539
Chapter 539
Zeke's words made Alicia's expression distort.
"A mess? You say it's a mess…?"
Alicia's grip tightened on the Wolf Fang sword.
If the sword she was holding hadn't been the Wolf Fang sword made from the teeth of the Wolf King Fenrir, but rather an ordinary sword, it would have been completely crumpled by the Mighty Warrior's strength.
Zeke looked at Alicia and said,
"The Grand Duke's Mighty Warrior strength is undoubtedly impressive, but that's all there is to it."
He took a breath before continuing.
"In combat, you only rely on pushing forward with the Mighty Warrior's strength, failing to properly utilize your capabilities as a knight."
His cold voice struck Alicia's ears.
Alicia glared fiercely at Zeke.
Then she slowly raised her Wolf Fang sword.
"One strike of the sword is better than a hundred words."
Zeke slowly rose from his seat as he watched her.
But when he didn't draw his sword, Alicia furrowed her brow.
"Are you trying to insult me, Zeke Draker?"
"I merely wish to prove my point."
At Zeke's words, Alicia clenched her teeth.
Then she immediately rushed toward Zeke.
RUMBLE! RUMBLE!
Wielding the Mighty Warrior's strength, Alicia moved as light as a feather even while carrying the great sword.
In an instant, she closed the distance and swung her Wolf Fang sword at Zeke, tearing through the air.
WHOOSH!
In that moment, Zeke stepped back slightly, avoiding the Wolf Fang sword by a tiny margin.
As if expecting this, Alicia immediately changed the direction of her Wolf Fang sword.
Usually, knights wielding great swords had the disadvantage of only being able to make linear attacks due to the weight, even when using aura.
However, Alicia's strength could overcome even this limitation.
The Wolf Fang sword instantly changed direction and dropped straight down from above.
While an ordinary knight might have been surprised by the suddenly redirected sword strike, Zeke showed no such reaction.
Once again, he avoided the Wolf Fang sword by slightly shifting his footwork.
Then he stepped forward and kicked Alicia's thigh.
BOOM!
Though it was just a kick, it sounded like an explosion.
Alicia was taken aback by Zeke's attack that penetrated through her Mighty Warrior's strength.
"UGH!"
She momentarily felt bewildered by the heavy pain in her thigh and lost her balance.
In that instant, Zeke's hand blade touched Alicia's neck.
Cold sweat ran down Alicia's forehead as she was instantly subdued by Zeke.
While this was just light training and wouldn't necessarily play out the same way in actual combat, it was enough to show the significant gap in their martial abilities.
Zeke lowered his hand from Alicia's neck and stepped back.
"Do you understand what I meant now, Grand Duke?"
Alicia lowered her Wolf Fang sword and furrowed her brow in frustration.
In the North, no one had ever been able to parry or dodge her sword.
But Zeke had done it with ease, so she had no choice but to acknowledge his words.
She sheathed her Wolf Fang sword and slumped down in her seat.
Then she grabbed the bottle of liquor she had brought and gulped it down.
"WHEW."
She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and said to Zeke.
"Fenrir's will does not dwell in women."
When Zeke just stared at her with an expressionless face, Alicia continued with a hardened expression.
"That's what my father, the late Northern Grand Duke, said to me before he died. Damn it."
Zeke had heard these words before.
Alicia's father, the former Northern Grand Duke, was reportedly displeased that the Himonas bloodline ability had manifested in Alicia, a woman.
His reaction was quite exceptional in the North, where discrimination between women and men was minimal.
Zeke looked at Alicia and said,
"That's complete nonsense."
At his words, Alicia continued in a self-deprecating voice.
"That pathetic man saw my dead mother in me. He refused to acknowledge my mother, who was a stronger and more excellent knight than himself. He proved what a fool he was by continuing that bullshit until his death."
Alicia's mother was the greatest female warrior in the North.
Though not of high birth, Alicia's father, the former Northern Grand Duke, had married her to strengthen their bloodline.
While he had inherited the Himonas bloodline, he couldn't properly manifest the Mighty Warrior's strength.
The former Grand Duke harbored great feelings of inferiority toward his wife, Alicia's mother, who was an outstanding warrior.
Alicia had taken after her mother much more than her father from birth.
She showed talent as an exceptional warrior from a young age, and above all, she was born with the Mighty Warrior's strength so powerful that she could be called the incarnation of the Wolf King.
The former Northern Grand Duke felt strong jealousy toward his blessed daughter who did not take after him, and tried to have sons with other concubines.
However, no other children were born after Alicia, and she had no choice but to become the sole heir.
Nevertheless, the former Grand Duke refused to acknowledge her until his dying moment.
'Those final words left by the former Northern Grand Duke became a curse that tormented Alicia for a long time.'
In her previous life, Alicia had shared the story that had been bottled up in her heart while standing back-to-back with Zeke during the final war.
In that war, Zeke eventually had to leave the North for another mission, and Alicia, left alone, met her end by taking her own life while holding back the enemies.
In the end, this story remained a secret known only to Alicia and Zeke.
As the saying goes about word spirits, words carry spiritual power, and when filled with strong resentment, the words themselves can turn into curses.
That pathetic final statement left by the former Northern Grand Duke before his death became embedded in Alicia's heart, becoming chains that prevented her from breaking free of her own limitations.
That's why Alicia could not exert power beyond her capacity and remained trapped in only the Mighty Warrior's strength.
Zeke recalled Alicia from the previous life.
