Chapter 22 : Don’t Die

Chapter 22: Don’t Die

A firm voice and expression.

I instinctively knew.

This infinitely colossal being would never grant my wish, no matter how desperately I begged.

Fine.

So this was how it would be?

Alright then.

I would just do things my way.

“Master, then I have another request instead.”

Now that I thought about it again,

This actually seemed more fitting.

I asked the Grand Duke, who was silently staring at me.

“Please teach me one move.”

I had to grow stronger.

I could no longer endure who I was now.

The corner of the Grand Duke’s lips seemed to curve faintly, and then, with a dignified voice, he answered.

“Starting like this wouldn’t be bad.”

Since we stood on an open plain, it didn’t matter where we sparred.

With two mages watching us, we stopped our horses for a while and faced each other.

“The Stage of Body-Sword, is it? To freely command such a vast amount of mana, and yet your swordsmanship has only reached Body-Sword… you are strong.”

With just a brief glance, the Grand Duke discerned my level and slowly drew his sword.

“But you still have a long way to go. For now, what you must do is first learn to see the destination you ought to pursue. Watch carefully. This is the Stage of Full-Sword, Steel Qi.”

Uuuuuuuuuuuuuung—

The Grand Duke’s sword sang.

Huh...?

My whole body trembled violently.

What was that...?

That was Steel Qi?

“What do you think of it?”

“Even if you ask me...”

Clenching my teeth, I barely managed to look straight at the Grand Duke’s sword.

At that moment, I understood why Iodin had mistaken me for a Swordmaster using Steel Qi when we first met.

Steel Qi, at a glance, looked strikingly similar to Sword Aura.

A sword humming, glowing in golden light.

But in truth, it was entirely different.

There was only one thing I could say while facing it.

“Is... is it still alive?”

It was death, shaped into a sword.

The instant I laid eyes on it, it felt as if the depths of my soul had already been sliced apart.

That sword was a boundary.

Beyond it lay nothing but the pitch-black void of death, the cold of the underworld.

To confront that sword meant that nothing could retain its original form.

No wisdom, no passion—everything would be split, scattered, and return to dust.

“Death. I see. So this appears to you as death. Seems you’ve lived quite a turbulent life.”

He let out a small laugh, and gently shifted the tip of his sword to the side.

Even that tiny movement forced me to recoil like a frightened cat.

“But no matter how much fear you feel, there are things you can only understand by clashing against them. Come at me with all your strength.”

I clenched my teeth.

To show me a sword like that, and then tell me to attack.

It sounded like some cruel joke, but...

“Here I come...!”

This was a trial I absolutely had to go through if I wished to move forward.

Guuuuuuuuung—!

From atop Banroa, a deep-blue Aura Blade shot forward.

A storm surged in the wake of that violent wave of power.

Sharp Sword Energy of the Body-Sword Stage mixed with the Aura Blade, slashing in every direction.

The lush grass covering the plain was shredded into fragments and whirled around.

A green blizzard swept across the field.

“Hohhh...”

“Such power....”

The two mages who were watching groaned in astonishment.

“Excellent. Though I cannot tell its origin, that is truly destructive swordsmanship. Even a Peak Expert would struggle to withstand such force.”

Grand Duke Laitena spoke with calm admiration.

Yes.

Let’s clash head-on.

Boiling aura.

Even though it had failed to sever the claws of that wolf-like monster... still!

Aura had rarely disappointed me before,

So once again, I placed my faith in it.

“Here I come!”

[Tempest]

Kwaaaang!

The walls of wind split apart to the left and right, and I pierced through the opening.

A charge at blinding speed.

My deep-blue Aura Blade surged forth like a storm that could tear the entire world apart, but—

Jjeojeojeok!

The moment it struck the Grand Duke’s Steel Qi, it shredded apart like flimsy paper.

My Aura Blade, which had charged like a raging wolf, scattered away like a flock of frightened butterflies.

And before my eyes remained only... that golden Steel Qi, death itself.

“Ah...”

My fragmented aura scattered, broke down into mana, and dissipated.

I looked at the Grand Duke’s sword, resting lightly atop Banroa.

It wasn’t even some extraordinary blade.

But I knew.

If the Grand Duke had willed it, that unremarkable sword could have cleaved Banroa in two.

With just one strike, the match was over.

An immeasurable gap with no end in sight.

Swallowing down a heavy sigh, I asked him,

“...Are all Swordmasters like this?”

“If you are a Swordmaster, then yes, at least to this extent.”

A fresh shock hammered the back of my head.

Ten thousand years later, in my era,

I had considered myself a Swordmaster and carried some confidence...

‘The level is worlds apart.’

I had been gravely mistaken.

‘...The ceiling of swordsmanship in this era is far higher.’

In modern times, aura swordsmanship allowed one to grow stronger at a faster pace.

By pouring immense output of aura into strengthening the body and amplifying the blade’s might, most enemies could be overwhelmed.

But the higher the stage climbed, the more profound and sublime the ancient swordsmanship became.

‘Roughly... does the reversal happen around High-grade Expert?’

Until Low-grade and Mid-grade Expert, those who had learned aura swordsmanship could easily dominate. But from High-grade Expert onward, defeat was nearly inevitable... and upon reaching Master, the difference in level became this unfathomable.

In truth, even just looking at those wolf-like monsters had already shown me.

Though I couldn’t understand it at all, their claws were tough enough to withstand my Aura Blade, and their reflexes were quick enough to dodge my strikes.

