Chapter 70
Chapter 70
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 70
Chapter Title: The Bud Within
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"Still here today, I see."
"Ah, Lady Emily. Well, it's just daily practice, isn't it."
The face and hands gripping the sword were youthful.
Yet his expression was utterly serious, making it hard to approach carelessly.
Holy power blooming forth.
Sacred blood scattered throughout the body stirred the holy power.
It gathered in one place, forming a solid core like a firm seed.
But that was all.
Considering Emily's age, it was an incredible achievement already, but she wasn't satisfied.
‘Dad said he formed a bud inside his body.’
Normally, one gathers and refines the inherent holy power, then unfurls the bud into a flower when needed.
That amplified the holy power.
Bud-Blossom Cultivation.
Emily's goal was to form it in her dantian.
"Is this even possible?"
She thought it might just be like molding clay into shape, but it was nothing like that.
She wondered if it was possible at all. Compressing the intangible energy within the body and giving it form.
Yes, shaping a bud with holy power made sense.
But for it to bloom like a flower?
She couldn't comprehend how holy power, once gathered, could form a bud and then bloom.
It sounded simple, but trying it herself proved impossible.
‘Dad wouldn't have lied.’
Yet it was so profoundly difficult that she almost wished it was a lie.
It had taken Kallias years to achieve it, so it was only natural. No matter how much of a genius Emily was, the one who created this was none other than the Church's Saintess Stella.
Even Kallias might have taken a full decade if his Death-Time Insight hadn't activated after surviving a near-death ordeal.
Even with profound understanding of swordsmanship and innate talent, achieving Bud-Blossom Cultivation verbally was no easy feat.
But Emily didn't give up.
Her father, once called a wastrel, had accomplished it.
Of course, the more she trained, the more she felt Kallias's greatness seep into her very being.
‘Should've asked him.’
Pride had kept her from it.
Now, she regretted it a little.
She hadn't expected him to leave the North so suddenly.
He wouldn't return for a while, so there was no one to ask.
"Making sword aura isn't that hard."
Though it wasn't the Silver Flower Sword Wave like her father's. She couldn't replicate its form no matter how she tried.
How could she make sword aura, infused into the blade as energy, resemble flower petals?
‘It's not something effort alone can achieve. Dad really wasn't a dullard.’
The more she imitated his sword, the clearer it became.
Kallias was no dullard. A true dullard couldn't learn such swordsmanship even after years.
"Grandpa said he never taught him, and that no one besides Saintess Stella had ever wielded the Silver Flower Sword Wave..."
He hadn't learned from anyone.
He had likely self-taught by studying something the Saintess left behind.
Even so, the complexity of the Silver Flower Sword Wave would have left gaps.
Emily once again realized her father's efforts and calmly closed her eyes.
Though not directly taught by him, his battlefield combats served as her guide.
Closing her eyes, it was still vivid.
His swordsmanship sweeping through the battlefield untamed and free. Beautiful and light.
The battle with the Great Warrior.
The battle with the Warlord—Emily had witnessed both and etched them into her heart.
And once more.
She gripped her sword.
Soon, she closed her eyes and contemplated herself.
.
.
.
"Impressive. Sword aura at that age."
"She's his daughter. What did you expect?"
"Exactly."
The knights watching Emily's training showered her with praise, saying like father, like daughter.
Sword aura at ten years old.
They couldn't imagine how strong she'd be by adulthood.
"At that level, shouldn't we send her to the Royal Swordsmanship Academy in Caladi? They only take geniuses, right?"
"Heh! No genius from there could match a lady who's charged real battlefields! A hundred of those kids would piss themselves at the sight of an orc axe!"
Aron thumped his chest proudly as he spoke.
The other knights nodded as if it were obvious.
"But when will Sir Kallias return? We pledged to serve him as lord, and he just up and left... Why didn't he take us?"
"Sir Aron. Consider our lord's intentions. He cares deeply for the North."
"That's why! He cares, so why leave? He could've stayed longer."
The demonic beasts were wiped out, and orcs were nowhere to be seen.
The walls were nearly repaired, and rebuilding the ruined villages would come with time.
The North had regained peace.
But peace was never eternal.
"Now he's a count, right? He'll soon be head of the house, ruling the North. But those Carpe bastards just sing praises without sending aid, so he's probably off to turn things upside down."
"You know his temperament. Just thinking about what he'll do as a Heretic Inquisitor gives me chills.
"Those scum are done for."
"The inquisitors will drop first, won't they? They came here to interrogate our lord, after all."
