Chapter 227
Chapter 227
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 227
Chapter Title: The Trial of the Holy Grail (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The realm of the transcendent is distant and treacherous.
Though the long history of endless wars had forged countless transcendents, their numbers were never great. And even less so after the Sword Sanctum fell.
It was only natural.
Those who, without the aid of the stars and remaining merely human, attained the power to touch the laws of the universe. Those who honed a single lifetime to a razor's edge and stepped into domains unreachable by others.
Only such people could become transcendents.
Thus, it was no surprise that the path to transcendence was fraught with peril. Even Kalt, now approaching that realm, felt it keenly as he reflected on his own past.
"It feels like I was almost there."
"Yeah, pretty much."
In a forest a short distance from Aphria, while preparing to use the Holy Grail, Raniel and Kalt shared a brief conversation.
"You even gained a faint super-sensation, and with all your experience, you're right on the cusp. Thinking about it, no one's survived as many slaughterhouses as you."
Raniel nodded.
She knew well the path Kalt had walked. Though he hadn't reached the transcendent realm, he had challenged and accomplished feats that even transcendents would stake their lives on.
"It's kinda amazing watching you."
"Amazing how?"
"At first, I just thought you were some mangy mutt, but the more I see, the more insane stuff you pull off..."
Raniel gave a wry smile.
"Honestly, it's ridiculous."
"What's ridiculous?"
"That you blocked a strike from Ganikalt's sword."
Raniel remembered it clearly.
Ganikalt switching his grip on his sword to show respect to Kalt. It was the honor Ganikalt, as a swordsman, gave to anyone who blocked even a single strike of his blade.
'...How the hell did he block the sword of that monster that cleaved a massive city wall in half horizontally?'
It was even harder to fathom when she recalled the shattered remnants of the wall she'd seen in Arcadia.
"How'd you do it?"
"Everyone misunderstands it."
Kalt shrugged.
"Honestly, I didn't block it."
"...Didn't block it?"
"More like I dodged. Real pathetically, too."
Not blocked, but dodged.
Kalt said as much while fiddling with his sword hilt.
"How could I receive a sword that collapses canyons? I thought differently from the start. Since I couldn't block it anyway, maybe I could dodge."
From the beginning, victory wasn't his goal back then. What Kalt had aimed for was merely buying time... and he had one piece of knowledge about Ganikalt.
"No matter the method, if you endure even a single exchange, Ganikalt switches his grip. He shows respect as a swordsman."
He exploited that.
Kalt had bet everything from the outset on dodging just 'one' attack.
"So I discarded it."
He tapped his right shoulder.
"Arm, collarbone, joints... even my heart. I threw away anything I could."
One arm was severed.
His body torn by the wind pressure. His heart, clawed by the rotten gale, lost its means to purify the demonic energy.
"I gave up half my body to dodge. And as long as I could somehow stay standing, I endured."
The swinging sword.
The erupting slashes.
Rather than blocking, he let them flow past, mimicking the sword of Kuntel he'd once seen. He couldn't deflect it completely, but sacrificing half his body might make it possible somehow.
"It's always been my specialty."
Kalt gave a wry smile.
"Discard what you can discard, take what you can take. My head works pretty well that way."
"......"
"Once I figured I could survive, I got a bit reckless. And I did survive, didn't I?"
It was a results-oriented argument.
Raniel remembered what state Kalt had been in back then. Without Sara squeezing out every last drop of holy power, he would've died on the spot.
'Even Sara's miracle couldn't fully heal him.'
Not even the saintess's blessing, called a miracle, could fully restore Kalt's body. That's why he had to retire from the battlefield.
"Anyway."
Raniel let out a short breath.
"You seem a bit off in the head too."
"Not as much as you, senior."
"Wanna get hit?"
Threatening Kalt with the Holy Grail, Raniel lightly shook her wrist. Preparations for the Holy Grail's trial were nearly complete.
「The Holy Grail's usage is simple.」
「If there's someone nearby who's hit a wall, the Holy Grail reacts to them. It resonates.」
At regular intervals, the starlight within the Holy Grail rippled.
「When that resonance reaches thirty-seven, tilting the Grail activates it.」
Thirty-six.
And then, thirty-seven.
The Holy Grail, vibrating in cycles of about ten seconds, fell silent. Raniel tilted the cup, gazing at the platinum starlight within.
Drip.
The starlight touched the ground.
Not the grass, but the space around where it fell warped like ripples on water.
Crack.
Raniel pointed at the split space with her finger.
"All set."
"I just jump in there?"
"Seems like it."
"...Why no confidence in your words?"
Kalt eyed Raniel suspiciously. She shrugged with a smile.
"'Cause it's my first time using it too."
"......"
Glancing at her with half-lidded eyes, Kalt soon let out a long sigh. He'd already steeled himself. Calming his breath, he wrapped his fingers around his sword hilt.
"...Then, I'll be off."
The space emanated a faint starlight.
Kalt leaped toward it.
2.
His vision flickered repeatedly in the platinum flash.
Only after what felt like about thirty seconds could Kalt slowly open his eyes.
Blink.
Struggling to look around, he saw a vast plain stretching out. The sky was blue, and the grassland shimmering green extended to the horizon.
And there, something stood.
"...A wall?"
It was a massive wall.
