Art by Kartstudio

Space stretched outwards and inwards as the stars spun and darkness took a hold of his being. Gale suppressed the bile that almost went up his esophagus. The familiar nausea didn’t hit like the first time. He had touched the orb again and was transported into the throne room.

[Warning: Danger.]

His grip tightened around the blade’s hilt, circuitry came alive with essence pulsing into the lines. The knight rested its head on one hand, sitting there looking down at Gale.

Analyze.

[Cannot Analyze living entities. Increase Core class to unlock function.]

Figures. Every goddamned thing is limited to higher Core class.

“So, the lost lamb returns to the slaughter.”

Gale took on the stance he had just learned. “I’m not the same person who ran from you before.”

“No?” The knight rose from the throne. “Then why do you still grip that blade as if it might save you?”

Gale clicked his tongue as he relaxed his grip on the sword. Dainv Sword Arts was all about knowing when to allow graceful water to cause storms and thunder.

“Your Origin serves you well,” the knight descended the throne’s steps. “But you still resist its guidance. Just as you resisted your parents’ true lessons.”

“They hid everything from me!” Gale shouted.

“Did they?” The knight laughed as it continued down the steps slowly. “Or did they give you the only foundation that could survive what was to come?”

So what if they did?! They never told him—never explained to him anything. They didn’t trust him to understand what’s good or not. He was never going to be good enough.

The knight drew closer. “You rage against their choices, yet they taught you to survive this dark forest. Every entity silent and hostile to those that make even a tiny sound. Tell me, little lamb, how many human warriors do you think survived the forest?”

“I survived.” Gale took a step forward.

“They taught you to think like prey,” the knight circled him, “because only prey understands how to survive in the dark forest. But you never understood why.”

“I understood enough. They were afraid-“

“Of course they were afraid!” The knight’s voice cracked like thunder. “They watched their entire civilization burn. Saw their proudest warriors fall to corruption. Look at me!!”

After a short pause, the knight continued, “And still, they found the strength to ensure their child would survive.”

Gale gulped. The photographs in the bridge of the ship. Those who had lived in this ship were proud warriors who’d probably all been as strong or even stronger than this knight. The broken ship itself stood as proof that they’ve all fallen.

“Your father could have taught you to wield essence like in those pictures in the bridge,” the knight said, drawing his own blade. “Your mother could have shown you how to meditate like those children. Instead, they taught you something far more valuable.”

The knight’s sword’s circuits glowed in a blue-green hue, similar to the circuits he saw in the walls. “They taught you how to think. How to adapt. How to survive when all your power fails.”

Gale raised his blade, glowing the same blue-green hue. “And what about connection? They taught me to stay apart, to trust no one.”

“Did they?” The knight’s helm tilted. “Or did they teach you to choose your connections wisely? To understand the difference between true allies and fair-weather friends?”

Shawn turned his back on him. He even started beating him up after a year or two of not talking to him. Was that a friend? No. What about Rachel? Ollie and Annett? Maybe they saw him only as the nightmare demon that protected them, but that doesn’t explain Rachel’s face as she flew to the exit rift.

“Your parents weren’t perfect,” the knight hoisted his sword onto his shoulder. “They made mistakes. Dainvs are no gods. All of us in the end are the same Origin. All of us, human.“

The knight crashed his sword against the stone floor, sending thunder bouncing through the throne room. “But you must know, little lamb, every lesson, every restriction, every seemingly cruel choice. It all served a purpose.”

“They could have warned me,” Gale whispered.

“And risk drawing attention? Risk having you display power before you could understand its cost?” The knight dragged his sword along the ground, grating on the metal, arriving in front of him. “They gave you the tools to survive until you could discover the truth on your own terms.”

“It doesn’t matter. They should’ve just told me. I could’ve-“

“Understood? As a child? Do not jest, little lamb.” The knight cut him off.

Suddenly, the knight’s sword slashed downward, missing Gale by a hair as he stepped back.

“You still step like prey,” the knight observed. “Your stance speaks of newfound pride, yet your feet betray you. Always ready to run.”

“I’m done running.” Gale took a step back.

“Are you?” The knight took back the sword onto his shoulder. “Your shoulders no longer curve inward, trying to make yourself smaller. Yet there’s hesitation in your guard. The same hesitation that made you throw the woman through the rift.”

“That was no hesitation. I knew what I was doing! That was to protect her.”

