Ending Maker Chapter 126
Ending Maker Chapter 126
Chapter 47 - Engagement Ceremony #3
Sword and fist.
Yuder could use both, but in truth, he had never properly learned either.
'Because I was born with the Nine Yin Meridian Blockage.'
'Yuder Bayel' had never learned proper martial arts until he turned seventeen.
For a body that couldn't even take a daily walk, training was nothing short of a death wish.
But after Yuder obtained the Sun's Necklace and weakened the symptoms of the Nine Yin Meridian Blockage, he fought quite well.
He passed the Bayel family test, and he rarely experienced technical difficulties in battles against monsters.
And the reason was simple.
'Because I have things I learned in my previous life.'
Either way, Yuder had been a modern man, so the only thing he could really call "swordsmanship" was a little knife fighting. "Fist techniques"—or, more accurately, "bare-handed combat"—were another matter.
Because Kang Jin-ho had experience learning various martial arts with kickboxing as his base.
'Of course, that doesn't mean I'm fighting that way now.'
The martial arts he had learned in Pleiades enabled superhuman movement for a human, and also allowed him to manifest destructive power that ordinary strikes could never produce.
Since his opponents were likewise not humans but monsters or Demonic Humans, he had no choice but to fight in a different form from modern combat sports.
'But even so.'
'Kang Jin-ho' was skilled in bare-handed combat, and naturally, 'Yuder' repeatedly gained real combat experience in bare-handed fighting rather than wielding a sword.
He used a sword occasionally, but his main focus was still the fist.
'So I'll go with the fist.'
Facing him with a sword was possible.
Since there was an enormous physical gap between Yuder himself and Lucas, even if he picked up a sword, he could win by overwhelming force.
But he didn't want to do that.
'He's serious.'
Lucas was a sword genius.
He had trained with the sword for a long time, and because of that, his eye for reading opponents had also developed.
'Lucas knows too.'
The fact that he was no match for Yuder.
But despite that, he had come to challenge him.
Knowing he would lose, knowing he would be shattered.
'So let's go at him seriously.'
Answer sincerity with sincerity.
Of course, that didn't mean he intended to go all out and smash Lucas to pieces, but he had no intention of treating him carelessly.
"Hah!"
Lucas's battle cry cut off his thoughts.
No, Yuder had already been focused on Lucas from the start.
Lucas's movements.
The trajectory his sword drew.
The calculations came naturally.
Based on information obtained not only through visual input from his eyes but by utilizing all five senses, he read Lucas's next move, Lucas's intent.
And then he responded.
His body had become incomparably stronger than in his days as Kang Jin-ho.
Strength, agility, endurance, and so on were already at a superhuman level, and his reflexes and dynamic vision were equally beyond compare.
On top of that, the Heavenly Martial Body was added.
A heaven-sent martial talent that allowed him to analyze an opponent's sword pressure just by looking at it.
Lucas swung his sword.
Yuder dodged the sword with minimal movement. By doing so, he closed in and swung his fist.
Clang!
Lucas's sword blocked Yuder's fist.
To be precise, it was closer to him hastily pulling his sword back and half-forcibly disrupting Yuder's punch.
But either way, it was a defense.
Lucas was pushed back, and Yuder pursued him.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Sword and fist collided, bursting with sharp sounds.
Lucas had a huge reach advantage with a sword, but even that normally decisive advantage was not proving very effective.
Yuder's two arms, imbued with the energy of the black dragon, easily blocked Lucas's sword, and Lucas broke out in a cold sweat from kick attacks that he almost never experienced.
'He's barely holding on.'
Cordelia narrowed her eyes and thought that.
If Yuder raised his gear just a little more here, if Lucas's concentration wavered just a little.......
'It'll end in an instant.'
Yuder knew it, and Lucas knew it too.
And Count Hraesvelgr also knew it.
'Marvelous.'
Count Hraesvelgr was a martial artist.
He was a man with a competitive spirit, and he was also quite interested in Count Bayel, who was counted as his rival everywhere.
Because of that, he was well acquainted with Yuder.
A child who, until just recently, couldn't even go outside freely because of the Nine Yin Meridian Blockage.
