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EP.486 Sword of Yeocheon (2)
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The land split by the sword. The sky slashed by the sword. Thus, in a wilderness cloaked in the traces left by the sword, two knights clashed.
At the same speed, in the same posture, at the same timeline, when the two swords overlapped, the sound that echoed was neither the sound of slicing nor the creaking of space. Neither was it the sound of one side being pushed back, nor the noise of sword energy resonating.
Kaang!
What echoed was a clear noise.
The sound produced by iron striking iron, sword against sword, lingered in the wilderness. Kaang, accompanied by the sound, the two swords pushed against each other. The two swords tilted at similar angles, locked in a stalemate.
A perfect tie.
As the two swords achieved a tie once again, they tilted and soared towards each other. The bizarre trajectories of strikes and counter-strikes scratched at one another.
Kaang, kang, kaaaang!
With each clash of the swords, the wind howled. The swirling wind sucked up the dust, sending it spiraling.
“Hah…”
Absentmindedly watching the scene, Raniel couldn’t help but let out a laugh. Just the fact that Kyle suddenly got up was surprising enough… Immediately rushing to the battlefield, Kyle drew his sword.
The opponent rushing in with a drawn sword was Ganikalt.
Ganikalt, the Death’s Blade. Without hesitation, Kyle charged in against the foe who had defeated him multiple times. And it seemed as if Kyle was mocking the years of absence as he matched Ganikalt, blow for blow.
“…Really.”
Raniel, who was about to intervene in their fight if necessary, now sat down with a thud. She felt no need to interfere.
‘Rather…’
It would be a hindrance. No matter which side it was.
Amidst the echoing noises, Raniel gazed at Ganikalt. The disaster wielding the sword, the former hero, caught her eyes.
Their breathing was different. Their postures were different. The atmosphere was different.
Though Raniel faced Ganikalt, the Death’s Blade, what Kyle was up against was the ‘Knight’ Ganikalt van Galatrick. Understanding the gap between them, Raniel smiled bitterly.
Before the battle, Ganikalt had said something.
He didn’t care what was used to defeat him. He claimed to be a disaster, stating that choosing methods to defeat a disaster was foolish.
That statement was surely sincere at heart.
However, Raniel knew that wasn’t all. Just as Gleria Bel Armias had, Ganikalt also had the best conclusion he could envision for himself. A wish that he might have thought, even if he deemed it too much for him.
Even knowing what that was.
Raniel couldn’t fulfill that wish. She couldn’t provide Ganikalt with the best conclusion. After all, she wasn’t a knight… Only someone else could grant that dream…
Kaang!
Kyle Toven—only that guy could.
Kang, kaang!
Amidst the noise, Raniel glared at Kyle.
Because he was the one who had challenged Ganikalt multiple times, a hero, a superhuman, and someone who achieved the same feat of slaying the Demon Lord… it was because of Kyle Toven that this conclusion could be seen.
He swung his sword. And swung it again.
As he wielded the sword, Ganikalt adjusted his stance. There was no need to show it like before, to teach, to indicate to follow. To strike down the enemy before him, Ganikalt took his stance and swung his sword.
Galatrick Style, First Technique, Initial Kill.
A lightning-fast strike. As the oncoming strike tore through space, Kyle met it with an identical blow. Initial Kill against Initial Kill. The clash of rapid swords erupted into a burst of air. Torn space intertwined as the wind surged.
Kaaaaang!
Bouncing back from each other’s strike, the two swords achieved a tie once more. As if knowing that this would happen, the two knights continued on to the next sword path without a hint of hesitation.
Second Technique, Illusory Sword.
Third Technique, Absolute Sword…
Same techniques. Same posture.
No matter what sword Ganikalt used, Kyle immediately responded. Without retreating an inch, he faced the techniques head-on. Just like before, he didn’t spit blood, he wasn’t pushed back, nor did he twist his body to execute trick strikes.
He only defended with the same swordsmanship head-on.
As Ganikalt wielded his sword, he felt it.
The knight in front of him had sharpened further. He had grown to a level incomparable to that day. The sword Kyle wielded was sharp. Concise. Without gaps.
Kaaaang!
Yet, even so, Ganikalt’s sword wasn’t the same as his own. He noticed the change in Kyle’s stance after parrying the blow. It was as if he were about to showcase his own mastery from here onward…
Thud, and Kyle slammed down onto the ground.
In that moment, countless sword paths unfolded before Ganikalt’s eyes. The variety of strikes multiplied in an instant. The number of attacks to deflect grew. The swordsmanship Kyle was about to wield was something Ganikalt didn’t know.
Chaotic Swordsmanship, the net of blades.
That was a specter’s sword.
Galatrick Style, Initial Kill.
A prideful knight’s sword indeed.
Crossing over the entirely different two sword paths was the single sword Ganikalt held. Weaving the two paths into one, Kyle swung his sword. The swing was one, yet the flurry of strikes was not just one.
Kaaaaang!
