The Fire Dragon Pierces the Tide
Sheryl, Leader of the Heavenly Sword Squad, stood at Glenn's side and let out a thin, incredulous groan.
"I can hardly believe what I'm looking at is real."
Her eyes trembled as they swept the arena below.
A complete sweep. How is that even possible?
Thirty wins. Zero losses. And those points did not belong to the Gold Peak Squad — they belonged to the Light Wind Squad. Not a single defeat. Thirty matches, thirty victories.
And every last one of them was a crushing win.
The Light Wind Squad had overwhelmed the Gold Peak Squad as if they stood a full rank above them. Duels that ended in a single blow were common. Just as often, they beat their opponents like they were wringing three months of pent-up fury out of someone else's bones.
The gap in level isn't even that large, though...
It was as if the Light Wind Squad had completely mapped the Gold Peak Squad's martial arts. They shut down every attack and struck only at the openings — the martial science of real combat, executed to perfection. What on earth had they done for three months to acquire that kind of ability?
"They did nothing but spar, apparently."
Glenn took his hand from his chin and went on.
"For three months, without a single day of rest, they sparred with the sole purpose of targeting vital points and openings."
"Sparring that only targets vitals and openings..."
"The moment they started getting used to it, the targets shifted to different weaknesses and different gaps. So the Light Wind kids spent their days getting beaten, and their nights learning martial arts just to survive."
"Ha..."
Sheryl's jaw trembled.
"That's practically hell."
Plug one weakness, and another gets stabbed. Block that, and a new opening gets carved open. That was not training any ordinary human would even conceive of.
"It is. Most people couldn't assign it, and most couldn't endure it. But Raon and the Light Wind Squad did — and this is the result."
Glenn pointed to the thirty-first match, just beginning.
"AAAAARGH! DIE!"
A long-haired swordsman named Crain charged a Gold Peak Squad swordsman like a man possessed.
"Because of you people I spent three months in hell!"
He flicked aside the wave of sword aura the Gold Peak swordsman raised as if it were nothing, then brought his blade down in a frenzy.
"I'd make a plan and he'd smash it! Smash it again! Smash it AGAIN, that demon — I almost actually died!"
"Ghk — I-I didn't do anyth—"
"I don't care! Just die!"
Crain howled as he struck. The blade found the Gold Peak swordsman's weak point with ugly, perfect precision.
"Gahk!"
"Don't you dare pass out! Get up! Come at me! Feel what it's like getting hit in the vitals all day long!"
The Gold Peak swordsman had already rolled his eyes back and fainted from a single blow, but Crain still wasn't satisfied. He lunged at the fallen man.
"You should suffer under that demon too! I can't be the only one!"
"S-stop!"
"It's already over!"
Only when the announcer and the referee seized his arms and legs could they drag Crain off.
This was not the first time. The Light Wind swordsmen would freeze as if their self-esteem had hit rock bottom, then realize their skills had actually risen — and about one in three of them would throw a fit like this, venting three months of accumulated rage.
Sheryl narrowed her eyes at the next person to step onto the floor. Marta Zieghart. The girl had always been violent by nature; there was no predicting how she would move.
"Match, begin."
The instant the announcer's voice fell, Marta kicked off the ground.
"Fuck! Fuuuuck!"
As if she had forgotten human language, she spat nothing but curses and hurled herself at the Gold Peak Squad's team leader.
A thunderous crash split the arena. It was not only her language that had left humanity behind. With overwhelming force, she shattered the team leader's sword strike completely.
The stones of the floor burst apart as Marta stomped through them and struck twelve of the team leader's vital points at once.
"Guhhhh!"
The Gold Peak team leader performed the remarkable feat of getting beaten in midair like a leaf in a gale, then planted his head in the ground.
"Fuck!"
Marta cursed to the very end and walked off the arena. She looked for all the world like a beast.
Fortunately, Runaan, who went next, put her opponent down quickly and quietly — though she did strike the most painful vital point on the face. She seemed plenty angry in her own way.
Raon, who came out thirty-fourth, casually slipped the Gold Peak vice-leader's attacks and knocked him out in a single blow. From the rank-and-file all the way to the vice-leader, every one of them had unilaterally overwhelmed their opponents. A team match like this was unprecedented.
"My lord."
"Hm?"
Glenn was holding back a smile that wanted to climb his lips, clearly pleased that Raon had created this situation.
"I can see the Light Wind kids have gotten stronger, but..."
Sheryl swallowed dryly as she watched the Light Wind members snarling like animals.
