Even a Scoundrel Gets Tired

155 – That Hour, Within the Mansion (2)

The swords began to wail,

the surroundings carved away.

*Kaga gagagang─*

Azure sword-light and

inky shadows danced wildly,

followed closely by

ice shards that began

to shroud the sky.

Like a waltz that knew no end.

Two obsidian daggers,

like fangs, grazed his

throat,

yet Reinhardt, unconcerned

with the phantom cuts

upon his neck,

summoned mana once more

from his blade,

a torrent unleashed.

Not merely rising, but *seething*.

That minute difference,

that small distinction,

imbued his sword with

an unearthly truth.

Reinhardt Style Heavy Swordplay,

Form Five: Incineration.

*Pasasak─*

The very air grew hot,

and all his blade touched

was rent asunder.

As if struck by

a narrow, searing flame.

“Haha, you truly intend to kill me?”

“…If need be.”

“Unfair, I must at least show some restraint.”

If his blade resembled

a raging inferno,

then Charlotte’s sword

was the all-consuming

darkness

that swallowed the flames whole.

Behold the proof.

As if bearing teeth,

that wild dog of a dagger

devoured the surrounding motes of light with ravenous hunger.

How a dagger, ordinary

to a fault, could become such a thing, he did not know,

but Reinhardt

felt it instinctively.

Those blades were terribly dangerous.

Was it not currently contending, head-on,

with his own sword?

Against his own sword, which incinerated

everything it touched.

To think a fellow he’d dismissed as a mere assassin

would conceal such

power…

he was filled with disquiet,

forced to take a step back.

“Don’t underestimate me, now, will you? It’s irritating.”

“Kuh… Melissa, you b*tch…!!”

“Don’t you *dare* call me that.”

And then, a furious lightning strike

descended upon him.

Fzzzzz─

Zzzzzz─

In the gloom, from storm clouds that had gathered unnoticed,

a yellow light

flashed for a moment,

and lightning, taking the form

of a golden lion, rained down from the sky,

the lion aiming straight for Reinhardt’s shoulder.

A 5th Circle Thunder magic, [Roar of the Lightning Lion.]

The golden lion’s teeth

pierced Reinhardt’s shoulder.

His pauldrons, which no ordinary magic

could ever hope to penetrate,

were ignored as a matter of course.

The magic she wielded…

It held power enough for that, surely.

*Crack* –

Golden fangs of the lion,

Crimson blood dripped, thick and slow,

And in that same instant, electricity discharged.

*Fizzzzzz* –

Azure lightning spat and sparked.

Output enough to

Instantaneously knock senseless any normal soul.

But alas,

His opponent was no ordinary being.

One of the transhuman, forged by flesh and mana to their utmost.

“Kuh…!”

“…You endure this barehanded?”

For her, a mage,

Such a feat remained utterly inconceivable,

Yet he, who from birth had gripped the blade,

Found this level of torment,

While certainly no mere trifle,

Not entirely beyond his capacity to withstand.

Instead, he seized the lion’s

Mouth, and slammed it down.

With hands, of course, honed with mana.

*KWAANG* –

The golden lion whimpered, losing all form.

And the shadows would

Not let such a moment slip.

[Dark Garden, Rose Thicket]

The shadows that had been

Swirling around Charlotte’s form

Morphing now into a single binding,

Ensnaring both of Reinhardt’s

Limbs.

“…Such paltry things!!”

Though hastily wrought,

Such magic could never

Completely restrain him,

But for Charlotte, that

Single second was all she needed.

To unleash her strike.

A dark dagger howls.

Sharp like a wild dog,

Baring its fangs.

Its target, the shoulder savaged moments ago by the lion,

An shoulder crisped clean through

By discharged electricity.

*Kwaddeudeuk─*

The wild dog’s teeth sink into the lion’s bite marks,

And from that position, it forces

Darkness deeper into him.

To completely

Dominate and bind his body.

No matter that the people

Standing here

Were dukes who feared

Nothing in this world,

Causing such a commotion in broad daylight was a touch unnerving.

But the darkness

Did not enter

His body.

Or, to be precise,

It entered, but was stopped.

By the mana circle whirling fiercely within him.

Blocked by a vortex of mana swirling inside him,

The darkness lost

Its footing, unable to penetrate,

And Reinhardt, without hesitation, raised his sword and swung it.

Truly, it rose as high

As a sword cleaving a mountain.

*Kwagwagwagwang─*

His single strike carved a vast gouge in the earth,

And at the same moment, his eyes shifted.

