Chapter 47
Kraush, lying in his room with Bianca, fell into thought.
‘I never expected to have a duel with Charlotte.’
In his previous life, Kraush had never once fought against Charlotte.
That was to be expected.
From the moment Kraush was born, Charlotte had been blossoming with talent, making any comparison impossible.
So naturally, there had never been an opportunity for them to duel.
Neither Kraush nor Charlotte desired it; there was simply no reason for Charlotte to engage Kraush in battles.
Thus, ironically, today marked the first time Kraush would be facing her in combat.
‘Am I actually nervous right now?’
For some reason, cold sweat began to form on his hands.
He had spent his life feeling oppressed by Charlotte.
Perhaps that’s why the thought of fighting her made Kraush tense up.
‘Getting nervous over a duel is pretty funny.’
As he tried to wrap his hands around each other, he suddenly felt a soft touch.
Looking up, he found Bianca gently holding his hand.
“Kraush, your hands are sweaty,” she said with half-closed eyes.
Usually, Bianca would shy away from sweat, but today she held onto his hand quietly.
Watching her, Kraush felt his tension begin to melt away.
‘Right, I guess it’s just a little interest.’
Charlotte had always been a battle enthusiast.
She had dressed so provocatively at the Sanctuary of Stars that one could imagine she was inviting a fight.
The reason she suddenly took an interest in him was because he had defeated the slaughter hounds.
Meanwhile, Bianca, having fallen asleep while still holding Kraush’s hand, brought a smile to his face.
‘Was that just sleep talk?’
Since the ordeal with the slaughter hounds, Bianca’s recovery hadn’t been complete yet.
Seeing her sleeping more often lately, Kraush gently patted her head before getting up.
As he stepped outside, Aliod was waiting for him.
“Kraush.”
“It’s just a duel with my sister. Why are you so worried to come all this way?” Kraush replied.
Despite his words, Aliod’s expression wasn’t cheerful.
He was genuinely concerned for Kraush.
‘Yeah, this is what I expected.’
Having dealt with a few prodigies recently, it seemed Kraush had temporarily forgotten his place.
The real reason he was being called an idiot was none other than Charlotte.
‘It’s time to overcome this trauma.’
Kraush had no intention of becoming like Velokin.
Though it was a duel, he was determined to face it head-on.
‘I might not win, but I won’t back down!’
Kraush headed straight to the training ground.
Outside, the training area had mostly melted clean.
There stood Charlotte, all alone.
With her wooden sword pointed downwards, her hair flowed gently in the cold breeze, exuding a certain intimidating aura.
At that moment, her eyes slowly lifted.
With that, her blue eyes, so similar to Kraush’s, shone significantly.
“Little brother, you’re here. I thought you might run away. Well done.”
“If I ran away, you’d chase me to the ends of hell, right?”
“Knowing my personality, you deserve some extra points for that.”
She said this while slowly smiling.
“You must have several tricks up your sleeve?”
She hoped he wasn’t too quick on the uptake.
“I’m not going to make it easy. If you disappoint me, I’ll really give you a hard time.”
With that, Charlotte raised her wooden sword.
“Show me your strength.”
That was said with sincerity.
If he had been hiding something, Charlotte might use all her might to beat him down.
‘But I’m not planning on hiding anything.’
He knew Charlotte was not the kind of opponent one could outsmart.
Above all, this was Charlotte.
‘She wouldn’t go around spreading my secrets, now would she? No need to hide anything.’
From the start, she had no friends.
A lion had no reason to make friends among a pack of foxes.
“Am I using a real sword?”
“Of course, this is a duel to see your skills.”
To Charlotte, a wooden sword posed no disadvantage.
Taking a deep breath, Kraush settled into position.
“Understood.”
“Then let’s begin.”
Charlotte stood defenseless, her wooden sword hanging down.
Kraush merely stared at her.
One minute, two minutes, three minutes.
As three minutes passed, Charlotte’s expression slightly faltered.
“Aren’t you going to attack?”
Kraush remained silent, just watching Charlotte.
He didn’t even draw his sword.
Charlotte tapped her wooden sword against the ground with a soft thud.
The blatant bait was all too apparent.
Charlotte stifled a laugh.
‘Cunning little brother.’
There was no reason for Kraush to take the initiative.
It was Charlotte who had requested the duel, not him.
