Chapter 118. Anomaly (3)
Looking up, a female knight stood there.
Draped in a blue cloak like rippling water, clad in silver armor, and wearing a helm, the Sword Saint.
She held a two-handed longsword upright, its tip piercing the water’s surface, creating quiet ripples.
I approached slowly.
This was only my second time inheriting her sword. But her aura told me she was once a noble knight.
“…The Sword Saint of the Waves, was it?”
Without prompting, I raised my sword, lowering my stance, mirroring her like a reflection.
Past and present swordsmen raised their arms sideways, leveling their two-handed swords.
Like bison locking horns for a fatal charge, our longswords aligned in identical stances.
“No time.”
The last empire’s Sword Saint’s words echoed in my mind. He called this a world where the self resides.
As he said, this was the Inner World.
A place where my psyche took form.
Yet, I knew so little about myself. About the original Enoch, about this relentless situation since possessing him.
But that didn’t matter now.
My hand gripping the sword desired only one thing.
Staring at the Sword Saint, I said softly.
“—To protect, I need a sword.”
I knew. This wasn’t a grand quest for enlightenment or a calculated move based on future knowledge.
It wasn’t something to voice aloud.
I inhaled shallowly, gripping the sword.
—Even so.
It didn’t matter if the Sword Saint didn’t understand. This was just a meaningless resolve in this world.
At that moment,
Under the starry sky, the knight’s silver helm nodded slightly toward me.
“—!”
As I registered this, my blue-black eyes widened in surprise.
The knight burst forward, kicking up a violent spray of water, charging.
I didn’t retreat, kicking off to meet her at blinding speed.
The moment we entered each other’s sword range,
As she swung down with terrifying speed, I lowered my stance, swinging my sword to meet hers.
The lethal strikes of both swordsmen clashed with a shattering crash.
The shockwave from the collision sent a gust across the Inner World’s water, spraying mist.
Kagagagak!!
Sharp sword strikes tore through the air, sparking as they collided.
Blue-black and sky-blue lights wove a relentless circle, carving the surroundings in a fierce exchange.
My hand, gripping the sword, thrilled with a new sensation.
This was entirely different from the last empire’s Sword Saint.
Unlike the one-handed sword’s explosive speed, the two-handed sword leveraged its long reach and stable dual grip to read the enemy’s moves and aim for a fatal counter.
When master swordsmen, knowing each other’s techniques, fought in close combat, they read several moves ahead, shaping the fight’s flow.
The knight kicked off again, closing in. We entered ultra-close combat, too tight for even two-handed swords to counter.
Our swords locked, grappling for dominance.
At a distance where I could feel her breath, the deep shadow within her helm stared at me.
I realized her strength was astonishingly weak.
Almost as if she weren’t a swordsman.
Was she holding back?
But it didn’t matter.
The fight had entered a range too close for long swords to check each other. A misstep in this struggle, no matter how strong, could be exploited.
As a swordsman, I felt that certainty.
I had to act before it was too late. A memory that shouldn’t exist whispered coldly through my sword’s sense.
Following that instinct, I shifted my stance fluidly while swinging.
Whirl!!
I extended my right hand, gripping the blade’s base.
—Obergreiffen, upper grip.
A longsword technique, holding the blade’s base with one hand instead of the hilt.
I gripped the blade and swung the sword freely, launching an offensive.
The slashing strikes sprayed water, dominating the ultra-close range and advancing.
Sacrificing reach, my precise sword path began to overwhelm her.
She deflected my strikes, but I rotated the blade, redirecting, crushing, and deflecting again.
Papapak!!
The swords’ screams scattered sparks, their circling footwork leaving white ripples on the water.
Ping!!
I gripped the blade again and swung.
Contrary to common belief that all sword edges are sharp, a longsword’s base, near the guard, often isn’t.
Even if the blade is sharp, a special grip allows wielding it without injury.
Skilled longsword users could employ endless techniques by gripping the blade.
A versatile principle of attack and defense.
I triggered mana, unleashing the sword.
A powerful horizontal slash aimed to kill.
The Sword Saint swung to meet it, but I noticed something, narrowing my eyes.
‘As expected, her strength is weak.’
Compared to the Emperor’s Supreme Sword, her strikes were feeble. No reason not to exploit that.
I thrust my sword upward, knocking hers away, and swung down.
A lethal two-handed strike. But unbelievably, my sword was flung upward with a metallic scream.
The knight had spun, using [Reverse Flow].
As I widened my eyes at her incredible flexibility, her counterattack struck.
Claaang!!
“—?!”
I instinctively braced the blade with my hand, but the ear-splitting clash and pain tore through me.
My lungs emptied in agony, my vision shaking violently.
“Guh!”
The impact flung me back, skidding across the water, leaving a conical wake.
I’d blocked with my sword, but my hand and arm trembled from the shock.
What happened?
Unable to process, I looked ahead, my face etched with shock.
The knight had spun the sword, gripping it ‘in reverse.’
Holding the sharp blade like a handle with both hands, she’d used my force to accelerate, swinging it like an axe.
The pommel and crossguard, wielded like a mace, had struck my raised sword, blasting it away.
“Cough.”
Pain shook my body to its roots, and I dropped to one knee.
