Ch.224Duel (1)

The god declared. That no one would die within his domain.

Typically, this would be a declaration met with scoffs.

Life and death aren’t crafted by human hands, so it seemed absurdly arrogant.

One should rightfully condemn, mock, and slander such a claim.

But the atmosphere prevented that.

There was a genuine intuition that it would be so. Though Maya’s intuition wasn’t particularly good, she could feel it clearly.

She had felt it when she fell off a horse as a child, and again when Melody completely destroyed her family and dueling school alongside Jeokmeol.

An intuition that it would come to pass—an ominous feeling. No, perhaps not ominous.

One thing was certain: it couldn’t be ignored. She felt the energy surrounding her body as she looked at Melody.

Melody, like Maya, seemed to sense something as she slowly moved her hand.

Something that followed her hand’s movements, flowing smoothly without distortion.

It wasn’t magic or anti-magic. But if one had to name it, it resembled a divinity that mimicked both magic and anti-magic.

Melody had heard about Ruwellin’s “miracle” and what his unique energy could do.

The target of the miracle manifestation was clearly Valterok, but this wasn’t Valterok’s anti-magic.

Though it used that as its axis, she could tell it had changed significantly. Melody was a genius, and geniuses have their own sensibilities.

She sensed that energy with the senses that replaced her lost eyes.

Through touch, she moved her hand along the energy, detecting what could be called subtle noise.

Through smell, she discerned that scents weren’t transmitted directly but through minute gaps.

And hearing was affected too. Though not completely different from before, to someone with her sensitivity, it felt like being submerged in water.

She perceived the divinity as a kind of water that one could breathe in and that felt warm.

Water that didn’t hinder movement. Only slightly heavier than air, but not truly heavy like water.

Melody slowly moved her body in these sensations and then raised her head.

Habit fixed her gaze toward Maya.

“That’s good.”

“…What?”

“If we can fight without intending to kill each other, I can teach this ill-mannered puppy who’s superior.”

“That doesn’t make any sense… Why would I follow such a rule—”

“Are you afraid?”

Maya’s face contorted, and a small growl rumbled with her exposed teeth.

Though it seemed more cute than threatening, there was no denying her anger.

“Who’s afraid!”

Maya immediately charged forward, and Melody raised her sword in greeting.

Ruwellin watched as the two girls closed the distance.

The dog beastkin skillfully wielding a shield breaker despite her small frame, and the bird beastkin who, though her wings were cut and couldn’t fly, draped her cloak like wings over her arms.

The two clashed.

SWAAAAAASH!

Maya struck first. The girl brought down her shield breaker with speed and power disproportionate to her small frame. Melody met the approaching blade with her own sword.

The heavy attack split the air with its sound. If blocked directly, it would cleave through, but that didn’t happen to Melody.

CLAAANG!

The sword strike was deflected with a piercing buzzing sound. Melody stepped onto the sword that had struck the ground, pinning it down.

It wasn’t heavy. It was light. But Maya realized what would happen if she tried to lift it, so she twisted her waist and pulled the sword back as she retreated.

Melody’s body descended. A tiny opening. Maya’s eyes gleamed, and her body rotated.

Using her waist as an axis, she delivered a horizontal strike. The sword cutting horizontally was incredibly fast. Using her body’s center of gravity naturally, the power remained strong.

However.

“You’re not really feeling vengeful, are you?”

As Melody’s words cut like a blade, her actual sword rushed forward.

A thin, long blade that deflected Maya’s swinging sword. Maya saw the sword point coming toward her eye and twisted her body, retrieving her sword and shaking it off.

CLAAAAAANG!

Again, the sharp metallic sound rang out as she staggered. With a grimace, she felt the powerful recoil in her hand.

Not because of strength, but because of precise swordsmanship.

But beyond that, the words that cut into her were sharp. Maya gritted her teeth. A growling sound rose with her anger.

“You’re just doing this because you feel you should, and because society thinks it’s right, aren’t you?”

“Shut up!”

“You feel the expectations and guilt of people who believe you should seek revenge…”

“I said shut up!”

She shouted again as she stepped forward and swung her sword.

The movement using her waist as an axis was efficient. It generated maximum speed and power with minimal effort.

But the motion was predictable. If Melody couldn’t see, she wouldn’t be able to block or dodge it.

“You don’t seek revenge against your sister for the same reason, right? Because you couldn’t possibly defeat the Guardian General, so you target me instead.”

Melody lightly swung her sword to deflect the blade, and used her cloak-wrapped arm to bounce the sword away.

Her response was more precise than when she could see.

She dodged stone fragments kicked up from the ground with a slight tilt of her head, and avoided a back-edge strike from her blind spot by leaping into a somersault.

Maya was astonished.

Not just because the response was accurate and powerful.

But because it pierced Maya’s psychology so precisely.

Melody was right.

Jeokmeol, the Guardian General, Lucilla.

Even if she killed Maya, she wouldn’t feel guilt or remorse.

