Chapter 291
Chapter 291
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 291
Chapter Title: An Unbreakable Heart (3)
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***
"......"
It was a strength of heart I couldn't even hope to imitate.
He had lost his trait in such a tragic accident. In our first spar, it was Leonhardt who had held the clear advantage.
And now, in our second spar, a completely different outcome must be painfully clear to him.
He's struggling, and there's no way to bridge the gap left by his lost trait.
The vast, unclosable chasm between us must be weighing heavily on his heart…
“So, from now on… I’ll make you my goal. Just as you did when you entered the academy, I too will look forward with my will… with my effort.”
As Leonhardt continued to speak,
"......"
I faced him, my mind completely blank.
I could feel the resolve, the determination, in his eyes.
Right now, he was saying this with all his heart.
—That he would make me his goal.
"......"
My hand, gripping the spear, was trembling faintly before I even realized it.
After hearing his words, without me even being conscious of it... it felt as if my own emotions were suddenly twisting violently.
“Ha…”
An empty laugh escaped my lips.
A strange emotion, one I couldn't quite voice, filled my chest completely.
It was time to end this.
If I leaped forward and thrust my spear again, the end would be in sight. I had decided to finish this spar, and I could even picture exactly how it would end.
Moreover, I could now see the look of a man who had hardened his resolve.
“……”
Having finished his words, Leonhardt pressed his lips together firmly, his fighting spirit blazing as he stared me down. As if he intended to face me with all his might, regardless of the coming result. He held his sword aloft, its blade a powerfully surging blue wave, preparing for my assault.
*Grit...* I bit my lip again, but I couldn't bring myself to push off the ground.
My heart felt heavy and stifled.
Even as I tightened my grip on the spear, my mind felt like it was turning completely white.
"...Ah."
Then, just as my vision seemed to waver,
The past suddenly flashed before my eyes like a mirage.
—The Nine Apostles who had attacked.
It had been a massive incident targeting me, and its repercussions had been far too great.
At the time, I was able to prepare because my status window had warned me of the crisis.
I asked for help from Anastasia, who had come to the academy as if by fate, and with her aid, I was finally able to awaken a skill and overcome the truly desperate situation.
Yes, I had been able to overcome it.
That was why, right now, I had survived without losing the power of my spearmanship.
‘But…’
The man standing before me, holding a sword, had not.
For him, that incident had been the most unfortunate of accidents, an irresistible crisis he couldn't possibly overcome.
Even I, who had awakened a skill at the very end, couldn't have defeated even a clone of the Nine Apostles alone.
How could he possibly have accepted a crisis of that magnitude...?
“…Han Cheon-seong.”
I nodded blankly at the cold voice that called my name.
“Yeah…”
When I finally spoke, my voice felt like it was cracking.
An incomprehensible reality. Facing his unwavering eyes, a sense of guilt welled up inside me.
“I don’t want to be pitied, especially not by you. So raise your spear, Han Cheon-seong.”
At his utterly cold tone, my gaze drifted blankly to the hand gripping my spear.
“...”
The immense mana I had imbued into the spearhead had already dissipated, and the tip of the spear was now pointing toward the ground.
I didn't even know when I had lowered my spear.
My emotions were in turmoil, and my vision kept blurring.
I just... couldn't understand any of it.
“……”
As Leonhardt came into my hazy view, another image suddenly overlapped with his.
The image of him engulfed in flames, groaning in endless agony.
The image of him in that moment when his spirit was completely broken.
It all overlapped with a terrifying sense of reality.
But that, too, was fleeting.
"..."
The horrific illusion shattered and vanished.
In its place, I saw him, his will fully restored, unleashing his power and gazing at me.
*Grip!*
…I raised my spear again, gripping it tightly.
‘I have to end this spar properly.’
I forced myself to collect my thoughts and correct my mindset.
What’s done is done; nothing can change the past. There was nothing I could do for Leonhardt, who had suffered a terrible accident after being caught up in the apostles' plot against me.
—What I must do.
—What I can do.
I simply steeled my resolve for what I was capable of.
I knew that feeling sorry for Leonhardt wasn't the answer.
That was why I had tried to take his place, bringing the crisis upon myself.
“...”
With a short breath, I was finally able to kick off the ground.
—!
