Chapter 53 : Grandmaster

Chapter 53: Grandmaster

I never imagined it would come to this.

The boundary between the sword and me disappeared,

and when only our dance remained in this world, it finally began.

Wooooong–!

Banroa had begun wielding Iron Heart on its own.

The sword was operating the Aura cultivation method!

Woong! Wooong!

Along Banroa’s silver-white blade, the deep blue Aura of Iron Heart streamed down in rivulets.

‘Incredibly fast.’

Why was it like this?

The Iron Heart Aura Banroa created was absurdly vast.

Aura that should have required an hour of cultivation poured in before even a single minute had passed.

I instinctively realized the reason.

‘Pure will.’

Human will was never pure.

Hungry, tired, wanting to love, wanting to rage—humans were whirlpools of all kinds of desires and emotions.

On the other hand, the will of the sword was nothing but pure.

A Sword Spirit carried only a single intent: to cut.

‘Mana is drawn by will, and by will it is shaped into Aura.’

The basic theory that could not be absent in Aura cultivation.

With what state of mind, with what kind of will should one practice—every cultivation manual began with this preface.

That was why—

‘If the sword, which holds the purest will, united with me and cultivated Aura alongside me… its effect would be beyond imagination.’

And that was the phenomenon taking place right now.

Mana poured like a waterfall, Aura grew like a snowball rolling downhill.

Days that compressed months.

A week…

Two weeks…

I lost track of time.

I didn’t realize I was hungry, nor did I feel fatigue.

I ceaselessly swung the sword, refining Aura, swallowing the refined Aura down.

Fwoooosh!

At some moment, my body began blazing with deep blue Aura.

As though I had become a burning incense stick,

I spread the fragrance of Aura in all directions.

Flesh, blood, and nerves scattered into ash and smoke, and in their place, new cells brimming with Aura sprouted.

A transformation of bone and flesh. No—evolution.

Rebirth of the Flesh!

The realm I had thought would take five years to reach, I had achieved in just two weeks.

“Huuuuh…”

The instant I opened my eyes with a long breath, the senses I had been holding in that frenzied trance dispersed. For a brief moment, I had reached the realm of Peak Expert from the ancient standard. But it seemed I had not fully made it my own yet.

I wasn’t disappointed. I was certain I would reach it soon.

When all was over,

I lifted my eyes to the night sky, where the broken moon and glittering stars filled the heavens.

“The moon… so desolate…”

I never thought my vision would change this much.

The moon lay fully exposed before my eyes. On its silvery-gray surface I could faintly make out…

Were those mountains? Were those valleys?

That the moon itself was another world entirely,

I confirmed with my own two eyes.

Even the passing breeze carried countless stories in this enchanting world.

And so,

I broke free.

*         *         *

It was four days after completing my Rebirth of the Flesh when I faced Cain Manus, the imperial messenger.

An envoy from the Emperor at such a time…

Though my mind was tangled, I received him with composure.

“So. What business brings the illustrious Grandmaster here?”

Ash-gray eyes slowly turned toward me.

Sluggishly.

He moved so slowly it made me want to roar at him, yet no one dared intervene.

For his presence still weighed down the entire audience chamber.

“His Majesty… has sent a gift.”

Cain Manus lazily pulled a wooden box from within his robes.

Judging by its size, it was not something that could have fit there—he must have had a subspace pouch.

Step. Step.

Carrying the box, he advanced toward me.

Each step deliberate, as if savoring the motion.

“Kh! Stop right there…!”

“St–Stop… right now!”

Screeech–!

Katrina drew her sword, and Rivera, though I hadn’t seen when, had already pulled her bowstring taut.

Yet—

Step. Step.

Cain Manus simply walked.

The two of them froze in place as though bound, unable to move a finger.

‘A curious little game.’

A man too lazy to even lift a finger.

And yet, his Aura raged like a starved beast.

Before that ferocity—

Katrina, sword in hand, turned deathly pale and trembled violently. Rivera, bow fully drawn, could not even bring herself to aim.

Crushing everyone beneath his pressure, Cain finally reached me and held out the wooden box.

“Open it…”

“Hm.”

The box was heavy—perhaps five kilograms.

