Chapter 18 - Defense And Attack!

"I will be fine, Nick. just trust me this once." he looked at me with anger filled eyes and left the place without saying a word.

I did not want to hurt him, but he had to learn that he could not protect me forever. I had to learn to protect me and my loved ones.

He pointed at the swords on the table. "Pick one and show me what you know. Your performance will decide whether I will train you or not.

I really wanted to spout profanities now, but the shine of the sword took my mind away.

I selected an unused sword. It was the first one I had held since returning to the past, but it felt as if it was just yesterday. My soft, un-calloused hand awkwardly gripped the solid handle, but my mind felt a strange sense of perfect understanding. I was fortunate that my training though turned misty with time; it still helped me through my unconscious mind.

I unsheathed the sword from the scabbard and saw my face reflected in the sharp blade. The face of the woman it showed was much different than the cold swordswoman I remembered as myself from the past, but the determination in my heart burned fiercer than before. I brandished the sword in the air a few times and muttered

"…I'm only half as good."

My speed and power were limited in this untrained body. However, I had swung a sword thousands or tens of thousands of times, and the battles where I had risked my life was beyond count.

No matter how weak and slow I was, I knew exactly where to swing the sword. There were more times where I had fought in dire circumstances than in favorable ones, and I had become resourceful in bad situations.

But i had never thought that my restart would again be with this man, he had helped me so many times that i could not get angry with him even when he was behaving like a bully this time.

"So are you ready?"

"What do i need to do?" I asked with confidence.

"you have to just defend my attacks. If i will be successful in attacking you then i won, if you defended well and i could not touch you, then you won"

"Fair enough, but there should be a judge."

"Oh, you doubt that I would cheat. Ha! Still you want to learn from me" he mocked again and i just wanted to beat him and then operate on his mind, i was sure the nerves were attached wrong. Just a minor surgery and I would make sure that he would be like his past life!

"Sir Matthews, would you be the judge for this young girl, so that she would not be able to accuse me for cheating later?" he said in a haughty tone. But the man just cowered further. He was behaving strangely in the morning too. As if he was afraid to choose one among us, I could understand about me but why was he so afraid about Carl!!

"I.. i think"

"I will be the judge Noah, you don't need to be worried about my daughter accusing you later" said my father walking towards us, as the knights left the way for him. They all took the attention mode and saluted him.

He stood there like a majestic king who had entered among commoners. Though all were knights, his cold aura and sharp eyes were unparalleled.

All the knights were gulping visibly thinking that their commandant would be displeased that they had treated his precious daughter unfairly.

But I knew my father would say nothing. If he pointed towards their behaviors, there would be a wall between me and them forever. Though they would treat me better in the future, I would never be able to gain respect or affinity among them.

I have to earn my respect and this was my chance. But strangely when i looked at Carl, he was not at all afraid of my father or his aura, I narrowed my eyes at his behaviour which made me realise that i knew so less about him or had he told me but i had forgotten about it due to my hazy memories.

"So shall we start?"

I nodded my head as he looked at me and then took my stance. I Opened my body at a 45-degree angle, my left foot ahead of my right and my hips were towards him.

Now all I had to do was to take a large step back whenever he tried to attack me and make sure that he would not jab me.

And if I got a chance, I had to attack once to wound the ego of this red head man, so that he would learn to respect others.

When he swiped at me with his sword, I lifted the blade of my sword against his to block his attack.

But he turned and hit me with the other side, and only then did I realise it was a false attack to gain my attention to the other side. I bent down and barely defended his attack.

He was doing his best to win the match. I cursed as i have to try harder yet my body was already sweating hard and my muscles were paining.

'Darn it' I flipped in the air at the end moment when I saw him attacking my legs as he flipped and moved and bent his body at 60 degrees angle.

I jumped hard, but almost stumbled when I landed back but then I bent my body at speed when he attacked straight at my neck.

"Heck, are you trying to kill me, Ca.. Noah?" i shouted thinking that the match was over yet he was still moving towards me.

My eyes widened as I saw him moving towards me, I used all the force I had to block his attack and launch my attack in one swift move making him and all the people present there shocked.