"Is this really the right direction? It looks exactly like watching beasts raised by a demon."
"Ahem..."
Glenn cleared his throat and turned his head without answering.
An ominous energy thick enough to choke on crawled up over Garon's shoulders, rumbling like a coming storm.
"Do you really want to die?"
He unleashed a presence of an entirely different dimension from before, baring his teeth in a grin.
"Would taking that neck of yours make me feel better?"
"Whose neck gets taken is something you only know after you see the result."
Raon smiled coldly and spun the Heavenly Sky Sword in his hand.
"When this match first started, how many people thought the Light Wind Squad would win?"
"So you're saying the result of a duel between you and me is equally unknown?"
"No. I'll win."
"Ha! I go easy on you, and now you're dropping the honorifics?"
"No need to treat a bastard who picked the fight first with any courtesy, is there?"
Raon met Garon's eyes and flicked a hand dismissively.
"Besides, your squad leader's seat doesn't have much time left on it. No reason to speak up to you."
"What?"
"Looks like you forgot we never set the wager for when we won."
Raon pointed past the announcer, at the numbers hanging there.
"The result is already in. Once our duel is over, I'm disbanding the Gold Peak Squad."
"Y-you're going to disband the Gold Peak Squad?"
Garon's hands began to shake. Disbandment was something he had never even considered.
"You think disbanding a squad is that easy?!"
"The Clan Head is watching, and the witness is the Leader of the Heavenly Sword Squad. It's entirely possible."
"Ah..."
"Unless your Jinmu Hall Master steps in, you can't stop it. And the Jinmu Hall Master doesn't look like he has any intention of stepping in."
Perhaps because of what had happened with Raiden, Balder Zieghart stood with his arms folded and did not move.
"You little..."
The energy Garon poured out grew vivid enough to see with the naked eye. A pressure thick enough to stop the breath crushed down over Raon's entire body.
Raon resonated the Ring of Fire and received that killing presence with perfect calm.
"This is the last chance you've been given. If you can't kill me here, the Gold Peak Squad is finished."
"Provocation, even now. You really aren't in your right mind."
"You can't pull something like this unless you are a little crazy."
Raon gestured toward the Light Wind Squad members behind him.
"Those idiots spent three months going insane because of you. It's time to collect the last of that debt."
"That's not it?"
"We went crazy because of you..."
"Demon..."
Raon ignored the strange muttering at his back.
"Anyway. Come at me with everything you've got from the start, so I don't have to hear any talk about complacency."
He twitched the hand that held the Heavenly Sky Sword.
"You don't need to worry about that. Complacency is the word I hate most in this world."
Garon ground his teeth and took his stance.
"W-wait! This match is a duel between squad leaders!"
The announcer shoved himself between two crushing auras, shaking his head. A man with an unfortunately strong sense of responsibility.
"Ah, I'm injured, so Raon's filling in for me."
Rimer, who had been popping strawberries into his mouth at the side of the arena, offered a bright, sunny smile.
"That's... what..."
The announcer's eyes went round. The man looked perfectly fine from every conceivable angle, and the expression on the announcer's face said he could not quite process the audacity.
"Both of them have agreed. Ignore that idiot and proceed as is."
Glenn nodded as if it were of no particular concern.
"Y-yes, sir."
The announcer wiped the cold sweat running down his forehead and lowered his hand.
"Then, if both of you would prepare."
"I'm ready."
"Hurry up and start."
Raon and Garon both nodded.
"Then — the final match begins!"
The instant the referee raised his hand and stepped back, blue flame surged up the length of Garon's sword. A vast, roaring energy, blazing as it climbed the blade. Ganggi — the mark of a Master.
As if to prove he would not be complacent, Garon tore through space in a single breath and drove the Ganggi-wreathed sword straight in.
A vicious killing intent rode that Ganggi, close enough to taste — and Raon's eyes did not so much as flicker.
Now.
In the instant the Ganggi was about to graze his throat, Raon stepped with his left foot. The First Step of Supreme Harmony Footwork, flashed out like a streak of light. The footwork, refined a full level beyond what it had been, warped like moonlight and shed the Ganggi aside.
Then the Second Step. A stride of extreme speed shot forward like a gale, and Raon arrived at Garon's back.
The Heavenly Sky Sword lined up on Garon's neck. Garon, still facing the wrong way, could not react. His body shuddered.
"H-how..."
"It's already over."
"I-I was complacent! I still haven't shown my real—"
"Didn't you say complacency was the word you hated most?"
"Ghk..."