Intricate sigils were inlaid on its surface, twisting the flow of mana around it.

I opened the box without hesitation.

Whooosh–

A rancid stench rushed out.

Thump! Thump!

Heavy pulsations rippled through the air.

“…A heart?”

It was the heart of a colossal Demonic Beast. Black, with crimson light seeping from its fissures.

Just looking at it was repulsive, unsettling.

As if I were gazing upon something that should not exist.

It was foul to the core.

Cain Manus gave a nod.

“The well-preserved heart… of a Gonggo (訇鼓).”

Gonggo (訇鼓)?

“The mighty drumbeat that crushes from afar—that one?”

“Yeah.”

So that monster truly existed?

I had thought it no more than legend.

A colossal beast—some said five meters, others twenty—that pounded the earth daily with thunderous stomps.

It was said that any who heard that immense drumming even once… would never escape it for the rest of their life.

The drumbeat that others could not hear grew louder and louder only in the victim’s ears, until at last it shook their body and finally burst them apart in death—that cursed drumbeat.

That monster was called Gonggo.

And yet…

That monster’s—

Still-beating heart—

Had been sent to me as a gift?

Something unfit even to be used as poison, let alone medicine?

What on earth was the meaning of this?

Ssshhk.

Cain Manus’s ash-gray eyes slowly turned toward me.

They were the eyes of one observing.

No—testing.

Eyes intent on remembering, in detail, what reaction I showed upon receiving this gift.

What was this, truly?

A mere display of foul taste? Just to mock me?

No. It might be a test.

To gauge me by seeing how I responded when faced with such an ominous gift.

Yes. If that were so, Cain’s blatant, probing gaze right now made perfect sense.

But…

But…

‘That’s not it.’

A thousand thoughts ran through me, but it took only a brief moment to reach my conclusion.

The instant Cain slowly closed and opened his eyes, I made up my mind.

“His Majesty has sent a most precious gift.”

I drew a smile at the corners of my lips.

As though I were truly delighted.

With all the acting I could muster, I laughed so.

“Seah. This shall be enshrined in the chapel at Kashu City.”

Those words—

Were spoken with absolute trust in Seah.

An unidentified “Demonic Beast heart.”

And the word “chapel.”

With those two clues, I was certain Seah would grasp my intent.

“Yes, my Lord Count.”

Since this was a formal occasion, Seah addressed me as Count.

“Tevek. Handle this precious object with care.”

Seah then called upon the mage’s name.

The representative of Kinalo’s mages—the most outstanding among those who had survived Haarun’s invasion.

“Yes, Young Lady.”

Tevek, leaning on his crooked back, stepped forward.

When he came before Cain, he flinched in fear, but stood firm, received the wooden box, and sealed it once more with a spell.

After confirming the procedure, Seah bowed to me.

“Then, I shall go and enshrine it in the chapel.”

My eyes met Seah’s.

‘Just as I thought, she understood.’

The same word must surely have risen in both our minds.

‘Cultists.’

It was a hypothesis that struck like lightning.

Who else would need such a grotesque heart?

Surprisingly, there were those who did.

For I had already seen such foul things before.

‘Count Kxias.’

The ones who held rituals with such abominations.

The ones who slaughtered countless people to perform those rites.

And that bizarre disgust that vampires carried—that same rancid stench I had smelled 10,000 years ago from that tentacled wolf-monster.

All of it resembled that enormous heart.

‘That’s something tied to the Cultists.’

Most likely,

to the Cultists, it would be a treasure beyond compare.

The evidence was scarce, but my sharp intuition solidified into certainty.

The Emperor was a Cultist.

‘So that’s why he was so obsessed with wars of conquest…’

To conquer. To slaughter the common folk of conquered lands.

If it was all for Cultist rituals, many doubts were answered.

Seen in that light, this gift had only one meaning.

He wanted to watch my reaction and decide whether I was also a Cultist.

So I chose.

I chose to disguise myself as one.

Thankfully, with Seah’s quick wits, that disguise held up rather convincingly.

Keep your friends close.

And your enemies closer.

Perhaps this would even become the path to learning about the Cult, and further, uncovering weaknesses of the Empire and the Emperor.

“Hmmm…”

Seah walked away carrying the box.