“Just like your parents,” the knight continued, each word precise and cutting. “Pushing away those you claim to protect. Tell me, does it feel noble? This solitude you’ve chosen?”

Gale struck first. No hesitation, no holding back, right into the knight’s visor. The blade caught the knight’s sword. Sparks flew everywhere lighting up his face and the helmet.

“Better,” the knight said. A grin in his voice came off strong. “You’ve learned to channel your essence properly. Show me more.”

The knight swung overhead, dropping all the sword’s weight. His own blade met the sword’s edge with its own at an angle. Gritting his teeth, sparks flew while the sword slid, hands going numb, almost losing their grip. The sword crashed onto the floor, throwing up dust.

The sword quickly bounced back, edge aimed at Gale’s neck. Letting his body move with the flow of the air, the world turned sideways. His own blade tapped at the sword’s trajectory, allowing it to nearly miss and cutting off a few strands of hair.

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They traded blows across the throne room’s floor. Every strike from the knight aimed at a vital point. All of Gale’s moves woved into his defense that moved fluidly amongst the different forms he’d understood from his father.

The knight’s blade whistled past his ear. “Your parents taught you well, though you refuse to see it. Every lesson served its purpose.”

“They taught me to hide,” Gale said tapping away the sword and countering with his own lunge at the visor. “To deny what I am.”

“No.” The knight moved his head to the side and swung down to his neck. “They taught you to survive until you were ready to understand. You know it yourself. Don’t you, little lamb?”

Gale spun his body to move along the sword’s path, pushing his hands off the flat of the knight’s sword. Gravity didn’t matter. The definition of balance was thrown away.

A minuscule movement of the knight’s footing gave the next strike away. An overhead swing from a sword that was on the floor. Something that should’ve been impossible. He reacted by putting his sword at an angle to meet the blow from overhead. In the blink of an eye, the sword slid against that angle he’d created before he even saw the swing.

The flow of the wind, the activation of the muscle. Understanding the flow of the fight and what should happen next based on the optimal counter to the knight’s movement.

“You’ve stopped trying to fight like a human. Good. But tell me, little lamb, do you understand why they taught you as they did?”

“I understand.” Gale struck again intricately flowing through the knight’s next sideways swipe. “But they could’ve done better.”

“Very well, young lamb! The blood of Cev lives on with those words!!” The knight shouted.

A final clash. Sword met the blade’s edge directly. Sparks flew, lighting up the whole area. The blades lowered, but neither warrior relaxed their stance.

“Your essence flows smoother now,” the knight’s helm tilted slightly. “Yet you still hold onto that anger like a shield.”

Gale circled the knight. “That anger allowed me to learn the sword.”

“And a sword that cuts the threads of fate of those around you,” the knight matched his movement, circling. “Like those you cut off.”

“I did what I had to.”

“Did you?” The knight took a step forward. “Or did you do what was easy?”

No flinch. Just reading any movement that would signal the next move.

“Easy?” Gale spat the word. “Nothing about this has been easy.”

“Tell me, little lamb. Have you seen the grace in my sword?” The knight stabbed at his head, barely missing his left ear. “The choices you have made have all been easy. You cower at the face of responsibility. Delude yourself that you have saved her. Did not trust her to live through the wounds. So tell me, have you seen my sword?”

Sweat dripped from Gale’s temple. The sword that had stabbed beside his head was precisely placed beside his ear just to touch it.

“So tell me, little lamb!” the knight shouted, rumbling the whole throne room. “Would it be easy to watch the world burn, their world. Watch as corruption turns those you care into unspeakable monsters like that man in that PITIFUL town?”

Gale’s eyes narrowed. “What do you know about Elliot?”

“A vessel he’s become. An ancient pestilent corrupted. Something that should only exist in the other world.” The knight raised his sword away from his ear.

“The corruption…”

“Yes.” The knight’s voice grew harder. “It spreads, taking root in those who seek power without understanding. Elliot is just the beginning.”

[Warning: Corruption detected.]

[Scanning local area…]

[Corruption level: Minimal]

“Your parents saw this coming,” the knight said. “They knew you would need both worlds. The power of the Dainv and the humanity from Earth.”

Gale remembered his mother’s lessons under the starry night where no light polluted. The Milky Way galaxy spun as she told him of stories while pointing at specific stars. Stories of fantasy that he’d never read in any book. He would fall asleep right beside her and would wake up in his own bed the next morning.

“They were part of something larger,” the knight continued. “A group that understood what was coming. They prepared you the only way they could.”

“By keeping me weak?”

