Just One More Time
"D-did you just say you'd make me stronger?"
Mark Goetten's eyes went round as he asked it back.
"That's right."
Raon nodded, watching the man's pupils waver.
"I'm not talking about raising your realm on the spot, of course. I'll help you draw out the strength you already have — and I'll be practicing my throwing daggers at the same time."
He pulled out an unsharpened iron throwing dagger and gave it a little shake.
"No need to tense up over it. It's just light training."
"It's only light for you, isn't it?"
Wrath shot him a sideways glare.
It might be.
He intended to come at Mark Goetten with iron throwing daggers, not wooden ones. If the man failed to recover his original martial prowess, he was going to have a rough time of it.
"Understood."
Mark Goetten seemed to grasp what this training actually meant. His hand closed hard around the Black Line Saber.
"How's the Black Line Saber?"
"It fits my hand as if I've been holding it for years."
"That's a relief."
Raon smiled. He'd chosen it from the shape and weight of the saber Mark Goetten had been using, and it seemed he'd chosen well.
"But is it really all right for someone like me to receive a famous blade like this…?"
"House Zieghart is a sword family. Almost no one here uses a saber. If you don't wield it, it'll just rot in a warehouse."
"Thank you. I won't disappoint you."
Mark Goetten bent at the waist from a formal stance. It was crisp and respectful, as if he'd stepped back into his days as a knight.
"Then keep up your personal training on the grounds. Getting ready is going to take me more than a day."
"Understood."
He went to the center of the training ground and began to swing the Black Line Saber.
Raon watched Mark Goetten's saber work for a moment, then turned his gaze away.
I should get started too.
He opened the two martial manuals Glenn had given him. He'd read them through and committed them to memory the night before, but there might have been something he'd missed, so he skimmed them again at speed.
It's just as the Head of House said.
White Lightning Flying Daggers was a throwing-dagger art devoted entirely to speed. Great Explosive Daggers was a throwing-dagger art that pushed nothing but raw power.
Both arts were so extremely specialized in a single direction that blending them properly would produce a throwing-dagger art that captured speed and force together.
He wouldn't have given me these two manuals just for that, though.
Glenn would have been aiming not only for Raon to fuse the two arts into something new, but for the very realm of his martial understanding to grow.
But I can't stop there.
He intended to weave in Black Severance Daggers as well — the throwing-dagger art he'd mastered in his previous life, unmatched in stealth and precision.
"It'll take the likes of you an eternity to create a martial art!"
Wrath snorted.
"A brat who doesn't even have a concept of throwing daggers, daring to try? Stick to swinging a sword like you always do!"
He clicked his tongue, insisting it was impossible unless one had reached a realm like his own.
It'll be difficult, sure. But not impossible.
The first weapon he'd ever picked up in his previous life had been a throwing dagger. He hadn't used them much in this life, but his understanding of them was something he was confident in.
"If it were This King, I'd spend that wasted time eating another scoop of mint chocolate ice cream."
We'll see about that.
Raon closed his eyes and circulated the Ring of Fire.
The smoothly rotating rings resonated as one, producing a clear, crystalline chime.
His concentration sharpened until his field of vision seemed to narrow, and in his mind the formulas of White Lightning Flying Daggers, Great Explosive Daggers, and Black Severance Daggers began to intertwine.
When the Ring of Fire had spun a hundred times, the first conception surfaced.
Not this.
It was an art that clung too hard to the speed of White Lightning Flying Daggers, and the power fell off as a result. He discarded it at once and conceived a second version — but this time it was so devoted to force that even a fly could have dodged it.
I should use Black Severance Daggers to neutralize the two arts.
Without a hint of disappointment, he sketched the next conception immediately.
This one's interesting, though.
Raon smiled as he pictured tens of thousands of throwing daggers flying through his mind. In a mental landscape that had been filled with nothing but swords, a tiny throwing dagger sprouted like a seedling.
Mark Goetten lowered the saber he'd been swinging and wiped the sweat running down his forehead.
This is the best.
The Black Line Saber Raon had given him clung to his hand as if he'd been swinging it since childhood, refusing to leave his grip. It seemed a far higher-grade weapon than even the saber the king had bestowed on him during his days in the knight order.
To just hand something like this over…
He'd never heard the name Black Line Saber before, but as a man who had used sabers his whole life, he knew better than anyone how valuable a famous blade this was. A saber like this was a treasure you couldn't buy even if you piled gold coins into a mountain.
Mark Goetten let out a short breath and turned his gaze to Raon.
He's truly a difficult man to understand.
He was certainly grateful that Raon had simply bestowed such a famous blade, and that he'd accepted a failure like himself after only a brief test — but he thought the young man was an unusual person.
