21. Long Morning #2
That tracked with what I’d seen over four years of sharing a compound with Henrik’s eldest. Baldir’s contempt had cooled into something harder to read.
Not respect, not yet, but the kind of watchful attention a swordsman gives to a blade that’s still being sharpened.
He’d stopped testing my composure with comments about Clarissa after the first year.
Whether that meant he’d lost interest or simply found better weapons, I couldn’t tell.
“House de Blaise trains bastards to become acknowledged so they can serve the main heirs as elites,” Armand continued. “The smart ones, the deadly ones, become captains and champions. That’s the path forward for someone like you.”
He fell into guard position, both blades ready. “Besides, if you can’t handle what I’m willing to teach you, you won’t survive long enough to serve anyone who matters.”
The challenge hung between us. I raised my sword in response.
“Then teach me something useful.”
◇ ◆ ◇
Armand’s stance shifted. His breathing changed, deeper, more controlled. The air around him seemed to thicken, pressing against my skin the way it did before a storm broke .
“First lesson.” He raised one blade. “You’ve got mana. The physicians confirmed it during your testing. You’ve got aura too, though yours is still mostly sleeping.”
The steel began to glow.
Not with reflected torchlight or morning sun. The metal itself radiated silver light, steady and cold, the kind of glow you’d see on winter nights when moonlight hit fresh snow. The glow kept time with his heartbeat.
“This is what awakened potential looks like,” he said quietly. “I know you’ve got the Knight of Swords as your Brand. I’ve got the Star. It awakened during that attack in the armory. But when you combine Brand with aura, you get this.”
A Brand somewhere under his collar began to glow, and then he released everything through the sword.
Light gathered at the blade’s edge for a heartbeat, then punched forward in a concentrated line of force.
The first training dummy didn’t explode so much as cease to exist, the wood simply gone where the beam passed through.
The second took the shot through its center mass and came apart in a shower of splinters and sawdust that pattered against my armor like hail.
The fifth caught only the edge of the attack and still lost an arm and half its torso.
Steam rose from the scorched earth where the beam finally spent itself.
“This is a start. I’d bet you can do something similar with your Knight Brand.”
He was right. Even as the Red Gale, I’d channeled aura through my spear in desperate moments.
Raw force that could punch through plate armor or shatter a shield wall when conventional techniques failed.
But I’d never had a Brand back then, never felt this burning certainty between my shoulder blades that promised something greater than brute force.
I closed my eyes, reaching inward toward the Knight mark that had been growing stronger since the Palisade, through four years of Stone Yard training that pushed it from fitful twitches to something approaching reliable response.
The Brand answered immediately, warmth spreading down my arms toward the sword in my grip.
“Don’t force it,” Armand advised. “Let it flow. Brands want to be used.”
The heat built between my shoulders first, then spread outward through my chest and into my limbs. My sword began to tremble as energy coursed through the steel. But this didn’t feel like Armand’s controlled measure. This felt like holding back a river with my bare hands.
「Knight of Swords: First Active Channeling Attempt」
“Steady,” he warned. “Too much at once and you’ll”
The Knight Brand flared between my shoulders. Energy erupted from my blade and I exploded forward.
The world blurred. One instant I stood beside Armand. The next I was twenty feet away with my sword buried to the hilt in solid stone. The practice yard wall sported a fresh crack that ran from floor to shoulder height, dust still sifting from the wound in the masonry.
My legs shook as aftershocks rippled through my spine. The sword hummed with residual energy, still warm from whatever force I’d just channeled through it. My arms felt like I’d been swinging a sledgehammer for an hour.
「The Knight of Swords wakes further. The charge finds its legs. 」
“Interesting.” Armand approached with careful steps, studying the damage to the wall the way a physician studies a wound. “That’s not what I expected from a Knight Brand.”
I worked my blade free from the stone, checking the edge for damage. The steel showed no signs of stress despite channeling enough force to crater a wall. Quality work from the House armory.
“What did you expect?”
“Strengthening. Classic Knight applications, raw power fed into the body.” He ran his fingers along the crack in the wall, tracing where the stone had split cleanly.
“This was movement. Explosive acceleration. Your Brand doesn’t want to hit harder. It wants to hit first.”
Footsteps carried across the yard. Heavy boots on stone, multiple sets approaching fast. We turned toward the sound as Danzing came through the barracks entrance with two older trainees behind him. His sword rested across his shoulders, and his expression suggested this wasn’t a social visit.
“Interesting way to start the morning.”
「Hel’s Ledger」
Vessel: Danarre de Blaise | Year 828 | Age 13
House de Blaise | Status: Bastard (Unacknowledged)
Location: de Blaise Estate, Stone Yard
「Knight of Swords」 — Waking
「Emperor」 — Sleeping
「Magician」 — Sleeping
Active Charge: Find the one who broke Hel’s claim.
The vessel cracked stone today. Hel felt it through the thread, the way a fisherwoman feels the first real pull on the line.