Abnormal Type-Moon

During the second sparring session, Roy had his sword knocked away by Kirin on the fifth move.

"Again!"

In the third sparring, Roy was cut in the chest on the eighth move.

"Once more!"

By the fourth sparring, Roy's abdomen was slashed open just by the third move.

If this were a real duel, he might have died several times over by now.

Of course, this was only practice—or rather, a void sparring where both kept a three-meter distance, countering each other's moves without real contact, so no real harm was done.

"Again!"

Roy's face gradually twisted as he repositioned his sword into the starting stance, eyes fixed intently on Kirin across from him.

Julis's expression shifted in less than three minutes—from serious, to stunned, and then finally to speechless.

"You're not strong at all, are you!"

"Before that, can I ask Roy-senpai a few questions?"

But Kirin shook her head, sheathed her sword, and looked seriously at Roy.

"Roy-senpai, is your center of gravity deliberately kept so high?"

"What do you mean?"

Roy was momentarily stunned but then asked back calmly.

"No, I just thought your swordsmanship basics seemed unusual. Your center of gravity has been high since the first sparring. I wondered if it was some special sword style, but after several rounds, I still can't find any special meaning in your stance..."

Kirin stepped closer to Roy and demonstrated her own stance.

Feet spaced front and back, center of gravity lowered, both hands gripping the sword.

This was her own stance.

Then she shortened her steps, raising the center of gravity slightly.

This was the stance she said Roy was using.

"I arranged it purely based on my understanding."

Seeing Kirin's two stances side by side, Roy also felt something was off and honestly answered.

"I see, I think I get it now."

Kirin looked enlightened and confidently asked again.

"Roy-senpai, you weren't taught swordsmanship by anyone, right? You trained on your own. Although you joined some sword style school, you probably only received something like a sword manual."

"That's impressive, you can tell that?"

Roy looked at Kirin in amazement.

Kirin basically got it right.

Though Roy obtained the swordsmanship memories of Okita Souji, no one actually taught him. He practiced alone, puzzling it out from the memories in his mind.

"It's nothing special."

Kirin's cheeks flushed slightly, as if embarrassed by the compliment, but her expression was clearly happy.

"Also, if I'm right, whenever you practice, you feel something off—like your strength isn't being properly applied, right?"

"Exactly!"

Roy nodded repeatedly.

He inwardly sighed in relief; picking Kirin for sparring was definitely the right choice.

"Did I make some mistake in practicing?"

He corrected his attitude and humbly asked Kirin for guidance.

Julis, seeing this, couldn't help but twitch the corner of her mouth.

"Don't you have any shame left?"

"There's actually no mistake with your moves—the mistake is with you."

Kirin didn't mind at all and eagerly began correcting Roy's sword practice errors.

"Simply put, you're just reproducing the sword techniques from the manual instead of making them your own moves. Take this basic middle stance as an example: your stance probably mimics someone else's, keeping the same front-to-back foot distance as them. But that person is much shorter than you. So by copying their stance exactly, your center of gravity is naturally too high."

"What you need to do is find your own ideal front-to-back foot distance—the one that best suits your power delivery—and create your own version of this basic middle stance. Only then will you be able to fully unleash the power of your sword techniques!"

I see!

Roy suddenly felt enlightened.

In other words, even when practicing swordsmanship, one must adapt to the circumstances—or rather, adapt to the individual. The sword techniques should be adjusted according to his own height, bone structure, and so forth, tailoring them to better fit his own power structure. Only then can the techniques truly become his own.

This is actually a very simple truth, but Roy had placed excessive faith in Okita Souji's swordsmanship mastery, believing that following her style unquestioningly was absolutely correct, and thus failed to realize this.

Of course, he had been practicing swordsmanship for less than a month, so the short time was also a factor.

With Kirin Toudou's help, Roy quickly changed his approach to training. Instead of simply practicing sword techniques, he began searching for postures, attack angles, and attack trajectories that suited him.

Julis watched from the side, visibly noticing Roy's moves becoming smoother, more powerful, and faster.

Kirin also couldn't hide her surprise.

Such rapid progress.

Training to find a structure that fits oneself can take ordinary people ten or fifteen days or more to complete, but Roy senpai managed to find and adapt to it within just an hour—his improvement was nothing short of miraculous!

Even with her assistance, this kind of progress was truly extraordinary!

Could Roy actually be a sword prodigy?

Ding dong!

In the middle of their practice, suddenly a notification sound rang in all three ears.

A sound-only spatial window appeared near Kirin's hand.

"Kirin, open the door!"

A male voice came from outside, sharp and commanding.

"It's Uncle!"

Kirin's expression instantly became flustered.

Julis's face darkened.

The pleasant and friendly atmosphere shattered in an instant.

Seeing their expressions change, Roy narrowed his eyes.

This reaction was rather unusual.

"What are you doing? Open the door now!"

An impatient voice called from outside.

Not daring to delay, Kirin activated the spatial window and opened the arena's door.

A middle-aged man in a brown suit strode into the arena.

Immediately, his eagle-like sharp gaze fell on Roy and Julis.

No—to be precise, it landed solely on Julis.

Roy was completely ignored.

"Princess Julis, why are you here?"

Julis's face was icy cold.

Though she was usually cold by nature, now it seemed as if she had frozen over. She appeared to deeply dislike, even despise, Kirin's uncle.

Before Julis could reply, Kirin hurried forward to greet her uncle.

"Um, I invited Julis senpai and Roy senpai to stay!"

"What?"

Kouichirou Toudou's face darkened.

His already unpleasant expression became even more terrifying.

"Sorry, this is my fault."

Seeing the man like a volcano about to erupt, Roy took a step forward.

"I had something I wanted to ask Kirin, so I forcibly stayed here for a while. Julis was only kept here because of me."

Julis glanced at him.

"Hmph, someone like you little brat, I don't know how many I've seen before. I'm well aware of your intentions."

Kouichirou's attention shifted to Roy, his domineering gaze swept over him. Suddenly, a sneer appeared.

"You just want to ride the top-ranked horse, then be her follower to gain some sense of self-satisfaction. Maybe you're even thinking of using that pretty face of yours to seduce Kirin, but I will absolutely not allow it. You two leave now, and never come near Kirin again!"

***

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