Raon stood facing Rector behind the annex building's lake.
"Are you sure you'll be alright?"
Rector had been bedridden since losing his right arm in a severe injury, leaving his entire body stiff. No matter how sturdy the prosthetic arm Ensia made was, and even though he was a Transcendent, sparring immediately didn't seem like a good choice.
"Father! Can't you just stay in bed?"
Edgar shouted to Rector with his hands cupped around his mouth.
"Raon has gotten even stronger! Even if you still have your former martial prowess, it won't be easy for you now. You'll probably just end up getting beaten up! Just rest in bed… Ugh!"
He was pouring out criticism - no, outright condemnation - toward his own father when Rector kicked him, sending him rolling across the ground.
"Sigh..."
Sylvia watched this scene and let out a short, exasperated sigh.
"Ehehe!"
Sia also followed Sylvia and sighed cutely at Edgar.
"Shut that mouth of yours!"
"Dad, just stay still."
The two seemed to care for Edgar despite everything, grabbing his waist and shoulders to help him stand up.
"A swordsman is someone who speaks with their sword."
After kicking Edgar away, Rector returned and drew his sword. Even while bedridden, he must have maintained it well, as his blade gleamed with a smooth shine.
"Isn't it better to chat with swords than have noisy conversations with our mouths?"
Rector curled his lips upward, wanting to express his emotions through his sword.
"Hmm..."
Raon turned his gaze to the right to look at Ensia.
"It's fine!"
Ensia raised both arms above her head and made a circle.
"The greatest advantage of the prosthetic arm I made is its durability!"
She smiled confidently as if there would be no problems at all.
"If you say so, then I have no choice."
Raon smiled thinly and drew Heavenly Drive from his waist.
"After all, swordsmen should speak with their swords."
At the level of a Transcendent, one could understand each other's thoughts just by clashing swords instead of conversing. It seemed Rector wanted to express his emotions through his sword rather than words.
'Plus, he must want to move his body.'
With a new arm, it was natural for a swordsman to want to swing his sword. Understanding Rector's thoughts, he decided to grant his request.
"Phew."
Rector slowly closed his eyes. When he opened them again, a chilling gleam flashed in his eyes as if the leader of the Holy Sword Alliance, Sword Demon Rector, had returned.
"Let's begin."
Rector didn't show any courtesy as a senior, using his footwork to traverse space and thrust his sword. True to his status as a Transcendent, he seemed to have immediately adapted to his new prosthetic arm, with his sword tip standing sharp. The blade rang out with a piercing sound!
Raon easily blocked Rector's thrust and immediately counterattacked. His flaming blade twisted and fell toward Rector's right shoulder.
"You pretended to be considerate, but..."
Rector let out a hollow laugh as he watched Raon's Heavenly Drive descend between his prosthetic arm and shoulder.
"You're trying to take away my new arm right away!"
He curled his lips and parried the fiercely descending Heavenly Drive. The clash rang out powerfully! Raon smoothly received Rector's counterattack and shrugged his shoulders.
"You said swordsmen speak with their swords. I just wanted to check."
He smiled playfully, saying he was checking if the arm moved well and whether he was perhaps afraid.
"Like father, like son indeed!"
Rector glanced back at Edgar and raised his sword again. He unleashed a series of sharp sword strikes as if he had never been injured and rested. Each attack was at the level of a Transcendent's ultimate technique. It was clear he was a swordsman who had accumulated Ten Thousand Swords. The blades clashed rapidly!
Raon pressed his lips tightly as he defended against Rector's assault, which honestly expressed countless sword techniques.
'Grandfather...'
Rector's emotions were transmitted through his sword. He was expressing his gratitude by displaying all the sword techniques he had learned until now. He was shouting his thanks through swordmanship for saving his life from the Archangel, giving him the willpower to stand again, and getting him a new arm. The ground trembled!
Raon's fingertips trembled at the weight of the sword strikes coming from Rector. Having become a person before being a swordsman, he felt those emotions striking directly into his heart.
"Phew..."
Rector let out a hollow laugh while holding his sword with both hands.
"I definitely rested too long - I haven't even fought for an hour yet my stamina is already depleted."
He wiped the sweat flowing from his forehead and bit his lip deeply.
'It must be tough.'
Raon nodded slightly as he watched Rector, whose eyes still gleamed with life despite his exhaustion.
'He expressed his sword with full power.'
Rector kept showing different sword techniques during their sparring so that he could see and learn more swordsmanship. The flow of his sword changed every moment, and he drew them out with full power, so it was natural to be exhausted. It was his own way of expressing gratitude.
"I'll show you one last thing."
Rector raised his sword above his head with both hands. Behind his back, what seemed like a blue halo appeared, and then a terrifying strike that seemed capable of splitting heaven and earth in half descended.
'This time it's not education.'
Raon tightened his grip on Heavenly Drive.
'He's expressing himself as a swordsman.'
If Rector had been expressing gratitude as a grandfather until now, this time he had returned to being a swordsman seeking a match. He revealed cold eyes as if challenging him to unleash a sword that could defeat him.
'I'll accept.'
Raon stepped forward with his left foot and swung Heavenly Drive upward. The red blade rising while scraping against the blue lake erased Rector's world-splitting strike completely. His sword, which had fully accepted human emotions, had already transcended the bounds of a swordsman. The wind howled!
The storm of light that Rector created subsided, and the churning lake slowly calmed.
-Hmm!
Wrath slightly wrinkled his nose as he looked at the trajectory of the sword he had displayed.
-Finally, your sword has become somewhat presentable.