“I guess I’ll take the first move.”
As those words left her mouth, Charlotte moved with a blur.
In an instant, her sword sliced through the air, aiming straight for Kraush’s neck.
She had decided to take the initiative.
But she had no plans to go easy on him.
The strike aimed to finish him off in one blow.
Whizz!
Kraush had been waiting for this moment.
Determined, he pressed down the sword’s spirit.
Szzzzzz!
The very instant Charlotte thrust her sword forward, the heat from his body ignited the energy of world erosion, pushing his physical limits.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Kraush activated the Flame Erosion.
In that instant, his vision accelerated.
His instincts, honed to their limits, barely detected Charlotte’s wooden sword.
‘One second.’
At the same moment, within Kraush’s sheath.
The flames of erosion merged with the chaotic energy swirling from the sword’s spirit.
The dark flames rapidly engulfed the inside of the sheath, and with an explosive force, they broke through limits.
At that moment, as the Flame Erosion seeped into the sheath, it transformed into a massive explosion.
Fwoosh!
With a quick burst of flame, Kraush unsheathed his sword.
Flame Erosion (滅火浸蝕)
First Form (一式)
Flame slash (滅火抜剣)
BANG!
Kraush’s blade soared toward Charlotte’s sword, creating a fierce storm of flames.
However, the true spectacle lay elsewhere.
At the center of the noise, Kraush’s sword pierced Charlotte’s wooden sword, splintering it apart.
With concentrated energy and the addition of Flame Erosion, it was a strike aimed at killing from the start.
Had he channeled his energy properly to truly kill her, things might have gone differently.
After all, this was a duel.
So, Charlotte’s wooden sword, lacking full energy, began to shatter mercilessly against Kraush’s assault.
Realizing this, Charlotte’s eyes widened slightly.
She figured out what Kraush was aiming for.
CRACK!
At that moment, she twisted her sword’s trajectory, managing to escape from Kraush’s blade before it completely disintegrated.
CRASH!
Charlotte’s unleashed energy flew past her, crashing against the training ground wall.
The way she changed the flow of energy simply by maneuvering her sword was a masterstroke.
Simultaneously, her expression shifted.
She was now taking this seriously.
Feeling the adrenaline from Kraush’s full-power strike brought her a thrill.
Yet, there was one thing she didn’t realize.
Even though Charlotte had twisted her sword’s path, Kraush’s blade showed no signs of stopping.
‘Two seconds.’
At that moment, Kraush dove into a focused state.
In the depths of his mind, a single drop of water rippled across a lake.
It awakened and surged through Kraush, igniting.
On the blade he was wielding, a storm of energy spiraled upward to meet the Flame Erosion.
With dazzling black flames igniting, Kraush’s eyes glowed red.
One Sword (一劍)
And then, a storm raged in the training ground.
The blow unleashed from Kraush’s sword tore through the area as it aimed straight for Charlotte.
After the initial strike came the follow-up.
Kraush had pushed his body to its limits, executing two consecutive finishing moves.
To meet that mighty strike, Charlotte attempted to deflect it with her half-destroyed wooden sword.
The sword that had just altered its trajectory flew back at an extraordinary speed.
CRACK!
At that moment, as the dark flames surrounded the first strike, they collided with Charlotte’s still-standing wooden sword.
The Crimson Garden-empowered blade had sent the first strike crashing through.
Yet, even though it was Charlotte’s wooden sword, it couldn’t withstand the force and was torn to shreds.
The tempest unleashed from the first strike devastated everything around it.
But the ground beneath Charlotte’s feet remained untouched.
As the storm of energy completed its destruction, Charlotte lost sight of Kraush.
However, instead of him, a sword soared toward her face in a straight line.
Charlotte stifled a laugh.
Just below that sword, Kraush was charging at her with clenched fists.
‘He purposely damaged the wooden sword twice, waited for my sword to drift away from me, and then threw his sword while striking upward.’
A cheerful smile danced across Charlotte’s lips.
Joy filled her expression.
“Nice!”
At that moment, a blade of pure energy shot up from her wooden sword.
A pure aura blade that could only be created by reaching the master level.
At the moment that bladed energy surfaced, the length of her wooden sword held little value.
In that instant, the surroundings around Charlotte fell silent.
