Chapter 18
[…Aura Blade! You! You were a Swordmaster?!]
The man cried out in shock when I drew my Aura Blade.
Well, I guess he was wondering what one of the only five Swordmasters in the world was doing here.
“…It’s too late to surrender now. You’ve already gotten on my nerves.”
Now that I’ve drawn my Aura Blade, you’re going to die.
[…Grrk! Even if you are a Swordmaster! You can’t kill me inside my Colosseum!!!]
The man shouted as he began summoning minions one after another.
Each one was as powerful as the giant from before.
There were at least several hundred of them.
No, weren’t you the one who wanted a duel?
[Kahaha! Inside this Colosseum, I can summon my minions without limit. What do you think of the power of the minions I’ve gathered over hundreds of years!]
Hundreds of giants—maybe even thousands—that could almost completely nullify physical attacks.
Normally, the sheer number of them might have filled someone with terror.
But the one standing before them now was a Swordmaster. And one who’d decided to fight at full strength, at that.
I lowered my stance and brought my sword to my waist.
The so-called ‘draw’ stance. I didn’t have a scabbard, though.
“First Form: Snowflake”
As I swung my sword as if drawing it from a scabbard, a huge snowflake swept away every last giant.
All that remained in its wake were the giants’ frozen lower halves.
This was my sword style, the Icebound Swordsmanship.
A sword style I’d created myself, and one only I could use.
[What…! That’s impossible!]
The man seemed more than a little flustered. He clearly hadn’t expected me to wipe out his minions in one blow.
You’ve lived for hundreds of years, but you don’t know how dangerous a Swordmaster is?
“Second Form: Piercing the Ice Road”
As I swung my sword, a tunnel of ice appeared.
I prepared to charge toward the end of the tunnel, where the man stood.
[Tch! Don’t underestimate me!]
But the man proved he was quite strong, too, unleashing an immense pressure.
I wouldn’t be able to cut him down in one blow like I had those giants.
Well… that didn’t mean he could beat me.
“Third Form: Blizzard Thrust”
I became a blizzard and charged at the man.
The Third Form was a technique where I charged like a blizzard and thrust eleven times. It was also the technique I used most often.
Eleven powerful thrusts swept toward the man, trapped in the tunnel with nowhere to run.
[Tch. Gwaaaaaah!]
“Heh.”
Then he deflected every one of those thrusts and sent me flying out of the tunnel.
So I’m at a disadvantage in terms of raw strength.
“Fourth Form: Hailstone Descent”
After bursting through the tunnel and soaring into the sky, I formed a foothold out of aura.
Then I kicked off it and plummeted at incredible speed.
My sword came down on the man like hail.
Of course, unlike hail, it could cut—and it was incomparably more powerful, too.
-KWA-BOOOOM!
[Aaaagh!]
The man crossed both arms to block my sword, but my blade cut right through them, as if it refused to tolerate such feeble resistance.
But perhaps my speed had slowed a little, because the man shot backward, both arms severed.
[How dare you… How dare you!! You ignorant masses!!!!]
The man screamed and screeched for a while, then new arms suddenly grew from his stumps.
Just as I thought. It’s similar to healing through divine power.
[I’ll make you learn your place!!!!]
Orbs of light bubbled into existence around the man.
Despite their harmless appearance, each orb of light had power on par with a grand spell.
[DIIIIEEEE!!!]
“Hmph. An attack that weak couldn’t kill me even if you wanted it to.”
I hadn’t mentioned it until now, but I think sword forms should flow into one another as much as possible.
The Second and Third Forms were linked techniques, and I designed the other forms to connect as much as possible, too.
Since my sword style could link all the way to the Eleventh Form if I pushed it a little, my attacks grew stronger the more forms I chained together in order.
So, like this.
“Fifth Form: Sleet-Cutting Swift Dance”
-Shhk!
[Impossible!]
I danced like falling sleet, cutting down every orb of light that came flying at me across a wide area.
I actually came up with the Fifth Form when I was experimenting with a sword dance out of curiosity. It was sleeting that day.
So I tried to imitate the sleet, and this form was born.
“Sixth Form: Icewind Thunder Prison”
After I cut through every orb, I swung my sword at the man, who was once again putting on an over-the-top display of shock.
An ice storm prison appeared, trapping him inside.
It looked like a storm, but it was actually a brutal prison made entirely of sword energy.
