EP.230 The Trial of the Holy Grail (4)
The Trial of the Holy Grail summons a strong individual that aligns with the challenger’s ideals.
Each person possesses their unique ideals. Since everyone’s desired ideals differ, it’s normal for their imagined strong figure to also vary.
It is normal, but…
“Belnoa, is that you, Professor Rania?”
“Considering Professor Rania’s identity, it’s tough to find anyone like her around…”
Who is the ideal strong being?
Belnoa and Lac came to the same answer. It was only natural.
‘What is Professor Rania’s true identity?’
Raniel van Trias, the Ashen Mage. A being who has achieved countless feats alongside heroes, known as a wise one… a living legend.
‘A human who can confront a calamity.’
Ultimately, the appearance of a strength that reaches the extreme is likely similar. Moreover, for Lac and Belnoa, who have witnessed that strength with their own eyes, envisioning a stronger figure than Rania was hardly an easy task.
A superhuman, the Sword Demon, ripping apart the ultimate technique with bare hands.
A dazzling figure, burning her own life force to stand against calamity, embodying starlight.
At the moment when Lac and Belnoa recalled the Rania they had seen, Rania, who had been frowning deeply, finally spoke.
“You guys.”
Rania tapped the table.
“Do you think you could land a hit on me?”
Another cryptic question.
Belnoa blinked in surprise before asking back.
“Are we doing it like last time’s practical exam?”
“No, based on the me you just mentioned.”
If that’s the case…
“That… when you faced the Gletus back then…?”
“Yeah. Just one hit. A valid strike.”
Rania nodded.
“Seriously think about it.”
But, even if asked to think seriously, that’s a bit…
Nonetheless, since she asked, Belnoa earnestly pictured the scenario in her mind.
‘Professor Rania, who embodies starlight.’
The mage who reached the calamity by burning her lifespan.
Could she land a hit on that mage? Belnoa contemplated the answer to that question.
‘Assuming I had the upper hand, employing all sorts of tricks and teamwork…’
No answer materialized.
Belnoa rubbed her chin and muttered.
“…If I close my eyes and open them again, my head might be rolling.”
It was no exaggeration.
The difference between the Rania she had seen that night in the city and the current Belnoa was as vast as the sky and earth.
The moment they faced each other, she’d die.
Not even able to twitch a finger.
“Lac, well, if you strategize, you might put up a fight in three years… but the issue is you two.”
Rania sighed.
“What are we supposed to do…?”
“Um, Professor?”
Unable to contain her curiosity, Belnoa raised her hand and asked.
“The intentions behind your questions…”
“It’s the trial you must overcome.”
Rania replied briefly.
“If you wish to move forward, you must overcome this trial.”
She placed the Holy Grail on the table.
Lac and Belnoa’s eyes widened as they stared at the grail. Though they hadn’t reached the level, both were mages who had learned circuits.
‘An incomprehensible circuit.’
At first glance, this was anything but an ordinary object.
Pointing at it, Rania continued.
“You told me.”
She pointed at Belnoa.
“Belnoa, you said you wished to grow stronger, to protect Chloe, to be beside her, that you are woefully inadequate as you are now.”
Belnoa slowly nodded.
It was the truth.
When Chloe was kidnapped, Belnoa felt helpless. The strength she had painstakingly honed was utterly powerless before them.
‘…To stand beside Chloe, who will become a hero someday, and protect her…’
She needed to become much stronger.
Reaching the level of those hailed as superhumans was Belnoa’s goal.
“And, Lac, you too.”
Rania’s finger pointed at Lac.
“I heard from your father, the Duke of the North, that the era in which you ascend to the Duke’s position will be an era where the light has gone out. To cross through that dark age…”
To make it through that perilous time,
“You must reach the level of a superhuman. Only then can you achieve what you wish. The Duke said as much. What are your thoughts?”
“I agree.”
Lac nodded vigorously.
“The Duke of the North has the duty to protect the land of the North and all who live there. It has been the mission of the Grace family since its inception.”
Therefore,
“To uphold the duty passed down by our ancestors for centuries, I must become stronger than I am now. I must see and learn more… I have to grow.”