*Chwarararak!*
In an instant, a spiral aura erupted from the spearhead and enveloped my body.
“...!”
My field of vision expanded rapidly, the spear’s range dominating the area as if it were my domain.
—Super Speed.
The same overwhelming speed I had displayed during my spar with Glacia unfolded once more, and my body reached Leonhardt with explosive velocity.
“...”
Leonhardt's cold, sunken eyes pierced through me.
Amazingly, it was as if he had anticipated my speed.
That was why I could see his sword, imbued with a blue wave, tracking my spear.
Acknowledging this, I, too, did not hesitate to thrust my spear.
—!
I drove my spear, wreathed in a spiral aura, straight forward, clashing with his sword, which was engulfed in a blue wave.
***
The beginning of the spar, the middle, and now, as the end approached.
Leonhardt was facing reality head-on.
*Chwarararak…!*
A brilliant, raging spiral aura.
And within it, the spearhead surging toward him was clearly visible in a moment of time that seemed to have stopped.
Even in this seemingly frozen time, the advancing spearhead was menacing and overwhelmingly powerful.
Even with the full power of the blue-wave mana he had poured into his sword.
‘I can’t completely…’
He felt it instinctively—he wouldn't be able to receive it fully.
—I can’t reach him.
And that his sword, as it was now, could not reach Han Cheon-seong.
Now that he, having lost the Sword of the Azure Sky, was barely managing to replicate its power, he knew full well there was no way his sword could reach his opponent’s spear, which had grown even stronger.
And because he had anticipated this reality, he felt no great surprise or disappointment.
Instead, calmly…
He could accept it.
‘He’s strong, as expected.’
Han Cheon-seong had become absurdly strong.
His growth was so overwhelming that no other student could possibly keep up.
"..."
Now that the gap between them had widened so drastically, a small smile unknowingly graced his lips.
Perhaps that was why he couldn't understand the strange reaction his opponent had shown just a moment ago.
The words he had spoken.
They were a sincere compliment and admiration. They were never meant to offend or mock him.
Yet he couldn't understand why Han Cheon-seong had looked at him with such clouded, sorrowful eyes.
However, he could feel the pity and sympathy contained within that gaze.
...But even that didn't matter anymore.
In the end, his opponent had come at him with such a straightforward thrust of the spear.
It was the cleanest, most powerful strike he could have hoped for, which was why he could purely admire the level his opponent had reached.
The power he had once considered slightly superior in their first spar was no longer on par with his own.
It was completely above him.
*Sreureuk…!*
Facing the approaching spearhead in the frozen passage of time, he twisted the angle of his sword.
*Saaaa—!*
He steeled his heart, aware that the brilliant spiral aura was raging, trying to distort the blue wave manifested on his sword.
‘I will never break…’
After much thought, he had realized why Han Cheon-seong had been able to grow so much.
He had faced his spars with an unimaginable amount of effort for someone with a common trait, with an absolute will and an unbreakable spirit.
It wasn't because he had been given something special or because his environment allowed for it.
An absolute will.
‘It comes from an even stronger heart…’
And right now, he possessed that same fighting spirit.
*Chichichik…!*
With a fierce shriek, the blue wave clashing with the spearhead strongly resisted the spiral aura.
Trusting in his own power, which hadn't crumbled in an instant, he met the attack even more intensely.
*Jureureuk..!*
Though his feet, planted on the ground, were continuously pushed back and strained, his heart remained unwavering.
The incredibly slow-flowing time soon shattered, returning to reality, yet the spear's movements remained clear to his eyes.
*Poong!*
Even as the exploding spiral aura raged more fiercely, he endured it with grit.
…!
At the same time, the moment the spear’s trajectory grazed past his sword and dipped downward.
*Hwik!*
The spearhead immediately shot upward in a scooping motion.
With that one move, he realized what Han Cheon-seong was aiming for.
‘…He’s trying to make me drop my sword.’
The moment he realized it, he could only put more strength into the hand gripping his sword.
“……!”
He could not admit defeat by letting go of his weapon.
This spar had to have a proper conclusion.
Even if the tip of his sword were to break against that spearhead.
He could not give up by letting his spirit break first.
He had not risen from despair just to be defeated so easily.
He had to pour out everything he had and be completely shattered.
—