Page 313

Following hyung’s instructions, we moved to the open space behind the building. Usually, it was a familiar area where we played foot volleyball, but standing here for a lesson filled me with tension.

“I didn’t mean for everyone to come.”

Hyung stood in the middle of the lot, speaking with a slightly awkward expression.

We weren’t the only ones there. Not only Louise, Sarah, Ainter, Rutis, and Lather from the club room were there, but also Tannian, who had returned after watching the practical exam until the end out of concern for potential injuries, and the Mage Duchess, who had just finished grading the magic department students.

It was an astounding gathering of all club members. It was such a coincidence that it felt like they might have been watching from the hallway and joined in.

“Haha, when else would we get to see the Advisor’s skills?”

“What’s so entertaining about that?”

Hyung responded indifferently to Rutis’s words, but for once, I agreed with Rutis.

I know hyung was strong. He had fought in the war a few years ago, and just last year he showed an overwhelming difference against Rutis—someone I wouldn’t dare claim to beat—without breaking a sweat. Slamming an opponent to the ground barehanded was impossible without a significant skill gap.

However, I had never seen hyung use a sword. I knew he was skilled, but I couldn’t gauge exactly how strong. Rutis, the victim, was probably even more curious about this than I was.

“Isn’t it better to have many witnesses in case something happens? Everyone will understand if it’s an injury from a fair duel.”

Tannian’s smiling words sent a chill down my spine. If I ended up coughing blood or breaking limbs while dueling hyung, would they all testify it was just a sparring incident?

Of course, I wouldn’t complain if I got injured during a duel, but it was unsettling that they were already considering it a foregone conclusion. With the future Saint watching, I couldn’t help but worry hyung might actually bend my spine in half.

“It’s not a duel. I wouldn’t knock my little brother down.”

That sent an even bigger chill down my spine. Did that mean he would have if I weren’t his brother? No wonder he knocked Rutis out without hesitation back then.

“Oh, then will you duel with me? I’m up for it!”

“I said it’s not a duel.”

At hyung’s firm words, both relief and disappointment settled among the club members. Relief from those worried about hyung assaulting royalty again, and disappointment from the redheaded prince alone.

“Experience isn’t just about physical clashes. Observing with your eyes is also experience, isn’t it?”

“That’s right. Sometimes, observing a master from a third-person perspective lays the foundation for growth.”

The Mage Duchess nodded at hyung’s words while placing her hand on Louise’s shoulder.

With the Mage Duchess’s support, the persuasiveness increased rapidly. How could one not believe when the pinnacle of magic, someone who was already raising a disciple, said so?

That’s right. No matter how I thought about it, the Mage Duchess was correct. Learning through physical experience was only possible when the skill gap was moderate. If it was too overwhelming, I’d probably collapse without even realizing what hit me. Just observing the sword technique with my eyes would be more beneficial.

“Let me borrow your sword for a moment.”

“Ah, here.”

I hurriedly offered the sword at my waist to hyung. It was just a mass-produced sword prepared for duels, and I was planning to just clean the blade and stash it away after today. From the sword’s perspective, it would probably be happier in hyung’s hands.

“Not bad. It’s quite sturdy.”

After tapping the blade, hyung nodded and gripped the hilt with his right hand.

“Honestly, our gap isn’t small, but if you keep working hard, you’ll reach my level. If I could do it, you can too.”

Then he stepped forward with his left foot and extended his right hand, which was holding the sword. It was like a knight showing respect to an opponent before a duel.

“So for now, aim for where I am. If you look too far ahead, you’ll get lost. My level should be a reasonable target for now.”

As he spoke, he slowly lowered the extended hand to his right side. His arm extended diagonally from his body, the blade pointing towards the ground. It was an upward slash stance.

Indeed, the basis of Krasius’s swordsmanship—no, all swordsmanship—was downward and upward slashes. Was he going to show us the most basic of basics? Rather than disappointment, I felt more excitement.