But now, Yuder was crushing Lucas—the one famous as a sword genius, the one whom Count Hraesvelgr himself acknowledged as having been born with greater talent than his own younger self.
A fight between an adult and a child.
Perhaps an even greater gap than that.
'How extraordinary.'
Was it possible to achieve such explosive growth in just a few months?
Could it be that Count Bayel had deceived those around him by saying his son was ill?
'No, that doesn't matter.'
What mattered was the fact that Yuder's skill was real, and one other thing.
'I want to see it.'
Yuder's true skill.
The maximum power he could currently exert.
Clang!
With a thunderous sound, Lucas's stance collapsed.
Unable to withstand Yuder's fierce assault, the sword he let go rolled across the floor, and Yuder's fist stopped in front of Lucas's chest.
Lucas let out a rough breath.
Still, he looked at Yuder and swallowed dryly. Clenching his teeth as if holding something back, he declared.
"I lost."
"It was a good match."
When Yuder withdrew his fist, Lucas collapsed to the ground on the spot.
It was because the moment he declared defeat, the strength drained from his legs—no, from his entire body.
'I lost.'
He had known he would lose, but he really lost.
And he confirmed it.
The absolute gap.
'At most one or two months.'
The time during which Lucas himself hadn't seen Yuder.
During that time, Yuder had achieved truly tremendous growth.
'Haha...... hahaha.......'
Was this what they called frustration?
Was despair something like this?
Something he had never once felt since being born a genius.
This feeling of being so overwhelmed by an absolute gap that he couldn't even think of catching up.
"Lucas, get up."
At the voice that came from behind him, Lucas reflexively stiffened his body.
He forced himself to summon strength and rose from his spot.
"Well done. Your skills have improved."
At Count Hraesvelgr's words, Lucas's face went blank.
But Count Hraesvelgr had spoken the truth. Lucas's skills had clearly improved greatly compared to when he had last seen him.
"Let's talk about the details later. Rest for now."
"Yes, Father."
Lucas, who had again answered reflexively, stepped down from the training ground. And only then, upon seeing Cordelia standing alone and restless, did he realize that Yuder and Count Hraesvelgr remained on the training ground, that they were standing facing each other.
'Father?'
Turning around and looking at Count Hraesvelgr—at his eyes—Lucas realized.
His father was serious.
"May I ask for one bout?"
Count Hraesvelgr spoke, and Yuder smiled bitterly.
He had seen this coming, but now that it was actually happening, he could not help feeling the pressure.
'Still, this is an opportunity for me too.'
Count Hraesvelgr was a powerhouse of considerable level even across all of Pleiades.
And that was only natural, since he was one of the most skilled individuals in a nation—no less than the Saelun Kingdom, one of the continent's two great powers.
'A so-called Sword Master.'
Sword General, Swordmaster.
How many chances would he get to cross swords with a swordsman of this level?
'Of course, there might be plenty at home.'
Yuder, who had relaxed his tension even a little with a silly thought, steadied his breathing several times and then nodded. He glanced back at Cordelia once.
'I'll do it.'
'Really?'
A conversation through glances that might as well have been telepathy by now.
Yuder clenched his fist, and Cordelia stamped her feet before letting out a sigh. Clenching her fist just as tightly, she sent him a look.
'Since you're doing it anyway, land one on him! Got it?'
'If possible.'
'Not if possible—you're doing it. Absolutely!'
'Fine.'
Cordelia, satisfied with Yuder's answer, beamed, and Yuder was satisfied too.
He faced Count Hraesvelgr again and answered.
"I would be honored."
"Let's begin right away."
Count Hraesvelgr picked up a wooden sword, and Yuder let out a long breath before taking his stance once more.
'It's the complete opposite.'
Compared to when he had sparred with Lucas.
No, was it even more than that?
Yuder, who grinned one last time, cleared away his useless thoughts. He focused on Count Hraesvelgr, and at some moment, he charged.
Boom!
A thunderous sound.
And then countless sounds ringing out in succession.
Yuder poured out a fierce assault, and Count Hraesvelgr blocked every single attack.
Deflecting, blocking, and sometimes dodging.
'He's raising my gear.'
Count Hraesvelgr was raising Yuder's gear.
So that he could truly go all out.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM—!
The energy of four black dragons raged from Yuder's two hands.
