Arc 9: Chapter 28 - "A Passage of Legend"

Arc 9 -『Light of the Nameless Star』
Chapter 28 -『A Passage of Legend』

――It was precisely a passage from a legendary battle.

「――――」

The dual swords of the 『Sword Demon』 danced, while the dragon claws of the 『Divine Dragon』 whipped up a tempest.
Born as the supreme being of all life, the dragon, and among them, possessing exceptional abilities, the 『Divine Dragon』 had claws, fangs, and scales that could be described as natural divine artifacts.
Every time these artifacts, imbued with immense power, were wielded, the wind screamed in agony, the sky twisted, and the world seemed to heat up. Even a single direct hit would make it difficult to continue the battle.

The 『Sword Demon』 had a method to prevent these terrifying divine artifacts from being wielded to their full extent.
The reason the 『Divine Dragon』 appeared before the 『Sword Demon』 was due to the danger faced by a girl with the same characteristics as the lineage of the 『Lion King』. The girl was in a room where the battle had begun, watching intently without even holding down her hair, which was being blown by the swirling winds.

Shielding the girl behind him, the 『Sword Demon』 positioned himself so that the destruction caused by the 『Divine Dragon』 would not engulf her.
By doing so, the 『Divine Dragon』, who for some reason feared the girl getting hurt, could not unleash its full power, and the approaching footsteps of the death zone towards the 『Sword Demon』 could be somewhat mitigated.
Therefore――,

「――――」

The 『Sword Demon』 stepped away from shielding the girl, closing the distance to the death zone himself.
Exposing himself to the raging storm of destruction and annihilation, he clutched the two steel blades in his hands as lifelines, throwing himself towards the precipice of a lifeless end if he misstepped.

Using the battlefield to his advantage, entangling the opponent's emotions as a strategy, he could inch towards victory.
However, it was inelegant. Before inelegance, it was utterly disrespectful, unprofitable, and useless.――What value is there in a victory stolen by filling the gap of insufficient swordsmanship with mere tactics and craft at this moment?

――The 『Sword Demon』 was also a man who lived on the battlefield.
He knew the weight of the blood splatter that clung to his soul, that battles for survival, histories only told by the victors and survivors, and defeats and deaths that allowed no excuses existed.
However, this moment was different.――No, from here on, in all battles where the 『Sword Demon』 grips his sword and confronts someone with that steel, there is no meaning in a victory that is taken.

He must overpower the opponent he most needs to defeat with swordsmanship.
In that journey, the 『Sword Demon』 has no time to spend on detours. If he is to make this aging, only deteriorating body the same steel as before, he must continue to immerse his soul in scorching heat.

「――――」

The sword wind raged, and the severed, slashed dragon claws danced in the air. It was narrow. Too narrow for wielding a sword or for the 『Divine Dragon』 to fully utilize its tail and fangs. The heels of the 『Sword Demon』 exploded, his sword light accelerating past the wind and sound, piercing the chest of the 『Divine Dragon』, causing the space to burst.

The hardness of dragon scales is greatly influenced by the total amount of mana each individual possesses.
The more powerful and long-lived the dragon, the more its toughness and resilience increase, and for the supreme 『Divine Dragon』, its dragon scales surpassed even the hardness of diamonds.
Against those diamond-like dragon scales, the 『Sword Demon』 relentlessly wielded, struck, slashed, and pierced with steel. Even so, the steel held firm――the dual swords 『Trias』, newly prepared by the 『Sword Demon』 to achieve his goal, were masterpieces crafted by the same lineage of swordsmiths who forged the renowned swords of the 『Astrea』.
The hilt fit comfortably in his hand, the weight became one with his body, and the sword light clashed with the diamond, yet remained unbroken――,

「――――」

The relentless assault of the 『Sword Demon』 is met with equal ferocity by the 『Divine Dragon』, who refuses to be overwhelmed. Even if the heart within is not its original, by unleashing the full potential of its dragon shell, renowned as the strongest on earth, the 『Divine Dragon』 effortlessly manifests cataclysmic power. This is undoubtedly the right granted to the 『Divine Dragon』 by Od Lagna, to reshape the world at will, affix favorable outcomes to reality, and project them as desired.

