Kedra looked over the crowd with a judging gaze; she paid close attention to the way the students carried themselves: how were they treating their weapons, how nervous were they to fight someone who had won so one-sidedly?
Eventually, her eyes landed on one of the few girls who had chosen to participate in the test. She had long raven black hair tied into a high ponytail.
As Kedra met her pale red eyes, they both stared at each other for a few seconds. Kedra immediately noticed the girl's confidence: her self-assured gaze, her elegant posture, and her steady hand, placed firmly onto a rapier's handle.
Kedra pointed to her. "I choose her as my next opponent."
The girl stepped forward. "I am Vivienne Sanlor; I accept this duel."
The crowd broke out into conversation once more. "Does that girl really think she stands a chance against a prodigy like Vivienne?" "I mean, she is a Deslandes; if anyone has a chance, it would be her."
Both of the girls found their respective sides of the arena and prepared themselves. While Vivienne began familiarizing herself with her sword and sizing up her opponent, Kedra began warming up with quick hops and stretches.
Vivienne suddenly pointed her rapier at Kedra. "A word before we start: I will never accept that you are the daughter of a Duke; your mannerisms are much too uncultivated; even your weapon choice is contrary to that of a noble lady's."
Kedra was dumbfounded by the sudden insult. "Ah, well, I can't really refute that; I've always struggled with etiquette. Eh, you'll get over it." She said with a smirk.
As if Kedra had struck a nerve, as soon as Logan gave the start signal, Vivienne leapt forward with a thrust from her rapier; however, unlike Callow, her strike was much quicker.
Surprised, but not caught off guard, Kedra swatted her weapon away with her shortsword before raising its tip to Vivienne's neck, slashing with the false edge of her blade.
As a reaction to the counterattack, Vivienne took a large step back and regained her posture, narrowly evading the slash.
Without a second thought, she pressed the attack further, stepping forward with a quick sideways cut that she feigned into a diagonal strike from the opposite side.
Kedra reacted to the first of her attacks but managed to quickly redirect her sword to block the true strike.
With her strike having been deviated, Vivienne quickly flourished her rapier to deliver a high cut to Kedra's head.
The exchange of attacks and parries continued for a whole minute, during which Kedra focused on defending, only going for obvious counterattacks.
'Her style reminds me of what Lionel uses in his duels most of the time; I think he said it was the Aswallian Imperial Swordsmanship? It's really flashy with lots of feints and flourishes, so damn annoying.'
Meanwhile, the crowd watched the fierce exchange in silent amazement; the fight they were witnessing was at a much higher level than them, so much so that even their instructor was dazed by the talent he was witnessing.
'Alright, I've played around enough; I could use Kas'vark, but that would be a bit overkill considering how violent it is and most HEMA chapters... would be a little boring. Alright, I'll just copy Lionel's other style.'
Kedra began pushing Vivienne back with a sudden flurry of swift attacks before dodging backwards, creating a moment of downtime for both her and her opponent.
She then tossed her arming sword to her left hand, which elicited a confused reaction from Vivienne. "Are you looking down on me?!" She exclaimed.
Kedra chuckled. "No, no, I've just never seen this style used in the right hand."
With another word, Kedra suddenly bounded forward, using the force from her leap along with the rotation of her body to deliver a devastatingly heavy strike to Vivienne's right side.
Her opponent managed to block the strike, but the sheer weight of the attack made her arms buckle as they both entered a bind.
Utilizing the bind, Kedra slid her weapon against Vivienne's rapier until it connected with her guard. She then used her superior arm strength to control Vivienne's blade, moving it out of the way and opening up her middle section.
Immediately, Kedra exploited the hole in her defenses by delivering a sharp kick to her stomach. Faced with the sudden strike, Vivienne's lower half gave way, making her take a knee.
Before she could gather herself, she found Kedra's sword placed firmly against her neck. "Looks like I win." She snarked.
Vivienne clicked her tongue. "Fine, I admit defeat!" She hissed.
The crowd broke out in applause and cheer as Logan gathered the student's attention. "Very well! Kedra Deslandes and Vivienne Sanlor, I've seen enough; you both pass the test; please find seats with the spectators."
Wiping a bead of sweat off of her brow, Kedra made her way down to the nearby bleachers and took a seat.
As soon as she arrived at the bleachers, she was bombarded with the admirative stares of noble boys and girls alike, so much so that a cold shiver crept up her spine.
Looking for a distraction, she suddenly noticed that Vivienne had made her way over and had sat next to her. Her cheeks were red and slightly puffed up in an embarrassed pout.
Kedra leaned forward to get a proper look at her face. "Is everything alright?"
Vivienne's eyes were slightly damp, as if she were suppressing tears. "I just can't accept it; how can someone as improper as you be so good with the sword?"
"Well, I trained really hard, that's about it." She replied.
"I trained hard too! And yet..." Vivienne sniffled.
'Jeez, I'm starting to feel bad for her here. Does she really hate losing that much?'
"Now now, I'm sure there's a subject where you surpass me, so cheer up alright?"
Once the final duels had taken place, Logan made his exit, and Beatrix began introducing the next tests one after another, ranging from varying sports to etiquette and art. Kedra excelled at most physical activities but barely passed etiquette.
The arts were a different story; Kedra passed the tests for only two of the six artistic domains taught by the academy: painting and sculpting. Vivienne, on the other hand, began boasting to her about passing all six with flying colors.
Kedra didn't mind her bragging; after the first few times, she quickly realized that Vivienne held very little ill will towards her. Kedra simply interpreted her boastful words as the immaturity of a twelve-year-old noble.
Finally, after a series of multiple tests, the final examination came. Beatrix brought the students back to the gymnasium and introduced them to a tall human man with long silky blond hair and androgynous features.
"Students, this is Sir Isaac of Rosehallow; he teaches channeling magic and will be the examiner for your next test."
Kedra sighed. 'Guess I'm sitting this one out.'