The most unusual thing, though…
Was that concentration.
Raon had said he was preparing for training, and then he hadn't moved for a day and a half. He seemed to be practicing a martial art inside his head, and the fact that he could exert that kind of focus without even circulating his energy was astonishing.
Thanks to that, my own training went well too.
Having someone burning with such tremendous concentration right beside him had sharpened the feel of his saber swings far beyond usual. Right now, he felt like he could produce force beyond the skill he actually possessed.
"A spar would be nice at a time like this…"
"Then let's do it."
Just as Mark Goetten muttered it in regret, a quiet voice came from beside him. He turned his head and found Raon looking at him with his eyes open.
"Lord Raon!"
"I kept you waiting too long."
He rose, loosening his shoulders and ankles, and smiled.
"You said you wanted to spar, didn't you?"
"Ah, that was…"
"Sparring was our original purpose, so of course we should."
Raon looked Mark Goetten over and nodded.
"You don't need any preparation, Sir Mark."
"That's right."
Mark Goetten adjusted his grip on the Black Line Saber, his eyes gleaming. He'd been training his saber technique this whole time, so his body was already warmed up.
"Then let's begin."
Raon hopped back and took throwing daggers in both hands. Without so much as a word of warning, he flung the three daggers in his right hand all at once.
With a sharp whistle of splitting air, the throwing daggers flew toward the vital points of his thigh, shoulder, and abdomen.
Mark Goetten brought the Black Line Saber down on a diagonal and knocked all three of Raon's daggers aside in a single stroke.
Light.
Contrary to his expectations, the daggers Raon had thrown were neither particularly fast nor particularly heavy. Honestly, the wooden throwing daggers he'd hurled from the cliff had felt more powerful.
"How was that?"
"They were quite a bit light."
"I thought so. Give me a moment."
He closed his eyes right where he stood. When he opened them a good while later, a different kind of presence was rising from Raon's shoulders.
"I'll go again."
Raon flung the three daggers in his left hand simultaneously. They targeted the same points — thigh, shoulder, and abdomen.
Mark Goetten narrowed his eyes and watched the incoming daggers.
Same as before… wait.
They'd clearly been thrown with the same level of aura and in the same manner, yet they were more than twice as fast as a moment ago. They also had the characteristics of an assassin's swordsmanship — no sound, and an aura so faint it was hard to sense.
Still not hard enough to deflect, though.
Mark Goetten held his breath and unfolded the Hundredfold Refraction of the Azure Storm Blade. Roughly bending saber strikes rose and fell between heaven and earth, knocking all of Raon's daggers aside.
It wasn't just speed and stealth. The weight and power of the daggers had increased as well. His brow furrowed at the rebound, which was on a completely different level from before.
"Lord Raon. This is…"
"Ah, just a moment."
Raon closed his eyes again while still standing. He opened them a little faster this time and took a throwing dagger in his right hand.
"Let's go again."
He rose lightly into the air and loosed throwing daggers for the third time.
They're even faster.
He'd thought the second round of daggers was fairly quick, but this time they were faster still, and the stealth that made their energy hard to grasp had deepened. If it had been night, he wouldn't have been able to tell where they were aiming at all.
Mark Goetten dropped his stance and poured out the saber strikes of the Azure Storm Blade. Aura spinning like a windmill collided with Raon's throwing daggers.
Kh!
The power had risen again. It wasn't just speed and stealth that had grown. The force loaded into the daggers had advanced once more.
Does this even make sense?
He'd just stood there thinking for a relatively short time, and the power of his throwing daggers had changed this much. It was hard to believe.
"Hah…"
He knocked the three daggers aside with difficulty and let out a hot breath. When he lifted his head, Raon had already closed his eyes and sunk into meditation.
Mark Goetten swallowed dryly, and his hand trembled on the Black Line Saber.
H-he won't get any stronger than this, right?
Raon throwing daggers and then thinking repeated three more times. The thinking time grew shorter and shorter, and the speed and power of the daggers had now become almost too much to handle.
"Haaa…"
Mark Goetten let out a murky breath and reset his grip on the Black Line Saber. He bit his lip as he looked at Raon across from him.
"Here I go."
Raon flung three throwing daggers with a leisurely motion. The daggers that left his hand sank into the wind and plunged down. Their presence was faint, but their speed was enough to make one's blood run cold.
"Euk!"
Mark Goetten clenched his teeth and unfolded Heaven-Flashing Azure Thunder, a secret technique of the Azure Storm Blade. Zigzagging, ferocious saber strikes collided with Raon's throwing knives.
The knives and the saber clashed — and he was being overpowered. The impact was too great to knock all three aside. He pulled his legs back to dodge, barely managing to deflect two.
