Clang!
“Ghk!”
Luna rolled backward after blocking Daike’s sword, dispersing the force of the impact.
‘Damn it! He may be an infuriating bastard, but his skill is the real deal.’
Luna had trained relentlessly and grown considerably stronger.
She had even thought she might have surpassed Daike by now.
But she had been wrong. Daike was still stronger than she was.
‘Still, I can clearly follow the path of his sword and every movement he makes. That means the gap isn’t nearly as wide as it used to be.’
Considering how miserably she had lost to Daike at the beginning of the semester, that was certainly encouraging.
The problem was that they were now fighting a duel with their lives on the line.
And in a situation like this, even that diminished gap in skill was absolute.
‘Stay calm.’
Haaah…
Luna steadied her breathing and collected herself.
Sparring and actual combat were different. Even someone less skilled could seize victory under the right circumstances.
Besides…
‘This is a fight I absolutely have to win.’
Watching her, Daike narrowed his eyes.
The Luna he remembered would have lost her temper, charged straight at him, and destroyed herself.
‘…She’s grown stronger.’
Her swordsmanship, judgment, strategy, insults(?), and even her mental fortitude.
Her improvement in every area was almost unbelievable.
‘Zero… This must be his doing.’
Daike wanted to ask just what kind of training Zero had put her through.
That was how sharp Luna’s sword had become.
Of course, she was still nowhere near strong enough to reach him.
And she never would be.
Perhaps it was because this would be the last time he saw that wild troublemaker rampaging around.
Before he knew it, Daike had spoken.
“Life is unfair. Just like the difference in strength between us.”
“Life has always been unfair.”
So she already knew that?
Daike suddenly recalled what he knew about Luna.
“Right. You were…”
The sole survivor of the Lester family, which had been falsely accused of treason and annihilated overnight.
Luna de Lester.
There was a reason Daike knew that hidden story.
By remaining at Teron’s side, high-level information naturally found its way to his ears.
Of course, that didn’t mean he knew everything.
“That’s enough. This isn’t something a mere pup like you can handle.”
A secret ceased to be a secret the moment it left one’s lips.
Teron understood that well, so he kept certain information from Daike.
In truth, it was largely because Teron regarded Daike as a friend rather than a hunting dog.
The opposing side might make a move against him.
Teron was the son of a great noble family and therefore difficult to touch, but Daike was only a hunting dog.
Eliminating him would carry no consequences.
That was why Teron and Daike did not possess the same information.
The matter of the Lester family was one such example.
Most people believed Duke Aziz of the Herizeus family had been the mastermind.
“This is insane. You’re saying ‘he’ was responsible for all of this? Even if they incurred his displeasure, isn’t this going too far?”
“Who is ‘he’?”
“A little pup doesn’t need to know. The difference in their ability to manipulate the board is simply too vast. This must also be a warning to the other pillars. Tch!”
Saying that he had seen something he never should have, Teron burned the letter. Then he spoke to Daike.
The family was already gone, so they should erase it from their memories as well.
‘And yet, to think I’d encounter its final heir in a place like this…’
Daike felt genuinely sorry for her.
He had lived alone underground from the very beginning.
But Luna had once lived beneath the open sky before being cast into the depths.
“What’s with that reaction?”
Luna’s eyes gleamed as she studied Daike. Then she realized the truth.
“You… You know something, don’t you?”
Daike let out a troubled groan. He had never possessed any talent for acting.
Luna recalled something that had happened at the beginning of the semester.
‘Come to think of it, Teron also looked like he knew something.’
She had fallen into a trap and dueled Daike, only for Zero to fight a proxy duel after her defeat.
The moment Teron saw [One Flash], he had been visibly shaken.
‘And Zero stopped me from using One Flash at the beginning of the semester.’
She wanted to know. She wanted to uncover the secret Teron and Daike were hiding.
Why her family had been destroyed.
Why her mother, father, and everyone who served them had been forced to die.
She was curious. There were so many questions she desperately wanted to ask.
“That doesn’t matter right now, so let’s put it aside. Don’t let yourself get distracted. Focus on me—on our fight.”
“…That is an unusually sound judgment coming from you.”
“Thanks for the compliment.”
“…It wasn’t a compliment.”
As expected, he had absolutely nothing in common with that cat.
Still, he agreed that they should focus on their fight.
This was not a situation where he could show mercy simply because he pitied her.
Whoosh!
Every swing of Daike’s sword dragged a stormlike gale behind it.
Luna could not block those blows with her strength.
She calmly evaded his attacks and waited for an opening.
First Secret Technique of the Lester Family Style.
One Flash.
Slash!
A flash of light grazed Daike’s left forearm.
The wound was apparently deep, as blood burst into the air for an instant.
Even so, it did not stop Daike.
He leaped into the sky and brought his sword crashing down with tremendous force.
Boom!
“Ghk!”
Pain shot through Luna’s legs, making her wonder if they had broken.
When Luna swung her sword, Daike sprang backward and opened the distance between them.
‘Now I understand why Zero said I could only block one attack.’
Blocking that strike twice was impossible.
Luna bit her lip as she remembered the broken arms and legs of the children who had fought alongside her.
There was no room for weakness in the middle of a battle. She forced the memory from her mind.
“…You’ve grown stronger.”
“That was a compliment this time, right? Thanks.”
“…As I thought, you and I are entirely incompatible.”
