Chapter 233
Chapter 233
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 233
Chapter Title: 68. The Return of the Legend (1)
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Hestia couldn't even tell when the crown prince had swung his sword.
One moment, her vision flashed blindingly bright, and she instinctively squeezed her eyes shut. The next, she heard a thunderous boom.
Her ears rang deafeningly.
Riiiing.
A nauseating tinnitus filled her head.
Her sense of balance vanished entirely, leaving her dizzy.
It felt like every drop of blood had drained from her body, as if she might collapse at any second.
Her initial resolve—to watch the crown prince's fight clearly and judge the potential and future of the Leonberger Kingdom with cold objectivity—had long since evaporated.
She didn't dare open her eyes, which she'd squeezed shut in terror.
Even with them closed, the crown prince's presence burned vividly in her mind. The overwhelming force embedded in his otherworldly phenomena pressed unfiltered against her skin.
She was utterly terrified, trembling uncontrollably, able to do nothing else.
This wasn't the knightly duel she'd imagined.
The grand spectacle of swords clashing boldly, weaving beautiful trails of light through the air—it was nothing but a figment of fantasy.
This was far more brutal, several times more horrific.
If she had to put it into words, it was akin to monstrous rampage.
A battle beyond the perception of ordinary humans, one they couldn't even dream of witnessing with open eyes.
The raging winds tore at her fragile body. Formless auras battered and shook her delicate soul indiscriminately.
She couldn't even tell if her feet were on the ground or floating in the air.
Her consciousness began to fade.
Her body, pushed beyond endurance, started to crumble.
Suddenly.
A firm hand gripped her shoulder.
At that instant, the monstrous presences that had been shaking her body and soul faded away like a lie.
Uncle...?
Hestia cautiously cracked her eyes open.
Ah...
Her eyes widened in surprise.
She'd assumed it was her uncle, but instead, she faced someone she never expected.
A beauty who seemed otherworldly gripped a longsword in one hand, the hem of her torn dress roughly tied, staring right at her.
Was there such a stunning woman among the princesses? Why hadn't she noticed her yesterday? Could she be one of those elves she'd only heard about? Her thoughts raced, but her mind refused to work properly.
"Wh-who... are you...?"
After agonizing deliberation, the words she managed sounded ridiculous even to her own ears—slurred and muffled, like mumbling underwater.
Fortunately, the woman didn't mock her dazed voice.
She simply moved her lips with a concerned expression.
"...! ......!"
The tinnitus drowned out the woman's voice.
Hestia furrowed her brow.
It felt like watching a silent play, devoid of reality. The woman's ethereal beauty only amplified that unreality.
The woman frowned.
Even that gesture was so perfectly sculpted that Hestia lost herself in awe.
"...!"
The woman shouted something and tightened her grip on Hestia's shoulder.
Whoosh.
Heat rose from where the woman's hand touched her shoulder.
The faint warmth ignited like wildfire in an instant.
Then, at some point, it grew unbearably hot.
Staying like that would burn her alive.
Hestia couldn't hold back and screamed.
"Aaaah!"
Heat escaped through her open mouth. The searing pain that had felt like her whole body was aflame vanished like a lie.
In that moment, sound returned to a world filled only with tinnitus. Her lost sense of reality came rushing back.
Boom! Boom!
Explosions relentlessly assaulted her eardrums.
"Are you alright?!"
A clear voice pierced the deafening noise.
"The situation was urgent, so I used a rather forceful method! Please forgive me!"
Hestia stared wide-eyed at the woman.
Her hazy consciousness, like wandering through a nightmare, had returned to normal. Even her fractured sense of reality was now intact.
Yet the woman's appearance still felt unreal.
Hestia, who had been gazing at her intently, widened her eyes further.
The Quad Knight of Leonberger who had defeated the Quad Knight of the Rose Thorn Knight Order.
The crown prince's knight, whom she'd found herself cheering for amid rough men, standing tall and proud.
Though now dressed in a gown with light makeup—different from before—the strength and poise that had impressed her remained unchanged.
Arwen Kirguyen, was it?
Recalling her name late, Hestia opened her mouth to offer thanks.
"Battles between knights who have reached profound realms can sometimes harm the viewer's mind and spirit just by watching. Please take care."
But Arwen Kirguyen's warning came before her gratitude.
"Then, if you'll excuse me."
The knight glanced behind her, then turned away without giving Hestia a chance to respond.
"Ah..."
Hestia let out an inexplicable sigh, watching her retreating figure, then suddenly turned her head.
Duke Seymour was there.
His face was rigid with tension, pale as a ghost.
Hestia's once-soft expression hardened coldly.
"What in the world were you doing? With so many Teuton knights around, must I rely on a knight from another kingdom?"
"I apologize."
His soulless response made Hestia frown.
How could this man, hailed as the greatest knight of the West and Teuton's strongest, be so feeble?
His weakness stood in stark contrast to Arwen Kirguyen's steadfastness, and Hestia unwittingly clicked her tongue.
"I'll escort you."
Duke Seymour belatedly stepped in front of her.
Beyond his shoulder, a flash of light erupted.
Even glimpsing it briefly made her heart pound.
Fearing her mind might cloud again, Hestia quickly looked away, avoiding the light.
She also ignored the ceaseless explosions.
Instead of watching the crown prince and black knight's battle, her eyes followed Arwen Kirguyen.
They burned with longing, admiration—or something else she couldn't name.
Leonberger's lady knight, oblivious to her gaze, focused entirely on her lord's fight.
Thud.
Suddenly, the knight stomped the ground with a heavy thud.
That was the beginning.
Thud.
Hestia whipped her head toward the sound nearby.
