This was a knight who polished her sword techniques. Few mage-knights excelled in martial arts or swordsmanship, because they could become far stronger by training Blazer abilities instead of physical skills. That belief was held by both educators and society, so knight evaluations didn't include such skills, and while only mediocre mage-knights shared such thinking, mediocre knights were the majority.

The minority, the truly strong knights, would master physical skills alongside Blazer abilities, because they had an unflagging will to improve. They would absorb every tactic that could empower them, develop their strength, and reach for ever higher summits.

Stella Vermillion stood among that minority. She, who won the sword tournament of the Vermillion Empire, used her Imperial Arts[6] as if she was dancing, but with enough force to press Ikki. It took Ikki, still trying to open a gap between them, all he had just to defend against those strikes. He kept retreating backwards again and again.