Chapter 74: Chapter 74 - Battle of Legends ( Part 5)
The heavens quaked.
The challenge by Azrakiel echoed throughout the entire battlefield.
"Show me... the sword which once brought an end to the Great Demon War."
Jennie said nothing.
With her white hair swirling amid the storm of the crimson and golden mana filling the sky, Excalibur gleamed even brighter than ever, repelling the darkness surrounding the Demon General.
Jennie closed her eyes.
"I’ve promised myself that I would never turn into Leonis again."
She squeezed Excalibur’s hilt tighter.
"But protecting the people I love..."
"...had never changed."
Taking a single step forward, Jennie said:
Boom!
The ground exploded beneath her.
But unlike before, there wasn’t any overpowering surge of the power. On the contrary, every move she made now seemed absolutely effortless, as if carried out by the world itself.
Headmaster Orion widened his eyes.
"No..."
"She doesn’t increase her strength."
"She is eliminating every unnecessary movement."
Everyone knew well the difference between a simple increase in power and perfection of one’s moves.
Jennie wasn’t becoming stronger.
She was becoming perfect.
Azrakiel grinned.
"So you have finally decided."
The Demon General swung his gigantic greatsword.
Abyssal War Style...
Eternal Ruin!
The sky was torn apart.
The blade made of the condensed darkness descended from above like a judgment of the heaven itself, devouring the light. The attack was so powerful that everyone under it believed that the kingdom would simply disappear.
"Barrier!"
All royal mages poured all the mana left to them in the defense.
Crack.
Crack.
The barrier was shattered long before the attack reached it.
People cried in horror.
But Jennie didn’t move.
She just raised her sword.
Golden Excalibur pointed to the horizon.
She whispered in the same breath:
"KingHeart Sword Style..."
It sounded like a prayer.
"...Final Form."
Even Excalibur trembled at this name.
"A technique..."
"...that I believed had been lost forever."
Jennie slowly opened her eyes.
They were calm.
Clear.
Without any hate.
Without fear.
Only determination.
"The King’s Final Sword."
And she vanished.
No.
That’s what everyone believed.
In reality...
Jennie moved so naturally that it had become impossible for the eye to catch her.
Headmaster Orion couldn’t see her anymore.
Lucas blinked.
"W-Where is she?"
Even the smile of Azrakiel disappeared.
"What...?"
After a heartbeat...
A single golden trail was carved across the giant wave of darkness.
Silence.
Then...
The impossible thing happened.
The abyssal slash silently divided into two absolutely identical halves.
Not broken.
Not overpowered.
Just...
Cut in half.
The attack kept flying without stopping in the same direction, cutting both sides of the cloud and vanishing on the distant horizon.
No explosion.
No shockwave.
Only perfect cut.
Everyone stared in stunned silence.
The impossible attack had been destroyed in a single strike.
Azrakiel slowly began laughing.
"So this..."
"...is your answer."
Jennie was already standing behind him.
Her sword rested calmly at her side.
She hadn’t fought the attack head-to-head once.
She just found her way through countless weaknesses hiding inside of it.
A style that didn’t require more power.
Only perfect knowledge.
Only absolute precision.
Only complete mastery.
Headmaster Orion muttered in amazement:
"She hadn’t beaten the technique..."
"She corrected it."
These words caused shivers through all the masters of the sword present.
Jennie’s blade wasn’t destroying anything.
It restored balance.
Slowly turning around, Azrakiel showed his bleeding shoulder.
He smiled wider than ever.
"I have wondered why you have defeated armies with just one sword."
"I understand now."
Jennie remained silent.
But Azrakiel said:
"The KingHeart Sword Style..."
"...wasn’t designed for killing."
"It exists..."
"...for protecting."
Jennie nodded in response.
"My master once told me..."
"The strongest sword..."
"...is the one ending the battle with minimum number of sacrifices."
Princess Lilia below started crying.
She understood now why Jennie was always smiling.
Why she was never boastful.
Why she constantly stood between danger and everyone else.
Jennie never strove for victory.
She strove for peace.
Suddenly Azrakiel began laughing.
"Magnificent!"
Crimson mana erupted around him.
His injuries healed instantly.
"I have waited a thousand years for this!"
The Demon General spread his arms.
The sky grew dark again.
Thousands of black blades formed behind him.
Each of them radiated enough power to destroy an entire city.
Gasps came from below.
One blade was terrifying enough.
But there were thousands of them now.
The voice of Azrakiel shook the heavens.
"Come then!"
"Show me everything!"
Thousands of black swords flew at once.
They fell like rain of stars.
Everyone was convinced that the end had come.
Jennie took a deep breath.
She wasn’t panicking.
She wasn’t rushing.
She took a single step.
Then another.
From the viewpoint of everyone watching it seemed less like fight...
...and more like beautiful dance.
Her blade was making elegant arcs in the air.
Every strike cut dozens of black blades.