That alone had turned me into nothing more than a strong but clumsy brute.

And what about Iodin?

She was merely a High-grade Expert, yet even she had a technique that could cleanly lop off those monsters’ necks.

Swordsmanship. In other words, the skill of wielding a blade—when it came to that, ancient swordsmanship far surpassed modern aura swordsmanship.

So,

there was only one thing I had to do.

Sword Support.

I had to reach that stage.

Unless I could cut down the monsters’ heads with my own sword, without borrowing Iodin’s blade, I would never be able to stop that absurd assault.

“...What must I do to grow stronger?”

Grand Duke Laitena pierced into my eyes with his gaze before replying.

“The Full-Sword of a Swordmaster means tempering your own blade with your soul. When the sword born from your small universe stains the sword held in your hand, that is when the Full-Sword is complete.”

“Does that mean I must push communion with the Sword Spirit to its very limit?”

The Grand Duke shook his head.

“No. Rather than communion, it is convergence, and transcendence. The paths up the mountain are each different, but at the summit, all meet together. To meet there, and to transcend—that is the essence.”

It was cryptic.

But the Grand Duke offered no further explanation.

“For now, just remember. Remember what it felt like when I showed you Steel Qi. And that you must temper your soul into a single blade. That much will suffice.”

Though I still found it hard to understand,

I engraved his words in my heart.

*         *         *

Time afterward flowed much the same way as before.

I arrived at the castle, met Iodin, watched her flee in fright because of my hair, and then, that evening, Iodin’s first lesson began.

The only difference was the change brought on by my heightened stage.

“Body-Sword! That’s truly a relief. Of course, Sword Support would have been even better! But even this is more than enough!”

Iodin rejoiced, as though a great worry had been lifted from her shoulders.

I stared at her.

No matter how I tried not to, the image kept resurfacing.

The sight of her radiant golden hair, drenched in blood and trampled.

That moment when she had stood before me, without even an aura shield like mine, just to protect me...

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I have a question.”

“Please, ask.”

“When one reaches the Stage of Sword Support... does the sword sometimes move of its own accord, beyond the will of its master?”

“Ah, was that what you were worried about? That you might not be able to control your sword?”

No.

That wasn’t what I was worried about.

I just wanted to know.

Back when that wolf monster had self-destructed, was it truly Iodin’s will to protect me, or had her sword moved on its own?

“In truth, such a distinction has no meaning.”

“No meaning?”

“Yes. Though we say the sword moves on its own, to reach that stage, the sword must know me so thoroughly that it understands my very being. In a way, what the sword does of its own accord can actually be said to be my truest intention.”

Ah...

So in the end, Iodin had shielded me of her own will.

In that life-or-death moment, she had cared more for my safety than for her own life.

And it wasn’t even a conscious choice—it was on the level of instinct.

Me,

I hadn’t been able to protect someone like that.

“Junior Ransen? What’s wrong?”

“...It’s nothing.”

Something inside me was welling up, like a lump in my chest.

*         *         *

I was worried about reality as well.

If time was flowing forward in reality just as much as the time I rewound here... then by now, Kushan City must have been in utter chaos.

For the moment, all I could do was trust and rely on my younger siblings and Rivera, but still, I had to return as quickly as possible.

‘The erased letters from the Book of Fate that time were eight. If each failure erases another eight letters, then I may only have two or three chances in total. And I’ve already used one of them?’

At best, I had two tries left. At worst, only one.

But I had no intention of using them all up.

I hated defeat, and I was worried about Kushan City right this very moment.

‘I must succeed this time, and return even a single day sooner.’

But despite ten days of grueling training that had felt like my bones were being scraped down, the Stage of Sword Support still remained far out of reach. The vague, frustrating state of “almost understanding, but not quite” continued endlessly.

That night as well, after long hours of training, I went for a walk in the garden to clear my head.

I hadn’t walked far when I saw Iodin, seated atop a rock in the garden.

As always, she was watching the stars.

“Are you looking at the Thirteen Gods?”

“Huh? How did you know?”

Of course I knew. I knew it well—you had explained it to me.

“Just a feeling. It seemed like something you’d do. Looking at the Thirteen Gods so you can know your current position. And maybe, while looking at them, thinking you want to protect this place.”

When I said something I already knew because I had heard it from her before, Iodin averted her gaze with a slightly embarrassed expression.

“That’s right. Of course I want to protect it. I received everything I have here. Food, a home to rest my body, people who are like family, dreams, this sword... it all began here. So I must protect it. I have to repay the grace I received from Master.”

The grace of her Master...

Even when she had died, Iodin had been the same.

‘Make sure... to survive.... Now you’re... Master’s only... disciple....’

She hadn’t feared her own death.

What she had feared more was the possibility of her Master’s legacy being cut short.

A sigh escaped me.

Why was it that someone like her,

someone like that, threw her own life away so easily?

“Iodin.”

“Mm?”

“Then don’t die.”

“Huh?”

“Protecting is fine, but first you need to stay alive for that to even be possible. If something happens, think about surviving before anything else. You idiot.”

“What?! Did you just call me an idiot?! Even if we agreed to drop formalities, isn’t that way too rude?!”

Iodin sprang to her feet, indignant.

I only let out another sigh.

This was worth at least two days of nagging.

Iodin.

I’ll listen to all that nagging. Obediently.

But this time—don’t die. Please.

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