The Gold Peak Squad's Reckoning

A thunderous rumble rolled across the arena as the colossal wave of ganggi melted away, revealing Garon's figure behind it. His chest caved in as if a hammer had smashed straight through his sternum, and blood burst from his mouth. It was a marvel born from the harmony of Supreme Harmony Footwork and Flame Dragon Form.

But Garon was not the only one reeling.

"Cough!"

Raon bent at the waist and spat a mouthful of blood of his own. The internal damage was severe. It would have been stranger if he had come through unharmed after cutting through ganggi of that magnitude.

"Guh...!"

Garon clutched his chest and staggered backward, his pupils shaking as if an earthquake had gone off behind his eyes.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Raon swallowed the blood pooled in his throat and kicked off the ground. The instant Garon stepped back, he stepped forward. His insides were churning and his head swam, but he clenched his teeth and stamped down with Supreme Harmony Footwork.

"Gaaaah! Get away! I said get the hell away from me!"

Garon shrieked and unleashed Feather Rain Sword in a frantic chain. The swings looked wild, but ganggi still clung to the blade, and every trajectory was precise.

Which is exactly why I can dodge them.

Six resonating rings of fire pierced straight through the mysteries of Feather Rain Sword.

He bent his knees and slipped the rake-like slash, then stamped the Second Step of Supreme Harmony Footwork. His vision narrowed, and Garon's terrified face filled ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it. Wrapping the mantra of speed around his wrist, Raon extended Flower Spirit.

"Nngh!"

Garon tried to detonate the ganggi he had gathered, but it was already too late. The scarlet petals were already at his throat.

"W-wait—!"

"There's no waiting in a fight."

Raon's smile and the explosion of every Flower Spirit petal landed on Garon at the same instant.

"GAAAAAH!"

Wrapped in a storm of blazing heat, Garon screamed and dropped to his knees.

"Kh!"

Raon spat blood once more. He clenched his fist until the knuckles went white, enduring a pain that felt as if something were tearing through his guts.

"H-how...?"

Garon barely managed to raise his aura and snuff out the flames of Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation, his lips trembling.

"How can you still fight in that condition?!"

His eyes had gone slack, as if his soul had left him. He seemed unable to comprehend how Raon could still be moving when his own internal injuries were far worse.

"Because you've never fought anyone stronger than you."

Raon wiped the blood running from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand and smiled.

"You just kept trying to run, didn't you?"

Whenever Garon held the advantage, he poured on a crushing offense. The moment something slipped beyond his understanding, or the exchange evened out, he fell back. His defeat had been born of fear. He had never once staked his life against a stronger opponent, and that was the entire problem.

"You can reach a high realm training alone. You can reach one beating people weaker than you. But you can never become a strong human being."

"Ah..."

"If all you want are fights you can win, then crawl back to Jinmu Hall and play with your subordinates!"

Raon's clenched fist smashed into Garon's jaw.

The crack of bone rang out. Garon, who had not even managed a proper guard, went tumbling across the floor.

"Ghhk..."

Raon circulated the Ring of Fire as he closed the distance.

"You didn't see yourself rolling across the floor in any of your plans, did you? That's what makes the world interesting."

"Urgh..."

Garon's jaw had come unhinged; he could not even close his mouth. Blood ran from the empty sockets of his front teeth as he tried, once again, to scramble backward.

"S-stop! I lo— hk!"

Raon jammed the scabbard into Garon's mouth and cut him off.

"Like brother, like brother. You even pull the same stunts."

"Ghk..."

"Because of you, my kids suffered for three months. You're going to take responsibility for that."

He reversed the blow and smashed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Garon's jaw from the other side so the man could not speak.

The impact hurled Garon into the far wall of the sparring ground.

"It wasn't that guy who beat us. It was the vice-captain."

"We really did get the living hell beaten out of us. At this point I don't even remember why."

"We got stronger, sure, but I feel like we took a loss somehow."

"Is this actually right?"

Raon ignored the bewildered voices drifting over from the Light Wind Squad's side.

"Nnngh!"

Garon's mouth was a ruin of blood; he could not form words. He stretched a hand toward the floor, trying to forfeit by leaving the ring.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Raon caught Garon by the ankle and slammed him into the opposite floor.

"Gahhk!"

"We're just getting started. We can't end it here."

He looked down at Garon coughing up blood and smiled.

"Don't worry. I won't kill you."

Raon raised his clenched fist, a cold smile on his lips.

That's the way! A fight you picked must be won, and you must crush them so thoroughly they never dare challenge you again. You're finally starting to please This King.

Wrath grinned and nodded.

Care to try your hand as a Demon King candidate?

Hell no.

From the moment Raon started beating Garon with his fists, a heavy silence settled over the entire Great Training Ground.

