A Powerful Martial Artist Reincarnates as a Nun Knight

As she entered the mansion’s foyer, Sophia chuckled and told Conra:
“It seems I must proceed alone from here.”
“Huh? Suddenly?”
“The bastard lord has fled through a secret passage. You go straight to the place I’ll tell you and apprehend the fleeing lord. Go ahead and wait there, he’ll show up eventually.”

Conra did not ask how Sophia knew this. There must have been a way. While he was curious about that method, he was undoubtedly Sophia’s squire and disciple. The time would surely come when she would teach him.

Without a word, the young boy assented to Sophia’s instructions and immediately led the soldiers onward, as Sophia had told him to take them along.

Meanwhile, after sending Conra off with a smile, Sophia ascended the stairs to the second floor lord’s study room with an expressionless face. Only the sounds of her trailing cape and soutane hem, and the clacking of her boot heels echoing rhythmically, remained in her wake up the stairs.

Finally reaching the study room door, Sophia raised her longsword. Then, moments later:

Bang!

Something exploded as Sophia’s blade clashed with the sword of the one waiting inside the study. Unable to withstand the force of the colliding longswords, the study’s doors shattered outward in an explosive burst. Faced with this clash that could obliterate anything between the blades, the one waiting inside spoke:

“This is the place where the rightful ruler of Brhymath conducts his affairs. I had hoped you would enter with some decorum, but I did not expect such a rude manner of opening the door.”
“How amusing. Yet you were prepared to draw your sword without hesitation against any intruder.”

Staring coldly without a hint of amusement, Sophia retorted. The other silently nodded in frank acknowledgment, his expression equally devoid of mirth.

Sophia’s vision took in the other’s appearance. Like her, the fully-armored figure of a knight – but what caught her eye was the form of his astral musculature enveloping his body. Compared to others, that hazy outline made Sophia purse her dried lips slightly.

‘This will be an interesting fight.’

At the doorless study entrance, the two briefly faced off in silence. Yet it was not mere tension – their weapons’ blades were interlocked, constantly engaged in bouts of fencing technique with subtle sring sounds.

This fencing to find openings for thrusts and slashes beyond the other’s defenses unfolded dynamically without the slightest pause, based on the empirical senses called fühlung, puren, or chonkyong. Their eyes continuously tracked each other’s astral muscles’ movements amidst the contest, the two greedily maneuvering like hungry serpents to seize any advantage.

In this fencing bout, Sophia gained the upper hand. As a former comprehensive martial arts master in her previous life and one who had built up her sword logic based on Tai Chi Chuan and Lichtenauer fencing in this life, finding a fencer superior to her in this longsword grappling would be exceedingly difficult.

Eventually, the disadvantaged opponent could only respond to the binding situation by making a large motion to abruptly wrench his sword free.

Retreating half a step before stepping forward into a wide horizontal slash, Sophia met it by rising into an overhead windmill strike, thrusting through the gap left by his swing.

However, the opponent deflected it with his gauntlet and connected full plate armor, immediately closing inside Sophia’s range. Sophia did not withdraw, meeting his force head-on and shoving him back. Unlike the previous give-and-take movements, the opponent retreated with a grunt.

‘It seems I have a slight edge in physical might.’

Even amidst the fight, Sophia coldly evaluated their respective strengths. In swordsmanship technique from the binding, she clearly surpassed him, while her astral muscle augmented might gave her a slim advantage in explosive strength.

Sophia’s feet took an unusual footwork stance as she advanced. With the momentum of a lion pouncing on its prey, she swiftly intruded inside the opponent’s range. The next moment, her gauntleted hand grasped the middle of her longsword’s blade in a half-sword grip. The opponent simultaneously adopted the same half-sword stance.

What followed was a fierce bout of half-swording and grappling techniques. The two spun and clashed, trying to thrust their blades through gaps in each other’s armor or immobilize limbs to restrict movement.

Sophia also delivered the decisive blow. In an instant, her center of gravity lowered as her figure violently shuddered. Her shoulder drove into the opponent’s breastplate, immediately followed by her back slamming into his abdomen – a shoulder strike into a rear kick in a whirling tornado-like spiral that sent the man reeling.

