Advent of the Three Calamities

'.....I can never get used to this sight.'

I stood on my spot in awe of what I was seeing. It was hard to take my eyes off his movements. They were perfect. Almost like a work of art.

As my knight, I had seen him train before.

I had only caught glimpses of it, but each time, I'd be mesmerized by what I was seeing.

'As expected of the main character...'

Good thing that his actions attracted the gazes of multiple cadets. If not, I would've feared my identity as his analyst would've been exposed.

"Huu."

Taking a small breath, I looked around me and settled my gaze on a training dummy off in the distance.

"I should probably get to work as well."

The point of today's training was to display our skills on the training dummies scattered around. Powered by magical circuits, they could move on their own and could dodge and counter-attack.

They were the perfect puppets to practice on.

I was just about to head to one when I stopped again. My gaze once again fell on Leon.

Swoosh, Swoosh—!

The air whistled with each of his strikes. Leaning forward, the air tore and the sword cut through the air.

It was an instantaneous movement. One that took less than a second.

Picturing myself on the opposite end, the only thing that crossed my mind was,

"....I'd die."

There was no other outcome. The speed and power of his strike was simply incredible. But that wasn't what prompted me to look at him.

For some reason, I couldn't take my eyes away from his feet.

Shifting with every movement, they followed a set pattern.

'Forward, left, forward, left, right, forward...'

Swoosh—!

'Forward, left, forward, left, right, forward...'

Swoosh—!

The pattern was subtle, but it was definitely there. Engrossed in his movements, I didn't notice that I was now the only one looking at Leon.

I only noticed when Leon stopped and looked at me.

Our gazes met and I looked around me.

'Ah.'

Without changing my expression, I looked back at him for a short movement and asked,

"Do you think it's possible for me to be able to do your footwork?"

"Footwork...?"

He looked surprised by the question.

"You want to know if you can do my footwork?"

"Yes."

I quietly nodded.

Then, under his gaze, I started to mimic his movements. Forward, left, forward, left, right, and forward. My movements were rather awkward, but I didn't bother and continued to do them.

I didn't know whether they'd be useful to me, but I felt like I was onto something.

Performing the set of movements, I looked up once I was done.

"...."

Leon stood quietly with his brows slightly furrowed.

"How was it?"

He didn't answer immediately. Sorting through his thoughts, he quietly said.

"It's rough."

As expected...

".....I'll show you one more time."

"Hm?"

"Make sure you watch carefully."

The situation took me by surprise, but I didn't waste it. I stood silently and stared ahead as Leon got into a stance.

He took a step forward.

I stared intently at his actions and deeply engraved every little detail. From the pivot of his foot to his breathing and hand movements.

While my focus was on his feet, I knew that the little details in the other movements were also of importance. The same was true for the mana flow. However, that part was a lot harder to see and feel.

Mainly because I couldn't see the flow. The only indication was from his breathing and the faint glow that traced over his sword.

Swoosh—!

His sword flowed forward. Carrying on with the momentum, he pivoted slightly and stepped to the left. The transition was extremely smooth. It hardly seemed as though he had moved at all.

He continued.

His heel shifted, and he once again took another stop.

Forward.

His momentum never ceased. During each movement, the sword would seamlessly follow his movements, carrying forward and striking at the air.

Left again.

I studied everything.

I didn't let anything slip from my mind.

It felt as though I was close to grasping something. It made no sense. This was something that was specifically for [Body] type users, and yet...

Swoosh—!

The air whistled and my hair scattered.

"....I'm done."

Before I knew it, Leon was standing with his sword sheathed. I stood in a daze for a few seconds before closing my eyes and nodding my head.

"Thank you."

Without saying anything else, I headed towards a more secluded area and closed my eyes.

I traced Leon's movements in my mind.

From his leg movements to his breathing. I tried to mimic it but found myself having a hard time doing so.

It took me a good minute to get the breathing correct.

Only then did I open my eyes and step forward.

"Forward, lef-"

I stopped right on the second step.

It was as if my legs had been glued down by massive weights. It simply refused to take that step.

"Why...?"

I stopped and pondered.

Was there something with the movement? No, that was unlikely. I repeated the movement. This time without any mana.

It flowed smoothly this time.

"As expected, the problem is the mana flow."

There was a specific mana flow that I needed to follow. One that only Leon was familiar with.

"Hmm."

This was a bit of a problem...

".....Looks like I'll have to give up trying to copy him."

I thought about asking him about the mana flow, but that was probably too much. Furthermore, it wasn't necessary.

I only wanted to partially mimic his steps, not his entire movement or whatever that was.

He was a sword user, so it would be absurd for me to copy his movements in their entirety. What I needed knowledge of was the principle behind his movements.

How would such movements benefit me?

"Let's settle with three steps first."

I let the mana flow inside of my body and extended my hand.

Clank, clank, clank—!

Chains manifested in my hands, and I took a step forward. I swung my hand at the same time.

Swoosh—

The air whistled.

"Ukh...!"

I was just about to follow that up with another movement when my arm tensed and I was knocked forward due to the momentum.

