Conquering Fear
An assassin knows the structure of the human body intimately.
The exact positions of the heart, lungs, liver, and kidneys. The precise count and arrangement of the bones. The distribution of muscle fibers, down to the exact physiological function of every single organ. In other words, an assassin knows precisely where to stab, where to cut, and what consequence will follow the slightest touch to any given point.
Ziel waited until Yulio's racing pulse settled to a steady rhythm before speaking.
"Student Yulio Harmatan. Run for a moment before my eyes. A short distance. From here to there."
"Pardon? Yes, sir! U-Understood."
Ziel observed the boy's running form with razor-sharp scrutiny: the shifting tension in every muscle group, the cadence of his breath, even the faint, rhythmic thumping of his heart.
Irregular, he noted.
Drawing upon an assassin's clinical knowledge, he arrived at a swift diagnosis: the flow of mana was obstructed. In several places, the internal pathways bottlenecked or hit outright blockages, resulting in unnatural muscle spasms and erratic respiration.
The heart.
The greatest discrepancy lay in the muscles framing the chest. An erratic pulse suggested a deep-seated cardiac abnormality, one that had likely compromised the myocardium itself.
Anyone else might have wondered how on earth such a frail youth had ever been admitted into the Sword School. Ziel, however, harbored no such idle curiosity. His mind was occupied solely with one practical problem: how to elevate Yulio to the same baseline as his peers.
"Haa... haa..."
"Halt, Student Yulio Harmatan. You may return."
Once Yulio jogged back, Ziel placed a flat palm directly over the boy's chest without warning.
"I-I-Instructor?"
"Remain still for a moment."
The other cadets, still slogging through their laps, glanced over in confusion.
"Pant... wheeze... What is he doing?"
"Who knows? Huff... Hey, eyes forward!"
"Still, don't you think this is better than last time? I feel like my stamina's actually improving!"
Only Deleb watched them with an envious sidelong glance.
"Hey, Deleb. Jealous?"
"W-Why would I be jealous?!"
"Come on, you totally are. You've been staring at them the whole time while running."
"Shut up!"
Though he bolted ahead as if stung by Celia's jab, Celia, too, couldn't take her eyes off the scene.
"To be honest, I'm jealous too," she muttered.
What were they discussing that took so long with Instructor Ziel? Of course, her interest differed from Deleb's.
When should I make the offer for him to become my escort knight? Celia was convinced that Ziel would eventually accept.
"Um, Instructor... my chest feels kind of hot..."
"I am locating the blockages. You may feel a sensation of tightness."
"Ah, it actually kind of hurts..."
"Endure it."
"..."
Yulio grimaced. Seen from afar, the tableau looked so strange that several students tilted their heads in bewilderment.
A moment later, Ziel spoke.
"Three centimeters below the left atrium. Two centimeters above the right atrium. Both points govern the circulation of blood and mana."
Yulio's eyes went wide as saucers.
"Wh-What do you mean?"
"It means there is a concrete reason for your deficient stamina. How long has it been this way?"
"S-Since birth... But how did you know that?"
"By channeling mana through you."
In truth, it was an assassination technique. It was a method employed when weaponless or requiring a silent, untraceable kill: injecting one's mana into an opponent's body to disrupt their internal biology and incapacitate them. If necessary, that mana could be detonated at a designated node to burst a target's organs from the inside out. It was one of the many reasons Ziel had been feared under the moniker of the Phantom.
Channeling mana... is that even possible?
As Yulio stood there bewildered, Ziel asked, "What breathing technique did you learn?"
"Ah. Well..." Yulio hesitated, stammering before managing a reply. "...It's a technique my father procured for me. He told me it cost him a fortune."
"Demonstrate it."
As if under a spell, Yulio sat cross-legged and began to circulate his mana according to his breathing art. Ziel kept his hand in place, tracking the path of mana through the boy's vessels. After a brief pause, a dry, impassive evaluation left his lips.
"It is incompatible with you, Student Yulio Harmatan."
"Pardon?"
"I will modify your breathing technique slightly."
"Wh-What?!" Yulio stammered in panic. "Modify a breathing technique? That's insanely dangerous—"
"I know. But I am capable of it."
"...What?"
Once learned, altering a mana breathing technique was virtually impossible. Even with painstaking, lifelong effort, an elite master might barely tweak a minute detail. To change one on the fly? Right here, right now?
"I-Instructor... Does that even make sense?"
"A teacher does not deceive his students."
Yulio stared at Ziel in a daze. Still, though...
A mana breathing technique was a delicately crafted system. Its efficacy varied wildly depending on the creator's design. Naturally, shifting the fundamental pattern of one's breathing midway through life was considered suicidal; the slightest misstep in such an intricate apparatus would cause fatal internal backlash. Hence the common adage: The first choice shapes a lifetime. That was precisely why grand noble houses poured vast fortunes into securing exclusive breathing arts—one's initial technique determined their lifelong ceiling.
