I Gained Enlightenment
I Gained Enlightenment
A blizzard raged that winter.
Asilia gritted her teeth and glared at the demon before her.
— So you've seen my true nature... remarkably perceptive.
Richard looked down at her with a smile that seemed dredged up from hell itself.
The moment they traded the first exchange, Asilia understood.
She had hopelessly underestimated Richard.
He was far stronger than she had anticipated.
And at the same time, utterly vicious.
— You live up to the title of Snowblade Swordmaster.
What stood before her eyes was no longer human. It was a demon wearing human skin. A man who had given himself to the Blood Rock Sect down to the marrow of his bones. No trace of humanity remained in him.
— Clang! Clash! Clang-clang-clang!
Simply blocking his wild sword swings made her arms feel as if they would give out.
Savage.
Overwhelming power.
She realized this was not a situation where she could even aim for mutual destruction.
What had the title of Snowblade Swordmaster ever meant? What good was being called the finest blade of the North?
Asilia cursed her own arrogance.
She was not strong at all.
Not even strong enough to leave a better future for her child.
— Asilia. Your flaw is that you are too noble.
— ... Shut your mouth.
— If you wish to pursue strength, you must hold nothing sacred. Whatever it takes.
— I told you to shut that filthy mouth.
— Even if it's family. Like me, you should be able to devour anything that makes you stronger.
Asilia steadied her trembling arms and unleashed the Snowblade technique.
And then.
— Amusing.
The single snow blossom she managed to force into bloom—Richard laughed as he evaded it.
— Shhk
A searing heat bloomed across her back.
Richard's arm, bent at a grotesque angle, had slashed her open.
The instant it hit, she knew.
He had deliberately avoided her vitals.
— How fortunate that I married you. To gain this opportunity to absorb you.
Because the blood streaming from her back was already pooling thickly around her.
The snow stained crimson.
— M-Mama!
From afar, the child's voice rang out.
A brief exchange passed between Richard and herself.
— Did I not say?
— I said nothing. I beg you, at least the child...
— I was going to raise the child regardless. Is she not your daughter and mine?
— ......
— I look forward to seeing how ripe she becomes. Born from the union of Richard's bloodline and your blood, Snowblade Swordmaster. You ought to try to endure as well. When the time comes, you may see her again.
The Snowblade Swordmaster.
Sasha Asilia was thus absorbed by her own husband.
◆
"I know a way out."
Asilia said that, and then she explained the method.
She had a plan she had been carefully preparing for some time, and to execute it, she needed her disciple by her side.
And so the group split into two.
One was a reconnaissance party led by Yergina, including Danya and Rina.
The other was Asilia and Ian.
Ian did not bother to press his master for her intentions.
"Disciple."
"Yes, Teacher."
"Staring at me like that is rather nerve-wracking."
Because his master's expression was utterly serene, as if this was only natural.
Instead, his master began to impart her arts over the following days.
Ian became her disciple and proxy, practicing the sword under her direction.
And then at some point.
His master smiled.
"As expected of your nature, your sword is so upright."
"Is it too simple?"
"No. That's why I like it. Too much variation can be poison when you're trying to imbue a sword with your will. Your blade seems ready from the very beginning."
Ian's core identity was that of a mage.
His master began teaching him swordsmanship from the absolute basics, fast-tracking the lessons. Fortunately, the experience he had built in close-quarters combat proved helpful. And his master's teaching, too, was superb.
"Then let us now try to contain something deeper."
Once he reached a certain level, his master began to give him serious instruction.
"How you grip the sword is important. But once you reach a certain height, why you grip it becomes more important than how."
His master's voice spread softly through the cave.
"Ian Blackangus. For what purpose do you take up the sword?"
The reason for taking up the sword.
Ian himself was originally a mage. He had picked up the sword by chance, becoming the disciple of the Snowblade Swordmaster, Asilia.
But that was not the fundamental reason.
Why had he wanted to become the Snowblade Swordmaster's disciple in the first place?
"To become stronger. And because I want to learn to see the world as you do."
"Good. An honest reason."
His master smiled.
At the same time, her hand reached toward him.
Ian felt her touch gently covering his eyelids.
"In early winter, let us become a tree with only bare branches left."
Ian understood immediately.
That she was imparting a vital teaching.
He closed his eyes and listened intently to his master's words.
"The branches shed their leaves to prepare for the winter days."
He shifted into the perspective of a tree, giving something up in order to protect.
"Winter has come, and with it, the cold."
Water begins to freeze.
The frost of his breath dyes his vision white.
"Snow will begin to pile on the branches, one flake at a time."
These are places where leaves should have been.
Snowflakes take their place.
"Sometimes, the snow gathers like little buds. From the branch's point of view, this might be momentarily perplexing. But think of the shape of snow. How does a snow crystal grow?"
The process of snow growing is, in the end, the same as a tree. This is the kinship of the living and the non-living, and it ultimately embraces both humans and nature.
"A flower begins to bloom through the cold. It spreads and spreads, and the snow blossoms burst forth in profusion."
He felt a weight. The snow blossoms that had bloomed so abundantly pressed heavily upon the branches. The weight of protecting something is just that heavy.
"Let it go. To lay down what you cannot bear is also the law of nature."
He tries to endure.
He tries his utmost to protect what he wishes to protect.
But the branches begin to bend on their own.
Because they cannot withstand the entire weight of the accumulating snow.
"The branch bows its head, and the snow blossoms resting upon it fall."