Kalt looked up at the enormous wall on the plain. It resembled the inner wall he'd once faced. But it wasn't the same as the first one he'd seen.
'At first, it looked like an impregnable wall...'
Not anymore.
Cracks marred the wall here and there. It seemed ready to crumble at any moment. Kalt instinctively understood this represented his current level.
As well as the nature of the trial.
"......"
Kalt stared silently at the wall.
The massive wall began to morph. Converging into a single point, it soon took human form.
Tattered clothing.
A blade dulled and worn.
The arm gripping the sword was covered in wounds, and an eerie aura emanated from the blood-soaked figure.
It was the last image of Kuntel, the sword transcendent Kalt remembered. Mixed among the knights withdrawing from the battlefield, Kalt had glanced back and etched the sight of Kuntel facing death into his eyes.
A human challenging death.
A swordsman who ultimately achieved the feat.
That proud swordsman now stood before him, in the same human form as then.
"Hoo..."
Kalt exhaled deeply and drew his sword.
He aimed it at Kuntel.
"One bout, if you please."
The trial summoned from memory and record wouldn't understand words. But Kuntel slowly raised his sword. His eyes gleamed through blood-matted hair.
A gesture accepting the duel.
Kalt swallowed dryly, settling into stance. Cold sweat trickled down his spine. Just facing him, Kalt sensed death.
'I absolutely can't win.'
Visions of his head flying off upon clash flooded his mind repeatedly. Even at a distance, the killing intent made his legs tremble.
'But.'
That's why it was a trial.
Even using a miraculous holy relic, even if one could become transcendent without loss, one still had to face and surpass the wall.
「There's always fitting pain in surpassing a wall. You can't reach transcendence without suffering and trials.」
Recalling Kuntel's words from long ago, Kalt curled his lips.
"Here I come."
Kalt kicked off the ground.
As he did, he recalled the condition to overcome this trial. It was what he'd always yearned for.
'Just once, make contact.'
Wound Sword Master Kuntel.
Not enduring, fleeing, or buying time as always... but inflict a meaningful wound.
'Without tricks or special tools like magic artifacts... purely with a single sword.'
It was what he'd longed for so long.
What he'd stubbornly held onto inwardly.
To achieve it, Kalt closed the distance. Thud, thud—the sounds of his feet pounding the earth echoed across the plain. Utilizing his near-transcendent physical prowess to the fullest, he closed in on Kuntel in an instant.
Even then, Kuntel stood motionless.
As if yielding the first move.
Whoosh!
Now in range, Kalt swung his sword.
The blade cut the air with a resounding whoosh. The trajectory was clean, the tip unwavering. A strike worthy of being called his best.
And Kuntel moved.
His raised blade accelerated for an instant. But the acceleration was fleeting. The moment it met Kalt's sword, it returned to its original speed.
Neither slow nor fast.
The blade moved serenely. The silver arc gently deflected Kalt's sword. Not parried. Merely flowed aside.
Like water.
Serenely and softly.
The path Kalt's sword traced reversed. By the time he realized, it was already plunged into the ground. One exchange had passed. The flow had completely shifted.
Kalt's sword was stuck in the ground.
Kuntel's continued moving.
"...Ha."
Kalt let out a hollow laugh.
He tried lifting the sword from the ground, but he knew full well it was far too late.
'Wow, this is no joke...'
The thought didn't finish.
Because Kuntel's sword slit his throat.
3.
"Didn't you just go in?"
"......"
"With that resolute look, like you'd steeled yourself completely, saying 'I'll be off'?"
"...I did."
"How many minutes passed, though?"
I tapped the pocket watch in my hand.
"Hey, three minutes. Three."
Of course, I didn't expect him to pass the trial on the first try. But still, three minutes? That's a bit much, isn't it?
"...That tough?"
"Tougher than I thought."
Kalt rubbed his nape.
"Felt way stronger than the Kuntel I knew. Unconsciously, I must've pictured the Kuntel from that night city... but no."
Kalt shook his head slowly.
"On a whole different level."
"That much?"
"Blink, and my head was gone. Probably went in too casually."
"...Yeah?"
I narrowed my eyes at Kalt.
He sighed and muttered about how insanely tough it was... but a smile played on his lips.
"But you look like you're enjoying it?"
"Can't help it."
Kalt grinned.
"It's the moment I've dreamed of. Challenging someone I thought I'd never face again."
"Really," Kalt murmured.
"Still so much to learn from him. Truly."
As if reliving the sensations in his hands, Kalt regripped his hilt repeatedly, his eyes shining.
"One or two times won't be enough..."
Kalt looked at me.
"But a bit more, and I think I can grasp it."
And it wasn't baseless nonsense.
The second time Kalt leaped into the space, he returned after ten minutes. Having endured about three times longer, he stabbed his sword into the ground, panting heavily.
His breaths came ragged.
Injuries from the trial didn't carry over to reality. But rotating his stiff shoulder suggested some phantom pain lingered.
"Hey, take a little break and..."
As I started to say something.
Ignoring me, Kalt muttered one thing and dove back in.
"One more."
Thirty minutes later, Kalt returned.
First: three minutes.
Second: ten minutes.
Third: thirty minutes.
Astonishing growth. But since he'd hit the three-attempt limit Cardy had warned about, I was about to suggest wrapping up...
"Still good."
Kalt dove into the space again.
Far from exhausted, he looked feverish.