Ch.159This Is My Sword. (1)

The day Olivia disappeared.

Kiel entered seclusion without a word to the Empire.

Realizing that Princess Aria was behind all this, he could no longer trust the Empire.

Yet he couldn’t strike at the princess either. His family, House Rothschild, was located in the heart of the Empire, and if he were to assassinate the princess, it was clear that the punishment would fall not on him but on House Rothschild.

Of course, that wasn’t the only reason. The realm his dream-self had reached. He needed to completely imprint on his body the faint mental image that had appeared in that moment.

Crack…!

Through the consideration of Saintess Livga, all paths leading to the mountain range where Kiel had secluded himself were controlled by holy knights. This was to help him focus solely on his training.

Swoosh.

Every time the greatsword moved, a quiet sound echoed through the cave. But the aura contained within was anything but quiet. It overflowed as if ready to tear apart the enemy before him.

The evidence was in the mangled corpses of monsters scattered in all directions. Kiel muttered as he shook off the blood staining his greatsword.

“…There are many.”

Monsters had begun appearing in the cave he chose for seclusion several years ago. First came the most common void insects, then beasts spewing tentacles the next month, and stronger monsters the month after that.

And so, for five years.

Flesh, bones, entrails, blood…

A poisonous energy that disturbed human senses flowed from the remains of the monsters. Anyone who stayed in a place where corpses were piled like mountains would have their mind rot.

The cave where Kiel stayed had somehow become a dumping ground for monster corpses. When one cave was filled, he would create a new one with his sword strikes. And then fill that one with corpses too.

The sword his dream-self had wielded was one that protected someone.

Thump, thump.

And the sword that the current Kiel had chosen was.

*****

“……”

The putrid smell wafting from all directions. Olivia unconsciously frowned deeply.

“You stay here.”

Pushing the Serial Murderer into a barrier, she headed into the cave.

As she rapidly beat her heart twice, the natural forces around her were drawn into Olivia’s heart. The thick death energy contained within pulsed through Olivia’s blood vessels once and was purified.

Whoosh!

The blue-colored mana, practically Olivia’s signature, advanced forward, devouring the death energy in return.

The Serial Murderer, watching from a distance, gulped.

“…She’s insane.”

Kuooooo!

A monster hiding between the corpses sprang up and charged toward Olivia.

But before it could open its maw, a flash of light turned the monster to ashes.

‘…I didn’t expect the passage to be open already.’

Olivia looked around with a dismayed expression.

She could vaguely understand why Kiel had chosen such a place for his seclusion.

Gooooo…

A rift emitting ominous death energy. A passage connected to the Abyss was here.

It wasn’t created by a Demon Lord. Passages artificially created by them couldn’t permanently spew out monsters. At most, they would spit out hundreds to thousands of monsters, and when no more monsters came through, the passage would close.

But the corpses scattered around here numbered at least in the tens of thousands.

The fact that it had remained open long enough to spit out that many meant this passage was semi-permanently connected to the Abyss.

‘I was going to just pass by, but…’

No matter how strong Kiel’s mental fortitude was, prolonged exposure to this level of death energy changed things.

She needed to check.

The deeper she went, the more horrific the forms of the monsters became. Near the entrance, they had been killed cleanly with strikes to vital points, but now there were only torn-apart forms.

Olivia’s mouth fell open as she identified one of the monsters.

‘This is… a Triside.’

Massive build, dozens of legs reminiscent of tree roots, and hundreds of eyeballs embedded in its body.

A high-level monster capable of bringing down an entire magic tower was torn to shreds.

‘…Such creatures are appearing already?’

High-ranking monsters crossing the passage was a very late-stage event. Monsters like the Triside would only appear when the Demon Lord’s advent was imminent.

For thousands of iterations, the timing of monster appearances had never changed.

Except for now.

‘…It’s been accelerated.’

By the end of this year at the earliest, next year at the latest.

Olivia sensed that the end was approaching.

She descended deeper.

Crack!

The sound of a sword echoing in the darkness becomes increasingly clear.

