The Path They Walked (2)
The shock when sword met sword was something Maxim had felt many times before, but this time it felt utterly unfamiliar. He pushed with his upper body to shake off Adeline's blade clinging to his own. The two swords scraped against each other, scattering sparks into the cold air.
"Can't you lower your sword?" Maxim's voice was desperate. There wasn't a single person who didn't need saving. Christine, trapped underground. Adeline, pointing her sword at him now. And even himself, crossing blades with her. Far too many people needed to escape this damned situation.
"...I cannot." In response to Maxim's words, Adeline shook her head. Maxim's face twisted. Though Adeline couldn't see that changed expression, she adjusted her grip on her sword. But Maxim could see her face. Her eyes were covered, but the mouth beneath trembled, unable to maintain its impassive expression. That alone told him she was suffering.
"You're suffering, aren't you?" At Maxim's words, Adeline's shoulders shook briefly. But soon she regained composure in her voice and replied coldly.
"That is none of your concern."
Maxim wanted to talk more. To lower his sword and find another way. He couldn't. Unlike her trembling voice, Adeline's blade was clearly pointed at him once more. Her arms didn't shake. Her legs planted on the ground were filled with energy. As if warning him, Adeline spoke.
"Raise your sword again, Arsen. Otherwise, you really will die."
Leaving those words behind, Adeline closed the distance even faster. Her sword's trajectory precisely identified the gaps between Maxim's breaths and movements, striking at his openings. Maxim blocked her second strike with a downward swing. Then, out of habit, he tried to read her gaze by lowering his head, only to furrow his brows at the black cloth covering her eyes.
'...This is going to be troublesome.'
A fight against a blind knight seemed extremely difficult.
Adeline gave Maxim no room to breathe, continuing her assault with relentless strikes. Maxim quickly circulated mana through his body to increase his speed.
Clang-!
Several exchanges happened in an instant. Even though he was focusing purely on defense, Adeline's sword clearly overwhelmed his. Maxim tried to read her blade, but her skill was too advanced to discern from brief clashes.
"You're blocking well."
Adeline's emotionless voice. Even amidst the rapid exchanges right in front of him, Maxim could hear her clearly. For a moment, he felt as if a viper were slithering up his spine toward his neck. And right as that sensation hit, her blade thrust toward his heart.
He couldn't dodge. Maxim raised his sword at an angle. Blade met blade, and he felt the full impact as he was sent flying backward.
"Damn it...!"
Maxim spat out the words with a voice trembling in rage. It wasn't anger toward Adeline. It was directed at Count Leon Benning, who had orchestrated this entire situation and was likely sitting back with a mocking smile.
Maxim drove his sword into the ground to absorb the impact and halt his flight. The sneering smile in his mind seemed to mock him: What can you possibly do?
...We'll see about that.
Maxim gritted his teeth. This was different from the time when he had been powerless, forced to sit and lose everything. His body, sent flying by the clash, came to a stop. At the end of a long, straight scar carved into the alley floor, Maxim stood. He pulled his sword from the ground and steadied his aura.
"Hoo..."
Maxim took a deep breath, shaking off the sharp energy that had pierced his body. Adeline's prowess far exceeded his expectations. She was already a difficult opponent, and if she began properly wielding her aura, even Maxim couldn't guarantee victory. If he continued fighting half-heartedly like this, he really would lose his head to that blade.
"Still no desire to fight properly?"
Adeline's voice reached him from afar, as if provoking him. Maxim let out a dry laugh and shook his head. Despite unleashing terrifying strikes that aimed straight for his neck without hesitation, her words sounded almost considerate.
"No. I think you're mistaken. I've been fighting properly this whole time."
"Your lies are clumsy."
Adeline assumed her stance once more. Maxim changed his aura. He couldn't afford to be half-hearted. To save both Christine and Adeline, he had to change his approach to facing her.
'Half-heartedness is what I hate most.'
It was something his master had once told him, gripping his head. Maxim closed his eyes and began to focus. A wind rose. It wasn't from his mana, nor was it a gust stirred by Adeline's presence. Maxim felt the wind and returned to the past.
'Elven swordsmanship is about flow.'
Maxim recalled his master's words. In the middle of that forest filled with fresh greenery, his master had held a wooden sword and spoken. Like a tree extending its branches, her aura technique had been so natural and vast. Back then, just like now, an inexplicable wind had blown.
'I won't show it twice, so watch carefully and etch it into your head, you foolish disciple.'
Maxim altered his breathing. A refined aura enveloped and swirled around him. Amidst the blowing wind, Maxim became both nothingness and martial prowess.
Maxim kicked off the ground. It was the first time Adeline's senses had lost track of him. Amidst the chilling sensation running down her spine, Adeline thrust her sword in the direction her instincts pointed.
Boom-!
Once again, Maxim's presence appeared with the force of a whirlwind. Adeline realized that the sword she had just clashed with was of an entirely different nature from the one now before her. She relaxed her body, letting the impact flow through her as she was sent flying backward. There was still no killing intent in Maxim's blade.
Adeline's senses grew even sharper as she took in the world. It was to capture Maxim's presence, which seemed to blend into the world like mist, more quickly.