A thin trickle of blood ran from his left thigh where a throwing knife had grazed him.
"Keuk…"
Mark Goetten let out a rough sigh. If the daggers hadn't been flying toward predetermined spots, it would have been truly dangerous.
"Um, Lord Raon… hup!"
Raon wasn't satisfied with the throwing-dagger art as it was. He'd gone back into thought. A chilling shiver ran down Mark Goetten's spine.
I-it's already at my limit?
This really isn't going to work.
If the daggers came flying even faster and stronger, he had no confidence he could receive them.
Sh-should I stop him?
Just as he was about to go over and say he could barely block them anymore, light returned to Raon's eyes. The thinking time now took less than ten minutes.
"It's more or less complete now."
He smiled brightly and drew a new throwing dagger.
"W-wait a moment…"
"Let's start again."
With those words, Raon loosed the daggers. They were now so fast and stealthy they were nearly invisible, and Mark Goetten's heart felt like it dropped.
"Oh, damn it!"
Mark Goetten raised the Black Line Saber with trembling fingertips.
What kind of training is this?!
Raon lightly stamped the ground and flung the throwing dagger in his right hand.
Dyed in the crimson of the Cultivation of Ten Thousand Flames, the dagger twisted like a snake in water and vanished from sight.
In a split second it reappeared, radiating a ghastly killing edge toward Mark Goetten's solar plexus.
"Kkeueup!"
Mark Goetten bit his lip until it bled and took a step back. He twisted his wrist to the breaking point and swept the Black Line Saber upward — Charging Ram Azure Wall, a secret technique of the Azure Storm Blade.
The Black Line Saber, wrapped in ganggi, collided with the crimson-dyed throwing dagger, and a tremendous shockwave swept through the center of the training ground.
The dagger Raon had thrown pressed against Mark Goetten's saber as if a person were gripping it, crushing his entire body. Unable to withstand the terrifying force loaded into the throwing dagger, Mark Goetten was hurled backward along with the Black Line Saber. The knife grazed his side instead of the solar plexus it had been aiming for.
The combat uniform he was wearing split open, and red blood seeped out.
"Heueuk…"
Mark Goetten staggered and dropped to his knees. His whole body was covered in large and small wounds, like sword scars that had just been made.
Raon tossed the throwing knife in his hand and caught it, smiling.
It's more or less complete now.
A new throwing-dagger art, built by extracting only the strengths of White Lightning Flying Daggers for speed, Great Explosive Daggers for power, and Black Severance Daggers for stealth and precision, had finally found its path.
A throwing-dagger art without even the smallest flaw — speed, power, stealth, and precision made one.
He named the new throwing-dagger art Flawless Daggers. It was an arrogant name, carrying the meaning of a throwing-dagger art without even the smallest defect — a perfect art.
"This doesn't make any sense…"
Wrath narrowed his eyes into triangles as he watched the throwing dagger float through the air.
"Creating a martial art in this short a time at your level? How does that make any sense?!"
He screamed that he couldn't understand it.
"You're not even at Transcendence like This King or that old man of yours! How did you do it?!"
Well.
Raon pushed Wrath aside and smiled.
You just do it well.
"That again! This King is sick of hearing it!"
What am I supposed to do if it's the truth?
Of course, it wasn't something you could do just by doing it well. The weapon he'd kept closest as an assassin hadn't been a sword, but throwing daggers. He'd mastered Black Severance Daggers in his previous life and had a high understanding of throwing daggers, which was why he'd been able to harmonize the three arts in such a short time.
A little more polishing and it'll be complete. And not just Flawless Daggers…
Raon narrowed his eyes as he looked at Mark Goetten, whose shoulders were trembling.
Him too.
From facing Flawless Daggers all this time, Mark Goetten's body and aura were as activated as if he'd been rolling across a battlefield. His skill itself hadn't increased dramatically, but unlike before, he could now use everything he had.
Now it's time to raise his skill.
Smiling faintly, he gestured to Mark Goetten.
"Sir Mark. Let's start again."
"A-again?"
Mark Goetten's chin trembled as he sat collapsed on the ground.
"I-isn't it over?"
"Over? This is just the beginning. There's still a lot left to polish. I think I can push the power and speed a little further too."
"I d-don't think I'm at a level where I can receive this anymore."
He waved his hands, his face gone pale.
"No. You can do it. I believe in you."
Raon raised a fist and called out that Mark Goetten could do it.
Just the beginning, and he's saying no?
From here on was the most important time for raising Mark Goetten's skill. It would be a little hard, and occasionally he'd come close to dying, but all of it would become blood and flesh.
"Occasionally coming close to dying, you say?"
Of course. I'll control it carefully.
