A crowd quickly gathered in the backyard.
Natsu squatted on the wooden crate, Gray leaned against the wall, and Mira sat under the eaves with three glasses of juice. What was originally just Lin Yuan asking Erza for swordsmanship advice had turned into the guild's free performance for the day after the news spread.
"Let's get this straight," Erza said, gripping an unsharpened training sword, "No using the Boundary-Severing Blade. Use this first."
Lin Yuan weighed the wooden sword in his hand. Its weight pressed against his palm, and it had a noticeable inertia when he swung it, completely different from the black and silver blade that he could hardly feel.
"Let's begin."
The moment he finished speaking, the distance beneath his feet suddenly folded.
Three meters become one step.
The wooden sword slashed diagonally down from Erza's left, its speed so fast it created a sharp whistling sound. Erza, however, only took half a step back, the tip of her sword lightly touching the middle of Lin Yuan's blade.
Snap!
The wooden sword veered off course, and Lin Yuan simultaneously took a blow to the chest from the hilt.
He staggered two steps and looked down at his chest.
"Once," Erza said.
"That doesn't count; I'm not used to its weight yet."
"The enemy won't return the sword to you just because you're not used to the weapon."
Lin Yuan had nothing to say and lowered his center of gravity again.
The second time, instead of charging straight at her, he twisted the space to his right as he took a step. In a flash, he appeared behind Erza, his sword sweeping across her waist.
Erza seemed to have anticipated this. She turned, raised her sword, and pressed down, the three movements forming a clean arc. The two wooden swords collided, and Lin Yuan's wrist sank, the tip of his sword being pressed firmly into the ground.
The next instant, the cold spine of the sword was pressed against his neck.
"Twice."
Natsu laughed so hard he almost fell over on the box, " Lin Yuan, you've actually gotten weaker since you got your hands on a sword!"
"Would you like to come down and try?"
"Come on—"
Gray grabbed him. "Watch quietly, you idiot."
Lin Yuan looked at Erza again. This time, he didn't rush to attack.
"Do you know where I'm going to appear from?"
"I don't know," Erza replied, "But after you appeared, your shoulders moved first, followed by your waist. Before the sword even arrived, you had already told me the direction."
She tapped Lin Yuan's wooden sword with the tip of her own.
"And every attack you make carries its full power. When you use your fist, you can use spatial movement to close the distance and then use your body to deliver the force. A sword is longer than a fist, but you still use it like you're throwing a punch."
What's wrong with "delivering power to the end"?
What happens after you deliver it to the end?
Lin Yuan was slightly taken aback.
Erza suddenly swung her sword. Lin Yuan raised his sword to block, but as the wooden swords clashed, the opponent's blade slid away, bypassing his defense, and stopped again in front of his chest.
"Once the sword is swung, it must be brought back."
The third encounter started slowly.
Lin Yuan didn't immediately close the distance; he simply took a step forward, his wooden sword aimed at Erza's shoulder. Erza deflected it with her sword to the side. He didn't continue his attack but instead used the force of the impact to retract the tip of his sword and hold it in front of him.
Snap, snap, snap!
Three sharp cracking sounds rang out in the backyard.
Lin Yuan retreated again and again, his footwork less than standard, but his defense didn't collapse immediately like the previous two times. It wasn't until Erza's fourth sword came down that he suddenly folded the half-step space in front of him to the side.
The two swords, which should have collided, missed each other by a hair's breadth.
Erza's sword grazed past Lin Yuan's shoulder, while Lin Yuan tucked his wooden sword to his side, flicked his wrist, and aimed the tip of the sword straight at her chest.
This time, there was no large-scale slashing, nor was his entire body thrown up.
Only the shortest stab.
Erza's eyes flickered, and her free left hand slammed onto the sword. The wooden sword veered off target, grazing her armor. At the same time, she stepped into Lin Yuan's arms, her shoulder sinking and sending him flying backward.
Lin Yuan folded in mid-air and landed, his feet sliding down the ground and leaving two shallow marks, thankfully he didn't fall.
The onlookers fell silent for a moment.
Natsu immediately jumped up. "So close!"
"It's a little better than before," Erza didn't deny it. "At least this time you left yourself room for the next move."
Lin Yuan shook his numb wrist. "So what I need to practice isn't how to chop harder?"
"Your Boundary-Severing Blade is sharp enough. What it lacks has never been power."
Erza walked to the weapon rack, pulled out a short stick, and drew several intersecting lines on the ground.
"Distance, angle, the landing point after the attack, and where the sword should go after being blocked. You can fold space; these things will be more complex in your hands than others, but you'll also have more options."
She paused, then added, " The Boundary-Severing Blade has no weight, and its length can change. Simply copying ordinary swordsmanship will only ruin it. I can teach you the basics and point out where you went wrong. As for how to use it ultimately, that's up to you."
Lin Yuan looked at the wooden sword in his hand, black and silver magic power overflowing from his fingertips and slowly spreading along the spine of the sword.
A moment later, a Boundary-Severing Blade extended from the tip of the wooden sword.
Instead of solidifying it into a broad, long blade like in the swamp, he narrowed the blade, leaving only a short, sharp section. As his wrist rotated, the blade tip varied in length, always stopping at the easiest position to retract.
Erza glanced at it twice, then raised her sword again.
"That's a good idea."
Lin Yuan raised his sword, adopting a stance that still appeared somewhat clumsy.
"Again?"
"Certainly."
The clinking of wooden swords rang out again. Under the eaves, Mira pushed aside the third glass of juice and fetched a larger kettle.
Judging by this situation, the juice left for Lin Yuan probably won't be available until dark.