Chapter 352
Chapter 352
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 352
Chapter Title: The Swordsman's Conviction (4)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
‘Is that the technique of a swordsman who just turned twenty?’
Kuan was deeply impressed by Rai's swordsmanship.
It was not just precise, but exquisite. If the Ogent family was a tale of two bloodlines, this era undoubtedly belonged to the black-haired.
“Hah! Hah!”
Rian gasped for air, his trembling arms struggling to support his greatsword. It was the first time the greatsword he’d swung for a year, pausing only to eat, had felt so heavy.
‘Lift it. Lift it.’
Rai's eyes twitched. The greatsword he was pressing down with his black blade was slowly rising.
‘He still has strength left?’
The shockwave from the Blade Vibration had landed true; he shouldn't have been able to muster any strength.
He tried pressing down with more weight, but an immense force that defied any thought of blocking pushed him back.
A sense of foreboding washed over Rai, and he pulled his sword back, creating distance.
At the same moment, Rian swung his sword as he rose to his feet. He tore off his tattered shirt, revealing taut, bulging muscles.
Rai instantly recognized Rian’s defining trait.
‘His regenerative ability is incredible.’
To elevate Divine Transcendence to a state of technical mastery required an asceticism beyond ordinary comprehension. He could only imagine the grueling training Rian must have endured to heighten that feedback.
“I'll admit you've given it your all. But I'm the one who will lead this family.”
Using Exogravity, Rai circled around to Rian's side. He then swung his black blade, aiming for Rian's defenseless right arm.
Normally, he should have assumed a defensive stance.
But instead, Rian opened up his ribcage and raised his greatsword vertically.
‘What?’
In that split second, Rai’s thoughts raced.
Sacrifice the flesh to take the bone? Or is the best defense a good offense?
Neither made any sense. A greatsword’s movement was inevitably slower than a rapier’s.
Just then, Rian’s greatsword left an afterimage as it dropped toward the space between Rai's eyes. It was a bizarre acceleration of the blade that defied common sense.
Rai threw his body back and generated a Muscle Vibration. His body slid along the path of Exogravity, tracing a semicircle to escape its range.
But Rian’s greatsword was already closing in, its passing making the air hum.
‘Damn it! What is this?’
Rai, having dodged by a hair's breadth, felt a chill run down his spine. His head had nearly been lopped off.
Watching the battle, Reina stomped her feet in frustration.
The more their emotions clashed, the more lethal their strikes became. If this continued, one of the brothers might not survive the day.
“This is bad! We have to stop the duel.”
“We can’t. That’s not what Rian or Rai would want.”
Reina turned to Tess, her expression tinged with resentment.
“Tess, I know you want to protect Rian, but this is too much. Those two are fighting to kill. You should have stopped him from the beginning.”
“He isn’t fighting because he hates Rai.”
Tess remembered it vividly. The day she had brought a late-night snack to Rian’s room at the sword academy, and the terrible groans she’d heard seeping through the door.
“Rian pushed past his limits in training every single day. And at night, the pain nearly kills him. He bites down on a cloth to endure the feeling of his entire body shattering, staying awake all night long.”
Reina was speechless, faced with Tess, who looked as if she might burst into tears at any moment.
Though they were family, she could not know the pain Rian had endured. The only ones who could understand him were those who had chosen the same path of the sword.
Rai's kick struck Rian in the solar plexus. Rian was lifted into the air and rolled across the ground before catching himself on one knee. The blow to the vital spot was enough to make him pass out.
The cold composure had vanished from Rai’s face.
He could feel Rian’s defense growing stronger as time went on. It was because he himself was getting swept up in his emotions. He hated it.
“You fool! Why can't you see you're no match for me! There's a limit to stubbornness!”
Rian slowly rose to his feet. He then aimed his sword at Rai in the exact same stance as before he fell.
“Come on.”
“You little…!”
A murderous glint appeared in Rai’s wide eyes. The ominous aura radiating from his body reached even those standing at the edge of the training grounds.
Rai’s movements, now at full power, were like watching a ghost. His swordsmanship was fast and precise, and as the number of cuts on Rian’s body increased, his movements began to slow.
The difference in skill was clear. There was a gap in talent that no amount of effort could bridge. But the more apparent that gap became, the angrier Rai grew.
He couldn't believe his family would pin their hopes on such a pathetic fool. Rian had no future. Swordsmanship without technique to back it up was just a display of brute strength.
“You mindless fool!”
With an exquisite technique, he deflected the greatsword and delivered a roundhouse kick, causing Rian's head to whip around like a top.
For a moment, it seemed his neck had broken. His body followed the rotation of his head, lifting off the ground before crashing down with a thud.
Rai heaved ragged breaths as he glared down at Rian. Even sprawled on the ground, he looked pathetic. A direct hit to the jaw like that would likely keep him unconscious until tomorrow.
“Heh heh.”
Then, Rian’s lungs hitched. Slowly, he raised his head, a grin splitting his face.
“A ticklish attack. You think you can kill me with something like this?”
Rai was dumbfounded by Rian’s resilience, rising like a zombie no matter how many times he was struck. But soon, his gaze turned to one of pity as he spoke coldly to his younger brother.
“Kill you? Are you even worth killing?”
Rian’s eyes flew open.
“I can’t just go and kill Grandpa’s precious youngest grandson. There’s no need to kill someone like you. I just have to beat you until you lose consciousness. Got it? You have no skill, no talent. You’re just the youngest son of a swordsman family. A half-wit, you bastard!”
“That’s right!”
Rian shouted, coiling his entire body.
“I am a half-wit!”
Rian charged, swinging his sword. The sound of the wind it stirred was enough to deter anyone without nerves of steel from even thinking of approaching.
