Volume 3 Chapter 38 Quest： The Beginning Of The Rematch – Promise –
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
”────!”
Suddenly, the figure vanished, and the sword swung through empty air.
Abbas’ eyes widened, but as if it were expected, in the next instant, Kian landed silently on his left side.
With a strange *whoosh*, his blade sliced through the air, imbued with true energy, and slashed horizontally.
Targeting Abbas’s face as he launched a surprise attack from the side.
Abbas twisted his body, dodging the attack as if it were wrapped around his sword.
He thrust his wooden sword forward, but it was too late.
Abbas had already retreated.
But he’d forced the wielder of the Great Sword to back down.
A ripple of murmurs ran through the training ground.
(‘Blast!’)
The stone floor shattered where Kian had punched.
Abbas, who had jumped back to avoid the sword, gaped in disbelief.
A series of advanced techniques followed one after another.
Abbas hadn’t expected him to use ‘blast!’ and was swept away by the blast wave and pebbles.
Kian grabbed a chunk of the shattered stone and threw it.
”Gahh!”
The Great Sword couldn’t block the thrown stone.
What’s more, the stone Kian had thrown exploded with a ‘blast!’ at the last moment──a real pain in the neck.
Abbas had tried to erect a ‘Wall,’ but it was useless.
He was left with a gash on his forehead, spraying blood.
”Sss!”
No mercy.
He pressed forward, closing the distance with the young man who was staggering and waving his sword wildly.
He deflected the sword, and with a return strike, slammed his blade against the man’s left ribs.
”Be-gyah────.”
”Ghh, bu ha…!?”
The red-haired young noble coughed up blood.
Normally, he would have thrust his sword into his throat to end him there, but since this was just a friendly sparring match, he held back.
As Kian instinctively swung his wooden sword, a truly crimson arc of blood painted the air.
’Have I gone too far?’
(Didn’t I say so? I truly hated this guy. I even wished he’d die if given the chance.)
He didn’t know what Abbas and the others thought.
However, thanks to this clown, Kian found himself in a situation where he faced great humiliation and was ultimately expelled from Azrael, although that was just the surface reason.
It was unreasonable to ask him to simply laugh off such rudeness.
”Surrender, Sir Abbas!”
”I-I’m still not… defeated!”
”This is quite the dilemma…!?”
As Kian watched Abbas crawl towards the wooden sword that lay stained with blood, he suddenly felt a terrifying killing intent and instinctively ducked.
A sharp whoosh of wind sliced through the air above him, accompanied by the unsettling sound of a few strands of hair being severed.
Without a moment’s delay, he jumped backward into a low stance.
Just in front of him, a wooden sword had been swung, aimed directly at his feet.
”I believe it was Sir Abbas himself who claimed this would be a one-on-one duel.”
Slowly rising to his feet, Kian addressed the two people before him.
Amid the commotion in the arena, the female warrior monk of the black leopard race──Katyusha──and the slender male warrior monk──Zayn──were standing ready with their swords drawn.
”I have no intention of killing your young master.”
”Even so~, it would be quite disgraceful for Abbas to be beaten up by a failure like that.”
Licking her lips, Katyusha crouched low and concealed her wooden sword behind her back.
”It might seem unreasonable, but you will have to pay for hurting the young master this much. I’ll apologize in advance──sorry!”
Though Zayn spoke with genuine remorse, the killing intent emanating from him was palpable.
The shouts of condemnation aimed at Katyusha and Zayn could be heard around the training area, but the students from Shakerdoust’s faction were doing their best to keep the peace.
”The young master only lost because he was holding back! He didn’t really lose to Kian Vahid in a serious fight!”
”Oh dear, if it hurts, I’m so sorry~. But you don’t have to forgive us, you know~? If you’d rather beg Sir Umar to punish us, be my guest~!”
”Sir Kian, this is strictly a quarrel between students… Please forgive us.”
”So…this is how Azrael does things, huh?”
Kian sighed, a mix of frustration and realization in his voice.
’Is this the time to be feeling sorry for yourself? Can you even win?’
(This body is in bad shape. I don’t have any magic power left either.)
’Hey…’
He could handle Zayn, but there was no way he could deal with Katyusha of the Black Panther Race.
She was far more physically capable than Abbas, and she wielded her Great Sword with deadly skill.
Kian, a mere human boy, wouldn’t stand a chance against her, even in a one-on-one fight.
But he couldn’t just give up.
If he targeted Abbas, who was recovering in the back, neither of them would be able to fight properly, so he should focus on that.
Just as he was thinking that, a tremendous amount of magic power suddenly flared up behind Kian.
”────!”
”Wha…?” “Oh my, Lady Sarah…!”
”────Kian, get back!”
Without a word, the girl he was betrothed to stepped forward to protect Kian.
She was radiating energy (ki) comparable to that of a Wolfman.
Her sleeves were rolled up over her casual clothes, and the muscles in her hands, gripping her wooden sword, were bulging.
”I won’t allow it. Absolutely…!”
”Are you ignoring the fact that our young master got beaten up?!”
”You were the ones who started the fight, weren’t you? Kian won the duel. And yet…!”
Sarah’s back bristled as black energy (ki) stretched towards the sky.
(This is…)
’Azrael’s Death Wings, huh?’
Sarah, holding her wooden sword in a Key Stance, had the eyes of an assassin.
A massive amount of energy (ki) was released from her back like wings, enveloping Abbas’s 2 bewildered followers.
Forgetting that this was a world of shadow, Kian couldn’t help but shout.
”Stop! Don’t use your ‘Secret Technique’ here!”
”Engrave it into your very being!”
Sarah ignored him, her voice sharp.
In the next instant, Sarah’s form vanished as if melting into black mist.
Before Kian’s eyes, countless flashes of extreme sword light blazed like lightning.
All of that lightning…was a series of slashes.
A secret technique, a ‘Shot’ type, that indiscriminately slices through anything within the visible black energy (ki) mist.
(Secret Technique ‘Thunder’)
”Gwaaaah!?”
”Kyaaaah!!”
The screams of a man and a woman echoed.
When the mist cleared, Zayn and Katyusha lay on the stone floor, brutally beaten.
In the distance, Sarah was sheathing her wooden sword, holding her stance.
She stood up, her expression icy, and turned to face the Shakerdoust warrior monks.
”Collect your masters and leave. I, the eldest daughter of the Nakash family, will not tolerate any further disrespect towards Kian.”
”……!”
Without a word, the warrior monks carried the 3 injured on makeshift stretchers and departed.
The phantom shadow audience that Sarah had created had also vanished from the surroundings.
”Kian.”
The next time she called his name, her voice was strangely distorted.
Even though she was simply walking towards him with a smile in the empty arena, the scenery around them creaked and the colors strangely inverted with each step she took.
(This is…)
’This is too much.’ The ‘Night Crier’ noticed the oddness. ‘It’s different from the memories, isn’t it? She’s trying to recreate the shadows to match the memories somehow.’
”Ugh…”
Sarah slowly approached.
As the distance closed, the colors of the scenery shifted between primary colors and inversions.
”Kian.”
Finally, it became a state where only Kian and Sarah’s figures were floating against a dark background.
While Kian remained wary, Sarah reached out to him with a tearful face.
”Thank you for protecting me. You were… so cool.”
”────”
”I was dreaming. I wanted to be protected by Kian like this, like a prince…”
”Sarah…”
”Thank you so much… for fulfilling all my wishes!”
She clung to him, burying her cheek against the back of Kian’s hand.
A soft, warm sensation, unlike a ghost’s.
A sensation of wet tears added to the feeling there.
”But… it’s over now.”
”……?”
”Kian, please hear my final request.”
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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