The Last Regression
The Imperial 3rd Knight Division galloped forward on horseback.
Riding through rain-soaked mountain trails was hardly advisable.
Most novices would end up biting their tongues or falling off their mounts.
Yet the imperial steeds, trained to perfection, deftly avoided rocks and roots, and the knights' horsemanship was flawless.
At the head of the formation, Lennox shouted.
"Are you certain you saw the woman?"
"Positive! I was picking wild berries on the slope when I clearly saw her... Gah!"
Eric's face flushed red; he had bitten his tongue in his excitement.
Lennox ran his fingers along the hilt of the sword at his waist.
"She must be nearby. We will find her and capture her today, no matter what!"
The knights' stamina and rations had reached their limit after days of pursuit.
Lennox steered his horse toward a familiar stretch of terrain.
The rest of the division followed their commander.
Soon they spotted a campfire flickering in the distance.
Lennox dismounted and examined the embers.
The dying fire hissed faintly against the damp air.
"Someone was here until recently."
The knights dismounted and inspected the site.
One of them pointed at the ground.
"There are footprints right here!"
The dirt path was still wet from the rain.
The prints stood out clearly.
"It seems the woman we're after has joined another group. Since they traveled on foot, they can't have gone far. Shall we pursue?"
Lennox was about to answer when the surroundings suddenly blazed with light.
Scorching air brushed his cheek, and the heat blurred his vision.
"Fire!"
"Damn it. This can't be real!"
Flames.
A true wildfire.
The mountains were still damp from the recent rain.
Even if someone had deliberately poured oil, the moisture should have smothered the blaze quickly.
Yet the fire raged with terrifying intensity, threatening to consume the entire range.
Burning trees collapsed, spreading the inferno further.
"Commander! We need orders!"
"There must be a spirit master over there."
"What?"
"Never mind. All of you, fall back."
The knights stared at Lennox in shock.
"What about you, Commander?"
"A large force cannot keep tracking through this wildfire. I can break through alone. Meet me at the foot of the mountain tomorrow morning."
The knights cried out in protest.
"We can't leave you behind! That's absurd! I'm going with you!"
"That's right! We'll go together!"
"We've sworn our blades to the Empire. We will die loyal to it!"
Lennox shook his head.
He looked at the knight who had spoken last.
"I know your loyalty better than anyone. But never say you'll die loyal to the Empire."
"Sir?"
"You'll understand someday."
The knights clenched their fists.
Some bit their lips until they bled, tears streaming down their faces.
In the end, every knight except Lennox retreated from the flames.
Lennox mounted his horse and stroked its mane.
It was a fine imperial steed raised in the palace stables, yet Lennox had never cared enough to learn its breed.
At this moment, however, everything depended on the animal beneath him.
"Let's go."
Lennox spurred his horse straight into the fire.
The steed snorted and charged like a storm.
Branches and bushes wreathed in flame blocked their path.
Lennox drew his long sword and activated a skill.
"Grant the blade the blessing of wind."
A supreme swordsmanship skill.
The blade swept like a tempest, clearing obstacles at blinding speed.
The wind pressure around the edge not only extinguished the flames but hurled charred branches aside.
By the time the tips of his hair began to singe, Lennox had cleared the wall of fire.
"Cough! Cough!"
Lennox hacked violently and scanned the area.
People stood in the distance.
He quickly assessed them.
A woman with faint burn marks, an expressionless young man, a vaguely familiar middle-aged man, a girl wreathed in flames, and a golden-haired woman.
'That man... could it be Henrik?'
Lennox narrowed his eyes, then shook his head.
The princess's artisan, retired due to an incurable illness, had no reason to be here.
Unlike the others, the girl surrounded by fire and the golden-haired woman stood out clearly.
'The girl wreathed in flames must be the spirit who started the wildfire. Then the other woman...'
Even from afar, the radiant golden hair unique to royalty was unmistakable.
The doppelgänger of Princess Cassifran.
The target he had been ordered to pursue all this time.
Lennox was about to turn his horse toward them when a young man walked straight at him.
The youth had seen him charge through the flames, yet he approached without fear.
Strangely, he carried both a staff and a sword at his waist.
Lennox leveled his blade at the young man and shouted.
"Stand down! I am Lennox Hirmazen, commander of the Imperial 3rd Knight Division! By imperial decree, I must transport the woman beyond you—"
"Shut it."
The reply was curt.
Lennox warned him again.
"If you don't move—"
"I said shut it."