With a dull thud, Sophia swung the blade portion of her longsword like a pickaxe or sledgehammer at the staggering opponent. Despite being winded from her onslaught, the man hurriedly raised his longsword in defense.

A heavy impact resounded before he managed to defend, the man crumpling to one knee in a defeated posture. Gasping raggedly in that broken stance, he eventually coughed up black blood.

“Kughuk, huah… You, you’re a monstrous aberration. Are all Paladin knights like you?”

Only after spitting out blood and coughing repeatedly did the man regain his breath enough to ask. Sheathing her sword, Sophia shrugged nonchalantly:

“Perhaps they are more or less similar? But you too are a considerably formidable master, I must say. Honestly, I don’t understand – why does one such as yourself serve as a mere retainer to an incompetent rural lord?”

“He has a debt passed down from his ancestors. I swore to help him repay it. Doing all I can to fulfill that is my pride as a swordsman.”

Saying this, the man straightened the knee he had bent and stood, raising his sword upright. His stance exuded a sense of condensed solidity like a boulder – the pride of a swordsman who had devoted his life to the blade given shape through his aura. Seeing this, Sophia sighed:

“I see. If a swordsman stakes his pride, then it cannot be helped. Honoring that, I too shall give my full effort.”

In an instant, the aura enveloping Sophia shifted.

Internal energy pathways opened one by one, as the kundalini began stirring from her chakras. Her astral musculature across her entire body tightened with enhanced toughness and resilience. The “Martial Ordeal” and “Heroic Ordeal” legacies activated, designating this battle as the manifestation of the “Duel Legacy”. Her astral brain moved to augment her five senses with heightened speed and acuity.

“I’ve named this the Espadon lourd sans tranchant – the Heavy Sword Without Edges. Try and receive it.”

Sophia raised her longsword overhead. The opposing swordsman gulped dryly, raising his blade in a firmer defensive stance known as the Hengenauert in Lichtenauer fencing.

Their auras swelled as condensed power created taut tension amid the stillness. Seeing her opponent ready, Sophia finally released the surging might rippling within. The longsword raised overhead began descending slowly, then…

Kwaaarrrunng!!!

A thunderous boom erupted.

+++++

As Sophia came down with the unconscious swordsman slung over one shoulder, Conra had already apprehended and brought the fleeing lord to her. Seeing the swordsman carried over Sophia’s shoulder, Conra raised an eyebrow before asking:

“Master, who is that you have there?”
“The swordsman who was guarding the lord. Quite a skilled one too. I simply knocked him out instead of killing him, as it would have been a waste. Anyway, is that the lord?”

Sophia eyed the one Conra had apprehended disdainfully.

“Insolence! I am the rightful ruler of Brhymath! I demand the proper treatment due to a lord!”
“Not the rightful ruler of Brhymath, but rather an irresponsible deserter. Did you know that your own actions ruined your own territory? Yet you still abandoned it to flee? You’re aware that is dereliction of duty under the kingdom’s laws?”
“Fled, who says?!”
“Then why, when I sought an audience, did you block the way with your knights and soldiers while fleeing through a secret passage yourself? Could you not have simply come forth and claimed your innocence?”

Sophia imposed a chilling, heavy aura to prevent the lord of Brhymath from further delusions. Grasping his chin with one hand while fixing her gaze into his quaking eyes, she channeled a predatory aura through her stare.

“Well, it’s settled. You’ll simply take responsibility for your actions. I have already sent letters regarding you to the Order’s Capitulum, the king of Frangian, and the Frangian Tripartite Council. I did not come to negotiate with you, but to apprehend you. Soon, personnel from the nearby royal demesne and diocese will arrive to take over your lordly duties and for your transfer. Until then, you can obediently stay confined with your retainers.”

Having coldly spoken and turned away from the lord, Sophia suddenly laughed as she gently rubbed her palm.
“Now then, shall we have an enjoyable time of separating the wheat from the chaff before that?”

Seeing Sophia’s curled lip as she smiled, Conra could not help but interject:
“Master, could you please refrain from making expressions unbecoming of the clergy? Honestly, it’s a bit scary.”

Of course, that feeble protest was instantly suppressed by the wrathful iron fist sanctions that followed.