Chapter 19
BOOOOM!
The instant their swords crossed...
The world slowed.
Theron saw everything.
The mana concentrated at Isaac's sword tip.
The elasticity of his entire body.
His weight.
Everything he possessed was gathered into that single path.
If Theron blocked directly, his wrist would break.
If he dodged, there would be no second chance.
So...
He would neither block nor dodge.
Theron's wooden sword lightly touched the side of Isaac's attack.
Crack!
Isaac's full power slid along that surface and lost its destination.
At the end of that redirected flow...
Theron's sword slipped inward like a fish swimming against the current.
Slice.
The sound of wood being cut.
The two boys passed each other and stopped with their backs facing one another.
Small stones kicked up from the ground.
Dust spread outward in a circle.
"..."
Silence.
The first thing to move was Isaac's wooden sword.
Tap.
More precisely...
The front half of it.
The upper half, cut diagonally, dropped to the ground and rolled away.
Thud.
Then Isaac dropped to one knee.
"Cough...!"
His body had been emptied after squeezing out every last bit of strength.
Something cold touched the back of his neck.
Theron's wooden sword.
"...I lost."
Isaac panted.
There was more disbelief in his laugh than frustration.
"That last one... you redirected it?"
"If I'd blocked it directly, my wrist would've broken."
"Ha. You monster."
Theron withdrew his sword.
Only then did Isaac fall backward onto the ground and breathe heavily.
His chest rose and fell like a bellows beneath the night sky.
"That's... a first."
"What is?"
"Giving everything I had and still losing."
Theron quietly looked down at his fingertips.
The weight of Isaac's final strike still remained there as numbness.
Isaac was only fourteen, yet he was already this strong.
Well... I suppose that's only natural.
He had possessed enough talent to eventually reach that level.
Among the Shadow Knights, Isaac had been the only person capable of fighting Theron as an equal.
If Isaac had never hit the limit of the Darkpin Mana Method...
If he had never been restricted by the Death Sigil...
He could have...
Reached far greater heights.
And in this life...
I'll make sure you do, Isaac.
Theron's responsibilities had increased.
But somehow, he felt good.
He had witnessed the growth of a comrade who might once again walk beside him.
Then...
Isaac suddenly sat up and pulled something from his clothes.
"Take it."
He held out a token bearing Section Three's symbol.
Not one he had stolen.
His own.
"It's the rule. The loser gives it up."
Then Isaac stood and looked at Theron.
"But fight me again next time."
"Next time?"
"You didn't show everything today."
Isaac's eyes gleamed in the darkness.
They were not the eyes of a defeated person.
"Even when you redirected my final attack, your eyes weren't desperate at all."
Isaac smiled.
"I gave everything."
He pointed at Theron.
"You didn't."
"..."
"So this is a debt."
Isaac's grin widened.
"Next time, I'll force you to show everything. Then I'll repay you properly."
Theron silently looked at Isaac for a moment.
Eyes that refused to break even after defeat.
The stubbornness to turn loss into fuel.
...Right.
That's the kind of person you were.
A faint smile appeared on Theron's lips.
"Do whatever you want."
"You promised?"
"I didn't promise anything."
"You did. You smiled."
The stubborn logic was exactly the same as Theron remembered.
Theron turned away.
Isaac called after him.
"Hey, Theron."
"..."
"Tell Section Five this test was fun."
Isaac smirked.
"And tell them we'll come for you first in the next test."
"Tell them yourself."
"Haha! Fine."
Theron left Isaac's laughter behind and disappeared into the darkness.
The test was not over yet.
"..."
After Theron and Isaac left...
Someone remained high on the cliff overlooking the rocky area.
A man in black uniform.
One of the Executioners assigned to supervise the test.
"...I should report this."
His voice was low.
He had thought supervising trainees would be a boring assignment.
At first, even the battle between the two boys below had looked like an ordinary children's fight.
But then...
Isaac from Section Three... the one instructors call the greatest talent of this generation...
Had been completely defeated.
And the one who defeated him was some unknown trainee from Section Five.
The Executioner memorized the back of the boy disappearing into the darkness.
The strange part was not merely the result.
That last movement...
The distance had been far.
It had been dark.
He had not been able to see everything clearly.
But more than ten years of experience had allowed him to understand one thing.
That sword technique...
It was not something taught here.
His gaze remained on the darkness for another moment.
Then he quickly disappeared.
BWOOOOOOO!
A horn announcing the end of the test echoed throughout the forest.
Morning mist exposed the battlefield that had remained hidden in darkness all night.
Broken branches.
Footprints everywhere.
Fragments of wooden swords scattered across the ground.
Tired trainees slowly dragged themselves toward the gathering point.
Some limped.
Some were supported by others, blood dripping from wounds.
Others had lost every token and walked with their heads lowered, expressions empty with despair.
In a single night...
The five sections had experienced completely different fates.
"Look at Section One... half of them look dead."
"I heard they fought Section Three all night. Apparently no one even knows where all their tokens disappeared."
