Star of the Sword, Excalibur.

    The sword of selection that chooses its own master grows alongside its wielder. Each time the master achieves a great deed and carves a star in the heavens, Excalibur grows, engraving its master’s star upon its blade.

    Made of starlight.

    A sword that strengthens itself using starlight as fuel.

    Originally incomplete, Excalibur was perfected by its first master, the great hero Arthur. The thirteen stars Arthur embedded in the blade made the sword of selection perfect. But Arthur eventually met his death, and a long time has passed since then.

    Ten years repeated ten times, and ten times repeated ten times again.

    After a thousand years have passed, today.

    The sacred sword was drawn by the hand of a boy.

    Whether the boy selected the sacred sword or the sacred sword selected the boy, the sequence of events didn’t matter. What mattered was that the boy had drawn the sacred sword. And that the boy yearned to hang stars in the sky.

    And as always.

    Excalibur answers its master’s will.

    Excalibur responds to the will of a boy who desires to overcome his own limitations, achieve great deeds, and become a hero. Therefore, at the moment when its master obtained a star, and now as he reaches for a new star…

    Guwoong.

    Excalibur answered its master’s call.

    The first star engraved on the sacred sword resonated. The shining star was not Arthur’s but Najin’s. With a sound like a bell, the first function was released.

    Enhancement of its inherent regenerative ability and sword energy output.

    Added to this was projection.

    The starlight enveloping Excalibur’s blade surged greatly. The surging starlight gathered at the tip of the sword, flowing along the blade like rapids through a narrow channel. The tip of the sword embedded in the dragon’s heart flashed platinum.

    Chiiiiiiiiik!

    Because his body was burning, because his vision was blurry, Najin couldn’t sense the change in Excalibur. He was simply gripping Excalibur with the sole thought of destroying the dragon’s heart before him.

    ‘It won’t come out.’

    He had tried to pull out the sword to strike again, but it wouldn’t budge as if firmly embedded in something. But it didn’t matter. Najin changed his plan. He pushed Excalibur deeper into the heart.

    Kadeuk, kadeudeudeuk!

    The sound of the dragon’s heart—hard as ore—being scraped away echoed in his ears. Relying on that sound, Najin applied force to his hand. Despite his body burning in the flames, he took another step toward the heart at the center of the heat.

    Deeper. Even deeper.

    Finally, with a thud, Excalibur’s cross guard met the dragon’s heart. The blade was embedded so deeply in the heart that it was no longer visible. He had pushed it in as far as it could go.

    ‘Turn it.’

    And instinctively.

    ‘Like turning a key.’

    Or unconsciously.

    ‘Release the light gathered at the sword’s tip.’

    Najin twisted the hilt.

    He twisted Excalibur with all his might, turning his wrist. He didn’t know why he did this. It was simply because, like the day he first saw Excalibur, a voice of strong conviction told him “this is how it’s done.”

    Projection.

    The moment he twisted Excalibur, the light gathered at its tip was released. It wasn’t just starlight that had gathered at the sword’s tip. Najin’s sword energy. Sword energy in the form of a constellation had been compressed into a single point at the tip.

    Starlight, sword energy, mana.

    All of it was released in an instant.

    The dragon’s heart couldn’t contain the light bursting from within. Because it was light that nothing could contain. With cracking sounds, fissures spread through the heart. Light leaked through the spreading cracks.

    Platinum starlight leaked out.

    Following it, a platinum constellation spread through the gaps like extending branches.

    The widening fissures eventually reached their limit. With a crack, the dragon’s heart split along the fissures. At that moment, starlight exploded from inside the heart. The erupting light shattered the dragon’s heart into pieces.

    Starlight spreading in all directions.

    Constellations branching along the starlight.

    The released light shattered the dragon’s heart and pushed away the flames that had filled the surroundings. Starlight filled the Red Dragon’s world that had been nothing but flames. The moment the constellation filled with brilliant starlight filled the Red Dragon’s world, it was no longer the Red Dragon’s world.

    The source was shattered. The world begins to collapse.

    The Red Dragon’s world began to collapse.

    2.

    After Najin leaped into the dragon’s mouth, the Red Dragon began to thrash wildly. It spewed breath in all directions as if in agony and pawed at the ground.

    Kiiiiiiiiiiiik!

    The roar that had commanded the sky was gone, replaced by the ugly screams of a beast. The Red Dragon howled toward the sky with painful screams.

    “It’s thrashing wildly.”

    Unable to approach due to its violent movements, the subjugation team watched the Red Dragon from a distance. The Red Dragon, which had been spewing breath toward the sky, suddenly convulsed briefly. The screams stopped and the flames subsided.

    Then, kuwoong.

    The dragon’s head, which had been held high toward the sky, crashed to the ground. The Red Dragon could only convulse but no longer move. As if it had lost something fundamental to its ability to move.

    “Oh, there!”

    Someone pointed at the dragon’s belly.

    A sword was protruding from it. Soon the blade cut a straight line, splitting the dragon’s belly. Stepping out through the split belly was Najin, gasping for breath.

    Could it be true that he had entered the dragon’s mouth, destroyed its heart, and come out? The subjugation team was astonished at the sight of the boy who had torn his way out of the dragon’s belly.

    It was a great deed. A deed worthy of carving a star. The knights were astonished and impressed by the boy who had recreated the myth of Siegfried the Dragonslayer. However, they couldn’t express their admiration and cheers in this situation.

