Chapter 161

Right before the final match with Eisen.

Sara asked me for a favor.

“Could you fight mainly using the swordsmanship of the Isrinbloom Ducal Family?”

“The Isrinbloom Family’s swordsmanship, you say? Hmm, it’s not impossible. But if I fight with only that, I’ll surely fall behind Lord Eisen.”

“I’m not asking you to use only our family’s swordsmanship.”

Sara lowered her head, staring at her bandaged right arm.

There were many emotions mixed in her eyes.

“What I want to ask is simple. Just use our family’s swordsmanship in front of everyone. I want people to remember that you challenged my brother Eisen using the swordsmanship of the Isrinbloom Family. And… if possible, when you seize the upper hand and finish him off, could you do it using our family’s swordsmanship?”

“I’ll… do my best to try. Though it won’t be easy.”

“I know. I know how strong my brother is… He’s never an easy opponent. But Gideon, I also know your skills well. If it’s you… maybe it’s possible.”

Sara looked at me with a faint smile.

It was a smile tinged with bitterness.

“I really am… such a messed-up person, Gideon. The brother who made me like this—Eisen—I want him to lose. Not just lose, but lose shamefully, to an outsider who mastered our family’s swordsmanship. But what’s even more pathetic is…”

Sara was still smiling.

Yet her eyes had already reddened.

“That I’m asking you to do this for me. Asking you to take my place and avenge my defeat. I must look so petty and ugly right now.”

“It’s fine, Lady Sara. Don’t worry too much about it.”

“No. Even if you say that… mm, well, Gideon. This is just a request. You can refuse if you want.”

“No, it’s fine. It’s not really that difficult of a request, after all. I’ll give it a try.”

This time, I was the one who smiled.

Sara looked at me, surprised.

“…You’re really going to grant such a selfish request?”

“As you said, it’s indeed a selfish and childish request.”

“D-do you really have to emphasize that part?”

“Heh, my apologies. Anyway, even if it’s a selfish and childish request… if it’s a friend’s request, I can accept it.”

Sara fell silent for a moment.

Avoiding my gaze, she slowly opened her mouth again.

“Friend… you say?”

“Am I wrong? You’re the one who said that first, weren’t you?”

“No, you’re right. You are… my friend.”

Sara smiled again.

This time, there was much less bitterness in her smile.

With movements full of technique, I swung Mistcatcher toward Eisen.

Eisen, though clearly startled, managed to block my attack.

I closely observed his movements.

He held his rapier in one hand, moving it gracefully back and forth—

Just like me.

I too held Mistcatcher in one hand, mirroring Eisen’s motion.

“Gideon. Are you seriously… using the swordsmanship of the Isrinbloom Family against me right now?”

“Yes, that’s correct. Is there a problem with that?”

“…You’ve got guts. On this kind of stage, you’re the only one who’d dare use our family’s swordsmanship against me. Even Instructor Luke wouldn’t try such a thing.”

“You’re not wrong. But as I said earlier, I received a request from a friend.”

As I said this, I sent flames flying toward Eisen.

Of course, the flames were just to draw his attention—my real attack was the sword itself.

But such tricks didn’t work on him.

As expected of a member of the Isrinbloom Family, Eisen seemed to predict every one of my moves.

Clang—! Cl-clang—!

“Lady Sara asked me to defeat you using the swordsmanship of the Isrinbloom Family.”

“…So, it was a request from Sara.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“……”

A brief flash of emotion crossed Eisen’s otherwise expressionless eyes.

There were too many emotions to read, but one of them was unmistakable—

Guilt.

The moment Sara’s name came up, Eisen was struck by a deep sense of guilt.

But before I could say anything more, he spoke first.

“So, you really think you can defeat me with our family’s swordsmanship?”

“No. I can’t.”

“What do you mean—”

“Even so, since I was asked, I’ll do my best.”

Saying that, I glanced toward the audience.

Everyone in the stands was looking and pointing at me—

At my swordsmanship, and the flames around me.

‘Well, at least I’ve made an impression.’

A challenger using the Isrinbloom Family’s swordsmanship against a member of the same family.

I’d wondered how best to make people remember that, and decided from the start to use fire magic to draw attention. It seemed that had worked perfectly.

‘Half the request is done, then.’

Now all that was left was to seize the upper hand and finish Eisen off—

Using the Isrinbloom Family’s swordsmanship.

It wouldn’t be easy, but it wasn’t impossible either.

At any rate, I’d already made sure everyone knew I was using their family’s swordsmanship…

“Well then, Lord Eisen. If you don’t like me using your family’s swordsmanship, why don’t you personally—”

“Shut up.”

At that, Eisen summoned flames.

Then he charged at me in earnest.

An overwhelming heat, accompanied by dazzling fire.

Eisen’s swordsmanship was just as magnificent as his flames.

Normally, anyone would have been blinded by that brilliance and failed to block the fatal blow hidden behind it.

But I wasn’t “anyone.”

Clang—!

Thanks to my Attack Prediction Skill, I easily blocked the true strike lurking behind the showy display.

Eisen’s eyes widened slightly, as if he hadn’t expected me to block it.

“Lord Eisen.”

Putting some distance between us, I readied my stance again—

A stance that pressed the sword tightly against my body, my own personal form.

“I didn’t defeat Lady Sara by chance.”

“…It seems that way.”

Eisen’s flames once again came flying toward me.

In response, I activated the power contained within my runes.

Water coated the blade of Mistcatcher, flowing along its edge.

I swung Mistcatcher, now wrapped in water, and extinguished all the flames that had been surging toward me.