Maxim appeared again. This time, she was able to respond in time. As his strike flew toward her like the branches of a willow tree reaching out, Adeline met it with her own sword. Maxim's blade accepted the impact, redirecting all the repulsive force while continuing his own attack. From the exchange alone, it seemed as though Maxim was executing his sword technique alone, without any interference.
Judging that it would be difficult to interrupt his technique midway, Adeline drew more mana from her body. Her heart pounded. In the heightened state of mind, the world slowed down.
Kiiing.
Like a beast freed from its shackles, the mana Adeline unleashed violently swirled around her body, transforming into a gust of wind with the force to cut down Maxim's Willow. The curtain of mana, taking shape and revealing itself, resonated with her sword along her arm.
"Aura...!"
Maxim clicked his tongue as he watched the gust take form. A deep, vivid blue—the color of the sea rather than the sky—enveloped Adeline's blade. Her body slowly descended through the air. The wind of mana was on her side now.
"You'd better draw yours."
Adeline's quiet warning. Maxim inwardly complained: I would if I could. A fight between knights who had drawn their auras was no different from a natural disaster. Maxim leaped upward first. Sensing his presence rising, Adeline followed, leaping after him. Her blade left a trail of vivid blue mist.
Exchanging blows with their blades was the worst choice. As Maxim landed on a building's roof, a sword strike that could only be called a tidal wave followed. Maxim hurriedly ducked, and a chilling wind passed over his head. Several strands of his now-black hair were severed and scattered into the air. It wasn't a mere threat—it was a move clearly meant to take his life. The approaching death seemed to grab the back of his neck and drag him away.
'The word "flow" shares the same context as not going against it.'
Following Naira's words, Maxim gripped his sword. To feel its weight, he began to relax the strength in his body. The more he let go of force, the more clearly the weight of the sword in his hand became.
'Of course, that doesn't mean matching your flow to the opponent's.'
Back then, his master had taught him how to place the world beneath his own flow with a single wooden sword.
'It's about changing things so that they flow according to your flow.'
Can I do it?
The vivid blue mana howled savagely, yet sorrowfully. That was death. It was an unstoppable wave of destruction, and also the helpless gesture of a knight cornered in a dead end. Adeline's aura rippled like that. The sword, howling in imitation of its master's emotions, once again cleaved through the air toward Maxim.
Maxim took a step. He threw his body toward death.
It's fine. This wasn't the first time he had walked toward death. And this time, he was determined to grasp something other than despair beyond that death.
'So, what is it that you want?'
After her lesson ended, Naira had asked him that final question.
'You've been cursed, betrayed, and lost the one you loved. What exactly does someone with nothing left desire?'
Naira's training had always been grueling. Maxim exhaled sharply through the pain that felt like his lungs were being scraped with a razor, half-conscious as he replied.
"I want to save. I want to be saved."
'Still clinging to that foolish hope. You're terribly selfish, yet altruistic. Do you even realize that contradiction?'
'The important thing isn't correcting one's self-contradictions. In the end, that's only a part of it.'
Naira raised an eyebrow. As if her disciple had finally begun speaking like a human, she couldn't hide the upward curve of her lips.
'Hmm?'
'It's fine if I hate myself. It's fine if I'm trapped in contradictions. In the end, what I want to do is indeed a terribly selfish and altruistic act.'
Maxim had been looking up at the sky then. Not a single cloud marred the painfully blue sky.
'By saving everyone, I will be saved. That is my wish.'
Naira had been smiling then, it seemed. His master corrected his sword grip and looked him straight in the eye as she spoke.
'Then prove it.'
It wasn't Willow. Maxim's sword lost its form entirely. Flow. Unbeknownst to Adeline, the battlefield was about to undergo a massive transformation. As Adeline's aura charged forward, seeing only death, Maxim's sword slipped in between. The blade rose. If it touched the aura directly, it would be cut down.
"What—!"
Just as Adeline was about to scold him for what he was trying to do, her mouth snapped shut. What she had expected didn't happen. Sword and sword meshed together without a sound, as if they had been one from the beginning. Adeline's aura couldn't destroy Maxim's blade.
Ah.
Maxim's sword clung to hers with a calm, quiet presence, as if trying to read her blade. Through the rippling blue light, Adeline's face became visible. She still wore an anxious expression. Adeline quickly pushed his sword away. Though the blade was repelled, Maxim himself wasn't. To maintain her flow, Adeline began swinging her sword again. In a trajectory where being caught would surely mean being cut down, Maxim's sword existed clearly. Amidst Adeline's shock, Maxim's sword began to unfold in earnest.
== It looked as though he was attacking, yet not attacking. It seemed as if he was swinging his sword to shake off something chasing after it. It doesn't reach. No, it was Arsen's sword that reached. When Adeline came to her senses after swinging her sword, it was Arsen who was attacking, and she who was defending.
How?
Without even using aura.
Adeline couldn't hide her bewilderment. Taking advantage of that brief opening in her disordered stance, Arsen's sword closed in. She could feel no form in the movement of that blade. Every time Maxim's sword clashed with hers, fragments of her aura's light were torn away and scattered into the air.
