Chapter 353
Chapter 353
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 353
Chapter Title: A Swordsman's Conviction (5)
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All eyes turned to the sky. The black sword spun, eclipsing the sun, before plunging more than halfway into the ground behind Rai with a dull thud.
Rai did not look back. His gaze was fixed straight on Rian.
Frozen in his stance with his greatsword aimed, Rian couldn't even move a finger. The aftershock of Divine Transcendence sent waves of excruciating pain through him.
In the lengthening silence, Rai clicked his tongue and turned away.
“I lost. Let’s stop.”
Rian’s eyes trembled in shock. It was the first time in eighteen years he had heard Rai declare defeat.
However, Rai showed no particular emotion as he pulled out the black sword and sheathed it. He then walked over to Klumpf and bowed his head.
“I have lost. I admit my defeat.”
“Heh heh, you got swept up in his pace. Still, it was nice seeing you fight so heatedly for a change.”
Rai muttered, his lips twisting into a smirk.
“This is why you shouldn’t hang out with idiots.”
“Still, it was pretty good, wasn’t it? Feel refreshed?”
After a moment of thought, Rai murmured softly as he walked past Klumpf.
“...I feel I’ve become a bit more of a swordsman.”
Reina quickly followed after Rai.
“Wait, get over here. Is your hand okay? Don’t you have a dispatch mission tomorrow?”
“It’s nothing. I just got a cramp and dropped my sword.”
“Who do you think you’re fooling? A swordsman gets a cramp that easily? Give me your hand.”
Grabbing Rai’s wrist, Reina spun him around and examined his hand. Just by looking at the calluses, which were now no different from his skin, she could tell that he hadn't reached his position on talent alone.
“Just as I thought.”
Reina’s brow furrowed as she inspected the back of his hand.
The left hand’s role was to absorb the shock when gripping the sword. Yet, the nails on his index, middle, and ring fingers were all gone.
“Don’t make a fuss. Fingernails come off easily.”
“That’s the first I’ve ever heard that! Ugh, you won’t even be able to cut a steak like this. Come here. Let me at least wrap it.”
Reina took a bandage from the first-aid kit in the training grounds. She then tightly wound it around Rai’s index, middle, and ring fingers, applying firm pressure.
As the tension subsided, even the onlookers felt a wave of fatigue. But Kuan alone still stared at Rian with a serious expression.
‘Divine Transcendence…’
Rian’s swordsmanship, displayed in a real fight, was certainly formidable. It was a performance that could never be demonstrated at the sword academy, where skills were evaluated in stages.
‘But if it were me, I would have found a way around it.’
Divine Transcendence was dangerous. It didn’t just increase power.
The final movement that had cornered Rai had a bizarre quality to it, something difficult to create even with external gravity. Despite that, Rai had met Rian’s power sword with his own.
Was it pride? Or a lack of experience? Or was there some other variable on the battlefield that he had failed to read?
“A swordsman is a technician who wields a sword.”
“General.”
Klumpf had appeared behind him at some point.
“But a sword is ultimately a tool for killing. That is an undeniable truth. So why do we still pursue the way of the sword?”
Kuan could not answer.
“A single sword can never change the world. But the sword one holds in one’s heart is different. A great swordsman wins a war, but a knight with conviction changes the world. Rai was set ablaze by Rian’s conviction.”
“The sword held in one’s heart…”
“Perhaps Divine Transcendence is the materialization of that conviction.”
Kuan recalled something from long ago.
His former self, before his Achilles tendon was severed. The iron will that had led him to choose death over Pungjang’s offer now seemed as hazy as a delusion.
“I too… had it once.”
Klumpf looked at Kuan with a benevolent gaze. As a soldier and a fellow swordsman, he felt sympathy for his junior.
“How long will you wander? Come back to the army. My direct subordinate is retiring soon. It would be a great help if you took his place.”
“I will think about it. Thank you for your concern.”
Kuan was sincere, but he had no intention of returning to the military.
Today’s duel had made it clear. He was already a broken sword. He could never reach Divine Transcendence without forging a new sword within himself.
“Grandfather, I can drop out now, right?”
Rian strode over, his face slick with sweat from enduring the pain. Having proven himself with actions, not words, Klumpf had no reason to stop him anymore.
“Yes, you won. Do as you wish, whether it’s dropping out or pursuing your knighthood training.”
“See, I told you that from the start. All this fuss, making us fight for no reason.”
Rai, his fingers bandaged, spoke as he changed his clothes.
“Don’t go getting yourself killed somewhere. If you die, I’ll probably be the one who has to go find you.”
Contrary to everyone’s expectations, Rian did not get angry. They had both fought with all their might, and he had no intention of pettily rehashing the duel.
But one question still remained.
“Hey, let me ask you one thing.”
Rai paused mid-button and looked back.
“That technique you used to blow up the ground, that was an application of Sword Kill, right?”
“So what?”
“Why didn’t you use Sword Kill on me? You could have broken my sword and ended the fight.”
Rai tilted his head, a look of incomprehension on his face. Was Rian mocking him? There was a limit to rubbing salt in the wound.
But he could sense no provocation in Rian’s expression.
‘Don’t tell me this guy is being serious.’
Rai looked back at Klumpf.
“What’s going on? You didn’t tell Rian?”
“Heh heh, what could I do? He took it like a stray cat. And I hadn’t even properly chosen a successor. He said he opened his Schema, but that was a complete lie too.”
Rai snorted at the blatant lie.
“You weren’t going to give it to me anyway, were you?”
“Come on, it’s not like you really needed it.”
“Tch!”
As a conversation he wasn’t privy to unfolded, Rian cut in.
“What are you guys talking about? Just answer me. Why didn’t you try to use Sword Kill?”
