Chapter 20 - The Real Thing Is Different (2)

His left hand was clasped behind his back, and his right hand, gripping his sword, simply hung at his side.

His presence was quiet, and his breathing was easy.

My uncle looked as if he had come out for a stroll.

"*HAAH. *"

I carefully steadied my breathing.

I circled my uncle, adjusting my grip on my sword again and again.

"Do you need more time?"

My uncle spoke with a face that looked as though he might yawn at any moment.

It was an obvious provocation.

I gladly took that provocation.

TAP TAP.

I kicked off the ground.

I dragged my lowered sword forward as if it would touch the floor, then swept it up.

SWISH!

My uncle twisted his upper body.

That alone made my attack miss emptily.

"Going for the neck with your very first attack. Your sword is as vicious as ever."

I glared at my uncle as he clicked his tongue, then immediately launched my second attack.

SLASH!

I dragged down the sword I had extended and cut at my uncle's shoulder.

Of course, this attack did not land either.

I swung my sword again.

CLANG CLANG CLANG!

I thrust, slashed, chopped, and poured attacks onto him for quite some time.

Half of them missed.

The other half were blocked by his sword.

"By now, your body should be warmed up enough."

Behind our vertically crossed swords, my uncle asked.

His eyes were like those of a beast crouched in the grass, waiting for its prey.

"Bring out your mana."

Instead of answering, I looked around.

I saw Adelia, the Royal Knights, and the people of the 1st Prince's Palace.

All of them were watching me and my uncle.

The picture my uncle wanted was probably me rolling across the ground in front of them.

And in a truly wretched state, at that.

How shallow.

So shallow.

I forcefully knocked his sword away and stepped back.

"*HAAH. *"

I regulated the breath that had risen to my chin and lowered my sword.

"Have you already given up?"

My uncle ran his mouth in an irritating way.

"Hardly."

I answered shortly and looked at my uncle.

He was irritating, but I had to acknowledge what deserved acknowledgment.

My uncle was strong.

So strong that, as I was now, there was nothing I could do about him.

And that uncle was waiting for his chance.

My uncle was waiting only for me to draw mana from my Mana Heart.

So he could give me an even more miserable defeat.

It might have been a lesson for his nephew's wrong decision, or punishment for the scoundrel who had thrown a genius's potential into the gutter.

Perhaps it was both.

Well, his motives did not matter.

What mattered now was that the moment I activated my Mana Heart, there was a high chance things would flow exactly as my uncle intended.

I glanced over my own body.

The Mana Heart seated near my chest had become quite substantial now.

It was thanks to the fact that I had scraped together mana like my life depended on it because of the crazy bitch with a sword chasing me from behind.

But that alone was not enough.

My uncle had said he would use only a single circuit, but I could not think that single circuit would be the same as anyone else's.

Hadn't even Arwen Kirgayen shown power on a completely different level from those countryside knights?

I did not know for certain, but my uncle's circuit was probably several times stronger than hers.

If it was a crisis, then it was a crisis.

But I was not worried.

"Are you laughing?"

It seemed I had been smiling without realizing it.

The look on my uncle's face as he gazed at me was full of displeasure.

"Is it not strange?"

I asked while looking at that uncle.

"Until four hundred years ago, countless knights accomplished unbelievable feats. All of them possessed Mana Hearts. Even the founder of this kingdom was one of them."

"Since it seems you cannot prove its worth with your sword, do you now intend to prove it with words?"

I paid no mind to his blatant sneer.

"And yet, just because one somewhat useful technique appeared, the arts of those great knights all came to be treated like trash. How absurd is that?"

My uncle replied with a deeply furrowed face.

He said it was because the resonance of Mana Chain was incompatible with the Mana Heart, and that was why the Mana Heart had been weeded out.

"Everyone seems to think that. That Mana Hearts died out because Mana Chain was stronger than Mana Hearts."

"What exactly are you trying to say?"

"My thoughts are different."

Mana Hearts had not been weeded out because Mana Chain was stronger than Mana Hearts.

"What was weak was not the Mana Heart, but its master."

My uncle treated my words as worthless wordplay.

"Not all Mana Hearts are the same Mana Heart."

There were clearly distinguishable grades among Mana Hearts.

"If you are talking about upper, middle, and lower grades, then there is no need. Among the Masters who fell to Quad Chain knights in the past, there was not a single one who did not possess a high-grade Mana Heart."

Yes.

There had been that classification as well.

But that was nothing more than a convenient division according to efficiency.

The true standard that distinguished the grade of a Mana Heart was not something as paltry as efficiency or differences in power.

"Have you perhaps heard of a Poem of Martial Deeds?"

My uncle was now openly showing his irritation.

"This is a place for crossing swords, not a place for talking about such ear-tickling songs."

His face said he had no idea what I was trying to say.

"I thought an uncle who calls the Mana Heart a low-grade technique only mercenaries would learn would say that."

The saying that showing once was better than explaining a hundred times probably existed for moments like this.

"Come."

As if saying he could wait no longer, my uncle flicked the tip of his sword.

Watching him, I muttered quietly.

"One hundred victories are my pride and my strength."

"What?"

As if answering my words, a message came to me.

『It sings of the one hundred victories won against twenty trainees who dream of becoming knights.』

『A [Poem of Martial Deeds] has been created.』

Achievements are engraved upon the heart,

and engraved achievements become a Poem of Martial Deeds.

『An [ordinary-grade] Poem of Martial Deeds, [Poem of Sparring], has been created.』

『The effect of [Poem of Sparring] has been activated.』

The small achievements I had built up over the past half year became a Poem of Martial Deeds and settled inside my body.

I kicked off the ground.

"Ha!"

