The Severing Blade
The spectator stands, once roaring with cheers and clamor for the competitors, fell into an eerie silence. Shock filled every pair of eyes. What the hell is that......
Ennya Dexspin, who had been eliminated early from the survival treasure hunt and was now watching from the stands, felt the same crushing disbelief. Her eyes widened, her breath forgotten amid the overwhelming impact. Her mind went blank, as if someone had struck her head with a hammer. She couldn't even think clearly. The scene unfolding on the screen defied all common sense.
He was supposed to be powerless, wasn't he? Could he actually wield mana after all? No, that couldn't be it. The screen clearly showed only Chris's terrifyingly violent mana raging across the battlefield. If the boy had been capable of using magic, the audience wouldn't have been this shocked.
How is that even possible? Ennya had always believed there was only one reason she couldn't defeat Chris: he was a 4-star mage, while she was merely 3-star. Yet the sight before her shattered that certainty.
What is happening right now?
Jealousy, who had been eliminated by Leon Nenfil only to be swiftly defeated by Aaron Dice afterward, tilted his head as he surveyed the silent arena. Even with his exceptional hearing, not a single voice reached him. The stands were so quiet that, if exaggerated, one might hear an ant crawling. Curious, he glanced around and spotted the match footage that had captured everyone's attention. A grin spread across his face.
Ah, so that's why.
The survival treasure hunt. Its final decisive clash. Watching his disciple struggle against Chris, Jealousy muttered in a voice no one else could hear.
"Lose after learning swordsmanship from me, and I'll beat you to death for real."
Whether the opponent was a 4-star mage or anything else, defeat at the hands of some brat was absolutely unacceptable. As if answering his master's words, Togun on the screen swung his black sword toward the brilliant radiance.
Tiger's step. The ferocious gait of a beast sinking its fangs into its prey's neck tore the beams of light ahead into countless fragments. A concentrated point of searing heat, capable of melting even steel on contact—one of the strongest swords nature itself could forge. Facing it with a blade devoid of mana was tantamount to suicide.
Thus, Togun relied solely on his footwork to toy with the light's trajectory, rapidly closing the distance to Chris. Beast Imitation Footwork 'Monkey'. The tiger's bold, powerful strikes merged with the monkey's agility. Togun's left and right feet moved in precise, opposing patterns, pushing change to its absolute limit. Blending advances and evasions, he escaped the prison of light and thrust his black sword at Chris.
Swish! Chris twisted his head to dodge. Without so much as blinking, he tracked the path of Togun's attack. Ignoring his severed hair, Chris instead closed in on Togun and spoke quietly.
"At this range, dodging should be difficult, no?"
Speed and extreme heat. Though Chris's magic combined both velocity and destructive power, it had one flaw: its trajectory was far too straightforward and predictable. While he could alter the angle of the light, as he had when eliminating Ennya Dexspin, the fact remained that his attacks were always linear. Anyone with sharp instincts could read and evade them with relative ease.
To compensate for this weakness, Chris had deliberately allowed Togun to approach, intending to unleash an unavoidable strike at point-blank range.
"……!"
This was exactly what Togun had been waiting for. Barely evading the incoming attack, he twisted the angle of his sword. At a distance where both blade and magic ranges were rendered meaningless, the two fighters stood pressed together like lovers. Swinging a sword or casting a spell became equally difficult. It was a fight where neither held any advantage—yet that wasn't entirely true. No mage in the world would foolishly grant a martial artist such close proximity.
Swish. Chris made a mistake born of inexperience. Togun's eyes lowered, refusing to let this opportunity slip away. As the distance shrank, his grip changed. Releasing the hilt to grasp the blade itself, he shortened his hold to the absolute minimum and swung the sword with bloodied hands in a merciless arc. When Chris leaned back to avoid the strike, Togun shifted his grip back to the hilt and followed through, the tip chasing after Chris's brow. An optical illusion of the sword stretching like rubber unfolded before Chris's eyes.
Indeed, distance meant nothing to Togun. It was an assassin's blade, capable of striking an opponent's vital points under any circumstance or adverse condition. The continent's greatest assassin had drilled this into his body through relentless daily beatings.
I miscalculated.
Togun's grip shifted freely. Sometimes he held the sword normally, other times in reverse. He spun it between his fingers, alternating hands with ease. He even deliberately dropped the blade only to kick it upward with his foot. A sword style unbound by posture or form—the freest blade technique in existence. Combined with the Beast Imitation Footwork he had mastered, it created an unexpected synergy that allowed a powerless individual to pressure a 4-star mage.