"Sections Two and Four got pulled into the chaos too. They barely have anything left."
Whispers drifted through the misty gathering area.
Then...
Those whispers turned into a strange silence when one group arrived.
Section Five.
Trainees scattered throughout the forest gradually joined together.
Nearly all of them formed a line.
No one had suffered serious injuries.
If anything, their steps were unusually strong.
"...What the hell? Why are they fine?"
"Did Section Five hide all night?"
The fact that the weakest section returned in the best condition was strange enough.
"Theron!"
Near the gathering area...
Renil ran over, waving his hand.
Perka, Tioren, and the rest of their group followed.
"You bastard! Where the hell were you?!"
"You all survived."
"Survived? That's not all!"
Renil proudly lifted a bundle of tokens.
"Twenty! We got twenty!"
Perka smiled, then suddenly examined Theron.
Torn clothes.
A few strands of hair cut away near his neck.
"...You fought someone."
"Huh? Hey, don't tell me..."
Renil's eyes widened.
Across the gathering area...
Isaac was walking in while being supported by several Section Three trainees.
His appearance was a mess.
Yet Isaac looked toward Theron, grinned, and even waved.
"...Sometimes the impossible really does happen."
"You fought that monster and you're still walking normally?"
Everyone stared at Theron.
Meanwhile...
The Section Three trainees supporting Isaac froze when they saw him waving.
"Isaac... don't tell me that guy beat you."
"Yeah."
"He's from Section Five."
"Yeah."
Their faces turned pale at Isaac's casual admission.
Their king.
The strongest talent in the training facility.
Isaac.
Had been defeated by an unknown trainee from the section that had always ranked last.
"I'd like to tell you not to spread the rumor..."
Isaac laughed.
"But everyone will know soon anyway."
He looked toward Theron.
"That guy isn't the kind of person who can stay hidden."
Theron only shrugged.
Then he pulled out one token and tossed it toward Perka.
Section Three's symbol.
Perka laughed in disbelief.
"...You actually brought it."
"This means we really..."
His voice trembled.
With the tokens they had collected all night...
Theron's tokens...
And this three-point token...
There was only one possible result.
Watching from one side of the gathering area stood another man.
Bengle.
Instructor responsible for Section Five.
"...Those bastards."
Bengle's eyes trembled slightly.
Every other section had crawled back half-dead.
His trainees were the only ones completely fine.
Not merely fine.
Their clothes were stuffed with stolen tokens.
Don't tell me... they actually did it?
His bet with Theron.
If Section Five failed to reach the top three, Bengle would cut off both his arms.
If they took first...
He would give Theron one item from the Armory Vault.
That ridiculous bet was starting to look very real.
Bengle swallowed dryly and forced his expression to remain serious.
No. We don't know until the scores are counted.
Yet there was nothing he could do about the pounding in his chest.
The worst instructor.
The label that had followed him endlessly...
Was finally beginning to crack.
The observation tower overlooking the test site.
The instructors who had supervised throughout the night were gathering reports.
"Section One, twelve injured. Section Three, fourteen... what the hell happened last night?"
"Section One and Section Three fought directly. Both sides claim the other attacked first."
But that did not matter.
Who attacked first had no meaning in this test.
However...
"Apparently Section Five stole a large number of tokens during the chaos."
"Are we really going to count tokens obtained by stealing like that?"
"Can something taken so cowardly really count?"
The instructors' mood grew darker.
Then...
"How exactly do you plan to score a test about collecting tokens if stolen tokens don't count?"
Berton spoke coldly among the noise.
The instructors immediately changed their attitudes.
"O-Of course. I was only asking."
"They naturally have to count."
But Berton did not care about the tokens.
He looked toward the Executioner beside him.
"What did you say?"
"Isaac from Section Three was defeated."
The Executioner continued.
"His opponent was Theron from Section Five."
"Theron."
Berton quietly repeated the name.
The boy who survived a full week in the punishment room.
The boy everyone expected to break...
Yet came out with deeper eyes than before.
The name Berton had deliberately changed the test schedule to observe had exploded far more loudly than expected.
"What happened in the fight?"
"I was too far away to see every detail. However..."
The Executioner hesitated.
"Isaac used mana and was still overwhelmed."
Then he added,
"And that trainee's swordsmanship..."
The Executioner's expression hardened.
"It does not belong to this training facility. Nor does it resemble any school I recognize."
"..."
Berton looked out the window.
Trainees were gathering below.
Among them...
One boy walked without any disorder in his posture.
Not an unpolished gemstone...
A blade already sharpened.
Pretending to be raw ore.
Things that should not exist in a trainee who had been here for less than half a year kept appearing around that boy.
A cold smile formed on Berton's lips.
Suspicion had turned into certainty.
Only one question remained.
Who would hold the handle of that sword?
"Keep this quiet for now."
"Yes."
"Everyone will hear soon enough when the scores are announced."
Berton paused.
"And once the counting is finished..."
His voice lowered.
"Bring Theron from Section Five to me."