Clank!

I dropped the chains on the ground as a result.

"Haa..."

I stuck out my tongue and took a breath.

"I rushed."

The chain on the ground scattered, reappearing on my hand again. Before repeating the movement, I closed my eyes and imagined the path of my feet.

The same was true for the mana flow.

"...."

I didn't know how long had passed but as I opened my eyes again, I took a step forward. My squads tensed, and I swung down with my right hand.

Swoosh—

I followed a similar pattern compared to my first try.

However...

"Scatter."

The moment the chain was eye-level with my chest, I scattered it, and directly stepped to the left, following it up with another hand movement where a new chain appeared.

"Haa..."

My muscles screamed under the tension, however, I ignored the pain and continued the swing.

CLANK!

A loud clanking sound resounded and I dropped on my ass.

"Haaa... Haaa...."

My breath was heavy and sweat trickled down the side of my face. Looking down, I stared at my hands. They were both blistered and bleeding. It felt as though I had just touched fire.

"Haaa..."

However, rather than minding it, I felt like smiling.

"....I did it."

It was still extremely raw, but I had found a way to further improve my new technique.

Clenching my hands and feeling the pain, I let a few seconds adjust my mind to the newfound pain before standing up and getting into a stance.

"Again."

I planned on getting to at least three moves before testing it against one of the puppets.

'It'll probably take me months to completely master or get the hang of, but...'

It was definitely worth the practice.

Of that, I was sure.

***

"Hmm~ Who did you get? Come on, you can tell me. Pretty please...?"

Josephine rested her chin over Evelyn's shoulder as she continuously whispered in her ear.

"Hey... I know you can hear me. Does my voice tickle?"

"...."

Despite her efforts, Evelyn continued to ignore her.

Her attention was currently drawn towards the distance where a figure stood. With long flowing platinum hair and red eyes, she stood by herself in the distance.

Clank—!

Her weapon of choice was her fists. Or to be precise, her body?

Deftly dodging the strikes of the dummy, Kiera appeared to be bored. Casually stepping to the side, she slapped the dummy's head.

Faintly, Evelyn caught a glimpse of a smile on her face as she did so, but pretended to not have seen it.

"Hmm, so she's the one you're analyzing?"

Josephine's voice once again made it to her ear. It tickled slightly, and Evelyn's brows finally furrowed as she took her gaze away from Kiera.

"Are you done?"

Evelyn pushed Josephine's face away.

"What are you even doing here? Why aren't you doing your job?"

"Hmmm."

Josephine's shoulders slumped.

"I tried, but he..."

She sighed.

"...He was so busy watching Leon that I ended up wasting ten minutes for nothing."

"Hm?"

Evelyn blinked.

"Your partner is Julie-"

"Hey!"

Josephine hastily covered Evelyn's mouth.

"It's supposed to be a secret!"

'But you just said mine...'

Evelyn wanted to say, but couldn't because her mouth was covered. Still, she got her message through her gaze.

With a long and exaggerated sigh, Josephine waved her hand.

"Alright, fine... fine..."

And headed out.

"....It's not like I'll see much."

She ended up grumbling throughout the way.

It was a known fact that Julien was weak. No, he was strong and weak... He was bipolar.

"No, that's not how that works..."

In any case.

He wasn't strong.

"Where is he?"

Looking around, Josephine squinted her eyes. Her body felt lifeless. She was feeling pretty lazy. It took her a moment to spot his figure in the distance. He seemed to be in the middle of challenging one of the dummies.

"Oh."

Her eyes lit up a little.

That was going to be interesting...

"Will he lose?"

It would be pretty funny to watch.

With renowned vigor, Josephine headed towards a better area to get a better look. She had just arrived on her spot when he started.

"Oh."

Her eyes immediately focused on Julien.

'So handsome...'

"Ehm."

Clearing her throat, she put on a straight face.

'Right, right... I'm not here to admire his looks. I can do that later.'

In general, Josephine treated the entire situation lightheartedly. It was how she usually was. She never took anything seriously.

Furthermore, with her father being a renowned knight working for the Megrail family, she was well-versed in these types of situations. After experiencing movements characteristic of [Body] type and weapon arts, she perceived everything around her as rather boring—except for Leon, who stood out.

His swordsmanship was rather unique.

'I wonder where he learned it from...?'

It seemed just as advanced as her family's one.

Her thoughts continued like this for a few seconds, until...

"Oh...?"

Her face changed as her mouth hung open.

Clank, clank, clank—

It was fast. Almost seamless. There were a lot of wasted movements, but it was getting faster and faster.

A shiver gradually ran down her spine...

One that intensified by a loud metallic sound causing her to flinch.

CLANK!

The dummy was still intact, and the figure appeared to warn out. With blood dripping from his palms, and sweat endlessly pouring out from his face, it looked like a pathetic sight.

However, to the only one watching, she found nothing pathetic about the sight.

Especially after what had just seen.

"This..."

The situation left her stumped.

"How am I going to judge this...?"

What even was this?