Was closing the distance a mistake? Amid the chaos, Chris calmly assessed the situation. Despite Togun's fierce resistance, he had suffered nothing more than a few strands of hair being cut. It meant Chris still retained plenty of leeway even while being pushed back. And if he so desired, he could reverse this disadvantage at any moment.
Just like now.
"Hup!"
Light flashed right before Togun's eyes. Forcing his eyes wide open against the blinding glare, Togun thrust his sword at Chris once more—only to feel an unfamiliar sensation against his hand.
Did I cut him? No. This wasn't the feeling of slicing through human skin. Startled by the foreign texture at his fingertips, Togun flinched and tried to pull back. At that instant, all the photons Chris had scattered converged beneath Togun's feet and bombarded the ground.
Boom! The earth overturned. The intense heat melted the soil, carving out a sinkhole-like crater. The sloped terrain of the mountainous region widened the gap between them. Stepping on photons to halt his fall, Chris soared higher into the sky and aimed his laser at Togun.
Can I dodge this? Should he use the Anti-Magic Sword? He hesitated briefly before gritting his teeth and shaking his head. If he could use it freely, perhaps—but the Anti-Magic Sword had a strict time limit. He had to save it for the decisive moment that would determine victory.
Bang! Togun kicked off falling rock fragments and leaped high toward Chris in the sky. Beast Imitation Footwork 'Eagle'. Like an eagle spreading its wings, he soared upward, evoking the mythical hero who once flew toward the sun on wings of feathers and wax. A reckless journey toward a sun no human could reach. As if to punish such human arrogance, a brilliant laser beam rained down upon Togun.
"Ghh!"
He twisted his body with all his might, but the wound was unavoidable. A beam pierced through his side. The pain, less dulled than it would be for others, burned vividly through his organs. Grinding his teeth, Togun endured it all—until his eyes flashed in a single moment.
"……!"
His forearm swelled explosively. Gripping the sword in reverse like a javelin, he drew it back with all his strength before hurling it forward. The black blade shot toward Chris's brow like an arrow loosed from a bow.
Swish! Chris twisted his head to evade. Togun's surprise attack left only a shallow scratch on Chris's cheek. It was all he could manage. Even after struggling desperately, the gap between a powerless fighter and a 4-star mage remained insurmountable. Worse, the failed attack left Togun in a precarious position—weaponless, his stance broken from the throw, unable to dodge the next strike.
Game over. It seemed he would never witness the boy's special talent from the obstacle race. Just as disappointment flickered in Chris's eyes, he saw it.
He's smiling?
A faint smile on Togun's lips.
Whoosh! Instinct screamed a warning. Chris turned at the chill from behind—and his eyes widened in rare surprise. The sword that had flown past his back earlier was now returning toward him.
Got him!
Like the Qi-Controlled Sword technique that Hwan Empire martial artists reached at the pinnacle of flying blades, the sword freely changed direction midair. Its secret lay in the wire attached to the hilt beforehand. An assassin's blade, capable of claiming a life under any circumstance. The fundamental sword art of the legendary assassination squad Cheonsal, whose name meant they could slay even the heavens. Originally performed with daggers, Jealousy had adapted it for a longsword. It now streaked toward the back of Chris's neck.
"……"
An unpredictable attack that seemed impossible without mana—yet it was precisely because no mana was used that it succeeded. Had mana been involved, Chris's eyes would have detected and thwarted the ambush.
He used his own body as bait to divert my attention? Not bad. But still not enough for Togun to surpass him.
This is as far as I'll indulge you.
The match's time limit was nearly up. It was time to end it. He hadn't seen that black hole from before, but he couldn't afford to lose by fixating on it.
Fwoooosh. Chris dispelled the formula within his magic. The photons, once condensed into a single point by his will, rapidly expanded in all directions. Unbound light spread instantly, engulfing both the charging Togun and the sword flying from behind.
A massive, eerily silent explosion that released all the accumulated heat at once. Togun's black sword vanished before it could reach Chris. A wide-area bombardment that erased everything in its path.
Swish! In that moment of perfect silence, a single cutting sound cleaved through the brilliant radiance.
"……!"
The world was severed. What appeared before it was Togun, now wielding a different sword than before. Masao Sword Art: One Strike Severance. The natural enemy of all mana users. The Anti-Magic Sword, which directly cut through magic itself. Togun Masao, having closed the distance to Chris, raised the blade high and brought it down with all his might.