Sweet as Song

The dense clash of swords rang out incessantly in the center of the hall.

Titus ducked and pivoted, constantly adjusting his position and the angle of his "gouging strikes."

The longsword in his hand was dark as night, clinging to his opponent's blade like a serpent darting from its hole... In truth, he would rather have kept it on his opponent himself, but Ser Maddy blocked every attempt with his broad blade.

The relentless slashes and thrusts, the dogged pursuit, caught Maddy unprepared. In the end, he could no longer hold his ground and was forced backward.

Titus had never watched Maddy practice swordsmanship, and Maddy had likewise never seen the boy train in the early morning.

That had been Nightsong in the season of orioles.

Despite having fought in many swordsmanship contests, Sir Maddy had never faced such oppressive, continuous pressure. He was known for having "the fastest opening strike," yet now his steps faltered slightly beneath his opponent's storm of blows.

He was only six feet tall and had no advantage in strength, yet when this black-haired boy truly fought, he displayed an utterly savage ferocity.

As he forcibly "crashed" into the curtain of steel guarding Maddy, the slightest opening would send the longsword in his hand shooting up like a venomous snake in the grass, spraying its venom.

Titus grew fiercer as the fight went on. Every strike seemed to stir gusts of wind, unleashing strength far beyond what his build suggested, driving Maddy steadily backward without giving him a single chance to strike back.

This was not an overwhelming advantage in actual strength. Rather, from the very first instant, the force of Titus's presence had temporarily suppressed the unprepared red-cloaked knight. Sword light shot everywhere, sweeping Maddy into a gale called "all-out assault."

For a dazed moment, he felt as though he stood within a storm!

Besides his exceptional talent, Maddy also had a solid foundation in swordsmanship. Even under this sustained onslaught, he could still steadily block and parry with his broadsword.

Just as he was about to retreat to his original seat, the seemingly endless sword shadows before his eyes finally dispersed.

He no longer had to face the gale.

Mindful of conserving his stamina, Titus chose to pause for a brief rest after his prolonged assault failed to break through. His wrist ached slightly, but after rotating it a little and letting it rest, he steadied himself again.

Maddy stared at his young opponent in astonishment. Without even realizing it, he cautiously adjusted his stance and squeezed a sentence from his dry mouth:

"Good speed."

Realizing that he had lost his composure, Maddy also understood that his opponent was using the opportunity to recover his breathing. Unwilling to endure another shower of sword strikes, he made an immediate decision and counterattacked.

The heavy knight's sword came crashing down, only to be deftly evaded just before it reached the boy, or deflected by a sideways block of his longsword.

Attack and defense reversed. His momentum restored, Maddy swept his blade across again and again with a vicious grin.

His extraordinary reach gave him an extraordinary attack range... It was a limit of striking distance that Titus could never attain, even through technique.

Sometimes Titus's footwork followed orthodox swordsmanship; sometimes it showed an unorthodox agility. He slid aside like a wildcat one moment and sprang backward like a cunning hare the next. The occasional counterattack from his longsword came at strange, tricky angles.

After several consecutive backward leaps, along with a genuine tactical lean-back, Titus narrowly and carefully evaded several of Maddy's absurdly long-reaching slashes.

For a time, he could find no opportunity to counterattack either.

When Maddy grew impatient with the overly nimble black-haired swordsman and began pressing forward with his enormous strides, the young Earl suddenly changed his move amid their exchanges.

Titus's longsword was being knocked backward by the stronger knight's broadsword, but he followed its momentum and swiftly switched hands behind his back.

As the longsword returned to his left hand, it swept horizontally from the other side with that momentum!

Maddy's hair stood on end. He had never expected his opponent to have a move like this. This time, he was the one who leaned far backward, raising his hand at the same time to try to block the surprise attack with his sword's crossguard. But he was slower than Titus, who had planned ahead.

The blade arrived first. Maddy felt a chill across his chest, and a deep, smooth-edged gash appeared in his finely made breastplate an instant later.