In the stillness, Kraush’s movements and the sword flying toward her slowed down immensely.
The aura had enveloped the space around her in an instant.
Within that, Charlotte’s sword was the first to intercept Kraush’s charging sword.
Kraush’s sword was twisted helplessly, soaring into the air.
Even as this occurred, Kraush’s fist had yet to reach Charlotte.
That was the extent of their gap.
If Charlotte had set her mind to it, Kraush would have been finished in that first strike.
‘Black Hood.’
As Kraush’s instincts barely registered Charlotte deflecting his blade, the Black Hood activated.
A move even Charlotte hadn’t noticed.
In that instant, Kraush’s punch landed directly on Charlotte.
Clang! Crash!
With the sound of a collision, Kraush was sent tumbling across the ground.
Having lost his sword, he rolled for a while before coming to a halt, breathless.
‘Three seconds.’
As Flame Erosion dissipated, the heat from his body vanished.
In that instant, he weakly lifted his head and found his sword lying separate from him.
But Charlotte remained frozen, unable to move.
Of course, she didn’t bear a single scratch.
Charlotte was perpetually encircled by a massive energetic flow.
This aura was akin to Charlotte’s inherent power, and unless an aura of equal or greater strength was present, it could never injure her.
Born with such extraordinary talent, she was someone who wouldn’t get a scratch from anyone weaker than her.
Among all, Kraush identified that unique trait as Charlotte’s most hype-inducing aspect.
That aura was where Kraush’s blade had connected.
Master-level Charlotte’s aura.
Of course, it was a domain he couldn’t break through.
But it had connected.
And that was the problem.
The aura was wrapped just above Charlotte’s skin.
Until now, she had never allowed anyone, even those of equal level, to touch it.
And yet, Kraush had touched it.
Charlotte’s gaze gradually shifted toward Kraush.
Even in a situation where her sword was pointed at him, without the slightest hesitation, he had committed to striking.
He knew very well that that attack wouldn’t land.
What did that imply?
If that attack had connected…
Charlotte might have been caught off-guard.
From the beginning to the end, she had been lenient.
She had been careless, allowing him to act without restrictions while summoning her aura blade at the very end.
But it landed.
That shouldn’t have happened for Charlotte.
“Little brother, you….”
“Haha….”
In that moment, Kraush let out a laugh.
As Charlotte stared blankly at him, he spoke the words with a smile on his lips.
“I managed to hit you once.”
And with that, Kraush buried his face in the ground and passed out.
With the combined cost of Flame Erosion, the sword’s spirit, the first strike, and even the Black Hood, he was completely spent.
Charlotte watched him quietly, letting out a long sigh.
He managed to exhaust himself by using his full strength and then passing out.
‘How selfish.’
It seemed he shared that trait with her after all.
Somehow, as she felt her strength draining, Charlotte shook her head and approached Kraush.
As she leaned over, her eyes flicked toward his right arm.
From what she’d seen in his previous attack, his right arm seemed fine.
That was good.
This duel was conducted to test that.
As Charlotte reached to lift Kraush, someone suddenly popped up in front of her.
Startled, Charlotte widened her eyes to find it was none other than Kraush’s fiancée, Bianca.
“You.”
“I’m taking him with me.”
Bianca’s unexpected appearance caught Charlotte off-guard.
Having assumed Bianca wouldn’t make much of a presence, she was struggling to lift Kraush.
Seeing Kraush being dragged by the floor, Charlotte chuckled lightly.
What a fitting pair they made.
Caw!
In the meantime, the sound of a crow echoed.
Glancing at the crow perched on the ceiling of the training area, Charlotte spoke.
“Aliod.”
“Yes, Lady Charlotte.”
As soon as Charlotte called, Aliod appeared before her.
Looking at him, Charlotte asked.
“Kraush mentioned he intends to attend Raheln Academy, right?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
With Aliod’s confirmation, Charlotte placed her hands on her hips.
Nodding as if satisfied, she then turned on her heel.
“Got it. Thanks for your hard work while I’m around. Now go and check on Kraush.”
The moment she said that, Aliod vanished immediately.
With that, Charlotte strode toward the exit of Green Pinegwan.
In about three weeks, the much-anticipated entrance ceremony for Raheln Academy would begin.
While the time was rather tight, it was ample enough.
After all, this was Charlotte.
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