The falling snow blossoms scattered in a dizzy swirl.
The spectacle was so magnificent that Ian silently opened his eyes.
His master was holding his arm gently.
And snow blossoms that had bloomed at Ian's fingertips scattered lavishly, leaving their marks on the floor and walls before vanishing.
"... Remarkable."
His master met his eyes, her own widening into perfect circles.
"You have a truly outstanding vessel."
She spoke in a voice tinged with wonder.
"Even though I helped by guiding your internal energy flow, to manifest snow blossoms on your first attempt... it truly is an incredible talent."
"You chose your disciple well, Teacher."
"Pfft. Your confidence is also admirable. I'll be able to proudly claim you as the disciple I raised, wherever I go."
Looking at his smiling master, Ian asked a question.
"... Was that just now the foundational forms of the Snowblade Swordsmanship?"
"That's right. However, you don't need to memorize every individual form. A sword style is determined by the values you've lived by. These are forms created from the values I established myself, so Ian, you will surely find a different path suited to you."
Ian gave a quiet nod.
Although he had manifested snow blossoms, he hadn't fully understood the Snowblade Swordsmanship. No, he hadn't understood even a tenth of it. It was something he'd have to ruminate on over and over...
"So, did you gain enough enlightenment?"
He turned his head at the somewhat rough voice.
Yergina stood there, watching them.
"I came because I had something to relay, but I ended up watching without meaning to."
With those words, the corner of Yergina's lips curled up.
"I am a little jealous."
"... Jealous, you say?"
"Yes. Ian, if you had originally followed my path, I would have taught you a more domineering way. A martial art that is efficient and requires little deliberation."
Yergina also possessed the talent to eventually match the Snowblade Swordmaster's ability. By walking the path unique to her—a path of coolness and boldness.
It seemed that what had just happened had stimulated her competitive spirit.
"Raise your sword, Ian. I will bestow a teaching upon you as well."
The moment she finished speaking, Yergina lunged at him.
◆
— Claaaaang!
His hand went numb.
No, the pain was so intense that he wanted to drop his sword then and there.
'Why has she suddenly gone all out like this?'
He didn't even have time to feel bewildered before Yergina's eyes flashed.
"How feeble!"
Her mace came swinging at him instantly.
Ian rolled backward once to evade it.
— Thwam!
A dull impact shook the ground, and the settled snow burst upward.
Snowflakes drifted down as if it were snowing anew.
'Damn.'
She was fast and strong.
As Ian stood flustered,
"The snow is falling. Winter has come."
His master's voice reached his ears.
The teaching surfaced immediately in his mind.
Winter.
When winter comes, the branches shed their autumn leaves in preparation to face it.
Ian relaxed his body.
— Whooosh!
The mace grazed past him by a hair's breadth.
As his tension eased, the opponent's trajectory became clear in his vision.
But, Clang!
"Ugh."
It still hurt just the same.
The heavy weight of the mace crushed down on his arm.
'...Ah.'
He was told to let the branch fall if it grew too heavy.
But before that, hadn't he been told to feel the cold?
When was he supposed to feel the cold?
Ian fell into confusion.
There were far too many points of confusion to apply the Snowblade Swordsmanship he had just learned.
"You're thinking too much!"
Clang! Clash! Rumble-rumble!
Yergina's fierce assault poured down upon him through the opening.
She was powerful. Direct. She never knew surrender.
Her martial art was the absolute opposite of his master's teaching. A fighting style purely meant to crush the opponent.
And that was why it was strong.
How on earth was he supposed to deal with this?
"It seems you can't find a way! Are you beginning to doubt Asilia's teachings now?"
Yergina shouted.
"It's not doubt."
"Then what is it?"
"This is..."
It wasn't doubt about his master's teachings.
Her teaching was not merely a sword technique.
The Snowblade Swordsmanship. That wasn't what he had learned.
It was a more fundamental teaching.
'... You imbue the sword with your values.'
That was his master's teaching.
If so, what had his master imbued into her own sword?
'... Harmony with nature, and maternal love.'
One of her core values was maternal love.
Knowing she would lose to a colossal being, yet sacrificing herself in the hope that her child might live in a better world.
Her strength originates from that.
Then what were his own values?
What did he pursue?
Ian arrived at a single answer to that question.
'... This world.'
He had cursed it countless times as a godforsaken game.
But Ian loved this place.
Again and again, and again.
This godforsaken world he had retried endlessly just to clear it.
If it was possible, he wanted to prevent its destruction.
Not simply because he wanted to survive, but because it was what he truly wished for.
— Kwaaaang!
He barely managed to block the mace crashing down once more.
It felt impossible to withstand.
Like a branch that couldn't overcome the weight, he let the strength drain from his arms.
His sword slipped smoothly along with the mace's momentum.
In that moment.
A single sword path became visible.
He didn't have any grand thoughts.
He simply flicked his sword, following that line as if making a brushstroke.
From a distance, it would have looked like a branch swaying in the wind.
From the tip of the sword, something blossomed.
It was not pure white like his master's.
Rather, flowers that could only be called black bloomed in a spectacular cluster.
And then they surged outward.
"Hup!"
Yergina threw her body aside to evade.
— Shhk
A diagonal fracture line was carved into the giant stalactite behind her.
"......"
The silence lasted only a moment.
The long-cracked stalactite shifted out of alignment.
— Kuuuuung!
The pillar-sized mass collapsed with a thunderous roar.