Rrakavasha withdrew his gaze from Jingliu and calmly announced the start of the challenge matches.
The first girl whose name had been called took a deep, steadying breath and stepped onto the elevated platform.
The morning sunlight wasn't too harsh yet, still gentle.
She narrowed her eyes against the glare and saw the vast sea of people surrounding the arena. Her heartbeat shot up immediately, thundering in her ears.
Every seat in the observation stands was completely filled, countless pairs of eyes fixed on her alone.
Nervous sweat seeped into the palm gripping her wooden training sword, making the wood slippery.
"Good luck."
A hand gently patted her shoulder from behind, grounding her.
Rrakavasha's voice wasn't loud, yet it carried a strangely calming power that cut through her panic.
The girl inhaled deeply and nodded firmly, finding her center.
That simple touch seemed to steady her racing heart. She quickly adjusted her mindset and was no longer as overwhelmingly nervous.
"I… I challenge Captain Mo Tingquan!"
As soon as she spoke, a man in polished silver armor leapt gracefully from the captain's viewing area.
His foot stepped on a hovering surveillance bird midair for additional leverage before flipping and landing steadily exactly three meters in front of her, armor gleaming.
Sunlight flashed sharply off his shoulder pauldrons, momentarily blinding.
Mo Tingquan smiled warmly and nodded at the girl with genuine encouragement. With a casual grip of his hand, a standard training wooden sword materialized from his storage.
"Please guide me with your experience…!"
The girl cupped her fists respectfully in a traditional salute, tightened her grip on her weapon, and focused her eyes intently. A trace of immature but genuine sharpness appeared within them.
Thunderous cheers and encouraging shouts erupted from the packed stands, washing over her.
She knew rationally that once a captain truly attacked with intent, she wouldn't last even one proper exchange.
But at the very least, she wanted everyone watching to see her improvement over these past grueling days.
She held her breath for one focused moment, lowered her combat stance, and suddenly dashed forward with explosive speed, slashing diagonally upward toward his helmet.
A basic textbook move, but executed fairly fast for a beginner.
Mo Tingquan turned aside smoothly to dodge, not even bothering to swing his sword in defense.
She twisted her waist and changed techniques fluidly, sweeping horizontally at chest level. He stepped back half a step casually, the blade grazing harmlessly across his chest armor with a soft scraping sound.
Surprised gasps erupted from portions of the audience who hadn't expected her to get that close.
Her first strike had failed to connect, but she refused to stop, launching continuous combination attacks without pause.
She used every sword technique she'd learned during the intensive training, movements still somewhat rigid but smoothly connected in proper sequence.
Sweat slid from her forehead, stinging her eyes.
At the fifth sequential move, as her sword slashed determinedly toward his helmet, Mo Tingquan finally moved defensively.
Her sword swept in from the right side. He raised his left hand and tapped the flat of her blade lightly with the back of his knuckles, barely any force applied.
A crisp metallic sound rang out, and her trajectory instantly shifted off-course, momentum redirected.
He hadn't used much actual strength, yet it was more than enough to make her lose balance completely and stagger back two stumbling steps. When she barely steadied herself again, her breathing had already grown ragged and labored.
"Just… a bit more…"
She clenched her teeth stubbornly and rushed forward again, refusing to quit.
This time, she deliberately changed rhythm, feinting high before suddenly crouching low into a sweeping leg-level strike.
Mo Tingquan jumped to evade the sweep easily. As his feet touched down, she rose with the upward momentum and thrust straight toward his face with full commitment.
This was her absolute best move, practiced countless times.
Unfortunately, he merely tilted his head slightly to one side. Her sword brushed harmlessly past his ear while his own blade had already come to rest gently at her exposed throat.
She froze completely, panting hard, the devastating realization hitting her that she'd lost decisively.
The rules clearly stated that hitting the captain's helmet within three minutes meant victory, but they'd never said the Cloud Knight couldn't counterattack or end the match.
"Thank you for the guidance, Captain Mo Tingquan."
She didn't dwell on the defeat and respectfully cupped her fists again, maintaining proper etiquette.
Her strongest, most practiced move had failed completely. Continuing would be pointless and embarrassing.
Clearly, the captain had recognized that fact and mercifully ended the fight quickly.
The arena fell silent for a suspended moment, then suddenly burst into genuine applause and cheers.
"Child, you're quite skilled for your age." Mo Tingquan's voice was warm with encouragement. "If you enlist after coming of age, you will surely achieve something noteworthy in the Cloud Knights."
"Mm! I will!" Her response was immediate and fierce.
She bowed respectfully and left the stage with measured steps. Though she'd lost, her back remained perfectly straight.
After all, she hadn't embarrassed herself or her family.
Rrakavasha nodded slightly in approval and called the next challenger's name.
The pace of the matches quickened considerably as students gained confidence.
The second match featured a tall, well-built boy who chose another captain from the lineup.