Caught on his own words, Garon could not finish the sentence. He clenched his teeth.
"You act like you're different from your little brother. You're just the same."
Raon gave a short, cold laugh and smashed the fist wrapped around the Heavenly Sky Sword into Garon's face.
A sound like a drum bursting open cracked across the arena. Garon bounced backward and dropped to one knee.
"Ptoo..."
Garon clutched his crumpled cheek and spat out two teeth.
"Pretty solid."
He had put his full strength into that punch and only knocked out two teeth. Apparently becoming a Master improved your durability too.
"Why didn't you finish it?"
"I gave your brother a chance. Only fair I give you one too."
"Hah. You will regret for the rest of your life that you didn't end it just now. No — you won't get to regret it. Because you're going to die here!"
Garon bit down on his lip and raised his sword. He discarded the impatience of a moment ago and lowered his stance. The tension in his eyes was no longer the look of a man facing an inferior opponent. It was the look of a man facing an equal.
Raon drew a slow, even breath.
Yes. This is it.
Garon's killing intent made his skin crawl. Beating a Master who fought sloppily, or a Master who got complacent, meant nothing. He had to win against a Master using everything he had. From here on, it was the real fight.
Wrath nodded.
That spirit which pursues strength and strength alone.
As expected, a demon's name truly befits you—
We're eating something good when this is over. Be quiet.
...
Raon shut Wrath's rambling mouth and raised the Heavenly Sky Sword before him. This was a moment that demanded more concentration than any other.
He drove the Cultivation of Ten Thousand Flames and the Ring of Fire to their peak, flooding his body with power. Crimson fire bloomed along the edge of the Heavenly Sky Sword — so vivid that, Expert though he was, it rivaled the clarity of Ganggi itself.
I have to break his swordsmanship.
Garon's art was a high-level martial science, a fusion of dazzling, ever-shifting variable swordplay and a Heavy Sword that swallowed space whole. To reach him, Raon would have to snap the variation and warp the weight.
A harsh footfall — and Garon vanished from sight. A presence sharp enough to split flesh bloomed on the right. Raon threw his upper body back.
Ganggi skimmed just above his forehead. The hair it sheared away melted in the heat.
The ambush was not finished. A descending strike from the sky — Raon smashed it aside with the Mad Fang Sword.
Blade met blade. Aura met aura. Crimson sparks detonated in a continuous chain.
Raon felt the tremor in his wrist and frowned.
His realm is even with the 7th Apostle.
Garon's Ganggi was on par with the 7th Apostle he had fought before. Unlike the 7th Apostle, however, Garon was using everything he had — which made him more dangerous still. They had crossed swords once, and already Raon's breathing had been shaken.
Even so, I can last far longer than I could then.
If he kept clashing head-on he would eventually take internal damage, but his body and his martial arts had both grown. Compared to the fight with the 7th Apostle, this was far more manageable.
"I told you. You will regret not finishing me at the start."
Garon raised his Ganggi-laced sword, eyes narrowing.
"This is the difference between Ganggi and a mere swordsman. You cannot beat me."
His thighs swelled as if they would burst. He exploded off the floor, shattering stone, and charged.
"There will be no more complacency!"
"Doesn't matter."
Raon smiled coldly and stepped into the Supreme Harmony Footwork. He slipped Garon's space-rending Ganggi by the width of a sheet of paper and smashed the Mad Fang Sword across his face.
"Beating someone like you is the only way this means anything."
What he wanted was irrefutable proof — that an Expert had defeated a Master. That was the reason for this duel.
"You bastard!"
Garon yanked his extended sword back in front of his face.
A ringing clash. Perhaps because the timing was late — even meeting Ganggi, the shock was lighter than before.
Which means...
If he forced the fight onto his own pace, he would not be overwhelmed by Ganggi either.
"You little—!"
Garon forced his way into Raon's space in a single breath and brought his sword down. The blade seemed to multiply into six, sowing a rain of Ganggi.
A colossal pressure crushed Raon's shoulders. His legs groaned. It was a sword pressure designed to pin movement itself.
Feather Rain Sword.
The principles of the Feather Rain Sword Garon was said to have mastered were unmistakable.
Raon took the First Step of Supreme Harmony. He crossed space and arrived at Garon's back, then unleashed Revolving Heaven of the Cultivation of Ten Thousand Flames at his heart.
A flame-blade spinning like a saw-tooth shot forward — and Garon's sword flashed. Revolving Heaven melted against a membrane of Ganggi. Ugly as the man's character was, he had built his martial arts properly.
