“Emblem Knights, step forward!”
Cherrya called the Emblem Knights forward for a demonstration.
“Ah, we’re still not fully recovered from the journey.”
“Hey, Osric Balmore, are you really going to switch rooms with me?”
“Of course, senior. A bet is a bet.”
“Do you actually dislike me that much?”
“You’re giving me chills. Please stay away from me.”
Still bickering amongst themselves, the Emblem Knights ambled out sluggishly, drawing dubious stares from the academy students.
Although Enoch Gray had vouched for them as members of the Emblem Knights, there was still something about them—something unconvincing, even when seen with one’s own eyes.
‘This so-called prestigious and honorable Emblem Knights reeks of a street mercenary group.’
While the students narrowed their eyes skeptically, Cherrya pretended not to notice and began explaining the training.
“Over there, you’ll see some small catapults set up with the cooperation—uh, I mean, the full support—of the academy headmaster and the Alchemy Department.”
Cooperation? Full support? Did she just say they coerced the headmaster?
The students, startled, looked at Cherrya, but she remained completely unfazed, pointing calmly toward the other side of the training field.
Naturally, the students’ gazes followed her hand.
Just as Cherrya had said, an impressive number of catapults now filled the other side of the field.
“These catapults will launch exactly 300 balls toward this side. Your objective is to ensure that not a single ball gets past you!”
“…Huh?”
“Do you mean we have to deflect all 300 of them?”
When the astonished students asked, Cherrya nodded and continued.
“You cannot let even a single ball through. Either deflect all 300 or reach the catapults and stop them from firing!”
Her tone carried not a shred of mercy as she declared this.
“If you fail this training, your eligibility to take the graduation exam this year will be revoked!”
“What??”
The students let out a collective gasp. To think their graduation path, after five years of rigorous study at the academy, could be blocked over failing a single training exercise.
Just as discontent began to bubble up, Cherrya’s stern voice cut through their murmurs.
“If you can’t succeed in this, there will undoubtedly be fatalities in this year’s graduation exam. If you fail in training, you’ll fail even worse in real life!”
“But, but still!”
“In a real-life scenario, those 300 balls will become monsters charging at you. While the balls may follow a predictable trajectory, monsters won’t!”
The monsters will move unpredictably, thinking and attacking strategically. In other words, they will exploit any openings.
Allowing even a single ball to pass behind the formation signifies that a monster has broken through the defenses.
When already overwhelmed by the monsters charging from the front, a breach from the rear would result in utter disaster.
Defending both the front and rear is only feasible when the number of monsters is manageable.
In the current state, where massive outbreaks of monsters are occurring across the continent, survival is not guaranteed.
‘Of course, in actual combat, the Emblem Knights would shield them in critical moments. However, relying on such safety nets only hinders the knights’ growth, acting like a parasite.’
Given the location of the graduation exam, Cherrya was determined to instill a sense of crisis among the students to prepare them thoroughly.
“But 300 is too many! And they’re not coming one at a time; they’re being launched all at once—it’s impossible to block them all!”
“What’s impossible about it? If you coordinate with your teammates and work together, it’s completely doable! Watch as the Emblem Knights demonstrate. Then you’ll see that it’s not impossible.”
“Emblem is Emblem, after all!”
“Hey, look at this guy. Weren’t you the one who just asked if we were real Emblem Knights?”
“N-no, I didn’t!”
“What do you mean no?”
Cherrya raised her voice, exhaling sharply through her nose.
“The Emblem Knights will handle twice as many as you—600 balls.”
“What?! Commander! You never said anything about this!”
“I’m saying it now!”
Faced with this sudden directive, the expressions of the Emblem Knights turned sour. The students also looked at Cherrya with disbelief, as if to say, ‘600 is a bit much, isn’t it?’
“Tyrant!”
“Old-fashioned dictator!”
“Boo!”
Despite the jeers from the Emblem Knights, Cherrya remained unfazed as she issued her command.
“Take your positions!”
“Yessss, ma’am.”
The Emblem Knights, seemingly resigned to their fate, began stretching lightly.
“They’re just balls, not monsters, so what’s the big deal?”
“They won’t bleed.”
“No saliva, either.”
“No poison, right?”
“Exactly. And no chance of getting hit by the horn of some monster Henry smashed to bits.”
“Hey! Why do you keep bringing me up?”
Even as they grumbled incessantly, the Emblem Knights arranged themselves into formation.
Standing in two rows, the vanguard and the rear guard alternated in a zigzag pattern to ensure sufficient space for swinging their swords.
“Let’s do this.”
At Cherrya’s sharp grin, the Emblem Knights unsheathed their swords and pointed them toward the far end of the field, where the balls would soon fly.
At that moment, the noisy chatter among the Emblem Knights gave way to heavy silence.
Their smiles faded entirely as a fierce determination began to radiate from them.
As the collective intensity of twenty knights surged simultaneously, an overwhelming pressure swept over the field like a crashing wave.
The students were utterly overwhelmed by the sheer presence of the Emblem Knights, to the point where they seemed to forget how to breathe, their mouths opening and closing wordlessly.
“Begin.”
The stillness was shattered by Cherrya’s command.
At that instant, the catapults began launching balls all at once.
“Let’s go!”
The Emblem Knights pushed off the ground, leaving dents in the training field floor as their figures blurred from view in an instant.
The knights at the front deftly swung their swords, cutting through the flying balls as they advanced.
The arcs traced by their swords were swift and dazzling, slicing through the air and creating a fierce gust of wind that swept over the students.
Any balls that escaped the front line were skillfully intercepted by the knights in the rear, their movements precise and seamless.
As the front-line knights started to lose speed, a knight in the rear shouted,
“Heads up!”
“Got it!”
A front-line knight quickly swung his sword downward while ducking, just as the rear knight’s sword passed through the same space, slicing three balls at once.
It happened so quickly that by the time anyone could process it, the only evidence left were the cleanly split remains of the balls.
Within moments, the Emblem Knights reached the catapults and halted their operation, ensuring not a single ball made it past the rear line.
“…57 seconds. You guys can’t do this in under 30 seconds?!”
Cherrya grumbled after checking the time.
It was only then that the students realized not even a minute had passed.
How could such a feat be possible?
The academy’s massive training field took over a minute to traverse even at a full sprint.
Glancing down at the ground, the students could only gape in astonishment.
The surface of the field was riddled with deep footprints, spaced impossibly far apart to belong to a human stride.
This meant that the knights had leaped across the field, cutting down every single flying ball as they went.
“Th-the Emblem Knights…”
It was at that moment the students finally understood.
This was the swordsmanship of the Emblem Knights, the very skill that had elevated the Lutinas Empire’s honor to prominence across the entire continent.