Of course, what Ziel proposed was a 'modification.' Rather than replacing the foundational method, he intended to retain the core while recalibrating the sequence and routing of the mana flow.
"The current pathways guided by your breathing art do not align with your physical condition, Student Yulio Harmatan."
"And... so?"
"It concerns your heart. Mana must flow more smoothly through that region, but it is currently failing to do so."
Yulio could hardly believe his ears. How could he possibly know that?
His chest had felt perpetually constricted since the day he was born. When his family searched for a technique to purchase, they had been agonizingly cautious, desperate to avoid putting strain on his heart.
"You're going to change that?"
"Yes. I will reroute the mana closer to the heart. Presently, your circulation merely brushes past a distant node once per breath; I will make it pass through the closest junction twice."
It wasn't an overhaul of the entire network. To use an analogy of roads, he was merely replacing a wide detour with a direct shortcut, reconnecting it smoothly back to the original highway.
"I-I'm scared..."
"Fear?"
"Pardon?"
"Then this shall serve as a lesson in overcoming fear."
Yulio trembled. What if something went wrong? What if his already frail body shattered completely?
"I'm truly terrified, Instructor..."
"Trust me, Student Yulio Harmatan. It is possible."
"B-But I've never heard of such a thing in my entire life..."
"Then will you stop here?"
"..."
"If you halt now, you will live out the rest of your days with mediocre stamina. It may even deteriorate further." Ziel asked with absolute clarity, "Do you not wish to conquer your fear?"
Yulio looked up. The terror of his inherent frailty. The dread of a dark, uncertain future. The crushing anxiety over his family's fallen legacy. Amid all that dread, Ziel was the very first person to ever praise him since entering Edelbein Academy.
"...It really will be all right, won't it?"
"A teacher does not deceive his students."
Yulio wrestled with his thoughts for a moment before nodding firmly.
"I'll do it."
Resolute determination flared in his eyes. In truth, it was a terrifyingly reckless decision. Modifying an ingrained breathing technique was considered impossible, let alone altering the meridian pathways themselves. Yet he had been told it could be done. Instructor Ziel said so. The one man who had acknowledged and encouraged him.
Ziel read something in the boy's expression. His gaze shifted. Is this an emotion?
Was the previous feeling fear, then? Little by little, Ziel felt as though he was beginning to comprehend human emotion.
"Breathe, Student Yulio Harmatan. When I give the command, alter the direction. I shall guide you."
Yulio couldn't grasp the exact mechanics, but understanding dawned in an instant.
It's warm.
The mana Ziel infused into his chest gently began coaxing and nudging his own internal currents. In truth, this was the first time Ziel had ever used his power like this. He had often seeded foreign mana along an enemy's pathways only to detonate it, but never to nurture.
It can be utilized in this manner as well, he thought.
Ziel was the sole practitioner of the Breathing of the Polar Night within the Organization. As the Phantom, he had executed countless assassinations deemed impossible by mortal standards: high nobles shielded by dozens of elite knights; a slaver who barricaded himself inside a vault lined with enchanted steel; a high priest who had set an elaborate trap and lay in wait. Every single one had fallen to Ziel. Cleanly. Flawlessly.
The secret lay within the Breathing of the Polar Night. Transcending mere sensory perception, it allowed him to perceive the absolute flow of mana—whether circulating through the human body or drifting through the open atmosphere. Having lived entirely within the closed, brutal confines of the Organization, he had never realized the sheer magnitude of his monstrous talent. And now, thanks to that very talent, an art designed to kill was breathing life into another human being.
"Now. A fraction to the left."
"Phew..."
"Now. To the right. Angle slightly upward."
Ziel's mana patiently marshaled Yulio's mana forward. Carving an unfamiliar channel brought an alien, sharp pain.
"Kh!"
"Do not break your posture, Student Yulio Harmatan."
"I-It really hurts so much!"
"I have painkillers, but they will dull your senses."
Wait, why on earth does an instructor carry painkillers around?!
"Endure more."
"Y-Yes, sir... Ugh!"
Yulio gritted his teeth. To be honest, he still couldn't wrap his mind around it. A congenital defect had left his stamina in the gutter since childhood. Compounding the issue—unbeknownst to him or his father—the incompatible breathing art had degraded his constitution even further. Could a condition that had plagued him for over a decade truly be resolved in a single day?
"This is the final stretch."
"Haa... ngh!"
Having completed one full cycle, Yulio collapsed forward, utterly spent.
"Haa... haa..."
"Commit that path to memory. Circulate through it once more. How does your body feel?"
"Completely exhausted..."
"From my observation, there are no abnormalities. Again."