The knights who had introduced themselves as members of the Iron Lion Knight Order were stomping rhythmically.
Clang.
This time, a heavier metallic clang echoed from farther away.
It was the Royal Knights.
They were slamming massive iron shields into the floor.
Thud, thud, thud.
Knight of the Leonberger Kingdom stomped from all directions, pounding shields.
Hestia couldn't grasp the meaning of it.
But one thing was clear: once they began, the air around them started to boil.
The banquet hall's air, which had been shrieking like screams under slashing strikes, now churned violently.
And at its center stood the crown prince of the Leonberger Kingdom.
**
It didn't take long after the battle began to realize it instinctively.
The gap between four rings and five wasn't just one extra ring.
"Guh."
I learned that the hard way, vomiting blood.
I stared blankly at the blood staining my chest.
I'd clearly dissipated the ring's waves that invaded when our swords clashed, yet when I came to, my entire body was infested with them.
How the hell...
[It seems the light on your sword is too faint to wake me from my slumber.]
As I stepped back, lost in thought, the black knight addressed me.
[It's not too late yet. Hand them over to me, and you'll greet tomorrow just like yesterday.]
As if the fight were already decided.
Instead of answering, I wiped the blood from my mouth.
I regripped my sword and steadied my breath.
"Hoo."
The mana disrupted by the ring's waves restored itself in an instant.
The unstable aura blade shone brilliantly once more, as if nothing had happened.
The black knight lowered his greatsword and eyed me.
I took a shorter breath at the sight.
Then kicked off the ground.
And unleashed a barrage of slashes like a madman.
He swung his greatsword in response, blocking mine.
Boom, boom.
Each clash sheared off chunks of the sword-light at dusk's edge. The ring's waves surged along the blade unrelentingly.
But instead of retreating, I re-energized the severed sword-light with mana, dissipating the waves, and pressed the assault.
Then, once more, I retched up blood.
[I had high hopes, but your frailty only disappoints.]
The black knight sighed at me.
Ignoring him, I settled my churning insides and raised my sword again.
[You don't know when to retreat—mere bravado of a fool. You can't think—ignorance of the common rabble. You're just a bit fiercer than the rest.]
I charged despite his blatant mockery.
Vomiting blood several more times.
[I can't fathom why you'd continue this pointless duel.]
Suddenly, the black knight swung his greatsword ferociously.
I gripped dusk with both hands to block.
The force within was so overwhelming I was helplessly pushed back.
Skreeee.
I drove my sword into the ground and barely halted.
Straightening up, I spat blood.
[Withdraw. Before that feeble heart of yours shatters beyond holding mana.]
The black knight glared, greatsword lowered.
[This is my final mercy to you...]
The smug knight abruptly shut up.
[...Why are you smiling?]
I touched my lips at his words.
He was right.
I was smiling.
Grinning ear to ear.
[What's so funny...?]
"I'm thrilled."
I regripped my sword.
"Knowing there's a realm in this world I haven't experienced yet—it's unbearably exhilarating."
Mana surged from my heart, racing through my body to the sword tip.
"And that someone who attained it stands before me—it's thrilling to the bone."
Mana clung to the blade.
Whoosh!
The mana became an aura blade.
Roar!
The aura blade ignited into roaring flames.
"And thinking that such a one will soon crumple before me—it's pure joy I can hardly bear."
[Have you forgotten your own plight?]
The black knight sneered openly.
His helmet clanked as he jerked his chin at me.
Come on, then.
I lowered dusk and advanced.
He crouched, building momentum.
I just kept walking.
Then stopped precisely at a set distance.
"From here, right?"
I extended my hand. Alien energy crept along my fingers.
"I dissipated the waves that invaded with your strikes. But my mana's flow keeps breaking—couldn't figure why."
Waves so subtle, imperceptible without focus.
"Now I know. It's nothing."
I clenched my fist.
Crack.
The invading energy crumbled in my grasp.
"Pathetic, really. Five rings woven, and your domain's just ten paces wide."
[Talking like you've uncovered some grand secret.]
The black knight dismissed it—knowing now changes nothing.
He was right.
The fight would unfold within those ten paces, his domain.
So I decided to dismantle that pathetic domain first.
I stepped into it.
Thud!
A timely footfall joined me.
Thud!
Metal slamming the floor followed.
Thud! Thud!
Starting with one, it swelled to dozens, hundreds—heavy reverberations.
The exact sound from my bout with the high elf.
My knights urging me onward again.
The footfalls pushed my back; the metal clangs led the way.
I stepped forward.
Now two paces.
A colossal energy rose like a fortress wall around the black knight.
Immense pressure bore down.
Waves far fiercer than before invaded my body.
[The era of Mana Hearts is over.]
The black knight prattled pityingly.
I stepped forward anyway.
Now three paces.
He surged his energy more savagely.
As if refusing further approach.
Right then,
Thud.
An especially weighty footfall pierced my ears.
I knew whose without looking.
Its feral aura mirrored the Iron Lions'.
York Willoden, their leader. It had to be him.
That sparked it.
Heavy, majestic, sharp auras erupted everywhere.
The Royal Knight Order captain, the old knight from the central front, nameless silver lions.
The kingdom's hidden masters, who had watched, now stomped or clanged armor, lending me strength.
Arwen was among them.
Hummmm.
The resonance of their mana overlaid my heart.
An unprecedented fullness swelled within.
In that ecstatic sensation, I couldn't help but laugh.
Five rings crushing me; five silver lions uplifting me.
The coincidence felt too perfect.
Step.
I advanced without hesitation.
Finally reaching arm's reach.
The black knight looked down at me. I looked up at him.
We stared for a long moment, then swung our swords simultaneously.