Chapter 150 : Chapter 150

Chapter 150

"The competition for the head of Eurasia is quite a sight to behold. Isn't it, Serena?"

Yulian.

The guy who had risen to the 4th sword within less than 10 years of joining the Annihilation Squad.

'Did Father acknowledge his potential?'

He was a talkative and annoying guy.

"The Annihilation Squad is the family's secret sword."

"Just because it's secret doesn't mean our thoughts have to be secret too, right?"

"That's a foolish thought. It would be better to train more in the time you spend thinking such things."

"Geez, what a cold person. That's why you can't even be called a daughter by the captain... Ugh!"

Yulian knelt down from the sudden blow that was delivered.

"The difference between 5-star and 6-star is clear."

"Kuh..."

"Don't get cocky, trusting in your half-baked talent."

If he continued to be informal, he would have to kneel every time they met.

She said, releasing her mana skin.

"What a temper... I understand very well, Serena 1st Sword-nim."

Yulian, who had gotten up, grumbled and retreated.

'Just what potential does a moron like that have?'

Apart from her assessment of Yulian, what he had said was not wrong.

The competition for the head of Eurasia was fun to watch.

The four young masters who inherited the blood of the family head, Simon Eurasia.

Among them, the first and second young masters were called geniuses and were showing rapid progress as knights.

Especially the first young master, who received the support of his maternal family, the Meyer Family.

"Demian Eurasia."

He was a person acknowledged by the family head, the Commander of the Knights, and the Annihilation Squad Leader.

He had excellently raised the White Knight Order, which he had founded himself, and had now become a knight who was not lacking as a commander.

According to Escardo, his talent was like seeing the family head in his younger days.

'The family head in his younger days...'

It was a story of the past that she could not even imagine.

"The second young master was also born with a martial frame, but... the first young master's growth is extraordinary."

The next family head would be Demian.

She had thought so.

Until the unfortunate incident happened between the third young master, Julian Eurasia, who was thought to have low competitiveness, and the fourth young master, whose presence was even faint.

"Haah... haah..."

Her breathing was so ragged it was as if she would stop breathing at any moment.

Even when she tried to rotate the mana in her Mana Heart, even when she tried to lift her arms and legs, they did not move as she willed.

It was due to the reflux.

'Why now, of all times...'

She had to swing her sword.

Even if it meant imbuing her sword with mana and forcing herself to use Carpe Illusion.

'I have to save Father...'

As she was thinking that and her consciousness was fading.

"Serena! Get a grip!!"

She heard Yulian's shouting voice.

Her body was swaying back and forth.

'Ah...'

She realized it belatedly.

That she was being carried on someone's back.

Which meant.

"The Captain... is..."

She moved her lips, which would not part, with difficulty.

"Serena."

At Yulian's unusual voice, her heart sank.

She finally realized that the memories she wanted to deny were reality.

"From now on, you are the temporary captain."

"Stop..."

"Don't let Captain Bastian's death be in vain."

His usual annoying voice tore through her chest like a dagger.

"Put me... down..."

"I refuse."

“……”

"I won't listen to the foolish command of someone who doesn't even have the strength to shout."

"I..."

"The Carpe Illusion has been completely destroyed. If you don't take action quickly, your Mana Heart will be permanently damaged. Captain Bastian wouldn't have wanted that either."

Yulian retorted with a blunt remark.

She was not unaware of the emotions of anger and sadness contained in that voice.

"The survivors are Aron, Portran, Gala. And you and me."

“……”

"It is our defeat."

Against two superhumans, the Annihilation Squad had suffered devastating damage.

The swords of Eurasia, built up over a long time, had fallen in a single failed mission.

"Get some sleep on the way back."

It took a considerable amount of time to return to Eurasia.

As if mocking their defeat.

Rain poured down from the sky.

"I hear the Fourth Young Master received the Aether from the family head."

Aron said with a pale expression.

The reflux that had occurred in the last mission had not yet properly recovered.

And it was the same for the other members of the Annihilation Squad.

Portran, who was moistening his throat with a bottle of liquor in the corner, chuckled.

"We worked our asses off to retrieve it, and the one with the family head's bloodline takes it."

"It's not just any Aether."

"What...?"

Portran's face, who was bringing the liquor bottle to his lips, hardened.

"Don't tell me..."

"Yes. It is Captain Bastian's sword."

Aron said with a sigh.

At those words, the temperature in the area dropped.

Gala, who was drinking tea in the corner.

Yulian, who was polishing his sword alone.

And Serena, who was staring blankly at the wall.

The reason they could not control the mana leaking out of them was not just because of the reflux of their Mana Hearts.

The first to react was Yulian.

"The family head must be out of his mind to do something so absurd..."

"Watch your mouth, Yulian."

Aron warned quietly.

"But not Young Master Demian, but the Fourth Young Master? Didn't that guy not even refine his Mana Heart?"

"He has refined his Mana Heart. I hear he's quite good with the sword too."

"Ah, you mean that rumor?"

Portran responded, emptying his liquor bottle.

The trivial things that had been happening in the family, which they had not been able to pay attention to because they were tracking the Empire's superhumans.

"I hear the Fourth Young Master has awakened and is being quite well-recognized in the Blue Knight Order."

"It's not just 'quite'. According to the Red Knight Order, they would have suffered devastating damage in the recent subjugation if it weren't for the Fourth Young Master."

Devastating damage.

It had a similar aspect to the Annihilation Squad's most recent mission.

The difference was that the Annihilation Squad was in a state no different from being annihilated after that mission.

And that Killian Eurasia had minimized the damage to the Blue Knight Order.

That fact bruised the pride of the survivors.

