Revenge Match
The sharp clash of steel rang out with a resounding clang! as two swords collided in a revenge match.
The grating screech of metal scraping against metal filled the air. Suh Hwian’s eyes were wide open, while Prince Ernest clenched his teeth in fury.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing…!!”
Ernest, who had barely managed to react to the sudden ambush, shoved Hwian’s blade away and shouted.
Tap. Hwian took a single step back, then raised his sword again, settling into a ready stance.
“What is this? What are you doing, Hero? Even if you carry noble blood, Princess, how dare you turn your sword against the Emperor’s child? And in a place with no witnesses, no less.”
“…”
“An assassination attempt on a prince. You must be aware that, depending on the circumstances, this could be interpreted as a declaration of war between nations? Of course you do. You’re not that foolish.”
Even as Ernest continued his long-winded tirade, Hwian simply pointed his sword at him with clear intent that he had no interest in conversation.
Behind him, Serena—still clinging to his back—tightened her fists at Ernest’s words.
Assassination attempt. Declaration of war. His taunts, laced with mockery and feigned shock, flew at them like daggers.
If Hwian’s claims had been completely baseless, she would have had no way to escape responsibility, just as Ernest said. A wrong choice would bring suffering to countless people, and she herself would never escape her gray fate.
The anxiety that rose from the heavy responsibility of her royal blood.
Yet even so, she kept her mouth shut. No matter how viciously Ernest twisted his face and hurled his barbed words, she simply pressed her lips together and clung tightly to Hwian.
There was only one reason she could act so boldly.
Because she trusted Hwian. Or more precisely, because she had decided to trust him.
As if brushing aside the faint tremor of anxiety in Serena’s heart, Hwian spoke. At the resolute tone of his voice, Ernest’s shoulders twitched despite his attempt to appear calm.
“F-fanatic? How dare you spout such nonsense—”
“Cut the pathetic act. It’s making my ears rot. Are you pretending your hidden comrades aren’t there?”
“…!”
Shock once again colored Ernest’s face. Hwian let out a derisive snort at the sight.
It was impossible to tell whether he was trying to hide them or not.
A quick glance revealed the presence lurking behind a stone pillar, completely exposed. Amid the unnaturally erased bloodstains, the small staff hanging at Ernest’s waist gleamed with an eerie purple light.
No matter how clumsily he tried to act, he couldn’t fool the eyes of someone who had survived countless battlefields.
Realizing this a little too late, Ernest drew the staff with his free hand and muttered in a low, sunken voice.
“You really are… an incredibly rude otherworlder.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“The princess behind you is no different. I’ve heard that otherworlders usually take after their summoners, but you seem to be quite the handful as well? Should I say it’s because she’s the child of a concubine? Given her lowly origins, it’s no surprise her character is—”
“God, you’re noisy.”
Hwian lowered his stance at Serena’s signal that she was ready.
He gathered his mana and gripped his sword tightly. Though his gaze remained fixed on Ernest’s staff, he never let his attention stray from the presences he sensed around them.
“A pathetic mutt who can’t even reach the tips of Prince Vanko’s hair.”
“…I’ll kill you, you fucking Hero.”
The single provocative remark Hwian tossed out right before the fight caused Ernest to drop his mask completely. Killing intent radiated from him as he growled.
He tapped the bottom of the mithril floor with his purple staff, and a small gate suddenly materialized.
Immediately afterward, a swarm of Cave Mantis poured out. Facing them, Hwian spoke quietly to Serena on his back.
“Don’t let go of me. And don’t forget what I told you earlier.”
“Y-yes…!”
A slightly tense reply came back.
Amid the overflowing mantises, Ernest raised his sword and charged with savage momentum. At the same time, the two fanatics who had revealed themselves also raised their daggers and rushed toward him.
“Let’s have that revenge match.”
Without hesitation, Hwian swung his sword down at them.
Meanwhile, the princess clinging to Hwian’s back—Serena—was newly realizing, in her small body, just how fast a person could move.
‘U-ugh…!!’
Hwian’s sword, swinging so fast it left no afterimage, sharply cut down everything that came at him.
His heavy footsteps crushed the mantises’ exoskeletons, and the boom! of each step echoed a beat later.
“Hup—!”
After a sharp exhale, his movements flowed like those of a wild beast.
Between the frenzied Ernest and the coldly composed Hwian, dozens of exchanges happened in the blink of an eye.
