─12 years ago.
Ah, how fleeting is life.
Eight years old.
Bell thought this for the first time as she held a sword.
Of course, at twenty, Bell now recognized that such thoughts were just childish nonsense.
‘Why does older brother Haven swing his sword so meaninglessly?’
Eight-year-old Bell watched a boy training from behind a rock.
The twelve-year-old boy was sweating profusely.
He was her big brother, Haven.
‘Haven said he started learning to wield a sword when he was five.’
But why?
Why is his technique like that?
It’s not supposed to be swung like that.
Technique.
Bell could see it.
How to swing the sword, how to thrust it.
The one time she had held and swung a sword herself.
She instinctively believed that her one, single technique was more extraordinary than Haven’s five consecutive thrusts.
Seasons flowed endlessly.
But in the world of the Endless Winter, only winter existed.
White, and more white. Only the time of winter flowed.
Bell could only perceive the passage of seasons through the changing of birds soaring in the sky.
So, from a young age, Bell had taken to lying on the ground, blankly staring up at the sky.
Bell’s father, Luke, the chieftain of the Endless Winter clan, hadn’t even known about Bell until she turned sixteen.
Perhaps because there had never been a single instance of genius emerging from a girl in the clan’s history, Luke paid no attention to Bell or her sisters.
Bell didn’t want to forcefully reveal her genius to Luke. She didn’t want to be the center of the clan’s expectations.
So, Bell felt a little sorry for Haven.
Haven had to train relentlessly as the next chieftain and as the eldest son.
Bell’s second hobby was secretly watching Haven train.
Since the moment she first held a sword at eight, she had been stealthily observing Haven’s training, his technique.
Swish—
A sharp sound resonated in the air.
Twenty-year-old Haven continued to swing his sword even as his knuckles swelled and his palms tore.
Foolishly and stubbornly.
‘His technique is wrong again.’
Haven swung his sword over hundreds of times. Among those techniques, there had only been a couple that met Bell’s standards.
It was that winter when their father and Haven learned about Bell’s talent.
A gigantic orc, carrying a massive axe, appeared along the ridge of the Endless Winter.
And behind that enormous orc was a legion of thirty-four orcs.
From the bodies of the invading orcs flowed the ferocity of predators.
The orc king.
Orc Lord.
It was only natural for a legion led by a king to consist of the elite among their kind.
The axe held by the Orc Lord radiated a clear aura blade.
It looked like a red flame.
Even in the face of the Orc Lord’s legion, Haven showed no fear.
He was also part of the great Endless Winter clan.
Cursed to never leave this wintery land or a clan of heroes who sacrificed themselves to save the world.
Before the blood-red aura igniting the orcs, Haven lit up the sky with the pure white flames unique to the Endless Winter clan.
With his waist, the sword was drawn.
Crescent moon technique.
Colliding with the orc’s technique, snow scattered like fragments. The snowflakes and crystals dispersed wide across the air.
Two orcs with their upper bodies tilted at an angle.
The severed bodies of the orcs neatly fell onto the white snowy ground. Red blood patterning the scene.
But it wasn’t enough.
Bell thought that way.
It was frustrating.
That Haven could only unfold his sword technique like that.
The fundamental approach was wrong. She thought.
“I don’t need to individually slaughter each enemy.”
Haven’s insistence on attacking each visible orc felt overwhelmingly frustrating.
“It would be enough to just cut through the space itself.”
Then all the monsters in that gap would die.
Bell had several times annihilated the monsters that snuck in at night without her clan knowing since last year.
Quietly observing the situation from a huge branch, Bell threw herself down.
Thud─
Clouds of snow dust rose up.
All the gazes of the 20 warriors from the White Night clan, including Luke and Bell, turned toward her.
“…Bell?”
The warriors of the White Night clan couldn’t help but be astonished when the sixteen-year-old girl suddenly dropped down from the tree.
They had seen her occasionally playing around, but never once with a sword in hand.
“What, what are you doing here! Bell! Hurry back to the safe zone!”
The middle-aged warrior who shouted stood there, mouth agape, in silence.
Because a brilliantly pure white sword energy was weaving through the air from the sword Bell held.
It was an incomparable brilliance to the sword energy that had just been unleashed by Haven.
“Brother.”
Bell said softly as she stood next to Haven.
“If you focus on attacking each opponent, that’s too inefficient in a situation with this many enemies.”
Bell stomped her right foot on the snowy ground.
“You have to cut through the space itself.”
Bell swung her sword.
Swoosh─────────!
The white light emitted a bright presence even in the pure white snow.
Slash!
The horrific sound of flesh tearing echoed messily. Orc arms, upper bodies, and heads flew into the air.
Seven.
In just one strike, seven orc lives were extinguished.
Red blood splattered across the white snowfield.
“Just like this.”
Bell turned her head back to look at Haven, who stood behind her in a daze.
Haven’s eyes were wide open, unable to even think of speaking.
And it was the same for Luke, who stood next to him.
They thought she was just a child who liked to ponder alone. But from the single strike she had just shown, they could tell. It was overwhelming talent.
Luke’s dry mouth slowly opened.
“…Since when have you been holding a sword?”
“Since I was eight.”
Eight years.
Luke swallowed hard.
Before him stood a genius who had reached the level of Sword Expert in just 8 years.
“Then, why show your power only now?”
“I thought it was time to start contributing to the subjugation of the great god Ades alongside father. Also…”
Bell’s gaze trailed off to the young man standing at the very back of the 20 warriors.
There stood Seiyan, a warrior who had just turned 19 this year.
From the moment he faced the orc legion, he was visibly shaking all over.
It was clear he was trembling not from the cold but from fear.