"Serena, are you just going to stand by and listen to this?"

Yulian, who had sheathed his polished sword, asked her, who looked dazed.

"It is a matter for the family head to decide."

"How long are you going to be like that?"

"What...?"

"You're thinking that Captain Bastian's death is your fault, aren't you?"

“……”

"Whether you're the 1st sword of the Annihilation Squad or his daughter, he was the same captain to us too."

“……”

She glared at Yulian, who was glaring at her and pouring out his anger.

The man who had carried her on his back and run through the downpour, enduring the pain of a refluxing Mana Heart.

The two eyes of the knight, whose reflux symptoms were more severe than any of the other survivors as a result, were meeting her gaze without avoiding it.

"Don't talk nonsense with that annoying face."

“……”

At Yulian's words, Serena looked at the mirror.

Her usually expressionless face was deathly pale.

She could feel an unidentifiable emotion welling up in her chest.

Anger.

The emotion of an unacceptable fact was denying reality.

"I will see Sir Escardo."

"With that..."

She did not let Yulian pour out his anger any longer.

"And I will personally."

Whether he was worthy of wielding the sword that the person who had been her support had swung countless times, the sword that their Annihilation Squad Leader had used.

"Confirm it with my sword."

Sseuseuseu.

Green mana rose from Serena's body.

As if understanding her heart, the Aether trembled its blade.

'Yes. If necessary, even if it means staining the Aether with blood.'

The Fourth Young Master.

Killian Eurasia.

'I will get my father's sword back.'

She had made such a vow.

"Serena, Serena."

"Speak."

"I told you that surpassing the wall is not that simple a matter, didn't I?"

The man who had become her new superior said.

"But you have achieved it, Captain. Which means it is not impossible."

"I'm a little special."

It would be annoying for someone to call themselves special, but it was not awkward at all for the man before her.

Killian Eurasia, who had gone from the Fourth Young Master to the Fourth Prince.

Also, the superhuman, acknowledged by all the members of the Annihilation Squad, said as if in certainty.

It was a familiar scene now.

'A Sword Master who has reached the state of 7-star at the mere age of twenty.'

Sometimes she was surprised at herself for naturally seeking advice from such a person.

Of course, she did hear the answer that she was doing well enough every time this happened.

'No, it's not enough.'

Her desire for achievement was too high to give up like this.

She was the 1st sword of the Annihilation Squad.

She had to become the center of the Annihilation Squad's Carpe Illusion, and in the absence of the Annihilation Squad Leader, she had to act as his deputy.

She needed to reach the realm of a superhuman as soon as possible.

"If you are speaking of talent, I apologize for being presumptuous, but I do not think I am lacking."

"I'm saying it's a different matter from talent or enlightenment. What should I say, the realm of existence?"

Existential power, class, karma.

These were the things Killian Eurasia often mentioned when asked about mana.

They were words she could not understand.

Sometimes, he had a tendency to speak like someone older than Bastian, Escardo, or even the family head, Simon Eurasia.

"You teach Yulian so well."

"That guy is progressing at a moderate pace."

Yulian's skills, who had learned various Ke from the basic sword skill First Flash to Second Flash, Meteor Flash, and Explosive Flash, were improving by leaps and bounds.

"Please teach me the Ke and Shik as well."

"I told you, you're doing well on your own. The duels we have sometimes will be more helpful. If your enlightenment gets ahead of you any more, your body won't be able to handle it."

"I understand. Then let's have a duel today."

"Has your Haki usage time increased?"

"You can check for yourself."

She replied in a somewhat provocative tone.

Killian Eurasia chuckled, not minding it.

Rather, it was a pleased reaction.

'At times like this, he's a brat of that age...'

"Ah, and that guy Yulian, he asked me to teach him Carpe Illusion too. He's so intent on becoming the 1st sword, he's working so hard."

Killian added that it was a good culture for each other's development as well.

"It seems he needs to be put down a bit. We'll need to have a placement match again."

"That guy Yulian, I feel sorry for him already. Let's schedule the duel for the afternoon, I have to go to the Head Apothecary."

"Is it because of Hazard?"

"Yes. He's probably lying on his back, wasting food again. The Head Apothecary is in trouble too. I told her she could be a little stricter, but she has a soft heart and gives him this and that."

It was the moment Killian Eurasia was about to leave the Annihilation Squad Leader's office, grumbling.

He stopped his steps, turned around, and said.

"Serena, your face looks better these days."

“……?”

"You should smile a little more often. Just because you're walking the path of the sword doesn't mean your heart has to become barren."

What makes one surpass the wall is not barrenness, but the fusion of various emotions.

He, who had added nonchalantly, left the room.

'The fusion of emotions?'

Serena, alone in the room, looked at the mirror on the wall.

Her pure white skin, closer to that of a woman than a knight.

On it was her usual expressionless face.

And her mouth.

“……”

Was smiling.

***

Kkang!!

A clear sound.

The sound of blades clashing was heard.

"Open your eyes, Serena Constantine."

Mana.

Familiar mana flowed into the Mana Heart she had refined.

"I am the Annihilation Squad Leader of Eurasia."

A man's voice echoed in her head.

The two Annihilation Squad Leaders she had served.

One was her biological father, who had already perished.

One was a man who had stimulated her desire for revenge and helped her find a new reason to live.

She did not need to ponder for long who the voice echoing in her head belonged to.

"Killian Eurasia."

Hwiiiiiii.

The wind blew.

'It's refreshing.'

Once.

The wind that had wrapped around her body as if in blessing, which she had felt in the middle of a forest where she was lying still.

"Killian."

She opened her eyes, uttering the name of the master of the wind.