A small yet powerful army of swordsmen were currently marching towards a certain direction. Every single soldier who was part of these troops was armored to the teeth and had a sword in their troops. A furious flame of revenge seemed to be burning in their eyes.
The soldiers looked determined to fight even if it meant death. Anyone who would look at them, would be certain that they had no hopes of making out alive from this battle.
It was as if they had already accepted that this will probably be the last battle they will face.
This army was none other than Myles's troops. Under the leadership of Myles's and the other captions, they were charging towards the sword pavilion.
Without uttering a single word, they kept charging towards the sword pavilion as quickly as they could. However, the silence didn't last for long.
"The upcoming battle will probably be the most difficult one that we have ever faced. Isn't that right" Myles asked, his voice carrying seriousness.
The caption just merely nodded their heads in approval.
"Can you tell me what I must do to achieve sword aura? If I managed to achieve sword aura today then the chances of us surviving will certainly increase" Myles remarked.
"I think we have answered this question numerous times," Zen replied with a sigh.
"Today we face a trial that if we fail, every single one of us will perish. Maybe, in the face of such pressure, I will be able to achieve sword aura if you explain it to me" Myles remarked, his voice carrying seriousness.
"Commander sword aura is difficult yet easy to achieve at the same time." Caption Cora remarked.
"Please explain"
"There are those who have achieved sword aura while meditating. At the same time there are those who have failed but are extremely talented like you.
Do you know why those talented individuals failed?"
"It's because they lack the understanding of the essence of swordsmanship" Hector interrupted.
"What do you mean by the essence of swordsmanship?" Myles asked, confusion was clearly visible in his voice.
"This is complicated to explain, every swordsman has a different answer. But answering these three truthfully questions from the bottom of your heart should be enough to gain a deeper understanding of the essence of swordsmanship.
What is that you find in swordsmanship makes you love it?
What is your belief? What do you want to achieve with swordsmanship in the future?
Finally, what is a sword?
Answering these three profound questions will certainly make you understand the essence of swordsmanship" Hector replied, his voice carrying seriousness.
Myles halted his steps and fell into deep thought upon hearing this, he seemed to be thinking about the answer right now.
Afterall why wouldn't he? If he managed to answer these questions, he might also gain sword aura in the real game.
Since the understanding of the essence of swordsmanship will be embedded deep into his memories.
Something that was stored in his memory was intangible. So it was unlikely that he would lose them after the quest. Well if all his memories were erased then it was another matter altogether.
However, the chances of this happening was extremely unlikely. Myles shook his head and tried his best to answer the questions.
"Why did I love swordsmanship?" Myles questioned himself.
He loved swordsmanship from a very young age. But he had no clue why he loved it in the first place.
Was it because swordsmanship was cool or was it something else. He had no clue. Hence, he closed his eyes and tried his best to figure out the answer to the question.
Unfortunately, a voice resounded through his ears walking him up from his stance.
"Commander, no disrespect, but we can't stay here. You've sought those answers for years without success, and time isn't on our side. If the mages spot us, it'll be a disaster. We have to keep moving." Zen remarked his voice carrying seriousness.
Myles snapped out from stance upon hearing this. His concentrated state was broken. Although he was a bit upset, he knew that Zen was right.
He looked around him and saw that the advancement of the entire army had stopped because of him.
"You are right, let's head out" Myles commanded.
Without uttering a single word more, they started to make their way toward the sword pavilion.
Half an hour later.
As Myles advanced forward, he tried his best to find the answer to the three questions.
It was obvious that he had made little to no improvement. But he wasn't disappointed in the least.
"Well if it was this easy then this guy would have found the answer a long time ago. Hence, achieving sword aura" Myles thought to himself.
He wasn't upset in the least at his lack of progress. Since he had expected it to be difficult.
He looked up at the sky and realized that it was getting a bit dark. Though, he expected dusk to fall in an hour or more.
"Caption Zen, how long until we reach the sword pavilion? It's starting to get a bit dark."
"Don't worrying Commander Aldrich, we will reach the sword pavilion within half an hour"
Myles nodded his head in approval, if they managed to reach his destination within half an hour. It was acceptable to him.
As they were continuing to walk towards the sword pavilion, Myles sensed something in the distance.
He sent the aura of hundreds if not thousands of fighters!! Moreover, he sensed a few powerful people which were in no way weaker than his captions!
He had no way to determine whether they belonged to the union or the Great Mage alliance.
With no way to determine whether they were foes or friends, Myself assumed the worst. Seeing that no one said anything, he realized that he was the first one to sense the approaching threat
Hence, he quickly let everyone know of the possible approaching threat.
"An army of fighters which numbers up to thousands is approaching us from our right side at an incredible speed! Brace yourself for combat!" Myles exclaimed, his voice carrying a sense of urgency.
Upon hearing this, everyone's faces turned dire in a matter of seconds. The troops had taken out their weapons , it was clear they were ready for combat.
However, the captions didn't look satisfied. Hence, the captions quickly issued their own commands.
"Everyone form the defensive formation ASAP! We need to maximize our chances of survival!" Caption Hector ordered.
Upon hearing this the soldiers nodded their heads and began to form the defensive formation. The shape of the troops changed drastically.
The army of the enemy had come a lot closer. Currently, everyone was able to sense the aura of the approaching army.
A few minutes later, armored people began to emerge from the bush. When the captions saw them, they widened their eyes.
Not in fear or disbelief but in surprise.
"You guys are still alive," Zen remarked as he looked in front of him.
A woman wearing armor which was clearly riddled with sword holes stood in front of him. Behind her hundreds of not thousands of soldiers stood in front of them. Each one was on their guard, as if afraid that a battle might break out any moment.
However, Myles didn't sense any hostility or something negative from her. What was bewildering was that his own caption also didn't show her any hostility or at least some vigilance towards her!!
Myles knew that his captions knew something about her. Zen asking her a question further proved this!
"Do you know her?" Myles asked them, his voice carrying seriousness.