Mare Mare turned around and saw that Malenia had walked off. He hurried to his feet and chased after her. "Lady Goddess Milia, where are you going?"
"Could you just call me Milia, without the 'goddess' or 'lady'?" Malenia said without looking back.
"Then, Miss Milia, where are you going?" Mare Mare asked with an awkward smile. Despite wearing a mask, he certainly loved smiling. Ever since meeting Malenia, he had practically given her a lifetime's worth of smiles.
But Malenia could not see them, in any sense of the word.
"Hmm..." Malenia felt a headache coming on. "I came out to travel, and to see whether any talented fighters had emerged among the younger generation in the Lands Between. But after making the rounds, I haven't found anyone impressive."
She was an Empyrean, but also a swordswoman, and an inheritor of the Flowing Sword at that. How could she possibly stay in one place and stagnate? She had met her master while traveling. Staying at home would never take her swordsmanship to greater heights.
What she had not expected was to pick up a burden like Mare Mare, who followed her wherever she went. She could not even leave the Shaded Castle's vicinity, fearing he would keep following her and expose her identity.
"There's no one worth seeing. Let's go back."
The wind lifted her red ponytail, leaving Mare Mare staring in a daze.
"Y-yes, of course." He nodded woodenly and followed Malenia like a puppet.
Malenia shook her head inwardly, finding him dull.
On their way back, the two ran straight into Zhao Si and Helena, who were heading toward the Shaded Castle.
Getting to the Shaded Castle from the Academy was fairly straightforward: they only had to head north. The two bantered and teased each other along the way, so the journey was hardly boring. They had left the Academy's affairs to Thops for now. They would only be away for a few days anyway, so there was no need to worry too much.
Mare Mare spotted Zhao Si immediately. Eager to please his goddess, he said, "There's someone! Someone, someone! He's an expert!"
Malenia had naturally heard Zhao Si and Helena as well, but she showed little interest, offering only a perfunctory, "Really?"
"He really is an expert. He's dressed in blue, with two curved swords at his waist. He looks positively deadly!" As if Mare Mare could tell a strong fighter from a weak one.
He simply wanted to spend a little longer with Malenia, so he was making things up. Fortunately, Malenia was no bloodthirsty killer who would draw her sword on someone over a few words from Mare Mare. Otherwise, the Lands Between would have gained quite a few more innocent ghosts.
Zhao Si also spotted Mare Mare and Malenia and examined them closely.
The man wore an ornate robe and a mask shaped like a human face. The woman was blind and red-haired, and her movements revealed flashes of gold through the gaps in her clothing.
There was no second person with that appearance in the Lands Between.
He caught up to Malenia with Helena. Before she could speak, Zhao Si swung down from his horse and seized the initiative, calling out, "Senior sister!"
He immediately followed it with, "I've finally found you."
"Senior sister?"
Mare Mare and Malenia spoke in unison, both rooted to the spot.
Their thoughts went in different directions. Mare Mare thought, Oh no, they know each other. He's taller and better-looking than me. What if he tries to steal my goddess?
Malenia, meanwhile, thought, He called me his senior sister? I never heard that Master had another disciple. Surely he isn't just claiming a connection out of nowhere.
"What gives you the right to call me your senior sister?" Malenia's tone was anything but inquisitive. Her right Golden Prosthetic Arm had already settled on her sword hilt.
Zhao Si said solemnly, "Master said that to know who someone truly is, you don't use words. You use your sword." He placed his hand on his own hilt.
Malenia paused. "Then let our swords speak first."
Whoosh!
Her straight sword left its sheath and slashed at Zhao Si.
Zhao Si drew both curved swords at once, parrying and redirecting the force with his left while striking with his right.
At their very first exchange, Malenia felt something unexpected through her blade: this was the Flowing Sword's method of redirecting force.
Their blades traded blows, weaving a web of light in the air and throwing off sparks with every clash. They were like two separate rivers colliding, flowing, converging, and merging, their rhythms meshing so seamlessly that neither could gain the upper hand.
"Let's see how you block this." Malenia spun through three consecutive slashes, driving Zhao Si back and forcing him to open up some distance. Then she pushed off lightly, leaping into the air and filling it with flashes of her sword.
The swirling sword light surrounded Zhao Si on every side, leaving no gaps.
It was the Valkyrie's signature technique-Waterfowl Dance.
Zhao Si frowned and could not help complaining, "Senior sister, is this Waterfowl Dance or South Star Waterbird Fist?"