A faint sword aura also shimmered over Count Hraesvelgr's sword, and at some moment, a pure-white aura blade unfurled.
Lucas watched the two men's sparring, forgetting even to breathe.
The pattern of Yuder attacking and Count Hraesvelgr defending no longer existed.
The moment Yuder's gear reached its peak, Count Hraesvelgr began his attack.
A downward slash.
Simple, yet he could not even imagine blocking or dodging it.
Yuder saw a wall in the downward slash rushing before his eyes.
Unable to even think of doing anything about it, he simply moved desperately. He widened the distance as much as possible and evaded the sword strike. He could do nothing but retreat backward.
But this was only the beginning.
Count Hraesvelgr took one step forward.
Yuder himself had dodged with all his might, but he still hadn't escaped very far, and Count Hraesvelgr's single step erased the distance he had managed to create.
And then another sword strike.
This time too, an ordinary mid-level slash.
No, it was by no means ordinary.
Yuder realized at some point.
'Holy King Cross Sword.'
Count Hraesvelgr was currently unfolding the Holy King Cross Sword.
In his every movement, in the invisible flow of energy, the Holy King Cross Sword was dissolved.
'As expected of a swordmaster.'
He was the Holy King Cross Sword itself. His every small movement contained the Holy King Cross Sword.
A smile spread across Yuder's face.
He couldn't help it.
Several more sword strikes rushed at Yuder.
Each time he dodged, blocked, and deflected them one by one, Yuder's movements grew more and more precarious.
Cordelia felt wonder and pain at the same time.
The fact that she had witnessed Count Hraesvelgr's swordplay, which was close to divine, was a joy in itself, but the sight of Yuder being driven into a corner so badly was too painful to watch.
Moreover, Cordelia could see it.
The next one would be the last.
With the next single sword strike, Yuder would be completely crushed beneath the Holy King Cross Sword.
'I hate it.'
She knew it was unreasonable, but she hated it.
She didn't want to see that sight.
Because it was Yuder.
Because it was Outboxer009.
Because he was the kind of guy she always wanted to be number one.
Cordelia gritted her teeth. Clenching her fist tightly, she wished and wished again.
She sent her unreasonable wish to Yuder.
And then at some moment.
When Count Hraesvelgr finally raised his sword for the last strike.
"Huh?"
Cordelia let out a voice without realizing it.
Because she could see it.
Because her talent for grasping the outcome by transcending the process told her.
An anomaly.
Something that shattered the natural flow.
Cordelia's lips curled upward.
She looked into Yuder's eyes and smiled brightly once more. Suppressing her pounding heart, she shouted, if only inwardly.
'Yuder!'
Boom!
Yuder slammed into the ground.
He saw Count Hraesvelgr's sword.
Still absolute.
A wall that could not be surmounted.
But it had changed. No, Yuder himself had made it so.
'Holy King Cross Sword.'
He had seen it through Lucas. He had felt it through Count Hraesvelgr.
And he had been able to tell.
That it shared the same essence as the martial arts of the Guardians of the Holy Cross.
That, at least at one time, it had been a martial art that walked the same path.
But that was not what mattered.
Yuder could feel it.
He could sense the Holy King Cross Sword itself.
Heavenly Martial Body.
The incarnation of martial arts bestowed by heaven.
And what was added to it.
Nine heavens, nine worlds.
The power of the Nine Heavens Nine Gates, which contained all things in creation and so could flow into all things in creation.
He did not do it consciously.
At some point, his body moved naturally.
Was this how Cordelia always saw the world?
No, that was wrong.
Because Yuder himself was still calculating even at this very moment.
Count Hraesvelgr's sword was perfect. So twist it and break it. Forcefully wrench that sword's path aside.
What he needed for that was power.
A massive power that would bring bewilderment to Count Hraesvelgr, and that Yuder himself had been unable to wield until now.
Boom!
What Cordelia had seen.
Yuder kicked the ground hard. He shifted his center of gravity in an instant and clenched his fist, then reproduced what he had seen and felt through the Nine Heavens Nine Gates' principles.
Holy King Cross Sword.
Holy King Cross Strike.
Dragon fighting spirit gathered in Yuder's fist.
At that moment, bewilderment spread across Count Hraesvelgr's face.