Since the early days of the rebellion, her reputation had been fearsome, and many chose suicide rather than being captured by her.

That wasn’t the revenge Maya dreamed of.

To give her all, to take everything.

And to die by her hand, leaving an eternal wound. She thought achieving even a few of these would be admirable.

Even in failure, she hoped to succeed.

Melody knew this.

“You’ve always been a coward. Even now, you’re like a frightened puppy with your tail tucked…”

“Who—! tucked their tail—!”

Maya charged forward with a thunderous roar. Though her sword carried power and skill born of irritation, it still couldn’t reach Melody.

Instead, she was read completely. Melody dodged a horizontal strike aimed at her legs by standing on one foot, and caught a back-edge attack aimed at her head with her cloak-wrapped hand.

Before Maya could plan her next move, Melody closed the distance. Though her step was short, her thrust carried momentum and penetrated Maya’s guard.

‘I’m—’

Before she could even think she was dying, an invisible force pushed back the sword point.

In the moment Maya’s eyes widened, she felt herself being thrown back.

An explosive force as if magic had detonated at close range.

Yet a gentle energy that pushed her away without causing injury. Though she was too dull to feel that gentleness, she understood what had caused it.

Ruwellin. As the next Sword Saint had declared. No one dies in his domain.

Before death, anti-magic erupts to determine victory, pushing bodies away.

So Maya flew back and rolled on the ground. The girl finally stopped, covered in dirt, and as she caught her breath—

THUNK!

She flinched as the shield breaker stabbed into the ground beside her.

“Get up.”

A cold voice. When Maya looked up, the sparrow beastkin with closed eyes said:

“You’re not the only one with grievances.”

Maya gritted her teeth and stood up.

What followed could fairly be called one-sided violence.

Melody was superior in swordsmanship from the start.

It had always been that way. Their foundations and experiences were different.

Swordsmanship is determined more by fundamentals than tricks.

It was natural that Melody, who had trained with only an estoc from birth, would be stronger.

She was outmatched in talent, effort, and experience.

But that wasn’t all. Melody’s suppressed talent had fully blossomed after losing her eyes.

SWAAAAAASH!

Maya’s sword cut through empty air. As if knowing its trajectory before it was swung, Melody pulled her body back and—

THWACK!

Melody’s scale breaker penetrated Maya’s guard again. With breath caught and pain arriving, Maya rolled on the ground once more.

Melody’s perfectly placed footwork brought her to advantageous positions faster than Maya could regroup or form strategies. Her sightless eyes guided her to deliver more lethal attacks, as if seeing the future.

Maya groaned at the gap between them.

She knew well. She couldn’t win with a direct approach.

Before becoming the end of the dueling school, Melody had been its greatest masterpiece.

Hadn’t she prepared tactics for this?

The shield breaker, a heavy sword unsuited to her body.

The swordsmanship of the Sword Saints she had newly learned and practiced, filled with vengeance.

She had intended to overwhelm Melody’s technique with these.

If Melody hadn’t lost her eyes, it might have been possible.

But not now.

Maya roared, and Melody quietly raged.

Between growls, Melody questioned, and Maya responded angrily.

What Melody said was known to both Ruwellin and Lucilla.

Why hadn’t she helped?

Why had she stood by when her mother died?

Maya argued back. What could she, still a child, have done? If she had known about such darkness, she would have done something. She would have tried to resolve it.

“Anyone can say that.”

But Melody dismissed even these words.

“You’ve always been all talk, haven’t you?”

Sharp words cutting deep. The dueling school’s words and blades were both incredibly sharp.

Maya felt anger, but also felt the words piercing her depths.

“Even your revenge is just talk. I sought to be perfect in avenging my mother, but what about you? You’ve only created meaningless victims.”

Not untrue. Melody had even given time for people to escape.

The Rapemonian family was exterminated because they were among the instigators.

“I heard Sir Arba’s subordinate still can’t eat properly because his arm was broken by your sword?”

What was she trying to do? Her words were sharp. Tears welled up in anger. Maya gritted her teeth and swallowed them.

“Just venting?”

“—Yes! I wanted to vent!”

At the sudden admission, everyone’s eyes widened, but Maya couldn’t hold back anymore.

“Then, then what should I have done!”

Though her words were an admission, they were closer to purging.

Her true feelings, her suppressed emotions.

The truth she had kept inside and never told others.

Like water overflowing from a broken dam, Maya poured out various emotions.

Inferiority, anger, self-loathing.

Frustration and fatigue from the gap between them.

Melody listened and quietly counterattacked.

She subdued Maya repeatedly.

Each time, Maya’s body bounced like a ball and rolled on the ground. Though covered in dirt, she got up and charged again and again.

The sight was enough to evoke compassion even from Lucilla, who rarely showed sympathy except to Ruwellin, making her want to intervene.

Ruwellin held his sister’s shoulder, and Lucilla watched with anxiety.

