Seven tried his best to be sneaky on the way back.
He had considered following the river back to the village just as the old man had, but the detour would have been too long.
Step, step.
After half an hour of losing his way in the dense snowy foliage, he finally reached the training camp.
He wiped a sweat from his brow.
"Those damn bears should be hibernating this season, what's with their numbers…?"
As he crossed the fence, a succession of cold gusts hit his face.
Swoosh, swoosh!
It came from a figure in the distance with a strikingly feminine physique, one that would have drawn a sea of proposal letters if not for her terrifying reputation.
"You're late," Eden said, her back still turned to him. "You certainly took your time down there."
'And whose fault is that, huh?!'
He thought, but he wisely kept his mouth shut.
"I took my time to appreciate what you prepared for me, sister."
Eden didn't stop her slashes. He watched her train for 5 whole minutes, mesmerized by the way the moonlight danced off her blade.
'I guess even a Transcendent had to keep training. To walk the path of the sword meant eventually becoming one with the sword itself, after all.'
To put it simply, one had to train until they reached the peak.
"I'm not following," Eden finally turned to face him. "What exactly do you think I 'prepared' for you?"
"The old man by the river, I learned a lot from him."
"Old… man?"
"Yes."
He was walking a tightrope, and a thin one at that. There was no way Eden would fail to notice the old man's chaotic signature, considering she sat a level above him.
Either they were connected and the whole thing was a charade, or it was a staggering coincidence.
"I fail to see how I am related to that old man you're speaking of," Eden stated, her hand resting naturally on the hilt of her blade. "But would my little brother mind telling me what happened? I'm curious to hear what you've learned from him."
"Yes."
Seven told her his survival, explaining how he had managed to endure the fall, ironically, telling it to the very person responsible for it. He told her how the snow had cushioned his landing, only to send him tumbling into the freezing river.
He described the ugly fish that bit him and the old man who had taught him to fish, explaining the technique of channeling zi from the body into the rod and how he had utterly failed to do so.
Still not seeing how she was connected to the old man, Eden put that aside and didn't question further. Instead, she changed the topic.
"Of course you couldn't," Eden remarked. "Even for me, it took three days to manifest zi after forming my first ring. To expect it of yourself now is… ambitious."
"I knew it…"
He rubbed the back of his head.
He kept his act up, playing the part of her younger brother, careful to omit the most important detail: his deal with the old man regarding the questions.
"Ah, and the skewered catfish were delicious. We should go fishing sometime too, sister!"
"Should we?" Eden's gaze softened.
"Yes!"
"I'll consider it. But only if you improve your skills enough to catch something worth the effort. A flying shark, perhaps?"
"A… flying shark?"
He frowned and his grin faltered.
'Why is everyone so obsessed with this flying shark? Don't tell me it actually exists…'
"But before you worry about the river, you'd better improve your swordsmanship," Eden added. "Come."
He froze.
'Is she actually going to teach me swordsmanship?'
This was an opportunity he couldn't pass up, yet it felt... ominous. Good things had kept on happening in rapid succession since Eden arrived, the kind of luck that usually preceded a disaster.
'Is this that cliche... plot armor?'
"What are you dazing around for?" Eden snapped. "I said come here."
"O-okay, sister."
He stepped forward, his eyes darting toward the rack of wooden practice swords ahead. But before he could get one, Eden turned and held her own sword toward him, handle first.
'H-huh?? Ww-what is she doing?'
Questions raced through his mind. A swordsman's sword was their closest companion; many knights only held one or two their entire lives, guarding them with such a fervor.
Letting someone else touch your sword was unheard of!
Still, he reached out and took it. Meanwhile, Eden fetched herself a wooden sword.
"Adjust your grip," Eden stepped behind him. "Edward spoke well of you, but you're still green if you're choking the sword."
"I... I'm just surprised you're letting me hold Niflheim."
"Hm?" Eden's movements halted. "You seem knowledgeable about my sword, when I haven't spoken its name since I arrived."
'Shit!'
The wind seemed to become colder all of a sudden.
'I fucked up. I'm supposed to be the sheltered younger brother, I should have no idea what the name of her sword is.'
He felt the weight of the sword in his hands suddenly grow seven times heavier.
"Nifl— I… Niflheim. I had read about it in the library, and I figured it would be a good name."
"..."
Eden didn't look convinced at all! She scanned his face for any sign of a lie.
"T-they do quite share the resemblance, after all. Besides, this symbol looks like the one in the book."
The sword had detailed frost carvings along its blade that read like some unknown language, along with a primitive design and a symbol on the hilt like a rune.
"Be it the case," Eden sighed. "Niflheim won't reject me just because my little brother held it for a moment."
"...Right."
Step, step.
Eden walked back roughly about five meters and raised the wooden sword in her hand.
"Get in position," Eden said.
Seven assumed the basic stance he had practiced with Edward during his time as a knight in training. The moment his feet settled, Eden moved.
Seven raised the sword to block the strike in a hasty motion.
Clang!
He groaned, the impact didn't just affect his palms but the vibration also rattled through his wrists as though it might break for a second.
"Ugh…! It hurts…"
"Of course it would hurt," Eden remarked. "You're being a stick. Don't be like this, or like that. Be more… like this."
'This and that…? Don't be a stick?'
Seven blinked, he couldn't believe his ears.
