Chapter 75
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 75
Chapter Title: Imperial Sword (8)
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As Reinhardt's mastery of the Imperial Sword accelerated,
the incidents within the Emperor's Trial sped up in tandem.
Now that he realized this fact,
he needed to help Reinhardt complete the Imperial Sword's final stance even faster than usual.
And so, starting the very next day after subjugating the Black Ghost,
they began moving at a brisk pace.
'The Nightmare Fragment is that dangerous...'
The existence of the Nightmare,
even in fragment form, was an entity of unparalleled peril.
Thus,
following Reinhardt as he ceaselessly traveled to the next village,
they began assisting in the completion of the final stance by observing his swordplay.
Just as before, relaying to him the exact insights Reinhardt had gained in the game,
in Frontier Chronicles.
The final stance of the Imperial Sword is neither pouring mana straightforwardly nor reversing it.
"The third form isn't about pouring out mana or reversing it. It's just letting it flow."
All that was needed was to let the mana flow naturally.
From the mana flow required for the final stance,
Swinging the sword should also be natural, like a sweeping motion.
"Just swing it naturally, like sweeping it away. That's the most important part."
The manner and posture of swinging the sword as well.
Everything,
from the Emperor's Trial as it unfolded in Frontier Chronicles,
was conveyed to him in the form of advice, exactly as Reinhardt had realized it there.
And with that, it was done.
Surely, every time they went to subjugate beasts,
he had passed on all the hints he could provide, one by one.
'Thank goodness I could relay all the advice before the Nightmare Fragment appears...'
Now, all that remained was to watch Reinhardt successfully execute the Imperial Sword's final stance,
and the Emperor's Trial would conclude successfully.
Thus,
"Blow them away clean, Reinhardt."
Having conveyed all the advice to Reinhardt,
and the next day,
in the village they visited to subjugate the beasts.
There,
after patting Reinhardt's shoulder with words of encouragement,
he fully retreated to watch him unleash the final stance of the Imperial Sword.
After that,
seeing me completely fall back,
Reinhardt turned his gaze once more to the oncoming beasts and assumed the stance for the final form.
And finally,
the sword in Reinhardt's hand began to swing, tracing the perfect posture for the final stance.
(Imperial Piercing Heaven)
Imperial Piercing Heaven.
Finally, Reinhardt's Imperial Sword.
Its final stance revealed itself to the world,
golden mana... uh...?
"Huh...?"
"Eh...?"
Clearly,
the golden mana that should have emanated from Reinhardt's sword tip,
sweeping through the oncoming beasts and heralding the birth of a great emperor,
was nowhere to be seen now.
At that sight,
as both of us failed to hide our bewilderment for a moment,
{Defying Heaven}
Attack damage increased by 1000% for 1 minute.
Quickly realizing that Reinhardt had failed the Imperial Sword,
he activated Defying Heaven to turn the tide,
then kicked off the ground and leaped swiftly toward Reinhardt.
And,
Reinhardt, regaining his composure just as quickly,
raised his sword to confront the oncoming beasts.
Thus, one minute passed.
During that brief time while Defying Heaven was active,
they somehow held back the ceaselessly surging corrupted beasts.
Turning back to Reinhardt,
he resumed speaking.
"What happened? Why did it fail...?"
"I don't know."
Why had the final stance of the Imperial Sword, which seemed to be progressing smoothly, failed?
To that question seeking the reason,
Reinhardt simply replied that he didn't know.
"Maybe your posture or mana flow was off?"
Hearing that,
he wondered if perhaps the knowledge he'd heard in the game,
Reinhardt's insights from there,
had some minor discrepancy.
"No, that's not it. Whether it's the posture or the mana flow, it's all perfectly complete without any room for improvement."
Reinhardt denied it
with a voice full of conviction.
"However, it's clearly getting stuck somewhere else..."
Then, once more,
Reinhardt pointed out that the final stance was being blocked at another point.
"It gets stuck at the end. The mana doesn't flow freely as I will it."
All the postures and mana flows were precise,
but it failed simply because, at the very end, the mana wouldn't move freely.
'Is it a lack of proficiency...?'
