Ch.46Demon Knight Bernhagen (4)

A pure white aura enveloped the longsword.

It was a sword aura far too powerful for a Sword Expert-level warrior to produce. It wasn’t merely wrapped in light—it was as if he held a blade made entirely of light.

An impossible output of sword aura.

Yet, it didn’t possess any special form or property.

That was only natural. Najin was still a Sword Expert and hadn’t reached the realm of Seeker. Right now, Najin had simply pushed his sword aura’s output beyond its limits. In a way that only he could.

…Najin’s mana cultivation method was special.

He stored only a minimal amount of mana within his body, using the majority to strengthen his physical form and reinforce the pathways through which mana flowed. This was because he had no need to store mana internally.

After all, Najin could immediately utilize external mana as soon as he absorbed it. He could draw in the mana floating in the air and instantly weave it into sword aura.

His sense of mana manipulation differed fundamentally from others who could only handle the mana stored within their bodies.

‘That’s why.’

Najin knew.

‘Mana itself has no limits.’

The mana floating in the external world.

The raw flow that circulated throughout the world.

Najin, who could manipulate this… was like someone standing in the middle of a vast ocean with a single cup.

Though he could only scoop a small amount of seawater with his small vessel now, Najin knew that if he enlarged the vessel, he could draw out as much water as he wanted.

One more thing.

Just before escaping the underground city, during his final battle with Ivan, Najin had unconsciously realized something. It was a special technique born from his desire for victory, a technique only Najin could execute.

Instead of scooping water with a cup.

He would dive straight into the ocean.

Even at the risk of thrashing about and drowning in the sea, he would throw his body into it for the sake of immediate victory. That was the gambit Najin had discovered. And now, he was making that same gamble.

-You, that’s…

Merlin was startled by Najin’s mana manipulation.

The pathways engraved in Najin’s body—the circuits through which mana flowed—began to creak. An amount of mana far beyond what could be contained was filling Najin’s body.

Mana manipulation beyond the limit.

The circuits creaked. Broke down. Cracked. Mana that couldn’t be contained in the circuits began to leak. The raw, leaking mana thrashed about, clawing at Najin’s insides.

Drawing in more mana than he could handle.

Stepping beyond the permitted limits.

It was a reckless technique that damaged his body and circuits in exchange for overwhelming output. Even with Excalibur’s regenerative powers…

“Kuhk. Kek…”

The pain of his insides being torn apart by the rampaging mana was something only Najin had to endure. Najin coughed up a handful of blood. His face contorted in pain as he was ground up from the inside.

But his grip on the sword only tightened.

With bloodshot eyes wide open, Najin glared at Bernhagen. What filled his sunset-colored eyes was a desire for victory. Najin gritted his teeth and stomped the ground.

-…

Merlin remained silent.

The technique Najin created from his desire for victory was, by coincidence, something Arthur had once used as well. A technique he had never taught anyone, one that remained unrecorded anywhere.

Arthur, who had fought countless powerful opponents, had yearned for it.

A single strike to tear out the throat of the strong.

A single strike to shatter the limits imposed upon him.

He had always challenged those stronger than himself, risked his life for victory, and… struggled to achieve victory even in the most desperate situations. This was the technique Arthur had created during that journey.

Even if the surging mana tore his body apart from within.

Even if the creaking and twisting circuits brought excruciating pain.

Never backing down, he would charge at his enemy while spitting blood, determined to take their head.

In Merlin’s eyes, Najin’s figure overlapped with Arthur’s. Though no one had taught him, Najin had awakened the same technique as Arthur on his own. All with the single-minded determination to win.

-Really.

Merlin burst into laughter.

-You’re even crazier than I thought.

Najin kicked off the ground and lunged toward Bernhagen. The brilliant white sword aura flashed.

2.

Bernhagen’s eyes wavered.

The nearly dead man had suddenly revived. That alone was surprising, but far from weakening, his speed had increased, and the aura enveloping his sword was surging even more fiercely. As if he had been hiding his strength all along.

KAAAAANG!

When the swords collided, Bernhagen was pushed back. Though Bernhagen had the advantage in both the weight of his sword and physical strength, he was overwhelmed by the output. The repulsive force of the surging sword aura had pushed back Bernhagen’s greatsword.

‘What is this…!’

Bernhagen’s eyes widened.

His sword-gripping hand tingled. Najin’s sword strikes continued. Bernhagen, who had been raising his forearm to protect his neck, flinched.

No, that wouldn’t work.

That couldn’t be blocked with bare flesh.

Belatedly, Bernhagen twisted his body. Najin’s sword, which had been aiming for his neck, grazed Bernhagen’s shoulder before passing by. In that moment, Bernhagen was certain his decision to evade had been correct.

Slash.

