The day before the competition, the nurse doesn't find Jeff on his bed. "Where is the boy?" The nurse shouts, looking all over the room. "He should be there-" the other nurse stammered, walking towards the room. "He's missing!" the other nurse exclaimed, searching for Jeff inside the infirmary. Albert arrives with Jeff in the infirmary, walking towards his room. "Sorry for not telling everyone about my departure," Jeff said, bowing towards the nurses with respect. "Thank you for your care," Jeff said while bowing.
The two then left the infirmary and went towards the training grounds of the Serfa village. Multiple knights are seen teaching children how to use a sword, while Albert swings his sword toward the unaware Jeff. However, at the last moment, Jeff blocked the wooden sword with his own without looking. Next, he parries Albert's sword and tries to attack Albert. "Nice try," Albert said, blocking Jeff's counterattack, parrying the attack, and kicking Jeff away. Jeff blocks the kick with his sword, however he is pushed back. With the space, Jeff dashes towards Albert with lightning speed, hits him but gets blocked by his sword, and tries to go for another blow but gets blocked "That won't work on me-" Albert said, as his heart starts beating faster and faster, however, Jeff sweeps Albert off the ground with a low kick and points his sword towards him. "It's my win today, Sir Albert," Jeff said, staring at Albert. "This kid…" Albert mumbled, looking towards the sword pointed towards him. "His growth isn't like that of a human…" Albert thought, sighing. "It's like…" Albert thought, getting up. "He's… a monster."
"Let's go for another round," Albert said, in a fighting stance. "Okay," Jeff replied, setting his eyes on one of the senior knights sparring with another senior. One of the senior knights charges towards the other senior and uses more power in his strike, causing multiple sharp wind slashes to appear, flying towards the other senior. The senior defended the wind slashes like it was nothing, and as the other senior who sent the wind slashes charged towards the defending senior, he couldn't break the defense of the senior. "I can see their movement… as if it is a line that could easily be predicted." Jeff looks back towards Albert and lunges towards him like the commander. The swordsmanship the knights use is Imperial Swordsmanship. A technique used to defend yourself and others while counter-attacking on the battlefield. It is rarely used for offense, however, the offense skillset of the Imperial Swordsmanship is full of dangerous yet effective lunges toward the opponent, putting the body on the line. However, despite the risk, the knights are trained to have decent reflexes, dodging the attacks effectively and quickly, to shift back to their more defensive capabilities using Imperial Swordsmanship. There are a total of 6 forms within the Imperial Swordsmanship. The first to fourth forms are the forms the knights have to master, with one of the forms being an offensive form. The remaining two forms are reserved for knights of higher status or senior knights, as they are more capable of learning those forms. The fifth and sixth forms of Imperial Swordsmanship are the hardest forms to learn and are the so-called "Ultimate Defence" and "Ultimate Attack" of the knights. Recently, there are also rumors about the seventh form, which only a few have mastered. Albert uses Imperial swordsmanship as a knight, however, he can only use the first four forms and a mock version of the fifth and sixth forms.
As Jeff and Albert clash, Jeff lunges towards Albert. "Hey Sir Albert, can you use the mock version of the fifth and sixth forms?" Jeff said as he created distance between him and Albert. "Sure," Albert replied, trying to mimic the posture of the senior knights. He then charges toward Jeff, however, he isn't capable of the attack that the senior knights did, as Albert couldn't use the fifth and sixth forms correctly.
"I see…" Jeff said as he swung his sword towards Albert. "That was my attempt at the sixth form, here's my attempt with the fifth form," Albert replied, defending against Jeff's attacks effortlessly, however he left multiple openings. "Do you see the openings, Jeff?" Albert said, pushing Jeff away. "Yep," Jeff replied. "That's because I couldn't perform the technique correctly," Albert replied.
"Alright then, my turn," Jeff said as he slashed his wooden sword towards the ground, with an intense grip. Suddenly, sharp gusts of wind fly towards Albert. Jeff sends a second gust of wind towards Albert and lunges towards him.