The deadliest of prisons, it would tear apart anything that touched it.
I fired two blades of sword energy toward that prison.
“Seventh Form: Ice Slash”
The two blades of sword energy flew in a V, engulfing the man along with the ice storm.
[Aaaagh!]
When the storm cleared, the man was covered in blood.
Something like divine power continued healing him, but his wounds were so deep that he was recovering slowly.
He’s holding up pretty well. I really did mean to kill him.
“You’re holding up pretty well.”
[Grrk! You wench! I’ll kill you! I’ll make you regret humiliating me like this!!!!]
“Oh? That sounds interesting. But…”
Snowflake-shaped lines appeared across the man’s body and in the air around him.
“Eighth Form: Snow-Crystal Sword Bloom”
A moment later, blood spurted from the lines carved into the man’s body.
[Gwaaaaah!]
“Do you have the ability to do that?”
Snow crystals. One of the most beautiful things in the world, in my opinion.
One day, I happened to gaze at a snow crystal without thinking, and it was so beautiful that I spent days trying to recreate it with my sword.
Thanks to that, the form became both powerful and beautiful.
[I’ll never forgive you!!!!]
The man still seemed to have plenty of strength left. He charged at me, swinging his fists wildly.
His stance looked awful at first glance, but despite that, his attacks seemed to carry considerable force.
If I took a direct hit, I might die.
“Ninth Form: Gliding Ice Shadow”
That was only if I got hit, though.
For the record, the ‘Shadow’ in the Ninth Form uses the character for ‘shadow.’ My father came up with that name.
He said that when I moved around like that at night, it looked as if my shadow were moving or something.
[You little gnat!]
After I dodged all his attacks with gliding movements, the man began gathering an enormous Spirit Bomb.
As a huge mass of ominous divine power coalesced, the man grinned and hurled it at me.
[This is the end!!!!]
The ‘This is the end’ special: It isn’t the end.
“Tenth Form: Ice Flower Dance”
Following the movement of my hand, my sword split into dozens, then hundreds of strokes, slicing through the man’s Spirit Bomb as delicately as if I were carving a sculpture.
It was cut, and cut, and cut again, until all that remained was a single flower.
The Spirit Bomb, sliced apart like that, vanished in midair.
[…Huh! That can’t be! I made sure it would explode the moment anything touched it!]
“Really? Then I must have cut it delicately enough.”
I wasn’t exaggerating. I really had.
It wasn’t a series of wild slashes. It was a beautiful sword strike that meticulously cut only the weak points of its target.
It was so beautiful that even that man had been captivated by my sword for a moment.
I’m glad you liked it. In that case…
“Eleventh Form.”
This time, I’ll let you experience it yourself.
“Ultimate Ice Flower Slash”
My sword swung in a motion similar to the one before.
But unlike before, that dazzling sword strike sent a vicious wave of sword energy straight at him.
[What…! Impossible! There’s no way you can unleash so many waves of sword energy with this much power!]
The man shouted as his entire body was sliced to pieces.
[You… could you be a Grand Swordmaster?]
“Huh? Haha. Of course not.”
[How can that be…? You’re this strong without even being a Grand Swordmaster…]
The man’s body no longer regenerated.
Not because he’d run out of divine power, but because his wounds were beyond healing.
The Eleventh Form damaged his very soul, no longer allowing him to regenerate.
[…I see. I’ve lost. But that’s all right. I fought the strongest Swordmaster and held out for a long time. That means I can leave having earned the ‘Glory’ of reaching a level worthy of a Swordmaster, even at the very end.]
The man muttered with an oddly satisfied expression.
Looks like he’s got one thing badly wrong.
“Hey.”
[What? Are you going to mock me for losing?]
“I don’t know about that. I just don’t like the idea of you dying with such a satisfied look, so I’ll tell you one truth you won’t want to believe.”
I slowly approached the man and spoke with a bright smile.
“I’m the weakest of the five Swordmasters.”
[…What?]
“I’m the weakest.”
It was true. If I fought the other Swordmasters, I might put up a good fight, but I wouldn’t win.
So.
“So, if you lost even to the weakest, you can never call yourself Swordmaster-level, no matter what.”
[No way…]
-CHOP.
I didn’t want to hear his voice anymore, so I cut off his head.
Even with his head severed, he glared at me with an indignant, furious expression. But what could I do?
You’re weak, that’s all.