8th of March, the Year 1202
14:30
Auster Manor, Forest

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“Shit...”

Dozens of wooden fragments lay scattered across the forest clearing with small splatters of blood in between. Cordelia lay on her back spread-eagled, panting heavily as she stared up into the clear blue sky with hazed eyes, trying to regain her breath. Her hands were stained with red and littered with splinters, evidence of the harsh training that she had imposed on herself as soon as she had fully recovered.

      Her small skirmish with that elven infiltrator made her realise how weak she really was. Cordelia didn’t actually have that much combat experience against humanoid opponents as she had been fighting monsters for much of her life. She even managed to kill a young dragon at some point but when it came to killing people, she froze up, just like she did back then. 

      Space-Time Magic was a terribly powerful ability; you could tap into the deepest roots of time and literally rip open tears in reality itself; the applications were endless. In return, the mana drain was monstrous, a drawback that Cordelia had not yet circumvented, resulting in her ‘defeat’. Falling into mana debt at that moment would have spelt death for her in the middle of a battle. The only other weapon she had was her sword, something that she was quite confident with when compared to peers of similar age. 

      However, that didn’t mean she should rely on it recklessly. As proven by that fight, she had gotten arrogant and overextended herself to the point where she had to break out her trump card. The move used was one of the more crude applications of Space-Time Magic: a pocket dimension. She altered the laws of physics inside that dimension, causing gravity and time to warp to such an extent that that elf would die instantly the moment he entered. In her panic, she had cranked up the settings too much, causing her to waste copious amounts of mana when she could’ve used only a fraction to kill him slowly but inevitably. 

      Therefore, with only a couple days left to spare, she jumped into a rigid training session to hone her sword. Compared to her Space-Time Magic, it was reliable and could be used as long as she had a sword. Her Kumia Combat Arts was passed down from her parents who had eastern roots, in the Island of the Rising Sun to be specific. It spanned from sword arts to the most basic footwork, a truly versatile combat art fit for anyone. However, it was because it was ‘fit for anyone’ that made it redundant; Cordelia wanted a fighting style that was for herself only and she was on the verge of completing it so that it may be acknowledged by the System. 

      She had developed it for five years now with the guidance of her teacher, Mark, and had tested it countless times against different monsters with varying success. Though, the key behind it was not its offensive capabilities… no, that was something she would leave to her magic abilities since swordsmanship was inherently close-ranged. She had to get close to her opponent to even have a chance to land a hit but if she was to try to approach, she could be bombarded from long-range. Thus, she developed this solely for the purpose of countering that. Combining this with her basic foundation of swordsmanship and her magic, she could blitz her opponents while simultaneously defending against their attacks. 

      “Fuu~…”

Breathing out, Cordelia slowly got up and grabbed the last bokken leaning against a tree. She had gone through 9 of them already and had set a target to break 10 before going back to the manor to rest. 

“Last one. Here we go.”

She lowered into a stance before dashing forward, stepping on a pressure plate hidden beneath the grass and triggering the training course. In the next moment, several bursts of wind were heard around the forest as rigged arrow traps that were concealed behind leaves and branches let go of their payload. From 180 degrees in front of her, arrows rained down upon her form as she continued to dash through the forest, leaping from branch to branch like a nimble monkey. Just as they were about to penetrate her body, her right hand which had been holding her bokken at her waist flung outwards in a flurry of movements. 

      Ching! Crack! Clink!

As if hitting an invisible wall, the arrows were repelled in a spectacular fashion as they were either deflected, knocked off course or broken in half as soon as they reached within a specific range of Cordelia. A storm of shadowy movements was present around her body as her arm flickered in and out of existence like a hurricane of swords. By flicking her wrist and arm in a specific movement fast enough, Cordelia could extend her range by using the air that is displaced from the intense movement to hit projectiles out of the air, though this didn’t always work. No arrow could get close to her as they were blocked and she flew through the course, her face slightly red and strained. 

      If you were to look closely, you could see shards of wood breaking off with every arrow that was deflected, and that the range at which they were blocked was slowly getting shorter. Cordelia gritted her teeth as she glanced at her bokken which was now only 3 quarters of its original 28 inches, at about 21 inches. There was bokken in the storage room capable of lasting much longer but she had purposefully picked the weakest ones so that she could refine her technique. Instead of meeting the arrows head-on and chipping off more wood, she would only need to tap it on the side to shift its trajectory. By using this weaker bokken, she could train this to the point where it was second-nature to her. After all, she didn’t want her future weapons breaking because of her shoddy skills. 

      Although her skills Precognition and Parallel Thinking gave her a lot of leeways, it still wasn’t enough for her to fully cope with the hail of arrows that constantly assailed her. Even if her other ‘minds’ could register the arrows while she focused on hitting them out of the air, what did it matter if her body couldn’t keep up? Precognition hit the same problem as she was able to correctly predict the pathways of some arrows but she was gradually unable to withstand the assault. 

      She had no time to think as an arrow was blocked incorrectly, causing half of it to sneak through and almost gouge out her eyes as she swiftly shifted her head to the left. Cordelia knew that her defence was not infallible so this doubled as a reaction and evasion training for her as more and more arrows managed to pierce through. Dodging and weaving through them, her bokken was whittled down with each deflection until it was only 7 inches long. Just barely enough, she thought.

      Shurk! 

One cut. Three. Seven. Blood flowed freely from a dozen cuts and wounds as she struggled to keep up. Her tired body played a big part in her struggle to keep all of the arrows at bay as she was mentally and physically fatigued already. This harsh training was to stimulate her instincts as blunted arrows would do nothing in that area. It was recorded that a life and death situation was a common prerequisite for creating your own skill; this was what Cordelia was aiming for. She got what she asked for. 

      Her pupils dilated as an arrow bypassed her defence, unscathed, heading straight towards her face. Faster. Quicker. Swifter. She pushed herself to the very limit, focusing everything in that single moment. She didn’t need a minute. Not even a second. No. Just that single instance of time where she put everything on the line. If she didn’t, she’d die. Her muscles tore and protested against the intense strain and her head ached with a pounding throb. 

     Tap.

And just like that, her bokken, now just the size of a hilt, simply grazed the side in a single, fluid movement as it swerved ever so slightly. Missing her left cheek by just a millimetre, Cordelia’s processes began to shut down. She had drained all of her mental energy and stamina in that single moment, leaving her open to the other arrows. Her semblance of consciousness was strong enough to glimpse the system message that had popped up in her blurry vision, clear as crystal.

「Skill 《Flicker Sword Arts》 created and obtained」

      Cordelia barely registered the sturdy pair of arms that embraced her limp frame before she fell into a sea of unconsciousness.

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“Goodness. That’s twice now. What a troublesome little sister.”

His voice was helpless as he stared at the young girl in his arms with tender yet worried eyes. Deep within, he was unbearably guilty for allowing her to fall into this manic rush for strength. If he was strong enough, she wouldn’t need to do this. Yet, he merely watched on as a bystander as she pushed herself beyond her body’s limits… because Walker understood that it was her will. And he didn’t want to obstruct her. To face those people in an even fight, she wasn’t even close to reaching their feet yet. 

      A gentle light lingered within his unfathomable blue eyes as he tightened his grip on her. At this rate, we might have to travel while she’s unconscious. Smiling bitterly, he shook his head free of his pessimistic thoughts and carried her back home, careful not to jolt or shake in fear of hurting her bruised and battered body.

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