An attack with overwhelming ‘impact,’ rendering even solid defense useless. I grasped its principle instantly.
> ◎ 「Sword Saint of the Waves」 Swordsmanship Inheritance
>
> Form 1 - Lethal Strike
>
> A sword form that, with fluid, water-like movements, strikes armored foes, disrupting their insides.
>
> Gripping the sword in reverse, using the hilt, crossguard, and pommel as a bludgeon to deliver devastating impact, breaking through enemy armor.
>
> When facing insurmountable hardship, even those unable to cut with a sword have a way to overcome.
I smiled faintly at the technique before me, steadying my breath.
[Lethal Strike].
A sword form that delivers impact.
I could roughly understand its principle after seeing it once. A technique for anti-armor combat.
But it wasn’t over. The inheritance wasn’t complete.
As a move infused with unique mana, full mastery required understanding the sword’s origin through its user’s memories.
I closed my eyes calmly.
> ◎ 「Sword Saint of the Waves」 Memory Recreation Begin!
Ripples spread across the clear water of the Inner World, and my consciousness sank, like a droplet falling beneath the surface.
The surroundings shifted quietly.
Opening my eyes, I saw a recreated memory.
***
One day, under radiant sunlight.
In a training ground adorned with blue banners and white crests, countless shouts echoed.
I widened my eyes slightly. Before me was a familiar fortress city.
The ruins I’d seen before.
Rhodes, in its prosperous past.
[—Lady Knight!]
A child’s innocent voice rang out.
Glancing aside, I saw a small girl bouncing beyond the training ground’s spectator railing.
She wore an oversized helm’s visor, tilted awkwardly. She jumped, shouting.
[I want to be like the Knight Commander someday!]
She called out to the Sword Saint of the Waves, standing nobly with her sword planted in the ground.
Around her, knights in blue cloaks and silver armor lay defeated.
Despite their larger frames, they writhed on the ground like worms, subdued.
[An apprentice knight, are you? This training ground is for the Rhodes Guardian Knights’ regular session.]
[I know! I just came to watch! I didn’t expect you to take down so many Guardian Knights without blinking!]
The girl clenched her fists.
[They say your title, Sword Saint of the Waves, is Rhodes’ hope!]
[You flatter me.]
Her voice was beautiful, feminine. Delicate yet resolute, like a tranquil lake.
I gazed at her.
This was the second time I’d seen this Sword Saint.
She was vastly different from the last empire’s Sword Saint. Despite both being Sword Saints, the differences in gender, sword, and aura were striking.
But the apprentice, taking her words as excessive modesty, looked stunned.
[Flattery?! But for the honorable Rhodes Knight Commander, a Sword Saint, to say that…]
[It’s merely the truth.]
The Sword Saint of the Waves lowered her sword, smiling softly.
[I’m not suited for wielding a sword.]
[Huh?]
The girl, bewildered, pointed at the writhing knights beside her.
[But knights’ armor blocks swords, right? Didn’t you pierce their defenses to subdue them?]
[Handle the sword like flowing water.]
[Water?]
[Yes, it’s hard to grasp, so let’s use an analogy.]
She glanced at a burly knight staggering to his feet, raising his sword again.
She leveled her sword at him.
[No matter how sturdy armor blocks a sharp strike, it can’t stop the soft flow of water seeping inside, reaching what’s within.]
Thooong!
The pommel and crossguard of her reversed sword struck, the impact resonating.
Her [Lethal Strike] hit the knight’s breastplate, white shockwaves rippling like water, spreading through the air.
[Kahak!]
She felled the charging knight effortlessly, fluidly returning her two-handed sword to rest on the ground.
The longsword, no larger than her slender frame, gleamed with a watery hue.
[Even an opponent with unbreakable strength can be subdued by responding flexibly, like water.]
[But that’s weird!]
The apprentice poked a knight frothing beside her, hit by [Lethal Strike], his helm blown off.
[Other knights are strong, but they can’t wreck armor’s insides like you, Commander, even with the same moves. Is it your unique mana? What’s the difference?]
[Well, the difference… I’m not sure.]
The knight called the Sword Saint of the Waves laughed lightly behind her helm, smiling. Looking at the sky-blue glow on her sword, she added quietly.
[Perhaps a dream I wish to achieve.]
[A dream?]
[Yes. Those who pursue it…]
She knelt, placing a hand on the child’s small head, stroking it.
[Like flowing water, they never break.]
Her image flickered with intense noise, fading like an illusion.
> ◎ Sword Master’s Memory Inheritance Progress: 20%
The past blurred away.
I closed my eyes, breathing slowly.
A soft warmth touched my chest, signaling my return to reality.
Leaning against the wall, I looked down to see Sirocco’s small hand on my chest, her eyes fixed on me from close range.
“Hey!”
She’d crept closer despite her injuries, whispering worriedly.
“Are you okay? You’ve been…”
“I’m fine.”
I leaned her against the wall, unlike her usual self.
Her hand, unconsciously gripping my sleeve, felt soft. She asked in a sharp tone.
“…Can we win?”
In the underground darkness, I planted my sheathed sword on the ground, rising on one knee.
Recalling our first mission together at the fortress, I said quietly.
“It’ll be over quick.”