Because he understood the instant he faced it.
And Yuder's single punch detonated.
It shattered Count Hraesvelgr's sword strike!
BOOM—!
The Holy King's cross, the very symbol of the Holy King Cross Sword, was drawn in the air.
Count Hraesvelgr was pushed back, and his attack came to nothing.
But only for a moment.
Count Hraesvelgr swung his sword again. He split Yuder's cross apart and erased it in one breath, and by the time Yuder raised his head, the count's sword was already touching Yuder's neck.
The end.
The match was decided.
Yuder had lost.
But Cordelia bounced in place with delight, and Lucas could not close his gaping mouth.
Count Hraesvelgr, too, let out a slightly ragged breath.
"I lost."
Yuder spoke, and Count Hraesvelgr withdrew his sword.
Then he swallowed the words that had risen to the tip of his throat.
'How.'
He already knew the answer.
Yuder had not stolen the secret manual of the Holy King Cross Sword, nor had the Count Bayel Household studied the Holy King Cross Sword over a long period.
'Heavenly Martial... Body.'
The incarnation of martial arts bestowed by heaven.
No, it was not only that. There was something more within Yuder.
'He's a monster.'
A laugh escaped him without his realizing it.
They said laughter came when faced with a situation too absurd, and that saying appeared to be true.
'No, no. It's not only that.'
His heart pounded.
Because he looked forward to how much the young man before him would grow, and to how he would one day cross swords with him.
"That was enjoyable. Go back and get some rest. If necessary, I'll have someone escort you."
"I'm fine. Instead... I'll rest a little at the training hall before returning."
"Do so."
Having retrieved his sword, Count Hraesvelgr left no further words and instead walked over to Lucas, who was still standing there blankly.
He lightly tapped Lucas's shoulder to bring him to his senses, then left the sparring ground together with him.
"Haa."
Yuder let out a breath and collapsed on the spot.
"Hwaa."
He lay down outright and stretched out his whole body.
'So this is one of the Ten Great Swordsmen.'
Neither Landius nor Kamael had ever shown him a real sword.
Count Bayel was the same.
But just now, Count Hraesvelgr had shown him the real thing.
'That really is heaven.'
The phrase "heaven beyond heaven" existed for a reason.
Yet for some reason, a smile kept escaping him.
Because he would be able to reach it someday. Because he would be able to ascend to a higher realm.
'It's been a while.'
Kang Jin-ho had briefly known a time when he devoted himself to training simply because he loved the fact of growing stronger.
"What, what. Why are you grinning? Did you lose your mind?"
"You're grinning too, you know."
"Hehehe."
Cordelia, who had approached before he knew it, crouched by Yuder's head and giggled again.
"Our Yuder's gotten a lot stronger, hasn't he?"
"I have to get stronger, since I need to protect our princess."
"Oh my, how admirable. As a reward, I'll help you up. You'll catch a cold sleeping here."
Cordelia, who had become as smooth-talking as Yuder before he knew it, pulled Yuder to his feet and supported him.
"Ugh, you smell like sweat."
"Heh heh, sorry."
"No, well... it's fine."
It wasn't nearly as bad as she'd expected.
Supporting Yuder, who had grown a good ten centimeters taller than her, Cordelia moved forward, and Yuder leaned against her and let his mind go blank.
Because it had been too exhausting either way.
And because he was so exhausted, Yuder failed to notice Cordelia staring intently at his profile.
'He's... handsome?'
No, more than that, something about him was cool?
He was drenched in sweat and his eyes had gone unfocused, and he was breathing roughly.
'Wh-what is this.'
Strangely, she kept wanting to look.
She kept thinking he was cool.
Her heart pounded.
"Cordel...ia?"
"Huh? Oh... yeah. Let's hurry."
Giggling awkwardly and flustered, Cordelia fixed her eyes firmly ahead, and though Yuder tilted his head once, he did not suspect anything in particular. He simply leaned against Cordelia and kept walking.
* * *
Two days later.
Yuder's party, led by Count Chase, departed Thunderdoom Fortress.
Count Hraesvelgr and Lucas came out to see the party off, and Yuder was able to face Count Hraesvelgr for the first time in two days.
"I hope it will be of help on your path."
