Even a Lion Gives Its All
Thirty minutes before the battle began.
All forty-two trainees of the Fifth Training Ground—everyone except Raon—had gathered at the western base.
"Raon's nowhere to be seen."
Burren frowned and looked around.
"Runaan. Where's Raon?"
"Dunno."
Runaan, sitting on a tree stump, gave her head a little jerk. It wasn't that she didn't care whether he showed up. The look in her eyes said she was certain he would.
Burren clicked his tongue. The one person who needed to get here and take command of the operation was nowhere in sight, and the waiting was starting to eat at him.
"Gather up for now. At least get a solid read on the terrain before he arrives."
"Yes."
"Understood."
Most of the trainees clustered around the unrolled map, but Marta was up in a tree eating fruit, and Runaan didn't so much as shift from where she sat.
"You lot, at least look at this. First, over here…"
Burren walked the trainees through every spot the enemy might use for an ambush, every place that could turn dangerous. He didn't study the map or the terrain with any real intensity, though.
We'll win no matter what we do.
A handful of elites had joined the Sixth Training Ground, but most of them were the ones who'd washed out of the Fifth Training Ground's exam. The Fifth had trained with everything they had and stacked up no shortage of sparring experience. They couldn't lose even if they wanted to.
The trainees had more or less learned the lay of the land and were loosening up when Raon finally climbed into the base.
"Raon."
"The first-ranked showing up late? Pathetic."
Runaan was the first to run out to him. Marta shot him a sidelong glare.
"What the hell were you doing? Get over here and draw up a plan!"
Burren stamped his foot, eyes narrowing, but Raon walked toward the planted flag without so much as a flicker of reaction.
"No need to get so tense. You really think you're going to lose to the Sixth Training Ground?"
Raon sat down on a severed tree stump and let out a quiet laugh. It might have been meant to give them confidence. It might have been mockery.
"Well. I mean."
"He's not wrong."
"Honestly, they're weak."
"If it weren't for Kane, we could sweep them in a single breath."
The trainees didn't catch any of that undertone. They just nodded, their confidence swelling even higher.
"Glad you get it. Then go fight however you want."
"W-wait. Just fight?"
"No plan?"
"You said you can win anyway. Why bother drawing up some ugly little scheme?"
"Now you're talking! I like it!"
Marta dropped from the tree into the middle of the slightly flustered trainees.
"You don't even need to lift a finger. I'll smash them all myself. Just wait here!"
She said it, and then she started drawing up her aura.
"Are you serious?"
Burren narrowed his eyes to slits and stepped toward Raon.
"You think so too, don't you."
"Well…"
At Raon's question, Burren clicked his tongue. Honestly, it wasn't wrong. If Raon and Runaan kept Kane in check while Marta and Burren moved on the flanks, the Sixth Training Ground's defensive line would be reduced to ash.
"You take the collaterals who follow you and move with them. I'll leave the rest to you."
"And what are you going to do?"
"Kane might try an ambush. I'll stay here and guard the flag."
"I'm staying too."
The moment Raon pointed at the red flag behind him, Runaan plopped down at its base.
"Fine. The two of you should be enough."
Burren nodded and stepped back. He told the collateral-branch trainees who usually followed him to head uphill.
"We'll take the lower path."
"They're the ones who couldn't even pass a provisional exam. Easy."
"Please. Have they even held a real sword?"
The vassal-house trainees and the recommended students snickered as they agreed to head downhill.
A whistle shrieked from the mountain peak. Everyone was ready. The signal to begin had sounded.
The fight would not end until one side's flag was torn from the ground.
"Hold on."
The trainees were about to break into a run when Raon's voice came from behind them. Every head turned.
"A final operational order from your first-ranked. Do as you please—but if I judge the situation's gone bad and order a retreat, you come back. No exceptions."
"Sorry, but that's not happening!"
Marta shattered the earth under her feet and tore down the center path.
"Same here. Let's go!"
Burren led the collateral trainees uphill. The recommended students and vassal-house trainees sprinted down the lower path.
"Raon. Can we win?"
Runaan asked, giving the flag a few idle taps.
"Not the way they're going."
Raon shook his head. He watched the trainees charging off in three directions, then let his eyes fall shut.
They're going to get their asses handed to them and come crawling back.
Marta charged straight ahead like a bull that had locked onto a scrap of red cloth.
I'll handle all of them myself.
The other trainees didn't even need to show their faces. She could wipe out the Sixth Training Ground's dregs on her own.
She tore through the dense undergrowth at a dead run. About five minutes in, nine trainees came into view. The number six was stamped on their leather armor. Sixth Training Ground.
"Just who I wanted to see!"
Marta licked her lips and kicked off the ground. Titan Aura wrapped her fist as she hung in midair and drove it down.
The punch fell like a meteor and pulverized the earth. The Sixth Training Ground trainees scattered in every direction.
"Marta Zieghart."
The big trainee in the center raised his sword and spoke her name.
"So you're the vanguard?"
