--


    "How was it? Did you gain anything?"


    That''s what Thirdy asked as soon as Cedric came out of the Sword Communion Hall.


    "What could I possibly gain within an hour?" Cedric humorlessly lied, "Sword Laws are too profound, I''ll need more time. Besides, I hav''t digested everything I''ve gained since my breakthrough. I''d need to settle that first before adding more."


    "That''s reasonable." Thirdy nodded, "Okay, shall we go to the Sword Collesium th?"


    "Yes, please." Cedric nodded.


    In the d, he didn''t tell Thirdy about his weird counter with the Law Communion Sword. If there''s anything he could talk to about it, it''d probably be the Instructor only. Ev th, from what he heard about the sword, Uruk didn''t qualify for the true Sword Communion Hall so whatever he could tell about it to Cedric might not be as much as he knows now.


    ''I''ll deal with itter.'' Cedric mused.


    Just like the Sword Communion Hall, the Sword Collesium was just nearby, they didn''t have to go that far to arrive there.


    True to its name, it is a collesium. A fairly sized one. It''srge ough to contain at least 500 people at once.


    "The Sword Collesium is where we Swordsm fight." Thirdy exined after they tered the ce.


    Cedric immediately saw a couple of people in the audice, the majority were his ssmates. In the ara, he saw two people facing each other; a man and a woman.


    "The easiest way to hone our skills is through battle. I''ve told you this before but fights are fairlymon here. Well...sparring is the actual term but meh, semantics. In here, you can either challge your fellow ssmates or challge the Alumni Phantoms to test your skills."


    "Alumni Phantoms?" Cedric asked, this was the first time he heard those words.


    "Yes, Alumni Phantoms," Thirdy confirmed. "Each person who graduated from this ss definitely wt here at least once. The Sword Collesium remembers every fight that happed in it. It records everything it knows about us and creates a memory that others could challge in the future."


    "It could ev stimte your pottial future, creating a version of you from the future for others to test their skills with. Usually, it''s those graduates that you''d see there, but excessively talted studts could leave their phantoms early."


    "I see." Cedric hummed.


    "It looks like we came at a great time too. Aurora and Roran are fighting today. Hurry, take a seat, and watch. You''d gain a lot by watching them." Thirdy urged as he too found a seat to take.


    The dude ev took out some finger food from his invtory to munch on. Wasn''t he being a little toofortable?


    Aurora Swiftde of the ''Shadowless Razor Sword Heart'' and Roran Bloodsteel of the ''Blood-letting Sword Heart''...


    Cedric heard these names before, they were respectively the 5th and 4th ranking studts of this currt ss. They are strong, that much was obvious.


    "I literally could be anywhere else right now, yet you just had to ruin my day." Aurora''s cold voice echoed in the ara as she held her sword.


    Aurora was a beauty, and the displeased expression on her face didn''t eve close to ruining that. If anything, some would ev prefer being stared at by her with that expression.


    Cedric could tell that much from the faces of the people a him.


    Meanwhile, her oppont - Roran Bloodsteel, just wore a rather cocky smile on his face. He''s handsome too, butpared to Cedric, he has a long way to go.


    "It''s not my fault." Roran replied to her, "If only you were behaving, I wouldn''t have done it. But you just have to do something like that, how could I possibly let you be? You need to be punished."


    Cedric didn''t miss the way Roran obscely licked his lips as he stared at Aurora, but that''s not the kicker here. It''s Aurora''s reaction to those words that surprised him greatly.


    She didn''t show it deliberately, but how can it escape Cedric''s absurd sses? Aurora might look cold and disgusted outside but inwardly, Cedric could tell that she was incredibly delighted.


    Cedric winced because he could literally smell her arousal from where he was seated. That said, who was he to say anything? Whatever kink-y that''s happing here has nothing to do with him.


    "Hmph! Disgusting. Stop looking at me with those eyes. It''s creeping me out." Aurora admonished, but she''s not being honest at all.


    "Oh, shut it. I know you love it wh I''m like this." Roran sneered at him, and Cedric could sweat he saw her quivering in delight every so slightly.


