The Sword's Whisper
Vincent drew his blade with a soft shing. The silver edge gleamed with a cold, razor-sharp light. Holding the sword in one hand, he crooked a finger at Adel. “Adel, come at me whenever you’re ready.”
Adel gave a small nod and settled into his stance. It was flawless, without a single opening. Hmm? Something feels off. But to Vincent’s eyes, something seemed strange. Well, I’ll figure it out later. It wasn’t something he could pinpoint exactly, so he let it slide.
Whoosh! Adel, now fully prepared, amplified his flames and charged at Vincent. He swung a fist wreathed in fire. Boom! Adel’s punch was blocked by Vincent’s sword. The heat carried in the fist died against the blade, and the force was absorbed into it.
Something’s weird. What is it? The same sense of unease Vincent had felt earlier still lingered. Adel’s punches felt slightly unstable, somehow. Should I keep sparring a bit longer? He’d find out if they continued. That was how Vincent saw it.
When Adel took a step back to reset his stance, Vincent moved in this time. I’m curious about his talent, too. The “greatest talent in the academy” that Darren spoke of couldn’t be just about raw skill. If I take the lead in the fight, maybe I’ll get a better look at it.
Swoosh. Vincent closed the distance and brought his sword down in a simple vertical slash. There was no special technique behind it—just a straightforward cut. Crash! Adel quickly wrapped both hands in flames and blocked the blade. Because Vincent had controlled his strength, Adel didn’t collapse from the single strike.
Let’s try something else. After that, Vincent began to unleash a barrage of unpredictable strikes. Sometimes fast, sometimes slow. Heavy, light, fluid. Occasionally he added spins, and sometimes he even kicked instead of swinging his sword.
Clang! “You’re blocking well, huh?” This time it wasn’t a mana blade, but a strike packed with condensed mana. Adel condensed his own mana and blocked that too. He raised his fist. Is he copying me?
Adel had once tried to mimic the subtle principles behind Vincent’s sword. He hadn’t succeeded completely. If he actually pulled it off, that would be even more of a problem. If someone could watch a technique once or twice and replicate it perfectly, the demon race would never have dared to challenge this world.
Humm. Adel’s fist came in slowly, but with crushing weight. He’s an interesting guy. Even if imperfect, it carried a faint trace of the same principle. Boom! Adel’s heavy punch was stopped by Vincent’s soft, flowing blade.
“Got anything more?” Vincent provoked him lightly, suspecting he was holding back even more weapons. Adel stared at him for a moment, then drew up every ounce of flame in his body.
Fwoosh. The mana in the surroundings gathered at a single point and condensed. He thrust out a fist glowing with the light of a crimson sunset. But the strike never reached Vincent. It stopped short, before even touching the sword.
Ah. Seeing that, Vincent finally understood what had been bothering him all this time. He’s a swordsman.
Adel wasn’t a swordsman. Yet the distance between the fist he’d just thrown and the sword was left with a certain gap. If a real swordsman had thrust his blade, it would have been exactly the reach needed to connect. All this time, Adel had been sparring with movements that mimicked a swordsman’s.
So that’s why the fist never landed. In a way, it made perfect sense. The movements Adel had referenced the most were those of Cain and Darren. It was only natural that his style would resemble a swordsman’s.
I want to show this to Master. If he learned there was someone even more bizarre than Vincent, maybe his opinion of him would change a little. If the chance comes up. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to bring him along sometime.
Shall we wrap this up? He’d resolved his doubts and seen both the talent and potential in how Adel copied him. There was no need to drag the spar out any longer.
Whoosh! Vincent burst forward from his position, slashing his sword toward Adel’s throat. He expected Adel to be unable to react, the blade pressing against his neck. “......?”
Whoosh! But Adel not only reacted—he counterattacked. Just before Vincent’s sword reached his throat and Adel’s fist struck Vincent’s abdomen, Allen stepped in.
“Stop.” Allen’s hand was gripping both Vincent’s sword and Adel’s fist. He had intervened right at the moment when both were about to land their blows.
“The winner is—” Vincent had naturally assumed it would be himself. What should I ask for? As Vincent daydreamed like someone who had already won, Allen spoke.
“Adel.”
“Huh?”
“What?” Adel, too, trailed off in confusion.