Only after Garon, who had been taking punches like a sandbag, passed out and was planted upside down in the floor did the spectators begin to find their voices, one by one.

"Hahh..."

"H-he won. Raon won!"

"For Lord Garon to lose that miserably..."

"Th-this is real, right? We're actually seeing this?"

Most of the crowd, who until moments ago had been betting on Raon's defeat and Garon's victory, sat with their mouths hanging open, unable to process what they had just witnessed.

"Has there ever been a case of an Expert beating a Master?"

"There has, actually. Three months ago."

"Th-then the part about him beating the 7th Apostle..."

"That was real too."

"A seventeen-year-old Expert who took down two Masters."

"Once is coincidence. Twice is skill."

"This is going into Zieghart history. No—continental history."

The packed stands of the Great Training Ground had eyes for no one but Raon. The spectators swallowed dryly.

"I watched this duel with my own eyes, so I'm the real winner here! Taking that leave was the right call!"

"Tell me about it. I lost a fortune and I still don't feel bad."

"Same! I threw my entire monthly pay at it and I can't stop smiling."

"That's the smile you make when you're crying, you know that?"

"He really did kick up a storm."

Upheaval had a way of setting people on fire. Even those who had lost their money were smiling as they applauded Raon. True to the nature of martial artists who pursued strength above all else, they were simply glad that the greatest genius in the family's history had appeared before them.

"Wooooooo!"

"Raon! Raon! Raon!"

"Light Wind Squad! Light Wind Squad!"

"We'll be watching you from here on!"

Swordsmen throughout the Great Training Ground erupted in cheers for Raon and the Light Wind Squad.

Not everyone, however, shared the sentiment.

"Tsk."

"That idiot..."

"He should have finished it this time."

"To get pierced by swordsmanship that sloppy, even the title of Master is wasted on him."

The direct line and the branch families who followed them could not accept the reversal. They ground their teeth, and in their fury-filled eyes stood Raon, unbowed.

The armrest of the throne in Glenn's grip crumpled like scrap iron. Force he had not even realized he was applying had folded the handle as if it were a sheet of paper.

A distinct tremor ran through those crimson eyes that had always held a look of boredom, as if he had long since shed emotion.

"Hahh."

Glenn let out a low breath and sat forward off the back of the throne.

To grasp the true meaning of Supreme Harmony Footwork this quickly...

Supreme Harmony Footwork was no mere movement art. It was a peerless martial study that amplified the attributes of one's swordsmanship with every step. Glenn had believed that even at Raon's pace, grasping that would take a year at the earliest. The boy had done it in less than four months. Having taught it himself, Glenn could only let out a disbelieving laugh.

And it isn't only the footwork. This is...

It was temperament. Raon's nature—the refusal to fall back in the face of crisis, the insistence on pressing forward—had produced this result. A seventeen-year-old swordsman who walked into ganggi without flinching. No one would believe it unless they saw it with their own eyes.

"Well, now."

The corners of Glenn's eyes softened. That this courageous boy was his grandson filled him with a quiet, genuine pleasure.

"He really does refuse to move the way anyone expects."

The Heavenly Sword Squad Leader's voice trembled faintly. She had watched him for a long time, but it had been ages since she had heard him sound this shaken.

"I've never seen a child like that."

"Yes."

Glenn nodded, not even realizing he was smiling.

"He slipped my expectations as well."

Even to him, Raon was an unpredictable walking disaster. In the most enjoyable sense of the word.

"Come to think of it, this is the first time I've seen the head of house smile while looking at his grandson."

"Ahem!"

Glenn immediately raised a hand and forced the corners of his mouth back down.

"When I saw him three months ago he wasn't at this level. I have no idea what happened in the meantime."

Sheryl narrowed her already thin eyes even further.

"It surprised me too. I thought harmonizing Supreme Harmony Footwork with his swordsmanship would take a year."

Glenn nodded. He had acknowledged Raon's talent, which was why he had given it a year. He had not imagined the boy would finish it in a mere three months.

"And he did it while raising the children as well."

Raon had not grown stronger alone. He had pulled up the skill of every swordsman in the Light Wind Squad and achieved enormous growth of his own in the process. Calling it remarkable was not enough.

"Garon never let his guard down after taking Raon's first punch."

Sheryl looked at Raon, who had knocked Garon unconscious, and clicked her tongue softly.

"An Expert who went head-to-head ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠with a Master and won. History really is going to be rewritten."

"Yes."

The corners of Glenn's mouth lifted again, just slightly. Until now, plenty of people had refused to believe that Raon had defeated the 7th Apostle. After this duel, those doubts would vanish. Raon had made it impossible for anyone to argue, and Glenn was proud of him.

"Now I understand why that one keeps shouting Raon's name all the time."

"Jackpot! I'm rich now!"

Sheryl pointed toward the Light Wind Squad, where Rimer had both arms in the air and was roaring at the ceiling.

