He's Not a Child Who Moves Without Thinking

"The discussion is finally making progress."

King Lecross closed the thick stack of documents and smiled. The meeting that had dragged on so interminably was at last drawing to a close, and his expression had brightened with it.

"The mana network for exchanging intelligence on the White Blood Cult and Eden will be handled by the Magic Tower, which did not attend this conference."

"Those lazy slugs at the Magic Tower are taking on that tedious job?"

Chamber's eyes went round with surprise.

"Yes. The Tower Master was unable to attend this time, so she offered to take it on herself."

"Come to think of it, why didn't those guys show up?"

She tilted her head, looking at King Lecross.

"You've been sitting here this whole time and you're only curious about that now?"

Ogram let out a dry laugh as he looked at her.

"I wasn't interested in anyone else. I came to see that old man over there."

Chamber pointed at Glenn and grinned.

"I came to see how much stronger he'd gotten — and he didn't disappoint."

She wet her crimson lips with her tongue.

"So why didn't the Magic Tower people come?"

"They…"

"Hm?"

Just as King Lecross was about to answer, Glenn, who had been silently reviewing the documents, snapped his eyes wide and turned toward the window.

"My lord?"

"What's wrong?"

"This is—!"

Sheryl and Roen were about to tilt their heads at Glenn when Derus, Chamber, Ogram, and even King Lecross all turned to look in the same direction.

"You wretched insect!"

Glenn smashed through the conference hall window and launched himself outside. The other leaders of the Six Kings hurriedly followed.

A roar of displaced air tore across the sky.

In the distance, light and darkness were plummeting toward the Sparring Ground, and every pair of eyes twisted at the sight.

"Light and darkness! It's Fallen Heaven!"

"The distance is too great. At this rate, we'll be too late!"

Ogram ground his teeth. King Lecross bit down on his lip.

"There's coordinate interference. Spatial travel won't work."

Chamber finished her calculations and frowned.

"We'll have to intercept it from here."

As she leveled her staff at the falling light and darkness, Glenn raised a hand and blocked her path.

"Old man?"

"Wait."

Glenn watched the falling light and darkness with cold eyes. Before even a single breath could pass, a golden-haired swordsman — his hair the color of sunset — leaped up between the light and the dark.

"That's the old man's grandson!"

Ogram narrowed his eyes as he watched Raon fly toward Fallen Heaven's mana.

"Have you gone senile?! How is that brat supposed to erase Fallen Heaven's magic?!"

"I'm against this too. It's still too much for him."

"I agree. It would be better to deal with it ourselves first."

Chamber and King Lecross both shook their heads. Derus said nothing at all, simply watching Raon.

"Raon watched Fallen Heaven's power from behind me."

Glenn lowered his hand gently, as if to reassure them. A faint smile touched his lips as he took in the sight of Raon soaring upward.

"Kh—!"

Raon clenched his teeth. He smashed the energies of light and darkness with the full power of the Heavenly Sky Sword and the Requiem Sword, but he was driven back.

The mana itself was not particularly vast, yet the impact shuddered through his grip as if he had driven his fist into a colossal slab of steel. The rebound was extreme.

I can't erase it like this.

To proceed as planned, he needed to blast away more than half of the light and darkness before his eyes — but the power was far greater than he had anticipated.

If things continued this way, light and darkness would merge into Chaos and detonate, and everyone in the Sparring Ground would die.

I wanted to keep this hidden, but I don't have a choice.

Raon reset his grip on the Requiem Sword and detonated the energies of Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation and Glacia.

I'm counting on you.

As if answering his call, a tremendous sword-cry erupted from the Requiem Sword and filled the heavens.

Raon spun through the empty air and flung heat and cold from the Requiem Sword in the same breath. The two energies burst forth like twin fountains, following a trail of silver light, and scattered into hundreds of petals.

It was Flower Spirit, the art of operating the heat of Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation and the cold of Glacia at the same time.

Kh…

He clenched his jaw against the searing pain that bloomed through his mana circuits and carved the sword all the way through. Fragments of red and blue ganggi, stretching out to catch the sunset, filled the heavens.

"That much won't be enough."

Wrath snorted as he watched Flower Spirit shoot toward the light and darkness.

"That incomplete one is a mage even This King acknowledges. Even if Chaos hasn't fully formed, it's still more than you can— hm?"

Contrary to his certainty, the petals of Flower Spirit began to shave away the light and darkness that the monster called Fallen Heaven had created.

A harsh tearing sound ripped through the air. The energies of light and darkness were gouged out in chunks, as if a carving knife were shearing through wood.

"H-how…?"

You threw such a tantrum over it, and you've already forgotten?

