After Bogard and Yingyue finished sparring, everyone had lunch and rested for a while.
That afternoon, Athena could hardly wait to invite Bogard to spar with swords.
Bogard and Athena faced each other on open ground, fierce winds howling.
Even the surrounding air seemed to freeze in the tense atmosphere.
Bogard's gaze was as sharp as a hawk's. He tightly gripped his longsword, its blade gleaming coldly, as a keen aura faintly radiated from his body.
Athena's pair of golden mantis blades glittered in the sunlight,
radiating a chilling Killing Sword Intent, like a grim reaper from hell.
The battle erupted in an instant. As a practitioner of Quick Sword, Bogard struck first.
His figure flashed as he rushed toward Athena like a phantom, his longsword stabbing toward her throat as fast as lightning.
He moved so quickly that he left only a trail of afterimages. Athena remained unhurried.
She lightly blocked with her golden mantis blade. A crisp clang rang out, and sparks flew.
Athena immediately counterattacked, her movements even more agile than Bogard's.
As she swung both blades, overlapping blade shadows attacked as thickly as a sudden downpour.
Relying on the advantage of Quick Sword, Bogard's blade flashed repeatedly,
blocking Athena's attacks one after another at tremendous speed, the clang of metal ringing incessantly.
In their back-and-forth exchanges, Bogard and Athena were not merely fighting but learning from each other.
From Athena's nimble, murderous attacks, Bogard picked up new ideas for his swordsmanship.
He quietly pondered how, upon the foundation of his own Quick Sword,
he could incorporate Athena's ferocity to make his sword moves faster and more powerful, and his Sword Intent sharper and more imposing.
Athena was also observing Bogard's techniques for exerting force. His lightning-fast sword moves and instantaneous bursts of speed
made her consider