His fight lasted a respectable ten exchanges before his weapon was knocked cleanly away, clattering across the platform.
The third challenger was a short-haired girl with fierce eyes.
Her battle was genuinely spectacular to watch. She'd clearly studied her chosen captain's sword habits and patterns carefully, predicting his movements correctly three separate times, missing strikes to his helmet by mere inches each time.
But unfortunately, those final crucial inches never closed before the three-minute time limit expired mercilessly.
This demonstrated just how astronomically difficult defeating even a restrained Cloud Knight captain truly was.
The sun gradually slanted westward as time passed. Clouds gathered overhead and the wind cooled noticeably, carrying the scent of approaching rain.
One challenger after another stepped up and stepped down in steady rotation. Lasting the full three minutes without being defeated alone earned thunderous applause from the increasingly invested crowd.
Some failed after executing their best three consecutive moves and wisely conceded defeat rather than continue.
So far, every single challenger had lost their match.
Which was completely normal and expected.
Cloud Knight captains were battle-hardened warriors with decades or centuries of experience. The challengers were merely students fresh from ten days of intensive training.
The fundamental strength gap could not be bridged by courage and determination alone, no matter how admirable.
Still, many observant spectators could clearly see that the captains were deliberately guiding challengers like experienced sparring partners, occasionally even offering tactical advice mid-match.
Half the sky had darkened considerably, storm clouds rolling in.
Wind lifted dust devils across the training field, faint thunder rumbling ominously in the far distance.
After another match concluded with the expected result, a flicker of genuine interest appeared in Rrakavasha's eyes as he checked the roster.
"Next challenger: Jingliu."
Jingliu stood smoothly from the waiting area and walked onto the platform with measured steps, her posture controlled.
She wasn't particularly tall, her slender frame seeming almost fragile. Her distinctive blue-white ponytail swayed rhythmically in the strengthening wind.
Reaching the platform's center, she didn't look toward the assembled captains or scan the crowd for familiar faces.
Her gaze fell directly and only on Rrakavasha. Her voice trembled slightly yet carried unmistakable determination.
"I choose to challenge Captain Rrakavasha."
The entire arena erupted into shocked murmurs and excited shouts.
Though the Chief Instructor technically held captain rank, everyone present knew captains respected pure strength above all other considerations. The Chief Instructor position meant he was the strongest among them, unquestionably.
Brave indeed! Foolish or admirable?
Rrakavasha's expression did not visibly change. He leapt lightly from his position.
With a casual thought, his wooden training sword left its sheath smoothly, floating horizontally beneath his feet as he flew gracefully onto the platform in a perfect arc.
From the distant stands, the sword-riding entrance filled countless watching youths with burning longing and admiration.
Elegant. Impossibly cool.
The other assembled Cloud Knight captains, however, were almost all visibly shocked by the display.
That was genuinely just an ordinary wooden training sword, not a specially crafted weapon designed to be controllable by mental energy or spiritual power.
Many captains could control proper flying swords with embedded formations. But an ordinary wooden training blade with no enchantments?
Absolutely no one else could accomplish that feat.
Of course, most students in the stands had no idea how extraordinary it was, lacking the knowledge to understand.
Studying the calm, unreadable face partially visible behind his helmet, Jingliu inhaled deeply and gripped her wooden sword properly before offering a formal salute.
"Please guide me with your experience, Captain Rrakavasha!"
The moment he gave a slight acknowledging nod, her blade struck instantly without any unnecessary flourish or telegraph.
He shifted his body minimally, the blade grazing harmlessly across his shoulder armor with a soft scraping sound.
She twisted her wrist fluidly and cut toward his exposed neck, but he leaned back slightly to evade, the sword passing directly before his face close enough to feel the displaced air.
She retreated several quick steps to reset her stance, eyes remaining wary and calculating.
Rrakavasha did not attack in response, didn't even shift his feet from their planted position.
No one in the audience found this strange or disappointing.
Previous challengers who'd managed to last the full three minutes had faced similar careful restraint from their opponents.
As he calmly handled her increasingly aggressive attacks with minimal effort, a faint flicker of surprise appeared in his eyes.
Unexpected.
He genuinely hadn't expected a pampered, rich young lady with no prior training to look this competent after only ten days of intensive conditioning.
It seemed she'd been practicing diligently in every spare moment, driven by something beyond simple duty.
Hey guys, I've noticed that barely anyone is still reading this story.
I don't know why, because I really liked it, but I can't afford to continue translating it, since it actually takes me a lot of time to translate and edit each chapter.
If any of you want to continue this story on your own accord, go ahead and read it on WTR lab. There, it is called: "Honkai Star Rail: My Death Feeds his Madness"
There is also someone else "translating" this exact story on Webnovel, but he is just copy pasting everything from WTR lab. So, if you wanna read, then please don't support someone who just copies and pastes it. Hope you had fun with this story thus far, and thank you for reading my version of it.