“…So this is the Swordsman of Water, huh?”

Eisen said, letting out a faint smile.

Then, he began to mutter something incomprehensible.

“He says he’s always watching me, but in truth, he can’t always do that. And it’s impossible for him to interfere with me constantly. So, Gideon—defeat me. Defeat me here and now, and prove to me that you are the swordsman.”

“…I’ll do my best.”

“Good.”

The flames surrounding Eisen burned even fiercer.

At the same time, streams of molten lava began to flow from those flames.

‘He’s fighting unbelievably well.’

Taking a step back, Eisen looked at Gideon with a hint of disbelief.

Among all the people his age, Gideon was the first to last this long against him.

‘That defensive swordsmanship… it’s certainly different from Sara’s.’

Sara had also used Gideon’s swordsmanship.

But in terms of mastery, Gideon was on an entirely different level—Sara couldn’t even compare.

When Eisen had fought Sara, he was confident that he could break through her defense whenever he wanted.

She’d had quite a few openings.

But Gideon was different.

No matter how Eisen attacked, he couldn’t find a single gap in Gideon’s defense.

It was like striking a massive fortress wall with a sword.

At least in terms of swordsmanship, Eisen knew he couldn’t bring him down.

‘If that were all, I could just wear him down with fire magic, little by little…’

Eisen launched multiple waves of flames at once.

Unpredictable streams of fire shot toward Gideon from all directions.

Most swordsmen would have had no way to properly respond.

But Gideon blocked every single one—perfectly.

With that water-coated sword of his.

‘Could he really be the one I’m looking for? The one who can stop Brother Rage… could it truly be Gideon?’

Eisen once overheard Rage and that god conversing. That god had seemed terrified of a certain prophecy given by an elf—

More precisely, of the Swordsman who wields water mentioned in that prophecy.

—Kill him here and now.

As he thought to himself, a voice echoed inside Eisen’s head.

The same voice he’d heard yesterday, while fighting Sara.

The voice that had briefly taken control of his mind.

Yet even as he heard it now, Eisen remained calm.

Unlike yesterday, he didn’t suddenly change. He merely let out a quiet sigh.

‘I’ll handle this myself.’

Eisen understood the truth about the fragment of a soul that god had planted within him.

‘You already took control of my body once yesterday, so you won’t be able to do it again today. You’ll need at least a few days before you can interfere directly again.’

Moreover, Eisen knew that the soul fragment implanted within him didn’t allow that god to see everything he did.

He had proven that through a life-risking test.

So now, whatever Eisen did here, that god wouldn’t know.

‘Of course, because of the curse placed on me, if I try to speak of anything important, my body will probably tear apart again. But still…’

Eisen looked once more toward Gideon.

At some point, water had once again coated Gideon’s sword, and an unfamiliar mist had appeared around him.

Eisen didn’t know what that mist was—but to his eyes, no one fit the title Swordsman of Water more than Gideon did.

“Hm?”

Gideon suddenly shifted his stance and closed in on Eisen.

Eisen immediately realized that Gideon was about to use Luke’s swordsmanship.

Gideon struck down powerfully—but Eisen had already experienced that move once before, when fighting Sara yesterday.

Boom—!

Clang—!

Eisen easily blocked Gideon’s attack and countered right away.

But Gideon instantly changed his stance—

From Luke’s aggressive form to his own defensive one.

Clang—! Cl-cl-cl-clang—!

‘He’s quite something. He’s not losing focus at all, and he can freely shift between different sword styles like this.’

Pushing Gideon back to widen the distance, Eisen couldn’t help but feel impressed.

But that admiration didn’t last long.

—Move. Use the power I’ve given you and crush that human.

The voice echoed once more in his head.

Eisen sighed inwardly.

‘…Understood, fragment of the god. I was planning to do that anyway.’

Eisen began to draw out the power that had been planted within him.

An unbearable pain spread throughout his body.

But Eisen endured it, focusing—until streams of molten lava began to flow around him.

‘Prove it to me, Gideon. Defeat this power that was forcibly given to me.’

‘As expected, it’s hard to accumulate damage.’

The weapon skill of Mistcatcher was to store the damage it had received and return it later.

But Eisen—and the swordsmen of the Isrinbloom Family—didn’t deliver heavy, physically powerful strikes.

Their style relied on light, elegant movements that lured opponents into carelessness, then exploited openings to land one precise, lethal blow.

Their swordsmanship simply wasn’t the kind that allowed accumulated damage.

‘Still, even putting that aside… he’s definitely a tough opponent.’

Just from crossing blades briefly, I could already tell.

If not for my Attack Prediction Skill, I wouldn’t have been able to block all of Eisen’s attacks.

I could clearly understand why the swordsmen of the Isrinbloom Family were said to be the strongest in one-on-one duels.

‘Each attack is sharp, and even when defending, he moves as if to create openings. He’s dangerous even while on guard.’

Could I really defeat someone like Eisen?

The longer we fought, the less confident I felt.

To beat him, I’d have to use everything—from Peregrie’s Power to Blood Energy…

“…Hah, seeing it in person really is terrifying.”

A tremendous wave of heat suddenly hit me, and I looked around.

At some point, an immense flow of lava had surrounded Eisen.

“If you truly are the Swordsman of Water, then overcome this power I’ve been given.”

“To overcome lava, I’d need to be the Swordsman of the Sea, not just water…”

“Just fight me.”

“Yes, sir.”

I let out a short laugh and raised Mistcatcher.

At the same time, I began to draw forth the Power of Peregrie from within me.

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