Chapter 194

〈 Chapter 195 〉 Karkel (2)

*

“Run away! I’ll be fine, just survive!”

Gwen’s voice echoed from afar.

But it was already too late.

I didn’t want to run in the first place.

So I answered.

“No way.”

Then I heard Karkel’s laughter.

“Haha, that’s the spirit.”

His voice echoed as if resonating within his gas mask.

“She may say that now, but she kept mumbling while under the gas, saying she had made a promise with you.”

At that moment, inexplicable rage surged within me.

Of course, Karkel was just following the High Priest’s orders to detain Gwen; he hadn’t done anything wrong.

Yet still, I couldn’t suppress my anger.

“Good, I like those eyes.”

Karkel seemed pleased with me and unsheathed his sword as well.

Clang.

The sword clicked into place in his hand.

It was a firm and solid connection, like a machine mounting to another machine.

And that description was spot on.

‘Because he’s a cyborg.’

He didn’t have a weapon-type relic.

No, if we’re saying his whole body is a weapon, then maybe that’s not entirely true.

That meant his entire body, specifically his mechanical limbs, were his relic.

‘5-star relic, Machina Membrorum.’

The name of the mechanical arms and legs created in collaboration with the first Water Sage and the God of Water Mist.

‘And their capabilities…’

Was proven by his status as a Saint-level Hero.

Sure, his skills were impressive, but a Saint-level Hero couldn’t be reached solely through ability.

Still, I had to fight him.

“Shall we get started?”

“Yes, let’s.”

As I nodded in response, the duel began.

Proving this, steam burst from the exhaust of his gas mask.

At the same time…

Boom!

The cylinder on his leg detonated, smashing into the ground.

He reached me in an instant.

But I wasn’t just standing there dumbfounded either.

‘Albert!’

­Yes!

In that moment, Albert spread a barrier around me.

Karkel’s speed slowed as he stepped into that realm.

Then came Libero’s swordsmanship.

Using Albert, I managed to deflect Karkel’s sword somehow.

But Karkel immediately fired the cylinder in his arm and twisted his sword.

His movements were incredibly fast.

He was moving rapidly even in Albert’s barrier, countering Libero’s sword techniques as if they were nothing.

The speed he displayed could easily surpass many High-ranking Heroes.

“Urk!”

In the end, I was only focusing on deflecting his relentless attacks.

I didn’t want to imagine what would happen if I directly blocked one of his powerful strikes.

“Not bad.”

Karkel seemed to have the leisure to chat.

“Your speed falls short of a typical High-ranking Hero. And yet you keep up with me… you are indeed special.”

Special or not, I had no luxury of responding right now.

“But this level of specialness is not enough.”

At the moment I deflected his sword again…

Boom!

An explosion erupted from his arm.

Simultaneously, his sword twisted backward in an unnatural motion that seemed impossible for a normal human.

I had no choice but to block it, sending me flying backward from the impact.

‘Wind’s Power!’

Even while flying, I attempted to regain my balance using the Wind’s Power.

No, I was determined to regain it.

“Not enough.”

Karkel had already closed in on me while I was airborne.

‘Damn…’

From a distance, I could hear Sara, Luel, and Miss Gwen screaming.

Cough.

His fist struck my solar plexus.

Before I could even feel the pain, I was hurtling through the air.

It was Lucy who caught me, having used physical enhancement.

Luel was also nearby.

“Allen!”

She rushed over, placing a hand on my back, trying to catch her breath.

Yet I had to pry her hands away.

“It’s not… over yet.”

Getting help here could disqualify me from this one-on-one duel.

And I still hadn’t utilized my hidden card, the Rose Sword.

Indeed…

‘I have to keep him off guard a bit longer.’

Just before getting hit in the solar plexus, I had considered using it.

But his stance was still too perfect.

With that posture, even if I drew the Rose Sword, he could simply dodge it.

So not yet.

“But Allen, I think your ribs are…”

I absentmindedly pulled a potion from my inventory.

That should provide a temporary fix.

But at that moment, I felt an unsettling sensation.

‘Karkel?’

He was just standing there where he had sent me flying from.

It was an odd situation.

With his speed, he could have come back to finish me off.

‘Why isn’t he doing that?’

He hadn’t shown any signs of letting his guard down during our fight.

Yet here he was, waiting for me.

Then his voice reached me.

“Why are you hesitating? Shouldn’t you be healing quickly?”

“What?”

“I clearly stated that I wanted to fight you at your full strength. You haven’t given it yet, have you?”

I didn’t understand what he meant.

What I just did was certainly my power if we exclude the Rose Sword.

Was he hoping for Albert to overload as well?

­If Master needs it, I’m okay.

Just kidding.

That would never happen.

I never even considered that by doing that, I would defeat Karkel.

‘But he doesn’t know I can use the Rose Sword, right?’

I wasn’t sure.

Maybe he had sensed I was hiding something.

But the confidence he displayed suggested he saw even that as trivial.

‘There’s still a chance.’

He was right.

I hadn’t gone all out yet.

My last card, the Rose Sword.

Of course, that wouldn’t guarantee a win, but it was worth a shot.

