Chapter 11
Chapter 11
“Phew…….”
Standing atop the training grounds with countless people watching, I let out a deep breath.
As I watched August grimace and endure the pain, it felt like the blood that had been boiling up to the crown of my head finally cooled.
‘Don’t think. Just leave it to my body.’
As a swordsman, the ‘me’ was beyond pathetic, but this body was practically the crystallization of Leios’s efforts.
In fact, even when I sparred with Tyrfing, moving based on reflexes carved into my body rather than predicting her attacks had been far more efficient.
Up until now, my movements had been slightly sluggish because I’d tensed up from facing real combat for the first time, but now that my body had loosened, the story would be a little different.
“Hah!”
Since I’d already resolved to win, I made up my mind to see it through decisively.
I refined the sword paths I’d been swinging wildly and seized control of my opponent’s flow.
Just thinking that much caused my body to move as naturally as flowing water, trading blows with August.
August’s swordsmanship was as precise as his bravado suggested, but it wasn’t to the point of feeling like an insurmountable wall.
Perhaps because I’d spent a week sparring with Tyrfing, who was even more formidable, his sword was gradually becoming familiar to my eyes.
As my thoughts settled, my breathing steadied and my heartbeat calmed.
My field of vision widened, and I could see each of his movements clearly.
I’d only learned the sword for a little over a week, but as I said before, I had learned boxing.
Dodge and strike. It was the maxim at the core of boxing.
Facing August’s sword, those memories came vividly back to me.
Amidst the countless onlookers, I matched rhythm with my opponent.
Even now, in a way, this could be considered an extension of that.
That was why I constantly repeated it to myself and put strength into the step I took.
August’s sword swung without rest.
The rough sound of cleaving the air filled the space and slashed toward me.
‘This is…….’
While moving as I tracked the traces of his blade, something alien entered my vision.
The translucent line that had appeared along the trajectory of August’s sword when the status window first manifested once again linked tail to tail and was etched into the air.
‘Is this…… system assist!’
Thanks to the system assist function appearing at just the right timing, it became much easier to block August’s attacks.
Just as I was about to launch a counterattack, I froze at the voice that reached my ears.
[Ribera swordsmanship, is it.]
‘Tyrfing?’
Unlike earlier, when I’d thought it was an illusion because it passed so faintly, this time Tyrfing’s voice came through clearly. Because my attention was drawn to it for a moment, my posture collapsed slightly, and August didn’t miss the opening.
“Ghk!”
Perhaps it was an attack thrown with genuine intent, because a heavy shock traveled up both my hands.
Clicking his tongue with a look that suggested he hadn’t expected me to block it, he widened the distance once more.
Whether he’d been seized by impatience, August’s sword grew increasingly rough, much like his expression.
If I’d had just a bit more skill here, I could’ve exploited the opening and counterattacked, but due to my lack of experience, blocking was all I could manage.
However, the Royal Knights knight acting as referee seemed to think differently.
Seeing me being pushed on the defensive, he raised his arm as if to render a judgment, but I glared at him fiercely and strongly asserted that it wasn’t over yet.
[Among the swordsmen who wielded me, there was one who bore the name Ribera as well. His aptitude for the sword wasn’t particularly outstanding, but his mind was brilliant. Any swordsmanship he saw once, he found a way to counter, and eventually reached the extreme. …Though in the end, he met ruin just like the others.]
While I was fighting August with all my might, she spoke as if muttering to herself.
Those were stories I already knew. They were the tales she’d told Leios in the original work.
[But you are pathetic.]
Her words were sharper than August’s sword swinging before my eyes.
Kkuaaak.
It was true. I was pathetic.
There were countless reasons, but they were all nothing more than excuses.
Read other stories.
Even if they were suddenly dropped into another world.
Even if monsters suddenly appeared.
Even if they suddenly gained abilities.
They all, as if it were only natural, never panicked and, like battle-hardened veterans, overcame the trials and hardships before them.
What about me?
Was I the protagonist?