As the rapid strikes pushed Ganikalt’s sword aside, everything around Kyle came to a halt in that moment. The ferocious wind followed.
Kagagagagagagagak!
The ground split apart. Dozens, hundreds of sword marks were imprinted onto the ground in an instant. The swirling dust was cut away, and the rocks that sprang up shattered into pieces. As he braced against the onslaught of rapid sword strikes, Ganikalt bled. As blood spilled, he smiled.
Different. It’s something different.
Though his sword was mixed within, that wasn’t his sword. It was an entirely different sword completed by the human that was Kyle Toven. Cutting through the net of blades, Ganikalt took a step forward. He swung his sword toward Kyle.
Kang, kaang, kang!
With each clash of swords, Ganikalt felt that the knight before him was someone who had walked his own path to completion. Similar to him, yet wielding a sword that was different from his.
‘…Ah…’
Thus, he could say this.
Come at me. Show me your best.
He could cry out for a rematch against the knight, Ganikalt van Galatrick.
‘I did not wish for it. I thought this would suffice.’
Ganikalt, the Death’s Blade, knew.
He knew he was a disaster. He had committed unforgivable sins. He recognized himself as someone the humans should defeat by any means; he understood that.
Thus, the Death’s Blade thought.
If he were to fall by the hands of the grown humanity, if he were to meet death at the will of someone standing before him—not a star, but a human who stood before him of their own volition… that would be a glorious death. He thought such an ending would suffice for him.
The hero, Ganikalt thought the same.
If he could fall as the disaster he had become, if he could meet death for humanity, then he would be satisfied, he spoke.
As a hero, as the guardian captain, as a loyal servant to the queen, in any capacity… Ganikalt accepted the ending that was destined for him. Falling as a disaster. He believed that was the best conclusion given to him.
But.
But Ganikalt van Galatrick.
The knight, Ganikalt van Galatrick, could not accept the ending given to him. It was only natural. How could he not feel indignant? He was a knight. A proud knight, one who lived life with a sword.
If he were to fall, it should be by the sword, and if he were to meet death, it should merely be death received from wielding the sword.
Thus, he wished.
He wished for someone to break him with a sword. He wished, merely as a knight, to let him die. That was the one single desire Ganikalt van Galatrick had hidden deep within. A yearning likely abandoned due to the futility of it.
‘However…’
The knight, Ganikalt van Galatrick looked ahead.
He saw the person facing him with a sword. There, someone who could grant him the ending he longed for.
‘Is that so?’
In front of him stood a knight who could make him bleed. Before that person, he could simply exist as a knight, neither as a disaster, nor as a hero, nor as anything else.
“…Ha.”
Ganikalt chuckled.
He was thankful for this reunion. Grateful for the rematch that transpired. For the mage who had pushed him to the limit, tearing away the beast’s influence and bringing him back to merely being a knight.
The Death’s Blade swung his sword.
From a worthless coward to a hero, to a strong opponent, and ultimately back to just a single knight standing before Kyle Toven.
Ganikalt swung his sword.
Kyle’s sword grazed Ganikalt’s left arm. Ganikalt’s sword brushed against Kyle’s skin. Blood splattered. Through the spurting blood, the two knights read each other’s sword paths. Perhaps, even each other’s lives.
The knight swung his sword.
In wielding the sword, he was neither a hero nor a disaster. Nor was he anything. Just a knight revealing his life through his sword.
Kaaaaang!
Kyle, who faced such a knight, was no different.
He needed none of the countless embellishments, titles, nor the position of a hero. What was necessary to face the knight before him was just one sword to call himself a knight.
The knight swung his sword at the knight.
The sword Kyle held no longer shone.
As the sword, no longer the Holy Sword, was swung, Kyle steadied his breath. Sharpening his senses more than ever before.
Faster. Sharper. More perfectly.
He adjusted his stance. Kept his breath in check, focusing on the path of his sword. Perhaps even more than when facing the Demon Lord, he focused intently on the knight before him. He had to show his best against the knight in front of him.
Ganikalt van Galatrick.
That proud knight was indeed the one who had shown Kyle the way. He had admired him, hated him, and at times felt disappointed in himself for not reaching him. However, all of that was merely old sentiment.
Sweeping all of that away, Kyle reached a realm.
Before he knew it, he stood alongside the knight in front of him, sharing the same scenery. At that realization, Kyle smiled. Perhaps it wasn’t only Ganikalt who wished for this rematch. Kyle felt the same way.
Behold. Ganikalt van Galatrick.
The knight who once looked up to you now stands here.
The coward who had run away from you, who had hated you, and who had hopelessly given up… is now standing before you, challenging you as an equal. And now, he seeks to surpass you.
“I believe in human potential.”
“When we continue on, one day, someone from the distant future will surpass me. They will reach the places we could not.”
Now freed from the constraints of the star and having regained all his memories, Kyle stepped forward, recalling the past records he had glimpsed that day.
To surpass, or perhaps to prove.
As if to shout that he was indeed the one someone had dreamed of that day, Kyle swung his sword.
