The Weight of Power
At the very moment the entrance ceremony was in full swing at the National Academy, a thunderous crash split the air. Sand exploded in every direction as Trant, the senior warrior under Lan’s command, was slammed hard into the ground. He let out a pained cry.
“Ah, this is troublesome. Lord, are you all right?”
“Huff… It seems this time I’ve reached my limit. Guard.”
“I don’t know how to express my gratitude for enduring my stubbornness yet again.”
Thud. Jubern caught the hand he had extended and, supporting Trant’s stumbling body, helped him rise. After shaking the sweat-soaked hair from his head, he drew a deep breath.
“No need. Thanks to Lord, our team has received much help. Thank you.”
As he spoke, Jubern’s eyes swept across the training ground. Here and there, exhausted warriors lay collapsed, gasping for air.
“You fools! No matter how much you practice, you still have to at least show some dignity in front of the guard! Stand up!”
“Brother, that’s not the problem right now. Something’s wrong. My body… my body isn’t listening. I think this is as far as I go.”
“Don’t talk nonsense and get up!”
“Haha! No, leave it be. Next time we should lower the intensity a bit.”
“Tsk. This is bad. Apologies, Guard. I’ll make sure nothing like this happens again. May we be excused?”
“Of course. You all worked hard.”
Jubern bowed his head respectfully to Trant, and the remaining warriors left the field. A few others who had been lying sprawled on the ground were yelled at once more and finally staggered out groaning.
The training ground stood empty after Trant and the others had departed. Unlike the warriors who had been panting just beneath his feet, Jubern maintained a steady breathing rhythm without the slightest sign of fatigue.
Even after the sparring session, which he had felt was still insufficient, he remained alone and silently swung his blade for hours.
Whoosh. Woooong!
“Everyone, protect Lord and these people! Release!”
“Jubern, stop! No!”
“Haa!”
“What the—?”
Clang! Crack! Slam! Boom. “Gah!”
Creak. Jubern, lost in memories from days past, gritted his teeth in shame.
“Tch!”
“Damn it! As a guard who’s supposed to protect Lord and those people, what a pathetic sight. I can’t endure this humiliation.”
Hours of swinging his blade until his clothes clung wetly to his back, trying to shake off the shame, finally brought Lan searching for him.
“Jubern, there you are.”
“Ah! Lord, you came.”
“I wanted to see you. There’s something I need to discuss. But… are you troubled by something? You seem different today, a hint of negativity in your blade’s edge.”
“It’s nothing, Lord.”
Jubern tried to brush it off casually, unable to reveal such a shameful, personal worry to his Lord. But Lan wasn’t someone who would miss it.
“I understand it’s something troubling you. Don’t be so downhearted. The opponent wasn’t you.”
Yet Lan’s words only twisted into poison for Jubern. “……”
“Jubern.”
“Yes, Lord. Speak.”
“The grand dukes of the continent, including Crow’s Duck, are beings even we Seven Pillars must step back for. You needn’t despair if you were overwhelmed.”
“As guard, I feel ashamed I couldn’t fulfill my duty.”
“Haha. As I said at our first meeting, you are already strong enough. And what’s wrong with showing that? Hmm, right. As long as you’re fine, would you care to spar with me?”
“With Lord?”
“Yes. I want to see your strength firsthand, the one I’ve only heard about.”
“Uh… yes, understood.”
Jubern’s face showed slight bewilderment as he gripped his blade again at the sudden proposal. Lan watched and quietly shook his head.
“No, let’s do it for real.”
“Eh, yes? I must have misheard?”
Jubern was visibly flustered. “Real sparring would be better.”
“Lord, how could I possibly swing my sword against you? If even one drop of my blade harms you…” Jubern lay flat on the ground, firmly refusing.
Lan, watching with a sidelong glance, soon caught on and smiled secretly. “It’s thoughtful you’re worried about me, but… you can’t even touch my sleeves now, so this worry is pointless.”
“……”
Lan’s provocation struck like lightning. Jubern’s face, head slowly rising, burned with two glowing pits of resolve. Though it pained him, Lan confirmed the challenge had landed and clapped inwardly in satisfaction. “…… I understand. Since Lord says so, I won’t refuse anymore.”
Jubern, at last steeling himself, placed his hand on his belt with a determined expression. Sllrr. The sword slowly drew from its sheath, sending a chill through the air.
