In Kendo, there are five commonly known stances that are being taught to the practitioners.

The basic stance or the form that is commonly being taught is the Water Stance or Chudan no Kamae. This is the stance that the Practitioners from the Bhibra Village are very familiar with. It wasn't that surprising since this is the easiest form to master as well.

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Aside from that, there is the Earth Stance or Gedan no Kamae that is commonly used in Reboroz Village.

On the other hand, the Ormug Village's practitioners can be seen using Fire Stance and Wood Stance, or Jodan and Hasso no Kamae respectively.

As for the Metal Stance or Wakigamae, no one is using them comfortably since this stance doesn't suit their taste for some reason.

However, it doesn't mean that these five stances were the only forms you can use in Kendo.

One of these stances is called Mu no Kamae… It literally means having no stance at all.

Their shinai wasn't raised and remained pointing on the ground or perhaps anyhow as long as the practitioner is in a comfortable position.

At first, it may look like they have a lot of openings they can seize, but in truth, this form actually helps a lot when you've mastered Oji Waza, or countering techniques.

Right now, this is the form that Vinete has taken…

Her form surprised many and even Ruthren felt a bit of surprise about it. After all, he knows that it wasn't that long when his Master Reiji taught this little girl before leaving her in the village.

'My master is really on a different level… All my students were just at Kyu-Grade… But these lucky children managed to advance so quickly…'

The Sword Slave thought as he looked at the girl's opponent…

Unfortunately for her, she's about to fight one of Reiji's finest students.

'Lazy Mourad…' Ruthren even gave a title to this man.

Mourad is actually Reiji's first student here in this forsaken land. After they managed to cross the secret passage through the well outside, he is the first person that his master has taken in.

He recalls his master's words telling that he found this Mourad hiding from his father…

The young man was supposedly helping his father to collect some herbs during their expedition that includes hunting and foraging which are being done once a year…

This half-imp half-human named Mourad had decided to hide himself to avoid being asked to work.

In the end, he stumbled into a place not being covered by the guards included in the expedition…

In short, Mourad got into trouble and met a powerful Evil Beast that Reiji has to step in to complete his mission…

"Come…"

Ruthren was interrupted in his thoughts after hearing the man taunt Vinete…

His form is unlike any others as he raised his shinai at the level of his shoulder and held it with his two hands while pointing the tip straight at Vinete's throat.

It is an obvious stabbing form.

He heard from his master that this shouldn't be taught easily to new practitioners especially without his guidance.

After all, this technique can easily hurt their training partners as it focuses on Tsuki…

Although Mourad wasn't used to someone using Mu no Kamae, he's sure Vinete was also unfamiliar with his One-Strike Style.

His technique requires only one perfect hit to his opponent to win the match as it focuses on hitting their vital parts.

'This is bad… I said that they need to get five points to win the match… They might get injured… Tsk… I won't be able to explain it to master Reiji if that happened.'

Ruthren suddenly recalled the result which could happen in this match. He was told by Reiji to find a candidate to be rewarded a chance of summoning Arcana.

He thought of redoing the assessments to find the lucky one and also to get a stronger influence among the three villages. He thought that this is a good idea since he would find a worthy person at the same time.

Apparently, only the young generation has fully accepted the five guardians as the Elders were still skeptical about their purpose here… Allowing them to come here may also affect their decisions in the future.

Nevertheless, he wouldn't blame the Elders for their thoughts since they have been worshipping the Nine Imp gods for many years already. Although serving these nine imp gods was difficult, they have at least helped them for a long time now and they have managed to stop many beast waves since then.

In the end, Ruthren can only try to slowly get them to their side while their popularity is still hot…

After all, Reiji will also feel bad about the kingdom in case these Cultists would send more people to their land and capture sacrifices.

They have been in such a long war against the Erliente Dukedom, after all. They have exhausted a lot of their forces in that war. So getting invaded by these cultists to get sacrifices, might just collapse the whole kingdom.

***

Mourad looked at Vinete with a serious face. Her Mu no Kamae is a bit troublesome but he's not afraid of this…

He stood on his ground and waited for her to approach.

One of the things he hated about his sword style is that he has to wait for his opponent to attack in order to execute most of his technique from this position.

Of course, he can still slowly move his feet with his gliding footwork but he thought of something better.

It is a technique that his Master Reiji didn't explain too much and left him to study alone after understanding its principles.

Then, after studying it for months, he started enjoying the technique. It is a perfect style for a lazy guy like him.

'Ugh… She's also mastering Oji Waza… Tsk… If we're both practicing counter techniques, I really have no choice, huh…'

About 30 seconds have already passed when they stood at their platform and taken their stance to fight…

The other practitioners in the four platforms have already started exchanging their sword strikes and one of them is already about to complete the required points to win.

Apparently, there are a lot more impressive participants in this round as it includes one of the triplets from Bhibra Village.

Ruthren then noticed that Mourad is already trying to do something to compel Vinete to attack him…

'Ahhh… This guy-- He's using a different version of Seigan Stance!' The man realized what was happening but perhaps, only the four guardians here knows what's going on.

Ruthren looked at Mio, Shiori, and Tenri and he noticed that the Tenri seem to move forward a little bit…

He then realized what she's planning to do. This will be very dangerous for Vinete if she didn't realize what Mourad was doing. If the young man's attack was deadly, Vinete can be in a critical condition and their Master would be unhappy about it…

***

Vinete breathes steadily as she looks at her opponent. She realized that her opponent is not simple as she expected. Both of them are waiting for another to launch their attack…

'Tsk… What's with this guy? I just hope they did not teach this to everyone? Haa~ These five guardians might be having favoritism…' Vinete thought for a moment as she guessed that Mourad practiced this style through the instructor's help.

They are both practicing counter technique which is a bit surprising since she knows that the people in Bhibra Village should be hot-blooded and wanted to always be in combat… But this guy seems to be very calm unlike the others in his batch.

'No, perhaps, he's also a student of Master Reiji? Ugh… I can't lose focus… I can't underestimate this guy…'

She remained on her stance as she knows that patience is the key in this type of battle.

She at least knows that Mourad's stance is a bit awkward and his arm will surely start numbing in a while. If he didn't make a move, he would lose his chance while his arms and muscles were still in perfect condition.

It doesn't matter whether he mastered this stance, it would surely affect his mind if he didn't get the reaction from her that he wanted.

This is why she preferred Mu no Kamae that applies no pressure on her body… This stance relies on multiple angles of attack to defeat their approaching opponent or to hit them on their datotsubui or point areas.

As long as her opponent broke their stance and focused on aiming at her, the deadliness of her Mu no Kamae would be unveiled to everyone…

However, as she was waiting patiently for Mourad to approach her, she realized that his sword was already in front of her!

He's fast!

He's extremely fast that she was unable to react at all! If not for the changes in the air, she wouldn't notice the sword until she was stabbed!

Ssak!

Mourad's stab slice the air and everyone heard its sound… If Vinete failed to tilt her body, she would surely have a hole on her neck by now…