Flicker of Sword Qi
Amy lunged at Zien on a sudden whim from her viewers' mission. Her Magic Tool, the whip, could manipulate gravity.
Snap!
Like this, whipping a boulder.
It floated up light as a feather. Amy wrapped her whip around the now-weightless rock and swung it toward Zien.
'Right before it hits, restore its gravity~'
Crunch-crunch-crash!
Lucia recoiled in surprise, and the whip-flung boulder swept through the spot where Zien had stood.
Dust billowed up in a thick cloud. Amy muttered to herself with a face that said, no way—
"D-Did I get him?"
The viewers burst into laughter at Amy's cautious line.
And sure enough.
Zien slowly emerged from the dust cloud. Amy immediately cast her preemptive strike and rear defense.
"Party leader, my old partner's gone~ How about 2-on-1?"
"Fine by me."
Zien swung his sword.
A fierce gust of wind instantly cleared the dust. Lucia glared at Amy, who had abruptly joined the duel.
Her narrowed eyes scanned Amy up and down.
"If you get in my way, I might just slice you."
"H-Hey, I'm from the Arcana party too?"
"We'll see. You seem more clown than Saber to me."
Lucia's icy tone.
Amy's lips twitched in frustration.
The sudden war of words ended abruptly with Zien's ambush.
Clang!
The strike Zien had just unleashed—which Lucia barely blocked—was infused with mana.
Lucia was pushed back by the force.
Zien pressed her relentlessly with his sword.
"Opening!"
At that moment, Amy's whip slithered in like a serpent and struck Black Fragrance. It was only an instant of contact, but Amy's gravity manipulation made the sword's weight increase to an unbearable level.
Amy's Magic Tool was lethal to swordsmen. But Black Fragrance was the Sword of Denial. As dark energy swirled around it, its anti-magic property erased the debuff.
Now it was Lucia's turn.
Lucia dove into Zien's blind spot and kicked up the dirt floor—a dirty trick she wouldn't have used before. Zien faltered in surprise.
'These two have surprisingly good synergy?'
Lucia's sword aimed at his front.
Amy's whip, full of variables.
They didn't get along, but the Lucia-Amy combo was top-tier.
Perhaps that's why Amy felt victory within reach.
'1 million coins right there!'
At this rate, the mission was a success.
Fueled by that desire, Amy's focus sharpened. She predicted Zien's movements.
Whip-crack! Squeeze!
Finally, Amy's whip coiled tightly around Zien's sword. The whip strained in a tug-of-war. Lucia didn't love the 2-on-1 odds, but it was a rare opening from Zien.
'Now.'
A swift thrust.
Lucia's hair fluttered beautifully behind her. To anyone watching, Zien's defeat seemed certain. But Zien was a duel veteran.
Shimmer!
Black Fragrance dissolved into light.
Zien unsummoned his sword, then resummoned it in a flash. The whip's bind broke free, and he parried Lucia's strike.
"Whoa! What was that?!"
Amy gawked at her own whip in disbelief. What Zien had pulled was borderline trickery. Summoning and unsummoning Magic Tools was influenced by Stigmata assimilation rate.
Students topped out at 70-80% assimilation, even at best.
Zien's was 97%.
Seizing momentum, Zien lowered his stance. His silhouette wavered suddenly—a technique born from Zien's modification of a 3rd-zone footwork.
"Focus!"
Lucia shouted urgently, but Amy couldn't keep up with the speed.
Thud!
Amy took a kick to the back from Zien.
"Eek!"
With a short yelp, Amy toppled forward onto the grass. Lucia sheathed her sword with a sigh at the sight.
"What are you doing? Get up." Her voice was frigid.
Amy's, on the other hand, was utterly deflated.
"Don't talk to me. Just leave me alone."
Embarrassed and mortified, she buried her face in the grass and refused to rise.
Yet despite the mission failure, the viewers' reactions exploded.
But Amy wouldn't check the donations and chat until later.
Chris and Demona.
Their sparring record stood at 20 matches: 10 wins each. Their skills were so evenly matched that the tiniest judgment call decided victory.
The problem was they'd kept up that tense combat for 20 straight rounds without a break. Chris's legs trembled, and Demona's breaths came ragged as she gripped her staff.
"H-Hey, wanna take a breather?"