The warriors definitely weren’t shaking from the cold; it was clearly fear.
“Look at the family trembling! That’s why!”
Bell took another step forward.
Her weapon had transformed into a thrusting sword without her noticing.
Another burst of white light erupted.
Thrust.
A streak of brilliance shot out as if to push the world away.
Boom—
The space warped.
Kwoong—
Six orcs were instantly impaled and launched far away like skewers.
The white flash continued to advance without stopping.
Zzzerng!!
The orc king blocked the thrust of the sword with the broad side of his massive axe.
But there was not even a hint of hesitation in Bell’s movements.
Her feet kept moving.
Crack─!
The axe came crashing down.
The fiery aura contained in that axe merely struck Bell’s afterimage.
Bell dove to the right of the Orc Road.
Swoosh!
In an instant, Bell yanked her right hand holding the sword back.
Then, stepping forward, she extended her arm.
Zzzerang!
Four beams of light struck sharply at the orc king’s side.
Kwooooooaaaarrrrrk!!
The king’s scream echoed.
Boooom!
The enraged king awakened every muscle in his body and swung both arms.
The gigantic axe sliced through the air like a samurai’s sword. But Bell’s new form was just another afterimage. She had already moved from the right to the left.
Bell swung the sword again.
White heat radiated fiercely from her sword and her whole body.
‘Quickly.’
Bell reached out with her arm.
Zzzerang!
Eight slicing sounds echoed.
And eight fatal strikes blossomed in midair.
The sword’s form resembled flowers, yet the result it brought was endlessly sharp.
The orc king’s body slumped to the ground with eight holes in it.
Kwoong!!
Bell’s movements didn’t stop.
After decimating all twenty remaining foes, she finally turned towards the White Night clan, who stared at her in shock.
On the pure white snow.
A girl standing amidst numerous orc corpses.
Luke felt that his daughter Bell was incredibly alien.
“…That technique is [Frost Flower], right?”
“Yes.”
“Who taught you that?”
At Luke’s question, Bell slowly shook her head.
“Nobody taught me.”
Bell’s gaze shifted to Haven.
“I secretly observed you teaching it to brother Haven and learned it.”
Luke’s brows furrowed.
“…Learned?”
Each of Bell’s words carried weight.
“Just by watching with my eyes. That’s how I mastered it?”
“Yes.”
Luke’s frown deepened.
However, he couldn’t bring himself to shout ‘arrogance.’
‘She transformed Frost Flower into something even more perfect.’
A genius.
A genius beyond himself.
A prodigy who grasped martial arts just by looking, penetrating everything about them.
Creating a technique more perfect than the original.
Bell presented her lovely face to Luke, who was staring blankly.
“I won’t be your apprentice.”
Bell turned her gaze back to Haven.
“The chieftain’s apprentice is for brother Haven.”
Bell approached Haven.
Everything had come to this.
“…Bell.”
Haven blankly called out the name of his younger sister, whom he had often played with as a child.
“Uh? Brother.”
“…With that skill of yours, shouldn’t you be the commander?”
“No way, brother.”
Bell slowly shook her head.
“I’ll be your sword. You should be the commander.”
Bell swung her sword against the ground, shaking off the blood and flesh of orcs.
“I’ll join the hunt for Ades starting tomorrow.”
No one could dismiss Bell as just a sixteen-year-old kid.
She had clearly reached the level of a sword expert.
Luke swallowed hard.
‘It won’t take long.’
It wouldn’t be long before she reached the master level.
With that kind of talent.
Bell walked alone into the castle of the White Night.
Bell felt a slight worry.
What if Haven fell into despair?
What if he laid down his sword?
And it took only a day for her to realize that this was a pointless worry.
Swiish—
Whoooosh—
Haven began to swing his sword again.
Bell watched him blankly, seeing a swordsman who did not despair in front of his talent.
Bell stood beside Haven.
And together they started to swing their swords.
Effort.
Training.
She was just beginning to understand that feeling.
Bell and Haven stood side by side, swinging their swords.
Bell began to recognize the magnificence of effort.
She was able to shake off the arrogant thought that Haven’s actions were in vain.
The siblings created countless paths of the White Night.
Four seasons passed.
Three whole seasons.
Even the strong Bell and Luke couldn’t break the regeneration of the Giant King.
It was despairing. Bell even thought she might really become someone who could never leave this White Night prison for the rest of her life.
But thanks to Haven, who didn’t crumble even under greater despair, she was able to alleviate that sense of powerlessness.
Winter came again.
The genius who learned about effort grew rapidly.
“…Uh, it’s done.”
A brilliant white sword aura flared up. It was a white sword aura unlike anything she had seen before, as beautiful as a jade jewel.
Proof of a sword master, the Aura Blade.
A white star bloomed on the sword.
“Congratulations.”
Haven smiled and congratulated Bell on her achievement.
It was the year Bell turned nineteen.
*
At twenty, Bell felt the gaze of Duke Yuma.
And she also felt the gaze of Cloney, the mage behind him; specifically, she sensed an inexplicable resonance echoing in her mind.
‘What’s this?’
As she narrowed her brow, the strange waves echoing in her mind ceased shortly after.
What was important now wasn’t the resonance she just heard.
The most important thing was facing Ades, the king of the Giants, below the cliff.
Bam!
Bell landed before the Giant God Ades, radiating white energy from her entire body.
“Bell.”
Luke’s stern voice reached her.
“What are you doing? Why aren’t you coming?”
Bell stepped forward.
She quickly dismissed the questions about Yuma and Cloney.
What was important now was not the authors but confronting Ades, the king of the Giants, right in front of her.
The white light that shot out from her waist and the white light radiating from Luke’s hand both streaked across the ground toward Ades.
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