Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem

She swung her sword from above her head and down until it was a hair from touching the ground in front of her. It was a simple vertical motion. Anyone who had held a sword had done it. It was the easiest since gravity did most of the work.

Such a simple motion was turned into art in Yanael's hands.

Her hands moved in a perfectly straight line without the slightest tremor or deviation. Her sword maintained a perfect angle, splitting and reconnecting the air it passed through, without leaving a single particle undisturbed in its wake.

But it was just once. It could have been a fluke, right?

No.

She repeated the swing. It was the exact same, down to the last ripple of her dress from her movement.

In just the few weeks that Zach was unconscious, Yanael had ripped away all of her experience and practice and replaced it with training that had already ingrained the movements of the sword into her bones.

It had taken her several days to reach her enlightenment, maybe even more than a week. In the time since that, she had tirelessly held her sword and swung it without pause.

During Zach's coma, Mandra's thoughts had only grown, and she did not have anything to show for it yet.

Yanael, on the other hand, had done the opposite. She still had many thoughts in her head. She still wasn't sure she understood her purpose. She was still lost.

But whenever she could not control those thoughts, she just grabbed her sword and practiced.

Now, she had a lot to show for it.

After repeating the vertical swing until Zach and the others could see her doing it with their eyes closed, she moved on to a simple thrust.

But in Yanael's hands, it was anything but simple. It was the second move, but it already had numerous variations.

She could take a step forward and lean her body, extending the thrust several times, or she could quickly jab the sword forward. She could do it with her left hand as the dominant one and start the thrust from the left side of her body, or she could do the reverse. She could also initiate the thrust from the center of her body and use both hands equally.

She could also use only one hand from either side. Right hand from the left. Right hand from the right. Left hand from the left, and left hand from the right. With and without a step. Stepping backward.

After doing each variation once, she did them again.

Just like the vertical swing, she had mastered it.

Then came the horizontal swing. It was the same as the simple thrust.

It had countless variations depending on how she held the sword. She could do a wide swing from her back where the tip almost reached the point it started from when she used one hand. It was a slash that would decimate her surroundings.

She could hold it with both hands to do a short and quick but incredibly powerful swing.

She included steps in each variation. Each move changed drastically with the addition of something as simple as Yanael sliding her foot forward the length of a loaf of bread.

After the horizontal swing came the diagonal swing. Just looking at the angle of the swing, it seemed like a mix of the vertical and horizontal swings.

It wasn't.

Gradually, with each movement Yanael made, the others had started seeing a figure in front of her, reacting and acting in response to the movements she made. They could imagine how a swordsman of her level would react to her movements.

A swordsman of her level would deflect, parry, or block a vertical swing. They would block or jump back to avoid a horizontal swing. They could only jump back to avoid a diagonal swing from Yanael.

Parrying or deflecting it wouldn't work. It would slide right off the opposing sword before lodging itself in their body further down.

The opponent would need to push away the diagonal swing with considerable force to stop the sword from reaching them if they didn't want to move. That would take strength. If Yanael timed it right, she could use the strength the opponent put into her sword against them. She could use it to change the trajectory of her sword and make them reveal an opening.

After the diagonal swing's multiple variations, the four different starting angles, the different ways to hold the sword, and the different ways to augment the swing with simple steps, Yanael moved on to the next step of her demonstrations.

She started showing combinations of the simple moves.

A light vertical swing and a thrust. A heavy vertical swing and an upwards diagonal swing. A light vertical swing and a horizontal swing. A light vertical swing and a light diagonal swing. A heavy vertical swing and a quick, two-handed thrust. A light vertical swing and a quick, two-handed thrust.

A long, one-handed horizontal swing into a heavy, two-handed vertical swing. A quick, two-handed horizontal swing into another quick, two-handed horizontal swing. A quick, semi-wide horizontal swing into a light and fast diagonal swing.

A diagonal swing into another diagonal swing. A diagonal swing into a horizontal swing. An upwards diagonal swing into a heavy vertical swing.

A light vertical swing, a step forward, a heavy thrust. A wide, one-handed swing, a step forward, a heavy vertical swing.

After Yanael moved on to combinations of three different or similar moves, including steps, the real demonstration began. Zach and the others barely had to imagine the figure opposing her. It was like they could see a formless swordsman respond like a dummy to each and every move of hers.

They weren't sure how long they watched, nor how long Yanael performed her demonstration without revealing a single flaw, at least not one noticeable by them. She continued swinging her sword, connecting and combining everything she had practiced. She even learned new things while she was performing the demonstration.

In Zach's eyes, the boundary between Yanael's shoulder, the hand holding the sword, and the sword itself blurred.

How was this someone who had only learned the sword for a week or two?