His shoulder was deeply cut. Had he taken it to the neck, it would have been nearly half severed. Through the burning pain from the wound, Bernhagen locked eyes with Najin.

Sunset-colored, bloodshot eyes.

Those eyes were chillingly intense. Bernhagen sensed it immediately. The situation had fundamentally changed. This man’s sword aura was powerful enough to cut through even his demonized body. He could no longer afford to block with his body.

‘What exactly are you?’

This was no Sword Expert.

It was common sense that a Sword Expert couldn’t produce sword aura of this output. Such movements should have been impossible.

‘Just what are you?’

Cold sweat ran down Bernhagen’s spine.

With each clash of swords, as Najin’s blade traced bizarre trajectories and lunged straight for his neck… Bernhagen had to grit his teeth and withstand it.

Until now, he had been toying with Najin.

But now he had to meet the sword as an equal.

If he failed to block, he would die. Realm differences no longer mattered. What determined victory or defeat was technique and split-second judgment. Each swing decided life and death. And with every moment, Najin’s sword demanded from Bernhagen.

Death, blood, flesh.

Blood sprayed. Severed flesh scattered. Now Najin wasn’t the only one bleeding. Blood began to spray from Bernhagen’s body as well.

* * *

The pursuit team of Demon Knight Bernhagen.

Argo, the knight leading the pursuit team composed of Knights of Atanga, pulled on his horse’s reins.

At the last place where the signal had been detected. As Argo looked around after stopping there, he heard the sound of clashing swords—”Kang, Kaang”—in the distance. He signaled to the following knights before moving toward the source of the sound.

Pushing through the undergrowth and passing through dense trees… what appeared was an artificially created clearing in the middle of the forest.

A clearing where uprooted and bisected trees lay scattered about. Probably created during the sword fight by cutting down and uprooting trees that got in the way. At a glance, it looked like a dueling ground created in the middle of the forest.

KAAAAAAANG!

Two swordsmen were clashing swords in that dueling ground. One was Demon Knight Bernhagen, whom the Knights of Atanga had been pursuing, and the other was a young man who appeared to be an adventurer.

‘Was it mentioned that an adventurer from Cambria had accepted a request?’

That young man seemed to be that adventurer.

Argo drew his sword, intending to express gratitude to the young man who had performed the request admirably and to help eliminate the Demon Knight.

But as he was about to step forward, Argo frowned. He felt something was off.

Bernhagen’s movements, the sword aura he produced, and that dense demonic energy. The realm of Bernhagen that Argo witnessed was… much higher than what had been reported. Was the measurement of his strength incorrect? Though surprising, that wasn’t the issue.

‘I moved in preparation for the worst anyway.’

Argo was a warrior who had reached the realm of Sword Seeker.

Moreover, behind him stood his proud comrades of Atanga. Even if variables arose, they could handle them sufficiently.

So Bernhagen’s unexpected strength wasn’t the problem… but something else caught Argo’s attention.

It was the movements of the young man clashing swords with Bernhagen. The young man swinging his sword while trailing a brilliantly white sword aura. The output of that sword aura was astonishing even to Argo, a Sword Seeker.

CHWAAAAAAAK!

The pure white sword aura, untainted in the slightest, repelled Bernhagen’s blackened sword again and again. Sometimes smoothly. Sometimes boldly. The young man’s footwork was light yet precise.

A sword that thrust without missing any openings.

Naturally transitioning from stance to stance.

The young man was displaying a strange swordsmanship that seemed to mix various styles based on the Order’s swordsmanship. Though that swordsmanship was admirable… what was most surprising was the young man’s split-second judgment.

‘How bold.’

Not just deflecting.

Boldly diving in to inflict wounds, never missing an opening shown by his opponent. Like a fierce predator.

Thus, the young man was evenly matched with Bernhagen.

He was engaged in a duel on equal footing with a Demon Knight estimated to be at the Sword Seeker level. Someone with such skill should have been known to him, yet this was a face he’d never seen before. As Argo looked at the young man’s face, he gasped.

Because he saw the young man’s eyes.

Those eyes, fixed solely on Bernhagen, burned intensely. A fierce desire for victory. Eyes so intense they seemed to pull one in.

“……”

The moment he saw those eyes, Argo silently lowered his sword. He extended his arm, signaling the Knights of Atanga to stop.

A duel where both combatants were determined to deny the other.

Filled with an intense desire for victory.

Clashing with all their might.

It was something that no outsider should interfere with or disturb. Argo watched the duel between Najin and Bernhagen, ready to intervene at any moment. No, he didn’t just watch. His gaze was captured.

What the young man wielded was a raw sword.

A raw, unrefined swordsmanship and sword aura that had not yet been completely tempered or perfected. Yet, perhaps because of that, it captured one’s attention. There was an intensity that could only be felt from something unrefined.

KA, GAGAGAGAGAGAK!

