Chapter 25
The buildings in the city began collapsing from a single stomp.
“What is this···”
“The world is vast, gentlemen.”
Duke blocked the astonished vassal’s axe blade with the back of his hand, then swung his greatsword while suppressing his killing intent as much as possible.
“Eek!”
Although he had said he was holding back, the strike made the vassals’ blood run cold.
‘Why? How come??’
The vassals were confused.
They understood that they had to fight hard because so many eyes were on them.
But they questioned whether things really needed to go this far.
Naturally, Duke could not pick up on the vassals’ feelings.
‘A battle where convictions clash! What a stirring situation!’
As a knight who pursued romance, Duke could not help enjoying a situation in which he had no choice but to turn his sword against his allies to uphold his convictions.
Of course, that was not the only reason.
‘The Sneria Domain will be invaded soon too.’
It would not be a bad idea to power them all up while he had the opportunity.
Duke brought his greatsword down at a speed he knew the vassals could barely evade.
Boom!
A tear line appeared on the ground where the greatsword had struck.
The shadows split apart on either side of that line.
The moment Duke’s gaze turned toward the two masses of shadow, a whip rose from his own shadow.
“Hmm.”
The moment the whip bound his arm, spears and blades thrust at his armpits from the shadows where the vassals were hiding.
‘They’re targeting a vital point that would be difficult to block with armor.’
Duke’s lips curled upward, pleased that they had been trained so well.
‘Then it should be all right to go a little harder.’
Clang!
A sound that was impossible to believe had come from a cloth uniform rang out.
Even the spears and blades that bounced away from both of Duke’s armpits seemed bewildered.
But Duke, the cold-hearted knight, had drawn his sword, and he had no intention of waiting for them.
“On a battlefield, confusion means death. Consider yourselves fortunate.”
With those words, he grabbed the spear shaft that had not yet returned to shadow.
When Duke pulled on the spear, the vassal beneath it came along like a crop being pulled up by the roots.
“Whoa?”
“This is as far as you go.”
Duke grabbed the vassal by the collar and threw him into the air.
Boom!
The vassal Duke had thrown slammed into a wall before he had a chance to cushion the impact with shadow.
“He should not be dead.”
At Duke’s words, a vassal flew out of the shadows, rescued the one who had been sent flying, and shook his head at the others.
- He’s not dead, but says it hurts enough to kill him.
- This is insane.
The vassals gritted their teeth and readjusted their grips on their weapons.
But even in this desperate(?) situation, they were able to do their best because their lord was fighting at the forefront.
“Haa!”
Hana emerged from the shadows and swung her scythe in a wide arc at Duke’s neck.
Just before the scythe touched his neck, Duke caught it with telekinesis and brought his sword up in a slash.
Hana maintained her form until the blade was just about to reach her, then scattered into shadow crows.
“A fine attempt.”
Normally, someone would have been distracted by the crows and allowed the next attack through.
But Duke was not someone who relied solely on his vision.
‘Right.’
Duke swung his sword, following her mana.
When his sword cut through one of Hana’s shadows once more, he realized that he had been deceived.
‘Then where··· Above!’
Clang!
She transformed her scythe into an axe and delivered a powerful strike, aided by gravity.
For the first time, Duke’s knee bent slightly.
‘As expected!’
There was no shame in it.
After all, he had lowered his abilities from the outset to match her and her vassals.
Rather, he ought to be impressed by her achievement.
“You possess a remarkably high level of self-understanding.”
Duke never spared her praise whenever he found an opening.
It was his own prescription for her, who had always lacked confidence even in the original story.
Hana accepted the praise without reservation, the corners of her mouth twitching.
‘This is fun.’
She fundamentally did not like combat very much.
She had joined the resistance out of a sense of duty, swung her scythe for the sake of her convictions, and upheld her position as a lord out of responsibility.
To her, her level of mastery was merely a means of creating an ideal world.
She liked meditation and training well enough, but combat, whose purpose was to harm an opponent, was a joyless chore that she could never enjoy.
But while listening to Duke’s praise, her thoughts began to change.
‘So it wasn’t combat itself that I hated.’
It was just that she···
‘I was hungry for praise.’
Even when she managed her domain out of responsibility, occasional words of gratitude from its people helped her stand again.
