EP.227 Trial of the Holy Grail (1)
The path to becoming a Superhuman is long and treacherous.
Though the long history of war has forged many Superhumans, their numbers are still not high—especially since the Sacred Site of the Sword fell.
It can’t be helped.
Those who have gained power to touch the divine without the help of a Star, living solely as humans. Those who have sharpened a single life to step into an unreachable realm.
Only such individuals can become Superhumans.
Thus, it’s only natural that the path to becoming a Superhuman is fraught with peril. Even Kalt, who is now close to that Superhuman domain, feels this as he reflects on his past.
“I think I was almost there.”
“That’s true.”
In a forest not far from Apuria, while preparing to use the Holy Grail, Raniel and Kalt chatted briefly.
“I’ve gained a bit of super-sensory perception and have plenty of experience, so I’m almost there. When you think about it, there’s no one who has survived harsh trials like you.”
Raniel nodded.
She also knows well the path Kalt has walked. He challenged feats that even Superhumans must risk their lives to achieve, without even reaching their level.
“You’re a bit of a mystery, you know?”
“A mystery?”
“When I first saw you, I thought you were just a loser, but the more I look, the more insane things you’ve done…”
Raniel smiled bitterly.
“To be honest, it’s unbelievable.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean the fact that you managed to block Ganikalt’s sword just once.”
Raniel remembers it vividly.
She had shown respect to Kalt, witnessing that moment when Ganikalt changed his grip on his sword. It was a sign of respect from Ganikalt towards someone who blocked his attack, even just once.
‘How on earth did he block that monstrous sword that could split a giant Castle Wall?’
The memories of the destroyed Castle Wall in Arcadia make it even less comprehensible.
“How did you do that?”
“Many misunderstand it.”
Kalt shrugged.
“To be honest, I didn’t really block it.”
“Didn’t block it?”
“I dodged it, actually. Very embarrassingly.”
He didn’t block; he dodged.
Kalt, saying this, fiddled with his sword hilt.
“There’s no way I could receive a sword that can level a canyon. I thought differently from the start. Since I couldn’t withstand it, I figured I’d at least try to dodge.”
In truth, winning was never his aim. What Kalt sought was merely to buy time… And he knew something about Ganikalt.
“If I can withstand one strike by any means, Ganikalt will change his grip on his sword. He respects Knights.”
He leveraged that knowledge.
From the beginning, Kalt risked everything to dodge that ‘one strike’.
“So, I sacrificed myself.”
Thud, thud, Kalt pointed to his right shoulder.
“I threw away my arm, my shoulder, my joints… even my heart. I discarded everything I could afford to.”
One arm got severed.
The pressure of the attack tore through his body. The heart, scratched by the corrupt wind, lost its means to purify the dark magic.
“I sacrificed half of my body to dodge. And I just thought to hold on as long as I could.”
The swinging sword.
The bursting blade.
Instead of blocking, it felt like he was letting it slip by. He imitated the way Kuntel had wielded his sword. While completely letting it pass was impossible, it seemed feasible if he sacrificed half his body.
“It’s always been my specialty.”
Kalt smiled bitterly.
“Letting go of what needs to be let go, and grabbing what needs to be gained. I’m a bit good at that.”
“…….”
“I took the chance to survive, so I did something reckless. In retrospect, it worked out, right?”
That was a retrospective analysis.
Raniel remembers what Kalt was in at that time. Had Sara not squeezed every bit of divine power she had, Kalt would have died right there.
‘Sara couldn’t fully heal him, even with that miracle.’
Even the blessing of the Saint known as a miracle didn’t fully restore Kalt’s body. Therefore, Kalt had to retire from the battlefield.
“Anyway.”
Raniel let out a short breath.
“You seem a bit out of it.”
“Could anyone be more fine than you?”
“Want to fight?”
While threatening Kalt with the Holy Grail, Raniel lightly shook her wrist. Preparations for the trial of the Holy Grail were nearing completion.
“The usage of the Holy Grail is simple.”
“If there’s someone near who can sense the wall, the Holy Grail will respond to that person. It resonates.”
The starlight contained in the Holy Grail ripples at regular intervals.
“The magic will activate merely by tilting the Holy Grail when the resonance reaches thirty-seven.”
Thirty-six.
Then, thirty-seven.
After about ten seconds of vibrating, the Holy Grail stopped resonating. Looking at the platinum starlight within the cup, Raniel tilted it.
Bloop.
The starlight touches the ground.
What it touched was grass, but like ripples on the surface of the water, the space around the spot the starlight fell began to distort.
Zzzap.
Raniel pointed her finger at the opened space.
“All done.”
“Do I just jump in there?”
“Seems like it.”
“…Why aren’t you sure about that?”
Kalt looked at Raniel suspiciously. Raniel shrugged and smiled.
“Well, it’s my first time using it too.”
“…….”
Glaring at Raniel with slightly glazed eyes, Kalt sighed deeply. He had already steeled himself. Kalt slowly steadied his breath and wrapped his fingers around the sword hilt.
“Well then, I’ll be back.”
In the gently glowing starlight, Kalt leapt in.
2.
With a platinum flash, his vision flickered several times.
After what felt like thirty seconds passed, Kalt was finally able to slowly open his eyes.
Blink.
Struggling to open his eyes and looking around, all he could see was a vast expanse of grassland. The sky was blue, and the grassland stretched to the horizon, gleaming green.
And there, something lay.
“A… wall?”
A colossal wall. Kalt looked up at the huge wall resting in the grassland. It resembled the inner wall he had faced before. However, it was different from the wall he had seen originally.
‘At first, it seemed like an unbreakable wall…’
But not anymore.