“Are we? I don’t think that’s completely true.”
After being reminded of Daike’s strength once again, a question suddenly occurred to Luna.
A person’s skill tended to reflect the strength of their heart.
Daike must also possess a powerful will if he had trained so relentlessly.
So why was someone like him unable to make the right decision when it truly mattered?
“It feels like we’re finally starting to understand each other, so why don’t you come to your senses? Let’s go get your friend together.”
“…I merely carry out my orders.”
He fulfilled his orders, no matter how unreasonable they might be.
Because Teron was his savior and his guiding star.
And because he was his…
“Friend.”
It was a word he could never speak aloud while pretending they were not friends.
Had Daike called Teron his friend because Luna was about to die?
Or perhaps…
“Are you an idiot? What kind of friend is that?”
“Hmm?”
“Someone who obeys every order his master gives him isn’t a friend. That’s a hunting dog.”
Daike flinched. He could not deny her words.
“…It’s only an act. A temporary performance.”
“You’re a little too perfect at it, don’t you think? You even stood by and watched while your friend was being toyed with by a Demon.”
Luna had heard plenty about the Vyuern family’s tradition of raising hunting dogs.
Had he been brainwashed through magic or drugs?
No. It didn’t feel like that.
This was something else.
“You got used to it. Without even realizing it.”
“…!”
He had become so accustomed to it that he had begun living the life of a hunting dog by his own choice.
The same was true of Teron. Without realizing it, he had taken advantage of that tradition and used it for his own benefit.
No ordinary person would ask a friend to live as a hunting dog for decades.
That was what made tradition so terrifying.
“No! That’s not true! We’re only pretending because we have no other choice.”
“I already told you. If you were really his friend, you should’ve stopped him from taking a Demon’s hand. What were you doing back then?”
“I…”
He had obeyed Teron.
He had followed the order to stay still.
“I-I had no choice! Our lives were at stake!”
Flustered, Daike began recounting what had happened in the past.
The realization that he had become a true hunting dog without even knowing it had shaken him that deeply.
His explanation was disjointed and chaotic, and the events were not even told in chronological order.
Even so, the important details came through clearly.
However…
“Stop making excuses. If the Duke was tormenting your friend, you should’ve stood up to him. Instead, you tucked your tail between your legs and hid behind your friend like a coward?”
“You would’ve done the same!”
There was nothing anyone could do in the face of violence.
He had been only ten years old. How could a child that young possibly resist?
“No. I never would’ve done that.”
Refusing to break under oppression—that was courage.
“And it’s my pride.”
Daike recoiled.
She was right. He could not use his age as an excuse in front of Luna.
‘She also endured years of hardship.’
A girl who had lost everything overnight and wandered the world from the age of five.
A girl who had never surrendered her pride, even in the face of a cruel world.
Perhaps he should have done the same.
Had he resisted, would Teron have been able to continue pursuing his dream?
“Now I understand. You’re a coward.”
With that ridiculous strength of yours, you should’ve beaten down the Duke and those elders.
Yes. That was exactly what you were.
“A helpless little pup.”
Daike’s body trembled.
It was not because she had insulted him.
Teron had called him a little pup when they were five years old.
And Daike had just realized that his body was the only thing that had grown since then.
Neither his mind nor his heart had matured. After all, relying on Teron had been easy.
“You were so busy trembling in fear that the narcissist had no choice but to push himself too far. Not that I like him either, considering he made the worst possible choice.”
Luna grumbled.
What? He planned to live like this for decades while waiting for an opportunity?
If he kept bowing his head, lowering it again and again…
“Wouldn’t that mean you spent your entire life bowing to someone?”
Even now, he behaved like a hunting dog without realizing it.
“What do you think you’ll be like after several decades?”
He would never escape the life of a hunting dog.
By then, he would have spent more of his life as a hunting dog than he had left to live.
Daike remained lost in thought for a long time before finally speaking.
“…Perhaps you’re right.”
Luna was correct. Perhaps he had compromised without realizing it and willingly taken the role of a hunting dog.
Then should he have died back then?
Had he resisted, would the Duke and the elders have spared him after recognizing his potential?
Or had there been another path he could have taken?
“…This is difficult.”
Daike raised his sword.
These hypotheticals meant nothing. There was no way to return to the past.
Fortunately, he now had a chance to prove that his beliefs had been correct.
No.
‘A chance to prove that our decision wasn’t wrong.’
By defeating Luna, who stood before him, he would prove that they had chosen the right path.
Daike unleashed his fighting spirit. Luna did the same.
“Then prove it.”
There was a simple way to prove whose path had been correct.
“Defeat me.”
“Try and defeat me.”
Daike soared high into the sky.
Daike’s Second Original Secret Technique.
Sturzschlag.
It was Daike’s secret technique, capable of utterly destroying everything within a fifty-meter radius.
Its preparatory motion was so large that Luna had more than enough time to evade it.
And yet…
Shhk.
Luna held her sheathed sword vertically before her.
She had no intention of dodging. This was more than a simple attack.
“That’s right. Pour all of it into me.”
Rage, resentment, and friendship.
Everything the two of them had endured was contained within it.
“All of your sorrow.”
–TL Notes–
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That damn Emperor was the one that destroy Lester wasn’t he? If not him the crown Prince
I still beleived that the Crown Prince is Luna father and Final boss