There Was, But There Wasn't
“….”
Staring at the scene unfolding before his eyes, Mathieu thought.
Had the mana amplifiers been defective somehow? Had the effect reversed and halved their power instead?
There was no other way this could be possible. How could the situation in front of him make any sense at all?
The second sword of the Three Heroes, Grushi Nicholas. The third sword, Bernadotte Brun.
Both were powerhouses even Mathieu acknowledged. The Coalition’s keenest blades, ones the Empire itself watched with caution.
True, they had never properly clashed with the Imperial 10 Strongest—but you didn’t need that kind of direct collision to know their caliber.
Those two were strong. They possessed the skill to back it up. Nothing was lacking.
And yet those powerhouses were being handled right now like children who had picked a fight with an adult.
Even a mere knight could land a meaningful blow against warriors of their level.
They had even used the final stabilized version of the mana amplifiers—and still.
In pure theory, they should have been capable of power at least equal to the Imperial 10 Strongest… and they were being treated like this!
KWAANG! KWANG!—
Both Grushi and Bernadotte were fighting with strength and speed Mathieu had never seen from them before.
Every single strike was on a level that would casually bisect not only himself, but members of the Imperial 10 Strongest as well.
Thirty minutes might have been the limit, but within that window they should have been able to contend with anything in the world…
PEO-EOK!—
“Keok!”
“Keuhk!”
…or so one would have thought. Except there were people even stronger than that standing right here.
“Power’s solid, speed’s decent, durability isn’t bad either. So what was missing?”
“If you weren’t satisfied with the results, you should have trained until you bled. Until you carved down to the bone.”
Lia and Lea muttered as much while each seized their respective opponent and slammed them into the ground again.
It was a sight the pride of the Coalition, the Three Heroes, should never have been able to present.
Nothing more than the spectacle of clueless greenhorns having their very souls shaken out of them by the real deal.
The Coalition’s Three Heroes—beings who could stand toe-to-toe with the Imperial 10 Strongest.
They gritted their teeth and fought, yet neither Lia nor Lea showed the slightest sign of being pushed back.
Both siblings’ breathing had grown rough, yes, but their lips still wore full smiles.
They looked exactly like martial artists wearing the satisfied grin that comes after finishing a good training session.
Even when a sword carved into a fatal angle, they did not retreat.
Instead they slipped a hand through the gap like lightning and struck back at the opponent’s muscles.
One clean hit was all it would take to send the victim into spasms and either drop their sword or collapse on the spot.
Those two… are the same species as us? How are those even people. That’s… that’s…
Mathieu snuck a glance at Kyle sitting beside him.
A young man who had barely turned twenty—so young he was still green.
That same young man had beaten Mathieu himself like a dog.
And his comrades, who had used the amplifiers, were being thrashed even worse.
So this was what the John Nassen family amounted to. He had never imagined it.
This was the place that had fallen silent for nearly thirty years after the war with the Empire ended.
Unfortunately, the Coalition had been so focused on the war with the Empire that they had known nothing of the northern situation.
When a powerhouse that strong stayed quiet for so long, talk began to spread that the stories had been exaggerated.
Even the Academy partial-destruction incident had been dismissed as the same sort of thing—some political maneuver by the Empire.
But now he knew. It hadn’t been exaggeration. It had been understatement.
“Keuheok!”
“Keuaak!”
Grushi and Bernadotte, who had been tossed around so violently, rolled across the ground.
Of course they hadn’t escaped under their own power. The man and woman—the monsters of John Nassen—had simply let them go.
Like a cat that had been toying with a mouse… no, like a dragon that had decided to let them perform a little trick for its amusement.
“Damn it, damn you dogs of the Empire!! You intend to heap humiliation on us to the very end!!”
Dogs of the Empire? Who were they calling dogs. Ah, so they were calling us dogs right now?
At that scream—the kind only losers produced—Kyle found a scornful smile rising to his lips without meaning to.
These people, ignorant of the situation, believed he and his older brother and sister had come here on the Emperor’s orders.
They had no idea the Emperor’s command was nothing more than a convenient pretext, that they had simply come because they wanted to run wild.
And they could not even begin to imagine that the cause of it all was the worst taboo they themselves had committed.
“Keuheuuu!!”
Grushi fumbled through his clothes and pulled out another vial.
Bernadotte likewise gritted his teeth and did the exact same thing.
At that sight Mathieu frantically dug into his own clothes and checked the color of the liquid in the vial he carried.
The amplifiers given to their highest forces had undergone stabilization and were said to shine a vivid blue.
The previous stage—less an amplifier and more a detonator—was said to be murky.
And the color of the liquid in the vials his comrades now held was, unlike his own blue…
a murky, oppressive shade that made one’s chest tighten just looking at it.
“Wh-what are you doing! That is—!”
The Three Heroes were the Coalition’s most vital human resources.
