The Eyepatch swordsman

"Run! The Khan Kingdom army is coming!"

"Chik! Chik!"

Behind them, the soldiers of the Kingdom of Aon fled screaming in pandemonium, dripping blood or stumbling along riddled with arrow wounds.

Simon and Dick were sprinting through the chaos.

"Fall back to the inner castle! Fall back to the inner castle!"

"The South Gate is still open!"

The situation had turned dire. Elisa, the supreme commander of the Khan Kingdom's side, had grown impatient with the sluggish siege and driven her core forces straight into the outer wall's North Gate, crushing it open through sheer force.

But Elisa hadn't stopped at breaking through. She committed a large body of cavalry to the breach and pressed the attack without pause, pushing all the way to the North Gate of the inner castle itself.

The inner castle had only two gates — north and south. The moment the North Gate came under Elisa's threat, every Aon soldier needing to withdraw was funneled toward the South Gate, and a crippling bottleneck was forming.

"No, seriously! The more I think about it, the less it makes sense!"

Dick said, furiously scratching his head.

"The North Gate had only four defenders! It's sturdier than the South Gate we were assigned to! How the hell did they break through it before the messenger even arrived?"

Simon, quietly chewing over the question Dick had raised, spoke up.

"I think Elisa has more strong fighters on her level besides herself."

True to her upbringing as a politician's daughter, Elisa planned and executed everything methodically. Someone like her would almost certainly have gathered her strongest fighters in advance and organized them into teams.

"Hmm, that's a headache — but yeah, it tracks. If two or three Special Admission students hit the North Gate, that explains everything."

Just then, Khan Kingdom soldiers came into view ahead of Simon and Dick. They were chasing down the fleeing allies.

"Chit! Don't let a single one of them escape! Kill them all!"

"Chik! Chik! Don't let them reach the inner castle!"

With their numbers at such an overwhelming disadvantage, every single soldier counted.

Simon and Dick nodded to each other and rushed off to rescue their allies.

"Oh wait, Simon! You're supposed to be conserving your Jet-Black. Want to borrow a sword?"

Dick offered his own enchanted blade.

"I could manage with martial arts."

"Come on, martial arts burns through more Jet-Black than you'd think."

In the end, Simon took the sword. He gave it a few practice swings through the air — the grip felt decent, but something crucial was missing.

"You wouldn't happen to have a greatsword, would you?"

"I do, but do you even know how to use a greatsword? Those things are insanely hard."

"To some extent."

With a dubious expression, Dick pulled a greatsword out of his subspace. It was the smallest greatsword available, but Simon liked its heavy heft.

"Alright, let's go!"

"Okay!"

Simon and Dick stomped their Jet-Black in unison and charged at the Khan Kingdom forces slaughtering their allies.

"Chik! Strange ones incoming!"

"It's the Guardians of Aon!"

Simon's eyes flashed at the head of the charge. Like an accelerating chariot he plowed into the enemy line and swung the greatsword with all his might.

With a resounding crash, several Khan Kingdom soldiers went flying like bowling pins.

"Hup!"

Right behind him, Dick dropped in from above and drove his sword into the gap between a soldier's helm and armor. Stepping on the man's body with his leg to wrench his blade free, he moved with flashy flair, fighting with a thrust-centered sword style.

Vroooooom!

Simon's greatsword style, by contrast, was dazzling in a different way entirely.

He wielded that massive blade as deftly as if it were his own limbs, striding through the enemy ranks with movements that were overwhelming yet fluid. The Khan Kingdom soldiers flinched back, not even daring to face him.

"Chit! Do not retreat!"

A Khan Kingdom officer charged at Simon, leading the counterattack. Simon raised the greatsword to receive the man's blade, then stepped boldly forward.

Scraaaape!

The officer's sword slid up along the greatsword's edge, and Simon, closing the distance, swept the massive blade down with raw force.

With a wet slash!, the black blade carved the man's body clean in a single diagonal line.

"Whoa, Simon! What was that just now!"

Dick exclaimed as he fought off another enemy soldier with visible effort.

"That was not 'to some extent' level greatsword skill! Where'd you learn greatswordsmanship — your dad teach you back home, like everything else?"

"No. Greatswords—"

Simon deflected a thrusting spear with practiced ease, cutting down another man as he answered.

"I taught myself."

"Oh, come off it! I've never once seen you use a greatsword — what are you on about!"

"It's true."

Wham! Wham!

With every swing of Simon's greatsword, soldiers toppled like autumn leaves. Dick, who practiced swordsmanship regularly, kept pace without falling behind.

"Hup!"

"Hyaaah!"

Simon and Dick spotted enemies rushing at each other's backs and lunged. As the two of them crossed paths mid-stride, blades swinging, two enemy soldiers fell in sprays of blood.

"S-Strong! Chit!"

"Fall back! We need a Guardian on our side too!"

At last, the Khan Kingdom pursuit force began to flee. Simon and Dick chased them down, securing the escape route for their allies.

"To the inner castle! Retreat to the inner castle! The South Gate is open!"

"Hurry, everyone!"

Simon was directing the allies while running down the retreating pursuers—

"Simon! Get down!"

At Dick's shout, Simon dropped low. A black flash whistled over his head and smashed into the wall.

'A curse!'

Simon looked up in alarm and saw a Kizen male student standing atop the castle wall, a necklace of skulls hanging around his neck. Curses were firing in rapid succession from his fingertips.

"A curse specialist! Take cover!"

Simon and Dick dropped low and bolted behind cover. Curses kept spitting from the student's fingertips, each glowing a different color as they slammed into the barricade.

"Annoying!"

Dick thrust out his fingers as well.