“Why?” Vincent asked Allen again. It wasn’t that he couldn’t accept it—he simply wanted an explanation.
Allen let out a sigh as if he’d expected this and explained. “Haa, it’s simple. Adel’s fist reached your abdomen 0.01 seconds earlier.”
Allen looked at Vincent with eyes that seemed to ask if he still didn’t understand. “I hit first.” “Adel hit first.” “I did.” “Adel did.” “......”
Watching the two bicker, Adel thought, They must be pretty close. Allen seemed to be half forcing the outcome, yet Vincent didn’t really argue. And they weren’t fighting with any real hostility. The two were clearly old comrades-in-arms and close friends who had spent a long time together.
Step. Vincent, defeated in the verbal battle, trudged over looking utterly drained. “Sigh, what can you do? The loser has to accept it. What favor do you want?”
I answered without thinking too deeply. “Let me meet your master.”
“My master?” Vincent blinked, clearly never having imagined such a request. There was even a hint of pleasant surprise in his expression. “Well, I don’t mind. But why?”
I hadn’t thought about it much, but… He seemed like an incredible person. From the rumors I’d heard, his master was said to be on the same level as the head of the Helen family. Meeting someone like that would surely be a stroke of fortune. That was the reason that had just occurred to me.
“What reason does someone need to want to meet a great person?” Since he was so impressive, saying I respected him wouldn’t sound strange at all.
“Yeah, it’s not that difficult. I’ll let you know when the chance comes.” After saying that, Vincent grabbed my shoulder and turned me around. “Look over there.”
Where he turned me, there were far more spectators than I’d expected. Every one of them had been watching the spar between Adel and Vincent.
“I’m pretty famous, you know. But if word spreads that a mere student like you beat me, no one will dare mess with you.” Vincent didn’t seem ashamed of his loss at all. Even if he got angry, I’d have nothing to say. Far from being angry, he looked completely unbothered.
“Oh, right.” “Adel, I have something to say.” Allen, who had approached at some point, spoke to Adel alongside Vincent.
“Adel.” Both of them opened their mouths at the same time.
“How about trying to use a sword?” “What do you think about becoming a swordsman?”
They were nearly identical questions. A sword? Why were they telling someone who had never used a sword before to try one?
“......What’s the reason?” Adel asked Vincent. Since they had just sparred, he figured Vincent would know better.
“Adel, you’re fighting using your whole body. That’s not the problem. But your fists are moving with the reach and timing of a swordsman in mind. I think you’d be good with a sword. Don’t you agree?” Vincent said, then glanced at Allen.
“Indeed. I share the same thought. Adel, have you considered learning the sword?”
“......” I couldn’t give a definite answer. A sword, huh. A weapon I had never handled before. Even after coming to this world, I had never considered picking one up. I didn’t even know how to swing it properly, so the idea of “why bother” had been strong.
“I’ll think about it.” I didn’t say no. I didn’t say I would absolutely never use one. You never know what life will bring, and it was possible that learning the sword could be the path to becoming even stronger.
After hearing Adel’s answer, both Vincent and Allen nodded as if that was enough.
“That’s good enough. I’ll be going first.” Allen spoke curtly and headed for the exit of the training ground. Who did he remind me of… I felt like I had seen that behavior and tone recently. As Adel was thinking that, Vincent asked with a strange smile.
“Adel, are you going to the Demon Realm tomorrow?”
“Yeah.”
“Hmm, really? I’ll head out first too. See you tomorrow.” He walked toward Allen with an unreadable expression. The two of them chatted about something, but I couldn’t hear it. What could it be? I wasn’t uneasy, but I couldn’t feel completely at ease either. See you tomorrow? It wasn’t a strange thing to say, but coming from Vincent it somehow felt off. I’ll find out tomorrow. I decided not to think about it any further.
Adel watched the two of them leave the training ground, then turned his gaze away. The spectators had already left, and deeper inside the training ground, other people were still training. How much is that worth? To Adel’s eyes, those people looked like side dishes. Time to grow.
The way they used mana, the way they used their bodies, the subtle principles behind their techniques. For now, he took in everything with his eyes. He would sort out what he couldn’t digest later.
“......” Adel didn’t leave the training ground until dawn the next day.