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CHAPTER 43

We had left my room and were starting to make our way down the hall, but I noticed Sansa was beginning to fall behind, and it was clear from her face that she was hesitating about whether to come with us or not.

"What's wrong, Sansa? Is there a problem?"

"I don't think I should come with you."

"Why is that ?"

"A lady has no business in a place like the sparring arena." This was Septa Mordane and Lady Catelyn talking.

"Why do you think so ?"

"Septa Mordane said that places like these were not fit for a lady, but wild and barbaric women would go to such places." I sighed deeply; it was just as I thought.

"I heard other knights were talking in the sparring area, there was a lady named Maege Mormont in the House Mormont, and she was one of the greatest warriors in the north; many have tasted defeat and death under her sledgehammer. Do you think Lady Maege Mormont is a savage and a barbarian?"

"I don't know, but septa said we shouldn't go against the teachings of the seven and don't act like tree-worshipping Wildling barbarians."

"Sansa, do we live in the south? Do you think Lord Stark, your siblings, and I are tree-worshipping barbarians?"

"Lady Catelyn may worship the seven but remember that you are a northern lady, and your father is the Paramount of The North. Yes, women in the north may not be knighted, but that doesn't mean they can't be warriors. Only one person in the north can tell you what you can and cannot do, and that person is your father and certainly not septa Mordane. If you want to come with us today, I want you to forget what Septa said and listen to your heart, and when you see your father, I want you to tell him what Septa said about the old gods to the letters."

After our talk she decided to come with us, when I heard her, I smiled. There is still hope for her.

………………………………………………

As today's fight would be with blunted steel swords, we were fully armored as usual. I was used to the weight of the armor by now; it used to slow me down a lot and hinder my movement, but fighting with armor for a year got me completely used to it. We were both in the arena and watching each other closely, but today's Wyland was different. He wasn't displaying his usual cocky behavior. He didn't even open his mouth when we came face to face.

I raised my sword higher than usual and gave an opening in my lower body, but Wyland did not come to this bait. That's why I made the first attack, pretending to make a vertical cut with my sword in its high position, and at the last moment, I curved my cut to the left, attacking the left side of his body instead of attacking his head. But this attack failed; he suddenly positioned his sword well and stopped me, but without hesitation, I drew my sword back and tried to stab him in the chest.

He moved faster than I thought, slid past my sword into my defense, and headbutted me. I was suddenly shocked, my nose hurt so much, and I lost my balance and stumbled backward. At that moment, he raised his sword and made a diagonal cut on my right side. I still couldn't keep my balance, but I saw the attack, rolled to the left, and opened the distance between us.

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I guessed that, but it was me who didn't take this fight seriously. He really didn't use his full strength last time; his current display of strength is 4.5, and his speed is 4.3, and I started the fight without buffing myself like an idiot.

“Volhen gryves (aspect of bear) , volhen keli (aspect of cat)”

The buffs took effect instantly, and I felt that my body was filled with power, but even though I got the buffs, I was still a little weaker than him but was a little faster. I had 4.2 str and 4.4 spd. I stopped underestimating him and gave my full attention to the fight.

I took a quick step forward and pretended to attack from the left diagonal, but at the last moment, I swung my sword over my head and attacked from the right diagonal. When Wyland realized he wouldn't be able to get his sword in time, he chose to take a step back instead of blocking it, and my sword made a nasty noise scratching the steel armor on him, from his left shoulder to his chest there was a big scratch mark and a bit of a dent. He was also aware that he couldn't retreat in time, but that's why the armor was being worn; he knew that nothing would happen to him and that his armor would protect him.

This time he launched the attack and dashed forward, but since I was faster than him, I stepped back and positioned my sword right in his path. If he didn't stop, he would ram into my sword. This was the move he had been waiting for, and he quickly drew his sword back and slammed it aside; touching my sword, he acted as if he was breaking through my defense again, trying to force me to take a step back, but I was no longer underestimating him and was able to predict his moves a little bit.

He wouldn't have drawn his sword back if he wanted to get inside my defense and grapple. The fact that he drew back his sword meant that he was preparing for another attack, and from that position, he could only attack my legs. If I took a step back, my left leg would pivot and be defenseless; I pretended to fall into his trap and pretended to throw my right foot back, but as soon as he started to move his sword, I jumped backward with my left leg but at the same time swung the sword with my left hand at his head with all my might.

There was not much power behind my swing as I jumped backward, but since it is an attack that will hit the head, it will do significant damage, even if it is an attack that only uses my arm strength. By the time Wyland realized that his trap wasn't working, it was too late; he was going to take the blow to the head or sacrifice his arm. Of course, he chose to offer his arm. Just as my sword was about to hit his head, he thrust his arm in, absorbing all the force of the blow.

But he would not return empty-handed from this exchange, as he was using his right hand to defend against this blow; at the same time, he took his sword to his left hand and tried to strike my right side, but I was expecting this, I drew the dagger from my waist and used it as a shield against his attack.

This dagger was something I had Mikken custom-made, one with a sharp edge and one with a blunt edge. The dagger had a thin blade and a "u"-shaped guard. Thanks to this guard, by twisting my wrist a bit, I would be able to seize the opponent's sword between the blade and the guard. That is why it would be of great use in defense, but I could not use this dagger all the time because using the dagger means holding my sword with one hand, which means a significant loss of power when attacking.

My attack may not have been entirely successful, but from the state of his right hand, it was clear he couldn't use it in this fight, and his sword was now in my control too. I quickly slid the dagger I was holding in the ice pick grip along his sword before he could fully understand what was going on, and at the same time, releasing my sword grip a little, I flipped my sword upside down and struck a hard blow right on his face with the pommel. I didn't want to damage Wyland permanently, so I hit him on the right side of his helmet. He began to stagger badly from this blow to the head and fell to his knees. The blow may have caused a mild concussion, and I put my sword to his neck.

"This fight is over." There was a momentary deathly silence as I finished speaking, and then Arya and Bran started cheering. After their loud voices pierced the silence, everyone started talking among themselves and arguing about the fight. I extended my hand to Wyland, and he glared at me a little, but after a heavy sigh, he took my hand. Then I pulled him up and helped him stand up.

The fact that he took my hand in front of everyone at that moment had two meanings; the first was that he had acknowledged my superiority, and the second was that there was no longer bad blood between us, and there was peace. Of course, that doesn't mean I could trust him fully, but as far as I knew, Wyland was a simple fellow or an Oscar-worthy actor, but what I sensed from this fight was that Wyland didn't care about anything but the sword.

Thanks to my x5 skill, my understanding of the sword were getting deeper every day; it would not be a lie if I said that I had almost 15 years of experience thanks to this skill. This fight made me understand Wyland much more deeply; every blow, every block, and every step were, in my eyes, thousands of hours spent training.