Ch.203202. Not Bad, Huh?

# 202. Not Bad, Huh?

A scythe filled with the abyss.

I swung that sword toward the darkness and commanded.

“Kill only that, only that.”

-Gooo…-

As I swung the sword, the black darkness that appeared flew toward the Empress’s back.

And then it tried to destroy that darkness…

‘But it couldn’t…’

The result was a failure.

When the abyss flew out, the darkness retreated back into the Empress’s body.

And when the abyss returned to me, it revealed itself again.

“What on earth is that…?”

“That’s what I should be asking..!? What was that all about?”

Only when I heard her voice did the current situation come into focus.

Both she and the Empress looked quite startled.

However, the Emperor himself seemed completely unfazed.

Rather, he was just looking at me with eyes full of interest.

“You’re not going to stop me?”

“I’d like to ask why you did that.”

“Ah… I keep seeing something unexpected.”

“Something unexpected?”

“Yes, but I don’t know what it is either.”

At that, the Emperor burst into laughter.

As I looked at him and tilted my head in confusion, he said:

“Because it’s amusing.”

“Even though the situation could have resulted in Her Majesty the Empress’s death?”

“I thought you’d handle it well. You’re not the type to mess up like that.”

Fortunately, the trust between us seemed quite solid.

If it hadn’t been, I would have died here.

And then the Emperor spoke with somewhat sad eyes.

“But that thing you saw… I can’t see it?”

“No, and neither can Elli.”

“How fascinating.”

“Elli…?”

Ignoring her as she repeated that nickname, I continued with what I needed to say.

“We’ll need to look into this more carefully.”

“Let me know if you find anything good.”

“Yes, understood.”

***

Time flew by quickly in the imperial palace.

Was it because I was nervous? Or because I was with her?

I didn’t know why, but that’s how it was.

“It’s already the final one…”

The three-part test that initially seemed so long—yet here we were at the final stage already.

The tests so far had been nearly perfect.

Of course, I couldn’t let my guard down.

The third test I was about to take was the most difficult to score perfectly on, and it also had the highest point value.

“Who do you think will come out?”

The elegant voice of the woman waiting beside me for my turn.

Hearing her voice, my tension eased a little.

“Well, it’ll be one of the three… Surely it won’t be Mr. Marco again, right?”

“I think it might be? Don’t you think he’ll want revenge since Albert beat him last time?”

“That would be…”

But it wasn’t completely impossible.

Marco seemed like the type who couldn’t stand losing.

“To be honest, I don’t want to see him anymore.”

“You’ve certainly faced him a lot. What about Duke Andres then?”

“That would be even more… troublesome.”

If it were Andres, we’d probably fight for hours.

My attacks wouldn’t reach him, and his attacks wouldn’t reach me either.

“I’d prefer Seir. At least it would end quickly.”

“Isn’t that the opponent you’re least likely to beat?”

“I can’t win anyway…”

Perfect scores on this test were rare.

Of course, they weren’t completely unheard of, but there had never been a perfect scorer as young as me in the history of the Kainis Empire.

That’s how difficult and virtually impossible it was.

“Even someone like Commander Light would barely manage it, if at all.”

“You never know, maybe…”

“This time it’s really impossible, truly impossible.”

At that moment, I felt a chilling sensation from behind.

It was a somewhat familiar magical energy.

I immediately turned around and assumed a combat stance.

“What’s impossible? Huh? Why so sudden? Did I startle you?”

“You did that on purpose.”

“Still, your reaction is pretty good. I was thinking of putting my hand on your neck.”

Seir had approached while deliberately concealing her presence.

Looking at the massive scythe as dark as the night sky, I said:

“Are you my opponent…?”

“That’s right, it’s me.”

“Your weapon looks creepy.”

It was a weapon with the visual of something a grim reaper might carry.

Just one cut from it looked like it could send you straight to the afterlife—my body and mind, which had relaxed thanks to her, tensed up again.

In that situation, Seir spoke first.

“Let’s begin.”

With that, Seir headed toward the arena, and she and I followed.

And there, the remaining two examiners, along with the Emperor and Empress, were waiting for us.