Not a single movement was wasted.
Each step flowed naturally into the next one.
Every cut created opening for the following one.
Golden trails were appearing on the battlefield.
For the first time in the history...
The people of the current era saw full-scale KingHeart Sword Style.
There was no overpowering strength.
There were no flashy explosions.
Only beauty.
Only elegance.
Only perfection.
Battlefield itself became her stage.
The storm of darkness began to vanish gradually.
Blade after blade...
Hundreds...
Thousands...
Were cut in half before hitting the ground.
Witnesses couldn’t notice where Jennie was.
Golden after-images appeared everywhere.
Some believed that they saw ten Jennies.
Others – that there were hundreds.
In reality...
There was only one.
When the last black blade disappeared...
Jennie stood in the same place where she started.
She was breathing calmly.
Not a single drop of sweat ran down her face.
The battlefield was intact.
Behind her, all the soldiers, hunters, students, civilians were completely safe.
Nobody was hurt even slightly.
Azrakiel lowered his greatsword.
For the first time in a thousand years...
First Demon General bowed his head.
Not in defeat.
But in reverence.
"A sword worthy of a king."
"A heart worthy of a hero."
"And a soul..."
He smiled.
"...worthy of being called Jennie."
The battlefield was silent.
All witnesses knew well that they had seen something that could never be repeated.
This was not swordsmanship.
This was the peak of the art mastered in countless battles, countless sacrifices and desire to protect others.
At that moment, the Sword King’s legend stopped being an old legend, told in history books.
It became reality right before their eyes.
For several long moments...
Nobody dared utter a single word.
The battlefield grew abnormally silent as if the world tried to understand what happened just now.
The remaining hunters cautiously lowered their blades.
One of the experienced hunters gave a weak chuckle.
"I... I couldn’t even keep up with her actions."
The other one shook his head.
"No."
"It wasn’t the matter that she was moving too fast."
"Rather our eyes weren’t meant to watch such kind of swordsmanship."
The young hunters froze in shock as everything they knew about fighting collapsed right in front of their eyes.
For years they thought that strength was all about power, big spells, destruction.
Jennie proved them wrong within seconds.
One sword.
One serene expression.
One perfect succession of actions.
Just that.
Headmaster Orion slowly bent on one knee.
His shocked students couldn’t tear their gaze away from him.
"Headmaster?"
Without looking away from Jennie, Orion whispered.
"Remember this moment."
"You are seeing the birthplace of every sword style studied in this kingdom."
He gave a sad smile.
"We thought that we inherited the techniques of the Sword King."
"We were wrong."
"They were nothing but imperfect copies."
"The real KingHeart Sword Style..."
"...has always been standing right in front of us."
Some instructors involuntarily bowed their heads.
Not to the royal authority.
Not to the hero.
But to the incarnation of the sword which they dedicated their entire life to.
Down below Princess Lilia wiped away her tears.
Soft smile appeared on her lips.
"So that’s how..."
"You managed to make everything look so easy."
She recalled how easily Jennie prepared a cup of tea.
Taught young servants to do their job without raising her voice.
Healed injured members of the palace guard after training sessions.
Cooked dinner for everybody since they forgot about lunch.
Jennie was never acting like some better than others.
Even though she possessed unimaginable power.
Lilia put her hand over her heart.
"I don’t care if you are the Sword King..."
"I don’t care if you are a legendary person from a thousand years ago."
Her voice trembled.
"For me..."
"You will always be my Jennie."
Above them Azrakiel slowly exhaled.
His crimson eyes reflected serene figure of Jennie.
"Remarkable."
"I spent centuries believing that power decides about the outcome of fight."
He gave a quiet laugh.
"But your sword shows that there is another truth."
Jennie tilted her head slightly.
And Azrakiel continued.
"Every attack has just enough force to hit."
"But nothing more."
"And nothing less."
"You don’t waste a single move."
"You don’t waste a single unit of mana."
"Not even a tiny bit of intent."
His smile grew wider.
"You reached the level where the sword doesn’t serve your hands..."
"...it serves your heart."
Jennie looked down at Excalibur.
The holy blade gave off a soft golden light.
In her mind Excalibur said proudly.
"You finally remembered."
Jennie gave a faint smile.
"No."
"I never forgot."
"I just didn’t want to use it."
She looked down at the people standing below.
Her family.
Her friends.
Her kingdom.
"The King’s Final Sword wasn’t created to show that I’m the strongest."
Her silver eyes softened.
"It was made so that people who stand behind me don’t have to fight."
Warm breeze caressed the destroyed battlefield.
For the first time since the beginning of the battle the suffocating pressure disappeared.
Quiet hope returned into the hearts of everyone who watched.
And in that brief moment every witness understood why history never remembered Leonis as the strongest warrior.
Because...
The world remembered one name.
The Hero King.
Not because Leonis could destroy any foe.
But because wherever that sword was raised...
Everybody standing behind it could feel safe.