"I'll grant that you're fast as a rat. But your sword will not get through me!"
"I came here to make it get through."
The one thing Raon had over Garon was footwork. He had to use the Supreme Harmony Footwork to its limit and drive his sword in.
He took the Second Step of Supreme Harmony. His vision narrowed for an instant, then opened — and Garon's eyes filled it.
"What—!"
Raon drove the Mad Fang Sword at the startled man's shoulder. The Heavenly Sky Sword punched through the thick energy coating Garon's defense and carved his shoulder open.
"Kh—!"
Garon hissed, his face twisting. It was only a flesh wound, but he raised his sword in alarm and stepped back.
Raon's eyes flashed. If the man would not advance — if he retreated — that was an opening to press the assault. He detonated the Mad Fang Sword again and again at Garon's now-exposed waist.
Every time the blades met, a roar went up as if a bombardment had landed. Shards of Ganggi riding the exploding shockwaves tore flesh and uniform alike. Raon did not stop.
"Nngh!"
"Hah—!"
Garon retreated again. Raon advanced again.
Raon's mad, unyielding gaze — a gaze that would not yield even to Ganggi — struck Garon's eyes like a wave. They shook.
"H-how can a mere swordsman—!"
"Ganggi isn't invincible."
Raon smiled faintly. Ganggi was a powerful martial art, but it was not absolute. He drew the Refining Sword Technique in a continuous chain, shedding Garon's offense, and drove the Mad Fang Sword in.
Not that the shock is nothing, of course.
His insides were already starting to churn. Even a body and technique that had surpassed ordinary human limits could not perfectly blunt the force of Ganggi.
He bit his tongue. No matter how hard it was, he could not show it. He shoved Garon back.
"Ghk—!"
Garon's shaking grew worse. He seemed unable to believe he was being pushed.
"You've never fought someone stronger than you, have you?"
"What?"
"I can smell it."
Raon's eyes flared with the same light as the Cultivation of Ten Thousand Flames.
"The smell of a coward who's only ever faced the weak."
"Shut up!"
Garon screamed and swung. Ganggi spread like rain, sealing off every inch of space in which a man could move. A vast energy crushed in from all sides.
Raon clenched his molars. The Heavenly Sky Sword in his hand turned with elegant precision, drawing a long and magnificent line.
Buds rose from silver trajectories and bloomed, dyeing the arena in a storm of crimson petals.
Petals of flame collided with the space-devouring Ganggi and birthed a colossal storm of fire.
Raon clutched his rattling insides and drove the Cultivation of Ten Thousand Flames to its limit. Fierce, roaring flame swallowed the Ganggi and pressed forward. He was losing in raw power — but not in momentum.
He shoved Garon back and turned his wrist. The sword force of Frost Lotus, carrying extreme speed, swept across Garon's chest. A shallow cut, but not one that could be dismissed. Red blood welled along the split and dripped.
"Ah..."
Garon clutched at the running blood with his hand, grinding his teeth. His eyes glittered with a ghostly light.
"I'll tear you apart until there's nothing left!"
He dragged up enough aura to be visible to the naked eye and stamped. Between the bursting fragments of earth, Garon's Ganggi howled.
"Die!"
He closed the distance at a terrifying speed and brought his sword down. The curving blade of Ganggi multiplied into ten in an instant, and a crushing load seized all four of Raon's limbs. Pressure so complete he could not move properly. This, it seemed, was the true power of the Feather Rain Sword.
I can't meet this head-on.
Raon chained the First and Second Steps of Supreme Harmony and put distance between himself and Garon's space. Shedding the countless falling strikes as they came was impossible. He had to dodge, and watch for an opening.
"Where do you think you're going!"
But Garon was a martial artist who had reached Master. He pursued with extreme reaction speed and brought his sword down.
A wavering blade carved across Raon's chest. His uniform split, and blood sprayed from the wound.
A blade of Ganggi surged up like a thunderbolt, aiming for his throat.
Raon shoved the ground away with his footwork and fell back. The instant Garon's sword struck the floor, he lunged forward again and smashed the Mad Fang Sword in.
Clang after ringing clang. Raon offset Garon's Ganggi with sword principle, raw strength, and footwork, spinning the Ring of Fire without pause.
This is the only way to win.
Punching through Garon's Ganggi at full power and inflicting a wound from the outside was impossible. He had to get inside that membrane of Ganggi and drive in Flame Dragon Form — or Frost Lotus. That was the only path to victory.
Which meant he had to grasp the flow and the breathing of the Feather Rain Sword, a sword art of the highest caliber.