Rai hastily raised his black blade. *CRACK!* The greatsword slammed down, sending a shockwave all the way to his knees.
With their swords locked, Rian thrust his face forward.
Seeing the gash that stretched from the corner of his mouth to his ear, Rai wondered if his brother had lost his mind.
Should I continue this? Shouldn’t I call a doctor right now?
“Mock me all you want. I’ve heard it my whole life anyway. Call me pathetic, call me a half-wit. Scorn me, look down on me, curse me. But still…!”
Rian pulled his greatsword back, assuming the stance for a full swing.
“I will never stop!”
Rai’s mind went blank, seized by the illusion that Rian’s greatsword had grown dozens of times larger. His brain, shocked by the image of that overwhelming strike, scrambled his predictions of the sword's path.
“Hyaaaaaah!”
As Rian let out a battle cry, Rai’s gaze dropped.
‘His ankle!’
Realizing the sword’s trajectory too late, Rai leaped into the air.
The greatsword gouged out the ground and emerged on the other side, lifting a wide slab of earth like a sheet.
A black line shot through the center of the earthen sheet. With a crack, it split in two, and Rai burst out from the soil.
But waiting for him was Rian’s next attack, his greatsword already swinging upward.
Rai was horrified by the chain of attacks that ignored all laws of momentum. He arched his back like a bow, feeling a strong gust of wind graze the tip of his chin. The hair on his entire body stood on end.
“I can’t hear anything! Even if everyone scoffs, I will only move forward!”
Rian pressed his assault, as if venting all his pent-up frustrations.
For the first time since the duel began, Rai was on the defensive, a situation that flustered not only his family but Kuan as well.
‘Rian…’
Reina’s expression softened with pity.
He was a child who had been compared to his brother, two years his senior, since birth. Honestly, even if she had taken up the sword, she didn't think she could have beaten Rai. Perhaps she had used music as an excuse, shifting the burden the blue-haired were meant to bear onto Rian.
“The blue-haired bloodline has produced a lot of problem children over the generations.”
Reina pouted and turned to Klumpf.
“The black-haired ones always do their part. They're rational and level-headed. On the other hand, the blue-haired ones are often unpredictable. They're single-minded and stubborn. That's why they say having a blue-haired family head is a gamble.”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden? You have blue hair too, Grandpa.”
“Heh heh, the existence of us troublesome blue-hairs is surely one of the reasons the Ogents are confined to the Second Class. But if you look back at our family's history, it was ultimately the blue-haired who made the Ogent name famous as a family of the sword.”
Klumpf gazed fondly at Rian, who was swinging his heavy greatsword like a storm.
“Never detour. Never look back. The will to push forward and break through, even if it means shattering oneself—that is the conviction of the blue-haired. I don't know how far Rian can go. But when he finally reaches his destination and looks back, his path will be a perfectly straight line, without a single deviation.”
“Hraaaaaaagh!”
As Rian charged with an all-out offensive, Rai didn't even dare to meet his blade head-on.
It didn't feel like he was fighting a person. He couldn't shake the feeling that some absolute being was lurking behind Rian.
‘Divine Transcendence? The power of the mind?’
A fire lit in Rai’s eyes.
“Don’t make me laugh!”
Rai shot forward and met Rian’s sword head-on. At the center of their locked gazes, the greatsword and the black blade swirled, striking sparks.
Only after a tremendous shock traveled up the hilt did Rai come to his senses. He had gotten too worked up without realizing it.
But the feeling in his hands was already gone.
‘What is this? There's a limit to brute force.’
The moment Rai channeled Exogravity out his back to retreat quickly, Rian pounced like a wolf. His movement, dropping right in front of Rai as if a ball had been hit with backspin, defied normal inertia.
As the greatsword loomed before him, Rai twisted his ankle completely to pivot. At the same time, he stomped on Rian’s Achilles tendon with the sole of his other foot.
“Keuk!”
Twisting and rising like a dragon, Rai brought his black blade down on the back of Rian, who was now bent on one knee. A move executed in a trance-like state. There was no longer time to think about life or death.
“Rian!”
Simultaneously with Tess’s cry, Rian twisted his torso.
From an unnatural posture, he swung the greatsword wide with one hand, deflecting the black blade and sending Rai’s arms flying back behind him.
“Whoa…”
An exclamation of awe escaped Rai's lips involuntarily.
His center of balance had been completely shattered. Yet he had deflected a full-force vertical slash with one hand. Such strength.
‘No, it’s not on that level.’
The law of action and reaction didn't seem to apply to Rian's sword. An absolute power that ignored the laws of physics was infused into every one of his strikes.
“Hooah.”
Shirone exhaled the breath he had been holding. Watching Rian relentlessly push Rai back made his heart, even as a non-swordsman, burn with passion.
“Tess.”
Tess turned to Shirone, her face pale with tension.
“Rian, you've gotten really strong.”
At Shirone’s acknowledgment, Tess finally let her tears fall. She knew for whom Rian had endured all his hardships.
Her throat tight with emotion, she couldn't reply and just kept nodding.
“Hyaaaaaaaah!”
Rian swung his sword through the pain that felt like his body was breaking apart. By now, Rai was no longer retreating, meeting every one of Rian’s attacks.
If he was transcending the limits of his body, he couldn't last long. I just have to block this one time. No, if I can just block one more time...
Rai was getting annoyed.
‘Damn it! When is this going to end?’
At that moment, a thought suddenly flashed through his mind.
‘Ah…’
Rai finally understood the swamp he had fallen into.
‘This guy… he was an idiot.’
At the same time, Rian’s greatsword struck his black blade upward.
With a sharp clang, a twisting pain shot through his knuckles. His muscles cramped, his hand opened, and the black blade spun as it flew into the sky.