"I'm rich, I tell you! All of you, worship me!"

He was causing a scene with a betting slip clenched in his fist.

"Ahem. For all that he looks like that, his eye for people is sharp."

Glenn cleared his throat and leaned back against the throne again.

"I don't know if he has the makings of a king, but the talent is anything but ordinary. I particularly like that unyielding fighting spirit of his."

A faint light of approval flickered in Sheryl's eyes. She seemed to have begun acknowledging Raon in earnest.

"That child is going to grow even stronger from here."

"He shattered the wall. He can hardly do otherwise."

"Y-you said he shattered the wall?"

"Yes. Raon did not cross the wall that stands between Expert and Master. He broke it."

"But he still isn't..."

"That's right. He is not a Master."

Glenn nodded slowly.

"Ordinarily, when an Expert becomes a Master, they pass through in a state of self-absorption. The martial learning accumulated over a long time crystallizes into enlightenment, and they cross the wall naturally."

"That's true."

Sheryl nodded. The first time she herself had fallen into that trance had been the moment she became a Master.

"But that one is different."

Glenn pointed at Raon, who was looking up into empty air.

"In this duel, that child organized every martial art he had built, set them in order, and smashed the wall itself. He understands exactly what he has done, and exactly what realm he has reached."

"Then going forward..."

"Even after he becomes a Master, he will be able to climb without a period of stagnation."

Most martial artists, the instant they rose to Master, woke from their awakening and found their actual skill diminished. They then had to recover the power they had held in that awakened state through long training and meditation. For Raon, that stagnation would not exist.

"Innate talent... no. Effort and talent, with luck on top of it."

"There are almost none like him."

Glenn rested his chin on his hand, a faint smile on his lips.

"Now, with a single small catalyst, he will be able to reach what lies beyond that shattered wall."

"Then what about putting him in the Room of Ego? He could pass the threshold and even reach low-rank Master."

Sheryl was the first to propose a method to make Raon stronger.

"The Room of Ego can be entered only once in a lifetime. It would be a waste to put him in now."

Glenn slowly shook his head.

"How far do you think that child can climb?"

"That..."

Sheryl narrowed her eyes. At this level at seventeen, the future was, frankly, impossible to predict. It felt like staring at a mountain whose peak was hidden in fog.

"I don't know. But I suspect he will surpass my position before he turns forty."

"With no stagnation, it will not even take that long."

"Mm..."

She nodded. She wanted to argue, but after watching so many things that should not have been possible, she found herself thinking he was right.

"Now we will have to settle our own accounts as well."

Glenn lifted a hand lightly.

"Settle accounts, my lord...?"

"Did we not wager on the outcome of this match?"

"Ah!"

Sheryl swallowed. She had bet with Glenn on who would win this duel. Just as the Gold Peak Squad had fallen, she had been thoroughly defeated.

"Then I will name what I want."

Glenn looked at Raon, who had just thrown Garon aside, and slowly opened his mouth.

"That child..."

"T-the duel is over! The Light Wind Squad wins the team match, thirty-five to zero!"

The announcer's trembling voice brought the duel—long and yet somehow brief—to a close.

"Wooooooo!"

"It's finally over!"

"We don't have to get hit anymore! We don't have to get hit!"

"No more standing across from that demon spawn!"

"Son of a biiiitch!"

The members of the Light Wind Squad wiped their eyes on their sleeves and shouted that they would not have to take beatings anymore. Every last one of them was far happier about not having to spar with Raon than they were about beating the Gold Peak Squad.

The happiest person present, however, was not among them.

"I'm rich!"

Rimer's hand, clutching the betting slip, trembled violently.

"Heheheh! I'm rich now!"

He had been the only person to bet on a complete victory for the Light Wind Squad, and the odds had been beyond imagination. His eyes burned, stained with a kind of madness.

"Ugh. How am I supposed to..."

Unable to control the Light Wind Squad's rampage, the announcer looked toward Raon.

"Everyone, quiet."

"Hk!"

"Mm."

At a single word from Raon, every member of the Light Wind Squad shut their mouths. The funny part was that even Rimer went silent.

"S-since you have won, it is now time to state your victory conditions to the Gold Peak Squad."

The announcer, who had been speaking half-casually before, was now using the most extreme honorifics with Raon.

"Understood."

Raon stood at the center of the sparring ground and looked up at the dais.

"What we of the Light Wind Squad want from the Gold Peak Squad is..."

He paused, and every eye in the Great Training Ground gathered on him. Admiration, pride, astonishment, hatred, jealousy—he savored the gazes thick with every emotion imaginable, then continued.

The instant the words left his mouth, silence dropped over the Great Training Ground once more.

"W-what did he just..."

"Dissolution? Really?"

"I heard it too. He said dissolution..."

