“????”
...What?
Am I dreaming?
Gardin was eighty-five years old.
Overshadowed by Felicia, yes, but in truth, he was the eldest among the kingdom’s knights. Excluding the dragon-blooded Pendragon royal family—who lived absurdly long—there were few in the kingdom who had survived as long as he had.
And with age came experience.
Yet even he...
I... I’ve never seen anything like this.
For the first time in decades, his jaw hung open in sheer disbelief.
A person... is flying through the air...?
The sight before him defied all reason.
A human—no, something he could no longer be certain was human—was soaring through the sky, descending like a meteor, tearing through the land as if it were nothing.
Had he not seen it himself, had this been relayed to him in writing, he would have scolded whoever wrote such nonsense.
But unfortunately—
BOOOOM!
—he had seen it.
There was no denying it.
And so, Gardin forcibly pulled himself together.
“E-Enemy descending from above! Attack, attack them now!”
Even as he shouted, he wasn’t sure if his command made any sense.
But it was the only logical order he could give in this situation.
The knights moved in sync.
Regardless of how they had arrived, an intruder was an intruder. And the proper course of action was to eliminate them.
That was the ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) rational thing to do.
But then—
“—Was it you?”
A voice, low and eerily calm, cut through the air.
“The ones who threatened my kids?”
BANG!
A knight had barely begun to unsheath his sword when—
His face exploded like a balloon bursting under pressure.
His body flipped in the air seven times before slamming into the ground.
THUD!
A long dragging sound followed as his limp body skidded across the dirt.
Blood seeped from his crushed face, yet not even the faintest groan of pain escaped his lips.
He was utterly unconscious.
Not a twitch, not a single sign of life.
It had been a single strike.
A brutal, merciless display of sheer violence.
The knights who had been advancing halted in their tracks, their foreheads beading with sweat.
One man’s sheer presence was suppressing dozens.
A phenomenon unfolding in real-time before their eyes.
And witnessing this from above—
“...He really got here before us?”
“Hey, do you think this thing’s defective? Why is it so slow?”
“This is an artifact! It’s extremely fast! It covered a five-hour train ride in just one hour!”
“Then why is Coach faster?”
“That’s... because Coach is weird.”
Two boys had arrived late.
As they descended from their paper-plane-like flight artifact, they scratched their noses, taking in the already half-destroyed mansion.
By the time they had arrived, he had already started the rescue mission.
...That technique Coach uses isn’t Air-Walking. It’s... full-fledged flight.
Derrick sighed, shaking his head as he recalled the sight of their instructor launching himself through the air like a human missile.
***
BOOM!
A deafening popping sound echoed through the battlefield.
With every resounding pop, a knight was sent flying.
Resistance? Counterattacks?
CRACK!
...What were those?
“W-What... my sword?!”
A knight had crept up behind Ihan, swinging his blade with a victorious grin—
Only for his sword to shatter.
A moment of cognitive dissonance.
The knights felt as though they were dreaming.
Even if they had fallen to heresy, even if they had become Demi-Fiends, they were still knights.
They prided themselves on their swordsmanship. They had trained for decades.
Yet their blades were breaking.
Even when they ambushed their target.
How...?
How was this possible?!
“You think I’d leave my back unguarded?”
“!!?”
“The attempt was decent, though.”
Whoosh!
CRASH!
Ihan’s massive hand clamped around the knight’s face—
And slammed him into the ground.
A sickening, glass-like shattering sound echoed from the knight’s body.
The surrounding knights shivered.
Cold sweat ran down their spines.
They knew that sound.
It was the sound of bones breaking beyond repair.
The kind of sound that made one’s stomach churn.
The kind of sound that meant no healing magic could save them.
“The thing is, you see...”
Ihan suddenly mused.
“Did you know that back muscles... can be used as an offensive weapon?”
—??
The knights blinked, confused.
What the hell was this man even talking about?
“Not just for defense, you know. With the right technique, you can weaponize them.”
—?????
...What kind of bullshit was that?!
Their faces said it all.
But Ihan, seemingly unbothered by their lack of understanding, simply smirked.
“It’s tough being a pioneer.”
Thunk.
Ihan picked up the shattered sword from the knight he had just slammed into the ground.
A half-broken blade—
What could he possibly do with that?
Bzzzzzt—
“This sword can still fight.”
“Th-That’s... sword resonance...?”
A natural hum emitted from the broken blade.
The knights’ faces hardened.
Because they had never heard of a shattered sword resonating before.
But then—
Something even more unbelievable happened.
Whoooosh!
Blossoms—
Plum blossoms—
Bloomed from the blade.
An otherworldly sight.
The knights could only stare, dumbfounded.
“In winter,” Ihan murmured, twirling the blade, “plum blossoms are quite the sight, don’t you think?”
And with that—
They were swallowed by a storm of petals.
***
Rustle...
“......”
