Where Are Our Allies?
The clash of Aura Blade against Aura Blade. The collision of two dazzling energy swords erupted with such blinding light that it completely obscured the battlefield. In the middle of that overwhelming torrent of radiance where neither combatant could see the other’s movements, Kyle tried a sneaky little trick.
He attempted to recall the pitch-black Aura Blade
That’s mine, you bastard.
Who would’ve thought Aura Blades had a weakness like this? Then again, no one in history had ever fought an Aura Blade this way. Even the peerless dragons of antiquity had simply blocked or dodged them. None had ever tried to seize one and claim it as their own.
And any technique that had never appeared in the world before possessed absolute supremacy in its very first moment.
Didn’t expect this kind of problem.
Deciding he’d need to research a proper countermeasure later, Kyle gave up on retrieving his Aura and backed away to observe the creature from a distance.
Six arms sprouting from its body. Insane regenerative power that let it recover even after being sliced by an Aura Blade. Seeing those two traits, he finally realized what it was.
Hecatoncheir. The chimera created by the academy, and the monster he had killed once before.
It was still alive?
Its body had shrunk to a fraction of its former size—perhaps a hundredth—so it was clear the creature had discarded a great deal in order to survive. It no longer possessed the overwhelming vitality or the mountain-lifting strength it once had.
But Kyle knew that discarding things wasn’t always a bad thing.
After all, wasn’t an Aura Master exactly that kind of existence?
A realm reached only after throwing away everything except the sword—family, lovers, friends, the world itself—until nothing remained but a single blade. Kyle wondered what direction this Hecatoncheir, which had abandoned its transcendent body, had evolved toward. He steadied his pounding heart and unleashed another Aura Blade.
“You. What’s your name?”
─Heca… te.
“Right. Hecate.”
He couldn’t use his signature technique of manifesting Aura Blades in midair. There was no point in wasting Aura just to give the enemy more weapons. The Heart Sword he’d used on the demon was also unusable. He hadn’t realized it back then because the demon wasn’t an Aura user and they’d been inside a mental world, but to strike a real being with Heart Sword, he first needed to pierce their Aura from a distance.
And Hecate was a monster radiating Aura far greater than his own.
If I could pierce a monster like that from range, why the hell would I be a Master? I’d be a god.
It was something only possible for those called Grand Master or Aura God. Kyle realized everything had come full circle.
The very root of being an Aura Master.
It was the single sword he had trained with until it was carved into his soul.
“I don’t know how you know this, but… I’m Kyle. Kyle Meyer.”
─Kyyy… le…!
“You died by my hand once before, right? Is that why you’re like this? Out for revenge?”
─KYIEEEEE—!
“Guess we’re not getting anywhere with words.”
But words weren’t necessary. Weren’t they already baring their hearts to each other?
Between Aura Masters, there was no need to speak to understand one another’s thoughts. All they had to do was grip their swords and swing.
─Kiyaaaaaaaah!
Hecate charged, Aura Blade in hand. The pitch-black blade, as if embodying its wielder’s heart, pointed straight at him. Staring at an Aura Blade so dark it was hard to look at even under the bright sun, Kyle raised his own brilliant blue Aura Blade to meet it.
The two blades tangled like they were trying to devour each other, then rebounded with a deafening crash. In that brief instant, Hecate realized its six arms were a disadvantage and began fusing three of them into one.
“Oh.”
Watching three pairs of arms merge into a single pair, Kyle let out an impressed sound and kicked off the ground, launching himself into the sky. The very next moment, Hecate’s sword strike—three times faster than before—slammed into the spot he had just vacated.
BOOOOOOM—!
Even though it held an Aura Blade, the strike was crude. It swept across the ground, kicking up a cloud of sand and dust that blinded the area. Kyle frowned slightly and began scanning his surroundings.
Where are you?
This was the problem with humans. How could you lose sight of your opponent just because your vision was blocked? There were animals that could see using infrared or echolocation, for crying out loud.
After searching through the smoke for a while, Kyle sensed a spear hurtling toward him, slicing through the haze. Except it wasn’t a spear—it was a bone. A long, black Aura-coated bone.
“Hup—?!”
Kyle swung his Aura Blade and was shocked to see his own arm get blasted backward with a loud bang. The kinetic energy packed into that bone was no joke. Even after canceling the Aura with his blade, the force still sent him flying.