No.
“I’m not the protagonist.”
My muttering, leaving behind a bitter taste, was buried beneath the harsh sounds of clashing blades.
I wasn’t even the protagonist of my own life.
In that situation, just because my body changed and my environment changed, would the very foundation of who I was change?
I could state the answer definitively as ‘no.’
I couldn’t swing a sword stylishly like someone else.
I couldn’t strike down the villains that appeared before me.
I could only roll around miserably and struggle desperately just to get back up.
Tyrfing’s laughter stabbed at my ears.
[I don’t know what you mean, but it’s certain that you’re a hopeless idiot.]
Wasn’t it bad enough that she didn’t cheer me on—did she really have to make sure I was dead? I thrashed about with all my strength, but this seemed to be as far as it went.
After retreating and retreating again, I was driven to the edge of the stage, and August, like the protagonist of a play reaching its climax, was just about to deliver the finishing blow to me with a flashy performance.
[But I don’t dislike it.]
…What?
[Becoming my master.]
[That means you must shoulder my karma.]
[Do you have that resolve?]
Tyrfing asked me in a voice with a completely different atmosphere from before.
‘…This.’
At that, I realized I’d reached some kind of branching point.
Her words were different from what she’d said during Leios’s awakening in the original, but they carried a similar context.
Without a moment’s hesitation, I nodded deeply.
In response, Tyrfing burst into a pleasant laugh and spoke as if singing.
[Soon, every sword he wields will become a demonic sword.]
[And I too will become all demonic swords and be grasped in his hand.]
At the same time, several windows floated up before my eyes.
[SYSTEM: Demonic Sword Tyrfing (Tyrfing) is awakening.]
[SYSTEM: Due to the Veil’s curse, its attributes are restricted to 30%.]
[Go, and kill. You are the master of the god-slaying demonic sword, Tyrfing. Whatever blocks your path, I will cut it down for you.]
“Who do you think will win.”
Before the duel began, the Emperor lightly posed the question as he looked at August and Leios standing atop the stage. In response, Nepe, the commander of the Royal Knights, chose his words carefully.
“I believe His Highness August will win. There are rumors that His Highness Leios has recently begun martial training, but I don’t think the gap built up over the years can be closed in such a short time.”
“Is that so.”
At his words, the Emperor gave a peculiar smile.
He neither affirmed nor denied it, but it was clear that he knew something Nepe did not, so the knight commander cautiously continued.
“Whose victory does Your Majesty predict?”
“The one who makes better use of the abilities he possesses will win.”
It was a textbook answer, but the Emperor’s face suggested there was more to it than that.
‘How far will he show me.’
The Emperor’s eyes, fixed on Leios, gleamed with an unusual light.
* * *
“…….”
The message from the status window that suddenly filled my vision left me no choice but to be flustered.
Tyrfing had awakened?
I briefly searched my memories, but there had been no such wording in the original work.
There had only been two scenes where Leios awakened by borrowing the sword’s power; nothing had happened to the sword itself.
[Your swordsmanship is pathetic, but your body is vastly superior compared to that one. So entrust your body to the flow I lead.]
“Uhh!”
The moment her words ended, the sword in my hand began to move on its own. It wasn’t that I was swinging the sword; rather, the sword guided my movements, surging toward August with a sharp momentum.
“Kgh?!”
Up until just moments ago, I’d been driven on the defensive, barely able to block.
When I suddenly went on the offensive, he clenched his teeth in confusion and shook off my blade.
In ten seconds, more than twenty exchanges took place.
At the climax of the ringing clash of swords, the nobles erupted into cheers, and the knights also watched us with eyes burning with fervor.
“Impossible!”
Perhaps sensing that this wouldn’t do, a resolute determination settled over August’s face.
He forcefully swung his sword to widen the distance between us, then let out a rough shout as he drew his blade in toward himself in a bizarre stance.
[It’s coming.]
Even to my novice eyes, it was clear that something extraordinary was about to be unleashed.
