It was an obvious concern, but the worry felt real enough.
No matter how undefeated someone might be, a two-on-one fight wouldn’t be easy.
The High Elder—that old scumbag’s one of the continent’s powerhouses, after all.
Even if this turned out to be a wasted trip, I had to move.
“Let’s finish up and go,” I said.
“Ah, yes!”
Slash!
Lea nodded as she severed the last knight’s neck.
The dead knight’s corpse was covered in wounds, his expression twisted in agony. As if someone had been toying with him.
“Let’s hurry.”
Lea flicked blood droplets from her blade with casual efficiency. Her expression held no guilt, no displeasure whatsoever. She simply blinked as if nothing had happened at all.
Watching her, I found myself entertaining a certain hypothesis.
Was she still influenced by Demonic energy? Could that vile power—a byproduct of Demonkin—still be lingering in her mind?
It must be my imagination.
The Demonic energy might still remain, but it wouldn’t surface until much later. Based on what I’d learned from my master, that was certain.
Yet the uneasy sensation continued to torment me.
I forced myself to shake my head, suppressing my doubts. I prayed that nothing would come to pass.
* * *
Meanwhile, somewhere else.
Contrary to Louis Berg’s expectations, Lin Praha was struggling considerably.
Clang! Clang!
Steel met steel with jarring noise.
“Argh!”
Screeeech—!
Lin Praha grimaced as she blocked an incoming blade. The decrepit monster overpowering her—the High Elder—twisted his lips into a sneer.
“What’s wrong, Acting Head? Your grip seems rather weak. Should I wait for you to recover?”
“Shut... up...!” Lin Praha roared as she pushed back against the High Elder’s sword.
Frankly, Lin was stunned. She had pegged the High Elder as a low-tier Aura Master—formidable, yes, but on par with her. That was the common understanding of his strength.
Yet what was this?
Agh! He’s at least mid-level Master, maybe even approaching high-level...!
Lin Praha suppressed a groan as she glared at the High Elder. She didn’t know how long he’d been concealing his true strength. Perhaps he’d been biding his time since the moment her father became family head.
First, I need to get away from him...!
Lin Praha lifted her foot and drove it into the High Elder’s abdomen.
Thud!
“Hrk...!”
The High Elder let out a soft groan and staggered backward. Lin Praha didn’t waste the opportunity.
She pivoted and immediately retreated, catching her breath and correcting her stance.
“Hah... quite the vicious kick.” The High Elder clutched his abdomen, muttering under his breath.
Yet the smile lingering on his lips said the blow hadn’t done much. If that had been enough to take him down, she wouldn’t be having such a hard time.
“Getting older must make it hurt more, I’d think.”
“Phuh... your provocations still need work. Still so clumsy. The Head of House must be perfect in all aspects.”
Bullshit.
If everything had to be perfect, then a creature like him shouldn’t be scrambling to become head, should he?
“Shut up and come at me,” Lin Praha spat with a scowl.
Despite her bravado, however, she wasn’t in good shape. She’d considered stalling for time, but that wouldn’t change anything. The situation was too dire to hope for reinforcements.
Lin Praha turned her gaze to the corner of the Elder Council chamber. Soldiers clashed with soldiers, knights with knights. The few knights worth remembering had already fallen to Mark Leian, who was still fighting in that direction.
She couldn’t begin to guess how much this civil war would drain the family’s strength.
“...Curses.”
Lin Praha swore under her breath.
At least Mark Leian wasn’t coming for her. Not that he’d made that choice himself—he was only occupied because others were keeping that lunatic at bay.
Lin Praha caught her breath as she watched those fighting Mark Leian.
Her younger sister, Roxha Praha, and the man coordinating with her. Was his name Roxen?
She wondered how someone of mere Aura Adept level could contend with a Master, but the mystery was surprisingly easy to solve.
There’s one more.
A presence invisible even to her eyes. That one was blocking all attacks directed at the man called Roxen.
A genius.
An assassination genius, one might say. To any below Master level, he’d be no different from death incarnate.
Lin Praha felt reassured as she glared at the High Elder again. Her allies would be fine. No need for her to rush to their aid. Hell, they might finish first and come help her instead.
So she needed to deal with the traitor before her eyes first.
Crack. Crackle-crackle.
Lin Praha channeled Aura into her sword, revealing the Praha Duchy’s signature technique—Glacial Aura.
Frost crept across the ground, and snowflakes began to swirl from the sky.
“Oho... Wielding the family Aura so skillfully. The Patriarch would be pleased.”
“It’s something you never learned, old man. Isn’t that right?” Lin Praha curled the corner of her lips.
The Aura cultivation technique she used was passed down only to Praha’s direct line.
Of course, someone whose talent surpassed even the direct bloodline might be granted the technique.
But the High Elder had never received the family’s cultivation technique.
That was because—
“From what I hear, you were always second to Father. Isn’t that right?”
The High Elder was but a perpetual runner-up who had never managed to surpass her father.