Olivia gripped the Ancient Staff. Based on the sword marks she had seen on her way down, the current Kiel would be too strong to face without the Ancient Staff.

[I’ll give you one piece of advice. The Golden Tower Master is your teacher so it can’t be helped, but it would be better if other people didn’t know you’re alive, like now.]

She wanted to do that. But she couldn’t just leave Kiel, who might have gone insane.

For the plans ahead, Kiel was absolutely necessary.

“Kiel.”

The greatsword stopped abruptly in mid-air. Kiel, who had been thrusting his sword mechanically, turned his head to look at Olivia.

His eyes were still a deep dark brown, but they were tired and clouded. His hair, once neatly cut, now hung down to his shoulders. After blinking for a while, Kiel finally recognized Olivia.

“You are…?”

His voice trembled slightly at first. From that hoarse and cracked voice, Olivia sensed how Kiel had spent the last five years.

Foolish bastard.

“Are you… really Olivia?”

“What a ridiculous question…”

“You were on the verge of death.”

Kiel’s tone was full of disbelief.

“You were completely unconscious. There’s no way you could have escaped from Asmodeus. The fact that you’re alive now means Asmodeus decided not to kill you.”

Why would a Demon Lord make such a decision?

No matter how he thought about it, there was no reason to keep her alive.

“During my five years of seclusion here, I’ve encountered many monsters. Among them were creatures called doppelgangers.”

Kiel stared at Olivia for a moment, then drew his sword from the air.

A sword that never breaks as long as the heart doesn’t waver.

The Heart Sword.

Though its form wavered slightly, perhaps because he hadn’t fully grasped the truth yet, what Kiel held in his hand was definitely the Heart Sword.

“I’ll ask once more. Are you really Olivia?”

Gooooo…!

Olivia’s brow furrowed at the unexpected situation.

His suspicion itself was reasonable. There was no room for rebuttal.

Even Olivia herself hadn’t realized Asmodeus’s true intentions until she discovered that remnants of the Demon God resided within her body.

But even so, she couldn’t deny that what Kiel was doing now was unreasonable.

Having reached such an impossible realm in five years, it was absurd to claim he couldn’t distinguish Olivia’s mana, of all people.

“…Hah.”

Olivia, who had been glaring back at Kiel, shook her head.

The faint emotion writhing in his eyes.

Olivia knew better than anyone what that emotion was.

So that’s what it was.

“I can fight you without holding back if that’s what you want, Kiel. But if I do, this entire area won’t survive.”

“……”

“So stop making excuses and tell me exactly what you want. I’ll listen.”

When Olivia said that, Kiel didn’t answer and just glared at her. In that gaze, Olivia felt Kiel’s resolve.

The stubbornness to answer not with words, but with his sword.

Olivia didn’t ask further. Instead, she raised her staff to point at Kiel.

Gooooo…!

The sharp air intensified endlessly.

“I’m going all out.”

Crackle!

With those words, intense lightning flashed from Olivia’s fingertips, and hundreds of lightning branches flew along the cave walls.

Her claim of going all out wasn’t a lie; there was not a single opening in Olivia’s attack. A skilled swordsman might be able to cut down a few lightning branches, but that would be all. She had twisted the trajectory of the magic itself to force him to accept the attack.

Swoosh.

At that moment, Kiel moved. The Heart Sword, glowing dark brown with his will, rotated elegantly.

As the lightning touched the Heart Sword, the mana that was about to explode disappeared on the spot.

Despite the absence of any actual “cutting” action, the lightning was clearly being cut.

But Olivia wasn’t surprised. She had expected him to accomplish this much, given that Kiel had reached the supreme realm of the Heart Sword.

Later, he would probably demonstrate the art of vertical cutting even with a horizontal swing.

Shing!

After shaking off the residual mana, Kiel took his stance again. The most basic stance of swordsmanship.

Middle stance.

In his eyes, there was no longer any cloudiness.

With an utterly calm gaze, he waited for Olivia’s next attack.

He doesn’t rush in to attack first. But he doesn’t retreat either.

As if trying to protect someone forever.

Sword Master, Kiel Rothschild.

His will rose brilliantly.