The ringing clash of steel. The countless shallow cuts engraved on skin in mere seconds. In the midst of movements so violent they threatened to fling her off at any moment, Serena gripped Hwian even tighter with the arms wrapped around him so she wouldn’t be thrown away.
The staff clutched firmly in her hand poured out mana without pause.
Little by little, pure white mana seeped into Hwian, amplifying his already formidable skill even further.
Body enhancement magic. It wasn’t her specialty like healing, but it was still a field she could handle at a basic level.
“Guh?!”
After more than ten seconds of clashing, Hwian, who had won the contest of strength, brutally kicked Ernest in the stomach.
A satisfying blow. But in that opening, a fanatic’s dagger flew in and sank sharply into Hwian’s thigh before he could dodge.
“Ugh…”
“H-Hero, are you okay—”
“Focus. Don’t waste stamina talking for no reason.”
“—Mm. Yes!”
After the brief exchange, Hwian yanked the dagger out of his thigh with a wet shlick.
Bright red blood immediately gushed out. Though she flinched at the unexpectedly deep wound, Serena kept her mouth tightly shut and summoned another surge of mana from her hand.
Vivid red healing magic forcefully soaked into Hwian’s thigh.
Once he confirmed the bleeding had at least stopped, Hwian charged toward Ernest again, crushing mantises beneath his feet without hesitation.
“Ugh…!”
The clang! of swords clashing. Ernest’s groan as he grit his teeth, and the sound of Hwian’s foot stomping down with power.
“You’re not all that, are you? Yesterday’s fight was harder than this. Is this what happens when you’re just the Empire’s leftover trash?”
“You bastard!!”
Hwian simply tilted his chin up to dodge Ernest’s sword, which swung wildly in easy provocation.
He followed through by kicking the slender prince’s body sideways. This time, one of the fanatics who had rushed in off-beat swung his dagger toward Serena.
“…!!”
The glinting, deadly blade right before her eyes. The images of countless injured people flashing through her mind, the metallic scent of blood brushing her nose.
Her terrified instincts screamed at her to run away immediately.
They yelled at her to push Hwian away and flee to safety.
“…Ugh.”
But Serena ignored every one of those instinctive cries and widened her golden eyes.
Never taking her gaze off the incoming blade for even a second, she pulled Hwian’s body toward her with all her strength.
Because she had promised. …Because she had been promised.
“Hup!!”
Hwian’s longsword, swinging back with deadly precision, sliced cleanly through the fanatic’s body. Blood sprayed, and the dagger went wide.
Watching everything scatter without so much as touching a single strand of her hair, Serena swallowed hard.
She was being protected. This large, solid man—this kind Hero—was pouring every ounce of his strength into keeping her safe.
What more was there to worry about?
“Any injuries?”
“N-none!”
“Good. We’re moving on.”
Hwian glanced back at Serena to check on her. Caught off guard by the unexpected question, she nodded in slight bewilderment. At the small, casual show of consideration, she suddenly felt heat rising to her face.
‘He just told me not to waste stamina talking for no reason, and now…!’
Was her body overheating from the extreme tension? Or had being pressed so closely against him for so long made her head go a little strange?
She could hear a pounding heartbeat.
Right now, Serena couldn’t even tell whose heart it was.
“Kuhk!”
“Haa…”
After kicking Ernest once more, Hwian let out a low breath.
The area had grown quiet.
All the numerous mantises lay shattered and scattered across the ground, and the two fanatics who had been darting around were now collapsed in pools of their own blood.
“If you… kill me… my father will…!”
“He’d probably be delighted. The Emperor of Mikael is that kind of man.”
Feeling how heavy his limbs had become, Hwian walked forward with steady steps.
He had fought while acting relaxed and throwing out provocations, but the opponent had been quite difficult.
More than a few dozen Cave Mantis, two fanatics skilled with daggers, and Ernest, who was now exhausted and collapsed before him, was not originally this weak an opponent. He was only in this state because he had fallen for Hwian’s taunts and wasted his stamina.
‘Time to finish this…’
The future that would unfold if he left this man alive was far grayer than any commotion that might arise from killing him. If he used Ruinfall here without any prior preparation, he would end up buried alive himself, so he couldn’t use it right now.
There were no more obstacles. Hwian raised his sword.
But right in front of him—
“…Die.”
Ernest, blood dripping from his mouth, lifted his staff.
“Ugh…!?”
“Hero!”
An unexpected choice. A suicidal move shimmering with madness.
Before the horrified Hwian, purple mana flooded the entire cavern.