Right up to the brink of death.
Raon smiled gently and loosed an even more advanced Flawless Daggers at Mark Goetten. The crimson-dyed throwing knife surged toward his brow with a quiet cry, like a thunder dragon hidden inside a lightning bolt.
"Hwaaaaah!"
Mark Goetten roared a mighty shout and poured out saber strikes. The Black Line Saber shone with the deepest light yet, but it couldn't overcome the tremendous force loaded into Flawless Daggers and was swept away like sand struck by a wave.
A violent explosion erupted, and Mark Goetten was hurled backward and slammed into the ground.
"Keueuk…"
Mark Goetten staggered to his feet. His strengthless arms and legs were trembling.
Nice.
Raon smiled at the sight.
He's definitely improved.
Just now, Mark Goetten had displayed force beyond the martial prowess he originally possessed. It wasn't that high — but he had climbed a very small step.
"L-Lord Raon. At this rate I'll d…"
"We continue. Training isn't supposed to have gaps, you know."
"W-wait!"
"There's no 'wait' in my training."
Raon loosed Flawless Daggers once more. The throwing knife, become a ray of light, bared its sharp teeth toward Mark Goetten's left chest.
"Ah…"
Mark Goetten clenched the saber with trembling hands.
I-if I mess this up, I die…
The instincts he'd honed as a knight and a mercenary screamed. If he blocked this wrong, it was over. He forced strength into his grip and burned every last drop of his sunken aura.
"Aaaaaaagh!"
It wasn't a battle cry. Mark Goetten screamed for his life as he drove in the final secret technique of the Azure Storm Blade.
And then, in a vision that seemed to sink into night, he muttered.
I think I came to the wrong place…
"Hooo…"
Burren let out a deep breath and opened his eyes. Blue light, as if the wind itself had taken residence, illuminated the Secluded Cultivation Chamber.
"So this is the Four Clouds Pill."
He looked at both hands and smiled, full of excitement.
Incredible.
As a direct descendant of House Zieghart, he'd taken many elixirs, but the Four Clouds Pill was special even among them. It didn't simply increase aura — it transformed the body as one cultivated. It wasn't a complete physical remaking like shedding one's mortal flesh, but he could clearly feel that a body capable of moving faster and striking harder had been created.
I might even be able to use that now.
A smile formed. He felt like he could now use a form of the Frostwind Sword that he hadn't fully mastered and so had never used.
Burren looked up at the ceiling and chuckled.
"I got help from that guy again."
The Four Clouds Pill had come because Raon had won the Six Kings duel spar. His heart grew warm with gratitude toward the guy who'd handed over such a precious elixir without the slightest hesitation.
The way to repay him is to get even stronger.
Raon always thought not only of himself, but of the Light Wind Squad's growth. The path to repaying this elixir was for everyone in the Light Wind Squad to grow faster and stronger.
Let's see.
About five days had passed? Five marks had gone by on the clock that let him check the date.
Time to go out.
He hadn't fully absorbed the Four Clouds Pill, but he'd cultivated enough that going out and doing other training would be more effective.
Burren stood and patted the dust from his training clothes. With an expression like a triumphant homecoming, he opened the door of the Secluded Cultivation Chamber and stepped out.
It was night, and the training ground was pitch dark. The other cultivation chambers were all closed — perhaps the others were still cultivating.
"Then Raon and Sir Mark are…"
Just as he was about to look for the two who'd said they'd stand as guardians, a small explosion sounded from the center of the training ground.
A violent shockwave erupted, and someone went flying through the air and slammed into the ground.
"Wh-what."
Wondering what was going on, he focused his eyes — and the state of the training ground was bizarre. It was all torn up as if it had taken a magical bombardment, with not a single intact spot.
What on earth happened here?
The inside of the Secluded Cultivation Chamber completely blocked noise and impact, so he hadn't known — but it looked like a war had broken out.
While Burren was still bewildered, something started crawling toward him from the place that had just exploded like a shell had gone off.
"Heok!"
He was about to bring his sword aura down, thinking it was a zombie — but looking closer, it was Falling Blossom Blade Mark Goetten, who'd come with Raon not long ago.
"S-Sir Mark?"
"S-save…"
Mark Goetten, covered in blood, grabbed Burren's ankle and trembled with pale-blue lips.
"Please save me!"
"What?"
While Burren stood there with his mouth hanging open, not knowing what to do, Raon walked out of the sand and dust. He tossed the throwing dagger in his hand and caught it, a smile playing on his lips.
"Looks like it went well."
Raon pointed at Mark Goetten lying on the floor and gestured.
Burren swallowed dryly at that chilling sight.
What did you do this time…
What did you do to turn a person into a zombie?!