Chapter 138
The earth itself lost even its capacity to embrace the collision of the two swordsmen and cracked apart. The raging pressure wave ground the rocks into fragments.
The will to pierce each other’s bodies traveled through the tips of their swords, and the clash of their blades reaffirmed that will.
Kwahhhhhng-!
It was an excessive volume for the sound of blades colliding.
The condensed energy lost its outlet and exploded in place, forcing the two figures backward along with their swords in the resulting shock wave.
“You draw your sword against me?”
Name even casually twirled her sword through the air as though she found him ridiculous.
Mephisto still gave no reply. He merely glared at her with murderous eyes.
“...”
[Mephistopheles – Phase 1]
[HP: 3,329,079/4,444,444]
The demon’s body, repeatedly severed and regenerated, had grotesquely deformed joints.
The colors differed, and it looked like pieces of hardened clay had been forcibly joined together.
No matter what sword stroke Mephisto attempted, Name countered it perfectly every time.
She did not retreat even an inch.
Instead, she boldly plunged forward and closed the distance even against perilous attacks that tore space apart indiscriminately.
“For a swordsman, distance is...”
Name came running while drawing a straight line across the ground with her sword.
“Like a time bomb.”
The end of that straight line was the demon’s torso.
Shraaak-!
Had the structure standing there been the Imperial Palace, the banquet hall would have been cleaved precisely in half.
Even though he wore armor boasting overwhelming hardness, the demon could not withstand the impact and crawled along the ground.
“The shorter the fuse, the more certain it is that one of us will die.”
That was why novice swordsmen were always told to widen the distance first.
Name knew that advice had originated from the desire to survive.
The greater the distance, the more calmly a person could assess the situation and draw out their true ability.
But when the distance between them was short, there was almost no time to make a decision.
So they had to find the best move on an instinctive level rather than through thought, something that was nearly impossible without countless experiences behind them.
The point at which the difference in their abilities was maximized was at arm’s length, close enough for their breath to touch.
The demon continued to resist. He had none of the fear inherent to humans.
She drew her sword against the man who kept lunging back at her as soon as he recovered from each fall.
The demon’s sword was gradually approaching perfection.
Its speed increased, its responses grew quicker, and its stance slowly settled into place.
Yet through dozens, even hundreds, of sword clashes, it was always Name who carved out every victory.
Shaak-!
With a short flick of her sword, a flood of blood sprayed through the air.
A chilly silence and stillness descended, as though the deafening clashes from moments ago had all been a lie.
Adella gazed at Name with trembling eyes.
‘Sh... She’s crazy...’
Which one of them was the demon?
This young man, who was being helplessly beaten without managing even one proper resistance?
Or this girl, who was ruthlessly toying with her enemy with a ghostly smile on her lips?
What was even more frightening was that the swordsmanship she had displayed so far was not merely difficult to follow with the eye—it was beyond that entirely.
Just how far ahead was she looking as she moved?
If someone crossed swords with her, it was obvious they would be swept along and swing their blade unconsciously, as though being dragged into a swamp.
She constantly lured out attacks, and the foresight gained through perfect calculations ensnared her enemy in a pit.
-Is NoName freaking insane?!
-Perfect so far? Has she not taken a single hit?
-Is she even human? Part 1 was seriously a limiter
-Healer (physical)
-Why hasn’t she used a single magic staff?
└ She used it a lot in Part 1
└ She even used that as a maceㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-This is seriously an amazing mad movie...
-Why is she so good with a sword?
└ They say she was the Heavenly Demon in her past life
└ Heavenly Demon Descends, All Demons Bow! Heavenly Demon Descends, All Demons Bow!
Astonished gazes poured down upon them.
Even viewers who had been trained by countless mad movies on VTube could not help but voice their admiration.
But Name, who had never once taken her eyes off the demon, coldly shouted again.
“Get up. You’ve got plenty of health left.”
[Mephistopheles – Phase 2]
[HP: 2,848,500/4,444,444]
Its HP was high, so there was no need to hold back.
How much stress had she endured over the course of her life? Even this life had not been smooth.
She simply had not let it show.
“How dare a mere lowly creature...!”
Mephisto spread his enormous bat wings, each easily several meters across, but...
“Fold those wings. You’ll spread disease.”
[Kaizen-style Sky Slash]
The vastly enlarged blade sliced cleanly through the tent with razor-sharp precision.
She approached the demon, which had fallen limply to the ground, and even dropped her sword onto the floor with a clang.