"This is…" All the knights thought, watching the battle. "The fifth form of imperial swordsmanship!" The knights mumbled to themselves, as clumps of dust appeared on the battlefield.
Albert quickly dodges the two wind slashes with his sharp senses, however the tree behind him gets cut in half. With his eyes widening, he quietly mumbled to himself. "Damn it… this kid is too strong."
As the dust settles, Jeff is seen holding his wooden sword towards Albert's neck. "Well played, Sir Albert," Jeff said as he looked confidently towards a shocked Albert, standing as he shivered.
"Well done kid," Albert said, trying to resist himself from shaking in fear. "It's just a kid, he can't hurt you," Albert mumbled in his mind, staring towards Jeff's wooden sword, with hints of tiny blood stained on it, as cold sweat dripped off of Albert's neck.
"Well, I think that's all for today. I'll see you in the village's training grounds for the competition." Albert said as he smiled towards Jeff, who put his sword away from Albert. "Alright, Sir Albert! Wish me luck!" Jeff said, smiling as he walked away from the training grounds of the Serfa Village.
Inside the king's bedroom, an old butler knocks towards the door. "My lord, may I come in?" The butler knocked, "Go ahead, Stefano." The king replied as the butler entered the room with many papers in his hands. "A total of 100,000 children from across the empire will attend the competition." The butler said, flipping one of the papers over. "Each village from where the participants come from will have a competition of their own." The butler said. "Surprisingly, the son of Jean Lauriston will be participating in the event. His son will be participating in the Serfa Village's competition, however, despite his overwhelming talent." The butler said, adjusting his monocle. "There's also a promising talent from the Serfa Village, but it's a commoner." The butler said, scanning through one of the papers. "He mastered the fifth form of Imperial Swordsmanship at age four, just by watching two senior knights spar." The butler said, scanning through more papers. "That's interesting." The king replied. "Stefano, we can't tell if someone is good until we see the results." The king added, "We'll see who has true talent once the competition ends."
"So… is that all of the reports?" The king asked. "Yes, my lord." The butler replied, "I'll leave now. Thank you for your time." The butler left the room, as the king went to bed.
Inside the orphanage, Jeff wakes up in the middle of the knight and grabs his wooden sword. He turns his blanket into a coat by wrapping it around his body and using a rope to keep the coat fixed. He runs away from the orphanage towards a forest named "Midnight Forest". "I guess I can train in peace here," Jeff mumbled, venturing inside the forest. The moonlight shines brightly as Jeff hears a howl from the distance. As Jeff enters the deeper parts of the forest, he starts to slash at a tree with his wooden sword and tries to do the fifth form of Imperial Swordsmanship, slashing in the air two times with a strong force, which causes 6 trees to be cut, while Jeff dashes towards another tree ahead of him. He uses the wind that passes by his sword to charge a powerful wind slash. He then slashes at the tree and causes the 15 trees ahead of him to fall. Jeff then runs towards another tree and makes a circle by running faster and faster, surrounding the tree with his afterimages. Jeff gathers wind toward his wooden sword by running at extreme speeds. As Jeff kept accelerating, he reached a speed he never experienced before. As he took a step, he heard a loud boom. As Jeff takes more steps, a loud boom is heard whenever he takes a step. Eventually, he charges toward the tree with all the wind gathered on his sword and slashes at it but does not make contact. It causes 100 trees to collapse, as a massive wind blade surrounds the area.
"Looks like I have improved a bit," Jeff remarked, looking towards the destruction he caused. Suddenly, a wolf with dark fur, blue eyes, and a yellow crescent on its forehead appears. The wolf growls at Jeff, as the two stare at each other. "I have sensed a powerful presence here…" The wolf said. "It must be you, small human, who caused this destruction, am I right?"
"Well, you're right," Jeff replied. "I was just wandering around the forest and decided to train here," Jeff remarked, looking towards the wolf's blue, luscious eyes. "I'm sorry if I disturbed your home," Jeff said as he bowed. "It's not okay." The wolf said. "You ruined my forest." The wolf added on, looking towards the fallen trees. "Have you heard of the rumored "Midnight Wolf"?" The wolf asked the boy. "Yes, I have. The wolf is the king of this forest, am I right?" Jeff said as he looked towards the wolf. "You're looking at the Midnight Wolf right now." the wolf said as it revealed its identity. "Really?" Jeff looked towards the wolf's head, seeing the yellow crescent. "That's cool."
