Rudeus gripped the sword in his one hand.
His knuckles turned white. His arm trembled.
Everything felt… weird.
He felt weird right now. Like he was moving through water, or watching himself from a distance. This dreamy, disconnected sensation that made his skin crawl.
The thought made him grip tighter. The leather-wrapped hilt bit into his palm.
I don't want to do this.
He stared at the blade Ghislaine's blade and something twisted in his chest.
I don't want to muddy this sword.
Three years ago.
Rudeus sat in the back of a wagon, heading away from everything he'd ever known. All he had was the sword across his lap and the clothes on his back.
He couldn't stop staring at the blade.
The same memories kept replaying. Over and over. Like a broken record stuck on the worst song ever written.
The smell of blood the screaming. The tears his own, Eris's, everyone's.
So many sensations bombarding him at once that he couldn't process any of them. He couldn't think clearly.
Even in the quiet of the wagon, his head was the loudest thing in the world.
Every time he touched the sword, weakness flooded through his body. Like the blade itself was attacking him. Rejecting him Telling him he had no right to hold it.
He'd trembled. Wanted to cry right there in that wagon.
But he'd stopped himself. After what I did… am I even allowed to cry anymore?
Present.
Rudeus's eyes hardened. The moment grew heavy around him, pressing down like physical weight.
This sword meant so much. It was a sign of his failure. A monument to everything he'd lost. Every time he looked at it, he hated himself a little more.
I wish I never got it. But he couldn't go back. That was the past. And in this present in this now he would need every ounce of strength he could muster.
He wouldn't call on anyone. Not Sylphie. Not Eris. Not Sylvia. Not even Ghislaine's memory.
Just his own strength. Or whatever that was worth.
"Thinking about the good old days, are we?"
Glen's voice cut through his thoughts. Teasingly
He stood there with his dagger held loosely, looking more excited than Rudeus had seen him yet. Like a kid about to unwrap a birthday present.
Everything this bastard had done enslaving people in their own minds, selling children, torturing innocents all of it had been building to this moment.
For a flicker of a second Glen almost felt something looking at Rudeus.
Glen flaunted his dagger. Rudeus simply ignored the taunt. He just exhaled and disappeared from sight.
Glen's reflexes saved his life. He turned thirty degrees on pure instinct, his dagger coming up to block the slash aimed at his neck. The blades met with a clang that echoed through the corridor.
The force behind the strike made Glen's eyes widen.
"What.."He planted his feet, bracing himself.
But he was still pushed back. His boots scraped against stone as he slid backward three feet.
Before he could process what just happened, Rudeus was already swinging again.
Another devastating strike that crashed against Glen's guard and sent him sliding back another two feet.
This power where is this coming from?
Glen's heels were almost at the wall now. He kicked off at the last second, using his acrobatic ability to twist mid-air and plant his feet against the stone. The momentum carried him forward, and he launched himself at Rudeus like a missile.
Rudeus ran to meet him. Their blades collided in a shower of sparks.
The force output from both fighters was immense. The sound of metal on metal rang out like thunder. They broke apart and immediately engaged again trading swings, testing guards, searching for openings.
But it was clear who had the advantage.
Glen was being pushed back.
Slowly but surely, his defense was crumbling. Each blocked strike jarred his arm a little more. Each deflection seemed to be less and less accurate he felt a little overwhelmed.
He's breaking through. I need to— Glen blocked upward, redirecting Rudeus's blade high and leaving his torso exposed.
His foot lashed out in a powerful kick aimed directly at the slash wound on Rudeus's chest.
Rudeus saw it coming. But his body was already in terrible condition. He was too slow and exhausted to react.
He was forced to take the hit. "Shit—!"
The impact sent him flying. His back slammed into the stone wall with a sickening crack. The wall cratered around him. Stone dust rained down.
Rudeus collapsed to his knees, coughing blood.
Pain exploded through his back and chest. Everything hurt. Everything was wrong. His body felt like it weighed a thousand pounds.
"Get up. I have to get up."
"Hmm, I was getting scared there for a second." Glen walked toward him slowly, casually, like they had all the time in the world.
"But it seems your condition is holding you back. What a shame." He tilted his head, that empty smile still plastered on his face.
"I wonder how this would go if you were healthy. Oh well wondering about 'what-ifs' is your job, not mine." He chuckled.
Rudeus's teeth ground together. His hand pressed against the wound on his chest, blood seeping between his fingers.
"I need to heal this. Or I'll lose" he didn't know if he could even channel healing magic since his mana still felt strange he couldn't t even use his magical eye.
He gathered mana or tried to. The flow was shakey barely responding to his will. But he forced it anyway, channeling what little he could into a healing spell.
