Chapter 195
Chapter 195
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 195
Chapter Title: A Belated Realization
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***
Slightly ‘before’ Leonhardt confronted the Apostle Sekhmet.
—The training grounds where Anastasia and Cheon-seong were.
—!
A blue spiral current enveloped Cheon-seong's entire body like a storm, scattering a massive azure light.
As he gradually drew upon his power, pushing the spiral current to its very limit, Cheon-seong naturally began to shift his grip on the spear.
It was the moment he was about to thrust his spear with an even more intense spiral current.
Thud.
“…”
He had unknowingly stopped mid-thrust, blinking blankly.
A sudden chill washed over his entire body.
Swoosh!
Even as he watched sharp ice shards rush toward him as if seeking an opening, his body strangely refused to move.
He couldn't understand it.
Nor could he know why.
But he felt it instinctively.
That he shouldn't be doing this right now. An inexplicable dread had seized him.
Whoosh!
He saw the rushing ice shards stop in mid-air, just barely missing him.
Even looking at the ice shards that could have easily pierced his body, he felt no sense of danger.
Then the chill he felt... it wasn't a sensation from this spar at all.
"Cadet Han Cheon-seong?"
Noticing Cheon-seong's strange behavior, Anastasia asked with a puzzled expression. Cheon-seong withdrew his spear and blankly raised his head.
"…"
As he looked at Anastasia, his mouth felt like it was creaking awkwardly. The sense of stability and peace in his heart remained unchanged.
The thought that he might get hurt didn't even cross his mind.
As long as she was by his side like this, he would be safe…
‘Then what… is this terrifying sensation?’
He placed a hand on his heavily pounding chest... his brow furrowed deeply.
There was definitely something.
And he had thought it was the sense of crisis that if an Apostle was coming today, something corresponding to that would happen.
The status window wouldn't lie to me.
If so... am I overlooking something right now? Am I missing something?
Unlike before, rather than trying to face the crisis alone, he had sought Anastasia's help to ensure his safety.
But he didn't know the purpose of the Apostle's visit to the academy.
He had only vaguely felt that the Apostle's target was him.
But…
"Cadet Han Cheon-seong. What's wrong all of a sudden?"
"I apologize... I suddenly feel a different sense of unease."
"Unease? Is there something on your mind?"
Anastasia spoke calmly as she approached. And by then, the spiral current surrounding his body had vanished without a trace.
Then... his mind belatedly arrived at a single thought.
‘Status window.’
He immediately thought of the status window and looked into the air.
Ding!
*
――――
Name: Han Cheon-seong
…
*[Escape from Death!]
Two of the nine Apostles with absolute power have begun their activities. You must first survive in the face of great danger.
Unlocked Information 1: In 10 days, an Apostle's clone will visit the academy.
Unlocked Information 2: There are two Apostle clones, and their purpose for visiting the academy is to kill 'cadets who have the potential to become the future pillars' of the Empire.
Locked Information 3: Unlocked upon acquiring a skill!
…
――――
*
He belatedly checked the information in the status window that he should have checked immediately.
Having reached level 5 in his trait, his mind was so preoccupied with various thoughts that he had failed to remember the most important thing...
The path he had to take. That he should have checked the newly unlocked information…
‘What an idiot!’
While belatedly berating himself, he checked the new information and was instantly filled with horror.
The unlocked information revealed the Apostle's purpose.
—To kill the cadets who have the potential to become pillars.
As soon as he registered the content, only one person came to mind.
‘Leonhardt.’
Leonhardt was in danger right now. It couldn't be anyone else.
"...Lady Anastasia!"
As he shouted, he felt like his head would explode. He shouldn't have been training in a place like this.
Faced with a future vision of his own death, he shouldn't have been here, prioritizing only his own safety…
He should have considered that someone else might be caught up in the danger.
***
The grandest principle and ultimate concept of the Sword of the Azure Sky.
—The one sword that contains the blue sky.
When all principles reach their zenith, even the blue sky itself can be contained within the sword.
However, with his current, meager accomplishment, Leonhardt didn't wish for something as grand as containing the sky in his sword.
—!
The brilliant light of the Sword of the Azure Sky guided the way, accelerating rapidly as it cut through space.
He moved with godlike speed, reaching the Apostle in what seemed like an instant.
Recognizing the Apostle raising a hand straight in front of him, he reminded himself once more.
‘Within that softness lies a power that cannot be withstood.’
The immense power that had split the lake's surface with a single gesture.
He had to imbue his sword with the great principle contained in that image. Even if it was a principle he hadn't fully grasped, he had to manifest it.
Only then could he overcome the Apostle before him.
—!
As a resplendent blue trajectory, different from before, slowly crossed space, the aura of the Sword of the Azure Sky didn't even burst forth like it had the first time.
The immense aura he had manifested in their first exchange was no longer present in his body.
Moreover, the power that parted the lake was calm, yet it erupted with force at the very end.
The power imbued in this strike was incomparably greater than before.
Leonhardt was completely certain, and he trusted the sword he was swinging more than ever.
Sshaaa—!
A sound he'd never heard before echoed as Sekhmet's pale white hand met the sword imbued with the aura of the Sword of the Azure Sky.
Thwack!
Leonhardt's sword could clearly cut through the Apostle's hand.
It would gently slice through the pale skin and cut down everything the Apostle was.
“…”
But Leonhardt's eyes couldn't help but tremble violently.
—The sword was blocked.
The sword, which had been slicing through the Apostle's hand with the intent to cleave their entire body in two, was stopped futilely as it reached the middle of the arm.
