This was the first time Ikki had ever felt fear when facing someone else's sword.
Ikki was a knight, after all, as well as a swordsman. On top of that, his past had left him with few opportunities to engage in real combat against powerful opponents, and no one had ever been willing to teach him swordsmanship. If an astonishingly skilled swordsman appeared before him and prepared to teach Ikki their techniques through actual combat, then given Ikki's personality, he would most likely have already lost himself in excitement and exhilaration.
Just as he had felt immensely happy when he first sparred with Luo Zhen, such an opportunity was extraordinarily rare to Ikki.
Under normal circumstances, Ikki should have been overjoyed. He might even have entered a fighting spirit from crossing blades with a powerful opponent and displayed strength beyond his usual limits.
But this time, Ikki felt not the slightest bit of happiness. All that remained was fear.
It was precisely because Ikki understood swords so well that he could see through Attila's sword and perceive its essence.
It possessed not the slightest trace of order. Existing solely to kill its enemies, with efficiency as its only concern, this sword skill made Ikki feel as though he could see a battlefield strewn with corpses, as though he could see Attila charging across the grasslands. Her sword seemed to carry the aura of blood, making Ikki tremble uncontrollably.
And so, for the first time in his life, Ikki felt fear toward a swordsman's blade.
This was not swordsmanship at all. It was a butcher's knife meant for slaughter in the truest sense.
Such swordsmanship could exist only on a battlefield, and nowhere else.
It was because Ikki understood this that Attila's very existence made him shudder.
Ikki did not know