Black smoke flickered and flew from his fingertips, but the curse specialist ducked low and vanished behind the wall. Dick's curse shattered against the stone, and the specialist popped his head back up to fire again.

"Ugh!"

Dick took the curse head-on and rolled across the ground.

"Dick!"

"Aaargh! Damn it! What is this?!"

Dick began clawing at his whole body in convulsive fits. Red welts were rising across his skin.

"One down."

The curse specialist who had neutralized Dick ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠let out a sinister chuckle and turned his gaze on Simon this time. Simon, for his part, was already tracing a curse onto his palm with his free hand — the one not gripping the greatsword.

The two curses completed at nearly the same instant.

The moment both boys flung out their arms, their curses crossed paths in midair.

Simon dodged with nothing more than a tilt of his head.

'What the— how is it that fast?!'

His Sickness flew at a speed incomparable to Dick's Exhaust, grazing the curse specialist's shoulder as it passed.

'Guh!'

As ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the specialist staggered and dropped to one knee, Simon hoisted Dick over his shoulder and ran.

"I am NOT losing you!"

The curse specialist chased after Simon, readying another curse and hurling it.

"!"

But he had barely taken a few strides when his vision began spinning wildly, and he collapsed face-first onto the spot. Seeing this, the Khan Kingdom soldiers came swarming.

"Chit! Guardian!"

"Are you all right! Chik!"

Wobble, wobble.

The curse specialist signaled that he was fine and forced himself upright. Then—

"Huuuurbk!"

He ended up vomiting everything in his stomach. The soldiers hastily backed away several steps.

"Dick, just hold on a moment."

Simon laid Dick down inside an abandoned house and drew a magic circle.

"Aaaaargh...!"

Dick had been scratching himself madly with his nails, leaving livid red marks all over his body. Once the circle was calmly complete, Simon pressed it against Dick's body and activated it.

A blue-black light rippled across Dick's body, and his movements gradually stilled. The hives faded quickly too, and Dick let his arms flop ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠down in relief.

"...Wow. I honestly thought I was going to die. That was a double-stacked curse."

Simon held out his hand.

"Can you keep fighting?"

"Obviously."

Dick took Simon's hand and rose to his feet.

Back outside, the battle lines had steadied somewhat. The other Kizen students on the defensive side were bustling about, helping the soldiers retreat.

Simon issued orders through the Commander's Token.

Simon and Dick, too, now made for the inner castle.

Past the residential district and a little farther on, another wall rose before them — built of thick brick, incomparably taller than the outer wall.

"The inner castle must be held even if our army is annihilated to the last man."

Dick said.

"The moment the Khan Kingdom breaks through here, they'll climb straight up the stairs to the royal castle. And if the aerial barrier — the Guardian Stone — goes down too, Elisa will attack from the sky with her Ghost Ships. For us, there's no worse scenario than that."

The two walked toward the wall, exchanging thoughts back and forth.

Since the bottleneck at the South Gate was still grinding on, the defenders inside the inner castle had lowered ladders only along the safest stretch of wall and were hauling their fellow soldiers up one by one. It was a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠reasonable approach.

Simon and Dick waited in line as well.

"Dick, go up first."

"Yeah. I'll head on up."

Dick started climbing the ladder while Simon stayed on the ground, watching their rear. If the pursuit force came charging in, he meant to buy the soldiers time to climb.

"Chik! Halt the pursuit force!"

Meanwhile, the Aon soldiers had formed a suicide corps and were building defensive lines in front of the wall, stacking wooden barricades and more.

The Khan Kingdom fielded a large cavalry force. To stop horsemen, they dug trenches and planted obstacles in front of the barricades.

"Chik! Who goes there!"

Then, someone began walking toward the suicide corps' defensive line.

"Stop! Chik! One more step and we shoot!"

The corps aimed their bows in threat, but the man did not slow his stride. And then they saw him rest his hand on the hilt of the sword at his waist.

'What is he doing?'

Simon stepped forward as well to see.

BOOOOOOOOM!

At the scene that unfolded, Simon doubted his own eyes.

Every last one of those countless wooden barricades and obstacles — and the suicide corps soldiers along with them — was sliced cleanly in half and lifted into the air.

'The entire defensive line, in a single stroke?'

Simon stared ahead, his expression taut with tension.

Step. Step.

The man drew steadily closer. A boy with an eyepatch over one eye.

"Whoa! He was on the siege team?"

Dick, seeing him too, shouted at Simon.

"Simon! It was never Elisa we needed to worry about! That guy—!"

SHRAAAAAAK!

A long line was carved across the inner castle's wall. The ladders propped against it were sliced in two, and every soldier clinging to them plummeted.

"Gwah!"

Dick hit the ground just the same. Simon narrowed his eyes, tracking the boy's every movement.

Tat!

Then the boy vanished.

Simon, already on guard, flung his eyes wide and raised the greatsword before him.

CLAAAAAANG!

At almost the same instant, a longsword materialized out of thin air and crashed against Simon's greatsword. A percussive roar shook the entire battlefield.

'Ugh!'

The shock felt like it would tear his wrist clean off — and Simon found himself face to face with the boy who had appeared out of nowhere.

"We're old acquaintances, aren't we?"

"So we are."

The boy replied.

He was Special Admission No. 5 — Jule Vincere.

"My condition today is—"

Curiously, he had swung with the sword still sheathed.

Jule stepped back a single pace, strapped the longsword to his belt, and tilted the hilt forward.

"—not bad at all."

"!"

Simon immediately twisted his body backward. A colossal sword strike, wide enough to cleave the inner castle in two, came down in a diagonal arc and left a long scar across the wall.

'...Whoa.'

Cold sweat trickled down Simon's forehead.

He could feel it — this boy was on a completely different tier from every enemy he had faced so far.