"Th-that's basically picking a fight with Jinmu Hall out in the open, isn't it?"

"Good heavens..."

No one present had actually believed he would dissolve the Gold Peak Squad. Every pair of eyes in the place went wide.

"Raon Zieghart!"

Balder, Lord of Jinmu Hall, who had been silent until now, surged to his feet and smashed his chair. A ferocious pressure incomparable to Garon's crushed down over Raon's entire body.

"Did you just say you would dissolve the Gold Peak Squad?"

"I did."

"Have you lost your mind? How does a sane man say a thing like that?!"

"I don't believe it's something that can't be said."

Blood ran over Raon's lips. Balder's terrifying presence had torn open the internal injuries he had forced down. The pain was vicious, but he bit the inside of his cheek and endured it.

"The leader of the Gold Peak Squad said he would accept whatever we demanded. In other words, there is no reason dissolution should be off the table."

"Even so, dissolving a squad is not something the likes of you—"

"It is possible."

The low voice that cut Balder off came from the highest dais. Sheryl, Leader of the Heavenly Sword Squad. She looked between Balder and Raon and nodded.

"I will say this as the notary. The dissolution of the Gold Peak Squad is a fully valid demand."

"Heavenly Sword Squad Leader!"

"Why are you calling me? Lord of Jinmu Hall?"

"This is unreasonable! Who would think of dissolving a squad over a petty wager like this?!"

"Someone did. He's standing right there."

Sheryl calmly raised a hand and pointed at Raon.

"The Gold Peak Squad issued the challenge first, and the Gold Peak Squad said the conditions could be set however the other side pleased. What, exactly, is the problem?"

"Th-the founding and dissolution of a squad cannot be done without the head of house's permission—"

"The head of house has already given his permission."

She glanced back at Glenn, then nodded.

"Lord of Jinmu Hall. If you had a problem with the conditions, you should have changed them before it started. Whining now that it's over only makes you look pathetic."

"Heavenly Sword Squad Leader..."

Balder's enormous aura swept toward her, but Sheryl only smiled as if she found it amusing, and did not uncross her arms.

"You seem to have a great many complaints. Then you should have won."

Raon smiled and stepped between the two of them. Today's protagonists were the Light Wind Squad. He could not let anyone else steal the attention.

"You. Because of you—"

"It isn't because of me. It's because of your sons, my lord. I merely accepted the duel that came to us."

He tapped his scabbard and went on.

"Before you taught them swordsmanship, perhaps you should have taught them manners, and how to read people."

"You intend to see this through to the end?"

"That's why I'm standing here."

"Huuuh..."

"However."

Balder's eyes burned a vivid red. Just before he exploded, Raon raised a finger.

"Dissolution alone looks a little too heartless, so I'll give you one other option."

"Another option?"

"Yes. For the next four years, hand over eighty percent of all income and rewards the Gold Peak Squad earns through its activities to the Light Wind Squad."

"E-eighty percent ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of their income..."

"Compared to dissolution, it's a fairly generous condition."

"Four years is too much!"

"The Gold Peak Squad intended to suspend our activities for three years. I only added one."

"Kh..."

Because the Gold Peak Squad had started it, Balder could not answer. He bit down on his lip.

"He has to take that, right? No question."

"It's far better than dissolution. If the squad gets dissolved after a humiliation like this, it'll take ten years to build it again."

"True. It's a bit long, and it's a lot, but it's better than being dissolved."

"At least he's leaving them a way to breathe. There's some mercy in it."

The spectators nodded, insisting the offer had to be accepted.

Raon listened to the reactions around him and smiled faintly.

Of course they would.

Eighty percent for four years was little better than a slave contract. But because he had led with dissolution, the present terms sounded generous by comparison, and everyone had decided they were reasonable.

"No thought of changing the duration or the percentage?"

"None. If you don't like it, choose dissolution."

"R-Rimer!"

When Raon shook his head without hesitation, Balder turned toward Rimer.

"You're going to take it this far? If you fall out with us, you're the ones who will suffer!"

"Hmm. Well, that's true, actually..."

Rimer smacked his lips as if he were genuinely considering it.

"Half of the money the Gold Peak Squad brings in will go to the squad's public funds, and the remaining half will be divided among all the members—"

"Raon! Forget four years—make it ten, and just take a hundred percent of all of it! Hmm? There's no reason to go easy on them!"

The moment money being divided entered the conversation, he stopped even looking at Balder and instead glared at Raon, telling him to raise the percentage. The fact that he meant it made it even more terrifying.

"You heard him."

Raon walked toward Balder with unhurried, confident steps.

"Kh..."

"Choose. Dissolution, or the money."

He held up two fingers and smiled.

I have to make it unmistakably clear.

That if you touch me—no. If you touch the Light Wind Squad—you will be ruined completely.