had been too immersed in deciphering Floating Petal to even notice that his chest was currently bleeding profusely. He focused mana on his torso and cast a Healing spell wordlessly.

Once his flesh and skin had knitted together to completely heal the injury, he turned back to Atofe, "I am okay now. Let's continue."

She nodded in approval, "You are enthusiastic. That is good. I love students who are eager to learn. Now, show me what you have understood."

"Yes, master!" The term flowed out of his lips effortlessly. He was already too dazzled by Atofe's abilities to remember how he ended up as her student in the first place. His mind was now singularly focused on fathoming Floating Petal and its intricacies. Escaping had become a secondary, or even a tertiary objective now.

Like a man dying of thirst who was finally given a sip of water, or an addict finally getting a hit after craving for a needle for too long, Rudeus' eyes had a frenzied quality to them. This was swordsmanship at the highest level performed by one of the strongest people in the world!

He began to empathize with his seniors who had given up on escaping. Any martial artist who witnessed Atofe's techniques would undoubtedly fall in love with her swordsmanship, if not the woman who wielded them.

Rudeus held his sword firmly, remembering what he could about the Floating Petal demonstrated by Atofe. Then, his body moved, replicating as best as he can the original North God technique created by Kalman I.

The secret to Floating Petal resided in its name. Like a petal falling while being carried in myriad directions by the wind - unpredictable and everchanging. At times appearing dream-like, while other times seemingly spectral. When executed at the highest level, Floating Petal made one's enemy doubt whether he was still sane.

He advanced towards Atofe, utilizing feints and fakes with every step he took. He paid attention to his breathing, the smallest twitches of his muscles, the direction his eyes were looking at, even before trying to imitate the movement techniques he had witnessed.

Just as he was about to reach Atofe and swing his sword, the Demon King who was smiling calmly reached out with her foot and launched a front kick that crashed against his chest. He flew back, coughing out blood from the sheer force of the impact. He landed on his feet, but still shaking from the aftereffects of the kick.

His armour had caved in from the kick, which left a boot shaped indentation on the metallic breastplate. The dent slowly regenerated, however, and soon no evidence of any damage remained.

"Pretty good. You are still clumsy, and unfamiliar with the technique. But it was passable. You have a pretty good memory, able to replicate maybe 30% after I showed it just once. You're just like me. Kal always said I was clever. He said I had a good memory too."

Rudeus couldn't tell if that was the usual flattery a husband would give his wife, but Atofe certainly wasn't stupid. At least, not when it came to fighting. She accurately saw through that he had learnt all three sword styles, even though he had only revealed Sword God techniques.

'Just by learning the other two sword styles, how I moved and how I held my sword was influenced – the adaptability of North God, defensiveness of Water God and aggression of Sword God; these characteristics melded into my fighting style unconsciously.'

Atofe was able to pick up on tiny clues like these, thanks to her wealth of experience being a long-lived immortal.

"Thank you for your praise, Demon King." Rudeus expressed.

Atofe smiled approvingly, "Fu fu, my subordinates usually call me mistress, or lord. But you are talented enough that I am willing to recognize you as my disciple. From now, you can call me master!"

"Yes master!" Rudeus called out. He couldn't help it. His respect for the woman who forced him into becoming her slave was growing by leaps and bounds after watching her swordsmanship.

Atofe smiled as she brandished her weapon, "Here is the second technique - Shadow Sword. Watch closely."

She ran towards Rudeus, while swinging her sword in a bizarre manner.

The massive broadsword weaved through the air, its broad size causing wind to bellow every time it was swung by Atofe.

Rudeus, as instructed, watched carefully, unable to understand the purpose of his master's movements. Until, all of a sudden, he realized - he could no longer see the sword.

He could still see Atofe moving towards him without issue, however, it was like there was something preventing him from seeing her weapon and her sword arm. As if someone had photoshopped them out of a video, regardless of how little sense that made.

'I... I can't see it. Where is her sword? I don't understand!'

Within moments, Atofe arrived next to him and once more, he felt a sharp pain. This time, his thigh had been cut open, while Atofe's massive broadsword reappeared, held in her hand as though it had never disappeared.

How could he defend himself when he couldn't even see the sword he was trying to defend against?

And it wasn't like his illusion magic [Invisibility] which emanated fluctuations of mana if his enemy had a keen sensitivity for mana.