But combat had no such thing.
When her battles ended, the only people nearby were her vassals telling her that she had done well; no one recognized the effort she had put into that single battle.
To someone like her, Duke’s endless stream of praise was···
‘So this is what it feels like to be acknowledged.’
It was enough to make her smile.
Boom!
The sword auras of the two collided, turning the surrounding area into a wasteland.
Just then, a tremendous roar came from the direction of the lord’s mansion behind Duke.
“Hmm. Things are wrapping up over there too.”
At those words, the exhilaration in Hana’s heart gradually began to fade.
‘In the end, happy times end so quickly.’
She too intended to finish things by admitting defeat and gathering up her shadow scythe and vassals.
“As expected, I···”
But Duke opened his mouth as though cutting her off.
“For the final strike, come at me with genuine intent. Do not worry about your surroundings.”
Hana tightened her grip on her scythe.
‘Is it really, really all right?’
Could she give it her all without thinking about the damage to her surroundings?
As though he had read the worry on her face, Duke encouraged her.
“Trust me. Bring everything you have worked for to bear. I will acknowledge you.”
At the weighty voice that rang in her ears, Hana finally let go of the reins of reason.
- No, Lady Sneria!
She ignored the vassals trying to restrain her from within the shadows and began gathering her mana.
Duke likewise gripped the greatsword he had been holding in one hand with both hands and drew up his mana.
“Come! With that scythe, cut through the chains called responsibility that restrain you!”
A black mist made of shadows rose from Hana’s body.
Just once.
As though she intended to pour everything she had into this single strike.
“Only in this moment, you are not Sneria, but Yuhana!”
The mist gradually began to take on a definite form.
It turned into bones, forming the shape of a gigantic skeleton above her.
This was the extent of her ultimate technique.
But this moment was different.
Through his battle sense, Duke felt her level rising.
It was as though she wanted to repay the person who was affirming her with all his strength.
Level 50
As if to show her transformation, strands of muscle began covering the skeleton.
Before long, the skeleton transformed into a lich with only shriveled skin remaining, and robes and wings spread across it.
She immediately gave this technique a new name.
"Messis-Mortis!”
The Grim Reaper swung her scythe.
A chilling black scythe that swallowed even light and air flew toward Duke’s upper body.
Duke stepped forward and met the blow.
“Night-Splitting (劃夜).”
The tip of Duke’s sword collided precisely with the scythe.
The sword aura split the scythe cleanly in half without resistance and slashed through the Grim Reaper’s upper body.
The sword aura did not stop there, passing through the wall behind the Grim Reaper.
No crude explosion followed.
The path of that razor-sharp blow—which was hard to believe had come from that blunt greatsword—was utterly silent.
The wall simply slid forward in silence together with the Grim Reaper.
Beyond the collapsing inner fortress wall, dawn was just breaking.
With his back to the dawn, Duke asked the dazed Hana a question.
“Will you continue?”
With the sun behind her, Hana answered his question with a refreshing smile.
“I have been perfectly defeated.”
At that moment, a black message window appeared before Duke’s eyes.
[Duke! It’s over!]
Duke nodded contentedly and returned his greatsword.
“It seems the target of the contract has just disappeared. Neither my lord nor I will hold you accountable for your actions at dawn today, Lady Sneria.”
She swept the shadows away and bowed her head.
“We shall have to renew our contract. Would it be all right if I stayed in this domain a little longer before leaving?”
“You are welcome. My lord will likely welcome you as well.”
The two walked side by side toward the mansion with such affectionate expressions that no one would have believed they had been fighting moments earlier.
Duke instinctively knew that he would never forget Hana’s smiling figure with the rising sun behind her that day.
.
.
.
- “Wow. Is my neck still attached?”
- “It seems like it was a good thing I didn’t go outside partway through?”
- “I’m never sparring with Sir Urwick again.”
- “My··· lower back··· feels like it’s going to die···”
- "But how are we supposed to clean this up?"
The vassals, who had been quietly exchanging hand signals within Hana’s shadow, turned their gazes toward the neatly severed inner fortress wall.
Soon, they turned their gazes away from the wall.
- "It's someone else's domain."
- "Sir Urwick must have had his reasons."