The Greed That Devours Genius
“May I ask how I should address you?”
“Luke. I have the name Serverki behind me, but right now that isn’t important. Call me Luke.”
The two exchanged greetings.
Luke’s eyes sparkled with sudden light.
“Ready, Nia?”
“…I am as well. Please treat me well.”
“Any wager?”
Luke pulled a plump pouch of gold coins from his robe and thrust it toward her.
“For starters, I’ve prepared enough for a light bet. If you want more, just tell my family. We have endless resources.”
Nia stared at the pouch Luke had set on the floor, expression carefully neutral.
“I’m sorry, but even if you offered a fortune, I have no intention of accepting.”
At those words Luke understood.
*Ah. I misread her.*
He hurried to clarify.
“Oh—no mistake. I wasn’t trying to buy victory with money. I simply wondered if this was fair compensation. Has anyone ever tried to purchase your reputation that way?”
Nia nodded.
“Many have. They wanted to buy the reputation I’ve earned for defeating criminals with nothing but words and steel in this slum city.”
“I see.”
Luke waved both hands gently.
“I have no such intention. On the contrary, I simply wished to show you the respect your sword deserves by offering appropriate compensation.”
Nia gave a small nod.
She took a single coin from the pouch and placed it on the ground.
“This is enough. Too much money here in Stygna would only make us targets. We’d be robbed and killed before we could spend it.”
“…I understand.”
“It’s fine. One coin is more than enough for us to eat and survive for an entire month.”
With a single coin still resting on the floor, Nia looked up at Luke, gray eyes bright.
Luke felt it in that moment: the child’s momentum had changed.
“If I lose the debate, I can simply die. Kill me.”
“…Mm.”
He had heard the same thing in the game…
…yet here it was, exactly the same.
Nia took part in every debate with her life on the line.
“I am nothing more than the lowest of the low in Stygna. Yet my words and my sword are beyond measure. That is how I survive. If I ever lose, my reputation will be crushed into the dirt and no one will ever challenge me here again. The Riana Family will starve and die in this city. So every single debate, I walk on the edge of a blade with my life at stake. If I lose, I’ll simply die of hunger here anyway.”
A debater and swordsman who walked the razor’s edge with every breath.
That was Nia before she became the Calamity of the Single Sword—once called the Undefeated First Sword of Debate.
She had bet her life on every match and won every single one.
“…The stakes aren’t fair,” Luke said after a moment of thought. “I’ll put myself on the line too. If I lose, Nia, you may do whatever you wish. Demand compensation from the Serverki family, or bind me with a leash and walk me around like a dog. Your choice.”
“Master!”
At Luke’s words, Mikhail startled and shouted.
Luke waved him off lightly.
“Mikhail. The opponent is wagering her life. You must act accordingly. Understood?”
“Hah… Master…”
While Mikhail stood stunned, Luke’s eyes remained fixed, clear and steady on Nia.
“Nia. What do you think? Do you accept?”
*Resolve.*
Seeing the fire flare in Luke’s gaze, Nia hesitated for a split second, then nodded.
“…No leash for me…”
“That was a joke. Good. One coin is on the house. Shall we begin?”
“…The rules of debate are simple.”
Nia rose. Bana, the youngest of the Riana Family, hurried over and handed her a worn iron sword.
“Alternate turns. State the name of the sword technique, describe its movements, and lightly demonstrate them in action. For example, if I say ‘step forward, then swing upward from below in an arc, striking the jaw,’ you would perform that motion. Then you would demonstrate a suitable evasion and explain it. But you may not say ‘my sword is so strong it cut straight through your neck’ or ‘I drew my blade and beheaded you in one strike.’ Mana use is forbidden in debates—only the sword itself.”
“Typical. It could turn into a brawl.”
“Precisely why we have witnesses. Stygna is far too dangerous; few outsiders ever come here. Each participant must bring one observer. They must be persuaded as well, and that counts as victory.”
Nia glanced toward One-Armed Jack standing to the side.
“I shall choose Jack as my witness.”
“…Then I will automatically choose Mikhail.”
At that moment Jack spoke.
“I must warn you out of concern for the witness. If either of you interferes with the other’s observer, we will be forced to remove you both.”
Several of Jack’s subordinates watched from the shadows.
“Remember that.”
“Hmm. We shall. Trying to force your way is already dishonorable.”
Mikhail shrugged.
Nia continued.
“The conditions for victory in debate are simple. Ten seconds. If you cannot speak your next technique within ten seconds, you lose.”
“…I see. Much like chess, one move after another.”
“It’s even freer than that.”
“Mm… Anything you wish to say before we start?”
Nia met Luke’s gaze steadily.
“Since you have taken up the challenge with resolve equal to mine, I will give you the highest honor of the debate.”
Her gray eyes burned directly into his.
“I am Nia. A mere street scholar and swordsman living in the ruined city of Stygna. A penniless, utterly worthless child. Those are the only words that can truly describe me.”
Between the dust and garbage, her ash-gray eyes shone as she looked at Luke.
“Yet simply being worthless is not enough. If a sword lies buried in mud, it still shines. I may only have a glib tongue, but the single sword I carry possesses the power to cut down the entire world. I have no doubt of that.”
Luke saw it.
The pristine, unsullied sword spirit sleeping within her.
The single sword that had once severed the heavens.
Luke, who possessed genius beyond a thousand years, saw it clearly.
“I understand.”
At those words Nia gave a small start.
“…You are the first person to truly believe me. Most people only laugh, calling me nothing but a clever tongue.”
“I am only speaking the truth.”
“Good. Then—”
The air around Nia changed.
She stood as though balancing on a blade’s edge. Any hesitation, any carelessness, and she would be cut down.