Yulio pushed through a second cycle, a third, then a fourth and fifth.
Huh?
Strangely enough, with each repetition, an unprecedented ease settled over his body. The suffocating tightness that had weighed upon his chest for years was gradually melting away.
"The blood vessels and mana channels around the left and right atria are expanding," Ziel remarked.
Is it real?
'A teacher does not deceive his students.'
Ziel's earlier words echoed in Yulio's mind. By the time he drew the final breath of the fifth cycle, his limbs felt remarkably light.
"Instructor... this really..."
"Yes. Running will no longer be as agonizing as before. Things are slightly less unfair now."
"Instructor...!"
Yulio bowed his head deeply, hot tears welling in his eyes. The first person to praise him had now granted him a miracle.
This makes no sense at all!
He had altered an established breathing technique midway through. It was an astonishing, impossible feat.
Just what kind of person is he?
Yulio had never heard of anyone capable of such mastery. At this present moment in time, Ziel was likely the only being alive who could modify another person's mana pathways from the outside. For Yulio, it completely defied comprehension.
"Perform it one more time."
"Yes, sir!"
Replying with renewed vigor, Yulio held his posture and circulated his mana with force. It moved incomparably smoother than before. To top it off, Ziel immediately offered an on-the-spot refinement.
"Hold. Circulate mana past your heart twice in a single breath."
"Pardon?"
That deviated entirely from the established rules of breathing arts.
"It is possible. Try it. I will guide the path."
Ziel seemed to have deduced something new. To suit Student Yulio Harmatan's constitution, this approach will be far more effective. Yulio's heart was weaker than average. While part of it stemmed from a congenital ailment, the root exacerbation had been an ill-fitting breathing technique. Rectifying the circulation was the most practical remedy.
Ah, whatever, stop overthinking it!
At this point, Yulio simply gave up trying to understand. It only gave him a headache. It works because it's Instructor Ziel. That single thought took root in his heart.
"Whew, whew..."
Circulating mana twice around the heart in one breath was excruciatingly difficult. Yet on the second attempt, and then the third, coaxing his mana under Ziel's precise guidance, the flow smoothly fell into line.
"A success."
"I-Instructor..."
"Maintain this form. Etch it into your memory."
"Understood, sir!"
An overwhelming realm of genius. It was not that he could achieve this because he had mastered the Breathing of the Polar Night; rather, it was because he possessed such peerless talent that he had been able to master the Breathing of the Polar Night in the first place. That very talent for mana—which had once ensured countless flawless assassinations—had made this miracle possible.
He's truly incredible...
In that moment, boundless reverence for Ziel took deep root in Yulio's heart. At last, he had a chance to catch up to his peers. The road ahead remained long, but the paralyzing dread that had choked his future felt a little lighter.
"Though I altered your breathing technique slightly, there are no abnormalities. Now, run."
"Yes, sir! Thank you, Instructor! Thank you so very much!"
Yulio gave a booming salute and launched into a sprint.
Startled by his thunderous shout of gratitude, the other students gaped in astonishment as they watched him go.
"What? Why is he running so well all of a sudden?"
"Wasn't Yulio's stamina terrible?"
"Did he just get a second wind because he took a break?"
In the previous class, Yulio's record had been twenty laps. Today, he had collapsed after thirty. Yet now, there was no trace of exhaustion on his face. Despite already running thirty laps earlier, he blew past an additional twenty—reaching a staggering fifty laps!
"What the hell? Why is he so fast?"
"What did the instructor do to him?"
It was baffling. Yulio had been so frail that everyone wondered how he had ever been admitted into the Sword School, practically branded a hopeless flunkee. For him to transform like this in an instant...
"Yulio, what gives?! Pant... What happened to you?!"
"I don't know either! See you at the finish, Karen!"
"Yulio! Hey!"
Watching the spectacle, Ziel stood quietly. Was it because someone had thanked him? Or was it because his student had improved? Without Ziel even realizing it, the corner of his mouth curved upward in the faintest of smiles.
"Haa... haa..."
Yulio finally ground to a halt only after finishing another thirty laps. Thirty in the first half, and another thirty just now—a grand total of sixty laps! While still trailing behind the top students, it was a monumental leap forward.
"Instructor... huff... my... pant... my stamina really...!"
"It increased."
"Thank you... huff... so much!"
With those parting words, Yulio collapsed onto the grass, heaving for breath. He had unmistakably improved.
He mentioned an illness earlier.
Ziel recalled the chatter between Karen and Yulio. He had alleviated some of the symptoms born of the defect, but addressing the underlying illness itself was undoubtedly crucial as well.
Perhaps I should pay a visit to the back-alley doctor. I wonder if he is still there.
Pushing the thought aside for now, Ziel gathered the students.
"Class dismissed. Everyone, assemble."