Ch.14The Sword of Stars, Excalibur

The boy does not know.

How brightly stars shine.

The boy does not know.

How warm the sun feels.

What everyone else took for granted, the boy could not enjoy. For the boy was born in a deep underground city where neither starlight nor sunlight could reach. Even when looking up, all he could see was the dark ceiling of the underground city.

Born among the discarded, the boy dreamed and yearned, gazing at the ceiling where no stars could be seen.

He wanted to possess a star.

He wanted to become a being that shines by itself, wherever it may be. Like the knights in fairy tales, like heroes, he wanted to become a being with brilliant light. Clutching a worn-out fairy tale book, the boy dreamed.

Even though he knew it could never come true.

Even though he knew it was a desire beyond his station.

The boy could not let go of his dream.

2.

The first thing children in the underground city learn is how to give up. To be precise, rather than learning, it’s more like realizing… The children of this city suddenly realize from a very young age.

That they will rot here for their entire lives.

That they can never escape this city.

No matter what they do, they cannot go up. So, naturally, they learn to give up and resign themselves. It doesn’t take long for the sparkling eyes of dreaming children to become cloudy like the fog that blankets the underground city.

Najin was no exception.

Najin knew his talent. Though he claimed not to overestimate his abilities, he roughly understood how immense his talent truly was.

‘How could I not know?’

Najin has good eyes. He has keen observation skills, is sensitive to others’ facial expressions, and is quick-witted. Because of this, Najin had always seen it.

Every time he swung his sword.

Every time he did something.

How Oppen and Ivan were amazed. How they sometimes forcibly hid their amazement and treated him casually. Najin wasn’t stupid enough not to understand their intentions.

He knew everything.

He knew that his talent didn’t fit this city, that even to the strong ones like Ivan and Oppen, his talent seemed abnormal, that Ivan was wary of his talent and tried to control his growth rate—he knew it all.

He just pretended not to know, closing his eyes and covering his ears.

‘It doesn’t matter anyway since I’ll never go up.’

No matter how brilliant his talent.

No matter how immense his abilities.

He would eventually rot in this city.

So Najin had always resigned himself. Even if he saw light before him, if it was beyond the line, he didn’t reach for it. It was a light not permitted to him.

Resigning. Giving up. Forgetting. Shaking off.

Countless times, the boy shed his self-confidence. He shed and shed, but there was something that wouldn’t be shed in the end.

His yearning for the stars.

Najin looked ahead. There lay the dream he couldn’t let go of. Excalibur, the sacred sword that accompanied King Arthur’s legend from beginning to end, a symbol of Arthur himself. The moment he gazed at the sword shining like a star, Najin instinctively knew.

That he couldn’t shed this too.

‘Whatever happens, it’s not my concern.’

The boy lives for today.

Like all children who dream, Najin’s eyes were shining at this moment. Not with the dim sunset glow of the underground city, but with a platinum color like a star.

Crossing the line Ivan had drawn for him, crossing the boundary line that the high-ups from above had drawn for everyone in this city, Najin grasped the sword.

Grip.

The moment Najin grasped the star’s sword.

The thirteen stars engraved on Excalibur’s blade sparkled. Star connected to star, forming a constellation.

Then, boom.

The sacred sword began to resonate. The majestic sword cry that rang out after hundreds of years shook the underground city. And this was not limited to just the underground city.

Since stars cannot be seen here, they couldn’t know.

The moment Najin grasped the sacred sword, the celestial bodies in the night sky were shaken. Because the largest constellation, which had not moved for hundreds of years, was now rising.

3.

On the vast plains of the Briton Empire.

Gerd stopped swinging his sword and looked up at the sky. The calm night sky was trembling. Gerd felt his seven stars in the turbulent night sky shaking.

A swordsman with stars but not yet a constellation.

The old man known as The Empire’s Best Swordsman, the empire’s only Sword Master, smiled as he looked at the sky.

At the highest place in the Order of the Sword.

Charon, who was polishing his sword, looked at the window. Beyond it stretched the vast night sky. Feeling his six stars there trembling, he put down the sword he was polishing and approached the window. Opening it, he saw at the center of the turbulent night sky the constellation revered by the Order.

The constellation, Sword of Selection.

The constellation that had been silent for ages was now stirring. Seeing the stars in motion, Charon sighed.

Charon, the Sword Saint and master of the Order of the Sword, sensed that he had missed his chance to obtain the sacred sword.

At the execution ground of the Blood Order.

Juel, who was tilting a bottle of alcohol while holding a blood-stained sword, suddenly looked at the sky. Because she felt her six stars there shaking. Putting down her empty bottle with a thud, she looked up at the sky and curled her lips upward.

Juel Lazian, executioner of the Star Blood Order.

The murderess laughed as she looked up at the night sky, realizing there was one more person to kill.

Those who had the qualifications to challenge the Star Trial looked at the night sky and realized someone had completed the trial.

And.

The astrologers who studied the stars and the astronomers who observed celestial movements. The Grey Tower where they gathered was thrown into chaos by the unexpected turbulence of constellations. With so many constellations violently stirring—something that had never happened before—they were shocked, but…

They had to doubt their own eyes at the fact that all this movement was being caused by a single star. Because a star that had not moved for hundreds of years was now moving.