Rai turned his body toward the training ground exit as if annoyed.
“Don’t ask me, ask your grandfather. This is a complete mess. To think a swordsman doesn’t even know what he’s fighting with.”
Reina followed after Rai.
“Are you really leaving today?”
“No, I’m sleeping here. I’m tired. Have my meal sent up to my room.”
At Rai’s blatant dismissal, Rian glared daggers and pointed a finger.
“Hey! Where are you going? I asked why you didn’t use Sword Kill! Don’t leave a guy hanging, just tell me!”
‘Seems there’s no cure for stupidity.’
Ignoring Rian’s shouts from behind, Rai was lost in thought.
The Ogent family line carried both black and blue hair.
Why hadn’t Grandfather given him the greatsword?
When he was young, he thought it was because Klumpf favored Rian for having the same blue hair. But after today’s duel, he thought he was beginning to understand.
At the very least, that sword belonged to Rian.
* * *
Shirone and Tess decided to stay the night at Reina’s estate.
Gathered in Rian’s room, the three of them caught up on the past six months. The biggest topic of conversation was Amy’s failure in the graduation exam.
“By the way, how’s Amy doing? She must have been really disappointed.”
They had read about Amy’s failure in the Spirit Journal. The article had covered the shocking news of the Carmis family prodigy being eliminated early in the graduation exam.
“Yeah. She was down for a while, but she’s okay now. I’m sure things will be different in next year’s exam.”
“True. Amy is strong enough to overcome it. I miss her. That time was so much fun.”
Rian also reminisced about their time in Heaven. His fight with Ymir, where he awakened to Divine Transcendence, had been a major turning point in his life.
“Amy is more than qualified to be a mage. Tell her I’m cheering for her. I’ll go to her next graduation exam in person and give her a boost of energy.”
Shirone would also be taking the exam in a year, so Rian couldn’t possibly miss it.
“That’s nice. I can’t go. The sword academy ends later than the magic academy. Maybe I should just drop out, too. Go train with Rian.”
Rian waved his hands dismissively.
“Why would a top student at the sword academy drop out? You should graduate at the top of your class with honors.”
“But it feels so empty thinking about you not being there. I really want to go with you.”
Seeing Tess’s face on the verge of tears, Rian quickly looked for something to change the subject. Then, he spotted the sword Shirone had propped up next to the desk and asked.
“By the way, Shirone, are you carrying a sword now?”
“Ah, that was a gift.”
Shirone recounted what had happened in Kazura. Having also experienced the trip to Heaven, Rian and Tess easily understood what an Objet was.
Intrigued, they urged him on, so Shirone decided to give a demonstration.
First, he performed a trick with Static Control, then activated Vajra Armament. The sword seemed to swallow Shirone, and in an instant, a robe of organic matter enveloped him.
Faced with the eerie yet powerful form, even the audacious Rian was at a loss for words. Tess pointed to the orb floating in the air and asked.
“So what’s this sphere?”
“That’s a mana processing unit. It handles a technique called time-sharing for me, which makes my calculations much faster. And the crystal orb on this gauntlet is a mana amplification device. Using these two, I can expand the scope of my magic application.”
“I see. That’s really cool. I didn’t know there were Objets with such complex functions.”
Armang was a weapon that would tempt any swordsman. But his friends showed no more than a passing interest. For those who carried a sword of conviction in their hearts, any weapon was merely a tool.
‘It would be great if Rian could wield Armang.’
Training as a knight was on a different level from classes at the sword academy.
The world wouldn't present Rian with systematically increasing levels of difficulty. He could handle third-rate thugs and robbers just fine, but criminals who had made a name for themselves were skilled enough to give even the kingdom trouble.
In that respect, Armang, which augmented the user’s physical abilities and possessed its own defenses, would surely be a help.
But unlike in Dante’s case, the magic sword did not respond to Rian.
While Armang provided the optimal combat environment for any user, achieving 100 percent efficiency required a high-level understanding of tactics and the ability to control a complex system.
Rian’s straightforward and dominant nature made it difficult for him to perfectly handle Armang’s functions, and it seemed Armang knew this as well.
‘It may be a sword, but it’s certainly uncompromising.’
But Rian had no intention of relying on anything else. His duel with Rai had sent his confidence soaring.
“No need to worry! I’m just getting started! From today on, I’m going to build an undefeated record!”
Watching Rian confidently beat his chest, Shirone smiled warmly.
He was fire. One day, he would return as a fire great enough to set the world ablaze.
That night.
Rian was curled up under his blanket, groaning.
The aftershocks of Divine Transcendence didn’t end with the first wave. In fact, the most intense pain came at night, when the body began to repair itself.
“Hnngh! Hngh!”
Moans escaped his throat, but he bit down on his pillow and endured.
He couldn’t let Shirone, sleeping nearby, hear his pain. More importantly, a crushing fear told him that if he screamed now, he would never be able to bear it again.
His face was slick with sweat, his eyes unfocused. Even so, Rian glared fiercely into the darkness of the night and withstood the pain.
‘I’m glad. I’m so glad I won.’
If he had lost to Rai in front of Shirone, he would have been plunged into a slump, unable to do anything for a long time.
Rai was undoubtedly strong. In terms of technical perfection, he was nothing short of a genius.
But he was not an insurmountable wall.
‘The gap has closed. It’s definitely closed.’
He couldn’t guarantee the same result if they fought again, but there were moments where he had certainly surpassed him. Of that, he was confident.
‘I can do it. I haven’t chosen the wrong path.’
Just knowing that the distance wasn’t unreachable filled Rian with elation. Even as his body trembled in agony, laughter bubbled up from his throat.
“Heh, hehehehe.”
The night of pain and pleasure was passing.