I brought my sword straight down.

A heavy blow containing the force of my charge and even mana.

My uncle frowned and raised his sword.

HUMMMM.

Before the swords even touched, the unique vibration contained in the mana of his circuit reached me.

BOOM!

My sword bounced upward from the powerful impact.

In that fleeting instant, the circuit's mana dug into my sword and churned my insides.

『During one hundred bouts, I endured one thousand waves.』

At that moment, a clear song rang out in my head.

The waves that had been stirring through my body vanished in an instant.

This was a Poem of Martial Deeds.

I smiled in triumph.

To obtain this poem, I had sparred more than a hundred times and taken the mana of circuits with my body more than a thousand times.

All while enduring the pain of Mana Backflow.

"You are first-rate when it comes to stupidly enduring things."

My uncle clicked his tongue as he spoke.

"Does it look as though I am forcing myself to endure it?"

I looked at my uncle, who was saying whatever he pleased, and sent my sword flying again.

Without the slightest interruption, mana raced toward my sword.

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

In an instant, I unleashed more than ten sword strikes.

"Heh."

My uncle looked at me with a slightly impressed face.

Even in that moment, I was thrusting my sword toward him.

BOOM!

My uncle, perhaps having made up his mind, did not dodge and thrust his own sword against mine.

On his face, I could see the will to twist my guts no matter what.

BOOM!

A small question appeared on that face.

BOOM BOOM!

That question soon became an even larger question.

BOOM!

And then disbelief.

"How..."

"Why? Did you think I would cough blood and collapse?"

Our swords collided in midair.

CRACK!

A circuit's vibration, even stronger than before, dug into my sword.

But even that was soon resolved and disappeared without a trace.

My uncle glared at me.

"What in the world..."

"I told you."

I turned my body and slashed straight through.

"Not all Mana Hearts are the same Mana Heart."

"You have grown arrogant."

It seemed my words had rubbed my uncle the wrong way.

Considering that my uncle, who had been purely on the defensive until now, went on the offensive for the first time.

WHOOSH!

Blocking the sword that had somehow flown right up before my nose, I gritted my teeth.

Thanks to the help of the Poem of Martial Deeds, I had avoided fighting while suffering the pain of Mana Backflow, but my uncle was still too much for me as I was now.

In an instant, our swords clashed in midair more than ten times.

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

Once again, sword strikes were exchanged.

The edge in my uncle's eyes slowly softened.

Then, at some point, his eyes became indifferent, just as they had been when the spar first began.

But unlike his indifferent gaze, his sword strikes grew sharper as time passed.

CRACK!

In the end, his sword struck me.

"Urgh."

I clutched my shoulder and staggered backward.

My uncle, who had placed the condition that he would not move his feet, did not pursue me.

"Enduring this far is enough. I shall praise you."

Saying he had not expected me to hold out this well, my uncle showed a hint of admiration.

Looking at that face made my stomach twist.

The sight of him running his mouth as if he were so superior made me furious.

"Four hundred years ago, the knights made a great mistake."

I spoke while enduring the pain in my shoulder.

"They left no enemies for their descendants."

A knight's Poem of Martial Deeds was a record of the past and present, and at the same time, a path toward the future.

By facing powerful enemies, one raised the grade of one's soul, and by setting one's sights on a more powerful being, one reset one's own limits.

The vessel grew larger, and one surpassed one's limits.

That was the Poem of Martial Deeds.

The knights of four hundred years ago possessed Poems of Martial Deeds sufficient to be called [Myth] or [Hero].

Perhaps, in the beginning, everything had been passed down intact.

The sword arts, the proper refinement method of the heart, and the shining Poems of Martial Deeds.

But time slowly gnawed away at those shining achievements and finally made them forgotten.

Dragons they had never seen this, Giant Kings they had never heard of that.

Faith disappeared, and disbelief took root.

And in the end, they must have come to be regarded as absurd songs or ridiculous legends.

A Poem of Martial Deeds even its bearer did not believe in was no different from a cheap song.

"New Poems of Martial Deeds must have been created. But when mediocre fellows only hit each other back and forth, what they can obtain is, at best, an [extraordinary-grade] Poem of Martial Deeds."

At best, victories gained from ten knights.

At best, the achievement of defeating one hundred soldiers alone.

At best, Poems of Martial Deeds built against humans.

When no family remained on the continent that possessed Poems of Martial Deeds concerning [Myth] and [Hero], a new wind must have blown.

The knights I had known must have been swept up by that wind, eroded, and disappeared.

"Have you been drinking in the middle of the day? I cannot understand what you are talking about at all."

My uncle glared at me with irritated eyes.

"Come. Let us finish this pointless spar now."

My uncle's presence stood sharp as a blade.

Ah!

To think they had kicked away the path of transcendence with their own feet and were now boasting of such petty arts!

"With Mana Chain, with that paltry art, you cannot reach 「transcendence」."

Vale Ballorhard.

You arrogant, foolish knight.

"You people need to know how much you have lost."

If you do not know, then I will show you.

With a shrill keen, my sword began to ring sharply.

"I was wondering why you had not brought out that uncanny sword."

Taking a step forward, I sang quietly.

"I split the scales of a dragon that no treasured blade can cut, and drink its burning blood."

『You sing the [Poem of Slaying Dragons].』

『With your current ability, you cannot handle the poem's grade.』

『A portion of the poem is omitted.』

『A portion of the poem is omitted.』

『A portion of the poem is omitted.』

『Only one verse of the poem, a poem equal to half of half of that verse, is sung.』

Amid pain as though the Mana Heart itself were being carved away in chunks, I raised my sword.

『Split the scales of the dragon.』

A short song rang out inside my head.