Watching her back, Cain Manus let out a curious, deflating sigh.

He slowly turned his head and looked down at me.

“His Majesty… commanded me to bring back a return gift…”

A return gift…

If offering me Gonggo’s heart and observing my reaction had been the first test, this was the second.

Through my return gift, he wanted to know what kind of man I was.

Fine.

I’d show him.

I had already appealed as though I were an ally during the first test.

So now, shouldn’t I be allowed to act in my own way?

“Indeed. Having received such a precious gift, it’s only right I send something worthy in return.”

Drawing out my words, I stretched out my hand to the side.

“How about this? It seems a most fitting gift to return to an insolent envoy who dares speak so rudely to the head of a power.”

The crime of barging in without even arranging an audience, suppressing my guards with force.

The crime of unleashing his Aura before me to oppress my retainers.

I had more than enough justification.

I drew Banroa from my side and swung it.

Aimed straight at Cain’s neck.

Kaaaang!

“Haaah…”

When had he drawn his sword?

Cain, letting out a deep sigh, lightly caught my strike.

As if to say, So this is your answer? He shoved aside my sword with a weary motion and put distance between us.

‘He blocked this without Aura?’

I was a little surprised.

I hadn’t used Aura either, of course.

But Banroa was a peerless sword, a supreme treasure acknowledged even by the ancients.

And yet Cain’s blade took Banroa’s strike without so much as a scratch.

Indeed, it was a magnificent sword worthy of a Grandmaster.

My mouth watered.

That famous blade…

What if I were to cut it clean in half?

Cain must have sensed my killing intent.

I hadn’t bothered to hide it.

And yet, his face showed nothing but boredom.

Even knowing that I had slain Haarun, he did not see me as a worthy opponent at all.

Cain lazily tilted his sword and spoke.

“Well… come then. Endure five exchanges, and I’ll count it as a pass.”

“Is that so?”

A pass.

That was nowhere near enough for me.

I intended to test him thoroughly.

This was my chance to confirm it.

The power of a Grandmaster—the transcendent beings beyond humanity, the strongest of all.

I planned to expose it, every last detail.

So I went all out from the very start.

Gwoooooong—!

Deep-blue Aura surged forth in grand waves, shaking the entire audience chamber.

A razor storm slashed across the hall, driving the retainers to scramble out of the way.

I brought down Banroa with all my might, fusing Aura Blade and ancient Sword Energy.

Cain responded simply—merely extending his sword to meet mine.

At first, the Aura on his blade looked no different from an ordinary Aura Blade.

But the instant our swords touched—

Fwoooooong—!

My Aura warped uncontrollably.

Like a torch caught in a typhoon.

Every thread of mana and Aura yielded, making way along Cain’s sword path.

Through that gaping channel, a blade shining bright green swept in.

‘That’s… Soul Blade!’

The Soul Blade I had only ever heard of—I now witnessed with my own eyes.

A Grandmaster’s exclusive domain: the Soul Blade. In its presence, my Aura Blade trembled, on the verge of scattering apart.

What barely held it together was the ancient Sword Energy flickering along Banroa’s blade.

Chaaaang—!

The moment steel met steel, a strange resonance burst forth.

An immense power echoed between sword and sword—no, between Aura and Aura.

My Aura Blade wavered yet did not break.

Cain’s Soul Blade was endlessly solid, vibrating in a thin, sharp line.

Two powers collided head-on, neither giving an inch.

Cain furrowed his brow.

For the first time, emotion flickered in his eyes.

“…What? How could mere Aura Blade stand against Soul Blade?”

His voice, just slightly heated.

I offered no reply—only watched.

‘Yes, so this is it. Soul Blade.’

It was strong.

Undeniably.

It warped and scattered the surrounding Aura, leaving those beneath Grandmaster utterly helpless before it.

If not for the ancient Sword Energy, I too would have been overpowered.

But—

‘Surely, this isn’t all, is it?’

The Grandmaster, whose name rang with unmatched prestige.

Of whom, even across the entire world, there were said to be no more than ten.

Thump.

My heart pounded.

I was too eager—too curious to witness his true skill.

Tip: Tap/click the left or right side of the screen to go to previous/next chapter.