Duel (3)
The sixth sense activated by Absolute Perception let me see far more than most people ever could.
The first thing it showed me was a red thread.
That thread represented my opponent’s hostility.
Hostility meant an attack.
By focusing on the red thread, I could tell in advance where an opponent’s strike would come from.
It was a power almost like precognition.
That alone would have been formidable, but the power of Absolute Perception didn’t end there.
If the red thread revealed an opponent’s hostile intent, the blue thread pointed out the opening even they themselves hadn’t noticed.
In other words, the blue thread was like a navigation system that showed me their weakness.
There were other threads in various colors as well, but those two were the only ones I’d managed to identify so far.
And now.
Countless red threads were pouring toward me from Hate’s scabbard.
I’m dead.
There was no way I could block an attack like that.
Guess I have no choice.
I could feel death breathing down my neck, but I wasn’t giving up.
Because I still had one last move.
Core.
[Core (2-star)]
A technique that forcibly ran aura berserk to draw out explosive power.
Using it alone was enough to cause severe internal damage, but its power was real.
“Hoo……”
I didn’t hesitate for long.
It wasn’t like I had any other option anyway.
I tightened my grip on my sword and let mana flow into it.
Woom.
Before long, a blue membrane rose over the blade.
Compared to Hate’s aura, it was crude and hazy, but that didn’t matter.
It was aura I was about to drive into a frenzy anyway.
“Aura?”
Hate looked briefly surprised, but that was all.
The red threads extending from his scabbard were still aiming straight for my vitals.
I could use two cores.
The more cores I used, the greater the power, but the risk climbed just as fast.
At worst, it could kill me.
If I used only one core, I’d probably get off with some minor internal injuries.
But that wasn’t enough to stop the countless red threads pouring out of Hate’s scabbard.
I’d have to use both, even if I died for it.
Thump.
My resolve was set.
Now I just had to act.
I fed one of the cores circling my heart into the crude aura.
Zzzzzzzzt!
The moment I did—
The aura convulsed violently, releasing a scream so sharp it felt like it was tearing my ears apart.
“Cough.”
At the same time, dark red blood spilled from my mouth.
Internal damage.
I’ve only put one in, and already—
Just one.
And it hurt this much.
I was already dreading the second core.
Even so, I didn’t hesitate.
Thump.
I poured the last core orbiting my heart into the aura as well.
Zzzzzzzzt!
The violently writhing aura had now completely lost its original shape.
A lump of unstable mana that looked ready to explode at any moment.
The sight made Hate’s face twist.
“You’re using cores? Have you got a death wish?”
A death wish?
Hardly.
I was doing this because I wanted to live.
Because there was somewhere I had to make it back to.
“I’m going to live,” I said, readjusting my grip on the sword.
“...Then try to stop me!”
Clack!
Hate’s sword slid free of its scabbard.
At the same time, countless red threads came crashing down on me.
Even in that chaotic blur—
One blue thread stood out clearly.
Without the slightest hesitation, I swung the unstable aura along that line.
Kwaaaang!
A blast erupted on a scale entirely beyond the explosion Derick had once shown me.
“Aaah!”
Startled by the force, Rosaline screamed.
The training grounds were swallowed in a storm of sand and dust in an instant.
“Hah, hah……”
Was it because I’d used two cores?
My body was already a wreck.
Blood was streaming from my eyes, ears, mouth, and nose.
I should have collapsed on the spot, but somehow I was still standing.
Then the dust began to clear.
The moment I saw the result—
I collapsed straight to the ground.
***
I can’t believe it.
Derick was so stunned he wondered if he had seen wrong.
That was how shocking the result of the duel was.
“This is insane!”
Derick wasn’t the only one in shock.
Princess Rosaline also seemed unable to accept what had happened.
“Hate lost? To a blind butler?”
The last person standing in the dust-cleared training grounds was Kael.
Hate lay collapsed far off to the side, and Kael followed shortly after.
But the one who had remained standing until the very end was undeniably Kael.
“Looks like we have a winner, Your Highness,” Derick said.
“I can’t accept this…… I can’t accept something like this.”