'What is that metaphor even supposed to mean? Does she mean I am being a stick because I'm gripping the sword too tightly again, or because I'm putting too much strength in my stance?'
He took a breath, trying to make sense of it.
'No... I think she wants me to be flexible. I need to let the impact flow through me instead of trying to wall it off.'
"Again."
He raised the sword. This time, his knees were looser and his shoulders slightly dropped.
Clang!
Eden swung the wooden sword, again and again.
Clang, clang!
He was being driven backwards, his boots skidding through the snow. He nearly slipped, but he caught his balance just in time to catch a horizontal strike on the flat of the blade.
"Pay attention to your balance," Eden commanded.
Clang, clang! Clang!
"Predict my movements with your eyes. Are they just there for decoration?"
Eden was holding back with such carefulness not to hurt her little brother, but her words were equal parts insult and instruction, and with each one, Seven's frown deepened.
"Now, it's your turn to attack," Eden said. "Cut this practice sword in two."
"Yes!"
Clang, clang!
Seven did as told and he attacked relentlessly, but no matter how many times he swung, his blade simply slid off her wooden sword.
'If only I could use my skill…'
"Eyes! Are you looking for something in the ground?
"Foot! That one isn't planted, is this a dance performance?
"Hands! Relax your grip, my sword isn't going to run away."
Despite doing everything he had learned, Eden still found something to correct.
To be honest, Eden was not a good teacher. For a genius like her, perfection was the baseline; explaining how to be perfect was like trying to explain how to breathe.
"Swing down like a hammer," Eden instructed.
Clang!
Fatigue had turned Seven's muscles to lead. The supposed hammer-esque strike turned out to be slanted and weak, but the force of the impact sent him stumbling back until he collapsed into the snow.
They had only been training for ten minutes, yet Eden looked at him with genuine bewilderment.
"Why did you fall?" she asked. "You know the basics, but you aren't applying them well. Were you listening to me at all?"
His breath came in ragged gasps.
"I've... only been learning for a week—"
"That isn't an excuse," Eden cut him off, her voice flat. "I'm just asking you to cut the practice sword. Is that so hard?"
"..."
He grit his teeth and regained his posture, standing up. Frustrated as he was, he knew she wasn't mocking him; she was just trying to understand his mistakes.
To truly learn, he realized he couldn't just follow her instructions, he needed to watch, first-hand. Observation was one of his strengths, after all.
"Show me, then, sister. I want to observe how you do it."
Eden hesitated for a moment, then sighed. The look in her little brother's eyes was one she recognized— the hunger of a Hart.
"Then," she said, raising the wooden sword, "come."
Dash!
Seven lunged forward, snow kicked up behind him as he mimicked the aggressive opener Lythian had used to begin each round during their bouts.
Eden raised the wooden sword. It was the posture of someone who could strike an enemy down without hesitation.
'…Fudge! I can feel it, the feeling of death.'
Eden's eyes held the cold void of a true executioner. It was too late for him to stop, there was no way to avoid it..
Just then…
ᆫSkill Activated: Self-proclaimed Geniusᄀ
The world slowed down, significantly.
Unlike before, he ignored the falling snow and the usual battlefield cues. There was only one focus:
Eden Hart.
Even the arrows marking potential movement paths vanished from his mind, his attention narrowed solely to her eyes.
Now he noticed it: Eden's gaze wasn't on his sword, it was on his shoulders. She was reading the kinetic chain of his body to predict his next movements.
'Eyes…'
Time snapped back to normal.
The silence was shattered by the roar of the wind as Eden's sword plummeted toward the spot where his head had been a millisecond before.
But Seven was already gone. Because he was unaffected by his own skill, he had used that pocket of frozen time to close the gap. He stamped his foot, shifting his weight in a desperate pivot just as the wooden blade whistled past his ear, close enough to cut a few strands of his hair.
'Feet…'
He again, mimicked how Lythian did during his bout against him.
"...?!"
Niflheim felt weightless in his hands. Following the arrow of his skill earlier, he swung toward her exposed back, feeling the energy flow from his vision to his stance, and finally to his grip.
'Hands…'
He finally understood what Eden wanted to teach him, that everything should be interconnected: from eyes, feet, and to hands.
Then again, even with her strength suppressed to a fraction of a percent, Eden was a Transcendent. She pivoted with a blur of motion, her wooden sword snapping up to intercept his strike after having read the attack.
Clang!
She blocked gha strike, and in less than a second, the cold wood of her practice sword was pressed firmly against his jugular— she was already behind him!
However, Seven didn't look defeated; he was smiling!
"Heh. I won, sister."
"You… won?" Eden asked, her brow furrowing.
Looking down, the wooden sword in her hand was no longer a sword but a jagged stump.
Thing is, when the wooden sword ascended to block it, Seven didn't just meet it; he angled Niflheim so that Eden's own upward force slid directly into the grain of her practice weapon. He became the anvil, and she provided the hammer.
Eden stared at the broken wood, then at her brother.
"Did I do it well, sister?"
He returned the sword back and Eden, who gave a slow, genuine smile in response as she sheathed the sword back.
"Alright," Eden said, patting his head. "You did good, my cute little brother."
"Hehe."
He chuckled, trying to contain his pride. He wasn't acting like the real Seven Hart now, but purely because of his effort and progress.
"You should head back now. Don't you still have a healing session with your attendant?"
"Yes, sister."