Gardin dusted off the iron powder that had scattered like sand from his hands.
“...Unbelievable.”
He lifted his gaze toward the sky.
A sky that had never once been on his side.
“How heartless. Why does the Light refuse to smile upon me?”
He had dedicated his entire life to the sword.
He had given everything.
He had even abandoned his humanity—
And yet.
“Why is it you standing in my way?!”
Gardin’s fury boiled over, his voice a raw eruption of frustration.
The sheer force of a swordsman who had swung his blade for over ninety years surged around him, manifesting in a gale of murderous intent.
A brutal storm of steel.
But—
“The sky has never taken sides. No place is more unfair than this world.”
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“...And you claim to understand the laws of the heavens?”
“I don’t know about laws, but I sure as hell know how unfair life is. And you, old man—you’ve lived long enough to know it even better than I do.”
“......”
“Well, unless you’re too senile to remember.”
“...What an insolent brat.”
“That’s strange. Why do all the old folks keep calling me insolent? I think I’m being pretty damn polite.”
“......”
Gardin fell silent, staring at the monster before him.
He realized then—
This provocation, this nonchalance—
It was all part of a calculated strategy.
He’s not just some mindless beast. He’s dangerous.
A wild beast was terrifying enough.
A thinking wild beast was infinitely worse.
From this moment on, Gardin no longer saw Ihan as a human adversary.
He was a predator.
A beast with intelligence.
And against such a foe—
“—I wouldn’t move if I were you.”
...He froze.
“You’ve already lost. Stop making a fool of yourself and accept it.”
“W-Who are you saying has lost?!”
“You. You’ve lost. You don’t even realize it yet.”
“What nonsense—”
“Look at your hand.”
“......”
Gardin had been about to lash out—
But he looked.
And he saw.
Trembling.
His hand was trembling violently, as though afflicted by an uncontrollable tremor.
“See? You’re already afraid. That means you’ve lost.”
“!?”
“Old man, when’s the last time you actually fought in a real battle? Your skills seem fine, but you haven’t seen live combat in years, have you? You’ve rusted.”
“T-This is...”
“No matter how fine a blade may be, if it just hangs on a wall, it’s useless.”
Ihan smirked.
“So don’t be too hard on yourself. You’re just... yeah. You’re better suited to pushing paper than swinging a sword.”
“......”
...A greater insult could not have been uttered.
A man who had once been hailed as one of the Hundred Swordsmen of the Kingdom—
Told that a pen suited him better than a blade.
And yet—
“......”
He did not draw his sword.
“Master!”
Levi ran toward Ihan without hesitation.
Ihan let out a soft chuckle.
“You seem fine.”
She wasn’t hurt.
They had staged a coup, but at least they still had some sense.
“Well, even reckless fools know to fear that woman.”
“...Are you talking about Grandmother?”
“Of course.”
“...As her grandson, I find that a difficult statement to respond to.”
“Whatever. What about you? Any injuries?”
“I’m unharmed, so please—stop destroying things.”
“Send the bill to the academy. Don’t come to me for it.”
“...I’d rather ask Gardin directly. I don’t want to see the Headmaster clutching his chest and collapsing.”
Arno glanced at the kneeling, broken Gardin.
The man had already been old, but now he looked a decade older.
Accepting defeat without even drawing his sword—
The weight of it must have been unbearable.
“For a swordsman, he was quite something.”
“He was a swordsman? I thought he was just some bureaucrat. He reeks of politics.”
“...Coach, that’s the second time you’ve killed him.”
Arno was tempted to cut Gardin down himself—
But he was not cold-hearted enough to strike down a man who had already surrendered.
“I should leave this to my father and grandmother.”
“You’re too soft.”
“...Wouldn’t it be better to keep him alive for information?”
“You think I care about that?”
“......”
“I didn’t kill him because it’s your family’s business. That’s all.”
Ihan gestured lazily around them.
“Look. No one’s dead, right?”
“...W-Wait. Does that mean... you were holding back?”
“If I wasn’t, your entire mansion would be gone.”
“......”
“I took it easy since it’s my student’s house.”
“...Th-Thank you?”
Even as he expressed gratitude, Arno wasn’t sure if he should.
If this level of devastation was Ihan holding back—
...My goal is so far away.
Arno couldn’t help but laugh bitterly.
The gap between him and the man he aspired to reach...
It was enormous.
“Tch. How boring.”
Ihan clicked his tongue.
Even as he chided Arno for overthinking, he couldn’t help but find amusement in his fire.
Unlike Gardin, whose blade had dulled with age and politics—
Arno’s would rise again, no matter how many times he was struck down.
There was potential in him.
And so—
“Now, who the hell are you—”
BOOOOM!
—to think you can lay a hand on my students?”
A fist ignited in flames.
And with it, a Hundred-Pace Divine Strike roared to life—
—directed straight at the arrogant fool who had dared to summon him here.