Hyung was a swordsman who had advanced far beyond comparison with me, and this was an opportunity to see how the basics of such a swordsman were built.

We’re on the same page.

Rutis, who had been a few steps behind, had somehow moved next to me as if to get a closer look at hyung’s sword technique.

Glancing at his face, I saw it filled with rare seriousness instead of his usual smile. As expected, he did have a strong warrior spirit despite his frequent eccentricities.

“I also watched and learned from this technique. It gave me hope that with effort, I could someday reach that level.”

His words froze me. What was this? That wasn’t something you’d say about a simple demonstration of basic movements. It sounded more like he was about to unleash a once-in-a-lifetime strike.

At the same time, I felt an unusual energy emanating from hyung’s body. Even though swordsmen were less sensitive to mana than mages, we were still mana users. If someone was manipulating mana with such intensity right in front of you, it was impossible not to notice.

And right now, that was happening with hyung.

This is crazy.

I could feel it. The mana surged explosively from his heart, moving toward his right chest before igniting in a secondary burst. Refined twice over, the mana consumed his right arm and sword, radiating a malevolent, almost tangible energy—

Wait, hold on.

Why was his mana visible to the naked eye?

It was shocking. I wanted to check the reactions of others, especially the Mage Duchess, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away. It felt like I’d regret it for the rest of my life if I missed even a moment of what was happening before my eyes.

In silence, hyung manipulated his mana and slowly raised his sword. Each subtle movement was accompanied by a tearing sound, the ground splitting open beneath his feet.

It felt like watching a fierce beast, its weapon lazily trailing after it. Yet, with each step, the world seemed to scream in agony and vanish into nothingness.

Then, at the moment when hyung, who had been calmly raising his blade, suddenly sliced through the air—

...

I lost everything.

My eyes were open, but only a pure white space spread out before me. My ears were open, but I couldn’t hear even the sound of the wind. My skin couldn’t feel any sensation, as if my body wasn’t mine, and even my nose couldn’t detect the simplest scent of grass.

It was as though the world before me had stopped existing, or I had been exiled from reality itself.

But this strangeness was just for a moment.

-■■■■■■■─!!

A deafening sound like the world forcibly yanking me back into existence restored my senses.

“How was it?”

Hyung asked with a slight smile, pointing at the sky as he coughed up a handful of blood.

Following his gesture, I cautiously raised my head only to let out a dry laugh the moment I saw it.

“This is the technique Heaven’s Defier showed during the Great War in the North.”

Ignoring my reaction, hyung continued explaining.

“He wasn’t called Heaven’s Defier simply for challenging the Mandate of Heaven. If he had been just a challenger to the Mandate, he’d have been a mere lunatic. If all he did was unite the nomadic tribes, they might’ve called him a strategist or a leader at best.”

There was a sound of metal hitting the ground, as if he had thrown away the sword he was holding. But I just stared blankly at the sky.

“He was called Heaven’s Defier because he insulted the heavens, overturned the natural order, and dared to meddle with the divine law as a mere human.”

At those words, the existence of Heaven’s Defier, which I had only read about in textbooks, felt both awe-inspiring and terrifying.

“The battle that earned him the name Defier... the calamity he unleashed upon the Imperial Army in that fight—“

Soon, that awe extended to hyung.

“The imperial army called that calamity ‘World Destruction.’”

What kind of person was hyung to be able to replicate such a calamity?

“Of course, the name felt a bit ominous, so most people just called it Sky Cleaver.”

Another dry laugh escaped me. Sky Cleaver was a name so straightforward and fitting that it couldn’t be more perfect.

The sky I couldn’t tear my eyes away from had a hideous black gash several meters long.

“...It’s been sliced open.”

“That’s why it’s called Sky Cleaver.”

The sky had been torn apart.

***What the hell.

This actually worked?

I surprised myself. I hadn’t done this since the war, and I didn’t expect it to succeed so smoothly. I was prepared to play it off as ‘The Heaven Defier did impressive upward slashes too’ if it failed.