“….”

“..Hey, Ruenuel?”

“I know, so don’t talk to me, I need to focus.”

“Yes…well, a life-or-death struggle

Allows for such extravagance.”

“Life-or-death struggle?

We aren’t supposed to kill him.”

“If a situation arises where there’s no other choice, well…”

Life or Death Knot (生死結)

For those who wielded swords,

it was a rather familiar phrase.

Even more so for those who knew war.

*

After that, no other

sounds of conversation could be heard.

For now, only two sounds reverberated there.

Clang, clang, clash.

The sound of swords colliding.

Thud, thud, pit-a-pat.

The sound of someone’s rough footsteps were those two.

Finely sliced

strands of hair scattered,

and skin peeled back,

revealing the crimson within.

Before long, the ground around

was entirely dyed crimson,

and the surrounding walls and ceiling were hardly unscathed.

Chunks of ice, traces charred by flames.

Still, azure currents

lingered,

boasting their presence here and there.

“From the earth, the land of eternal snow greets life…”

“”…?!””

“From the heavens, a fierce rain of ice shall pour…”

Then, for the first time in a while, the sound of conversation returned.

And it came from the lips of Duke Rueniel, who until now

had cast nearly all spells

wordlessly.

A mage’s incantation

was not merely a concept of language.

It was about imbuing the tongue with mana,

slowly chanting the words.

It was also a supplication to mana.

A supplication to draw

mana’s control and

power to their very limits.

7th Circle Ice magic, [Myriad Blossoms Falling『Ice』]

Countless icy slivers

rose into the air, beginning to spin,

then hurtling towards a single point.

What they desired to pierce

was one man’s palm,

that man still endlessly weaving a sword dance,

towards him, hundreds, perhaps thousands of

tiny waves of ice crashed down.

Pshashashang—

A perfect attack that wasted not even a single shard of ice,

but if he were a man to fall to

merely this much,

he wouldn’t have been able to ascend

to the Duke’s seat in the first place.

Other families aside,

the Reinhardt family, at least,

was famed as a lineage that valued

only martial prowess.

Pushaaang—

Surely, at the moment it seemed the attack had landed,

a piercing sound

that cleaved the air echoed alongside,

and the ice chunks began to

scatter, pulverized.

Like a flurry of snowflakes.

Surely, even now the black shadow was relentlessly pressing him.

Extending the blade with overflowing mana,

then deflecting the attacks of two as if wielding a softsword—

Truly, a ludicrous skill.

The sword, an achievement accomplished with solely a sword.

The reason why the sword, even now,

is still appraised as the king of all weapons,

is not for any peculiar reason.

The spear is powerful and

fierce, but far too rigid,

the dagger is swift and keen, but

too small and weak,

and the bow or crossbow are, needless to say, too vulnerable in close combat.

In contrast, the sword?

Not vulnerable at close quarters,

nor too unyielding like a spear,

keen as a dagger, yet its offensive force is terribly fierce.

With only the slightest

twist of the wrist to wield it,

the breadth of its transformation is truly unparalleled,

this being precisely why the sword

could so confidently

claim its throne as King of all Weapons.

And Duke Reinhardt was,

within the Empire, the one who wielded

that one sword better than anyone.

“Hoo…hoo…”

However, even he was still but human.

Possessing lungs,

a being who must draw breath

to simply live on.

Normally, even he

would need to face them one at a time

to seize a

commanding advantage over

dukes of their caliber,

yet he was facing two at once,

and to top it all off,

a wound clung to his shoulder,

thus, if things continued as they were,

the inevitable truth was that

his stamina would give out first.

Yes, if things continued as they were.

And Reinhardt could hardly

be unaware of this.

‘Even if I must push myself…I must end this quickly.’

”To drag this on until he’s completely exhausted…!”

Just as their thoughts came to rest on completely opposite trajectories.

Once more, in the void,

a small hole was torn.

A hole easily large enough

for a person to casually pass through.

“My apologies, there was a matter

that needed urgent handling.”

“….”

“Isn’t it a bit too late?”

“..Where have you been? What took you so long?!”

“I apologize. I am well aware that time is precious, even to myself…”

His voice suggested

there were justifiable

circumstances.

The Duke Iris’ voice echoed,

a voice that could possibly

determine the flow of this battle.

From within that small

hole, barely resembling

a rabbit burrow.

“Iris…”

“It’s regrettable that we meet like this, Reinhardt.”

Now, as the sunset

slowly began to descend,

starting to paint the world red,

finally, all four Great Houses had gathered.