Raon pointed at the Requiem Sword's blade. Upon the crimson edge, letters etched in bright yellow demonic energy had risen into view.

"The Magic Disruption Field!"

It's Magic Demonic Point.

Magic Demonic Point was a property unique to the Requiem Sword, obtained by shattering the Fourth Apostle's black blade. It forced demonic energy into the flow of a spell and suppressed its activation.

Fallen Heaven's magic of light and darkness had already been cast, so it could not be suppressed — but interfering with it, the way a disruption field would, was entirely possible.

Still not quite enough.

Even after Flower Spirit had carved away a considerable portion of the energy, light and darkness were still drawing toward each other. In the end, he would have to strike them directly.

Raon's knuckles went white around the Requiem Sword's hilt as he clenched his teeth.

I have to cut the flow itself.

Not merely the energies of light and darkness — he had to erase even the property that made the two forces seek to merge.

And for that…

He snapped his wrist around at blinding speed and unfolded the Snow Wind Sword Art, which had risen to a new realm, through the Requiem Sword. The Snow Wind Sword Art's ultimate technique, carrying Magic Demonic Point within it, poured into the gap between light and darkness.

A deep, grinding roar shook the air. The energies of light and darkness refused to break, as if making a final, desperate struggle. Raon endured the pain of a wrist that felt ready to snap and brought the sword down to the very end.

A tearing hiss split the sky. The flow of Magic Demonic Point nested within the Snow Wind Sword Art — grown so sharply through his battles against Matis and Borini Kitten — and cleaved apart the light and darkness that had been thrashing to the last.

The two magics Fallen Heaven had unleashed began to scatter into empty air without ever mixing. But it was not over yet.

Raon looked at the light and darkness still clinging to the Heavenly Sky Sword and the Requiem Sword, and a cold smile touched his lips.

Just as I thought.

When he had watched Glenn fight Fallen Heaven before, he had found it strange that traces of light and darkness lingered faintly on Glenn's blade. Now he understood.

The man's energy was not merely powerful. It adhered to an opponent's force and delivered a second shock. Fallen Heaven had surely created that adhesive quality to keep attacking an enemy to the very end — but for Raon, right now, it was nothing but an advantage.

Derus will be watching.

Transcendents like Glenn and Derus would already have grasped the situation and would be looking this way. He needed to use this state so that they would not grow suspicious.

Raon put on a look of urgency and swept his gaze around him.

I have to show them there's nowhere I can safely dump this energy.

This was not an act. The Sparring Ground and everything around it was packed with people; sending the energy anywhere would cause casualties.

Which means there's only one safe place.

He smiled coldly and looked down. The safest location here was the Sparring Ground itself, wrapped in layer upon layer of protective magic.

"Kh—!"

Feigning a grimace at the pain running through his waist, he bit his lip and turned. With the expression of a man who could no longer contain the power nested in both swords, he drove them down toward the corner of the Sparring Ground — right in front of Matio.

"Ngh—!"

Matio tried to raise a hasty defense, but it was already too late. Even diminished, Fallen Heaven's energy was not something that could be received lightly.

A harsh crackle split the air. The light and darkness lingering between the blades merged, and a tiny burst of Chaos swallowed Matio whole.

A colossal explosion tore through the arena. All six layers of protective magic encircling the Sparring Ground ripped apart at once, and Matio was hurled backward, slamming into the earth. His arms and legs bent the wrong way, and blood streamed from his eyes and nose.

To think I'd get to see that bastard sprawled out flat on his back.

Raon pretended to stagger as he studied Matio's face. That ice-sheet of an expression, always so blank, was now painted with pain and panic — and the ache in Raon's entire body seemed to vanish at the sight.

"Ghhhk… why…"

The shock must have been severe; Matio cracked his eyes open with a face twisted in agony.

"Hah…"

Raon spat the blood that had welled up in his mouth and bowed his head to Matio.

"The area was packed with people. There was nowhere else I could send it. This place, with its barrier in place, was the safest location — and I believed you would be able to receive it."

It was not empty talk. The safest place in the vicinity truly was the Sparring Ground with its protective magic, and it was also true that the referees possessed the strongest martial force present.

"I apologize."

He bowed his head again, crushing the laughter that wanted to burst from his chest.

"Th-that's…"

Matio could not finish the sentence. His eyes slid shut. Unfortunately, he was not dead — only unconscious from the severe shock.

"W-what was that?"

"What just happened? Why did the Frost-Flower Sword Hero go up there and then attack the referee?"

"Someone attacked from the sky, I think."

"I couldn't see it clearly, but forces of absurd power collided."

"So the Frost-Flower Sword Hero went up to stop that attack? That's incredible."

The spectators could not properly grasp what had just occurred and looked around in confusion.