A roar tears through the sky, and dragon claws rend the earth. The dragon scales deflect the full-force attacks of the 『Sword Demon』 a hundred times over, and the dragon aura emanating from its entire body dyes the air of the Royal Capital in the color of the 『Divine Dragon』. The tail swings, striking the aged 『Sword Demon』 head-on. — No, the 『Sword Demon』 thrusts the sword tip into the tail, evading it, and swiftly ascends, closing in on the throat. A countering roar. Light is cleaved from the front, a flash of the blade races forward. Blocked by the dragon scales on the shoulder, a momentary reset — the clash resumes.

"――――"

The wings unfurl into blades, and the sword storm of the gale stirred by the 『Divine Dragon』 slices through the Royal Capital. Weaving through the wind, the trail of the 『Sword Demon』, marked by a ribbon of blood, aligns with the path of death traced by the tail. A resounding crash echoes as the body of the 『Sword Demon』 is violently blown backward. A direct hit — no, seeing no escape, the 『Sword Demon』 aligns with the tail's rotation, relaxing every joint from fingertips to ankles, knees, hips, waist, ribs, shoulders, neck, and head, dissipating the fatal impact throughout the body, flying, flying, flying.

Piercing through one, two, three buildings, the 『Sword Demon』 plants the sword into the ground and raises his head. His fighting spirit remains unshaken. At that moment, the breath of the 『Divine Dragon』 approaches as a white light.

"――――"

With a flash of the sword, the 『Sword Demon』 splits the tip of the breath with a sword flash, twisting his body into the narrow gap created, avoiding being scorched by the light, and waits in the air. There, the jaws of the 『Divine Dragon』 flap its wings and mercilessly snap at the 『Sword Demon』.

The dragon fangs, boasting greater strength and sharpness than the dragon claws, aim to tear apart the flesh of the 『Sword Demon』. The 『Sword Demon』 precisely aligns the tips of both swords to the jaws, using them as a brace to prevent the jaws from closing. Had the sword tips been directed at the upper and lower jaws, the closed jaws would have crushed his life.

The instinct to reject 'death' — no, the greed to seize victory, keeps life connected. With the 『Sword Demon』 caught in the unclosed jaws, the 『Divine Dragon』 abandons the lethal bite of the dragon fangs — a fierce tongue click from the dragon, the explosion of that space strikes the entire body of the 『Sword Demon』 head-on.

"――――"

Blood spurts from both ears, ruptured eardrums, and the inner ear's semicircular canals tremble. Gritting his teeth, the 『Sword Demon』 stands firm, but the extending dragon tongue strikes, casting him unguarded outside the jaws — into the high skies above the Royal Capital.

While captured by the jaws, the 『Sword Demon』, carried into the sky by the flapping 『Divine Dragon』, is tossed by the winds of free fall, a height so dizzying that the faint-hearted might lose consciousness just by looking down, plummeting straight downwards.

If he falls like this, even the 『Sword Demon』 won't escape unscathed. This is the decisive difference between a human living on the ground and a dragon permitted to dominate the skies with its massive body —,

"――――"

Yet, even in this seemingly decisive situation, the 『Divine Dragon』 does not leave the 『Sword Demon』 unattended. Preparing a breath by inflating the dragon's lungs, if released upon the Royal Capital below, it would cause immense damage, breaking the attempt to avoid killing — no, below, people have been evacuated from the noble district. Someone who preemptively set this as the battlefield ensured that those who might be caught up were evacuated, constructing the battlefield. To that skill, admiration, and gratitude.

"――――"

The unleashed breath was larger and hotter than before, turning into scorching heat as it approached the 『Sword Demon』. Without wings or any means to defy gravity, the 『Sword Demon』 could do nothing but take the direct hit without even being able to face the white light head-on—at that moment, the 『Sword Demon』 spun in mid-air, and from below, a foothold rushed to meet him.