“Clench your teeth tight. If you think you’re taking these blows for someone else, you won’t feel so wronged.”
Bang-!
Aura piled densely into her fist.
She unleashed it all at once, burying the demon’s head in the earth deeply enough to gouge the ground.
“Graaagh! Stop...!”
“Those pathetic orphanage bastards pulling their ridiculous tricks...”
Bang-!
Even as her mutterings were swallowed by the roar, she continued speaking.
The people who thoughtlessly left malicious comments, the time she had been ignored during her academy interview, the hopeless game company, and above all, the organizations that had imprisoned her and her mother.
In a world where the concept of the dignity of life was so faint, Name had spent twenty-five years enduring one unbearably difficult thing after another.
Especially in a body whose emotions she could not control, how long had she continued to hold everything in?
She poured all that resentment into her fists and continued pounding the demon’s body.
Bang-!
* * *
Year 1107 of the Kaizen Empire.
“Stop, stop!”
Marquis Bastion had been honored with the task of teaching the most exalted people on the continent.
‘To hell with the honor...!’
He forcibly stopped the sparring, which had reached an emotional peak, and immediately rushed toward the fallen princes.
“Your Highness, are you conscious?! Your Highness! Call the royal physician at once! Quickly!”
The attendants, who had been staring spellbound at the sparring in the dueling grounds, belatedly began to move.
The marquis’s eyes turned sharply toward the other side.
The Third Prince was fidgeting helplessly, while the ‘problematic princess’ had quietly lowered her wooden sword. Her expression appeared entirely devoid of guilt.
The marquis unconsciously clutched his head.
“What on earth do you think you’re doing! When did I ever say you could put emotion into a mere spar!”
The old man had retired from politics long ago, but his voice grew even louder. Since he had so rarely had anything to shout about, it cracked as an added bonus.
But the marquis also dimly understood his own fault.
He had realized the princess’s extraordinary talent long ago.
But who could possibly have predicted that a mere nine-year-old girl would brutally crush two exceptionally talented youths of seventeen and fifteen?
Even Sir Verstappen, the current Swordmaster of the Empire, could not have guessed it.
Marquis Bastion strode toward the princess and demanded an explanation.
“Princess Eustacia.”
The title contained not the slightest trace of honorific respect.
Kaizen’s heretic. The Iron Emperor’s blemish. That was the Fourth Princess’s current position.
Yet the calm gaze directed at the marquis did not waver in the slightest.
“He used a killing move first.”
The girl replied bluntly.
“I know.”
“Then go ahead and tell me again that it was my fault.”
“This time as well, it is the fault of you, the Fourth Princess.”
“Why?”
The girl’s gaze abruptly changed.
The marquis swallowed a dry breath.
She was not simply swept away by anger like an immature child.
How frightening was a swordsman who knew how to exercise patience?
It was merely unfortunate that such talent had gone to the princess of all people.
“Recognize your position. This is the utmost advice I can give you, and today’s final lesson. If you intend to take this lightly or disobey it, you would do well not to pick up a sword from now on.”
The affairs of the world were not accomplished by force alone.
Sometimes, reality was that even the greatest hero could be executed by a single wag of the tongue from a fat-bellied nobleman.
Marquis Bastion, who had weathered every storm from the center of power, gave her that advice with complete sincerity.
As he returned to his estate, he could not erase thoughts of the princess from his mind.
An innate talent beyond comparison.
If that talent were supported by experience, how formidable a swordswoman might she become?
Perhaps she could establish herself as a legendary figure who would grace the current age—or even remain in the history books.
Yet every one of those assumptions proved futile.
Marquis Bastion rummaged through his desk drawer and pulled out a letter he had received several days earlier.
His hand trembled with tension as he opened the letter, which had been carefully sealed with sealing wax.
His expression gradually hardened as he slowly read through the contents.
If she made a name for herself, it would likely be closer to ‘notoriety.’
[The Emperor’s heretic is indeed the Demon King’s seed.]
Perhaps, since Emperor Irogen had permitted her to learn both magic and the sword, the young princess had already been dragged into a dirty political struggle.
[Therefore, we hope that you will use that card carefully on our behalf, Marquis.]
“It seems this imperial succession struggle won’t end with just one or two people dead...”
The sharp-eyed nobles had likely already begun aligning themselves with the sides they had each chosen.
Perhaps he would have to broaden the scope.
The Third Prince and the Third Princess might also be granted the right of succession.
Or perhaps even the Fourth Princess.