Many sacrifices had been made to give those Three Heroes the absolute best materials.
Yet those two were now throwing away both those sacrifices and a warrior’s pride.
He had to stop them. This crossed the line. It could not go any further.
Even though their bodies were already wrecked and would need months of recovery at minimum.
Mathieu thrashed and struggled with everything he had to rise from his seat.
“No.”
Kyle blocked the Three Hero’s path.
“Leave them, Mathieu.”
“They must be stopped! That is…!”
“They’ve already decided. How do you stop that? Once someone makes up their mind about something like this, even family can’t stand in the way.”
Why would anyone dope? Because they were bored? Because they were curious about the taste? As if.
They did it with resolve. They did it knowing full well what would happen next.
People who cared nothing for the process and only wanted the result did things like this.
So let them drink as they pleased. They needed to learn what kind of ending that choice brought.
What happened when you ignored the process and focused only on the result.
No matter how high a tower you built, if each floor was not solid, it was nothing but a sandcastle.
Flashy technique and powerful mana control both required a body and mind that could support them.
“Empire bastards! I’ll tear you apart!!”
In that short span Grushi and Bernadotte finally forced themselves into full mana runaway and charged with swords in hand.
The strikes were twice as powerful as before. The sword paths twice as fast.
As if to prove it, this time neither Lia nor Lea could fully evade.
Paaat!—
A line of blood was drawn across Lia’s chest. Lea took a long sword wound down her thigh.
The only mercy was that, at the last instant, superhuman movement kept the cuts from going deep.
“This is…!”
Mathieu belonged to the Coalition, yet somehow he seemed more worried about the Empire side than his own.
Kyle considered reminding him of that fact, then decided against it.
He himself was growing rather concerned about the situation in front of him.
…This is getting a little bad. Should I step in?
With a faintly anxious heart, Kyle quietly rose from his seat.
Ordinarily, the iron rule of John Nassen was never—under any circumstances—to interfere in someone else’s fight.
Ignore that rule and even the purest intentions would still earn you the full brunt of their rage.
But the opponents were doping. Not once, but twice.
And the ones who seemed to be in danger because of it were none other than his older brother and sister—his family.
The reason was more than enough. The doping alone was a solid excuse.
I couldn’t stand watching that and had to jump in! What, you got a problem?! One line like that and they would understand completely.
“Kyle.”
Just then, having dodged another attack, Lia called his name.
Kyle’s thoughts jumped to No way, for real?! as he was halfway to his feet—
“Bring that.”
Twitch—.
At the words “bring that,” Kyle’s body trembled faintly of its own accord.
Right after, Lea thrust a hand high into the air and shouted, “Mine too!”
We’re screwed.
Of course the “that” in question referred to the two men who had gone on a doping rampage.
“Haaah, haaah….”
Mana that refused all control, ready to explode at any second.
Even so, neither Grushi nor Bernadotte stopped. They could not stop.
They knew it too. The opponents before them were far stronger than the Imperial 10 Strongest.
If they were not eliminated here and now, they would become the most catastrophic disaster the Coalition had ever faced!
Fortunately, we’ve wounded them pretty badly. Keep the bleeding going and even a giant monster will start showing gaps.
Just once more. If one more attack lands, we can win. After that… we’ll leave it to the will of the gods.
Looking at Lia and Lea, who were cut and stabbed all over and soaked in blood, the two Three Heroes of the Coalition prepared their final—and strongest—strike.
Kwagwagwagwa—
Massive mana condensed and surged upward as if it would rip the world apart.
The last attack of powerhouses who stood outside every standard, wringing out everything they had.
And even before that, both Lia and Lea were still smiling as though they were about to go mad with joy.
“Hyung-nim! Noona!”
The next instant, something came flying through the air together with Kyle’s shout.
Buuuung!— Tat!—
“Thanks, little brother.”
“Thanks, Kyle!!”
That sensation settling perfectly into the hand. As expected, this felt so much better than a sword.
As if to prove they were siblings, Lia and Lea both thought almost the exact same thing at the same moment.
Right as the Three Heroes’ strikes came crushing in from the front, the brother and sister casually swung what they held once each.
Ung!—
Compared to the Two Heroes’ attacks that vomited thunderous noise, the siblings’ attacks looked incredibly shabby.
No vast clusters of light. No sound that swallowed everything. Nothing at all.
One single swing, and one single thrust. That was all.
Piiiing!!—
And that was the end of it.
“Ah….”
“Ha, haha….”
Mana shattered into powder and turned into pale smoke.
The final strike they had prepared vanished without a trace, like a mirage.
Slowly collapsing backward, Grushi and Bernadotte stared at their respective opponents.
Just what, just what had those two swung just now? They at least wanted to know that much.
A sword? A spear? Or some kind of massive blunt weapon?
“Refreshing.”
“Same here, Oppa.”
In the hands of the man and woman wearing blissful smiles… were bars.