BANG!
CRASH!
BOOM!
Once again, the massive sword struck the ground, raising a thick cloud of dust.
Yet again, Roengreen had failed to properly strike anything.
He could feel cold sweat trickling down his cheek as his eyes widened in determination.
It wasn’t fear of defeat that crossed his mind.
Simply, the mere fact that exchanging blows with Isaac at this point was practically equivalent to defeat.
Proof of this was that Roengreen’s gaze hadn’t been directed toward Arandel’s position for some time now.
“Is that what you think—that running away will lead you to victory!?”
Roengreen shouted toward Isaac, his frustration evident.
However, Isaac’s eyes remained unwavering, focused intently on preparing for the next move.
The futility of this exchange of blows was, to him, a single step toward victory.
This realization quickened Roengreen’s heartbeat.
The overwhelming sense that Helvint, renowned as an invincible warrior, was being bested by a mere commoner.
What was worse, it wasn’t just Roengreen who felt this; others around them sensed it too.
Helvint’s knights experienced an inexplicable fear, and the spectators watched with tense eyes.
As if turned into a captured demon for the knights’ practical training, Roengreen began to feel used as practice for Isaac to teach others how to defeat Helvint.
In that fleeting moment, Roengreen’s thoughts raced.
His gaze involuntarily shifted, focusing not on Isaac but on Arandel.
There he saw something extraordinary: Arandel Helvint, wearing an expression he had never shown to any member of his family, intently watching Isaac.
Arandel’s body was slightly leaning forward, a faint smile curving at the edges of his mouth.
Even Galenia and Rianne on either side were taken aback, observing not the sparring but Arandel’s uncharacteristic demeanor.
It didn’t take much to infer how unusual the situation had become.
And more surprisingly…
‘He’s smiling?’
CLANG!
Roengreen’s greatsword tilted downward momentarily.
As the cheers of the crowd erupted, celebrating the tangible impact of Isaac’s hard-earned efforts finally reaching Roengreen, there was still that nagging thought:
‘He’s smiling?’
But the crimson pressure radiating from Roengreen was too much for Isaac to penetrate as he once more distanced himself.
“Haha… HAHAHA!”
Roengreen covered his face with his hand, and a trace of madness appeared in his watery eyes, now tinged with a rose-like red.
His dim eyes were those of a demon craving blood.
“I’ll kill you.”
Everything was unsatisfactory.
The flow of the duel had somehow shifted.
That Isaac wielded two slender swords against him, challenging the supremacy of Helvint’s broadsword.
The way those around were witnessing and preaching that Helvint’s sword wasn’t invincible.
Even this imbecile who had always been his punching bag now fighting fervently against him.
The setting sun casting the black-haired Isaac’s figure in a Helvint-like red hue.
Lastly, the fact that it had caught his father’s attention.
“I WILL kill you.”
His pride and self-esteem were trampled.
The crimson pressure enveloping Roengreen suddenly disappeared.
And then,
KUAAAH!
A colossal force surged heavenward, concentrated in his greatsword.
“Aaaaagh!”
“What the—?!”
“I-it’s getting hard to breathe!”
The spectators cried out in terror, even feeling a suffocating discomfort being near it.
Helvint’s oppressive force was taking over the space.
The force extending upward seemed ready to split the sky itself.
With tears in his eyes and a wide smile on his lips, Roengreen held his sword high with both hands.
“Father, can you see?”
Roengreen hoped with all his heart that his father observed this moment clearly.
“This is the technique you showed once.”
The most brilliant and overwhelming strike ever displayed by Arandel Helvint.
Though never taught, Roengreen had etched this technique in his memory since childhood.
Striving and practicing endlessly, trying desperately to replicate it.
And now, it was complete.
“I am next! The great head of the Helvint family!”
He simply aspired to follow the path his father had walked.
As a son, he sought to trail the greatness of his father’s back, aiming to enhance his brilliance.
To become a worthy bearer of the name.
The Crimson Annihilation Strike.
It shatters, tears, burns, and collapses everything in its path.
This extraordinary move, once shown only by the head of the Helvint family, now descended upon Isaac.
*
As Isaac witnessed the oppressive technique meant to crush him, a smirk graced his lips.
In the distance, Rianne attempted to shout in warning but was held back by Arandel.
Could the master-in-law truly smile so effortlessly?
A smile akin to an incorrigible rascal, mixed with a hint of excitement that Isaac had never seen before, not even before or after his return.
Seeing Arandel’s excited form, Isaac’s lips finally curled upward.