Hearing Zhao Si name her signature technique briefly unsettled Malenia, but her rhythm remained unbroken as she continued the Waterfowl Dance.
A dazzling, vicious, unrelenting assault that could slice a person to pieces was indeed the essence of the Flowing Sword. Yet each practitioner understood that "essence" differently.
This was something a teacher could not impart through words or demonstrations. It had to be grasped through one's own insight.
As the saying went, warfare had no fixed disposition, just as water had no fixed shape. Malenia had discerned water's offensive nature, while Zhao Si had discerned its defensive nature.
Facing the sword light, Zhao Si relaxed his entire body and began the Flowing Sword's unique dance. He leaped into the air alongside Malenia, swinging his arms to circle both blades around his head and shield his body.
Clang, clang, clang!
Amid the sharp ringing, he recalled how the Old Man had weathered attacks like an immovable rock. Defense did not mean passively taking blows. It meant counterattacking while defending, breaking the opponent's offensive rhythm.
If he let himself fall entirely into the rhythm of Waterfowl Dance, Zhao Si would only end up sliced into chunks. But he could feel that Malenia was holding back rather than attacking at full strength.
From the feedback through her sword, Malenia could tell her attacks were accomplishing little. Even the few strikes that landed had barely broken the skin.
His ability to redirect force is this refined? Malenia would never have guessed that Zhao Si had learned it through live combat against the Lion Misbegotten.
"This is my force-dissipation technique at full power!" Zhao Si gritted his teeth, spinning along a precise trajectory to shed the attacks like a little top being lashed by a whip.
Suddenly, a fierce gust struck her face. Malenia caught a current of air that did not belong to Waterfowl Dance. She abruptly halted her technique and blocked, knocking aside the curved sword flying toward her face.
He threw his sword? Malenia had not anticipated that.
The moment Waterfowl Dance stopped was Zhao Si's chance to stir up waves of his own.
"Sorry, I haven't thought of a good name for this technique yet." Using the momentum of his spin, Zhao Si unleashed five slashes in one breath with his remaining sword, cutting off Malenia's possible escape routes and forcing her to defend.
Instead of retreating, Malenia advanced, plunging into Zhao Si's assault and ignoring the flashing blades entirely,
her straight sword driving directly toward Zhao Si's face.
"Senior sister, stop fighting! We learned from the same master. Neither of us can break the other's moves!" As he spoke, Zhao Si turned to evade her thrust and swung his sword at the back of Malenia's neck.
Malenia brought her sword behind her back to parry, then began turning with the momentum to slash at Zhao Si's waist.
Knowing that simply asking her to stop would not work, Zhao Si hurriedly added, "Senior sister, do you still remember Master's advice?"
Only then did Malenia stop. "Tell me. What advice did Master give?"
"Stagnation breeds rot. Retreating in fear invites death." Zhao Si caught his breath. "That's why you always press forward so relentlessly, isn't it, senior sister?"
Malenia could no longer contain herself. "How could you possibly... have met Master?"
"I haven't actually met him." Zhao Si pointed at his head. "But my combat memories told me all this."
"Combat memories. A Tarnished. So you're one of the Two Fingers' people." Malenia's expression dimmed.
"Yes, but not entirely. I'm also your junior brother," Zhao Si said. "Even if I've never met Master in person, my Flowing Sword is real."
At those words, some life returned to Malenia's face. "That's true. Your Flowing Sword cannot be faked."
Zhao Si sighed in relief. "Senior sister, can we find somewhere suitable to talk? All those cuts you gave me really hurt." With a wry smile, he pointed at the bloody wounds on his body. Waterfowl Dance was not so easy to block.
Had Malenia not held back somewhat, Zhao Si might not have managed it at all. Even so, her blows had rolled the edges of his curved swords.
Weapons and clothes were consumables for Zhao Si, and he went through them awfully fast. Thankfully, the Two Fingers' Roundtable Hold had ample armaments, and his Inventory let him carry plenty of supplies.
For the first time, Malenia turned her face toward Mare Mare. She had no eyes, yet Mare Mare still believed he had received a fervent, pleading look.
Mare Mare thumped his chest with manly confidence. "I'm the lord of the Shaded Castle. Since you two are friends of Goddess Mi... er, Miss Milia, come to my home together!"
"Senior sister?" Zhao Si asked Malenia.
Malenia nodded. "Then let's do that."
Only then did the group set off toward the Shaded Castle. Along the way, Zhao Si refused Helena's healing. They were merely shallow cuts; injuries that minor hardly warranted treatment.
By the time they had walked a little way, the wounds were almost healed.
Before you continue