At those words,
for a moment, he thought it might be due to insufficient proficiency with the Imperial Sword.
'No, that doesn't make sense...'
However,
the Imperial Sword was created by Reinhardt himself from the start.
He wasn't learning it from someone else,
and considering Reinhardt's talent.
Even if it were a lack of swordsmanship proficiency,
it was absurd that it would fail so completely, without even a hint of activation.
'Then what on earth is the reason...?'
Thus,
he simply couldn't fathom why Reinhardt had failed the final stance of the Imperial Sword.
'Well, it's the Emperor's Trial, after all. I thought it was going too smoothly...'
Somehow, after progressing so easily until now, hitting this wall
felt like facing a sudden spike in difficulty at the final stage of an exam.
"Let's try again tomorrow anyway."
However,
since he couldn't pinpoint the cause right now,
they decided to attempt the final stance of the Imperial Sword one more time tomorrow,
and for now, he moved with Reinhardt once again
to search for survivors in the village where the beast subjugation had ended.
The next day arrived just like that,
and when they came again to subjugate beasts,
their attempt at the Imperial Sword's final stance with Reinhardt
failed without even a glimmer of success.
The day after that,
and the one after that,
the situation remained unchanged.
'Why...'
As for using the final stance of the Imperial Sword,
the posture and mana flow
were flawless in every way.
That much was already confirmed
by Reinhardt himself.
Yet strangely,
every attempt to activate the final stance ended in failure.
'It's not even vaguely close to succeeding.'
Not even a vague hint of potential success,
a complete failure where not even mana emerged.
According to Reinhardt,
it felt like the mana was refusing to leave his body.
However,
'No matter how much I think about it, I can't figure it out...'
No matter how much he pondered,
the point where Reinhardt was stuck now,
the solution to it,
he simply couldn't grasp it.
'It didn't happen in the game either...'
Clearly, even in the game,
with the posture and mana flow,
that insight alone had allowed Reinhardt to master the final stance adeptly.
But not here.
In this trial,
a new problem had arisen that didn't exist originally.
Reinhardt, who had always flawlessly completed his sword techniques,
had hit a wall.
Thus, for quite some time,
to break through the wall Reinhardt faced,
this time they changed their approach
and tried various methods.
"Let's start from the basics again."
"From the basics, you say...?"
They calmly repeated from the basics,
from mana manipulation to the second stance of the Imperial Sword, searching for issues,
"Shall we try changing the mana manipulation in a different way?"
"Mm, sure."
Instead of letting mana flow naturally,
they tried using the final stance with other methods,
"Alright, dive in!"
"For real...? You really want me to jump in?"
"Hurry up and jump! I'll help you!"
"Wait a sec-!"
Recalling some training method he'd seen somewhere before,
he even pushed Reinhardt under a waterfall.
In the end, despite trying all those methods,
they failed to find the answer to pierce the wall at the final stance.
Thus, another ordinary morning dawned,
as he pondered yet another
new way for Reinhardt to succeed with the Imperial Sword's final stance—
Kagagagagagagak—
Suddenly,
the ground rumbled, and vibrations shook the world.
A horrific and ominous
mana, even more primal in its despair than the demon count summoned by Vice Executive Baal,
spread across the world, piercing through their entire bodies.
"This is..."
"No way..."
Feeling that horrific mana, Reinhardt and he
glanced at each other briefly.
Then turned their bodies,
and simultaneously dashed toward the source of that horrific mana.
After running toward the source for some time,
along with the intensifying density of the ominous mana,
a being shrouded head to toe in that ominous mana... a sight that instilled terror just by looking,
began to come into view.
'Nightmare...'
Nightmare Bahamut.
No,
to be precise, it was far weaker than the currently sealed Nightmare,
a fragment composed solely of the Nightmare's remnants...
Clearly... just a fragment,
yet the fear and dread it spread across the world surpassed imagination.
"Nightmare..."
"Reinhardt, focus."
At that sight,
he called out to Reinhardt, who seemed momentarily flustered, and spoke.
"Now, you have to succeed."
There were no more chances.
The time for the trial
had finally reached its end.
Now, Reinhardt absolutely had to succeed with the Imperial Sword.