"What?! Those leg-breaking bastards! Did Sir Kallias know?"
"If I knew, how could he not?"
The knights nodded in agreement.
Most had fought alongside Kallias on the battlefields—the self-proclaimed Kallias Knights knew his personality better than anyone.
"They're as good as dead."
Their lord had a truly foul temper.
* * *
A heavy silence fell.
Veterans of countless battlefields, yet they couldn't help but falter in this moment.
‘He knows we're here?’
‘That he can kill all three of us...’
Such thoughts dominated their minds.
Gulp.
Raibun's throat bobbed.
If that was his judgment, their course was set.
"Attack!"
Clang—!
Kallias blocked Raibun's sword and pulled back, maintaining distance.
The holy power dormant in one petal of Bud-Blossom Cultivation awakened.
The bud unfurled, the flower fully bloomed.
Pure holy power enveloped Kallias as his sword unleashed the Silver Flower Sword Wave.
Clang—!
‘What power...!’
Raibun recoiled in shock at Kallias's strength, his face twisting.
Though startled, Druma's greatsword soon came slashing down at an angle.
A wide, massive straight sword.
‘Gungdo—Guillotine.’
Kallias glanced at Druma's sword but dodged rather than block.
Boom—!
Dust matching the blade's size billowed as he evaded. When it cleared, a square earthen wall perfect for trapping a man stood there.
Guillotine's unique ability.
No time to catch his breath.
Weeeeng—
The buzz of insects tickled Kallias's ears.
Not tiny like grains of sand.
Clumped together, they were fist-sized, defying gravity to fly.
Thirty of them, and their enlarged size meant...
"Easy to cut."
Even swatting them away was effortless.
Slash!
"My loyal bugs!"
Orkal bit his lip.
He raised his sword to meet the charging foes, but Kallias retreated once more.
Ssssh—
‘Akasha poison spray.’
Raibun unleashed poison.
The acidic fumes melting the ground made Kallias narrow his eyes.
"These vermin are annoying."
Handling one at a time was easy. But all three at once was a hassle.
"I'm the only bug here."
"Who're you calling a bug!"
Grumbling from Orkal and Druma.
Raibun gripped his sword tightly, tension evident.
"You haven't reached master level yet, have you?"
Relief that it had been a misjudgment? Raibun and the captains smirked faintly, mocking Orkal.
They'd mistaken before clashing, but now, swords met, they sensed it.
A true master wouldn't struggle against a mere Heretic Inquisitor Captain.
Raibun's lips twisted.
"What, nothing special. Did we really need three for this?"
"Don't let your guard down. He might still be hiding something."
Oscar's snide remark and Raibun's gleeful voice echoed through the forest.
"Don't get cocky. That sword... it's a demonic sword."
"What? Demonic sword? You mad?"
The scabbard bore strange runes. The mane-like hair and scales seemed from a demonic beast, not rosary beads.
"Even without a holy relic, we can't let you live now."
As Heretic Inquisitors, demonic swords were heretical abominations to be destroyed.
Yet greed flickered undisguised in their eyes.
That was when.
Whoosh—
Killing intent radiated from Kallias like wind.
Flinch.
The captains shuddered at the overwhelming malice, staring at him.
Crackle, fizzzz.
"Don't fuck around."
The scabbard was made of beast fur and scale-like hide.
The thick guard resembled bone, the crossguard bizarre like lightning.
The aura from the emerging blade felt familiar yet alien.
Blue lightning crackled around Kallias.
The blade drawn fully gleamed with dazzling azure thunder.
"Thunder aura? Demonic sword?"
"Feels familiar."
Raibun's instincts were sharp.
Kallias planted the Tyrant Sword into the ground and gripped the Azure Thunderblade.
Crackle, zap!
Slowly drawn from the scabbard, fierce blue lightning coiled around Kallias.
Swish.
Fully unsheathed, the lightning lashed out like a living thing.
"One last chance."
The blade glowed red-hot.
In contrast, azure thunder flickered.
Blue reflections on Kallias's face added an eerie chill.
"I've never betrayed the Church."
Truth spoken. But met only with derisive scoffing.
"Ridiculous!"
"How else could trash swordsmanship improve without holy relics?"
Yet amid their jeers, Kallias smiled faintly.
"Fine."
As suspected.
Even the lingering guilt in his chest washed away.
"Don't stop believing."
From now on, even if they did, his sword wouldn't stop.
The moment his sword pointed skyward.
Rumbleeeee!
Heaven and earth flipped.