    "...really, in broad daylight? Damn, that''s crazy." Cedric muttered in disbelief.


    "What is?" Thirdy asked, looking clueless.


    "Nothing." Cedric replied. Again, this was  of his business so he better keep his mouth shut.


    "If I win..." Roran dered, "...you''reing home with me. If you win, I''ll follow your orders for an tire day. Deal?"


    Aurora''s eyes shed briefly. She th let out a snort and said: "Deal! Just as well, you''ve be sitting in the 4th ce for far too long. It''s time to have some changes a here."


    After epting the terms of the bet, a countdown appeared above them. Both contestants summoned their swords and released their fighting spirit.


    Aurora''s body suddly erupted with invisible force. Upon closer inspection, Cedric discovered that the winds a her turned into apressed vacuum. This vacuum also shrouded her sword, making it invisible. The strgth she''s releasing causes her clothes and her to billow out.


    On the side, Roran was shrouded in a deep crimson shroud that resembled blood. His eyes turned red and his sword started dripping with acidic blood. His armor became stained with blood and his killing intt skyrocketed.


    Once the countdown ded, both of them disappeared from their previous positions and met at the cter.


    Measure for measure, steel against steel...Aurora''s invisible sword shed with Roran''s bloodstained sword, emitting explosive sparks from contact.


    In terms of raw strgth, Aurora knew that she couldn''tpete with Roran, that''s why she didn''t linger too long in this initial sh. With a twist of her wrist, she swerved the force she received towards the side before twisting her delicate body to deliver a rather nasty strike from a weird angle.


    Additionally, the vacuum a her moved in ordance with her will. Her stab was apanied by vacuum shesing at all undefded angles.


    However, this wasn''t the first time that Roran fought against her. He''s aware of her insane flexibility and opportunistic swordy.


    In response to her attacks, blood coagted and turned into shapes before harding to defd against her attack. Meanwhile, he moved his sword to block her stab,pletely during the force behind him. He''s physically stronger than her but she aims at the squishy parts so he had to be alert.


    After another sh, Aurora once again swerved and increased her speed. She turned into a blur of motion that was hard for the naked eye to follow. Her presce waspletely masked and she was not making any sound at all.


    She ranps a Roran, which would normally cause her opponts to panic. But like what was mtioned earlier, this isn''t the first time that he fought against her.


    ''She just doesn''t learn her lesson. No wonder she could never defeat me. Or maybe she''s doing it on purpose. After all, this whole fiasco is her tire doing. God, she''s lucky I like her.'' Roran groaned inwardly as he brandished his sword.


    He stabbed it onto the g which was followed by an excessive discharge of bloody substance.


    Within seconds, a dome of blood-red skies with rivers of blood and mountains of corpses appeared within the ara with Roran at the cter.


    "There it is, Roran''s Blood Asura Domain!" Thirdy excitedlymted.


    ''Domain.'' Cedric muttered.


    A Domain is a forcefield that only those who tered the Intermediate Level of their Concept Laws could use. It is the manifestation of their will and fighting spirit giv form. Theirprehsion of Concept Laws - the very forces that make up all creation, allowed this to happ.


    Within their Domain, the user was a hegemon. Aside from additional effects, their overall strgth is doubled inside their domain. The only way to counter this is by having a domain of your own or exploiting its ws.


    Roran''s Domain made Aurora weaker and ufortable. She inevitably slowed down because of the pressure and also the sticky blood that was taking hold of her.


    She tried fighting it off but she couldn''t. She''s not fast or strong ough to outrun the influce of his domain. Her vacuum was also turned useless here.


    Slowly but surely, the blood a her crept into her body and immobilized herpletely.


    That''s wh a fountain of blood erupted behind her, revealing a blood-drched Roran who snaked his arms a her waist and pressed the de of his sword to her neck.


    He leaned close to her ears and whispered: "Yield."


    "Ugh, fine! I yield!...stupid gross domain! Hmph!" Aurorained after surrdering.


    "I''m gonna make you regret those wordster." Roran scoffed next to her before dismissing his domain.


    He th carried her like a sack of rice and disappeared from the ara, leaving the audice somewhat stunned.