「――――」

Before ascending into the sky, a tall clock tower, one of the buildings the 『Sword Demon』 had pierced through, intervened in the path of the falling old swordsman, functioning as a foothold for the twisting 『Sword Demon』. The 『Sword Demon』 bent his knees, landed on the tower, drew his twin swords, and gazed at the sky. Through the breath, the gaze of the 『Sword Demon』 and the 『Divine Dragon』 intersected, and in an instant, a beautiful sword flash and white light collided head-on.

「――――」

The surface of the water burst, and a sound like thin glass shattering echoed in succession as the white light was cleaved from within. It was the breath of the 『Divine Dragon』. It possessed the power and right to swallow many things in collision, peel away their surface, and lay bare the profound. Nevertheless, ignoring these as it pleased, the sword strike unleashed by the 『Sword Demon』 split the light.

――A truly pure sword flash, with no room for anything evil to intermingle, beautifully severed everything.

「――――」

The severed breath spread radially across the ground, dismantling the noble district of the Royal Capital flatly. The tower carrying the 『Sword Demon』 and the crimson mansion protected by the 『Divine Dragon』 were the only ones spared direct damage, but everything else bore witness to the immense power of the dragon. The 『Sword Demon』 covered in white soot from the aftermath of the white light leapt from the collapsing tower, while the 『Divine Dragon』 flapped its wings, still emitting hostility from the vast sky, their gazes crossing between sky and ground. And then—,

「――――」

The inexhaustible sword energy and the overwhelming dragon pressure clashed once more, causing everything living and non-living in the Royal Capital Lugnica to tremble.

△▼△▼△▼△

『Do you like flowers?』

In a world shrouded in white mist, the question of a beloved woman, backed by a field of yellow flowers, could be heard. As the world distorted under the dragon's aura, twisting his body against the oncoming lethal wind, Wilhelm swung the sword light held in both hands, and countless emotions surged through him.

『Have you come to like flowers?』

She was a beloved woman. At first sight, he was drawn to her, and the foolish man covered that inexplicable emotion. Yet, the relationship was not severed, and he indulged in that environment, fearing to cut through, immersing his heart and body in a terribly cowardly and sluggish time, neglecting time itself.

『Swinging a sword to protect someone, I think that's good.』

In his hometown engulfed in burning flames, the beautiful sword flash that saved Wilhelm, whose life was nearly taken. Without harboring the desire to wield a sword, yet loved by the sword-wielding woman, he denied the fact that she gave him a reason to wield a sword to the point of soul-burning, and countless angers filled Wilhelm.

Anger at weakness, at secrets, at his own inadequacy—anger, anger, anger. By cutting down, overpowering all that anger, and dedicating himself to imbuing every passion into the blade, he finally stood before her and gained the right to cross swords. Thus, he reclaimed the beloved woman from the detestable sword god and made her his own.

『Do you love me?』

――No, did he make her his own, or was he made hers? The correct answer is unknown. He was simply happy. He was fortunate. The greatest blessing he could receive began the moment he met Theresia and continued to fill Wilhelm until the moment it was lost.

――Theresia's 'death' is an undeniable tragedy. Without even exchanging proper farewell words, failing to convey the words that should have been said, Wilhelm was overwhelmed by grief and lamentation, overlooking many things in his despair and making mistakes. However, the days spent with Theresia were happiness for Wilhelm. Can it be concluded that the happy times, as soon as their last day together ended in tragedy, faded entirely as if they never existed and were ruined? Even if they temporarily lost their color, could one not wish for them to become vivid once more?

Decidedly, no.

To ensure that Theresia's 'death' and her 'life' did not end in tragedy, he pursued vengeance. And if wielding the sword for Theresia could restore color to those days, he could not stop hoping and struggling for the same faded scenes to regain their color.

The raging wind, the unleashed roar of the 'Divine Dragon.' Piercing the tip of the sword into the anger of the 'Dragon' that scorches the world white, cutting through and clearing the view beyond, he sees the regret that must still be cut down, even as it spews blood.

――A cloudy sky, an empty gravestone, unending sobs and voices of lament, words of prayer wishing for peace. In the center of those who gathered and shed tears for the beloved her, he cannot remember what he spoke, what he conveyed, or what words he chose so that Theresia's presence would be deeply engraved in them.