“This is really intimidating…”

“Just relax.”

I had no idea how to relax in this situation.

I tried to calm my racing heart as I stepped onto the arena.

Then I summoned my weapon while looking at Seir, who had likewise entered the arena.

“Huh…?”

Once again, that darkness entered my field of vision.

This time it was targeting the slender nape of Seir’s neck from behind.

And the same was true for the Empress.

‘Now I understand a bit better.’

But now wasn’t the time to think deeply about it.

So I immediately activated [Mortal’s End].

In response, Seir used her own unique skill, and that huge scythe instantly disappeared from view.

“[Invisible Blade].”

“Oh my? You even know about that?”

“It’s a very famous skill. But why can it be applied to a scythe when it’s called a blade?”

“Who knows? And is that really important right now?”

“I guess not…”

An invisible weapon.

It was quite threatening on its own, but the real danger lay elsewhere.

‘Another unique skill…’

Seir’s second unique skill had tremendous synergy with her first, [Invisible Blade].

I needed to be careful of that.

I didn’t know when she would use it.

“How does it feel? A bit nervous?”

Those words, spoken while looking down at me with the gaze of someone stronger.

However, I couldn’t get annoyed or refute that fact.

It was an absolute truth that Seir was stronger than me.

“I’ll give you a choice.”

That’s why I had no choice but to listen to such words.

“Should I come to you? Or will you come to me?”

“Of course…”

As I said those words, I used [Swift].

Then I ran like mad toward my opponent.

Seir responded with just a very light movement.

I swung my sword toward that invisible thing.

-CRASH!-

Then I finished my answer while continuing my attack.

“I should come to you.”

-BANG! CRASH CRASH!-

Clearly, I was the one attacking, and Seir was simply blocking those attacks.

Yet the difference in power was felt so starkly.

I had the advantage in speed, but that was all.

“This is truly unbelievable…”

“Is that a compliment?”

“Of course.”

It was truly an insurmountable power.

No joke, in terms of raw strength, she would be similar to the Emperor using [Transcendence].

That is, if Seir were to use her other unique skill as well.

There were no openings in my opponent, who was just smiling leisurely.

‘Or am I just not seeing them?’

At least, none were visible to my eyes.

It was because of that damned skill.

Since I couldn’t see the form of the weapon, I couldn’t rush my attacks.

However, I wasn’t the type to fight while overthinking things anyway.

‘If it doesn’t work out… I’ll just take some hits.’

With that mindset, I launched my attacks more hastily than before.

The first was head-on.

-CLANG! SWOOSH!!-

My sword definitely touched that scythe.

Yet fresh blood was streaming down from my shoulder.

“Ugh…!”

I had no choice but to grab the head part of the scythe that had pierced my left shoulder.

I had tried my best not to touch the blade.

But it didn’t go as planned.

“That must hurt if you grab it like that?”

“…”

It did hurt.

I wanted to let go immediately.

But this was an opportunity.

Instead, I gripped that part even more tightly.

Even using [Transcendence] to do so.

-CRUNCH!!-

I endured in that state.

It was still clearly insufficient, but it was somewhat okay.

At least enough to buy time.

And Seir, surprised by the sudden change in power, began to show openings that hadn’t been visible before.

“That must be painful for you!!”

With those words, I raised my sword and thrust it into my opponent’s body.

Seir’s cloak blocked the sword.

But I didn’t care.

“AAAHHH!!!”

I shouted with all my might and put in all my strength.

And as I did, I prayed.

I prayed for it to pierce through, please pierce through.

And fortunately, someone seemed to have heard that prayer.

-CRACK!! RIIIP!!!-

The cloak tore cleanly with a loud noise.

My sword broke through that annoying obstacle and finally reached its destination.

-THUD!!-

Followed by the sound of droplets.

The source of that sound was, of course, Seir’s vivid blood.

However…

Seir didn’t seem to be in pain or disturbed.

She was just looking at me with an expression that seemed intrigued.

“Not bad, huh?”

And then she gripped her weapon, that scythe.

She gripped it strongly. Almost excessively so…