48 Fetters : Release

"While the essence of the Water God Style is Flow, only fools wait until their opponent has launched an attack before countering."

Punctuating her words, Reida smacked Paul across the fade with the flat of her wooden sword. Though the attack looked extremely casual, it sent Paul spinning through the air and landing face-first into a bank of snow.

Following after the Little Lord-shaped projectile, Reida added, "A lot of people say that the Water God Style lacks offensive moves. While that is true, countering the moment your opponent resolves themself to attack is not only the most powerful form of offense, it is an absolute defense."

As Paul pushed himself to his feet and spun around, Reida's body blurred like a phantom. From Paul's perspective, she seemed to disappear, but in reality, she had simply stepped into his blind spot the moment his pupils began to focus.

Startling the tense youth, Reida placed the flat of her blade atop his left shoulder as she explained, "Unless they are a mindless automaton, every creature in this world must form some kind of intent before they attack. It is what dictates their movement, where they're going to strike, and if they want to kill their adversary. The penultimate form of the Water God Style is countering within the fifth to a tenth of a second this intent forms..."

Retracting her blade from Paul's shoulder, Reida turned around, exposing her back to him as she casually drifted a few meters away. Others would have tried to attack at such a moment, but Paul used it to heal his broken nose and steady his breathing.

"Once you master these 'basics,' I will be able to teach you two of the Water God Styles Secret Arts, Flowing Sword Draw and Rolling Sword Stream. Master one, and you'll be able to touch upon the realm of Kings. Master both, and you'll be a half-step into the Emperor Rank..."

Tossing aside her wooden sword, Reido placed her hand on the hilt of her actual blade as she said, "Perfect three of the Water God Secret Arts, and the only thing preventing you from becoming a God is me..."

Faster than the eye could follow, mainly because she waited until Paul blinked; Reida covered the distance between them and slashed less than ten millimeters away from his neck before slipping past him in an instant. Her movements were so swift and silent that, for a brief moment, Paul felt as though he had imagined them as she appeared to 'phase' through his body. The thing that brought him back to reality was when the shockwave generated by her raw speed sent him staggering backward.

Grabbing Paul's head as he landed face-first into her breasts, Reida held him there, ruffling his hair as she mused, "You're cute when you have that stupefied look on your face."

Exhaling a sigh directly into Reida's breasts, Paul muttered, "I still have a long way to go..." before trying to separate from her. When he did, Reida's cerulean eyes sparkled as most young boys in Paul's position would have been rattled or attempted to prolong the contact for as long as possible.

"Look at you...such a mature Little Lord. If not for your anger issues and general impatience, you would be a perfect fit for the Water God Style."

Surprised and confused by Reida's words, Paul looked toward her, asking, "Anger issues? I don't consider myself a particularly irate individual..."

Raising her perfect, almost blade-shaped brows, Reida asked, "Who are you trying to fool? From the moment I first saw you until now, I have been able to sense your anger. You're just constantly suppressing it, pretending as though it doesn't exist."

"..."

Though he wanted to refute Reida's words, Paul had become increasingly rational due to his association with Ningguang. When Reida worded things the way she did, he knew exactly what she meant by him being angry all the time. It was the same thing that prompted Augusta to accuse him of being angsty all the time...

Interrupting Pau's thoughts, Reida said, "You feel that way because you're a good person. At the very least, you're far more decent than most of the people I've met in this world..."

Walking towards Paul, Reida extended her hand to ruffle his hair as she added, "Unfortunately, while the desire to help people can certainly give you strength, it is one of the most significant detriments to mastering any of the sword arts. The more you desire strength for a specific reason, the less likely you are to obtain it. In turn, your failure to progress will cause you stress and self-doubt, compounding on the righteous indignation you feel due to your inability to act..."

Pulling Paul's face back into her plentiful bosom, Reida's expression and tone softened a bit as she whispered, "You need to decide whether or not you desire individual strength or true power...if it's the former, abandon all of the things that bind you. If it's the latter, embrace them fully...you can't have it both ways..."

Releasing Paul from her hold, Reida adopted her characteristic winking smile as she explained, "That last part is something I learned from the Demon Lord that grants Wisdom, Badigadi himself. I didn't believe it at the time, but once I stopped caring about surpassing others and started focusing on simply enjoying myself, it wasn't long before I found myself at the very top."

Finished with what she had to say, Reida turned around and walked with an overtly seductive swagger in her step. She knew Paul wouldn't be able to get any additional training in while his thoughts were in such a chaotic state, so she saw no reason to stick around. If Paul were smart, he would quickly follow after her...after all, those who held back never reached the pinnacle...

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Observing his son's training from a window on the third floor, Amarant had a reflective look on his face. Watching his son get smacked around wasn't pleasant, but seeing Paul rise no matter how many times he was knocked down filled Amarant with a mixture of pride and concern.