The largest star.

A constellation made up of thirteen stars.

The Sword of Selection was stirring.

They were not the only ones looking at the sky.

Adults and children alike, everyone was looking up at the sky. Looking at the turbulent night sky, some were amazed and others afraid.

The sky is shaking.

The stars are stirring.

The resonance that began in the deep underground city spread beyond, reaching those who walk on the earth, and even further up to the night sky.

The turbulent night sky.

Small constellations caught in the movement of the largest star screamed, while constellations that maintained their positions despite the massive flow remained silent. Those who remained silent were the ones who became stars in the age of heroes long ago. Those who crossed the continent with King Arthur.

They realized.

That a great hero who once led an era was moving again.

That day, they sensed that the flow of time, which had been stopped by Arthur, was beginning to move again.

And.

Another constellation.

The constellation closest to the Sword of Selection, which accompanied Arthur’s journey from beginning to end, and sealed the original Excalibur.

The constellation, Staff of Selection.

Merlin, the lake’s magician, opened her eyes wide.

Because at the bottom of the lake where she resided, Excalibur, which should have been resting quietly, was scattering light. It was a change that appeared after hundreds of years.

Hundreds of years ago, at the end of the journey, Excalibur lost its light along with its master. After being returned to the lake by the First Knight, Excalibur never shone again. But at this moment, Excalibur was scattering brilliant starlight.

Merlin’s lake was dyed platinum.

Then, flash.

Excalibur transformed into light and scattered.

The original Excalibur sealed at the bottom of the lake, along with all the copies scattered throughout the cities of the world, all turned into light and dispersed.

The scattered lights gather.

Toward the now singular Excalibur.

No one can see this procession of light.

Not even Merlin. Only the boy who passed the Star Trial is permitted to witness it.

It happened in the blink of an eye.

A change that occurred in an instant. Merlin knows better than anyone what this change means. Knowing this, Merlin bit her lip hard.

Someone completed the Star Trial.

The sacred sword that no one had chosen for hundreds of years.

Excalibur had selected its master.

In other words, someone had appeared.

Someone who would succeed her king. Someone who would write the next chapter of Arthur’s unfinished legend.

Merlin was not the only one who felt this.

At the end of the world. In Camlann, The Abyss, where stars fall.

The beings in the land where time does not flow—where Arthur sacrificed himself at the end of his journey to stop everything—also witnessed the turbulence in the night sky.

The cursed dragon stirred.

The Witch of the Fallen smiled.

The betrayer of the Round Table rejoiced.

The stars that fell in the distant past raged.

At this moment.

All those who had fallen to the underground city.

The numerous strong ones living on the land above.

The transcendents shining in the night sky even higher.

The cursed beings at the end of the world, Camlann.

All of them focused on the change initiated by the boy from the lowest place. They focused on the ripples caused by the boy, on the changes he would bring.

Crack!

The sword is drawn out.

By a single boy.

Boom, boooom…

The sword begins to cry.

By a boy who had nothing.

The resonating sword cry. The swirling starlight.

The most brilliant starlight flooded the city that had forgotten the light of stars. A wave of starlight dyed the underground city of Attman pure white. In the midst of the overflowing starlight, the boy took his stance.

Recalling the passage he had read countless times in the fairy tale book, Najin held the sword in the same posture as King Arthur.

Arthur drew out the sword that no one else could with just one hand. Even without applying force, the sword was drawn out the moment Arthur’s hand touched it. Because the sword recognized Arthur as its master.

The same was true for Najin.

The moment Najin grasped the sword, Excalibur pushed itself out of the rock. The sacred sword, trailing platinum starlight as it emerged, had selected the boy.

Shing.

At last, Excalibur fully revealed itself. The platinum-shining blade. The blade adorned with thirteen stars. The sacred sword that had lost its light long ago was now shining in the boy’s hand.

The shining sword announces.

The beginning of a new history.

History that had been stopped for hundreds of years began to move. A new sentence began to be written in “The Legend of Arthur,” which had remained incomplete for hundreds of years, waiting for the next chapter to be written.

The name of the boy holding the star’s sword is Najin.

From a place where stars cannot be seen, the boy who had reached for the stars finally grasped one.

4.

Ivan, who escaped the tunnel while cutting down the horde of addicts, stopped swinging his sword and looked up at the sky. Though there were plenty of addicts to cut down, he couldn’t help it at this moment.

Because a star had risen in the underground city of Attman.

The majestic bell sound resonating throughout Attman. The overflowing brilliant starlight. It was a scene that those living in this city had long forgotten.

“……”

Oppen, Ivan, and even Horce who was facing them—all fell silent and looked at the sky. The starlight that burst from the center of the underground city and soared into the sky reflected in their eyes. None of them could look away from that light.

Because their dreams, which they had left in the upper city, were there.

With the rising of the star, the ceiling of the underground city was no longer a ceiling. The dark ceiling of the underground city was now a vast night sky. Looking at the star shining alone in the night sky, Ivan let out a hollow laugh.

Ivan, the knight who chased stars.

The knight who was once called that rejoiced at the risen star, and also despaired. Because he seemed to know who had created that starlight. And Ivan knew what would happen next.

“Najin, you damn kid.”

Ivan groaned.

“What the hell have you done.”