But raw power alone didn’t guarantee victory in a fight. If brute strength had been enough to beat him, Kyle would have already been a corpse back when he faced the far stronger Hecatoncheir. Besides, he was even stronger now than he had been then.
Clack. Clack. Clack.
The sound of Hecate’s bones rattling reached him. Kyle swung his sword toward the noise. Hecate had already closed in and blocked the strike, shoving its face right up to his.
─Kyyyyle…!
Up close, you look even more hideous—Kyle had been about to say, when Hecate opened its mouth first. Unlike Kyle, who had tried to attack the mind with words, Hecate attacked physically.
Acidic solution sprayed from its throat, splashing across Kyle’s face. He instantly covered his face with Aura to protect it, then headbutted the creature with everything he had. His skull, reinforced by Auror Armor, crushed Hecate’s head like a watermelon.
─Krrk—?!
Feeling its skull shatter, Hecate staggered backward. Kyle clung to it and raised his sword high overhead. It was such a reckless, all-in stance that it looked full of openings. Hecate realized it could block the sword and counterattack at the same time.
It tried to do exactly that.
Shunk—!
─Ke… eeck….
“You should’ve been more careful.”
But before it could, an Aura Blade flew in from somewhere and pierced straight through Hecate’s lower back. Hecate felt its spine being sliced apart and its backbone burning away as it glared at Kyle.
─K… Kyle… Meyer…!
Grudges born from death did not vanish even when death loomed again. They only burned hotter. In that moment of disregarding its own life, Hecate came up with a way to drag Kyle down with it.
─Diiiieeeee…!
The next instant, roughly 2,200 bones inside Hecate’s body exploded. Fueled by the Aura and gas filling its body, the bones burst outward like shrapnel grenades. There was no way Kyle, standing right in front of it, could dodge them all. Hecate was certain it would kill him, or at least inflict a fatal wound.
But when it saw Kyle staring back with a completely unfazed expression, Hecate fell into utter shock.
“—Pwah! You done? Man, I couldn’t breathe at all.”
Having realized that using Auror Armor in reality meant he couldn’t breathe, Kyle finally took a deep breath and looked down at the dying Hecate. He had no idea how the Hecatoncheir he’d killed had become this Hecate, but he had a strong feeling that if he let it live again, it would only grow even stronger.
Swearing to burn it until not even bone dust remained, Kyle prepared to completely erase Hecate—when an Aura shot in from the side and knocked his sword away.
Recognizing the all-too-familiar shape of that Aura, Kyle quickly turned his head toward the direction the arrow had come from. There stood Kayness, the one who had fled after losing to him last time.
“What kind of day is this?”
An academy chimera, an international terrorist, and some unidentified organization. It was such a bizarre combination that it was hard to believe they had all gathered at the same time. Yet here they were, all showing up at the academy together.
“—Kyle Meyer. And the monster too. What luck.”
Having spotted both Kyle and the collapsed Hecate, Kayness grinned wickedly. The two people he hated most in the world had conveniently gathered in one place.
Watching Kayness cackle, Kyle tilted his head in confusion.
“What’s so funny? You’re not running?”
“Run? Why would I run? You’re the one who should be running.”
“What kind of nonsense are you—wait, you’re the one who ran away last time. Did you train hard since then? Spouting all this bullsh—”
Kyle had been walking toward the strangely confident Kayness—wondering if the guy had chugged some miracle elixir—when he saw the comrades appearing behind him. That was when he understood why Kayness was so full of himself.
There was no need to grow stronger alone. Things that were impossible for one person became easy when done by many.
“Whoa, so this is Kyle Meyer?”
“They said he was a sword candidate, but I don’t see a sword.”
Looking at the man and woman who had revealed themselves, Kyle could sense considerable power from both. They were both Masters.
Only then did he vaguely recall what Sera had told him about Kayness’s organization.
“Goddamn it.”
One versus three was already going to be tough. Kyle thought that as he glanced down at Hecate beneath him, half-hoping the classic cliché would play out—that a monster who had faced death would temporarily become an ally against a new threat.
─Kyyyyle…! Diiiie—!
“Ah.”
Yeah, that wasn’t happening. Kyle let out a sigh and raised his head again.
One versus three. If you counted the dying bastard on the ground, it was one versus four. A team fight had broken out on the academy’s back mountain.
So where the hell are our allied Masters?