A faint green aura wrapped around his hand.
Then sputtered out like a dying candle.
"Goddam." He cursed to himself.
The heal had barely done anything. He felt exactly as terrible as before Glen's kick. Maybe slightly less terrible.
Glen watched with apparent curiosity. "Hmm, seems you still have some fighting spirit left. Oh well I'll just have to beat it out of you." He smiled wider.
"You know," Rudeus said, his voice rough, "you smile and laugh so much. But just from looking at you, I can tell you feel nothing."
Glen's smile faltered for just a fraction of a second.
Then it returned, but something in his eyes had shifted. "You don't like my smile? I always thought it was cute." He sighed dramatically.
"Well, I'll have to work on it then." He winked at Rudeus.
Rudeus didn't respond.
He just pushed himself to his feet, raising the blade in front of him again. His arm shook from the effort. His legs threatened to give out.
I won't last much longer. Using proper sword techniques Water God Style or Sword God Style would drain him too quickly. It takes too much energy expenditure. But he'd noticed something during their exchange. I'm definitely superior when it comes to pure sword skill.
Glen was fast. And incredibly flexible. His reflexes were inhuman.
But his technique was definitely his weakest point.He relied on speed and strength which is probably why he used daggers.
I can use that. But I'll need… Rudeus exhaled slowly. I'll need to use it. The technique I didn't think I'd need it so soon.
Thunder Breathing.
That's what he'd called it as a kid. A stupid name borrowed from manga he'd read in his previous life.
Back then, he'd thought he was doing something simple just breathing techniques to channel adrenaline, to push his body beyond its normal limits. Like how they do in the manga.
But he'd been wrong. What he'd actually been using was touki.
Battle aura. The fundamental energy that warriors used to enhance their physical abilities.
When he'd used "Thunder Breathing" to run faster, he'd been channeling touki into his legs without realizing it. Enhancing his muscles.
Amplifying his speed. He'd forgotten about the technique after that event. Buried it along with everything else from that time.
But recently during his time alone, during his training, during the long nights when sleep wouldn't come he'd taken the time to understand it properly.
Well, "understand" was a strong word.
He'd figured out how to use it. Sort of.
Normal touki usage involved wrapping your entire body in battle aura a full-body enhancement that increased all physical capabilities proportionally.
But Rudeus had discovered something different.
By using the breathing technique as a focus, he could channel touki into specific body parts. Concentrate the enhancement. Amplify the strength of individual muscle groups far beyond what full-body touki could achieve.
The tradeoff was brutal though Concentrating that much energy into a single area put immense strain on muscles and nerves. In the worst case scenario, it could burn out the limb completely rendering it useless for days, weeks, maybe permanently.
I only have one arm. If I damage it, I'm done.
So he had to use it in short bursts. Flash the enhancement for a fraction of a second, then release it immediately.
This was his key his ace in the hole you could say.
Rudeus looked at Glen, who stared back with those dead, empty eyes.
"Well, seems you're ready for our rematch." Glen rushed forward, his dagger cutting a wild arc through the air.
Rudeus breathed in he let the air flow in and felt his surroundings let his mind calm and felt his bodyreally felt it. Every muscle, every nerve, every channel through which mana and touki flowed.
His Demon Eye had been invaluable for learning this technique. Being able to actually see the magical pathways in his own body had made the process infinitely easier. He could visualize exactly where the touki needed to go, how to channel it efficiently, how to keep it concentrated through force of will and breathing.
He'd used this knowledge to develop his own technique.
The Long Sword of Light one of the Sword God Style's ultimate techniques worked by moving at such incredible speeds that the slash itself became almost impossible to react too for most people. The formula was simple Force equals mass times acceleration. The faster you moved, the more devastating the impact.
But the Long Sword of Light required a full-body motion. A complete commitment. He couldn't do that right now.
Rudeus needed something easier. But still deadly.
So he'd created his own variation.
Same principle overwhelming speed translated into overwhelming force.
But instead of a full-body dash, just a single slash. executed at speeds beyond human perception.
He called it the Short Sword of Sound.
Yes, the naming convention was terrible. He knew.
He wasn't able to achieve the "Short Sword of Light" yet that would require perfect mastery, the ability to move faster than the eye could track. But the Short Sword of Sound? That he could manage.
A slash so fast it broke the sound barrier.
Glen closed in. Five meters. Four. Three.
His dagger raised for the killing blow.
Rudeus focused everything into a single thought.
Touki flooded his arm. He felt the burst of power in his arm.
The muscles in his arm bulged. Veins stood out like cords. His skin turned red from the sudden influx of energy. Glen's dagger descended. And Rudeus slashed.