"How can you talk by the way?" Jeff asked with a curious gaze. "I learned the human language." The Midnight Wolf replied, "Hey kid, do you know the consequences of disturbing my home?" The Midnight Wolf glared at Jeff, as it showed its claws. "No… But I apologize for what I've done." Jeff replied, with a slight smile. "I'll show you then!" The Midnight Wolf lunged toward Jeff faster than the Falcons. Jeff reacts by slashing his sword repeatedly faster and faster, causing a barrier of wind to appear that surrounds Jeff. The wolf gets hit by the barrier and gets wounded by the wooden sword. "Gah! I wanted to give you a quick death because of your kindness but I've changed my mind." The Midnight Wolf said as it howled. The Midnight Wolf's howl causes the whole forest to shake, while 10 more wolves appear. Jeff's barrier disappears as the 10 wolves charge toward Jeff. He dodges all of the wolves and surrounds them by running at a ridiculous speed, leaving multiple afterimages behind. The wolves stand in their positions confused, while the Midnight Wolf slightly grins at the sight of the power of its opponent.
"I'll join in now. Be prepared kid." The Midnight Wolf said, charging towards one of the afterimages Jeff left. "W-wha?" The wolf mumbled, phasing through Jeff's afterimage. The Midnight Wolf is trapped inside the circle that Jeff made to trap the 10 wolves. "W-what is this madness…" The Midnight Wolf mumbled to itself, trying to find Jeff within his multiple afterimages. While the Midnight Wolf tries to find Jeff, he gathers the air within his sword and starts to run faster and faster, until the same loud boom is heard for every step Jeff took. Jeff kept going faster and faster, as dust rose within the air. The whole circle is covered with dust, as Jeff finally strikes towards the wolves with full force. A loud explosion is heard across the forest, reaching the Lauriston Mansion. "I heard something." One of the maids inside the mansion said as she swept the floor, talking towards another maid. "Me too." The other maid replied. "I wonder what is happening."
As Jeff hit the wolves with all of his force, the Midnight Wolf fled the scene before it got hit. Jeff's strike caused all of the wolves to die by being split in half, while also having a crater around the area that Jeff surrounded with his afterimages. The surrounding trees also got damaged with so much force that 30 trees from the area got cut in half, while 50 trees got all of their leaves blown away. "That technique…" Jeff mumbled, looking toward the damage he caused. "It's like the seventh form of Imperial Swordsmanship according to the rumors that I heard."
Looking down, Jeff saw that his sword was split in half. "Looks like I'll have to ask Sir Albert for a new sword," Jeff mumbled as he fled quickly from the forest. He quietly returned to his orphanage, sleeping, as he awaited the next day.
As Jeff leaves the forest, the blonde-haired noble, Jean Lauriston rides on his horse to travel towards the Midnight Forest. "I'm sure the sound came from the Midnight Forest," Jean said as he made his horse gallop toward the direction of the forest. "It shouldn't be far from here, as no explosion would be heard from the heart of the forest," Jean mumbled as he traveled towards the Midnight Forest.
As Jean arrives towards the forest, he searches for the source of the explosion however he is eventually lured towards the heart of the forest. Jean rides his horse towards the heart of the Midnight Forest. "How could someone this strong be here?" Jean mumbled to himself, looking towards the crater that Jeff made, with the wolf's dead body lying there lifelessly. "There's no reports of a high-ranking knight within my barony." Jean thought, riding his horse back towards his mansion. "Well, I'll have to prepare Aldrich for tomorrow. If that commoner is an obstacle to his way, I'll force him to comply." Jean mumbled to himself as he looked back towards the crater. "With the Lauriston Swordsmanship, Aldrich would easily outperform anyone anyway," Jean mumbled, turning his head away from the crater, and traveling towards his mansion, which was a few hours away.