‘…Why?’
His sword should have cut through without resistance. Even if his understanding of the principle that parted the lake wasn't perfect, the power he had imbued in the sword was absolute.
He could feel it as he swung the sword.
The subtle art that had split the lake's surface could not be blocked by any ordinary power.
It was a power that cut more fiercely, as if it existed solely to slice through anything that tried to block it.
The proof was the hand, now completely severed in two.
Blood gushed from the wound, revealing the gruesome flesh within. In the midst of this horrific sight, he belatedly tried to pull his body back, but he couldn't even do that.
"Just as I thought. Human."
The calm voice echoed, flowing blankly into his ears.
"..."
His blurry vision slowly moved past the split hand toward the Apostle's face, where he saw the Apostle looking down at him indifferently.
On the human-like face, there was no joy, no desire, no killing intent, not even a hint of warmth or emotion.
There was only an Apostle with an expression that seemed to say they had been waiting to kill him, that they had predicted everything.
"A human's life is, after all, like a moth flying into death. You only die slowly."
Amidst the faint voice, an indescribably horrific pain, as if his entire body was being seared by fire, began to surge through him.
Thwump!
With the sound of something being pulled out, he could no longer even open his mouth.
Clang!
The broken sword fell limply from his hand, clattering across the ground.
Even the pure aura of the Sword of the Azure Sky, which had always brightened his heart, no longer lingered on the blade.
"!"
In the midst of the agony that felt like everything was collapsing, he somehow managed to kick off the ground and create distance.
The Apostle watched him indifferently. Even as he saw the severed, bleeding hand grotesquely reattach and heal, he tried desperately to manifest the aura of the Sword of the Azure Sky.
‘...Not like this.’
It couldn't end like this.
Black flames crept up his fingertips, his toes, flickering in his vision as if to swallow him whole, yet he shook his head fiercely.
Within the flames engulfing his body, he tried somehow... somehow to steel his heart.
He could never give up.
But that resolve was soon buried under an even more amplified pain.
"Guaaaaaaah!!"
Thrashing against the horrific pain that seized his entire body, he wished more intensely than ever before.
For the pure aura of the Sword of the Azure Sky to push back these flames.
The one power that could protect his body... the greatest power he had always trusted and relied on…
"Guuuhhh…!!"
Unable to even stand, he writhed pathetically on the ground, feeling like he would go insane.
Not at all.
Not even a little... the aura of the Sword of the Azure Sky did not manifest.
The pure aura that had always enveloped him according to his will was nowhere to be seen.
It was as if his body had completely lost its function.
It seemed to want only to make him feel pain, to shatter his mind.
…
Sekhmet stared blankly at its hand.
It was more than it had expected. Believing it could block the attack, it had gathered more power in its hand. And yet, it had nearly failed.
"Guaaaaaaah!!"
But that was only for a moment. Taking in the sight of Leonhardt writhing in darkness with a scream, it spoke calmly.
"Thus. Humans are weak. I am rather curious, how long you can endure within the black flames that will continue to eat away at your life, and how long you can prolong your feeble existence."
Amidst Sekhmet's calm, echoing voice, Leonhardt's eyes were rapidly growing dim.
"…"
In a pain that would have already brought any other being to death, he could only struggle... trying to resist somehow.
***
To listen to someone's words and act together.
For the current Anastasia, it was a very unfamiliar feeling.
Because such instances were rare for her.
In the past, she had achieved unprecedented promotions by earning numerous merits on the battlefield, and although she currently held the rank of Major, her influence had already surpassed her rank.
She had reached a position where she could refuse almost anything she wished.
But now.
She was rushing forward at the words of a single cadet.
“…”
Glancing at Cadet Han Cheon-seong beside her, his expression completely hardened, she felt a strange emotion.
‘Did Cadet Han Cheon-seong notice even this aura?’
A strange sensation.
From a certain point, she had felt a faint sense of unease.
But to say it was an incredibly dangerous aura would be an overstatement; it was extremely subtle.
Within the academy, there were numerous instructors who possessed great power, and the nature of each person's power was different.
At first, she had naturally dismissed it as one of their auras. Keeping her senses too sharp was also a great strain.
She had deliberately ignored it.
Besides, even if it were a threat, she had judged it to be an aura that other instructors could handle sufficiently.
There was also the fact that she believed her only duty today was to protect Cadet Han Cheon-seong.
But now.
Thwip!
She could feel the urgency from Cadet Han Cheon-seong as he used a massive spiral current to move hastily.
Above all, the direction Cadet Han Cheon-seong was heading. It was the source of the unease she had felt.
Thwip!
As they entered a certain radius…
"...!"
For a moment, she felt her heart sink with a chill.
"Lady Anastasia. Right around here…!"
Before she could even register Cadet Han Cheon-seong's voice, she was instinctively 'unleashing' her power.
—!
The aura that spread out in an instant tore through the intangible, empty atmosphere, shattering it.
Kssshhhk!
From the center of the seemingly empty park, darkness erupted like an explosion, and she could feel the source of the ominous presence.
"Guuuh!"
Amidst the pained groan, she immediately manifested her power to erase the black flames.
Hsssss—!
Ice crystals formed with a slight gap, trapping the black flames and neutralizing them.
Despite that, she couldn't spare a glance for the cadet.
Recognizing the bizarre, human-shaped Apostle before her, her mind was steeped in complete indifference.
‘Execute.’
All thoughts other than killing the Apostle vanished from her mind.