Villain: The Play of Destiny

The girls could swear that they had never seen Ayesha as happy as she was this morning. There was this strange and blissful glow about her that brought smiles to all their faces. She behaved quite like a maiden in love, a side of her that they had not seen before.

She talked, laughed, threw teasing remarks, and for a morning greeting, hugged every one of them. It was something she had not done before, and on more than one occasion, they caught her trying to suppress her giggles as she remembered something.

They, of course, wondered what could be the reason behind it, and they knew it was related to Keith since she had stayed with him in his room for over half a day.

However, they neither teased her about it nor pried into the matter, fearing that it might spoil her mood and put her in an awkward spot.

It was quite a happy feeling to see her behave like that, and they were enjoying themselves as well.

Then again, Kiara was going to tease her about it when the mood would finally wear off. She was definitely not going to let go of the opportunity, so, she was preserving every piece of detail in her memory to take some playful jabs at her in the future.

Keith had been absent at the breakfast, and Ayesha informed them that he was preparing for their training session on the Central Lawn.

He was usually not the one to skip meals, so it got them all a little worried about why he was not eating. But they reached a tacit understanding between them that they would not pry into the matter since Keith had not even told Venessa what exactly was going on with him when she had asked about it.

And since he had assured them that it was normal and that he was fine, they did not want to overthink the matter and doubt it.

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When they arrived at the designated place, they could not help but be serious when they saw dozens of Wooden, Icy, and Metallic posts waiting for them.

There were wooden tables with all sorts of Swords placed on them, even some that they had never seen or heard of before.

And Kiara, Venessa, and Qingyue all understood that they were not going to be allowed to use the Wicked Blades that he had given to them. Besides, they did not have it on them right now.

However, following a series of swishing sounds, their eyes soon spotted Keith, and they caught him swinging his sword, practising a Sword Form that intrigued them a lot.

The likes of Yingying, Sibyl, and Venessa, who were quite interested in Swords, having practised them for years, could not help but invest themselves in watching his every move. They could tell better than the others that Keith had great Mastery over his sword, and it was so refined that it made it look like he was performing a beautiful dance with his blade.

Impressively enough, they had this illusion that the blade was not a weapon in his hand but a part of his body. It was how fluid his every move was, and how natural it felt.

They watched as he slowly moved toward the nearest wooden posts, and without breaking his form, his blade cut through the wood as if it were made out of air. There was not even the slightest bit of resistance, and the cuts were so clean that it amazed them.

When the Wooden Posts went down, he moved towards the Icy pillars and statues, and as cleanly as he had cut through the wood, he cut through the ice.

He decapitated the statues, cut them in half, in several pieces, and not once did he break his form and grace.

Those who could see Aura realised that Keith was not even using his Aura, and he was just making simple slashes with his blade.

Some wondered if the sword was special, but they all felt that it was likely not the case. Knowing Keith, he would not show off without any substance, and it was supposed to be a demonstration of skill, not a weapon test.

Yingying narrowed her eyes when she finally saw Keith cut through the metallic posts and then watched him swing his sword, unleashing Air Blades into the sky, followed by another round, much faster, that resulted in the new Air Blades catching up and cutting through the older ones.

Kiara was the first one to curiously run up to Keith when he stopped, and he smiled as he handed the sword to her before she even drew her hand forward.

Out of curiosity, she swung the ordinary long sword at the Metallic Post next to her, resulting in it crashing against it, generating sparks and a metallic ring that made her scrunch up.

Any doubts that remained in their minds about it being a special sword were immediately put to rest, and they all turned to look at him for an explanation.

"What was that Sword Form?" It was the first question that she raised, and everyone was interested in it.

"It's the Heart's Blade. It's a Free Style that only someone who has become an Expert in Swordsmanship or any other Blade can exercise. As the name suggests, it's related to your Heart, especially, your mood and intent. It is also a reflection of your personality, and therefore, it varies from person to person. Every individual has their unique Heart's Blade, and along their journey, it continues evolving and developing." He explained to her what it was, and answered her following questions about it.

"How long would it take me to reach your level of Swordsmanship?"

"Years." He smiled. "I am only a step away from becoming a Master in Swordsmanship. Turns out, I am born to wield a lot of weapons, and Swords feel even more natural to me."