He was speaking of the Holy King Cross Sword, which Yuder had come to learn at least in part.
Yuder answered with a smile, and Lucas stepped forward before him.
"Lord Yuder."
"Yes, Lord Lucas."
"Starting yesterday, I began receiving instruction in the Holy King Cross Sword from my father."
He had already been learning it, but the meaning was different.
He had moved beyond simply learning his family's martial art and begun training to become the formal heir.
"Congratulations."
"Yes, it may be presumptuous of me to say, but... I will definitely catch up to you."
Lucas's face flushed red.
It was from embarrassment.
Because he knew better than anyone the gap in skill between Yuder and himself.
Yuder looked into Lucas's eyes. And smiled.
"I'll look forward to it. I need a worthy rival, after all."
It was a cringeworthy thing to say, and in some ways it could even be taken as mockery, but Yuder did not think so.
Yuder was sincere as well, and there were no better words to lift Lucas's spirits.
"I will devote myself to my training."
"I'll look forward to it once again."
Yuder and Lucas shook hands, and with Count Hraesvelgr watching the two of them with satisfaction, the send-off came to an end.
And how far had they gone?
Adelia, seated beneath a tree where they had decided to rest for a while, looked at Cordelia with irritated eyes.
"What is it? What's the matter?"
"Sis, isn't that reaction a bit much?"
"That's because you're interrupting my time with Lord Gale. Do you know how hard it is to get time alone together?"
"You're together every day! What's so hard about it!"
"This girl. Don't you know that even when you're looking at someone, you still miss them? You're the same, throwing a fit to get time alone with Yuder even though you're glued to him every day."
"N-no, I'm not. That's..."
"What do you mean you're not. You little hussy, all loose and easy."
At Adelia's scolding, Cordelia was at a loss for words and clutched her chest.
No, who's the loose one here.
The truly loose one was her sister! Kissing in front of everyone!
"I'm an adult, you know."
And you're still a minor.
At Adelia's somewhat off-kilter but nonetheless factual attack, Cordelia was once again rendered speechless.
"Anyway, what's the matter?"
"I... I-I have something I'm curious about."
"About what? Like how it feels when you kiss?"
"N-no, I don't! I'm not curious about that at all!"
"Really?"
"M-maybe a little... A-anyway! What I'm curious about is something else!"
At Cordelia's red-faced protest, Adelia smiled inwardly.
Because judging by the way she talked, it seemed she still hadn't had her first kiss.
'She's still a child.'
She should have a wholesome romance.
'I'm an adult.'
Adelia, satisfied anew, shrugged her shoulders once and then asked.
"Okay, so what exactly are you curious about?"
"Well..."
"Well?"
"S-Sis, when did you know?"
"Know what?"
"That Lord Gale liked you."
At Cordelia's question, Adelia's face instantly flushed red.
"Wh-why are you asking that."
"N-no... just, you know..."
The sisters, so alike, squirmed with reddened faces, and in the end Adelia spoke first.
"Ahem, so."
"Yeah, yeah."
"Well... at some point... I just knew. The moment our eyes met. Ah... I love this person. This person loves me too... like that."
"What's that. You just felt it at some point?"
"Yeah, just at some point. That's the only way I can put it."
"Ugh... that doesn't help me at all."
No, since there was no such moment, did that mean Yuder didn't like Cordelia after all?
"Is this because of Yuder?"
"Huh? Oh... yeah."
"That's something. The way you two can't live without each other."
"I-it's not like that!"
"Make an excuse that makes sense. And... maybe it's because you two have been together for so long?"
"Huh?"
"No, I mean... it's too natural. The two of you."
"I-is that so?"
"Probably?"
Adelia shrugged, then dusted herself off and stood up.
"Anyway, I'm going to Lord Gale. You hang in there too."
Adelia, giddy just from the thought of going back to Gale, hurried away, while Cordelia blinked after her.
'How can a person change like that?'
And lately, it felt like Adelia was treating Cordelia a bit carelessly, too.
'Anyway. She looked into his eyes and felt it, right?'
Okay, eyes.
The look in his eyes.
She was confident about this.
Cordelia clenched her fist and sprang to her feet.
And five days later.
The party led by Count Chase reached Langesthei.