Unusually, he praised the sword, muttering that it wasn't bad.
"Haah..."
Rector, standing behind the gray smoke, lowered his sword and let out a long sigh. He let out a hollow laugh as he looked at Raon, who had completely melted away all his sword strikes.
"Thank you."
Rector, suppressing the surprise rising in his chest, expressed through words the emotions he had conveyed through his sword.
"If you're thankful, then fight by my side."
Raon showed no modesty, instead smiling and asking him to fight vigorously.
"Of course! Though I'll have to struggle for a while."
Rector nodded, saying he would recover his martial prowess from his prime no matter what.
"Father, that might be a bit difficult, so why not say you'll recover about half? Actually, since you're getting older now, you shouldn't push yourself too hard... Agh!"
Edgar acted up again and got hit on the back by Sylvia, rolling on the ground.
"Father-in-law can do it."
Sylvia smiled elegantly while stepping on Edgar's back with her foot.
"Yeah. I'll help too!"
Sia, suggesting they train together, firmly grasped Rector's prosthetic arm.
"Thank you both as well."
Rector looked at Sylvia and Sia with a warm smile.
"Though I may lack luck with my son, I seem to overflow with blessings from my daughter-in-law and grandchildren."
He calmly stroked his chin, seeming to have finally released his lingering regrets. With a sliding sound, Raon sheathed Heavenly Drive and looked at the hand that had been holding the sword.
'To think I'd feel growth this way.'
Originally, he often broke through walls by entering the State of Enlightenment through awakening. No, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that was the majority of cases. But this time, without awakening or the State of Enlightenment, he had grown stronger through life's realizations, allowing him to display his new level immediately without needing adjustment time.
Even if Rector had been at his full power before losing his arm, he felt he wouldn't be pushed back now. No, if it became a prolonged battle, he even had confidence in victory.
'Not much time left now.'
Raon clenched his fist tightly as he recalled those terrifying blue eyes.
'Derus Robert.'
***
"Ahem!"
Glenn stood on the slope of North Grave Mountain watching Raon and Rector's sparring match, and coughed lowly as if feeling uncomfortable.
"Head of House. Is there a problem?"
Roenn tilted his head as he watched Glenn frowning. He blinked, unable to understand why Glenn seemed dissatisfied even though things had ended well.
"I think I know now why the Head of House is acting like that."
Sheryl sighed as she looked down below.
"He's happy about Lord Rector's recovery, but uncomfortable because he's monopolizing Raon and Sia's attention."
She snorted, saying Glenn's inner thoughts were obvious.
"Hmph, nonsense!"
Glenn waved his hand as if denying it absolutely, but his reddened cheeks revealed the lie.
"Seriously! Head of House, you've been monopolizing Raon all this time, and you see Sia almost every day. Meanwhile, Lord Rector has been in a completely different place, so he couldn't see them even if he wanted to! How can you be jealous of that?"
Sheryl shook her head repeatedly, saying Glenn was now as tiresome as Rimmer.
"Grrr..."
Glenn knew there was nothing wrong with Sheryl's words, so he just wrinkled his nose without answering.
"Hehehe."
Roenn let out an empty laugh as if finding this amusing.
"But just how strong is Lord Raon now?"
He narrowed his eyes, recalling Raon's calm yet magnificent swordsmanship that had split Rector's full power.
"...I don't know."
Glenn narrowed his eyes as he gave an answer uncharacteristic of him.
"Pardon?"
Sheryl's eyes widened.
"You... you don't know, Head of House?"
She swallowed dryly, seeming more shocked than if she'd heard the sky was falling.
"Raon's current level is equivalent to the leaders standing in the middle ranks during the era of the Six Kings and Five Demons. However..."
Glenn lowered his eyebrows as he watched Raon touching Rector's arm.
"The martial prowess that child can actually exert definitely surpasses that level. Even I cannot tell exactly what that level is."
He let out a rough breath, saying that even he couldn't know because Raon's growth was too rapid and novel.
"I look forward to eleven months from now."
Glenn twisted his lips upward as if mocking someone.
"To see how far the sword of an even more grown Raon will reach."
***
The next day. After sleeping in the annex building for the first time in a while, Raon went outside before sunrise.
-I thought you might have gotten a bit lazy...
Wrath sighed as he looked at the purple-tinged dawn sky.
-You're swinging your sword from dawn again? After saying you'd become human!
He ground his teeth, asking if that intense training was starting again.
'Not all humans sleep in and are lazy. There are so many people who work at dawn.'
Raon shook his head, saying dawn training had nothing to do with living as a human.
-Well, that's true...
Wrath clicked his tongue as if having nothing to say about that point.
-B-but you still lack something as a human.
'Something I lack as a human?'
Raon stopped drawing his sword and turned to look at Wrath.
'What's that?'
-Love!
Wrath lifted his chin.
-You don't know love!
'Huh? I also...'
-Not family! This King knows you love the humans in this annex building!
He shook his head vigorously, saying that's not what he was talking about.
-This King speaks of love between man and woman! You absolutely don't...
Just as Wrath was about to say that Raon was still a novice in love, a humming sound echoed! A blue dimensional gate opened, and from within emerged a handsome young man with golden hair and blue eyes wearing an elegant white robe.
"Bartius?"
Raon's eyes widened as he saw the Gold Dragon Bartius who had contacted him through the blue window.
"Raon Zieghart!"
Bartius thrust his face forward without even taking time to exchange greetings. His eyes seemed almost to burst through the dimension.
"I've found a way to reach the Lord!"