'If she had been able to utilize all of her power...'
The lingering regret that she wouldn't have had to take her own life in the war if that had been the case never left Zeke's mind.
Therefore, to shake off that regret and prevent another tragedy, Zeke wanted to help her break through her limitations.
Zeke looked at Alicia and said,
"Grand Duke, listen carefully to what I'm about to say."
He spoke in a cold voice.
"How long will you keep imprisoning yourself with such nonsense?"
Alicia's expression changed strangely at Zeke's words.
"While it's true my father spoke nonsense, I never expected someone to say it so openly to my face."
"Even feeling pity for someone trapped in such inferiority is a luxury. Don't tell me you hold such pity just because of blood relations?"
Alicia fell silent for a moment at those words.
She and the former Northern Grand Duke could never be called a good father and daughter.
Alicia had already surpassed her father's strength when she was young.
The former Northern Grand Duke was jealous of Alicia who had taken Fenrir's power, and because of this, her mother also had to become a victim of his petty jealousy.
Alicia burned with anger at her father's unfair treatment.
But whenever that happened, her mother would look at her and say that her father was a pitiful person.
Because of those words from her mother, she couldn't completely ignore her father, which allowed his words to remain as a curse in her heart.
Only after hearing Zeke's words did Alicia realize that she held not only anger but also pity toward her dead father.
"...Zeke Draker, it seems you know me better than I know myself."
In the previous life, Zeke had heard and shared Alicia's deepest inner thoughts more than anyone else.
That's why Zeke wanted to unravel the complex curse tangled in Alicia's heart.
He looked at Alicia and spoke in a resolute voice.
"Let me say it once more. Grand Duke, you are the strongest and most beautiful knight of all. The Mighty Warrior's strength? That's nothing. You have potential that surpasses that. So..."
He paused for a moment before speaking again.
"Believe in yourself."
The words he had wanted to say to her, transcending the previous life.
Zeke was finally able to convey those words to Alicia.
Alicia looked at Zeke with piercingly blue eyes.
"Zeke Draker, when I look at you... for some reason, I feel a sense of familiarity. I wonder why."
Zeke forcefully suppressed the stirring emotions as he looked into Alicia's eyes, which remained unchanged from her previous life.
He wanted to tell her that he had come back through time and that they had shared a long connection before.
But he couldn't.
The past was the past, and the present was the present.
A new life different from the past was unfolding for the current Alicia.
There was no need to bring up the past and confuse her.
'I'll just help her live her life fully as herself. Interfering beyond that would only have negative effects.'
Zeke struggled to compose his emotions and spoke in his usual voice.
"Perhaps because it's a more common impression than you think."
"...I don't think that's it."
"Anyway, that's not what's important."
Zeke looked around the office as if to change the atmosphere, then changed the subject.
"There's confidential information I haven't told the Continental Alliance, but I want you to know."
Zeke lowered his voice and said,
"Behind Castro Pollock's legion occupying Jupiter is Abyss, a group of dark mages. And Abyss's goal is to summon the Demon King."
Alicia nodded while leaning back against the sofa.
"Yes, I already knew that."
"The problem is that's not the end of it."
Zeke continued slowly.
"Along with the Demon King's descent, the lords of the demon realm are trying to summon their realm into the physical world."
Alicia's eyes widened at Zeke's words.
"The demon realm into the physical world?"
"Yes, if that happens, the physical world will become a living hell and humans will be reduced to their slaves."
Alicia clenched her teeth and fists.
"Damn demon bastards. I'll tear them apart limb by limb and feed them to the wolves as soon as they crawl up from the demon realm."
It was a fierce response befitting her alias as the Wolf of the North.
Zeke tried to calm Alicia and said,
"If the demon realm lords show themselves in the physical world, human power alone won't be enough to stop them. We need to prepare to stop them."
"Prepare? What kind of preparation?"
Zeke pointed to Alicia's Wolf Fang sword leaning beside her.
"As I said earlier, your power isn't just the Mighty Warrior's strength alone. You need to raise your capabilities as a knight to a level where you can fully unleash the Wolf King's power contained in the Wolf Fang Fenrir. Only then can we fight against the demons descending into the physical world."
In her previous life, Alicia couldn't fully draw out the Wolf King Fenrir's power.
War broke out before she could fully develop, and because of the curse embedded in her heart, she didn't have the composure to properly exercise that power.
But now there was enough time to prepare for this.
Zeke looked at Alicia and said,
"You need someone who can awaken your potential."
Alicia frowned at those words.
"Are you saying I should receive sword training like apprentice knights?"
Zeke nodded.
"You might need to learn even more basic things than sword training. I understand that because your innate strength is so great, you skipped over the basic training that ordinary knights go through. That's what's holding you back now."
Although Alicia frowned at Zeke's words, she somewhat agreed.
She had been worried about her stagnating skills but didn't know how to move forward.
But through their recent sparring, she realized her shortcomings and the need for greater strength to oppose the demon race.
Seeing Alicia lost in thought, Zeke said,
"Go seek out Sword King Bernas. He will teach you how to fully unleash Fenrir's power."
The meeting with Sword King Bernas was something Zeke had arranged for Alicia beforehand.
If she could fully unleash Fenrir's power, Alicia would gain strength enough to face the fallen constellations.
Alicia looked at Zeke and slowly opened her mouth.
"Zeke Draker."
She continued with a strange expression.
"Why are you trying to help me so much?"