What he remembers is regret. Strong, overwhelming, indelible regret of Wilhelm. The foolish self who rejected and could not accept the words chosen for compassion and comfort by a child who could not yet understand reason, a child who could not be with the father and mother they should have been with. The faded sky of that moment, the earth, the faces of the people, himself, and the child――,

『――It's alright, Grandfather. When she passed away, Grandmother was not the 'Sword Saint.' So, the 'Sword Saint' has not lost.』

"……Stop it."

『Because the 'Sword Saint' must not lose. That's what Father said.』

"Please, stop it."

『So, even if you do not lament, the Astrea Family is safe, Grandfather.』

"Don't talk about such things here and now."

Repeated, powerless words of rejection. The words of comfort from a child who had determined what to believe. And then――,

『I am the next 'Sword Saint.' ――I was bestowed before Grandmother passed away.』

"――Stop it already! What do you want me to say! Don't make me say that because of you, Theresia… your grandmother died!!"

『――――』

"Don't make me say it……"

In the faded scene, everything else fades away, leaving only himself and the child. In that moment, Wilhelm steps forward, thrusting a sword into his immature and foolish self of that day.

Words unspoken do not reach the other party. Even if feelings are communicated, the thousand words, the ten thousand words that should have been spoken do not reach the other party. Similarly, words once spoken, in whatever form, inevitably reach the other party. What they take from it depends on the capacity of the recipient. But how foolish it is to blame the vessel when it overflows, unable to contain more than it can hold, when still incomplete.

The faded world, the face of the child from that day—Reinhard's face, cannot be recalled. It is not because it cannot be remembered, but because it could not be seen after uttering something that should not have been said. It is not that it cannot be remembered; it is unknown because it was not seen. Moreover, the words spoken may not be received by just one person.

"I heard you scolded the child at his mother's funeral. And yet, you want to meet Reinhard? A father who can't distinguish between what should and shouldn't be said has no right to apologize to that child."

"That child is mine and Luanna's... Saying he let his mother die or took away his blessing! That must be some mistake! I will... I will prove it!"

"It's not you, Father. It's me. —It's something I have to do."

Once words are spoken, they cannot be taken back. Wilhelm's abusive words towards Reinhard spread rapidly, and when they reached Heinkel, who had not attended the funeral, the opportunity for apology and explanation was lost. At the same time, the foolish rebuke from grandfather to grandson spread beyond the family, and more than the scandal, the fact of the inheritance of the 'Blessing of the Sword Saint' became widely known.

Heinkel never allowed Wilhelm to meet Reinhard. Reinhard avoided Wilhelm as Heinkel instructed, severing their interaction. Wilhelm, distanced by Heinkel and Reinhard, immersed himself in revenge alone.

The twisted relationship among the three was reconnected in the water gate city with Theresia's corpse soldiers, only to create another decisive rift. —If that were the end, it would be a tragedy.

However, Wilhelm, who chose not to end Theresia's 'death,' 'life,' and 'existence' in tragedy, also objected to concluding this relationship in tragedy. And he knew no way to voice his objection to the irresistible fate other than through the sword.

—Reinhard is the 'Sword Saint.' As long as he continues to bear that unwavering mission, the opportunity to exchange thoughts with Reinhard beyond the 'Sword Saint' and to color the faded scenery will not come.

Therefore, Wilhelm van Astrea—no, Wilhelm Trias, the one who takes the sword from the 'Sword Saint,' must let his life be driven by the sword's light.

△▼△▼△▼△

—Once again. It was indeed a passage of legend.

The battle between the 'Sword Demon' and the 'Divine Dragon,' despite various factors, became a seesaw struggle, balancing the honed steel swordsmanship against the innate power of the apex creature. The Royal Capital, the noble district that became the battlefield, was leveled, with collapsed buildings and destroyed roads attesting to the ferocity of the clash between beings in a realm unreachable by ordinary people.

In terms of body size, footing, and decisive clashes, the sword light and dragon energy were evenly matched. The battle between human and dragon, so rare that it might not be seen even after a hundred years in this era, was astonishingly the second dragon battle for the 'Sword Demon.' It can only be described as fate, with the great being that governs destiny continually providing the 'Sword Demon' with worthy adversaries, as he willingly stepped into the most dangerous battlefields in this world.