"Someone attacked? But did he really need to go stop it himself?"

"The protective magic would've blocked most things anyway."

"Right? He just ended up shocking the referee into a faint for nothing."

"Maybe he jumped up because he was about to lose. What a stunt…"

"Ah, here we go. Save their lives and they still find something to bitch about."

A chilly voice cut through the muttering of the spectators who had been mocking Raon since before the Master-level duel even began.

"If that pretty boy hadn't stepped in, you lot would've been wiped out without a single bone fragment left."

Chamber had appeared at some point, floating above the spectator stands.

"Call it whatever you want — that was Fallen Heaven's magic."

"F-Fallen Heaven?"

"Eden's Fallen Heaven?"

"F-Fallen Heaven…"

At the revelation that the magic fallen from the sky had belonged to Fallen Heaven, the spectators' jaws began to tremble. Chamber's words made them realize they had truly come within a hair of dying.

A crushing pressure flared — a killing intent that seemed capable of tearing a human heart apart with nothing but a gaze. It was Glenn, standing before the Sparring Ground, turning his bloodlust on the spectators who had mocked Raon.

"Ghk—!"

"Aagh…"

"Guuuh…"

Crushed beneath Glenn's aura, they foamed at the mouth, their eyes rolling back as they fainted.

"Frost-Flower Sword Hero. What a fitting epithet."

King Lecross looked at Raon, who staggered but did not fall, and offered a gentle smile.

"Hmph. He's a madman. But he's mad in the right way."

Even Ogram, who had not particularly taken to Raon, seemed to find him admirable this time, and let out a hearty laugh.

Derus Robert did not spare so much as a glance for the fallen Matio. He watched Raon, and Raon alone.

"Fallen Heaven…"

"That's right! Light and darkness glittered through the sunset! The only one who uses that magic is Fallen Heaven."

"Then the Frost-Flower Sword Hero…"

"Yes. He leaped up to save everyone, even with Spear-Point Sword's blade through his waist."

"If he hadn't stepped in, everyone here would have died."

"Stopping it was incredible, but Raon was also the only one who even noticed the attack from here."

"So that's the true face of Raon Zieghart…"

Now that they understood the situation, the spectators clenched their fists, filled with awe and gratitude toward Raon. A tremor of emotion ran through them; their lips were shaking.

Raon let out a ragged breath, approached Matio, and turned his head.

"Healers!"

At his shout, the healers who had been standing in a daze rushed over and examined Matio's condition.

"Bones are broken and the internal injuries are severe, but his life is not in danger! To the infirmary!"

The healers carefully lifted Matio onto a stretcher and headed for the infirmary.

"Lord Raon, are you all right? The wound at your waist looks serious."

One of the healers approached as if to take him along.

"I'm fine."

Raon shook his head and turned around. Borini Kitten was staring at him, his shock already gone past astonishment into something closer to horror.

"The duel isn't over yet."

The injury at his waist and the pain in his mana circuits were severe, but he could not abandon the duel here. He wanted to win today, fight again tomorrow, and push the achievements of the Mad Fang Sword and the Snow Wind Sword Art even higher.

"Hah…"

"To worry about someone else before himself, in the middle of all this…"

"Is he planning to keep fighting in that state?"

"I've seen plenty of martial artists with 'Hero' in their epithet, but I've never seen one like this…"

"Frost-Flower Sword Hero. The name and the rumors were real…"

The spectators let out dazed breaths, marveling at the willpower of a young man younger than themselves.

"Raon! Raon! Raon!"

"Frost-Flower Sword Hero! Frost-Flower Sword Hero!"

"Wooooooo!"

"I'm from Owen, but I'll support you for the rest of my life!"

The spectators packing the Sparring Ground roared Raon's name. It no longer felt like Owen Kingdom — it felt as if they had come to Zieghart, every voice crying out for Raon alone.

And Derus…

Pretending to survey the crowd, Raon looked at Derus. The man's face was a blank sheet, revealing no emotion whatsoever.

That's a good look on him.

Anyone else would think he was merely startled. In truth, he was forcibly pressing down a towering rage. The thought that Raon himself had put that expression on Derus's face brought a smile unbidden to his lips.

Time to wrap this up.

He had seen Derus's furious face. Now it was time to end the situation.

Raon steadied his breathing and was about to climb back onto the Sparring Ground when Glenn blocked the foot of the stairs.

"Your injuries are severe."

Glenn narrowed his eyes at Raon's torn waist and still-trembling grip. Even though the Heavenly True Sword was involved in this affair, he stopped Raon without the slightest hesitation.

"There is no need to fight any further."

"He's right. That's enough."

Chamber descended and stood beside Glenn.

"If you stop here, no one will say a word."