While the passing of the Duke was no one's fault, the Royal Family would not pass on the opportunity to use his death to their advantage. It didn't matter if the Royal Coroner found any indications of wrongdoing. At times like this, the truth was what the King decreed.

Though His Majesty was pretty sensible under normal circumstances, he wouldn't be the King if he wasn't willing to engage in some shady dealing. For the Duke to have died on the day of Paul's ascension to adulthood, it was possible that the King, inspired by the more opportunistic members of his court, would conveniently interpret it as an ill omen facing the Royal Family. The scary thing about this, at least from the viewpoint of Amarant, was that he wouldn't be far from the mark.

After seeing what Ningguang had accomplished in four years, Amarant would need to be a fool to believe her ambitions ended with the Milbots Region. He had also observed how his son's sense of justice matured as his power increased. In other words, it was only a matter of time before Paul, backed by Ningguang and his other Familiars, set his sights on the throne of the Asura Kingdom.

Had things developed along their intended course, Amarant could have bought his son and daughter-in-law some time by cozying up to the King during his stay in the Royal Capital.

Amarant hadn't mentioned it to Paul, but the true reason he had decided to relocate to Ars, rather than retiring within their territory, was so that he could be there to convince the King his son had the Kingdom's interests at heart. So long as Ningguang didn't do anything excessive, Amarant was confident he could have bought them a decade or two.

With the death of the Duke, the factions that opposed House Notos would not hesitate to whisper negative sentiments into the King's ear. While they would not outright call for Paul's death, it wasn't difficult to imagine them demanding he move to the Capital or relinquish his claim to the Lordship. In their petty and vindictive minds, this was their only chance to prevent a talented upstart from rising to prominence. To that end, they would not be pulling any punches...

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Though she expected a young man from the Notos Greyrat family to be virile and full of passion, Reida, for the first time in many years, believed she may have underestimated their peculiar genealogy. His actions were clumsy and inexperienced, but Paul had been going to town on her for the better part of four hours. As a result, she went from having the leeway to tease him a bit to biting her lips and gripping the bedsheets as Paul's hips loudly impacted her bottom from behind.

Despite breathing heavily and having a thick layer of sweat covering his body, Paul maintained a fervid and somewhat voracious smile as he gave Reida's ass a firm smack and declared, "I'm not stopping until you let your voice out or knock me away. Either way, it will be my victory..."

"You...cheeky lit-"

Interrupting Reida's words, Paul hunched over Reida's body, his left hand firmly grasping her breast as his right snaked its way around to the front of her body and in between her thighs. She had a fair amount of black hair decorating her mons, but, unlike back in his previous life, Paul didn't mind it. Due to how everything in his current life appeared cel-shaded like in an anime, Reida's bush resembled a small mat of spiky black hair rather than an unkempt nest of medieval era pubes.

Surprised that Paul was acquainted with a woman's speak spot at such a tender age, Reida made one final effort to contain her voice by covering her mouth with her left hand. Unfortunately, she had been experiencing lesser climaxes for the better part of three hours. When Paul suddenly started fiddling with her sensitive little bean, she even let out a bit of pee as a toe-curling climax shook her body to its core.

"Ah..."

Though it was nearly inaudible, hearing Reida release a tiny moan as her body began to tremble caused an overwhelming wave of gratification to wash over Paul's mind. He immediately stopped fiddling with her clitoris and, after fixing his posture, began to slam his hips into her with nearly as much vigor as he could manage. The rippling of her toned yet ridiculously soft ass cheeks only served to fuel his passion as he raised her hips with his hands, half-standing on the bed to get a better thrusting angle.

"You...you...you..."

Feeling a mixture of overwhelming pleasure and mild indignation, Reida wanted to tell Paul to stop but couldn't find the words. It had been years since she felt this embarrassed, but she didn't actually want him to stop. In fact, if he stopped now, she might just up and leave the Notos Estate after breaking every bone in his body...

Raising Reida's ass to the point he was literally standing on the bed, a primal-sounding groan emanated from Paul's throat as he slammed his hips into her one last time, forcibly raising her body as he released his seed as deep as possible inside of her. He immediately regretted it, but his recent experiences with the girls from the Intersection of Fate had conditioned him to blow his load on their insides.

Feeling Paul's hot semen fill her insides like a thick and viscous fluid, a powerful shiver ran through Reida's body. This wasn't the first time Paul had cum since they started, but she had forced him to shoot it out onto the bed rather than inside or on her body. Now that he had released his seed inside of her, Reida's mind momentarily blanked due to the pleasure. When she finally came back down, she found herself panting face-first on the bed as Paul, rather than stopping, turned her onto her side, raised her right leg to his shoulder, and began moving again...

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