Damn! His plate armor had been breached. He was wounded.

Maddy hurried backward. Only then did he notice that his opponent held a strange black sword. His gaze shifted to the edge of his own knight's sword, which was already covered in a dense array of large and small notches hacked out by the other blade.

Had he not favored a broadsword, it would probably have been cut in two long ago.

That sword had already struck his chest, and the wound throbbed with pain. With no time to gauge its severity, Maddy blurted out:

"What sword is that? And what sword move was that just now?"

The form of his questions was exactly the same as when Titus had asked them "what horses they rode" earlier.

Go ask Udō Jin-e, Shen Lian, and Ding Baiying.

Having scored a hit with the "behind-the-back saber pass," the hand-switching sword strike he had just used, Titus panted lightly and did his utmost to control his breathing. He had no intention of answering his opponent's questions.

He was already considering his next round of attacks.

Popping the champagne at halftime-that was how confident he was.

"What's wrong, Ser Maddy? You look terrified. Did that slash hurt?"

Titus's breathing gradually evened out and was no longer so hurried, leaving him free to talk trash:

"You're an experienced swordsman. You ought to know how hard it is to control your strength well enough to step over an ant without crushing it..."

Even as anger rose within Maddy, he realized with alarm that cold sweat had beaded densely across his back.

This opponent was too formidable, and his fighting style was seasoned. At first, his defining trait had been speed, but some of his later moves were downright insidious. He was nothing like a novice!

Viciously striking the "rookie" label from Titus's head, Maddy became completely serious. He drew a deep breath and renewed his assault, his sword speed soaring in an instant.

Having gained the upper hand, Titus showed no mercy and refused to let Maddy recover any ground.

He gradually adapted to the rhythm of Maddy's favored attacks, deftly evading with quick reactions and blocking with his black sword whenever he could not dodge, all while constantly taxing his opponent's concentration and delivering one cutting remark after another.

Lines such as "I told you to put some strength into it! You can't even hit hard, and you call yourself an instructor?" came readily to his lips.

They drove Maddy into a mounting fury as he fought, while Bryce and Iomine, watching tensely from outside the fight, wore strange expressions too.

Against other opponents, Ser Maddy's fighting style would naturally have given him a tremendous advantage. Unfortunately, today he had met Titus.

His opponent's footwork was outrageously nimble, and his extreme backward lean earlier had amply demonstrated his powerful waist. He also had an endless supply of bizarre moves.

Before long, the course of the battle became even clearer.

The Orphan-Maker was peerlessly sharp. Though Maddy's knightly broadsword was finely crafted, it could not withstand a divine weapon in the end.

Titus's sword speed surged. Meeting speed with speed, he unleashed thirteen strikes in three to five seconds.

After one "ordinary" slash, Maddy's already battered knight's sword finally broke in two.

Having committed too much force, Maddy held his broken sword and went pale with alarm.

Seeing that the Earl of Starpike opposite him wore a cold expression and had no intention of stopping, he suddenly came to his senses and hurriedly shouted, "Guards, get in here! Stop him!"

After a moment of conflict crossed his face, Alston, who was closest, was the first to answer his call.

After showing disrespect to the new Earl, he felt there was no turning back. He could only tie his fate to Instructor Maddy's.

Faced with such an insignificant fool who did not know his own limits, Titus slashed twice in quick succession, flashed past him, and broke through his defense.

Struck twice head-on, Alston collapsed screaming, a large, bloody cross across his chest. He had utterly failed to hold Titus back.

The gap was too great. Nightsong's minor officer had not even lasted a single breath.

"Sweet as song."

To the accompaniment of Alston's screams, Titus murmured those words as he continued pursuing Maddy, then likewise drew breath and shouted:

"Parker, Bowen! Hold the doorway! Don't let anyone else in! Sir Iomine, you're 'responsible' for the other guards in the hall!"

From the figure fleeing in disarray ahead of him, he could tell that Ser Maddy still wanted to fight to stay alive.

Unfortunately, Titus would not allow it.

Ding Baiying: