The bus left early in the morning though the trip was only supposed to take about three hours or so. It would have been less, but about halfway to the camp, the road went through several hills and mountainsides. Yuriko sat on the window side while Scarlett was on the aisle side seat. Her smol friend had accompanied her, despite not being part of the fencing club, and despite the captain protesting her presence. 

“Lilibeth is rather busy, and while she cleared her schedule, who knows if something comes up and she needs to correspond with Pixel Fairy, I can represent her instead,” Scarlett reasoned. 

“Well, we’re not supposed to bring non-members but I guess we can make an exception,” Kyra said.

And so, that was why amongst a crowd of nearly fifty fencers, Scarlett was the sole non-combatant. Well, there were also the club’s student managers, but that group had gone ahead to prepare the camp. Throughout the trip, Scarlett, who’d woken up early, wound up dozing with her head resting on Yuriko’s shoulder, and by the time they were zigzagging up and down the hills, Yuriko’s shoulder was wet with Scarlett’s drool. It was a good thing she wore a sweater instead of a sleeveless top. 

Most of the scenery on the way was of farmlands and pastures, with the odd town or two. The bus only took the highway for a third of the trip and stuck to country roads afterwards. At the very least, the roads were well maintained and the ride wasn’t bumpy, though that probably contributed to the soundness of Scarlett’s nap. And the drool. Oh. Somehow, it was enough to go through the wool. 

Yuriko surreptitiously erased the overflow with a slight application of the Bladeless Sword. She separated the saliva from the fabric, though it took several uses of Invisible Edge to do so. Making sure that the blade only cut off the liquid instead of the fabric was what made the exercise a challenge, and of course, she made sure not to aim at her friend. She actually created an Anima barrier around the other girl to make sure she didn’t come to harm. 

Aside from that, she mostly spent the time watching the landscape go by, or calmly observing her true body get ploughed by Heron. At first, it was an odd experience, having sex with one body while the other continued with her other activities, but after so long, one could get used to anything. Make no mistake, she, as her incarnation body, was aroused while it happened, but she could as easily act as if nothing was happening. It also allowed her to observe the act from every angle, and she couldn’t help but compare the view to the pornographic materials she watched out of curiosity, then later, out of the need to relieve herself of her building lusts.

Her musings were cut short when they finally arrived at the training camp. The entrance gate had the name: Camp Cresna. A rather unimaginative name considering Cresna was what the mountain range was called. 

Camp Cresna was situated in a valley deep in the heart of the mountain range some hundred or so paces above sea level. The bus made its way to the administrative lodges, followed by another bus that held the members of the HAMA club. 

“I thought this was a Fencing Club activity?” Yuriko asked Captain Kyra just before they left the university three hours earlier. 

“Oh yeah, it is. Well, you can probably consider the HAMA Club a splinter group, ehehe. No, seriously, since we do mostly the same kind of training, and the camp fees are the same whether there are fifty or a hundred of us since we do reserve the entire place, having use of both clubs’ budgets helps.” 

“Ah.” 

So that was why the comparatively rowdier HAMA crowd piled out of their bus with shouts of relief and exuberance. 

Yuriko shook Scarlett awake and they retrieved their luggage, then headed to their cabin set in the woods. The next few hours were scheduled as free time to stretch and refresh themselves. Today was Goldsday, and technically, she should be in class. But extracurricular activities, properly scheduled, were given priority. Besides, today’s classes weren’t anything special anyway. 

“Nice place.” Scarlett yawned. “The air feels so fresh.” 

“Want to swim?” Yuriko pointed at the lake that dominated the camp. 

“Wouldn’t it be cold?” Scarlett shivered. 

“Hmm, I can help keep you warm?” Yuriko grinned. 

“Eh,” Scarlett muttered, then blushed. 

“I like it when your cheeks turn the same shade of red as your hair,” Yuriko teased. 

“Oh, shush you!” Scarlett’s cheeks did turn that shade, if only for a few moments. Yuriko smirked but didn’t continue to push. Over the past weeks, Scarlett had wormed her way deeper into Yuriko’s heart and affections. She’d been of such help in ordering her affairs that she couldn’t imagine wading through the murk of show business without the smol and feisty girl.

Her Mien had entangled most of the management team of Pixel Fairy, but that didn’t mean she could control their every move. In fact, she couldn’t, and she had no desire to. Forcefully coercing people with her Mien was reserved for foes, or when she had little recourse, though, she cautioned herself, that was a bit of a slippery slope. Up to where could she rationalise taking control of someone’s Will? 

Though how is that different from using force of arms?

The thought rose from deep within her thoughts, and for a moment, she wondered if Damien’s consciousness had returned. A more in-depth look revealed nothing, however, so she just shrugged and decided to meditate later on the matter. 

Towards noon, the two of them did end up at the lake, and while Yuriko found the water just right, she certainly wasn’t the norm. Scarlett, in her modest one-piece swimsuit, returned to the small quay and wrapped herself up in a white fluffy towel while Yuriko explored the depths. The lake wasn’t too big, and it actually barely deserved the label. It was formed from runoff snow during the Season of Water and only had a small outflow stream that turned into small step waterfalls towards the other end of the valley. 

That was where the club members in training wound up that afternoon, cursing silently to themselves while they stood underneath the waterfalls, perched on slippery rocks and trying not to slip. 

“Divine mercies, are you sure this will help?” Kyra groused as she watched member after member fail to stay on for more than half a minute.

The falls weren’t that high, either, just five or so paces above. The water was icy cold, however, and the rocks were smooth, even if it had been scoured of algae, moss, or whatever kind of growth that made it even harder to stand on it. That was Yuriko’s doing as she used her Invisible Edge to sever the tiny roots the minute life forms used to cling to the rock. Of course, that left minuscule fractures that made it easier to grip with bare feet, so Yuriko melted those back into a solid whole then shaped the rock with a spell. The place had certainly not been suitable for any kind of training before that. 

“It’ll help increase balance,” Yuriko said placidly even as she used her Inspiration Mien to bolster their morale. “It’s easy once you have the proper balance and core strength.”

She demonstrated by waltzing across the platform rocks even while the water slammed down on her head and shoulders. Afterwards, she performed a few fencing lunges and retreats, demonstrating the stability of her footing. 

“I’m not that convinced, but alright,” Kyra muttered. 

“You’ll see. Stability will allow smoother or more explosive movements and I’ll train all of you how to switch in between and when,” Yuriko said. 

After that exercise, they rested for an hour, then trained for the rest of the afternoon. Dinner was hearty if simple, and Yuriko enjoyed the roasted vegetables, garlic bread, and beef stew. 

The next day, they focused on fencing techniques, and Yuriko trained them in Severing Shard, or at least, the very basics of it that applied to fencing competitions. The restrictions of movement, target, weapons, and space proved a rather splendid way to broaden her horizons, even if actual combat efficiency wasn’t there. For that, playing with the HAMA club sufficed. There, she was able to pass down Severing Shard as well as the other four styles in her repertoire. It was always interesting to adapt her swordplay to different kinds of weapons, and she recalled enjoying it back when she was still at Novice and Growth. Looking at herself then, she couldn’t help but feel a tinge of embarrassment at how confident she’d been to think her swordplay was already exquisite. If not for the Golden Silhouette, she would have ended with a mess of a style. There was a reason why swordsmanship, and any other kind of Weapon Ennoia and Truth was taught in a progressive manner. 

She also absorbed the foundations of HAMA, though their weapons were those she didn’t use all that often anymore. Longswords seemed to be the flavour of the Cycle, and nearly all of the HAMA club members were practising with it. Later in the afternoon, Captain Walter Richards and the others set up a test cutting zone, and they then proceeded to cut up dozens of melons and apples with their longswords. Yuriko examined the actual weapons and nodded in approval. They were well made, though plain. There were also a pair of greatswords, some battleaxes, and a couple of spears and halberds in their collection, each one quite well-maintained and sharp. The edges were secured with foam padding and secured with twine. 

On the third and last day of the training camp, both clubs started an exhibition match using each other’s rulesets. Captain Richards wasn’t mediocre with the fencing sabre, though he was one of the two members who were comfortable enough with the sport’s restrictions to put up a good fight. On the other hand, Kyra practically dominated her matches due to her speed and agility. 

After lunch, the camp was officially over and they had a few hours to enjoy the facilities before they left for Neo Prism City. 

Of course, that was when trouble came calling. 

____________

In a dilapidated trailer home, a faceless man entered the darkened interior. It wasn’t really that dark and his eyes adjusted immediately, an aspect of his Alteration, but to anyone else, the sudden dark would have made them stand around blinking for a couple of seconds or so, certainly enough time for the figure slumped across a sofa to act. As the ‘intruder’ was actually one of them, the one on the sofa didn’t so much as blink. 

“Greetings, my good Stalker, how are you today?” the faceless man said, chuckling to himself. 

Stalker, evidently the figure on the sofa, didn’t react or move, save for a slow blink that caused the blue light shining within his eyes to disappear for a moment. 

“As eloquent as always, I see. I hope Caruso is within? Though by the stench, I guess he is.” He didn’t wait for Stalker to do anything else and he waltzed deeper into the trailer. 

Through a curtain into another room, the faceless man flinched as the stench slammed into his nose. The scene through the door was one akin to a horror movie: a wooden table with a body strapped down on it, flayed open. Blood dripped from the side onto the stained floor, and piled up on one corner were other corpses. The surgeon, contrary to what someone would expect, was a young man, barely a teenager, in an oversized lab coat with his face covered by a medical mask. He turned to look at the faceless man and complained, “I’m running out of test subjects!”

The faceless man’s cheeks stretched as he made an approximation of a grin, “Then it’s a good thing we’re going hunting now. I’ve located a target, and the dross around, you can use.” 

“Excellent.” 

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep