Three days earlier, on the day Roxwell had accepted him as his disciple.
“Read all of this before tomorrow morning’s training. Don’t miss a single word. Memorize every last one.”
“…You want me to memorize this encyclopedia?”
“You don’t have to, assuming you’d rather be beaten to death.”
“I think I’d like to stop being your disciple.”
“If you want to be expelled, I’ll cut off your arms and legs.”
“I meant I wanted to become your prized disciple, not just an ordinary one.”
What Roxwell had brought him was an obscenely thick book.
It had to be more than seven hundred pages long, and every page was packed with dense writing.
Not wanting to be beaten to death, Ex started reading it, only to be stunned by what he found.
“A swordsmanship manual…? And an incredibly advanced one at that…”
It was a manual that meticulously documented everything from the proper stances to the individual forms of a sword art.
Even a cursory glance was enough to tell him how sophisticated it was.
A sword art of this caliber would normally serve as the signature style of a martial family belonging to a Count or someone of even higher rank.
“Professor, what exactly is this?”
“It’s a sword art said to have been created long ago by an unknown swordsman. I also happen to be its sole successor.”
Roxwell glanced over Ex’s physical condition before continuing.
“To be perfectly blunt, there’s no point in you learning Protego Swordsmanship.”
“What? Why not?”
“As you already know, that is the Hero’s swordsmanship. In other words, it is a sword art developed for a martial artist who has been honed to the absolute limit. It isn’t something a complete novice can perform. Even if you understand it in your head, your body won’t be able to reproduce it. Am I wrong?”
“That’s certainly…”
He was right.
Even though Hans had finally begun teaching him properly, Ex still hadn’t mastered even the fundamentals of Protego Swordsmanship.
He had run headfirst into the enormous wall created by a body that simply couldn’t keep up.
“That’s why you’ll learn this sword art starting now. Even by my standards, it’s still a little early for you, but considering your agonizingly slow growth, this is probably the right time.”
“I object. I think I’m progressing rather quickly.”
He was benefiting from every correction and advantage the System could give him.
If anything, his growth was fast. He certainly didn’t consider it slow.
Roxwell apparently disagreed, because he shook his head.
“I’m not talking about how quickly you accumulate internal energy.”
“What? Then what are you talking about…?”
“Your combat instincts are utterly hopeless.”
Ex frowned at the sweeping accusation.
Roxwell immediately clarified exactly what he meant.
“You think too much.”
“…Isn’t that supposed to be a good thing?”
“I’m saying your head is full of useless thoughts. Raise your sword.”
As Ex assumed a stance, Roxwell also gripped his sword.
“I’m going to swing at you. Block it.”
Roxwell’s sword descended vertically toward his head, moving somewhat slower than usual.
‘Is it another feint like he normally uses? He might just bring it straight down this time. But considering what he said earlier…’
“I told you, you think too much.”
CLANG-!
“Aagh-!”
The sword struck his head before he could finish the thought.
“See? You were so absorbed in your thoughts that you lost track of the blade’s trajectory.”
“Master, don’t you think you were just moving too fast?”
“That may have been part of it.”
“…”
Roxwell lowered his sword and continued.
“A martial artist doesn’t need to think so much. The less thought involved, the better.”
“Are you telling me to take my brain out before I fight?”
“I’m telling you to fight on instinct.”
Without the slightest warning, Roxwell thrust his sword to the right.
“Trust your intuition, your sixth sense, and your gut.”
This time, he thrust to the left.
“React sharply to even the smallest clues.”
He spun around once and stabbed behind himself.
“Don’t force even the slightest piece of information through conscious thought.”
Then he withdrew his sword and held it out for Ex to see.
Three leaves had been pierced through the tip of the blade.
It would have been difficult even if he had been looking directly at them,
yet Roxwell had succeeded three times without even seeing his targets.
“Once you can do something like this without thinking twice, you’ll be a proper martial artist.”
The sight naturally drew one conclusion from Ex.
“…That sounds difficult.”
“Did you think it would be easy?”
“I thought you became a martial artist by covering your sword in aura and throwing sword energy everywhere.”
“Then why would anyone need martial artists? Mages would do that better.”
He certainly had a point.
There was even a saying that mages were gods in war,
while martial artists were gods in combat.
Ex sighed and held up the swordsmanship manual.
“So what kind of sword art is this?”
“You haven’t even read it, and you already want to know the result?”
“Wouldn’t a clear source of motivation improve my efficiency?”
“Tsk. You certainly know how to talk… Fine. This is the kind of sword art it is.”
Roxwell closed his eyes and concentrated.
In that instant, an overwhelming surge of aura erupted in every direction, powerful enough for Ex to feel it prickling against his skin.
The entire area shuddered under the force, and then Ex witnessed the true nature of the sword art.
“This sword art has no name, but for convenience, I call it the ‘Nine Swords of White Light.’”
Six radiant swords of light hovered in the air behind Roxwell.
Ex’s eyes widened in shock.
“Six flying swords… Is that ‘Control Blade’?”
In this world, Control Blade was the general term for the Sword Control Art. It was also proof that someone had reached 7-Star.
Roxwell shook his head at Ex’s question.
“I really am a 6-Star. This is nothing more than a trick. Look.”
Without warning, all six swords of light shot toward Ex.
Startled by the sudden attack, Ex tried to defend himself, but there was no conceivable way for him to block six swords at once.
“Aaaagh! Ah… Huh?”
After letting out an embarrassingly shrill scream, Ex came to his senses and realized that all six swords had passed straight through his body.
There wasn’t a drop of blood anywhere.
“Are they… illusions?”
“They’re a somewhat more advanced version of one. They give off the exact same energy as real swords. Even a trained martial artist won’t be able to tell the difference until they make direct contact. And then…”
Roxwell made a small gesture, causing one of the radiant swords to pull itself free from Ex’s body.
It rose into the air and came down toward his head.
‘It’s only an illusion anyway. What is he trying to show me?’
The moment Ex relaxed.
CRACK-!
“Gaaagh!!”
An unmistakably physical impact exploded against the top of his head.
As Ex struggled to understand the impossible phenomenon, Roxwell explained.
“If you concentrate your internal energy within the blade, it becomes capable of cutting your opponent. It only lasts for a moment, a single fleeting instant, but that is more than enough for a martial artist.”
“What? That’s actually possible?”
“That is the nature of the Nine Swords of White Light.”
Roxwell spoke as though it were nothing remarkable, but Ex immediately saw the sword art’s full potential.
‘It’s basically a pseudo-Control Blade!’
In some respects, it could even be considered superior to the real thing.
After all, its user could switch between illusion and physical form whenever necessary.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t an overwhelmingly advantageous sword art without any drawbacks.
“The problem is that it consumes an enormous amount of internal energy. Even I can barely maintain it for ten minutes. Using its physical form shortens that time even further.”
“A 6-Star martial artist can’t even use it for ten minutes?”
“That’s right. Considering most ordinary sword arts can be maintained for over an hour, its efficiency is terrible.”
That eliminated one of a martial artist’s greatest advantages.
A technique that could only be used in short battles was strategically unreliable.
As though he had read Ex’s concern, Roxwell spoke as if the answer were obvious.
“Put another way, you simply have to finish the battle within ten minutes.”
***
‘At my current level, if the fight lasts longer than five minutes, I lose.’
That was why he had lost.
The fight had gone beyond five minutes.
His odds would have been high in a one-on-one battle,
but one against fifteen had been another matter entirely.
The more his opponents dragged out the fight, the more internal energy he was forced to expend.
The terrible efficiency of this particular sword art only made the problem worse.
Even so, he hadn’t allowed himself to lose without making them pay for it.
“Huff, huff… You fucking lunatic… All thirteen of them…”
“We got wrecked this badly by one mage…?”
Thirteen members of Sword Gang lay sprawled across the ground behind Ex.
They groaned while clutching broken limbs and injured bodies.
Every single one of them had fallen to Ex.
‘At least Master isn’t going to beat me to death.’
He had wrecked even more of them than he had told Roxwell he would.
Now, with neither magic power nor internal energy remaining, he could barely keep himself upright.
Once his internal energy had run dry, he had started raining spells on them, only to be struck down in return.
Of all the enemies who could have survived until the end, the remaining two were both 3-Star martial artists.
One of them was Gary, the man who appeared to be their leader.
‘I wasn’t supposed to win in the first place. I need this scene to end with me losing.’
That was the reason he had deliberately left Gary standing.
Gary needed to remain conscious for the final performance.
‘Now, let’s squeeze out the payoff.’
Applying pressure to the bleeding wound on his arm, Ex began running his mouth.
“So this is the full extent of your ability. Fifteen of you ganged up to take down one person, and thirteen of you got your asses handed to you. Aren’t you embarrassed?”
“Shut the fuck up, you bastard!”
THUD-!
“Ghk…!”
Driven into a frenzy, Gary kicked Ex across the body.
Ex no longer had the strength to defend himself, so the impact sent him rolling across the ground.
That still wasn’t enough to satisfy Gary. He continued kicking and stomping on the fallen Ex, screaming furiously all the while.
“You lowborn piece of filth! You think knowing how to throw your weight around gives you the right to cause this kind of shit?! If we weren’t inside the Academy, you would’ve been dead a long time ago!”
“Ghk, kuh… You worthless pieces of trash… spending your lives licking other people’s boots…”
“What the hell do you know?! How much do you understand about how terrifying this world is?! Bastards like you who strut around pretending to be lone wolves disappear without a trace! Do you understand me?!”
“Kehk…!”
Even as Gary subjected him to merciless violence, Ex calmly organized the information he was revealing.
There was plenty of useful material hidden among the words Gary was shouting without restraint.
‘As expected, they’re still being cautious inside the Academy. That means they haven’t taken control of it yet. Judging by the way he talks, their internal unity doesn’t seem particularly strong either. Maybe they’re maintaining control through fear.’
At that moment, the Sword Gang member still standing behind Gary stepped in to stop him.
“That’s enough. If he dies here, it’ll become a serious problem.”
“Huff, huff, huff… You miserable piece of shit…!”
Gary rummaged through his clothing before throwing something down in front of Ex.
It was a sheet of paper identical to the one from before.
A slave contract.
“If you don’t sign that contract, I’ll cut off your limbs one by one. I might not be able to kill you, but we can smooth over something like that one way or another. Sign it unless you want to spend the rest of your life maimed!”
“I thought you didn’t have a spare…”
Ex slowly reached toward the contract.
Seeing that, Gary curled his lips into a vicious smile.
“That’s right. Hurry up and sign it. Living as a doll for us to torture is still better than living as a cripple.”
At long last, this godforsaken mission was over.
Gary felt a surge of relief.
He had never imagined the assignment would be this difficult.
But he was mistaken.
Fwoosh-
The moment Ex’s hand touched the contract, flames engulfed it and reduced it to ash.
Ex looked up at Gary, lifting one corner of his mouth in a mocking sneer.
“Would you look at that… The contract burned up. Do you have another spare?”
That mocking smile snapped the final thread holding Gary’s sanity together.
“Y-You fucking bastard-!!”
“Hey, stop!”
Gary raised his sword high above his head.
The remaining Sword Gang member tried to stop him in alarm, but he was one step too late.
Watching the scene unfold, Ex quietly smiled as he checked the Synopsis.
『Synopsis – Beatrice de Dritania’s Viewpoint
「…Andras instinctively realized that something had gone wrong. At this rate, Ex would die an absurd and pointless death. She couldn’t allow the scapegoat she had finally found to die over something so trivial. Andras hurriedly changed her clothes and headed behind the dormitory.」』
It was exactly the development Ex had wanted to see in the Synopsis.
Gary’s furious blade was about to put his life in danger, but he needed to accept at least this much risk if he wanted to deceive Andras.
Gary’s sword would soon run Ex through, and the Sword Gang members would flee in terror.
Then, when Andras approached Ex as he lay bleeding to death, the trap would be a resounding success.
“That’s enough!”
Or at least, that was how it should have gone.
Something resembling a flash of light streaked through the air from the distance, drawing a line straight toward them.
It moved at such an incredible speed that Ex couldn’t even see it before it struck Gary’s sword and sent it flying.
KLAANG-!
“Ghk…! What bastard did that…?!”
Startled, Gary glared toward his attacker.
He looked ready to kill whoever had dared interfere.
But once he saw the intruder’s identity, he found himself unable to act.
A cheerful, openhearted young man.
A handsome man with naturally tousled light-brown hair cut into a wolf cut.
A captivating figure whose brilliant blue eyes immediately drew the gaze.
The one and only existence blessed by the Goddess and shaped by destiny itself.
“L-Leon…?”
It was none other than Leon, the Hero.
Gary was shocked, but Ex was even more stunned.
‘Why the hell is this bastard showing up here again?!’
Why did he have to appear at this exact moment?
The fish Ex had already hooked was about to escape.
“Leon! What are you… Eek! What the hell happened here?!”
As if the situation weren’t already bad enough, the other four members of the Hero Party arrived as well.
Frey, the reincarnation of Saintess Johannes.
Diana, the reincarnation of the Divine Archer Artemis.
Rosaria, the reincarnation of the thief Scarlett.
“…Ex?”
And even Circe, the reincarnation of the Sage Aerial.
The entire Hero Party had gathered in one place.
Leon glared at Gary and declared in a bold, unwavering voice.
“I won’t allow you to torment the weak any longer! Drop your sword right now!”
The plan was one step away from complete ruin.
Only now did Ex truly understand what it meant to have zero Luck.
‘This is seriously driving me insane.’
–TL Notes–
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