Her eyes blazed with ferocious intensity.
“**Debate begins.**”
***
At that moment two swordsmen stepped onto the platform.
Luke stared into Nia’s eyes. Her gray irises remained fixed on the hilt of her rusty iron sword.
The picture of absolute concentration.
If he faced such focus, he would have to unleash his full strength.
Before his eyes he saw himself holding the blade.
And beside him, Nia gripping hers.
“Shall we begin? I will charge forward first.”
“As will I.”
Their words differed from their actions. They walked slowly toward each other and finally stopped face to face.
First to speak was Nia.
“Charging forward, I will circle once and unleash the first eight movements of the Repelheim Empire Sword Style—mid-level. I will swing upward from below.”
Following the rules, she began to demonstrate the technique.
Nia, who had absorbed every sword style used by the countless scholars and swordsmen who flooded into Stygna, was itself a living repository of knowledge.
Luke, who already knew the Repelheim Empire Sword Style, knew it was divided into four tiers: low, mid, high, and supreme.
While Nia performed the movement and completed her circle, she spoke.
“While swinging, I will simultaneously target the neck.”
Her explanation accompanied the slow, deliberate motion of her rusty blade.
Clever.
The eighth movement of the Repelheim Empire Sword Style was infamous for its hidden, deceptive nature.
Her blade drifted toward Luke’s neck.
“I will use the third movement from the Serverki Family’s own sword style. I will gently deflect the incoming blade aimed at my neck and push it upward.”
Luke responded by slowly drawing his own sword and countering.
The Serverki Family Sword Style.
Named for the blood-dragon emblem of House Serverki, it was known as the Crimson Dragon Sword.
The Serverki swordsmen who had once drenched themselves in their own blood used the style to gently, powerfully deflect Nia’s blade and strike upward.
“While doing so, I will strike with a strong palm blow.”
Nia replied instantly.
“I will twist my wrist and block with the flat of my blade.”
*Clang!*
Their movements were slow and light, yet inside their imaginations thunderous booms echoed.
For a moment their eyes met.
Both smiled.
*Impressive.*
*She really is no ordinary opponent.*
Their lips and bodies moved in perfect sync, as if they had already recognized each other.
***
Knight Mikhail.
Of the Shadow of the Red Dragon Escort Division.
He was the captain of the division that protected the Red Dragon’s young from outsiders.
Thus he was strong—very strong.
His always-smiling face was now set in stone.
He had lost his smile the instant the debate began.
“…Hah.”
Beside him, One-Armed Jack wore the same grim expression.
He, too, looked drained after watching the invisible battle unfold.
“To think Nia and I would be debating for an entire day…”
A full day had passed.
Yet the two continued to pour sword knowledge into each other at an unrelenting pace.
Jack was already tired of the endless flood of techniques.
“Hey… Mikhail.”
Jack called softly. Mikhail relaxed his rigid face and turned.
“Speak.”
“There is something I wish to ask.”
“What?”
Jack hesitated, then continued.
“First, Nia is a genius beyond measure. If she weren’t so physically frail, she might even rival the greatest swordsmen across the entire continent. I, this humble one-armed jack, can swear to that.”
One-Armed Jack knew Nia.
He knew exactly who she was.
In Stygna, the crime-infested slum where criminals swarmed like moths, she had defeated everyone with nothing but her tongue and blade.
Among the nine Dragon bosses of Stygna, she had beaten every one in debate, proving her strength.
Word had even spread that she had defeated the Nine Heads of Stygna as well.
And the result?
She had won every single debate.
The pinnacle. The undefeated.
Though she had never faced the world itself, Nia had claimed the position of undisputed champion in Stygna, the warm nest of criminals.
Yet how—
“How is it possible that the Serverki family’s youngest master can stand toe-to-toe with her in debate for a full day? I cannot begin to understand. Does the Master possess the innate talent of heaven itself?”
One-Armed Jack’s question was perfectly reasonable.
How could he stand against a genius who had risen alone from the hell of Stygna?
Mikhail answered without hesitation.
“Simple. The Master…”
Mikhail recalled the three years of his young master’s actions.
“A genius that eats other geniuses. He walks the path of genius so flawlessly that he surpasses them. His talent can only be described that way. Because our Serverki knights have been driven to exhaustion by him.”
Mikhail gave a small smile.
“Frankly, he has fought my siblings—our family’s future enemies. No wonder. Among our knights we call him ‘the Sword Nightmare.’ The name came from the time he begged me in a dream to teach him everything.”
Mikhail’s gaze drifted to Luke and Nia.
“I look forward to seeing how far these two will go.”
***
*My body trembles. I can taste blood.*
He had moved slowly, yet for an entire day he had neither eaten nor rested. His limbs refused to obey.
Inside his mouth he tasted the metallic bite of blood. His entire body shook uncontrollably, yet he could not stop.
He was enjoying himself.
This man.
This man had accepted every word she spoke and, far from being satisfied, had struck back.
It was like standing before a mountain range. His spirit surged with a power that made the world feel small.
*But I cannot lose.*
I wagered my life.
I have placed my very existence on this bet.
Then—
*Show me more.*
In that instant Luke felt it.
Her resolve.
“‘I will use One-Armed Jack’s Blade Sword.’”
“‘I will use the Hundred Swords Style of Master Amula.’”
“‘I will use the Colosseum Legend’s Blade of Betor.’”
Sword styles Luke had never seen before.
These were the blades of the nine Dragon bosses of Stygna.
When Nia used them, it meant she was completely serious.
For a single heartbeat Luke saw it.
The form of the Nine Heads of Stygna rising behind her.
“I will do better.”
The Nine Heads Sword Style— one of the techniques Nia would later master as the Calamity of the Single Sword—now revealed its full power.