At the same time a heat-haze-like aura settled around August’s body, the sword clenched in his hand trembled violently and let out a menacing cry.
“Schlussel.”
A low murmur.
Immediately after, a rain of swords poured down, covering the air.
The sharp sword energy emanating from each afterimage told me they were by no means illusions.
[Even if he’s rotten, he’s still of Ribera blood, huh.]
In that situation, the so-called demonic sword spoke carelessly, as if unaware that its master was breaking out in a cold sweat.
If we were only testing dominance through physical ability like before, then as a Sword Expert, I had the advantage over August, who was merely a Sword User.
Though that advantage had been buried by the difference in swordsmanship, I could still hold out evenly to some extent.
But if mana was used?
With most of my abilities sealed due to the Veil’s curse, there was no way I could respond properly.
At best, I could throw myself toward the edge of the stage and dodge.
That was how fundamentally different the aura imbued in August’s sword was compared to moments ago.
[Focus.]
[SYSTEM: Extra Skill ‘Hyper Focus’ is activated.]
The moment her words ended, the world of thought accelerated.
I could see every single movement of August’s sword as it slashed through the air, yet I still couldn’t grasp what I should do.
[Draw up mana. We’re going to answer with one big hit too.]
‘…I can’t do that.’
[……? I said if you draw up mana, I’ll handle the rest.]
‘I can’t because of the Veil’s curse.’
[…….]
I couldn’t see her face, but she was surely wearing an utterly dumbfounded expression right now.
But it was the truth, so there was nothing I could do. I’d been able to move mana after lifting the Veil’s curse, but in my current state, it wouldn’t budge at all.
[Then lift the curse! Are you just going to let that bastard take you down like this?]
‘Release a tiger just to catch a wolf?’
Of course, this was my mistake. I’d never imagined he’d use mana in a sparring match, damn it.
[Decide quickly. There’s no time left.]
With August’s sword having reached within arm’s length, Tyrfing delivered her final ultimatum.
As I bit my lip and hesitated, a status window appeared before my eyes.
[SYSTEM: The strength of the link is increasing.]
[SYSTEM: Warning! If you are subjected to erosion while the link strength is increased, your body may be taken over. Do you wish to sever the link? Y / N]
‘My body could be taken over?’
[What would I even do by taking over an idiot’s body. Shut up and accept it already!]
August’s sword, now close enough for me to feel his breath, pressed down on me. Judging by his eyes, though, he had no intention of stopping.
In just a few more seconds, the blades would surely tear my body apart.
‘…Fuck.’
With no other choice, I activated the link in a do-or-die mindset.
Woom—
At the same time, my sword let out a small cry.
It was a subtle sensation.
The sword and I were clearly separate entities, yet it felt as though something connected us.
As if the sword weren’t a sword at all,
‘But an extension of my arm…….’
[Weapons are, to begin with, merely extensions of the body. Tools meant to cut the opponent faster and more accurately.]
Swoosh.
The moment her words ended, something was forcefully drawn out from my lower abdomen.
‘Ugh?!’
[Endure it! If your center wavers just from drawing out this much mana, what are you going to do!]
As I staggered from the hollow sensation so strong it made me nauseous, Tyrfing poured harsh rebukes onto me.
Snapped back to my senses by her scolding, I barely suppressed the bile rising in my throat and managed to plant both feet firmly on the ground.
Woom—
The energy that flowed out from my lower abdomen traveled through my arms and into the sword.
At the same time, a faint light seeped from the blade, and Tyrfing, as if her earlier anger had never existed, shouted in an excited voice.
[Revival after one hundred and fifty years!]
[SYSTEM: You have acquired swordsmanship. Fiore Style (Flower of Battle: Fiore di Battaglia)]
[Fiore Style Le Punte!]
Paaah!
The sword swung in accordance with Tyrfing’s will fluttered as if a flower were blooming.
Each thrust that filled the air became a petal forming that flower, and soon it gathered into a bud and bloomed in full splendor.