Demona nodded at Chris's suggestion. He found her intriguing.
'Does she not talk? Or just won't?'
They'd spent the whole day sparring, yet Chris hadn't heard her voice once.
Demona stared blankly at her phone, expressionless. Chris chugged water from his pocket bottle.
The awkward silence dragged on, and Chris fiddled with his dagger out of restlessness.
Even for outgoing, sociable Chris, Demona was a tough nut.
'Hmm...'
He eyed her with slightly furrowed brows.
Demona seemed oblivious to her surroundings, like a wall separated her from the world.
'This girl's got some reason she can't—or won't—talk, right?'
Sudden pity flickered in Chris's eyes. Whatever her story, he didn't pry.
He knew curiosity could poison the other person sometimes.
Besides, what mattered now was practicing duels to face the hunters. Chris stood again.
"Let's go."
He expected ready agreement, but Demona shook her head and typed a reply on her phone.
Chris stared blankly at the phone for a long moment, then thought,
'Never get tangled with this girl.'
In the end, he meekly sat back down beside her.
Arcana's night.
Zien honed his swordsmanship by the lake, moonlight shimmering on its surface.
'My power's returning bit by bit.'
The most dramatic change came after consuming the World Tree seed. As his mana amplified and his body strengthened through training, he rapidly reclaimed his past life's realm.
'At this rate...'
Zien infused mana into his sword.
The technique he challenged now: Sword Qi.
Mana climbed his hand, gradually enveloping the blade. But it held only for a moment.
Pop!
Sword Qi was usable by first-rate masters in martial terms—roughly 5th-rank Saber level. Zien's mana fell far short still.
'Yet I managed it.'
If only briefly, Sword Qi had indeed cloaked Black Fragrance. For a student to manifest Sword Qi was unprecedented in history. Plus, Sabers awakened skills through gate experience.
A virtual 5th-rank gate, no less. He might learn—or reclaim—one.
Tssst.
Black Fragrance drank in Sword Qi once more.
Unlike the crude coating before, this was thin, sharp, efficient.
Slash!
Zien's sword sliced the boulder like paper. The cut surface was mirror-clean, as if ruled.
As Zien dispersed the Sword Qi.
Someone approached from afar. Graceful steps on the grass, dignified poise. Her black hair damp for some reason. Blue eyes that trapped the moon.
It was Lucia Elquines.
"Sword Aura as a first-year?"
One might expect shock at Zien's Sword Qi, but Lucia remained composed. Because the user was Zien.
'From this man, anything...'
To Lucia, Zien brimmed with secrets. He cherished his party but revealed only fragments. Like a murky pond—its depth unknowable without plumbing the bottom.
"Just an imitation for now."
At Zien's reply, Lucia drew her own sword, Diana. Mana surged but scattered into the air, failing to hold.
"Modest, aren't you."
In a mischievous move unlike her, Lucia prompted Zien to cut the evasion.
"Something on your mind?"
Straight to the point.
Lucia preferred it that way.
"Clear this 5th-rank virtual gate, and next is a real one, right?"
"Yeah."
"Not scared?"
Her eyes trembled, unlike her usual poise. No matter how strong, gates terrified Sabers. Unknown handicaps and quests meant bad luck could bring meaningless, hollow death.
Even Zien's heroic past life had ended in a gate. To Sabers, gates were graves—death incarnate.
The Saber before him was just a 17-year-old student. Instead, Zien turned the question back.
"What, are you scared?"
Lucia clamped her mouth shut. Denying fear of death would be a lie, but she feared something more.
What if her shortcomings killed her party? Failed the dungeon?
Could she bear that responsibility now?
Questions swirled in her mind. So she wanted to ask Zien.
Was it his strength? Somehow, he seemed to hold the answers.
"Yes."
But Zien's answer dashed her hopes—too curt, too simple.
"That's normal."
The party leader's burden, a Savior's duty, fear of death. Zien believed such worries honed and strengthened the self.
"Not being scared would be weird."
Zien leveled his sword at Lucia. Dawn approached, but the grass glowed ethereally in the moonlight.
"That's why we get stronger. Until doubts like that never arise."
A duel now? Lucia laughed genuinely for once.
"You're right."
She took her stance, sword aimed at Zien. Her earlier musings had long vanished.