With their momentum shattered, the knights’ synchronized pincer attack collapsed into utter disarray.
“What the—”
Swords tangled, armor clashed, and the screech of metal on metal erupted from all sides. 「Gale」 was a blade optimized for such chaotic melees. However, my enemies were experts in group combat—men trained for years to wield violence in perfect unison. Before I could even reset my stance, a sword lunged toward me. It was a subtle, lethal thrust. I barely managed to dodge by stepping back, but two more blades swept toward the space where I retreated. One aimed for my knee, the other for my flank. Both were killing blows. Could I dodge? No, there was no angle for escape. In that case—
“Arhan!”
As calculations raced through my mind, a circle was drawn around me. The circle transformed into a Taiji symbol, and every sword that touched its perimeter was repelled. In the next moment, long, jet-black hair fluttered in the air. As the hair swayed, a fluid sword danced with lethal grace. 「Ever-changing Mystery」. The sword of endless transformation drove the enemies back.
“Are you okay? What is all this…?”
It was Seol-yoon.
Having rushed from the rear, Seol-yoon immediately dismantled the enemies’ sword paths the moment she appeared. I could feel the knights’ gazes shift as they witnessed her swordsmanship.
“…It seems there are more nuisances than we thought.”
“Do not let your guard down. These are the ones who harmed the Young Master. There won’t be just one of them—absolutely not.”
The atmosphere grew heavy.
Amidst the tension, I spoke.
“They are enemies. Enemies who have come to threaten us.”
Seol-yoon joining me was a massive relief. When it came to facing fellow swordsmen, there was no talent quite like hers. At a similar realm, Seol-yoon’s techniques and Mystery were overwhelming. A hush fell with her arrival. Amidst the uncomfortable silence, a heavy thumping sound echoed from the knights’ bodies. Along with the strange noise, the knights were simultaneously pushed back toward the entrance. Looking back, I saw Hailyn. Green light was pouring from her hands—a light that acted like a solid barrier.
“Young Master!”
Hailyn, gasping for breath as she ran up, spoke urgently.
“Get behind me! I’ll drive them all away for now.”
“Drive them away? How? Did you learn some incredible sorcery?”
“No. The spells I learned from the Orc Shaman are still just the basics. Trifles like reading constellations for fortunes or glimpsing misfortune… What I used just now was a Guardian Stone. I temporarily awakened the 「Star Sorcery」 contained within the stone the Orc Shaman gave me, which blocks external enemies.”
Hailyn traced several sigils in the air with both hands.
Each time she did, a heavy thrum resonated through the air.
“I don’t know why they suddenly came looking for us, but I’ll drive them all out for now. They look like powerful knights, but they won’t be able to resist. My own abilities are far inferior to theirs, but the sorcery in the Orc Shaman’s gift is highly advanced. No matter how well they swing their swords, they cannot resist sorcery. Never.”
With a single gesture from Hailyn, the green light surged. The knights watching us grumbled irritably as they brushed the dust off their armor.
“They even have a mage? Now I understand why the Young Master suffered such humiliation in this insignificant land. He was born with boundless potential, but he lacked experience. It’s only natural he would be rendered helpless against several fighters and a wicked mage.”
The bastards continued to interpret things however they pleased.
As Hailyn continued her gestures, the green light grew larger. A powerful force radiated from the glow. I even had the fleeting illusion of seeing the Orc Elder I had encountered at the Orcs’ Holy Land.
And then…
“Wave Catcher. Step forward.”
“As you wish.”
From among the knights, a bald man with dark skin emerged. He was a man whose entire body was covered in dense tattoos. Holding a staff with a jewel fixed to the end, the man smirked.
“It’s not a mage, but a shaman. And using the ‘Orc’ way, no less. I’ll have to ask for more gold coins than promised for this, my handsome knights.”
“I’ll give you as much as you want. Just get rid of that wicked light.”
“With pleasure.”
The man laughed, planted his staff into the ground, and clapped his hands once. In the next moment, the sound of crashing waves echoed. Immediately after the sound, the green light Hailyn was wielding vanished. It left without a trace.