Marta rolled her wrist, then drew the sword at her hip.
"This is a pain, so come at me all at once."
"Dun Zieghart. I'm from the collateral—"
"I don't need the name of some bastard who's about to drop!"
"Hmph."
The trainee who'd named himself Dun didn't take the bait. His expression stayed even as he set his sword at mid-guard.
"Oh, so you can actually do something!"
Marta let out a short laugh, then surged at Dun and brought her blade down.
Sword met sword with a crash like an explosion. Marta stood her ground. Dun was driven five full steps back, his hands shaking.
Marta clicked her tongue at the sight of him bouncing away.
I was trying to end it in one blow.
That strike should have finished it, but this Dun had eaten her sword and only given up a few steps. Not someone to take lightly.
Not someone to take seriously, either.
Marta drew up her Titan Aura and reinforced her body. Her presence erupted.
"Nngh!"
"Kh…"
Dun and the Sixth Training Ground trainees groaned under the pressure of it.
"Don't make this harder than it has to be. Go down easy!"
Marta's eyes, dark as black pearls, flashed as she swept her sword up. The enormous force packed into the blade erupted like a volcano.
"Form Three!"
Dun dropped his sword to mid-guard and snapped an order Marta didn't recognize. Four trainees who'd been hanging back closed in at his sides and brought their blades together.
Marta's sword crashed into five. Scarlet sparks fountained up.
"Kh!"
"Hold!"
Even under that crushing pressure, the trainees clenched their teeth and refused to give ground.
"A bunch of small fry huddling together doesn't change a damn thing!"
Marta snorted and drove her sword forward. Stronger aura than before flooded the edge.
The ground itself seemed to explode. The trainees' bodies lurched hard.
"Hah."
"Kh."
They were driven back—but they did not fall. They groaned, and they held.
"Fine. Let's see who breaks first!"
Marta bit down on her lip and hammered her sword down in a relentless chain.
"Form Two! Form Five!"
Dun swapped defensive stances and swapped people, endlessly turning aside Marta's assault.
"Tch. I'll crush the others first, then!"
"We prepared for that, obviously!"
Marta tried to slip past Dun in the center and go after the short-haired girl on the right. But Dun and the trainees rotated as smoothly as clock hands and met her blade.
Marta bit her lip. Just as the bastard had said—the moment she tried to attack anyone else, that trainee fell back and Dun stepped in. She couldn't punch through.
Have they been doing nothing but defense drills?
Their guard was rock-solid, as if they'd practiced blocking and nothing else. A sloppy attack would only burn through her aura.
"Hah. What a pain."
Marta took one step back and drew her Titan Aura to its limit. The sword in her hand shuddered violently, spreading a pale yellow light.
"I'll give you this much—you're not bad. But this is as far as you go."
"Form Ten!"
Dun didn't answer. He called a number he hadn't used until now. All eight remaining trainees packed in behind him.
"Won't help you!"
Marta kicked off the earth and poured every drop of Titan Aura packed into her blade straight down in a vertical flood.
"Die!"
"Hold the line!"
At Dun's shout, the trainees' bodies flashed with the same light.
A roar that shook the mountain burst out. Dirt and sand fountained from the ground like a geyser.
"What?"
Through the falling rain of sand, Marta's eyes flew wide.
"You held that?"
Dun and the trainees were panting, driven back without mercy—but not a single one of them had broken off. They had taken her full power and stayed standing.
"You crazy sons of bitches!"
"Haaah!"
Madness lit Marta's eyes as she hammered her sword down again and again. Dun and the trainees staggered, but they never let go of their blades.
"You bastards…"
"You're not the only protagonist in this world."
"What?"
"We've shed blood and sweat training too. Don't think you'll beat us that easily!"
A vein stood out on Marta's forehead.
"Shut up!"
She screamed and swung. She scraped together every last scrap of power she had left, and she still couldn't break Dun's defense. If anything, the guard seemed to be getting harder.
"Grr!"
"We've been drilling together this whole time just to stop your aura and your sword. As long as the formation holds, we will not lose."
"Formation…"
She'd known they were running a sword formation. She'd meant to smash it with raw force. She hadn't expected to be stopped this cold.
This is bad.
Marta pulled her sword to the side, eyes narrowing. She'd burned too much power in that last exchange; her aura was dropping. The six of them—nine of them, bunched together—were recovering theirs fast.
I need to buy some time.
She hated this kind of play, but she didn't have a choice.
"Her strength's falling. Disperse!"
The moment she tried to ease back and recover her aura, Dun charged with his sword raised. The bastard's instincts were disgustingly sharp.
"You dare!"
Marta whipped the blade she'd been pulling back and smashed it down on Dun's head.
Dun clenched his teeth and ate the impact. His hands trembled, but he didn't give an inch.
"Now!"
At his order, four trainees sent their swords in from above, below, left, and right.
"Tch!"
Marta twisted her edge and knocked every blade aside, but the attacks kept coming like a tide.
