A Test Meant to be Overcome

If a normal grown man were to attempt what she had done, even if the willpower was there, it was unlikely that the hand could've stayed connected to the arm moving a katana so fast and suddenly shifting its direction.

However, despite that success, her situation had hardly changed. Though to match, Jessica herself did not revel in said change, still calmly walking forward, watching as the next wave of crows came towards her.

She didn't consider how what she was doing defied normal human limitations and was prepared to do the same thing once more. Even more crows came this time, prompting her to close her eyes even tighter.

With a flash, afterimages of katanas appeared one after another. Despite there being more crows, all of them that attacked her fell this time. Jessica did not know why she could do such a thing, though she did not consider the reasons. The moment she put a substantial strain on her body, it suddenly disappeared.

Almost like something was bearing it for her.

Blood had splattered over her, matting her hair with blood and making it stick to her skin. Similarly so for most of her clothes.

Paired with her emotionless look, she looked quite terrifying right now.

Though the only living things to witness it were crows, which hadn't been intimidated in the slightest. Not to mention, they were only beginning the real trial, still feeling out Jessica's level of strength.

Most of them continued watching, while six crows suddenly flew in. However, this time they erratically changed their flight patterns, essentially feinting several times in a row. Jessica had previously closed her eyes to truly hone her focus entirely on her actions.

However, closing her eyes now would simply make her unaware of where they would be.

As much as she appeared like a master, she really wasn't. Deducing locations purely off sound or the feeling of the wind wasn't possible for her.

It was substantially harder to focus when needing to constantly keep track of all the crows and their flight patterns. In fact, for the first few seconds, none of them attacked, only feinting again and again.

Seeing this as an opportunity, Jessica suddenly slashed forward, ripping apart a crow just as it closed in on her. Soon after, the other crows rushed in, which she also promptly got rid of.

While it wasn't as easy, there were also much fewer crows, making it far more manageable.

However, that soon changed as another wave came, dozens of crows that came towards her before feinting one after another. This time, however, the first attack came within the first second, forcing her to swing.

The other crows all came after her at random angles and intervals, still erratically shifting their flight patterns.

Feeling the danger of the situation, Jessica forced strain on her mind, honing in on the crows as they came closer. Her eyes darted around as though they were flickering lights. Her katana continued to flash, causing many crows to fall down one after another.

Many times after a swing, the blade would be left in a position that made it hard to attack another angle, something the crows took full advantage of. However, she simply forced the blade to swing in a different way through pure wrist strength.

Though it was still a very impressive feat of technique even if it required a significant amount of strength behind it.

The whole time, Jessica maintained her heavy breathing, but it was starting to lose a bit of its metronome-like stability. Still, that didn't change the fact that the crows fell one after another.

The only thing preventing the pile of carcasses from gathering too high was the fact she was slowly walking forward.

When she finally fought away the wave of crows, it felt like quite a while had passed despite the fact it was actually less than a minute. But despite the large number that had fallen, the number of black spots in the sky looked just as numerous as before, almost like there were an unlimited number of them.

And while they did come in waves, that didn't mean they were willing to give her a break. At least not one that lasted for more than a few seconds.

Ten crows came down, shooting toward her at the same time. Jessica wanted to close her eyes to pour all her focus into swinging her katana but decided against it in the end after remembering how they had been feinting before.

With a flash, her katana swung at a crow.

That proceeded to jerk to the side, dodging it entirely.

Despite being completely caught off guard, she quickly swung again. And yet, to her dismay, it dodged once more. Jessica didn't forget to swing at the others either, but the results were the same no matter which one she attacked.

With that, she had hit none of the crows, and each of their beaks ripped into her flesh, each digging out a noticeable but small gash. If one paid attention closely, one would notice that each and every wound was almost exactly the same size.

This was something that was not lost on Jessica either, being the one that had her flesh ripped out in the first place.

It was at this point that it occurred to her that the crows appeared to be treating this more as a test rather than anything else. First, they simply rushed at her, seeing if she could deal with many targets at once, then made it more difficult. Then, they saw if she would fall for feints, which she didn't.

And now, they were seeing how she would respond if they began dodging.

The circle of crows that descended had grown far larger. Both the ten original crows along with dozens more descended upon her. As much as she wanted to resist the feeling, there was a growing part of her that felt hopeless.

It took her almost everything she had to just deal with that amount of crows when they simply charged at her. And now, all of them would very likely dodge all her attacks.

While she wasn't too badly injured now, when there were nearly fifty of them, her condition would be very bad if she let all of them hit her.

However, just as the smell of death overcame her, she realized what it really meant. It wasn't that she would die here, but rather something would happen to her control over herself and she would suddenly awaken later, more or less fine, with no idea what really happened.

That much was reinforced by a feeling she had, as though something was getting prepared to overtake if needed.

Somehow, that felt even worse than just dying to Jessica. She grit her teeth so hard that her gums began to ache. After sucking in a pained breath, her eyes closed. This was a test, something that was meant to be overcome, even if it was difficult.

Instead of doubting herself, her mind raced through potential solutions, rapidly coming up with ideas and discarding them just as fast.

That was when she recalled what the crows had done just before.

Feinting.

Jessica dashed forward before planting her foot hard into the ground, getting close to the edge of the crows to at least spread out their arrival time somewhat. Immediately, she swung at one of the crows, which promptly moved out of the way.

However, she had not slashed in the space where it had been, instead holding back before twisting into a strike that split the crow in two. As it turns out, the solution had been staring at her in the face.

To not only feint but then strike after took longer than simply striking. And with how many crows there were, it was nearly impossible to do so for each and every one of them.

Yet, it was at this moment of extreme determination Jessica felt a hollow sensation pass through her. The information that went into her mind was not processed, and yet, her actions were as though she had thought long and hard about each one. Her blade turned into a series of afterimages, combining strikes on one crow to be feints on another.

And in a matter of seconds, the entire wave of crows had fallen.

Jessica's breathing had become as stable as ever. For perhaps the first time in her life, she truly felt confident in herself. However that emotion was incredibly fleeting and muted due to her current state of intense focus.

After that wave, another came. Or more accurately, one crow flew down to attack.

It was seemingly quite simple, which made it all the more terrifying.

Jessica hesitated before deciding to feint, and multiple times depending on its reaction. She thought it might've been an incredibly agile crow that could dodge unlike the others.

As it rapidly approached, she prepared the feint.

Yet, the crow didn't react at all, simply continuing as though it didn't see.

With all her strength, she quickly shifted it into a strike.

Before it was blown away, after the crow tilted its beak and hit it.