Raon drove the Supreme Harmony Footwork to its peak, slipping the storming strikes by the width of a sheet of paper.
In a situation where a single mistake, a single error in judgment, could cost him an arm or a leg, he charged in instead.
Ganggi grazed his cheek and blood burst. His uniform shredded and burned. He stamped forward as if none of it mattered. The only things living in those crimson eyes were the trajectory and the breathing of the Feather Rain Sword.
Right side.
Garon's sword dropping from the right skimmed his shoulder.
This time, from below.
Ganggi surged up like a tongue of flame from below and carved his shin.
Shallow — but I can see it.
Perhaps because the Hundred Scents Sword, the foundation of the Feather Rain Sword, and the countless martial arts of the Light Wind Squad members had all settled into his mind and his heart — the breathing and the flow of the swordsmanship Garon poured out through clenched teeth began, slowly, to become familiar.
Left.
A horizontal strike poured toward his left chest. Three blades — but only one of them was real.
Raon dropped his stance, turned the Heavenly Sky Sword on its side, and shoved the Ganggi away.
Left lower again.
Faster and fiercer than the last, energy stabbed toward his left thigh.
He pulled his foot and stepped in. Flame spinning roughly along the Heavenly Sky Sword shoved Garon's membrane of Ganggi aside.
I'm getting used to it.
As Garon's swordsmanship settled into his eyes, he became able to evade the man's attacks even at close range.
It's resonating.
As if answering the beat of his heart, countless martial arts unspooled through his mind. Every form and every formula he had seen, felt, and broken came alive of its own accord and dismantled Garon's sword down to the last piece.
A blade that stabbed at his head and then dropped for his heart. Ganggi that multiplied into ten and thrust. Forms meant to butcher his body to pieces. He slipped all of them without taking a single wound.
And yet.
Something's missing.
He was evading Garon's attacks with the wondrous movement of the Supreme Harmony Footwork, but it still felt insufficient. His chest seemed to be telling him to stretch out his hand in the same instant he dodged.
I can't yet — so why?
He still had not found an opening to pierce Garon's Ganggi, but the Ring of Fire was telling him to go further. It was shouting at him to thrust his sword.
"Die!"
Garon dropped his sword vertically. He stripped away the variation and loaded the strike with weight. A terrifying pressure of Heavy Sword came crashing down.
All right then...
Raon trusted the Ring of Fire and took the Sixth Step of Supreme Harmony. He walked the softest of steps and unfolded the Refining Sword Technique.
A steadfastness rising from his legs and a suppleness in his wrist flowed into a blade of white light. The Heavenly Sky Sword's twist shed the fiercely blazing Ganggi with perfect completeness, and a counterstrike like a flash of lightning carved Garon's waist.
A wet, tearing sound. Garon groaned and fell back, clutching his waist. Red blood poured through his fingers.
Raon swallowed dryly.
This is the Supreme Harmony Footwork?
The Ring of Fire had not lied. When he harmonized the Supreme Harmony Footwork with his swordsmanship and shed the strike, the shock was incomparably lighter than before.
"GRAAAAAH!"
Garon clenched his teeth. He raised his sword to the sky and detonated every last drop of energy he possessed.
Blades of Ganggi surged to the heavens, multiplying into dozens, and swallowed the arena whole.
This is Great Feather Rain.
The final ultimate technique of the Feather Rain Sword. A cruel form that wrapped the entire space in Ganggi to lock down movement, then shredded the enemy to pieces.
A colossal wall of Ganggi came rolling in. There was nowhere to run.
In the moment he wondered how to stop it, the heart where the Ring of Fire resonated spoke.
Now is the time to advance.
Raon trusted the martial arts he had built with his own hands, and adjusted his grip on the Heavenly Sky Sword.
In a state of extreme concentration, the grains of mana drifting through empty air came into his sight.
And living inside them was Glenn, from a night three months ago.
Those words, which had brushed past him then, struck his mind like a thunderbolt.
A Supreme Harmony Footwork of my own.
He understood now.
Those words had not meant to invent a new Supreme Harmony Footwork.
They had meant to harmonize the Supreme Harmony Footwork with his own swordsmanship — and push that swordsmanship's power to its absolute peak.
Raon stamped a true step into the stone. The Fifth Step of Supreme Harmony. He walked a stride whose momentum was sharp as a spear, and drew the Heavenly Sky Sword back.
He detonated every last remnant of the Cultivation of Ten Thousand Flames left in his dantian. Flame bearing the radiance of the sun surged up the silver-white blade.