As sword aura scraped against sword aura, bursts of light scattered. Blood spraying from where sword tips grazed burst into “CHIIIIIK!” sounds as it evaporated upon contact with the scattered light bursts.

Spraying blood.

The sound of clashing swords.

Intricately entangled footwork.

The perfectly balanced scale gradually began to tip in Najin’s favor. Unlike Najin, who continued to grow even during battle, Bernhagen was merely standing still.

KWAJIK!

Bernhagen’s greatsword tore into the ground. By the time the heavy impact shook the earth, Najin was no longer standing on the ground. Having lightly jumped, Najin spun his body and, as he landed, brought his longsword down on Bernhagen’s sword.

KAAAAAAANG!

He struck the greatsword embedded in the ground with his longsword, driving it deeper. Then Najin swung his longsword along the slanted blade of the greatsword. With a “KAGAGAK” sound, the sword scraped along the greatsword, aiming for Bernhagen’s nape.

“…Kuk!”

Hastily, Bernhagen let go of his greatsword and reached out to try to grab Najin’s sword, but…

Slash.

Najin’s sword aura was already beyond what could be resisted by mere force. The moment Bernhagen’s outstretched palm touched the sword aura, it was severed. From the pinky to the index finger. Najin’s sword, which had cut through skin and bone, didn’t slow down at all.

As Najin’s sword, which evaporated the spraying blood as it advanced, was about to touch Bernhagen’s neck.

Bernhagen sensed his defeat. He felt the inescapable death. That’s why he pulled out the move he had been saving until the very end.

“—————————!”

Bernhagen let out a monstrous cry.

His eyes rolled back, and for an instant, black smoke erupted from Bernhagen’s body. The smoke that burst forth in that fleeting moment engulfed both Najin and Bernhagen.

It happened in such a brief moment that even the Knights of Atanga watching couldn’t react.

3.

The move Bernhagen had saved until the end.

It was a move he had been saving in preparation for a battle with the Knights of Atanga. Because he could only use it once.

A power obtained through a contract with a demon.

A one-time opportunity borrowed through that power.

Bernhagen used it to kill Najin. Because he was certain that if he didn’t use it, he would die. Bernhagen’s face contorted with anger.

“I shouldn’t have had to use this on the likes of you.”

An artifact that had been managed by the Schulhauser family for generations.

It was widely believed that a mid-level demon resided in the artifact, but… Bernhagen knew that the demon residing in the artifact was not such a simple being.

Hundreds of years ago, in ancient times.

What resided in the artifact was an ancient demon active during that era. Having stolen the Schulhauser family’s forbidden book and learned this fact, Bernhagen had seized the artifact and contracted with the demon residing within.

A demon symbolizing darkness, fear, and blindness.

The ancient demon, Arkand.

That power manifested through Bernhagen’s hand. The black mist that had risen transformed into a dome-shaped barrier in an instant, trapping Najin and Bernhagen.

The original Arkand might have been able to swallow an entire small domain, but… the range Bernhagen could deploy was only this much. However, Bernhagen knew this was enough.

Though the barrier’s range was limited.

Its properties remained the same.

‘Complete isolation from the outside. Creation of a completely sealed space where not even starlight can reach…’

And the amplification of demonic energy. Bernhagen’s wounds were instantly healed. His skin filled out, and his severed fingers regrew, tinged black. Strength overflowed throughout his body, and his physical abilities were incomparable to what they had been moments ago.

Black sword aura surged around the raised greatsword.

Within this space, Bernhagen had an overwhelming advantage. Even if his opponent were the Knights of Atanga, he was confident he wouldn’t lose. No, Bernhagen was certain that even they would be no match for him.

The sense of omnipotence enveloping his body.

The overwhelming power he felt.

Bernhagen looked at Najin with a twisted smile. Najin’s brilliantly white sword aura was fading, obscured by the darkness brought by the barrier. That sword aura would never blaze again. This barrier would strengthen Bernhagen while weakening his opponent.

“This is the end, boy.”

Bernhagen looked at Najin with a twisted smile. In the darkness created by the demon, the light created by a mere human was insignificant. The sight of Najin trailing a white sword aura that seemed about to extinguish at any moment was utterly pathetic.

Bernhagen was certain of his victory.

As Bernhagen contemplated how to crush Najin, what miserable end to give to that arrogant man, he began to walk toward Najin.

“……”

Bernhagen met Najin’s eyes.

There was no fear in those eyes. No wavering either. Eyes that were impossibly calm. Bernhagen felt something off about those eyes.

…Were they originally that color?

Najin’s eyes, which had clearly been sunset-colored just moments ago, were now shining with a platinum color.

Like stars in the night sky.

-Finally used it.

Merlin’s voice echoed in Najin’s ear.

That voice was filled with amusement.