“Luel, please heal me.”

The fresh fracture healed relatively quickly.

Once I finished healing, I raised Albert again.

“Now, let’s go again.”

“Alright, you seem to have something more up your sleeve.”

Karkel swung his sword again, clearly satisfied.

The duel resumed without delay.

So I quickly dashed toward him, slashing my sword.

Libero’s swordsmanship wasn’t just about transcending time; it could traverse space.

However…

“Hmm?”

He seemed to sense something off and leapt away to avoid my invisible strike.

“Oho…”

Karkel marveled at me.

I unleashed Libero’s long-range sword strikes at him, but he kept dodging or blocking them consistently.

It was evident that he hadn’t become a Saint-level Hero merely because of his relic.

‘It’s fine.’

I hadn’t intended to defeat him with this.

I was just trying to keep him at bay.

As long as I kept this up…

“Is this really it?”

He couldn’t hold back any longer and dashed toward me.

Boom!

Again, that thunderous explosion as he came charging.

I extended a barrier using Albert.

And…

‘I predict the path of his strikes.’

Using the explosion from the cylinder, his movements were nearly impossible to follow with the naked eye.

Yet his movements obviously had weaknesses.

‘His movements are too linear.’

Thus, predicting them was feasible.

Crunch!

His sword sparked, glancing off Albert.

I could deflect it much more stably than before.

But the problem was…

Boom!

With an explosion, his sword twisted back in the opposite direction.

That was a pattern I had already struggled against.

“Urk!”

Of course, I had anticipated that to some degree and was prepared, giving myself some distance.

But he simultaneously triggered the cylinder in his leg and chased after me.

‘But it’s still linear!’

Following his movements was impossible, but predicting them was possible.

I swung my sword mid-air.

At first glance, it seemed impossible to block Karkel’s attack at that angle, yet Libero’s swordsmanship allowed me to do so.

Clang!

A strike from a completely different angle deflected Karkel’s sword.

Thanks to that, his powerful swing just barely missed me.

‘This is it!’

I sensed it.

This was his most vulnerable position yet.

Convinced of that, I drew my trump card from my inventory.

‘The Rose Sword.’

I was done making preparations.

I released Albert into the air, gripping the sword with both hands.

The great swordsmanship skill inherited from Lucy.

Since it was still a sword, combining it with Libero’s sword techniques was already complete.

Now all that was left was to activate the Rose Sword one more time.

‘I can only swing it a few times.’

If I swung more than that, my body would turn to ashes and vanish.

I had taken critical damage even just activating it to draw the sword earlier.

But…

‘A few times will be enough.’

In fact, I intended to settle this one decisive strike now.

‘Transcend.’

The taste of blood lingered in my mouth.

I saw Gwen in the distance, wide-eyed, looking at me and the Rose Sword.

‘I’ll save you soon.’

I activated the Rose Sword.

Flash.

The moment it blazed to life, my mind spun.

In an instant, everything before my eyes went white, and I felt a wave of nausea wash over me.

But I had to hold it together.

While the recoil from the Rose Sword had once knocked me out in the control room, I absolutely couldn’t afford to lose consciousness here.

“Urkh!”

I gritted my teeth, forcing myself to stay conscious as I commanded the Rose Sword.

‘Rose Sword, Bloom.’

Whoosh!

Then, a massive flame erupted from the sword.

The flames seemed to take the form of a rose blooming widely.

Huff…

My entire body felt boiling hot.

Not merely burning; it felt as if I was on the verge of melting down completely.

Yet I could still manage to swing it once.

I swung the sword down toward Karkel, saying,

“Is this enough to satisfy you?”

The translucent glass of Karkel’s gas mask shimmered with red flames.

The overwhelming flame blossomed down upon him.

“Karkel!”

But at that moment.

Boom!

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Thunderous explosions echoed as the massive flames descended, one after the other.

Simultaneously, I could see afterimages in my vision.

Karkel’s afterimage evaded my strike, repeatedly firing the cylinders in his limbs.

And he began to close in on me once again as I was propelled backward by the recoil of my strike.

“Is this how you intended to oppose the High Priest?”

His voice sounded disappointed.

“Just a weak insect unaware of its own life threatening its own survival.”

He gathered his hands and thrust them into my back.

“This is where it ends.”

My body, lifted from the recoil, began to plummet.

Between the rebound from the Rose Sword and Karkel’s strike just now, I could barely move.

‘Is it over?’

I had used everything I had.

Showed everything I could.

There was nothing else I could do.

‘Is it really over…’

In that moment, I noticed Gwen below struggling to break free from her bindings.

‘So this is the end…’

It was indeed the end.

I’d always been standing at the edge.

But I had always pushed forward alongside that edge.

‘The end of swordsmanship lies in will.’

What I inherited from Libero wasn’t just swordsmanship.

I confirmed that I still held the sword tightly in my hand.

Thinking back to how I used to drop the sword with just a moment of confusion, it was evident I had grown a lot.

‘Not yet…!’

Through the translucent glass of Karkel’s helmet, I now saw a look of astonishment reflected.

*