The young man's voice was cold and low, as if he were angry.
Lennox frowned.
"I don't know your name, but this is unfortunate."
Lennox turned his horse toward the man and drew his sword.
Under orders, anyone who had seen the princess's doppelgänger had to die.
He spurred his mount to full speed and swung his blade with all his might.
Swish—!
"Hiiiii—!"
The front legs of Lennox's horse were severed.
Lennox tumbled from the saddle but rolled to absorb the impact.
He rose from the dirt and glared at the man with razor-sharp eyes.
His strike should have cleanly taken the man's head.
Yet the youth stood unharmed.
It seemed his unexpected movement had simply dodged the blade.
Lennox was deeply surprised but hid it.
"Luck won't favor you twice."
Still, he could not deny the faint doubt creeping in.
Had it truly been luck?
An inexplicable sense of danger shifted his stance.
He tightened his grip on the hilt.
"Grant the blade the blessing of wind."
A fierce gale wrapped around the knight commander's sword.
The blade lashed out like a storm, aiming for his opponent.
But the man dodged.
At no great speed.
He read the trajectory of the deadly strike, moved lightly, and evaded it.
No matter how fiercely Lennox swung, the tip of his sword only cut empty air.
The man stared back at him in silence, not a single drop of blood spilled.
For a moment, Lennox found himself speechless.
"Just who the hell are you...?"
"Not even a second wasted on you."
Kang Yoonsoo drew his sword without hesitation.
His mind was fixed on a single thought.
Lennox, however, was stunned.
The blade gleamed under the moonlight.
Lennox followed its flow and found himself entranced.
It was a trajectory only a true swordsman could recognize—strange, razor-sharp, and beautiful.
"Ah!"
A powerful impact struck his head.
Lennox's vision went black in an instant.
* * *
Kang Yoonsoo knocked the imperial knight commander unconscious with the flat of his blade.
Despite the massive level gap, he had overwhelmed Lennox with pure swordsmanship alone.
Without the slightest excitement, Kang Yoonsoo returned to his companions.
He approached the princess's doppelgänger.
"We need to talk."
Kang Yoonsoo led her away from the others.
Once they were far enough that Shanette and Henrik could not overhear, he spoke.
"How do you know I've regressed?"
"Someone inside me told me."
"Who?"
"I don't know exactly. There's an existence trapped inside me that can't come out. I gave it the nickname 'White Shadow.' That White Shadow asked me to tell you this."
Her next words sent a chill through Kang Yoonsoo.
"Your life is the last one. There will be no more regressions."
At that very moment.
An unprecedented anomaly had occurred in his thousandth life.
* * *
"Commander! Are you all right?"
Lennox felt someone shaking his shoulder.
When he opened his eyes, one of his knights was looking down at him with concern.
The entire division had gathered at the exact spot where he had lost consciousness the night before.
"How embarrassing."
Lennox stood up, shook his head, and drank deeply from the canteen a knight offered him.
The knights watched their commander with burning curiosity, yet none dared to speak.
Finally, Eric asked.
"Did you lose the target?"
The others shot Eric sharp looks.
They had all been dying to ask, but had held their tongues out of respect for their rigid commander.
Lennox waved a hand.
"It's not Eric's fault. It was my mistake. I lost them."
"For you to lose them, Commander... the fire last night must have been worse than we thought."
"No. There was a far worse disaster than the fire."
"Sir?"
Lennox stared at his hand gripping the sword hilt.
His fingertips trembled visibly.
The sight he had witnessed last night felt unreal, as though it had been part of a dream.
Yet the memory remained startlingly clear.
He remembered the man's swordsmanship perfectly.
Lennox's heart beat faster.
His physical abilities had been overwhelmingly superior.
If he had not been entranced by that extraordinary technique, the outcome would not have been so one-sided.
But that swordsmanship had been truly astonishing.
It felt as though everything he had ever learned about the blade was being rewritten.
'Not since the 1st Division Commander have I seen such swordsmanship.'
Lennox sprang to his feet.
He pointed at Eric.
"May I borrow your horse?"
Eric's face lit up with emotion, and he saluted sharply.
"Yes, sir!"
"Sorry, but you'll have to ride behind another knight."
Lennox mounted the horse and took the reins.
The rest of the knights nodded and climbed back into their saddles.
Lennox shouted with renewed vigor.
"They can't have gone far! We ride after the target again! They've joined others. Especially watch out for the expressionless traveler!"