She couldn’t help it.

Melody continued to push Maya back.

Stabbing, hitting, kicking.

Maya couldn’t even swing her sword. Thrusts intercepted her every movement, powerful despite using only one hand.

The placement of feet, the pushing force, the waist movement, and the fluid flow of power throughout the body combined with proper joint movement.

That’s how swordsmanship becomes both beautiful and dangerous.

Finally, as the end approached—

CLAAAAAANG!

The sword flew back dramatically. As Maya’s body tilted greatly, she unwrapped the cloak from her other arm and gripped the scale breaker with both hands.

It was her most powerful strike.

A strike that could split rocks and had shot down several dragons when she traveled with Lucilla.

‘Scale Breaker.’

A thrust named after her beloved sword.

SHRRK—

Maya’s body bounced back more dramatically than ever before.

This was because even Ruwellin’s miracle-manifested divinity couldn’t easily neutralize such an impact.

Maya flew back, rolled on the ground, and finally stopped after a long tumble.

She couldn’t get up again and just writhed.

“Ugh, ah.”

Her body wouldn’t move well. She was tired, and it wouldn’t be strange to fall asleep right there.

But she still tried to get up, struggling.

Shing.

Until a blade was held to her neck.

Maya turned her eyes and saw the sword point aimed as if to stab.

An estoc. A sword commonly used in the dueling school.

Maya looked at the sword sadly.

“…The family is gone.”

As if all she could do now was speak.

“The school I belonged to, which was also my future, is gone.”

She laughed hollowly from where she had fallen.

The shield breaker was far away, and she was now outside Ruwellin’s domain, able to die.

But she had to speak.

“What on earth should I have done?”

Melody quietly held her sword. Her idol, terrifyingly strong despite losing her eyes.

“I know I can’t get revenge. Because the Guardian General is there too. What could I do?”

Unlike her, Melody was a superhuman who had perfectly achieved her revenge.

“But even pretending to try made me feel better. But then… what should I…”

As if looking down at Maya who couldn’t continue, Melody spoke calmly.

Without emotion, flatly.

“All these problems arose because the dueling school was corrupted, wasn’t functioning properly, could casually choose dirty paths. And because it didn’t see people as people.”

If that had been fixed, nothing would have happened.

Her additional words sounded like stating obvious facts. And they were. Maya was a duelist, and she wasn’t stupid.

Though she knew the words were true, she couldn’t readily accept them.

“How could I have done that? I was just…”

“You can do it now, can’t you?”

She wanted to object, but her objection was easily buried.

But she couldn’t get angry. She looked blankly at Melody.

“If there were wrongs and blemishes in the old dueling school. Couldn’t you just create a new one and start over?”

Maya couldn’t answer. The thought was so simple it seemed foolish.

But at the same time, it couldn’t be dismissed as merely simple.

Because Melody’s words were true. To Maya, who was gaping blankly, Melody said:

“You’ve been thinking too complexly, trying to solve problems too cleanly and dramatically. That’s when I realized we’ve been taking too long a detour.”

Even she had only realized this recently. She wouldn’t have known without someone’s help.

She sheathed her sword behind her back and turned her face toward Ruwellin’s direction.

Her hair swayed in the breeze.

“I think there could have been cleaner ways to get revenge without bloodshed. I said I didn’t regret it, but that’s a lie. I do regret it.”

“Regret…?”

“Yes, I regret it. I said I would have done the same thing, but if I could turn back time, I would have done it more cleanly, exposed the flaws and sought help. From someone awake and intelligent like you… new blood of the family.”

If that had happened, many things would have been different. Both Maya and Melody knew this.

If only that had been the case.

Maya trembled slightly at the non-existent memory she suddenly recalled.

“So.”

Melody imagined the same future and smiled unconsciously.

“I want to start over.”

“Start what…?”

“Don’t forgive me. You can keep hating me. I still dislike the old dueling school too. But… that doesn’t mean the new dueling school has to be the same, right?”

To the dazed Maya, Melody had already extended her hand.

“Marianne Juran del Rapemonian.”

Hearing her name after so long, Maya blinked at it and looked at the outstretched hand.

“As the new head of the Rapemonian family, I think you’d be suitable for the position of headmaster of the new dueling school.”

Maya was quiet for a long time, thinking, and Melody tilted her head, perhaps anxious from the silence.

A blind person couldn’t help being blind. Seeing Melody like this, Maya let out a hollow laugh.

Losing to a blind person. I can’t show my face anywhere.

When Maya finally took her hand and looked at Ruwellin, Melody noticed and said:

“It’s not like that.”

“…What?”

“Ruwellin told me to think for myself, not what to do.”

Melody struggled to help Maya up, who stood covered in dirt, blinking blankly.

“It was all my own thinking and consideration.”

Maya looked at the sparrow beastkin girl who had grown into an adult, and the girl said with her characteristic fresh smile:

“Shall we go wash up together?”

Maya found herself nodding without realizing it.