Both Belnoa and Lac shared this sentiment.
They had reasons to grow stronger. Their desire for strength and their motivation were sufficiently present.
Rania understood this too.
“That’s why I chose you two first.”
She selected them as the next targets.
“To explain would be complicated, but this Holy Grail…”
She lightly explained about the grail.
Though the words were hard to believe, Lac and Belnoa, listening to Rania, did not doubt her.
‘She’s not the type to lie about such things.’
The trust built over time was thick.
“So.”
Finishing her explanation, Rania tapped the grail.
“Do you have any thoughts of challenging it?”
The ultimate goal of all warriors.
The extremes attainable by the human body.
Superhuman.
When that became the destination, where was the current self, and how far left to go…
It was an opportunity to confirm that with their own eyes.
At that moment, after hearing her explanation, the response was as good as decided. Lac and Belnoa nodded their heads simultaneously.
“We will challenge it.”
2.
In the forest near Apuria.
I arrived at the place where Kalt had undergone his trial and pulled out the Holy Grail. With Belnoa and Lac watching me, I gently shook the grail.
Woom, woosh.
The grail began to resonate.
Compared to Kalt, the resonance was incredibly faint, but I could still feel a weak vibration travel through my fingertips.
Lac was in the northern snowy mountains.
Belnoa had seen it in the night city.
For a moment, both had faced their inner walls. Thus, the grail would respond to them.
‘One, two, three…’
Counting in my mind, I spoke.
“Today is just a taste. It’s about three times a year, so let’s just experience a bit right now.”
It’s impossible to break out immediately.
Though Lac and Belnoa are talented kids, their talents have yet to fully blossom.
‘It’s too much to challenge the level of a superhuman right away.’
For now, it was purely an experience.
To clarify direction, and to verify whether I truly emerge from the trial of the Holy Grail.
“Is the great Professor Rania going to emerge? Even if it didn’t happen, it’s still a bit scary…”
“A warrior feels no fear,” said Belnoa.
“Even if there is fear, it’s about overcoming it. But how do you face a nightmare you can’t overcome…?”
Belnoa and Lac were chatting.
As I glanced at Lac, who still wouldn’t drop the word “great,” I let out a long sigh.
“…Lac, you’re relatively better off.”
Sighing, I pointed at Belnoa.
“The problem is you, Belnoa.”
According to Belnoa, my appearance during her trial would be akin to during the defeat of Gletus.
‘Me, calling forth starlight by draining my lifespan.’
If it were the state of me back then, prepared to eradicate the ‘enemy’ before me…
‘How would I appear to someone I recognize as an enemy?’
It wasn’t hard to think of an answer.
“Uh, Belnoa?”
“Yes?”
“Once we step in, there will be a flash of light, okay? Don’t squint because it’s dazzling. You’ve got to keep your eyes open till the end. If you’re not careful, you might exit without seeing anything…”
“…The flash? Ah, are you perhaps talking about the advanced spell, Light Burst…?”
I shook my head calmly.
“That’s blinding. What I’ll be using is my signature spell. It’ll sear the entire area with heat.”
I looked at Belnoa with a pitying gaze.
“Do your best. Seriously.”
That was the point I had made.
The thirty-seventh resonance echoed in my hands, and I gently tilted the grail. At the same time, two pits formed on the ground.
The trial could create two at once.
Pointing at the pits, I spoke.
“Step into those pits to begin the trial. It won’t take long, so just go in. I’ll be waiting.”
Lac gripped his axe tightly.
Belnoa held her shadow armor in hand.
Both of them, tense, jumped into the pits.
And just then, the light swallowed them.
— Zwooom.
For a moment, the Holy Grail I held shook violently.
A rough resonance that made my fingers tingle. With a frown, I raised the grail. It was shaking noisily.
“…What’s going on?”
I had thought it was only possible up to two?
Something felt off. As I tried to suppress the shaking, I wrapped my hands around the vibrating grail…
Crack!
A crack raced through the grail.
As if it contained something that could not be held.
3.