“Huh?”
“The cute lady is surprised. My lady, who on earth did you learn from? Even with a powerful Mystery, the important thing is the being who handles it. Such a clumsy method can’t even tickle me.”
“W-what…”
Hailyn’s eyes trembled.
The girl, momentarily flustered, looked at me and said, “Y-Young Master. There’s a mage over there. A mage far more powerful and advanced than me… He’s incomparably stronger than Jerry Selfit, whom you faced before.”
It was bad news.
As Hailyn’s face paled, a knight took a step forward.
“Insignificant fighter.”
“…”
“Do you finally realize who you have provoked?”
The knight approached slowly. With every step he took, the entire group of nearly thirty men moved in unison. It looked as if a city wall were shifting toward us. Just looking at them felt suffocating. Pressure. An indescribable weight bore down on us.
As they approached, Hailyn hurriedly formed a hand seal—a shaman’s method, distinct from a mage’s. The Mystery of the Orcs, activated by the shaping of hands. However, the mage on the other side had no intention of letting Hailyn complete her spell.
“Stop these bold antics, my lady.”
The man called Wave Catcher snapped his fingers. With a sharp crack , Hailyn’s body spun through the air before being slammed into the ground. A short scream escaped her, and blood splattered from her mouth. Trembling and groaning, Hailyn lay sprawled on the ground, unable to move, as if crushed by an invisible boulder.
Damn it.
Thirty knights.
A mage whose realm I couldn’t even fathom.
This wasn’t a force that should appear in a rural estate. I couldn’t understand what they were trying to avenge, or why people claiming to be from a Great Family would throw away their honor for such petty retaliation. All I felt was the sheer unreasonableness of it all. The feeling of being trampled by an overwhelming power. The helplessness of losing everything you have without even knowing why. It was familiar. Just like that day.
Just like the day the Swordmaster took everything from me.
“Hai-lyn—!”
But.
“You! You pieces of trash!”
This was clearly different from back then.
I wasn’t alone here today.
“Get lost this instant—!”
A thunderous voice rang out. As the voice erupted, the man called Wave Catcher gasped and collapsed onto one knee. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead.
“Oh, dear. There was an un-cute lady here as well.”
“…Wave Catcher?”
“This is very, very troublesome.”
Audrey appeared in the distance.
A woman who was obnoxious and whom I never wanted to be around.
But that wasn’t her true essence.
Audrey’s essence lay in another name.
“Why is the most noble lady on the continent here? Heh.”
A Witch.
A magical being standing at the apex of all mages.
“You dogs! You low-born trash from the salty Free City!”
The sound of wind whipped once.
In the next instant, Audrey, who had been far away, appeared right in front of the kneeling Wave Catcher. A teleportation spell—the means of travel for advanced mages. A Mystery that ignores distance to exist in any desired space.
“—?”
The sudden appearance of Audrey drew everyone’s attention. The knights moved first—an instinctive reaction to eliminate an unannounced presence. The swords in their hands swung. However, the knights’ blades failed to reach their target. Audrey’s lips moved slightly, and a magic they didn’t recognize was completed. In a mere 0.07 seconds.
Immediately after the magic was cast, five knights standing around Audrey lost consciousness and collapsed like falling leaves. Having neutralized five 「Sword Runners」 in an instant, Audrey glared at them with murderous intent.
“If you fear the heavens, get out of my sight. All of you.”
Audrey’s voice did not sound like that of a young girl. It wasn’t the growl of a wild beast, either. Her voice resonated through the earth and the sky. Like the voice of a god.
The knights faltered.
With the atmosphere reversed, another person appeared in the blink of an eye. An old man holding a silver rapier. It was Caretaker Tom.
“This is not honorable. You are not acting like knights.”
With Caretaker Tom’s appearance, the atmosphere froze completely. The knights there were no fools. To the eyes of these knights, all of whom were at least 「Sword Runners」, the half-armor covering Tom’s body was visible. That is to say, the proof of a 「Sword Expert」.
