Lust System: Sword Genius in Women's World

"Finally, some action; Mia don't attack," I muttered as I tightened the grip on my sword, and Mia moved backward.

I wasn't cocky or thought I could win Laura alone, but she wasn't going to use her full strength to fight me, and frankly, I was holding back; when I trained with my dad, I didn't hold back, and I knew what I could do.

Laura saw Mia moving away and was surprised, but she attacked with a predictable overhead swing. Instead of blocking, I sidestepped to the right and countered immediately with a swift low slash aimed at her stomach.

As my blade cut through the air, Laura reacted quickly, stepping back just in time to avoid my strike.

She narrowed her eyes, no doubt reassessing her approach, but I wasn't done. Without hesitating, I pressed forward, feinting to her left to make her guard shift, then swiftly changed direction, aiming for her exposed side.

Laura blocked, but I could see the hesitation in her movement; I didn't know if she was holding back or I was breaking her defenses, but then I saw her eyes dart around for a moment; she was keeping Mia in her sight.

"Not bad," Laura muttered, her tone calm, "I must say I'm truly impressed but not nearly enough"

I smirked. "You're holding back, just like I am," I replied, stepping back briefly to gauge her next move.

"You are holding back, well allow me to correct that"

She lunged forward with a quick thrust, aiming for my chest. This time, I didn't dodge. I parried the attack with my blade, letting the impact slide past me, and spun into a tight arc, sweeping low toward her legs. She jumped back again, but I had already anticipated that.

Before she could fully recover her footing, I closed the distance and thrust my sword toward her shoulder, but for some reason, it didn't make contact, and Laura landed on her feet.

In an instant, she shifted her stance, her eyes sharp as she launched into a flurry of strikes, faster than before.

I tried my best to block her every attack, but I couldn't do anything else other than block her attack, she stopped and turned around as Mia was already at her back.

I could swear I saw her behind me some seconds ago but I didn't care as I saw an opportunity.

Laura moved backward and was now on the defensive as Mia and I attacked relentlessly, but she was smiling; we were pulling out faster and stronger strikes, and she was smiling while blocking them, and the next moment, Mia stopped.

I was sure Laura had no chance of countering, so I also stopped; both of us were already panting heavily from our relentless attack, but Laura hadn't even broken a sweat.

"Impressive, what are your names?" Laura asked.

"I'm Mia"

"Xavier" I spoke.

"Nice way to make an impression, I could tell you your mistakes but that'll be another time"

"I have something to ask; earlier, I could swear you were within range of my sword, but it didn't hit. Did you do something, or did I miscalculate?" I asked.

"Figure it out yourself. Also, I'd like to see the both of you duel; give me 1,000 sword swings, next team," Laura called.

At least it wasn't 5,000 so I'll say we tried our best. Discover hidden tales at empire

"Mia, why did you stop?" I asked as we walked back.

"We were never going to win; no one here is going to win; the best we could do is show our skills and get a reduced penalty," Mia replied.

What she said made sense; Laura had no intention of letting any of the students win. As I walked towards Mary, I could see it in her eyes; she was beyond frustrated, maybe because the skill she relied on failed her, and of course, I figured out her skill.

At first, I thought her skill could make someone freeze without moving because that was what happened to Gabriel, but it happened to Laura and for some seconds, she couldn't move, but she must have seen the skill before because once she let go of her sword her mobility returned.

This means that once the skill is used, you just need to let go of your weapon and then pick it back up; even though it wasn't as powerful as I thought, facing a beast or someone with no knowledge of how it works, the skill would prove useful.

And now, since all the students were going to face Laura, this was the time to see and pick out powerful people; during the sword tryouts, not everyone got to battle, so this was the time to showcase some skills.

I started swinging my sword and counting the number of times in my head as the next team stepped up, but they lost without doing much, which resulted in 5,000 swings.

It was the same for the next five teams till it reached a particular team, and it felt like they would change it, but they also fell short as Laura took them apart in seconds, but I held back my laughter.

I was almost done when another team stepped up, there with the last team leaving the girl who didn't have a teammate; from their stances, footwork, and body positioning, I knew they were good, but when the battle started, I was surprised.

They moved so in sync it felt like they were communicating through their thoughts; this was definitely not the first time they were doing this; maybe they came from the same place and learned swordsmanship together.

But even with their synchronized attacks, Laura still won but gave them 1,000 swings, which was the best since it was only given to two teams; the others got 5,000, and a particular team got 3,000 swings.

"Don't bother choosing a teammate, just join them." Laura spoke, and the girl moved to where we were and started swinging her sword.

Mia was the first to stop, and after a few seconds, I stopped too; I must say it has been a long time since I stressed my entire body like how I did today.