The memories etched in the challenger’s soul. The countless records of humans inscribed with starlight swirling in the world. When the moments of memories and records overlap, the Trial of the Holy Grail completes.
What one must focus on here is the challenger’s memories.
Not mere memories, but memories etched into the soul.
What remains most powerfully in memory is generally what the challenger experienced firsthand—seen with two eyes, felt with two hands, and directly felt in their own body.
However, there are always exceptions.
Memories inscribed on the soul.
Memories implanted by some means.
The method of inscribing something on the soul isn’t easy, and it belongs to the realm of taboo… but it’s not impossible. Those who believe in an immensely slim possibility and challenge the realm of impossibility have existed in every era.
To allow sorcery to transcend time, someone hopes that the era will remember, embedding their memories in sorcery.
There are those who etched their soul into their sword for the sake of their sole disciple.
The human obsession to achieve their unfulfilled wishes occasionally leads them to places even the stars couldn’t anticipate.
*
“Hurry up, boy.”
In the vast desert.
Belnoa gazes at the man standing before her. A man standing in the barren desert is smiling jovially.
A man she has never met or seen before.
That man calls out to Belnoa.
“Are you the sorcerer who carries on my lineage?”
The Trial of the Holy Grail is merely a manifestation of a recreated persona.
An imitation of a human from memories and records.
Therefore, it is an existence that does not genuinely exist.
“The self is close to a lifeless puppet. It can’t think, and it moves strictly according to the combat habits recorded at that time.”
Before the trial, Raniel had clearly said that.
Belnoa remembers those words distinctly. Yet, the man before her is approaching her with a clear sense of self.
“Can we… converse?”
“If words are exchanged, then it’s a conversation. Was something special needed? Times seem to have changed a lot.”
Belnoa swallowed hard, feeling a dry throat.
The mana flowing around him is unusual. The man simply stands there, yet Belnoa feels her breath tighten from the overwhelming pressure emanating from him.
“…Your name.”
Belnoa slowly opened her mouth.
“What is your name?”
The man responds to the question.
“The Sorcerer of the Shadow Dragon.”
Shadows rise from the man’s arm.
“Belial.”
The shadows that rise take the shape of a dragon.
*
Lac glanced around.
The terrain resembled a canyon, with sword hilts thrust haphazardly around. The ground bore long scars as if it had been carved by blades.
The landscape possessed notable distinctiveness, yet Lac had seen this place before.
Not with his eyes but in history books.
“The Sacred Site of the Sword, Galatrick.”
A site that had become a phantom territory inaccessible now.
He felt that the scenic view from that place resembled what he was seeing now.
‘Why here?’
A place he had only seen as a drawing in a history book.
Why was that place unfolding right before his eyes?
It was the moment Lac began to question that fact.
Creeeak.
From somewhere, the sound of armor clinking resonated. The clanking sound gradually grew closer. Lac, gripping the axe tightly, turned to face the source of the noise.
Clank.
At last, the sound stopped.
There stood a knight wielding a massive greatsword.
Swoosh.
Slowly, he raised the sword.
At a glance, the colossal greatsword seemed to intend to crush with weight, but the moment it was lifted by the knight, it felt like a razor-sharp blade.
“What is your name?”
Upon the knight’s question, Lac responded.
“Lac von Grace.”
“A child of Grace, huh.”
The knight nodded lightly.
Then, he aimed his sword at Lac.
“Draw your weapon.”
A voice colder than ice.
In blade (sword) terms, the knight had lived a life more consumed by battle than anyone else and introduced himself.
“My name is Ganikalt van Galatrick.”
Commander of the Knights of Arcadia.
The First Sword Saint.
The sword protecting mankind.
Though he had countless epithets, he always refrained from presenting fancy titles while introducing himself. He succinctly spoke just a single word.
“I am a knight.”
A person who narrates his life with a sword.
Beneath the softly glowing starlight, Ganikalt’s sword shone brilliantly.
*
Author’s Note
While there is a Holy Grail, I do not intend to lightly depict the process of becoming a superhuman. Doing so would feel like invalidating the lives of the superhumans who appeared earlier.
The illustrations were done by the typo artist 😀