In the blade’s razor edge, Jubern’s eyes blazed fiercer than ever, the tip tracing a circle toward Lan. “Then, without shame, I beg for one lesson from you, Lord.”
Lan stood with one hand behind his back, a faint smile curving one corner, finger tapping in reply. “Whenever you wish.”
Deliberately mocking. Of course, that was Lan’s intent. Grin. Jubern ground his teeth, kicked off the sand, and leaped toward Lan in a diagonal strike from above. “Haa!”
CRASH!
The force behind the blow made his arms tremble as he unleashed everything. But Lan barely lifted a finger, casually deflecting the blow right where it was. Wump. Puff. The overwhelming pressure from above sunk deep into the ground beneath Lan, sand exploding outward. “Oh, this is decent. No matter how strong I am, receiving attacks like this indefinitely would be tough.”
Jubern, after blocking the first strike, widened the distance and charged again with another roar. “Haa!”
Whoosh! The sword that should have met Jubern’s path had already slipped aside with relaxed ease. “Each one carries weight and threat. Yet too simple. That’s why I can read it so easily.”
“Tch!”
Ssshhk. “……”
With a whoosh of wind, Lan vanished from sight in an instant. Too fast to follow, it felt as if he had simply disappeared. Jubern kept scanning his eyes desperately, but even tracking him was beyond his current abilities. Slash! “Where are you slicing now? That was just my afterimage.”
Jubern, unable to keep up, kept hacking empty air. Finally, from his side, Lan appeared and gently thrust out a fist. Jubern raised his blade just in time to block. Boom! “Hah!”
Despite blocking, the immense shock sent Jubern flying sideways. “I can block this too? Impressive?”
Even restricting power to Jubern’s level, it was still a Pillar-level attack. If Lan had predicted Jubern’s strength, the spar should have ended here with Jubern unable to block. Having exchanged a few blows with a fellow Pillar, this was enough encouragement. But Jubern’s skill far exceeded Lan’s expectations. “Excellent. Then shall we raise the difficulty?”
Of Lan’s two hands, one remained behind his back. Even with just one hand involved, he was already draining Jubern dry. In response, he countered with a surge of power, adding his ability to the mix. This was too much. Whoosh! A cool, biting wind filled the training ground, whipping mercilessly around Jubern and his surroundings. “Ugh…!”
“So this is truly what a Release without opening the gate unleashes! Truly earth-shaking.”
Blood from the torn wounds flowed into the sand, mixing with grains and shredded fabric fluttering wildly. Blinded by the sandstorm from the wind, Jubern, helpless and overwhelmed, decided it was time to release. “C, ccc! Release!”
PUFF—! At the same moment Jubern opened his gate, a thick, dark column of water erupted from the ground. The surging torrent wrapped around Jubern like a guardian, devouring the storm and sand, writhing as if alive. “After only a few exchanges, I’m already over my limit. This is truly the Pillar’s, Lord’s power! I can’t show weakness again. This time, I’ll show you my strength.”
Ssssheee! The fierce water column, reminiscent of a raging monster, roared toward Lan in a brutal arc. Ssshhk, shhhk! Lan dodged every blow without much effort, yet an odd feeling lingered. No, he was certain. “No matter how I think, it’s strange. Both Cheneung and Ineung place him at the same level as a viscount at best. It’s hard to believe he matched me in the field while protecting those people.”
BOOM! As Jubern’s attacks kept missing, gradually adapting to Lan’s speed, he finally seized the opening and unleashed his final strike. “I won’t miss!”
Jubern squeezed every last drop of power, summoning a wave the size of a house just as he had on Seo-Wangdo. “Aqua Wave.”
The colossal tidal wave, swelling larger, swept over everything on the ground yet still wasn’t satisfied. It turned its fury toward Lan himself. Lan watched the oncoming black wave and recalled the conversation he had shared with Trant back then. “A common soldier? The soldier guarding the capital claimed he stopped the leader of the bandits who seemed to be summoning a huge wave?”
“Yes. When that man created the wave, my whole body trembled.”
“That bad? Then I’d like to meet him myself. Name was Jubern, right? Could you bring him here?”
“Understood. Pillar.”
“So this is the technique I only heard about. Quite splendid.”
A gentle smile played on Lan’s lips. Suddenly, he extended two fingers straight at the heart of the approaching wave.