She shook her head as well, telling him to quit.

"I'm all right."

Raon smiled faintly and shook his head.

"I came out here bearing the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠name of Zieghart. I can hardly drop to my knees over a little disruption like this."

He had watched Glenn's back as the man overwhelmed Fallen Heaven and the White Blood Cult Leader alone. Regardless of his battered body or the current height of his swordsmanship, there was too much left unfinished to withdraw here.

"Very well."

Glenn looked into Raon's eyes, then nodded and stepped aside.

"Thank you."

Raon bowed to Glenn and Chamber, then climbed back onto the Sparring Ground.

"You…"

Borini Kitten held the sword still stained with Raon's blood and pressed his lips together.

You stupid fool!

While he had been absorbed in the fight right in front of him, Raon had been looking at something higher.

While he had been thrusting his sword, Raon had taken the blow with his body rather than counterattack, so that he could stop the enemy's assault.

Far from helping, Borini had only gotten in the way — and the shame of it was more than he could bear.

Blood was still dripping from Raon's waist. His face was pale, and there seemed to be no strength left in his grip. He had climbed back onto the Sparring Ground for a duel that was not yet finished, in a state where collapsing on the spot would not have been strange.

There was a reason a man not yet twenty years old had the character for "Hero" attached to his name.

Admiration for Raon deepened into respect.

"Swordsman Raon."

Borini Kitten let out a long breath and looked at him.

"I have lost this match. Even if we had continued fighting as we were, I would not have defeated you. I lost in martial force, and I lost in the spirit of a martial artist as well."

He lowered his head as if he truly meant every word.

"I forfeit here—"

"Is that the right path?"

Raon's voice was colder than it had ever been.

"Regardless of how the situation unfolded, I returned to this place to fight you. Does the knightly spirit you spoke of exist so that you can ignore your opponent and forfeit?"

"That's…"

"I simply noticed first and acted. If Spear-Point Sword had noticed first, I believe you would have done the same. Would you not?"

"Mm…"

Borini Kitten could not answer easily. Speaking the words and actually moving were different things.

"Our duel is not over yet."

As if time had rolled back to the instant before Fallen Heaven's magic fell, Raon gripped the Heavenly Sky Sword in both hands and drew up every last ember of Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation.

"Come."

"Haaah…"

Borini Kitten looked up at the empty sky and let out a deep sigh. For a long while he gazed at the darkened heavens, then lowered his eyes. The tremor in his gaze had settled. He, too, seemed to have grasped something.

"I nearly made another mistake. Thank you for the lesson."

He bowed his head with formal courtesy.

"I'll save the thanks for later. Right now, the proper thing is to give everything I have to defeat you."

Blue ganggi surged around him like a rising sea. He lifted his sword to the high guard, then drew it back. Sharper than he had been even before Fallen Heaven's magic fell, he stepped forward.

"Whenever you're ready."

Raon felt Borini Kitten's aura raise the hair on his skin, and a satisfied smile crossed his face.

This is it.

Stopping Fallen Heaven's magic, taking revenge on Matio, and continuing the duel to climb higher — those were separate matters. He had no intention of letting a single one of them slip away.

"You're even greedier than Greed, you know that…"

Wrath shook his head as if he had seen enough.

Of course I have to be greedy. I haven't even reached the starting line yet.

Raon smiled and condensed the heat of Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation along the blade. The ganggi did not thicken — it was honed thin and keen, burning like banked embers.

"The sword art I will use is Blood Star Spear Crown, the ultimate technique of the True Blood Sword Art."

Unlike a man merely announcing the name of a form, he projected a ghastly aura, as if he had met a mortal enemy.

"I will use a form called Red Flash."

Red Flash, the ultimate technique of Ten Thousand ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Flames Cultivation. He intended to end it with a Red Flash that had advanced another step through practiced drawing-the-sword and striking-the-sword.

"Red Flash. A fine name."

Borini Kitten nodded and narrowed his eyes. The aura rising from him was honed even sharper. It felt as it had when Raon first met King Lecross — as if his entire body were about to be pierced by a sword.

A deep, resonant pressure filled the air. Raon, too, held his sword at the middle guard and drew the energy of Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation to its limit. At the extreme of concentration, he could not even feel the pain in his body.

A dry ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠crumbling sound. The far edge of the Sparring Ground, where Fallen Heaven's energy had grazed it, collapsed.

A sharp crack split the silence.

Borini Kitten took the first move. He kicked off the floor and thrust. A vast stream of light surged from the sword's tip and shot out like a spear-blade, wrapping around Raon's entire body.

Raon stamped down with a True Step and raised the Heavenly Sky Sword overhead. Upon the silver-white blade, a deep and profound Red Flame ignited.