No.
Adeline continued swinging her sword. Perhaps, from the very beginning, she had wanted it to come to this. Every time Maxim's sword and hers collided, the Count's words seemed to fade, one by one. But her body obeyed the command. She was still analyzing Maxim's sword, searching for an opening to sever his neck.
No.
Adeline denied it again. The more she tried to read Arsen's swordsmanship, the more confused she became. For the first time, she resented the situation. She resented herself for having no choice but to follow the Count's orders, and she resented herself for still deeply believing she had to take Arsen's life.
Rather.
Yes, rather.
Let this be the end.
Adeline slowed her strikes. It was to gather the mana within her body. She would pour out the strongest strike she could muster, everything she had. Adeline's aura burned brighter and fiercer than ever before. The space itself let out a creaking sound. Her sword always cleaved the world, and nothing could emerge unscathed from the scars it left. From above to below. The clear sky split, and a line that divided Adeline's world in two was engraved.
Ah.
But it didn't reach. Adeline's sword, which should have had nothing left at its end, was still meeting Maxim's blade tip to tip. Foolishly, that knight called Arsen had met her strongest strike head-on with his own sword. In the end, since his sword had won, perhaps it hadn't been such a foolish act after all. Adeline could easily predict what would happen next. Having deliberately poured out all her strength, Adeline let go of her sword. If she didn't, she would surely pick it up again and recklessly charge at Arsen.
Arsen's sword drew near. Surprisingly, Adeline found she could remain calm even as the blade tip approached. She would clash with all her might and, following the Count's orders, sever Arsen's neck. Or, lacking the skill, have her own neck taken. Neither outcome pleased her, but Adeline suddenly thought it was fortunate that this fight's result leaned toward the latter.
Yes.
If it was going to end this way anyway.
Arsen, dying by your hand would be best.
Whoosh.
A belated wind brushed against her face. Adeline exhaled softly, anticipating the pain that would come.
Thud.
"...Huh?"
Neither pain nor relief. Nothing was felt. Adeline froze in confusion. The sound she heard was the sensation of the blade tip lightly brushing her clothing. And with a clang, the sound of a sword being thrown far away followed. Arsen must have thrown his own sword away.
"Why are you frozen there?"
Arsen's calm voice. Adeline could only twitch her fingers, frozen as he said.
"Did you think I was going to stab you to death or something?"
The voice that came as if joking trembled ever so slightly at the end. The frozen Adeline burst out in a torrent of words.
"No... You! What exactly are you trying to achieve by sparing me like this? Are you just going to let me go do what I was doing? If I pick up the sword I dropped on the ground and chase after you again, are you going to face me just as calmly as now?"
As if answering her own words, Arsen's muttering voice carried a hint of irritation.
"Christine, that guy too—why do all the people I meet today seem so desperate to die in front of me?"
Adeline was taken aback by the changed tone, unsure if it was meant for her to hear.
"...Arsen?"
"Listen carefully, Adeline. From now on, I won't let anyone die carelessly in front of me. I won't let such gloomy stories continue, nor will I let the Count have his way. You're not going to tell me to watch my words again, are you?"
Adeline's mouth opened and closed, unable to understand what Maxim was trying to say.
"Anyway, what I'm saying is that I won't let you die or be used as the Count pleases."
"Something like that can't possibly—"
"It will. Because I've decided it will."
Adeline closed her mouth at Maxim's stubborn words, then opened it again.
"...If you let me go like this, I'll pick up that sword and attack you again, or stab myself in the neck and end it."
"After all the trouble of wearing you out, now you're threatening me too."
At Arsen's words, Adeline's expression twisted.
"Then what are you going to do? No matter what you're trying to do, the Count won't just sit back and watch."
A silence settled. Before Adeline could feel anxious about it, Arsen's mouth opened again.
"Trust me."
"I'm your enemy."
"Even if you think that, I don't."
Why?
If he just cut her down, everything would be over. Adeline couldn't bring herself to say that. In Arsen's words, she saw herself wanting to cling to them. Arsen's voice came, as if having read her hesitation.
"I'll save you. I'll save you, and I'll save my comrade trapped beneath that damned dungeon as well."
Adeline's mouth closed. The words Arsen spoke were so reckless, yet his voice was not. Adeline moved her lips, barely managing to utter a single word.
"...I can't believe you."
"Then just this once, believe me as if you're being deceived."
A long sigh escaped Adeline's lips. She had never particularly wished to see before, but now she wanted to see the face of this irresponsible man named Arsen. Answer, trust, and command. Before the compulsion to follow the Count's orders returned, Adeline opened her mouth to reply.
Just this once.
"Do as you wish, then."
A familiar dry laugh echoed.
"Then you'll have to sleep for a bit. Will that be alright?"
Adeline nodded. Arsen's hand chop was almost unfelt. As her consciousness sank into sleep, she caught a glimpse of Arsen's voice.
"Just a little longer. Wait for me."
The same voice as back then. Instead of answering that she would wait, Adeline surrendered herself to the approaching darkness.