“Hate was the first to fall. By the rules of the duel, that makes Kael the victor.”
“......”
Rosaline bit her lip.
She seemed thoroughly frustrated.
Without another word, she turned on her heel.
“Take Hate to the Temple.”
After issuing the curt order to her attendants, she left the training grounds.
“Phew.”
Derick watched the princess go all the way before finally letting out a relieved breath.
If she had refused to accept the outcome and thrown her weight around, there would have been nothing a mere knight like him could do to stop her.
“I feel ten years older.”
Dealing with royalty was never easy, even for someone who had spent decades living as a knight.
“This isn’t the time for that. I’d better hurry.”
Derick rushed straight to Kael.
He had won the duel, but after using Core, there was no way his body was unharmed.
“Ghk.”
As expected, Kael was in bad shape.
Blood was pouring nonstop from his eyes, nose, and mouth, and the mana inside him was rampaging like a mad beast from the aftereffects of Core.
At this rate, it was only a matter of time before he died.
“Stay with me, Kael.”
Derick immediately sent out his own mana, trying to calm Kael’s berserk power.
But suppressing that wildly raging mana was no easy task.
“Damn it…… this won’t do.”
Realizing he couldn’t stop the rampage with his own strength alone, Derick made a split-second decision and hoisted Kael onto his back without the slightest hesitation.
“Hold on until we reach the Temple. You are not allowed to die.”
With Kael on his back, Derick kicked off from the training grounds and ran.
Thud!
It was a speed almost impossible to believe for a man wearing heavy armor.
Don’t die.
Clenching his teeth, Derick sprinted toward the Temple.
***
I dreamed.
It was a dream with Medeia in it.
For some reason, though, she was crying.
I wanted to ask her why, but no voice came out.
All I could do inside the dream was watch Medeia cry.
This is frustrating.
Even if it was only a dream, watching her cry didn’t feel good at all.
When am I waking up?
I wanted to get out of this nightmare as soon as possible.
When I did wake up, I wanted to ask her myself.
Why she was crying.
To stop crying.
That I’d make sure she never had to cry again.
I wanted to say all that, but in the end, my voice never came.
How long had it been like that?
In the space that held only Medeia and me, a single ray of light came down.
The moment I was bathed in it, my heart felt strangely calm.
A warm sensation, as though every wound in the world were being healed.
With that feeling still lingering, I opened my eyes.
“Gah!”
Waking up, I looked around.
Religious objects were arranged all around me.
The smell of medicinal herbs brushed my nose.
A faint prayer reached my ears.
The Temple.
“I made it?”
When I used two cores, I’d honestly thought I was going to die.
And yet here I was.
Just as relief washed over me at the fact that I was alive—
“Mm…… Kael.”
Medeia’s voice came from beside me.
“Wah!”
Startled, I threw off the blanket and sat up.
There she was, Medeia, asleep with her head resting on the edge of the bed.
“Kael, don’t die……”
“......”
She was deeply asleep, still slumped against the bed.
Considering how uncomfortable that position was, she must have been exhausted.
Had she really been keeping watch over me all night?
Only then did I look around properly.
There was no one else in the room besides Medeia and me.
Just then—
“Mm……”
Medeia slowly opened her eyes.
She stared blankly at me for a moment, and then her eyes widened.
“Kael?”
“Good morning, my lady.”
Medeia said nothing, only looked at me.
Those dazed eyes fixed on me for a long moment before they began to tremble faintly.
“You’re alive……”
The words came out in a shaking voice.
“You were alive……”
The next moment—
Thump!
Medeia suddenly lunged at me and wrapped her arms around me.
“M-My lady?”
So caught off guard that I froze in place.
Medeia said nothing.
She just held me tight.
I could feel her shoulders trembling in my arms.
“Do you have any idea…… how worried I was?”
As if the emotions she’d been holding back had finally burst open, Medeia’s voice was thick with tears.
“I thought you’d never wake up again.”
She tightened her hold on me.
As though if she let go even a little, I might disappear again.
“I’m so glad…… so glad……”
Her quivering voice rang softly against my ear.
I hesitated for a moment, then slowly patted her back.
Until she calmed down.