“By making you strong in ways that mattered, young fool.” The knight’s sword blurred into motion.

Gale barely blocked the sword that came too fast for him to follow. The knight pressed forward, invading his inner territory.

The clash of blades sang in the throne room once more. Sparks flew across the whole stage. Only the two of them danced with no audience.

Keep your centre low, just like tracking a deer, his father once said. To track a deer is not about keeping the centre low but to move in ways that the deer cannot anticipate.

Gale’s sword blurred. What was supposed to come from overhead became a low swing. The knight reacted, its own sword deflecting his. It was the first time the knight had deflected anything from him rather than just completely blocking.

“Your father’s insistence on perfect form wasn’t just about hunting,” the knight said between strikes. “Every lesson had dual purpose.”

Gale saw it now. The way his father had drilled him in footwork that seemed excessive for tracking game. Movements that now let him match the knight’s supernatural speed.

More strikes came. Nothing was hitting home. He needed to do more. Use the power. And so another strike came in, willing the sword to partially phase at where edge meets edge. The sword slid through, this time the knight had to react and dodge.

“Good,” the knight recovered its own stance instantly. “Innovation beyond mere copying. But understanding isn’t enough. You need power.”

Their blades met again. Gale felt his essence responding in new ways, patterns emerging that he’d never considered.

“You’re starting to understand what it means to be Dainv,” the knight said. Another strike blurred.

Gale didn’t need to see it. All he needed to do was feel where it would be, blocking both the most logical trajectory and the most illogical at the same time.

“We are but the child of Origin. Harness the power of the Origin through its essence. But understanding isn’t enough. Show me you can act on it.” The knight delivered more, multiple strikes blurring into one full shadow.

Channeling more of his essence into his muscles allowed him to do the same burst of strength the knight swung. It didn’t have the same grace, but it was enough. Ground gained at each strike.

“Better,” the knight said, stepping back. “But you’re still thinking in pieces. Power isn’t just about what you can do. It’s about what you’re willing to do.”

Their weapons locked together. “What does that mean?”

“It means,” the knight pushed harder, “that you must build your foundation before reaching for greater heights. And that foundation comes from accepting all parts of yourself. Past, present, and what’s to come. Connections and power. It’s all the same. You cannot beat the tide on your own, young fool!”

The tide, just like when he saw the flood of ghouls and beasts that came from the dead forest. If it hadn’t been for Rachel, he wouldn’t have kept the line of defense by himself. If it weren’t for Ollie and Annett, would those civilians have been able to cross the exit?

He couldn’t do everything himself.

“You see it now, don’t you? The price of solitude.” The knight stepped in as they still had their weapons locked.

Gale threw off the sword’s hold. Essence pulsed ever strongly through his body, differently. Something snapped. His essence responded more instantly, rapidly filling the pathways that he thought weren’t there before. Technique programming itself onto his muscles.

The knight’s next attack came strong. The blur was gone, and Gale’s body moved on instinct as if already predicting which choice the sword’s trajectory made.

The logical or the illogical?

It was both. Always both.

[Your Dainv Sword Arts increased in proficiency…]

[Essence support during use increased.]

[Phase Touch integration optimized.]

“HAHAHAHA,” the knight’s laughter sounded like a lion’s roar. “You’re starting to understand. Combat isn’t just an extension of a limb. It is part of your will.”

Tracking rabbits. Hunting deer. A 10 year old wrestling bears. Was it all to prepare him to face the impossible? To bring him down to not let go of those that will be important to him?

“The hole in your soul,” the knight said. “It grows larger with each passing moment alone. Just as mine did, waiting in this broken ship.”

Their blades met again, but this time, the knight put more into its swing. Instead of the two choices, it was three. Maybe even more. With a block of his blade, Gale flung backwards into the end of the throne room.

“You can’t escape it,” the knight continued. “The void that grows within. The same void that consumed me over countless years.”

[Warning: Corruption levels increasing.]

“But you… you still have a choice. A path forward.”

Gale stood back up. That was all he could do. The knight no longer wanted to fight. Something ate at him from the inside.

“Your mission awaits,” the knight climbed back up the steps of the throne. “Cleanse Elliot. Stop the corruption before it spreads further. But remember this moment, little lamb. Remember the price of walking alone.”

[Mission update: Cleanse Elliot – Priority 0]

“The tide rises,” the knight sat down, his voice growing distant. “And none of us can stand against it alone. Not even you, child of Cev.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep