Heavy sword strikes pour down like a landslide.
A landslide of a collapsing stone mountain.
Large boulders fall, pounding against the body.
I’m barely holding on with a broken sword.
I can feel my limits approaching.
“I feel like it’s going to break…”
Both my body and the sword.
I’ve avoided fatal wounds.
Not even a scratch.
But the damage keeps piling up on my defensively battered body.
Though my temperament has its flaws, you can’t ignore this guy’s skills. Definitely.
“Well, being a royal knight isn’t something anyone can do.”
I’ve barely kept my life while dodging and deflecting.
I squeeze every drop of mana out of my body.
As I enhance my physique, I focus on my weapon.
A technique that lets me wield a sword even without a sword.
That was what I hoped for most during sparring with Gawain.
But it’s not going to be easy.
Right now, my only concern is dodging Hazle’s attacks.
Even when trying to close the distance, it’s tough to deflect that sword with this broken blade.
Moreover, the instant the distance closes, Hazle always slips away.
“Just once…!”
In that moment.
Hazle’s sword lunged at me swiftly.
I hastily blocked with my sword.
Slam—!
Even the broken blade shattered.
Rolling back, I avoided further injury, but all that remains in my hand is the handle.
I’ve lost the weapon’s functionality.
Hazle didn’t wait for me.
Judging it as a golden opportunity, he charges in.
A thrust filled with confidence.
I’ve faced this move countless times in fights with him.
Hazle’s finishing move.
There’s nothing left to block or dodge.
It’s too late to escape.
Calmly, I narrow my eyes at my opponent and start thinking.
There’s no clear breakthrough.
In this desperate situation, an unexpected thought rushes in.
“Is Eliya safe…?”
Here I am, worrying about others when I’m in danger.
It feels strange.
I should be in a rush, yet I feel so relaxed.
Time feels like it’s flowing slowly.
I can feel every detail of those fleeting seconds.
I recall something Gawain once said.
“Maximized senses read time in detail and swiftly. It feels like an entirely different second from what ordinary people experience. That’s when we say someone has reached a ‘realm.’”
A certain realm.
A critical point.
He explained that fights among skilled individuals are often short with few moves and not flashy at all.
In a single second, movements of shoulders, feet, and gazes carry numerous potential outcomes.
Therefore, only the fastest, simplest fundamentals remain.
“Right now, I…”
I feel like I can do anything.
In close combat, I could win with grappling techniques.
But without a sword, I can’t even reach that close range.
That’s how it should be.
Yet, it seems possible.
No, I’m convinced that even that exchange won’t be necessary.
I grip the sword.
What should be regarded as a sword, now simply the handle without a blade.
I channel my entire mana into it.
Once you go beyond the level of enhancing your body, you can strengthen the object in your hand.
It’s a level I reached during my fight with Salaman.
And beyond that, you can project mana outside your body.
That’s the blade aura.
A form where mana coats the sword.
Then, there’s a step beyond that.
“Even without a sword, I can use one…”
Mana flows.
It travels beyond my hand, along the handle, and dwells where the broken blade once was.
“It’s the sword aura itself.”
The blade forged from mana glows.
A sword glowing ivory.
With a gentle blend of yellow and blue, it’s reminiscent of the moon.
The thin crescent moon.
Hazle’s sword is thrusting toward me.
It’s almost upon me.
I can see his expression changing slowly.
Panic, surprise, confusion.
I simply…
Slice.
A wicked sound, like that of a refreshing breeze.
“…….”
A brief silence.
Clang, and.
The sword dropped.
Hazle’s two-handed sword.
The split blade rolled with a clattering noise.
Then, Hazle sank to his knees.
Like a precise machine, his armor was neatly severed in a straight line.
Blood bursts from his body and mouth.
Hazle murmured something.
His weakened voice dissipates distant.
“Ah, Johan…”
Hazle no longer spoke.
Before I knew it, all that remained in my hand was that shabby handle.
Channeling mana externally brought pain back to my body.
But there’s no time to feel pain.
The barrier is still intact.
Not budging even if I pound on it with my fist.
“Eliya…!”
What’s happening outside now?
Did Eliya win?
In that moment, crack! A fissure formed in the barrier.
I instinctively stepped back.
“What’s going on…? When did my strength get this great? How far am I supposed to grow…?”
No, that doesn’t make sense.
This shouldn’t be something that can break like this!
Finally, the barrier shattered.
Someone’s figure emerged.
*
The royal wizard order ultimately gave up any information.
Since this was an expected result, Eliya felt no regret.
After finishing the interrogation, she looked at the barrier.
The misty, opaque barrier was a thick fog.
It even blocked sound.
Judas is in there.
Is he safe?
That thought consumed her.
It was also the reason she rushed the interrogation.
Locked in her anxiety, she focused solely on the barrier.
This situation felt uncomfortable.
The possibility of someone close to her dying again.
It reminded her of her mother who died when she was young.
Judas can’t lose.
She was certain of it.
Eliya had seen Judas and Hazle fight from a distance before, so she knew he had been holding back against Hazle.
But her unease grew.
Shouldn’t he have appeared by now, unharmed?
She struggled to maintain her composure while analyzing the barrier.
A reverse field that blocks magic.
A key technique for combating wizards.
Throughout history, no wizard has ever managed to dismantle this reverse field.
“But, maybe I can.”
Eliya had meticulously grounded her position as a wizard over the past five years.
And she realized her talent was beyond the term genius.
Today, she felt that again.
She defeated three royal wizards like brushing dust off.
She could have finished them even faster.
The master of the magic tower commented on her talent like this.
“A reincarnation from the mythic age.”
That public assessment began from the master of the magic tower.
Back then Eliya tilted her head.
Is it really like that? To that extent?
Now she knows.
Her talent truly is that profound.
She touched the barrier.
A gentle resistance nudged at her body.
If she pushed harder, the resistance would increase.
Eliya pondered.
What does it mean to be a wizard?
Not only wizards wield mana.
A trained warrior can enhance their body with mana.
Just like Judas.
However, just because one can use mana doesn’t mean they can cast magic.
That difference hasn’t been verified yet.
But there is a common description among wizards when they express magic.
“Concretization of abstract thought.”
Thus, magic begins at the stage of imagination before mana is actualized.
Transforming abstractions into structural imaginations that match complex formulas and systems.
That is magic.
When she touched this barrier, her thoughts became entwined.
The rules became tangled.
Like the gears of a clock failing to turn.
She rearranges that order.
Simultaneously, she finds the scattered essentials.
It’s an impossible task.
Many wizards have challenged this reverse field.
None succeeded.
Currently, the industry even gave up on it.
Eliya likely wouldn’t have paid close attention either if Judas wasn’t within.
The concentration didn’t last long.
“…Done.”
As she finished rearranging, she discovered the essence of the reverse field.
She let mana flow from her fingertips as she pricked it.
Then, crack! A fissure appeared in the barrier.
The cracks spread like spider webs.
The hemispheric barrier began to crumble from the top.
Eliya took a step back to observe the scene.
The disintegrating barrier resembled an egg.
She had broken the barrier that completely blocked magic.
That historic achievement didn’t resonate with her.
There was no time to feel joy or realization.
She solely thought of the person within.
Clenching her fist tight, she waited.
What if…
If only…
Judas….
Suddenly, beyond the crumbling barrier, Judas’s face appeared first.
Her vision tightened.
Only Judas’s figure came into view.
He was looking at her.
Those always clear golden eyes.
He smiles.
Why is he smiling?
Is it relief in his survival?
Why relief?
Because he’s a knight.
Right, it’s just that simple.
She knows it all. Yet, seeing him smile makes her heart race…
Simultaneously, she also felt relieved.
It was a contradictory emotion.
She thought she knew Judas would win, so why was she relieved to see him safe?
What on earth…
“Miss!”
Judas called out to her while approaching.
