Chapter 53: First Step of Sword Breathing [1]

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After fighting Mirai, Louis continued swinging his blade. Sweat poured from his body as he released a potent aura of sword energy.

Each swing synchronized with his energy flow and breathing, yet it placed tremendous strain on his frame.

Every time he executed that motion, he had to rest for a full minute, otherwise his body could not contain the accumulated power.

Thus.

Every minute, Louis swung his blade.

But sometimes his concentration broke and…

“Ugh?!”

His entire body twisted in agony. He vomited blood and collapsed.

The next day, Louis would awaken in his bedroom, click his tongue in frustration, and immediately leap from the bed to rush toward the training ground.

He ate nothing. He did nothing else except grip his sword and swing.

“Master Louis! I had to heal you yesterday because you overexerted yourself! You collapsed! W-What are you doing?!”

“I am learning Sword Breathing.”

“What?! That’s an extreme form of Sword Cultivation. You’re not ready—”

“I don’t care if I’m not ready. I have to learn it.”

“…?”

“Don’t stop me…”

In that moment, Catrise saw an undying resolve burning within the prince’s golden eyes.

She understood then that nothing could halt him anymore. Prince Louis would press forward relentlessly, without pause.

Even if it killed him.

Every failure forced him to restart Sword Breathing from the beginning.

Each Step demanded a precise number of consecutive swings, perfectly synchronizing body, mind, and energy flow.

The First Step required one thousand consecutive swings, an utterly insane demand.

Yet Louis never felt as though he swung alone.

As days passed, as exhaustion and hunger gnawed at him…

He began to see them.

“Prince Louis…”

“You can do it.”

“Who else could do it but you?”

Perhaps they were delusions. Perhaps hallucinations. Perhaps the voices in his head were cruel tricks.

But Elises, Fernand, Belladine, Rashid, Tisha, and many others stood there, watching as he swung without cease.

That conversation with Mirai during their date had truly opened his eyes.

Indeed, he was not doing this for himself.

He had denied it for so long, perhaps because he feared his own emotions.

But he pursued all of this because he loved his country and cared deeply for its people.

After these knights sacrificed their lives so the nation could endure…

Could Louis truly move on and pretend they never existed?

No. He could not.

His mind refused to allow it, tormenting him with their voices, their illusions.

His hands bled and scarred. His sword slowly became painted red with his own blood.

Yet Louis did not stop swinging.

Three days.

Five days.

A week.

A week and a half.

At some point, his father tried to intervene.

“Louis, you need to take your pills and eat! You’re going to die!”

“702…”

“Louis?”

“703…”

“…”

“704…”

In that instant, Gustaf beheld his emaciated son swinging the blade.

He could no longer stop him.

“I see…”

He used his psychic power to peer into what Louis saw, and found himself unable to interfere.

What he witnessed moved even the cold Esper.

Louis was not swinging alone.

Countless figures stood beside him.

The voices that once tormented him now cheered him on.

“We’re almost there, Prince Louis!” Elises said with his cheerful smile.

“Never stop. You’re going to make it…!” Fernand urged, full of motivation.

“The Spirits are watching over you, Prince Louis,” Belladine said gently.

“If you truly hold Niflheim within your heart, never stop swinging your sword, son,” Tisha smiled warmly.

“Everyone…” Louis muttered, his dry lips barely forming the words. “This sword… I will never let it go.”

Thus, under constant monitoring by the VPI, Louis continued swinging without end.

Two weeks passed.

♢♢♢♢

Within Louis’ Fantasy Heart Realm, Niflheim could scarcely contain her astonishment.

Louis gripped an imaginary sword with his right hand while gasping for breath. Sweat and blood drenched him. His eyes burned red from two full weeks without rest.

In his hand, that imaginary sword had been swung one thousand times.

At some point the previous blade had cracked into countless fragments and fallen away—but Louis never stopped swinging, as though he still held the soul of that weapon.

Each swing aligned perfectly with the rhythm of his breathing and the flow of Ki through his body.

Thus, after two weeks of relentless training, pushing himself to the brink of death every day while swinging that cursed sword within his heart, Louis had achieved it.

“Hahaha… I did it, everyone…! I DID IT!”

Louis laughed. The countless souls of those he could not save cheered and smiled back at him.

“Well done, Prince Louis!” Elises exclaimed.

“From now on, it’s up to you,” Fernand nodded firmly.

“Please take care…” Belladine said softly.

One by one, those who had cheered for him faded, dissolving into particles of light…

As he watched them vanish, Louis shed tears and fell to his knees—unable to move any longer.

Yet one soul remained.

Towering above the rest, it was the Knight Captain, Tisha.

“Prince Louis… I am leaving Niflheim to you… and my daughter too. Please tell her I love her, and that I will always watch over her.”

“Tisha…”

“Hold onto your Sword Heart with pride and never let go of your convictions and your dreams.”