There were dents all over the wall. The cracked wall looked like it could crumble at any moment. Instinctively, Kalt understood that this was the realm he had reached.
He also understood the way the trial would proceed.
“…….”
Kalt silently stared at the wall.
The shape of the massive wall began to transform. The wall converged into a single point and soon took on the form of a human.
Tattered clothes.
A worn-out sword.
The arm that held the sword was covered in wounds, and from the blood-soaked human, an aura of ferocity radiated.
It was the last image of the Sword Master, Kuntel, that Kalt remembered. At that time, while fleeing the battlefield alongside the knights, Kalt had turned back to capture the sight of Kuntel facing death.
A human challenging death.
A Knight who finally achieved his feat.
That proud Knight stood before him, in a human form just like back then.
“Haah…”
Kalt let out a long breath and drew his sword.
He pointed the drawn sword at Kuntel.
“I ask for one verse.”
The trial summoned from memory and record wouldn’t understand that statement. But Kuntel slowly lifted his sword. His eyes shone through his matted hair, soaked in blood.
A gesture agreeing to the duel.
Kalt, swallowing hard, readied himself. Cold sweat trickled down his back. Just facing felt like staring death in the face.
‘I can’t win, not at all.’
At the moment of clashing swords, the vision of his head falling off spun in his mind. Even from a distance, he could feel the killing intent chilling his limbs.
‘But.’
That’s why it’s called a trial.
Even if he used the miraculous Holy Relic, even if he could become a Superhuman without loss, ultimately, he must face and overcome this wall.
“The crossing of walls involves a necessary measure of pain. None can reach the realm of Superhuman without suffering and trial.”
Recalling the words Kuntel once said, Kalt’s lips curved upward.
“I’m going.”
Kalt stomped the ground.
Taking off from the ground, he reflected on the conditions for overcoming this trial. It was always something he had yearned for.
“If I can just touch you once.”
Wounds dealt to Sword Master Kuntel.
Not as before, enduring, fleeing, and buying time…
But to deal a significant blow.
Without relying on tricks or special tools like magic items… just a single sword.
It was something he had long desired.
What he had always insisted upon deep inside.
To achieve that, Kalt closed the gap. Tap, tap, the sound of his feet hitting the ground echoed through the grassland. Utilizing his physical prowess, close to that of a Superhuman, he made it to right in front of Kuntel in an instant.
Until that moment, Kuntel stood still.
As if willing to concede the first move.
Woosh!
Kalt, closing the distance, swung his sword.
The tip of the blade cut through the air with a loud sound. The trajectory of the sword was clean, and the tip of the blade didn’t waver even slightly. It could be considered the best sword strike.
And then, Kuntel moved.
The sword he had raised accelerated for a moment. However, that acceleration was fleeting. The moment Kuntel’s sword touched Kalt’s, it regained its original speed.
Neither slow nor fast.
The tip of the sword moved calmly. The silvery trajectory traced by that blade smoothly deflected Kalt’s sword. It didn’t block; it merely flowed away.
Like water flowing.
Quiet and gentle.
The path of Kalt’s sword reversed. By the time he noticed it, his sword was already planted in the ground. One strike was exchanged. The flow had completely shifted.
Kalt’s sword was embedded in the ground.
Kuntel’s sword still moved.
“…Hah.”
Kalt let out a hollow laugh.
He tried to lift the sword planted in the ground, but he already knew it was far too late.
‘Wow, this is no joke…’
His thoughts didn’t continue to completion.
Because Kuntel’s sword had already severed Kalt’s neck.
3.
“You just went in, didn’t you?”
“……”
“With such a determined look, you said, ‘I’ll be back,’ didn’t you?”
“Y-yeah, I did.”
“And how long has it been?”
I pointed at the pocket watch in my hand.
“Hey, it’s been three minutes. Three minutes.”
Of course, I didn’t think he would pass the trial in one go. But still, three minutes? That felt a bit much.
“…Was it that intense?”
“More than I expected.”
Kalt rubbed the back of his neck as he spoke.
“He felt much stronger than the Kuntel I knew. For some reason, I unconsciously recalled the Kuntel I met in the city at night…”
Kalt shook his head quietly.
“It’s on a different level.”
“Really?”
“Just blinking, and my head flew off. I think I underestimated it way too much.”
“….Really?”
I squinted at Kalt.
After sighing and mumbling about how absurdly tough it was, a smile still lingered on his lips.
“But you seem to be enjoying it?”
“Of course.”
Kalt smiled.
“It’s a moment I’ve dreamed of. I thought I’d never face that person again, yet here I am, asking for a duel.”
“Really,” Kalt muttered.
“He’s still someone I can learn so much from. Really.”
As if recalling the sensations left in his hand, Kalt adjusted his grip on the sword numerous times, and his eyes sparkled.
“Once or twice might not be enough, though…”
Kalt looked at me.
“I think with just a bit more, I can grasp it.”
And it wasn’t an empty remark.
After about ten minutes, Kalt returned for the second time. Having endured three times as long as the first, he breathed heavily, embedding the sword hilt into the ground.
His exhale was rough.
Injuries sustained in the trial didn’t transfer to reality. But, seeing him rotate his arm as if it was stiff, it seemed like a form of lingering illusion.
“Hey, let’s take a break—”
As I was about to say something, Kalt jumped back into the space without hearing me.
“One more time.”
Thirty minutes passed, and Kalt came back.
The first time was three minutes.
The second time was ten minutes.
The third time was thirty minutes.
An impressive growth rate. However, having hit the limit of three times warned by Cardi, I had intended to end it here when…
“I’m still fine.”
Kalt leapt back into the space again.
Rather than weary, he looked heated.