“Are you alright?”
Eliya gazed at him dumbfounded as he got closer.
Her fist clenched firmly against her chest.
Her heart raced.
“Miss? Are you alright? Are you hurt…?”
Eliya didn’t want to show her face.
So she instinctively threw herself into his arms to embrace him.
But…
“Ow!”
She bumped her forehead against his hard armor.
Of all times, Judas had donned his full armor.
As Eliya rubbed her sore forehead, she said with a sulky expression.
“Take that off quickly.”
“…Huh?”
“I said take it off.”
“…….”
Judas, embarrassed, began to clumsily remove his armor.
Once he loosened the belts securing his sides and shoulders, the pieces split apart.
He tossed aside the chainmail he wore beneath.
‘Is she trying to embrace me…? I might smell like sweat…’
Unlike his rigid demeanor, Eliya didn’t care.
As soon as his upper body was revealed, safe without armor, she dove into him.
His warm body heat seemed to melt her heart.
She could hear his heart beating in her ear.
The fiery sensations threatened to erupt from using magic all this time cool.
Only then did Eliya feel completely at ease.
Without realizing it, a smile crept onto her face.
“Hmm… Are you not hurt?”
Now calm like her usual self, Eliya nodded in his embrace.
“Yeah. What about you?”
“…Huh?”
Judas, taken aback, answered in disbelief.
It wasn’t the first time such a thing happened.
Eliya asking about his well-being in return.
Yet every time it happened, he couldn’t handle it.
It felt strange.
Meanwhile, Eliya was puzzled.
There’s no way she misheard that brief response.
Has he hit his head or something?
“Are you alright or not?”
She said, carefully examining Judas.
No visible wounds were evident.
He might be injured inside, but…
“…Yeah. Not perfectly fine, but I’m okay.”
“Hmm.”
Eliya hugged around his waist.
As if it was a natural and familiar action.
While Judas fumbled, Eliya checked his mana circuit.
She couldn’t inspect another person’s circuit this closely.
Only Judas.
“Your mana condition is a mess.”
To put it metaphorically, his mana circuit was like a dried-up well, tightly twisted.
It seemed like an intense battle had taken place inside.
She looked towards the spot where the barrier had been.
Hazle was down.
Proof that Judas had won.
And behind him, the holy relics.
Until the sun symbol was held up.
That was another piece of evidence…
In that moment, Judas pulled her shoulder closer.
Eliya lifted her gaze.
Judas was looking at her.
His expression was somewhat concentrated yet dazed at the same time.
“…….”
Eliya felt flustered for the first time in a while.
Judas touching her first was a first.
A strange and new reaction.
Both of them felt an inexplicable chill down the spine.
She tried to analyze the reason, but Judas quickly withdrew his hand.
“…Ah! I, I’m so sorry….”
He seemed to want to retreat far away, but couldn’t since Eliya was holding onto him.
‘Have I lost my mind…! What’s going on!’
She felt something slipping away from where her bodies just touched.
She wanted to understand him better and accidentally embraced Eliya tighter.
“Y-you asked if I was okay, right? Yeah, um, I’m fine. Yes… no, uh. I’m sorry…. I made a mistake….”
Sputtering.
Eliya found him amusing yet couldn’t look directly at him.
Her face was flushed.
She pulled her scarf up to her nose, trying to hide her rising smile.
“…Yeah.”
Not even knowing what her ‘yeah’ was in response to.
All she thought about was now would finally formalize her position as a knight, so she should get him a sword or something.
No, along with armor and a shield.
Good ones from the Bevel family’s storage or the Sun Temple Relic Storage.
Judas looked at her trying to hide her face.
Her ears revealed from her black hair were red.
He felt puzzled, staring hard at her. Then Eliya glanced over at him.
In a calm voice, she said.
“By the way…”
“Uh?”
“You called me ‘Eliya’ earlier, right?”
“…….”
Judas avoided her gaze and swallowed hard.
Cold sweat began to bead on his back.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.