Honestly, I hadn’t dared to attempt it since getting stabbed by Kagan. Every time I so much as thought about it, my body screamed in protest. The mana amplification process alone would have ripped me apart from the inside.

But drinking the Mage Duchess’s potion rapidly restored my health, and now I’d regained my health to the point where I could attempt this feat again, a stunt that should only exist in theory. The Mage Duchess was truly amazing.

What a monster.

I spat out another mouthful of blood, wiping my lips. My insides must be wrecked because blood kept coming up, and the sword I borrowed from Erich had shattered into pieces, emitting a brilliant light. Damn, I just noticed my right arm had gone completely numb. Did I cut a nerve?

Still, reproducing this made me realize again just how monstrous Kagan was. This was a watered-down imitation, and even that left my body in shambles. Yet Kagan used the fully upgraded version without breaking a sweat.

Of course, he might have been bluffing, but unlike me who was visibly bleeding profusely, that bastard appeared unscathed. At least on the outside.

“Impressive, isn’t it?”

I spoke to Erich, who was still staring at the sky. Slowly, he lowered his head, his face a turbulent mix of emotions.

“I felt the same way when I first saw it. I thought, what kind of lunatic could do something like that? It’s not something a human being should be capable of. For a while, I wondered if an evil god had descended.”

I wasn’t exaggerating. The Dawn Sect’s scriptures mentioned that Enen sealed evil gods in the northern part of the continent, and the nomads happened to live in the northern part, too. For a moment, I thought they might have unearthed one of those sealed gods and made it their leader.

But in the end, Kagan was still human. And if a human could do it, then so could I—or so I convinced myself with twisted determination.

...Well, he wasn’t just a human but an apostle of a god, but still, he fell under the human category.

“The emotion you’re feeling now, turn it into competitive spirit. Then, you can become like me.”

Probably.

“O-Oppaaaa!”

As light returned to Erich’s dazed eyes, Louise, who had been silent, rushed over in a panic.

To be honest, having Louise and the Mage Duchess here made me push myself harder. It was only natural for the head of a family to want to look cool in front of his loved ones—

“Y-Your arm!”

“Huh?”

At Louise’s tearful words, I glanced down at my arm. The right one, which had gone numb, was now lying on the ground.

Ah, so the nerves weren’t just severed, the whole arm was...

“Oh, baby! Are you okay!?”

The Mage Duchess, who had rushed over with Louise, caressed my cheek with trembling hands.

Of course I was fine. Losing a limb was almost an everyday thing in the North. With this continent’s magic and divine power, reattaching limbs was a quick job.

Besides, it wasn’t such a sad thing if I thought of it as leaving something behind for the new generation. If Erich was motivated by today’s events, then an arm was a small price to pay.

***I might have overdone it. In hindsight, it would’ve been better to spar with Erich and let him cough up a little blood instead of pulling off this stunt.

Louise and the Mage Duchess, shocked first by the torn sky and then by my torn arm, seemed to have no intention of hiding my eccentricity and shared it with Marghetta and Irina too. Thanks to that, I spent the whole day comforting all four of them... Tannian quickly healed the injury itself, but sadly, there was no cure for their shocked hearts.

Of course, that much was fine. Even I would have been shocked if my lover’s limb had exploded right in front of me, even if I knew it could be healed. This was my own fault for being so thoughtless—it was something I needed to reflect on.

Damn it.

The real problem came after. The academy was thrown into chaos due to the otherworldly noise and the scar left in the sky.

And in incidents with many witnesses, someone had to take responsibility.

Regarding the disturbance at the academy, we wish to hear a detailed explanation from the Executive Manager currently stationed there as an inspector. Return to the capital promptly.

The Crown Prince’s summons came within a day. Did the phrase ‘hear a detailed explanation’ mean ‘come and justify your stupidity’? Or was I just imagining that tone?

Well, it was fine even if it wasn’t my imagination. My disciplinary record had been reset after my last imprisonment, anyway.

One more disciplinary action is no big deal.

People with nothing left to lose were always bold.