No openings.
The instant she swung, Dun blocked, and the rest came right back in. The sequence meshed like gear teeth. There wasn't a breath of room to spare.
Damn it! I can't go down here!
She'd taken them too lightly. She'd written them off as dregs. She hadn't imagined they'd prepared this thoroughly.
A thrust aimed at a gap bounced off Dun again.
Marta exhaled a ragged breath as she slipped the incoming edges.
Shit.
Maybe it was because things were going badly. Raon's words came back to her. You really think you're going to lose to them?
That bastard. He knew. He knew all of it.
He'd been mocking her because he'd known she'd struggle like this.
Which means I have to win.
Marta clenched her fist until the knuckles went white. She had to punch through somehow and flatten Raon's nose—but she couldn't see a way. Honestly, the feeling creeping in was that she was going to lose like this.
What do I do?
"You're thinking about something else in the middle of a fight?"
While she was turning over how to break them, Dun—who'd done nothing but defend—charged like a bull.
A vicious shoulder check sent Marta bouncing backward.
"Now!"
At Dun's order, the trainees drove their swords at Marta before she could even set her stance.
"Fine! Even if I go down here, I'm taking you bastards with me!"
Marta reversed her grip and was about to lunge in like a beast when silver frost bloomed from the ground.
"Th-this is—!"
Runaan burst from the undergrowth behind them, violet eyes glittering.
"Wh-why are you here…"
"Raon said retreat."
Runaan drew a half-circle with her sword. The frost etched into the earth rose like heat haze.
"No!"
"That's an order."
"I haven't lost yet—"
"That's an order."
"Kh, damn it!"
Marta looked into Runaan's clear eyes and lowered her hands. She chewed her lip and fell back.
Runaan glanced once at Dun and the trainees, split apart by the frost, then followed after Marta.
"Marta actually retreated!"
"W-we won! We won!"
"Yeahhh!"
The trainees roared that enduring hell week had been worth it, cheering themselves hoarse.
The Sixth Training Ground's cheers weren't only coming from the center. They rang from the upper path where Burren had been, and from the lower path the collateral trainees had taken, too.
While the trainees were still shouting their victory, Kane Zieghart dropped from a tree.
"Kane!"
Dun ran to him, beaming.
"Well done."
"Did we win the other fronts too?"
"We did. Just as planned—Raon and Runaan never moved, and we took all three positions."
"Wooo!"
"We actually won!"
"I—I can't even believe it."
The trainees threw their arms around each other, bright laughter bursting out of them.
"It's too early to celebrate."
Kane raised a hand, and the laughter cut off at once.
"Until we pull their flag, we cannot let our guard down."
His blue eyes glittered like starlight.
"We stick to the plan until the very end."
Raon looked over the Fifth Training Ground trainees standing in front of him, one by one.
Sweat and dirt had turned them into a pack of beggars. Their muscles were trembling. Panic sat naked in their eyes. They looked exactly like what they were: the remnants of a routed force.
Burren and the collateral trainees, arriving late, were no different.
Burren, who'd mastered systematic, orthodox swordsmanship, would have been stymied by trainees who'd learned sensory swordsmanship—unable to display his true ability, pushed back the entire time.
"So? Was it as easy as you expected?"
No one answered. Burren bit his lip. Marta glared at Raon as if she wanted to kill him. The rest of the trainees couldn't find a word and just stared at the ground.
"Want me to tell you what you've been getting wrong?"
Raon's red eyes warped like moonlight.
"You're under the illusion that the world stands still while only you keep changing. We beat them once, so we'll beat them again. Most of those guys failed the exam. The Owen Kingdom looked down on them. We'll win no matter what we do. That's what you were thinking, isn't it?"
The trainees still couldn't answer. Because it was exactly what Raon had said.
"The world changes faster than you think. The opponent you beat today might beat you tomorrow. The day after that, they might not even be in your league. And yet…"
Raon's voice dropped lower. It was the kind of sound that seemed to rise from underground, a voice that ran a chill down the spine.
His gaze passed over Burren and Marta and then fixed on the trainees one by one. Their bodies shuddered.
"Kh…"
"Nngh…"
Burren and the trainees hung their heads. Their faces had gone red with shame. Marta just twisted her expression; she couldn't get a word out either.
"So we lose?"
Runaan, who'd been standing behind them, stepped up beside Raon.
"We might. Or we might not."
At Raon's even reply, the trainees slowly lifted their heads.
"L-like you said, we've already burned through a huge amount of stamina and aura."
"Four of us are already down."
"This isn't a one-on-one spar. It's a team battle. If you've come to your senses even now, you still have a chance."
"You mean that?"
"If it means I can pulverize those rock-headed bastards, I'll do anything!"
Burren and Marta clenched their fists until the knuckles cracked. Light started to return to the trainees' eyes.
"Good. There's still fire in your eyes."
Raon looked at those eyes, heat rising in them, and nodded.
"Then I'll tell you how you're going to win."