“...A brat clinging to her father’s legacy dares...” The High Elder gnashed his teeth, a wave of murderous intent radiating from him.
Apparently, she’d struck a nerve.
“Very well. I’ll personally carve the North’s chill into you.”
The High Elder stepped forward, sword in hand.
Whoooosh.
Wind howled. The sound of swaying willow branches could be heard, and the sounds of other battles around them began to fade.
In that silence, the High Elder raised his sword low as he spoke. “Go to the afterlife and tell your father—his elder brother shall put the family to good use.”
<Ice Clarity Sword Art, First Form: Slaughter Wind>
Sliiiiiiice!
A soundless slash flew forth, severing Lin Praha’s left arm. Her arm spun through the air, spraying blood.
“Ngh!” Lin Praha let out a muffled moan.
Watching her, the High Elder smiled with bloody satisfaction. “How lucky. I was aiming for your neck.”
The High Elder slowly approached, Aura-imbued sword in hand. He closed the distance between them before long.
“Time to die,” the High Elder muttered, casually raising his sword upward. A single vertical slash, and everything would be over.
And yet... Lin’s lips curled into a smile.
“Caught you.”
Snap!
She flicked her fingers. Fresh lines bloomed across the frost-covered ground.
Hummm— Hummm—.
They etched themselves like a magic formation coming to life.
“What the—!” Unease surged through the High Elder. He lunged, aiming to take Lin Praha’s head.
CRASH!
Crackle-crackle-crackle-crackle-crackle!
A burst of frigid air exploded from the ground, and in an instant, he was frozen solid—encased in a towering pillar of ice.
Lin Praha stared at the High Elder trapped inside, her chest heaving, her face pale and drawn.
“It’s Father’s trump card,” she said, voice barely above a whisper. “So do your best to break free.”
With that, she dropped to the ground with a dull thud.
She’d bought time.
* * *
Meanwhile, Mark Leian ground his teeth at the creatures blocking his path. “Damnable little brats...!”
He needed to capture Lin Praha. That much was clear.
But these unknown pests wouldn’t let him through.
They weren’t even Master-level—just one woman at the peak of Aura Expert, and one vermin barely clawing his way there. Yet somehow, they were holding him back.
Grind!
His jaw clenched so hard it hurt. He wanted to snap their necks right then and there, but he couldn’t.
Because—
Slash—!
“Grgh!” Mark Leian hissed as he yanked his wrist back, tendons scraped.
“You filthy little gnaaaat!”
It was that one again. The shadow that showed up every time he tried to land a real hit.
No presence, no trace. But when he pushed his senses to the limit, he could just make out the faint shimmer of movement.
“Come out! Come out, I say!” He roared in frustration, but the creature never appeared—only vanished again, slipping from his awareness.
And the moment it did, the other soft-hearted fool would rush in with his Aura-infused blade.
Whoooosh!
Clang!
Mark Leian met the strike with his own sword, sparks flying. But the Auras twined around his blade like sluggish, coiling serpents—then began to climb.
Strange Auras. Auras he’d never encountered before.
Not powerful in the conventional sense. Not forceful, but intense. Like emotions.
The woman’s Aura clawed to steal everything around it, greedy and grasping.
The man’s simply wanted to explode.
Greed and rage. A perfectly matched pair.
“...You two. Your Auras are unique,” Mark Leian muttered, swinging his sword again.
He could’ve kept stalling them like this, but the old man way over there—he was weakening. At this rate, Lin Praha would get away.
Unacceptable.
“...No choice, then.” He let out a slow breath, resolute. Then pulled something from his pocket and raised it to his lips.
Gulp.
A thick liquid slid down his throat.
“Ngh—!”
The air around him changed. His Flame Aura darkened—turning pitch black. His eyes reddened, shot through with blood.
Crack. Crunch. His skin split open. Not blood, but molten lava oozed from the cracks. Even his breath turned to smoke—thick, poisonous gas that spilled out into the chamber.
Hissss—
He resembled a monster.
Roxha and Roxen froze, their spinning blades halted as they stared.
“...What is that thing?” Roxha whispered. Her heavy coat began to crumble, eaten away by the spreading miasma.
Grrrrr—
Mark Leian roared.
No—what had been Mark Leian roared. The man had become something else entirely.
Yet his mind hadn’t fully gone. Not yet.
“So the Duke... kept this all to himself?” The words came in a voice warped by power, like a beast trying to speak.
A Gargoyle—a creature that required an Aura Master fighter at minimum just to face—now stood in the mortal world.
Mark Leian—or whatever remained of him—grinned as he tightened his grip on his sword.
Flare!
Black flames roared to life along the blade, radiating malevolence.
“Let’s finish this already.”
He raised the weapon.
But just as he was about to swing—
“Hmm... is Demonic energy in fashion these days? It keeps popping up everywhere. What a nuisance.”
A flat, emotionless voice echoed through the Elder Council chamber.