“I won’t…”

Tisha nodded silently and slowly faded away.

“I swear… that if I ever get the chance again… I will save you… I won’t let you die… I swear upon my Sword Heart.”

“This wasn’t… supposed to happen so quickly…” Niflheim was stunned. “How…! How were you able to do it when your body should have exploded over a dozen times already?!”

Louis ignored her.

He gripped the imaginary sword with both trembling hands.

His aura surged, flowing like a razor-sharp blade.

Then he placed the sword against his chest, as though he was sheathing it.

His aura gradually settled and compacted around his heart.

In that moment, it happened.

FLASH!

Right beside Niflheim’s massive azure form, a small white sword appeared, piercing the arid, ash-covered ground of Louis’ Fantasy Heart Domain.

Within that sword, Niflheim could see countless shadows writhing, slowly and faintly taking the shape of silhouettes.

Of the people the Frostbane Kingdom had lost.

“Not only did you complete the First Step of the Sword Breathing Method, you mastered it and manifested your own Imaginary Sword Heart?!”

“…”

Louis ignored her. He acted as though she were no longer present.

Niflheim had looked down on Louis this entire time. Though she acknowledged his hard work, she always believed someone so talentless should simply give up and stop being foolish.

He was beloved by his family and had everything he could ever want, why work so desperately to become stronger?

And couldn’t there be other paths? Why obsess over the sword when his mother had taught him the lance?

Why pursue every single thing so obsessively?

All these questions had convinced her Louis was a complete idiot.

And perhaps he was…

“You’re the most stubborn idiot I’ve ever met.”

“…?”

“However, I owe you an apology.”

“I underestimated you. I thought you couldn’t do it. But… you did. Surprisingly enough.”

“It’s just the first step, right? I’m… barely scratching the surface… And above all… I think the voices I heard weren’t only inside my mind.”

Louis smiled bitterly as he passed out. People rushed in to carry him to safety so he could rest and receive the care he desperately needed.

Niflheim sighed, thinking how truly reckless he was.

“Nobody has ever mastered the first step in just two weeks. What level of obsession does this man possess?”

As she gazed across the arid, ash-covered landscape surrounding her, she noticed the glistening white sword at her side and the endless shadows it cast.

“…Is that?!”

She focused on each shadow, recognizing one among them, the tallest, strongest silhouette.

“T-Tisha…? Tisha! It’s me…! TISHA!”

Niflheim called out desperately, but Tisha’s shadow slowly walked away, returning to the white, glistening Imaginary Sword Soul within Louis’ Fantasy Heart.

“Why was she there…? What’s going on? In all my long life, I have never seen such a strange technique… Just what sort of power do you truly wield, Prince Louis?”

For the next two days, Niflheim spent her free time analyzing Louis’ sword and all its intricacies.

♢♢♢♢

Two days later.

Louis slowly opened his eyes after dreaming of nothing but endless sword swings.

He had swung so obsessively that even his soul and dreams had been imprinted with the sharpness of the blade.

“Haaa…”

He exhaled sharply. The sheets covering him were cleanly sliced in half.

He nodded and smiled.

“I see. So this is the First Step of Sword Breathing. Not only my body, my very energy and the breath in my lungs can now turn as sharp as a blade.”

It was not that the air itself had become sharp. Sword Energy was no longer something he merely unleashed from a sword; it had become internalized.

He could now imbue a trace of this power into anything he did, to an extent, making it as keen as a blade.

But he was not strong enough yet. It did not satisfy him completely, even though he had pushed himself to the brink of death countless times.

It never felt enough.

“Soma was a monster. Even with this power… could I even hold my own against him?”

After witnessing firsthand the overwhelming gap between Soma and everyone else, and even more so the Abyssal Mother, Louis knew he could not afford overconfidence.

“Now that I have achieved the First Step, I must move to the Second Step…”

Louis lay connected to several life-support machines. Judging by his surroundings, he realized he was deep within VPI Headquarters, likely due to his father’s orders.

“Ugh… I can barely move with all this trash on my body.”

He sighed, choosing not to cause a disturbance. He closed his eyes and focused inward, manifesting an Astral Projection to meet Niflheim personally within his Fantasy Heart.

“Nifl…”

But the moment he appeared, he found Niflheim constantly analyzing his sword. Her aura fluctuated as she tried to discern what secrets it concealed.

She had been doing this for two days.

“What do you think you’re doing with my sword?” he asked, walking toward her.

“You’re here…” she murmured. “I saw her…”

“Her?”

“Tisha. She was there, inside your sword. I don’t know what you did, but… I saw her. Even if her presence was faint, I know it was her!” she insisted.

“Ah… No, she’s not there, Niflheim.”

“Silence! I saw her! What did you do to her?!” Niflheim’s sharpness froze half the domain.

“I didn’t do anything. That’s not the Tisha you know…” Louis sighed.

“…What? What is this bizarre sword you’ve created?!” Niflheim demanded.

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