“Please, all of you, turn back. I will not ask twice.”
Everyone stiffened.
The one who broke the silence was a certain voice.
“A black-haired swordswoman from the Eastern Continent and a noble Witch of the Great Empire. On top of that, an old man who’s a mysterious 「Sword Expert」…”
Step, step.
Footsteps echoed in the silence. While everyone else was frozen, only one man was as relaxed as if he were out for a stroll. Following his speech, thick with a Free City accent, came a long, drawn-out yawn.
“ Yawn— When they told me to go all the way to the boring, iron-stinking countryside of the Iron Kingdom, I thought I’d die of boredom. But this might be more fun than I expected.”
The man who emerged from among the knights wore no armament. Instead of a helmet or armor, he was draped in all sorts of jewelry. His hands and ears were filled with earrings, rings, and bracelets embedded with sparkling gems. He wore the revealing silk clothes characteristic of the Free City, as if he were attending a party. The man, walking slowly, looked languid, as if he had just woken up. His face was heavily made up—powdered white with spots of color applied here and there. At a glance, he looked more like a woman than a man. A beautiful woman.
“Interesting. Truly.”
The peculiar man made his presence known the moment he appeared.
The presence he radiated made it truly difficult to breathe. In this suffocating situation, I recalled the words the Iron Prince had once uttered.
‘The moment I return to the City of Blades, I will stir up a vortex.’
.
.
.
‘And I intend to make sure you can board that vortex early.’
It seemed the vortex had already begun.
“ Yawn. ”
The languid man, who had walked out while overwhelming his surroundings, reached out his hand to a knight standing blankly beside him. The knight, after a moment of daze, seemed to realize something and hurriedly pulled out an object to hand to the man. It was a flag. A flag with a certain emblem fluttering at the end of a long cylinder.
“What was I supposed to say again? Well, since we just need a pretext anyway, I guess it doesn’t matter how I do it.”
The man scratched his head and then slammed the flag into the ground. The flag stood straight, catching the wind and fluttering majestically. As it fluttered, the emblem on the flag was clearly visible to everyone present.
“I speak to this insignificant estate and its master.”
An emblem depicting white waves and a blue sea.
“You have defamed the honor of Toma Rhapsody, the son of the great 「Rhapsody」, and brutally murdered our loyal retainers. We have come to hold you accountable for your sins. And we have come to demand responsibility for the crimes you have committed.”
There was no one present who did not know what that emblem symbolized.
“One of the Five Families of the continent. A member of a Great Family. The 「Rhapsody」 of the Six Free Cities declares war on you. This is a declaration of war according to the Continental Law, and the omnipotent Seven Chief Gods and Nine Goddesses have witnessed our declaration. We are the vanguard, and our legion will trample this land in ten days. If you surrender, we will spare you. If you do not, we will kill you. We want only one thing: the life of the fighter, Sword Demon Liam. If the fighter Liam admits his sins and comes to us within ten days, the war will not begin. But if there is no response by then, we will show no mercy.”
“…”
“This is the last mercy we offer. If you miss this opportunity, you will learn why the continent fears the Five Families. To your very bones.”
The distinct accent of the Free City.
Slurred pronunciation. Yet, no one could laugh.
“If you do not want war, come to us at any time, you insignificant fighter.”
His voice was weary and languid, but a clear rage could be felt within its soft tones. The anger hidden beneath the calm was sharp enough to be impossible to ignore. I felt it the moment I looked directly into his eyes. The guy I had faced in the Infinite Duel was a mere child compared to the man standing there.
“He’s a thoughtless younger brother, but as his older brother, I want to personally take revenge for the youngest.”
The man standing there was the ‘real deal.’
A truly powerful individual whom no one could touch, even without titles like the Five Families or Great Family. Even if all the knights there combined their strength, they would never be able to reach that man’s feet. Never.
“Think wisely, okay?”
With those final words, they withdrew.
But they did not leave entirely.
“…”
From that day on, several barracks appeared at the entrance of the estate.
Barracks housing those who had declared they would trample this place and turn it into a land of death.