He could not feel any signs of mana being used to hide the sword, aside from the Battle Aura being used to by Atofe to enhance her strength. Rather than using a layer of mana to create an illusionary falsehood, it was as though the sword had slipped out of existence.

His mind could not see through the secrets of this technique!

"Do you understand?" Atofe asked again.

This time, Rudeus bitterly shook his head. He truly did not understand how Atofe had done what she did.

She shrugged, "That's okay. I'll show you again."

Rudeus raised his head in surprise, but Atofe was already coming towards him.

Once more, he struggled to see through the ruse. But he failed. Atofe left another cut down his chest as a punishment.

"Again."

His left ear was almost sliced off. But only a bit of flesh near the lobe was removed. He barely had enough time to move his head away.

"Again."

Atofe pierce her sword into his chest. But before the blade could run through his torso, Rudeus managed to stop its advance with his hands.

"Again."

This time, Atofe was merciless. Her sword was swung upwards, aimed at his groin. However, Rudeus managed to block it, and save his family treasure from being damaged.

Atofe smiled.

"Do you understand?"

Despite the black armour doing its best to protect Rudeus, he was still covered in blood. Healing magic worked overtime, healing his wounds and resupplying him with precious blood that he had lost a lot of.

Even so, Rudeus was grinning. He finally managed to perceive the mysteries behind Shadow Sword. Barely, but enough to block it before he lost his family treasure. Perhaps that was what Atofe had been aiming for. He needed a urgent sense of motivation to push himself to see through her technique. Or perhaps she was just sadistic in that way.

"I understand, master." Rudeus answered.

Shadow Sword did not rely on any tricks like illusion magic. It was actually quite simple once he understood what Atofe was doing to make her sword disappear like that. It was difficult to explain in words, but it was something like cutting through the wind and hiding it from light.

It didn't make sense trying to comprehend it with logic. Instead, one needed to use the abstract concept of instincts and gut feeling to make sense of it. Perhaps this was why many high ranking swordsmen were idiots. Once they reached a certain point in the martial path, it was easier to throw away logic and common sense, and embrace instincts instead.

Rudeus apprehensively swung his sword, replicating Atofe's bizarre movements. And for a split second, his sword disappeared from the world.

He felt that Shadow Sword was not a very fitting name for the technique. It made more sense to call it Lightbending Sword. Actually, shadow and darkness was precisely the absence of light. So in that sense, perhaps the name Shadow Sword suited the technique perfectly.

"Not bad." Atofe complimented.

"This is the third technique..."

"This is the fourth technique...."

"This is the fifth technique..."

This was how Rudeus spent the rest of the day. Atofe demonstrated the true North God style by carving her techniques into Rudeus' body. He would then try to replicate it, though only achieving a small success every time.

In between, Atofe would chime in with advice and her insights. They were sometimes long critiques, and other times just a few short words. But every time he received her guidance, Rudeus felt like he was comprehending something beyond just sword techniques.

He realized that he was starting to comprehend the essence of his sword. He started to see the fundamental direction of his swordsmanship. It was only a nascent form of understanding, but unknowingly, the 'sword heart' that Ghislaine had talked about before was starting to take shape.

Rudeus was immersed in swordplay. He began understanding the shape of his sword like never before. Its weight, its sharpness, its balance. He realized that he was enjoying himself. Despite having been forced into slavery, he found himself happier than he had been since he was born.

Atofe's insights into the sword, her wealth of experience, all contributed to his growing understanding of his nascent sword heart.

Though Ghislaine was a master swordswoman in her own right, the beastwoman could not compare to Atofe in terms of instruction and mastery of the blade. Not only through words, Atofe's every movement when they fought guided and corrected his movements.

Their training session finally ended when another of Atofe's Imperial Guard interrupted them.

"Mistress, it has been three days since you started training the newbie. The training schedule..." The knight hesitantly spoke.

Though the Imperial Guards were Atofe's subordinates, they were also her students at the same time. And with so many of them around, Atofe had established a rotation training schedule. Meaning, the guards had to take turns learning from the Demon King every day.

Unknowingly, both Rudeus and Atofe had been training for 56 hours consecutively, but neither had realized it had been that long. Atofe was an immortal demon who did not need to eat or sleep, whereas Rudeus had been keeping himself going with Healing magic. Even so, despite the immense of fatigue and hunger, the boy had not noticed any of these things.

In his heart, learning the sword was more important than anything else. Not even his life was as important.

Rudeus had become, or perhaps he had always been, a destined sword fanatic.