Eleanor feinted a strike to the left, and the moment Helga began moving in that direction, she shifted her weight, swinging her right sword in a wide, horizontal arc aimed at Helga's torso.
Helga met the attack with her right blade, the two swords locking with a loud clang. For a moment, they were locked in a stalemate, arms straining against each other, but Helga eventually broke the deadlock, pushing forward and forcing Eleanor back a step.
The vampire's left sword jabbed quickly toward Eleanor's shoulder, and the masked young woman instinctively moved to block.
Her right sword was just inches from intercepting Helga's, but as her blade was about to connect and redirect the strike, her hand stiffened for a moment. That second of hesitation was all Helga needed to slip past and strike Eleanor's shoulder, the impact pushing her back and sending a jolt of pain through her arm.
Yet, instead of pressing the advantage, Helga stopped immediately, lowering her sword as her expression morphed into a frown.
"What the hell was that?" she demanded.
Eleanor, feigning innocence, tilted her head and asked, "What the hell was what?"
"Don't play dumb. You know exactly what I mean."
Seeing Helga's frown, Eleanor sighed and muttered, "Why're you so perceptive?"
Her words were a clear admission that she could have blocked the last hit, but she'd held back, allowing Helga's blade to connect.
At that, Helga's expression darkened, her annoyance giving way to anger.
"Are you looking down on me?"
"Nothing of the sort," Eleanor replied, her voice still carrying its playful edge.
Helga pointed her sword, the tip aimed directly at Eleanor. "Then take this seriously."
Eleanor fell silent for a moment, her gaze locked onto Helga's. Sighing, she twirled her swords between her fingers, tossed one aside, and returned to a stance resembling her initial one.
"Alright. I'll take it seriously."
By the time the sound of Eleanor's words reached Helga, her blade was already thrusting toward Helga's throat.
Helga crossed her twin swords in an X-shaped block, the impact of the attack pushing her back a step.
'She's faster…'
Helga noted as she parried the follow-up strike aimed at her legs, countering with her left sword in a high diagonal slash that made Eleanor lean back to avoid it.
Eleanor's body sprang upward like a coiled spring, her sword descending in a vertical strike toward the top of Helga's head. The moment Helga met it with her left sword, Eleanor pulled back and followed up with a thrust aimed at Helga's ribs.
Helga's right sword deflected the attack, but Eleanor used the momentum to swing it back in a horizontal slash, forcing Helga to duck beneath it.
Eleanor nearly launched a kick on instinct, but restrained herself, since this was a weapon-only duel, instead pulling back her blade and flowing seamlessly into her next strike.
She feinted a high cut, then shifted her weight, sweeping her blade low in an arc that made Helga jump back. Before Helga even properly landed, Eleanor lunged forward with a rapid series of jabs aimed at her face, chest, and stomach.
Helga blocked each strike with quick parries, but the timing of Eleanor's attacks, landing before she had fully regained her balance, forced her backwards, her feet slipping on the ground.
Eleanor pressed the advantage, bringing her blade down in a vertical strike. As Helga's right sword rose to meet it, Eleanor tilted her blade slightly, causing Helga's sword to slide off the side and deflect harmlessly.
Her sword flashed again, striking against Helga's left blade and knocking it down as she stepped forward.
With both of Helga's weapons now uselessly far away from her body, Eleanor drove her sword straight toward Helga's face, far too quick for the vampire to raise either sword in defence.
However, Eleanor's sword never reached its mark, as in the split second before it could, and before Helga's hastily conjured magic shield even fully formed, the hand of the Vice-Captain from earlier cut in, catching Eleanor's blade and stopping it cold.
"!"
Eleanor's left hand twitched as Arsenal Shift activated, but she barely restrained herself at the last moment, cancelling the command she had given to summon a dagger into her left hand.
She quickly leapt back, clenching and unclenching her left fist with a faint frown.
'Habits…'
She heaved a sigh, releasing the tension from her shoulders as she swung her sword through the air, barely managing to suppress her instinctive urge to call another weapon into her grip.
'This is harder than controlling Mach Step's activation and cancellation…'
Eleanor let go of her sword, deactivating Arsenal Shift, and as the weapon dropped to the ground, she lifted her eyes to meet Helga's.
"I suppose my skills lived up to my confidence, didn't they?"
"…"
Helga silently nodded, her brows furrowing as she thought about the fact that Eleanor hadn't only trained with a sword.
She had learned to handle at least three other weapons, and yet she was still this skilled with a sword.
'If she had dedicated all her time solely to sword training…'
Helga stopped her thoughts there, choosing not to dwell on what the outcome of that scenario might have been.
By the time she turned her gaze back to Eleanor, the young woman had already shifted her focus, repeatedly swinging her sword through the air.
Then, taking a deep breath, she infused the blade with her aura, causing it to glow with a low, black and white flame-like light.
'Even my aura changed colour too?'
Aura was a distinct and independent energy generated directly from an individual's energy core, similar to magic power but different in nature and application. By default, it was non-elemental, though it could loosely resonate with a person's elemental affinity, allowing aura-based techniques to align more easily with that element.
Each person's aura had a unique 'signature' colour, often reflecting physical traits such as eye or hair colour. Though the colour was purely cosmetic, it functioned as a unique marker, making aura as identifiable as a fingerprint.
Unlike magic power, aura was almost exclusive to Warrior-type combatants.
Eleanor swung her blade, the monochrome glow leaving faint trails in the air as she tested her consumption efficiency.
"Not as bad as I thought. Let's work on refining it."
With that in mind, she shifted her focus entirely to aura control, pushing aside all thoughts of the earlier spar.
◇ ◇ ◇
An hour later, Helga, having completed her morning routine, set aside her training weapons and made her way toward the annexe exit, where a waiting servant presented her with a bottle.
She uncapped it and took a sip, only to almost reflexively spit it out, her brows knitting together.
Looking at the servant, she asked, "Why does this taste so…bland?"
The bottle's contents were, of course, blood, obtained from…donors.
At her question, the servant blinked in confusion before answering, "Your Highness, it's from the same supply as always."
"…what?"
The man flinched at the low voice that slipped from Helga's lips, sweat beginning to form on his brow.
Noble Vampires could eat normal food, but it offered little in the way of satiety. Blood remained their true nourishment, and the stronger the magic in the blood, the better it was.
Normal food could be made to taste better by mixing a bit of blood into it, but that was only an aside.
Helga's blood supply was always specially managed, and this servant was the one responsible for overseeing that management.
He wasn't foolish enough to tamper with it, as that was grounds for imprisonment at best.
Helga's reaction now, however, filled him with dread, making him wonder if he had somehow swapped her bottle for another by mistake.
While the man was busy rethinking all of his life choices, Helga was busy wondering why the blood she normally drank after morning training suddenly tasted so bland.
It was like unsalted food to a human.
'Wait… I didn't drink anything after getting home yesterday since I went straight to sleep after finishing my report.'
In other words, the last time she had taken blood was the previous afternoon, and the source of that blood…
Slowly, Helga's gaze shifted towards Eleanor, who was returning her sword to the weapon rack. Noticing Helga's stare, Eleanor turned and gave a wave, closing the distance between them in a single step as she asked,
"What's up?"
"…"
Even with the mask covering Eleanor's face, Helga had the distinct feeling that she was smiling.
"Nothing."
Helga dismissed the servant with a wave before heading down the hallway towards her room, Eleanor quietly following behind.
When Eleanor reached her room, she found a butler waiting outside, holding a box in his hands.
"Her Grace instructed me to deliver this to you," the man said, presenting the box.