    “Huk, heu…”

    Najin’s condition was serious.

    His body was covered with burn marks, and flames still clung to him. He looked to be in such pain that even breathing seemed difficult. The skin on his arms had melted, grotesquely distorted.

    Jiik, jiiik…

    Najin, who had been dragging his legs as he walked out, soon collapsed to the ground. He tried to get up by placing his hands on the ground, but he couldn’t raise himself with his broken arm.

    It was then.

    Rihart Folshen moved toward Najin. He supported Najin, who was lying face down on the ground, and helped him up. Despite his own body burning from the flames clinging to Najin’s body, Rihart supported Najin and moved.

    “…”

    Soon, the knights silently followed behind him. Rihart poured water that the knights had brought onto Najin’s body. As the fire went out with a hissing sound, Rihart took out a potion from his pocket and poured it over Najin’s head.

    “Are you conscious?”

    He wanted to speak, but only ash-filled breaths came from his mouth. Finally, Najin nodded.

    “Your fight isn’t over yet, is it? Am I right?”

    Najin nodded once more.

    Rihart smiled at that.

    “Somehow I thought so.”

    Supporting Najin, he walked to the front of the dragon’s neck. Upon reaching the dragon’s neck, Rihart set Najin down and stepped back a few paces.

    No one approached the dragon and Najin.

    They just maintained their distance and remained silent.

    The dragon, having lost its source, was slowly crumbling. The moment a sword is thrust into its neck, the dragon will die, and even if left alone, it will meet its death. Finishing off a dying dragon is something anyone could do.

    But no one did so.

    Taking another’s prey was not the way of adventurers, and stealing another’s achievements was not the honor of knights. Those who knew propriety and honor quietly watched as Najin finished off the dragon.

    “Huu…”

    Najin raised his sword in front of the dragon’s neck, breathing heavily. The Red Dragon, unable to move its body, looked at Najin with fearful eyes. There was no longer any anger in those eyes.

    Only fear.

    Meeting the dragon’s gaze, Najin brought down his raised sword. Because the sword had lost its energy, because he couldn’t properly put strength into his hands, Najin couldn’t even properly cut through the dragon’s already crumbling scales. Najin brought down his raised sword again.

    Once, twice, three times…

    On the fifth strike, Najin severed the dragon’s neck. Dragon blood gushed from the cut surface. Through the spurting blood, Najin raised his head to look at the sky.

    The light source shot up by the flare had already been shattered.

    Most of the light stones spread on the ground had also been shattered.

    But the surroundings were not dark. Because the stars in the night sky were shining. Among the countless stars adorning the sky, Najin found his own star. The star he had so longed for was shining in a corner of the sky.

    Then.

    Right next to his star, another star rose.

    It was the star of Dragonslayer, given to the boy who had recreated a myth.

    3.

    A new star appeared.

    Nayuta looked with interest at the newly born star amid the chaotic sky. Sudden births of new stars happened occasionally, but that star was emitting such a bright light.

    It was a sign.

    A sign that another star would be born.

    A newly born star obtaining another star? Nayuta had never seen such a case. It wasn’t in the records left by previous Masters of Gray Tower either. Unless one went back to the mythical era…

    It was something that hadn’t happened in the Empire’s thousand-year history.

    King Arthur, who suddenly moved after a thousand years, the Witch’s constellation that revealed itself after a thousand years, the new star born in the midst of historic events was asserting its presence.

    ‘Could it be.’

    Is it really obtaining another star?

    The brightly shining star reached a critical point. Then, with an explosive burst of light, another star rose beside it.

    Two stars rose at once.

    The risen star was shining bright white.

    Nayuta stared blankly at the shining star. The thought that she was standing at the center of a historic moment filled her mind.

    The Gray Tower was noisy with the sudden appearance of the Witch’s constellation, and the voices of magicians and imperial officials looking for her filled her office… but Nayuta couldn’t hear them.

    “Hmm.”

    She let out a laugh.

    Counting newly born stars and naming them is the role of the Master of Gray Tower. As she gazed at the stars, the words she had once heard from the previous Master of Gray Tower echoed in her ears.

    “Nayuta.”

    A magician who was her teacher and quite the old-fashioned type. That old man had said this when passing the position of Master of Gray Tower to Nayuta.

    “Someday, you too will have a day to name a star.”

    “That day will surely come.”

    “A day to name not just an ordinary star, but a brilliant one. On that day, you will realize.”

    Star of Sword, Charon.

    Empire’s First Horn, Gerd.

    Murderer, Juel.

    The old man who had named the stars of the three Sword Masters smiled as he patted Nayuta’s head.

    “Master of the Gray Tower.”

    “This position, with the right to name stars, is truly the most blessed position.”

    What she had thought was the old man’s nonsense.

    What she had considered an old fogey’s mutterings.

    “How do you know if a rising star is such a star?”

    “Foolish disciple, do you think you can become Master of Gray Tower without the discernment to count stars? When the time comes, you’ll just know.”

    “That star is the one.”

    There was no need to ask why those words came to mind now. The intuition had come. It was a powerful intuition. Nayuta reached out toward the star hanging in the sky. The star shone, almost within grasp between her white fingers.

    Two stars shining brilliantly, having found their place in the turbulent sky.

    The Master of Gray Tower counted the stars.

    Challenge, and Dragonslayer.

    The boy’s achievements were shining in the sky.


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