After their fourth encounter began, Erza no longer gave Lin Yuan a chance to slowly probe her.
She took a step closer, her wooden sword slashing down from above. Lin Yuan blocked it with his sword, but as soon as his arm sank, a second sword slid along the blade toward his fingers.
The black and silver blade suddenly extended from the tip of the wooden sword.
Erza turned her head to avoid it, but didn't stop. She bumped into Lin Yuan's arms, the hilt of her sword pressing against his wrist, pushing the suddenly Boundary-Severing Blade into empty air.
"It's too long."
Lin Yuan dispersed the blade, folded back half a step to stand behind her. The Boundary-Severing Blade reformed, this time only the length of a dagger, and sliced horizontally across Erza's waist.
Erza seemed to have eyes in the back of her head; she reversed the wooden sword and struck his hand precisely.
"It's too short."
Lin Yuan took two steps back and looked at his reddened fingers.
"Too long won't do, too short won't do?"
"The length isn't the problem; the problem is that you don't know how long it is."
Erza's sword tip stopped at his chest.
"With the first sword strike, you temporarily extended your sword to force me to retreat. But you yourself didn't know where the tip of the sword would eventually stop, so you pulled your shoulder back slightly. The second sword strike was the opposite; you thought the short blade could already touch me, but it was actually an inch short."
"We can reach it," Lin Yuan said. "Just stretch it a little longer."
"In that instant, were you wielding a sword, or waiting for True Magic to remedy the situation?"
Lin Yuan did not answer.
Under the eaves, Natsu raised one hand. "I think as long as it hits, it'll be fine!"
"So you keep hitting the wall," Gray said.
Do you want to fight?
"You two go outside and fight." Erza without turning her head.
The two of them fell silent at the same time.
Erza drew three horizontal lines of varying lengths on the ground with the tip of her sword.
"Your weapon can change, that's an advantage. But deciding the range on the fly every time you fire will only make you lose your sense of distance."
She tapped the three lines in turn.
"First, choose the three lengths you are most familiar with. Use the short blade for close combat, the longsword for normal engagements, and switch to a long saber when you need to expand your range. When to switch is up to you; after switching, you must know better than your opponent where the tip of your sword is."
Lin Yuan raised his right hand.
Black and silver magic overflowed from his palm, condensing into a short blade less than two feet long. The blade had no weight to it, yet its edge caused a subtle distortion in the surrounding air.
"This is considered short."
The blade tip extended forward, stopping near the position of Erza's training sword.
"This is for everyday use."
Finally, the black silver blade lengthened again, becoming a narrow, straight blade nearly five feet long.
Lin Yuan looked at it for a moment, then took the initiative to shorten it by half a foot.
Too long a sword will hinder its sheathing and may also exceed the range that one can accurately judge.
"Just these three," he said.
Erza nodded, and suddenly thrust her sword forward.
Lin Yuan's Boundary-Severing Blade immediately returned to its medium-length. He didn't use the real blade to meet the wooden sword head-on, but only used the magical outline covering the surface of the wooden sword to block. As the blades met, Erza twisted her wrist and pressed down, and he shortened the blade accordingly to avoid the tip of the sword sweeping past the onlookers behind him when he turned around.
Immediately afterwards, he folded the distance between himself and Erza's right side.
In the instant their figures parted, the sword turned into a short blade.
Lin Yuan barely moved his arm, only extending the tip of his blade forward. Erza raised her sword to block, and the two passed each other.
"The length is right this time," Erza said.
"It's still blocked."
"I never said that having the right length guarantees a win."
The next round of matches begins.
Erza intentionally created distance, her wooden sword repeatedly aimed at Lin Yuan's shoulder, wrist, and knee. Lin Yuan parried twice with the sword, but did not retreat the third time. He suddenly unfolded his longsword form, forcing Erza to take a step back for the first time.
Lin Yuan immediately caught up.
However, after the longsword had slashed halfway around, he habitually continued to extend the blade, attempting to block Erza's escape route.
The originally determined length has been broken.
His gaze involuntarily followed the tip of the blade.
Erza seized the moment, darting in from the inside along the edge of the black and silver blade. The wooden sword deflected Lin Yuan's wrist, the tip of the sword stopping steadily just before his throat.
"You're looking for your sword again."
Lin Yuan stared at the wooden sword that was so close at hand and dispersed the Boundary-Severing Blade.
"Again."
"Answer one question first."
Erza her sword and retreated.
When you swing your sword, where is the blade?
"The front of the hand."
How far exactly?
Lin Yuan looked at the three horizontal lines on the ground.
Short blades are suitable for close-quarters attacks after folding the blade, medium swords offer the most stable offense and defense, and long swords are used to control a wider area. These are not three temporary variations, but three weapons of different lengths that must be memorized separately.
The black and silver magic coalesced once more.
This time, Lin Yuan didn't look down to confirm. He closed his eyes, and his spatial perception spread forward along the hilt. The weightless blade outlined a clear contour in his perception, and the tip of the blade stopped precisely on the horizontal line he had chosen.
Erza swung her sword from the side.
Lin Yuan still did not open his eyes.
The sword was raised, accurately blocking the wooden sword. As the sound of collision rang out, the blade retracted into a short blade, avoiding the suppression, and thrust out again from the other side.
Erza dodged to the side, but a slight smile played on her lips.
"And now?" she asked.
Lin Yuan opened his eyes.
The tip of the black silver blade stopped half an inch from her shoulder.