"That's narcissistic." She reminded him and pouted, but he simply shrugged at her.

"It's the truth. I am perfect."

His words made some giggle or smile and irritated the rest, but they could not really find a reason to refute him.

"I will tell Raizer that our Grandson has started thinking very highly of himself." Diana suddenly spoke, much to the girls' glee. "Perhaps, it is your God Complex."

"It's the truth in any case." He smiled at her. "I am a God."

"Yes, I am definitely telling him." She nodded to herself, and he chuckled at her.

"Let's start with your training."

It did not seem like he would explain anything about how exactly he managed to cut those solid objects as if they were made out of air. And he just ushered them to pick up any sword from the table that they liked.

"You will all start practising on the wooden posts which are marked as Grade One. For today, I will leave you to your devices to find out an efficient method and form to slash and cut these wooden posts. And tomorrow, I will help you fix some shortcomings." He smiled.

"How long do we have to stick to this training?"

"As long as it takes for you to cut the wood cleanly into pieces. However, you will not start with attempting to cut it but start with landing clean slashes on it.

"What happens if we manage to cut the wood today?" Kiara mischievously asked, and he shook his head.

"You won't be able to do it today." He told her, quite confident in his statement. "There are a few rules. Firstly, you are not allowed to use your Aura or Mana at all. Secondly, the cuts need to be clean. No hacking the posts like you are holding axes. Thirdly, the sword you choose to stick with would be under your care. You will be responsible for keeping it clean, sharpening it with the whetstone, and preventing it from getting chipped. If it gets chipped, clean cuts will not be possible, and there will be punishments awaiting you. These are ordinary swords even though they are very durable, so, they require you to be very careful about them."

Diana, who was standing on the side, watching everything in intrigue, could not help but tense up when he suddenly turned to look at her.

"You will be participating as well." He told her, and she opened her mouth to ask him why, but words failed to come out.

In the end, she too obediently picked up a sword and decided to practise with the girls. If she was being honest, she was interested in this training.

At her age, she was looking forward to new hobbies to pass her time and have some fun.

She was old now, but the last thing she was worried about was her health. After all, her Grandson was a brilliant doctor who could seemingly fix everything. So, she was not really worried about the damage this heavy training might do to her body.

Keith smirked as soon as the first strikes landed on the posts and he heard Amira and Reina groan in pain.

They were quite scared of holding a sword in their hand and watching them fumble and panic was quite fun.

Yingying, Sibyl, and Venessa all had decent forms, and they were not having any sort of trouble. However, they were quite focused on the task as they had realised that cutting cleanly through these Woods without using Aura was not going to be an easy task.

Venessa had already forcefully cut one post in an attempt to get a gist of things and understand where she stood in terms of Swordsmanship, but the cut was far from clean, almost to the point that it was embarrassing.

And she had realised that these Wooden Posts were special in a sense that she could not identify yet.

"Stick to the task." He reminded everyone that the day's task was about discovering a good form and getting familiar with the blade.

Hours passed, sweat poured out of their pores, and their hands ached. However, Keith forced them to continue practising and warned them that stopping before he called a stop would earn them punishment.

It did not help in the least that he was practising with them. They only felt irritated at his skill with the sword, but some did focus on him to try to learn from him, keeping their dissatisfaction in their hearts.

The most troubled of them was Qingyue as she was struggling on two fronts.

Diana was only a little away from her and on her left and right were the Twins.

She was growing very frustrated as she found herself making no progress at all with the sword, and half her mind was focused on keeping her emotions in control so that she would not unleash some Poison.

Every time the sword landed on the wooden Posts, it was a crash with bits and chips of wood flying out. And even she found her arms growing a little stiff now.

Turning to her sides, she found Amira and Reina both shedding tears, but strangely enough, they did not look too tired. She grew a little angry at Keith when she found Diana's body trembling in weakness.

However, just when she was about to call out to him, Diana simply stopped and sat down to catch her breath.

Her action made her smile a little. It was as if their Grandma was blatantly daring Keith to punish her, and she knew that he would never do it.

However, the rest of them did not have this luxury, and they all realised it very well.

More hours passed, and eventually, Keith allowed Amira and Reina to get some rest as well. But there was no relief for the rest, and in the end, it was their sheer will to see someone stop before they did that kept them going for hours until the sky started darkening.

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