From the outset, this battle was overwhelmingly unfavorable for the 『Sword Demon』. The slashes of the dual swords wielded by the 『Sword Demon』 could not penetrate the sturdy dragon scales of the 『Divine Dragon』, while the dragon claws and fangs of the 『Divine Dragon』 could easily tear the life from the body of the 『Sword Demon』 with just a graze. The 『Sword Demon』 continued to evade these attacks with techniques that exhausted his very life force, but eventually, he would reach his limit. — Logically speaking, that was the case.

However, who could envision the blood-soaked, white-smudged, back-scorched 『Sword Demon』, swinging his sword until his last breath, succumbing to the claws of the 『Divine Dragon』? The fierce expression of the 『Sword Demon』, the dense sword aura that made one feel as if their life was being threatened just by being in its presence, the sword power that once brought down the 『Sword Saint』 in his prime, all denied the ordinary reality and inspired those who witnessed it with extraordinary hope and expectation.

— The 『Sword Saint』 is the sword of the Kingdom of Lugnica and the bearer of hope.

When that hope was defeated by the 『Sword Demon』, people were supposed to despair and look up to the sky. Since the 『Sword Saint』 was defeated, that would be the natural course. However, reality was different. Instead of lamenting the defeat and retirement of the 『Sword Saint』, everyone celebrated it. It was the birth of a new hope — a new expectation was placed on the 『Sword Demon』 who had defeated the 『Sword Saint』.

The 『Sword Demon』, who pursued only strength and honed himself to the sharpness of the steel he wielded. His straightforward and uncompromising way of being made many lift their heads, embrace hope, and expect a future.

Now, at this moment, facing the 『Divine Dragon』, it was impossible to envision a future where the 『Sword Demon』 was defeated. — People saw hope in the way of the 『Sword Demon』. As long as there was a desired view beyond the path his sword cut open, it was believed that it would surely be reached.

Therefore, the battle between the 『Sword Demon』 and the 『Divine Dragon』 reached a stalemate, with neither able to find a decisive blow, both focused on how they could surpass the other in this life-and-death struggle. — Thus, the outcome of the battle between these transcendents could not be determined between the 『Sword Demon』 and the 『Divine Dragon』.

"――――"
『――――』

In the center of the city turned battlefield, the gazes of the 『Sword Demon』 and the 『Divine Dragon』 intersected, and silence was exchanged. However, though the result was silence for both, the quality of that silence differed. One was patience, the other astonishment. Both were emotions worthy of silence, but what followed was different.

"Gu"

A faint groan, accompanied by a large amount of blood, spilled from the mouth of the 『Sword Demon』. Yet, still gripping his dual swords, the 『Sword Demon』 did not attempt to stop the flowing blood, instead looking down at his own body — and saw the blood-soaked tip of a sword protruding from his abdomen. A blade that had entered from his back pierced through the 『Sword Demon's』 torso, causing blood to flow. The 『Sword Demon』 knew well the sword that did this. — It was none other than his former beloved sword.

The name of that sword was 『Astrea』, and its current owner was —,

"――Heinkel"

Covered in rising blood bubbles, he wasn't sure if his murmur had become a clear sound. However, the trembling of the sword that pierced his body and the intent behind the act were conveyed. Turning around could tear his torso apart, so the 『Sword Demon』 gritted his teeth and held his ground. Behind him, gripping the hilt of the sword that stabbed the 『Sword Demon』 with both hands —,

"…With your methods, Luanna cannot be reclaimed."

"――――"

"You are not… my father. It has to be me. — I have to be the one to do it."

The voice was strained, mixed with a sob that seemed to claw at his chest. Listening to it, the pierced 『Sword Demon』 exhaled a long, deep breath and remembered.

During practice, I was sternly scolded by my wife for making our child cry, yet my child, holding back tears, would plead to continue. Looking back, I realize that from those days, there was no chance of winning once the tears started.

――That was 『A Passage of Legend』, the decisive interference in the ultimate showdown between man and dragon.