‘To deny that it’s a great technique would be impossible.’
Despite exposing the weaknesses in Helvint’s swordsmanship to the surrounding martial artists just moments ago, showing them that Helvint was not invincible…
On the contrary,
Having dissected Helvint’s swordsmanship, Isaac was honest enough to admit its greatness.
Helvint’s swordsmanship was truly alluring.
Unattainable by many swordsmen but deeply admired.
Widely regarded as insurmountable.
“Why fight again?”
“…”
“Your mind is truly like reeds. Do you hate or love Helvint? Just make up your mind.”
“It merely frustrated me that there was someone among us saying such asinine things like Helvint only fights by brute force.”
“Tsk. I understand your feelings.”
Though disliking Helvint,
He admired their blade.
This complex emotion was something the Senior Master understood.
‘The most talented swordsman in the world spent everything to build this legacy.’
‘Surely, it is something worth admiring.’
To be honest,
As he studied Helvint’s sword techniques, there were moments where he found himself convinced.
If all of this had been cast aside for this,
Yes, it was something that could be accepted.
However,
While striving for deeper understanding and contemplating Arandel’s final words to reach the pinnacle of what Helvint had achieved,
Isaac sighed and became enraged.
“KUUUAAAH!”
With a battle cry, the Crimson Annihilation Strike descended.
He never imagined he’d face this technique in his lifetime.
As the fiery pressure surged toward him like a demonic flame, Isaac raised his blade skyward.
Surprisingly, the pressure’s flow transformed. A simple and concise movement,
Like ink from a brush tip, the pressure swirled and encircled Isaac as he skillfully wielded his blade.
The sight of the once ferocious force now seemingly bowing to its adversary was nothing short of shocking.
“Wh-what is this?!”
“He absorbed Helvint’s power?!”
“It’s impossible!”
And yet,
Isaac wore a smirk.
Helvint’s blade, though centered on power, was not all-consuming brute force.
If Roengreen had truly mimicked the technique wielded by Arandel,
Did Arandel only wield his blade through sheer power?
‘Absolutely not.’
While the spear of Kaldias could be wielded universally,
The blade of Helvint felt almost purposefully crafted to defy imitation.
The missteps in Roengreen’s attempt:
The length of his steps, the grip on his greatsword, the direction of the blade, the unsuitability of the greatsword’s length for Crimson Annihilation Strike, his shallow breaths, the uncondensed crimson pressure, and more.
Though small, these errors compounded significantly.
On the contrary,
Such minuscule mistakes were unacceptable to the current head of the Helvint family—Arandel.
Arandel’s blade.
“Aah, Rinaa-!”
The incomplete Crimson Annihilation Strike swirled around Isaac.
Watching this, Roengreen’s face contorted with anger.
The technique he had worked years to master, that son-of-a-gun had stolen from him.
“No!”
His depleted crimson pressure.
Now gripping only his greatsword, Roengreen’s eyes clouded with fear.
“Mine! It’s mine, damn it!”
He advanced.
For the first time in his life,
Helvint’s crimson pressure bolstered Isaac.
“Helvint’s pride! The great glory is—something you cannot attain! This is! This is—!”
As Roengreen shouted in despair, Isaac’s calm words pierced his ear.
“It was too crude.”
The mana in Isaac’s blade was so crude that it could be manipulated.
Had Roengreen attempted to overpower him from the start, Isaac might have faced a higher likelihood of defeat.
Learning is not imitation.
“Arbitrary.”
“Stop being arbitrary.”
“…!”
As Isaac’s voice and his father’s overlapped, a mental scar was carved into Roengreen’s chest.
Roengreen knelt amidst a pool of blood.
THUD!
The heir to the Helvint family,
The firstborn son of Helvint,
As Roengreen fell to his knees, an instant silence fell.
No one had anticipated, nor were they prepared to accept, such an outcome.
In a world frozen in disbelief,
Isaac’s gaze was solely locked onto Arandel’s.
He wanted to say,
After the Black Sword’s understanding of Helvint’s blade reached its conclusion, the reason for the ensuing rage was not,
Because he was abandoned.
‘Honestly, did you think Helvint had truly reached the end?’
Because everything was abandoned, Helvint had reached that point.
On the contrary,
The inability to progress further,
Was also because of the abandonment.
The man who had been discarded was speaking.
SCHHHH!
A massive, thunderous applause.
SCHHHH! SCHHHH! SCHHHH!
This was Arandel Helvint’s first-ever praise for someone’s blade.
Soon,
The crowd’s cheers engulfed Isaac.
