/
In a pitch black room.
Looking at the young man shining alone in the training hall, Kuvar recalled the past.
A long time ago, to the extent where one couldn’t remember it, Irene at that time had achromatic colored feelings, all dyed in grey.
From being a normal young kid, he seemed like a person whose slightest emotions were hidden.
Because of the cold appearance Kuvar even mistook his age.
However….
‘To think such a child would end up having such hot flames in his heart.’
What the hell happened?
Was it because of what happened in Alhad?
Or was it because of the fighting spirit he felt when he met with Ignet?
If not that, then did it have something to do with the reunion he had with Ilya Lindsay?
He couldn’t figure it out.
Maybe for some other reason.
It didn’t matter.
The most important thing was that Irene wasn’t being swayed by the will of the man, but was controlling his power by his own will.
“…”
Did he feel that too?
Irene, who was about to say something, stopped and looked at his own body.
Slowly, very slowly he checked his new self.
And he didn’t stop at that, he closed his eyes.
It was to look into his inner self, but Kuvar was turning anxious.
It wasn’t just those two people who were there, Grayson, turning into a demon was also there.
According to Irene, Grayson wasn’t a demon yet, but in Kuvar’s eyes he was nothing short of a demon.
A powerful demon.
Fortunately, Grayson with his blood-red eyes took no action.
He was still cross-legged.
“Sigh.”
A short but long time passed.
Irene Pareira opened his eyes.
Two flames rose in the pitch black room.
And it didn’t stop there. A bright light which was shining in his eyes wrapped around Irene’s body.
At least that was what happened in Kuvar’s eyes.
Grayson felt it too.
His closed mouth opened.
“I don’t think you are thieves. And I don’t like rude people.”
“…”
“I will ask again. How did you come to this place? Speak up. If…”
Wheil!
A harsh energy emanated from Grayson’s body as he spoke.
It was Aura. However, it wasn’t pure Aura, this time it was nasty as if mixed with impurities.
Kuvar struggled to control his expression and opened his mouth to calm Grayson. No, he tried to speak.
However, he ended up gulping.
“… you don’t understand what I am asking, I will have to slash your necks here.”
Terrible wording.
What was even more terrifying was the fact that the words were sincere.
Kuvar was sweating at the completely different personality this man had from the public figure he showed and Irene who was silent took a step forward.
Grayson got put and looked at him.
1 second.
2 seconds.
The two of them looked into each other's eyes for about 5 seconds and then grabbed their swords at the same time.
Path!
Swosh!
The great sword summoned from sorcery and the black sword dyed in darkness.
With those two pointed at each other, Irene opened his mouth.
“Let’s make a bet.”
“Bet?”
“Yes. You must know that the people of Eisenmarkt love betting as much as they love matches.”
“… I know.”
Grayson nodded. He didn’t remember it very well, but he did feel something about gambling.
Looking at him, Irene continued.
“This isn’t a stage, but let’s have a match. The winner tells the loser what they want and the loser listens without saying anything. This is the bet, how is it?”
“Fine. I will tell you in advance. All I want is your life.”
“Alright. What I want, I’ll tell you after I win.”
Grayson’s voice was eerie to listen to, but Irene didn’t seem affected by it.
Rather, he moved forward step by step, in a dignified way.
Grayson, who was watching the scene, widened the distance between his feet, then stretched forward.
Swosh!
An attack aiming for the neck.
Irene didn’t respond right away. He was keeping his stance with the heavy sword.
Rather, Grayson was the one who changed.
As if he aimed for somewhere else from the beginning, his sword fell towards Irene's feet.
Irene pulled his right foot back and swung his sword sideways.
The man with blood red eyes lowered his posture as if sinking into the ground and attacked Irene's legs once more, then stretched out his sword to the sky.
Then, the ever-changing swordsmanship unfolded.
Swish! Swish!
Wheik!
Like a snake shaking its head, the sword was unpredictable!
Irene wasn’t shocked this time either.
As he lowered his sword to hit the sword, Grayson stepped back.
A splendid swordsmanship. Aim to the right but hit the left, aim at the bottom but hit at the top.
Pretend to be one offensive but then rush back and take defense.
A few days ago, Irene wouldn’t have been able to deal with it despite the teaching from John Drew.
However, it changed.
‘I see it.’
Wheik!
Real from fake.
They were so sophisticated that others wouldn’t know, but Irene could tell.
Irene who saw through the flow of Aura was able to receive the opponent’s sword with a much relaxed mind and Grayson felt stressed as his sword was being blocked.
And that wasn’t the end.
Kwang!
“Kua!”
Irene, who devoted himself to defense like a rock, took a big step and swung his sword twice.
The sword moved from bottom to the top like a rising mountain and the sword striked from top to bottom like a heavy tidal wave.
The sword felt like it was on fire, but Grayson was able to stop it only after using all his skills.
‘How?!’
Blinking his blood red eyes, Grayson clenched his teeth.
He couldn’t understand. There were too many young geniuses in the world!
Ignet, Ilya and then the guy in front of his eyes all had absurd Auras.
It was nerve-racking.
He devoted years to breaking past his limits but it was still him who was being pushed back. It was always him who was being pushed back.
And that frustrated Grayson.
That soon turned into anger. The burning anger burned his heart and it dyed it with darkness.
At that moment, he realized that the voice he heard yesterday was present.
— Accept it.
A will which longed for his own destruction, which flowed from the depth of darkness.
However, even after knowing that, it felt so sweet that he had no choice but to accept it.
An incomprehensible feeling, when he listened, it tickled his nose and made his mouth water. It turned his mind hazy.
Grayson thought in that hazy state.
Accept it?
Refuse it?
In the battle of swords like in the arena was happening in the training room, the conclusion he reached was to step on.
Tat!
Grayson widened the distance.
He could have aimed for a counterattack because his opponent wasn’t weak.
Filled with jealousy, envy, frustration and self-doubt, he couldn’t trust himself anymore.
Closing his eyes, he lowered his chin.
An ambiguous gesture which made it difficult to decipher if he nodded or not.
However, the owner of the voice lent him strength with a smile.
Before long, a gigantic aura which couldn’t be compared to before flowed out of Grayson’s body.
Wooong!
A shadow descended on Kuvar’s face as he saw that.
Even if he didn’t know much about swords, he knew that this Grayson was different from the one a second back.
The black Aura which rose like a haze reminded him of the flames of hell.
Even the blood red eyes got darker.
Any more time and Kuvar wasn’t sure what would happen.
It was when Kuvar was getting worried.
“Don’t worry.”
Said Irene.
And that single word calmed Kuvar’s heart in an instant.
He looked at Irene with shocked eyes.
Then, he suddenly felt warm.
Like a bonfire in front of a weakened traveler engulfed in darkness and cold, Irene’s Aura was warm and lit the room.
“Bratt once said something like this.”
In that situation, Irene was speaking normally.
Like he was out for a picnic on a spring day.
The swordsman in front of him was turning one with a demon and the Aura was rising, but he didn’t care.
And now Kuvar too seemed to know.
To him, who smiled belatedly, Irene spoke with a trustworthy voice.
“Given enough time to prepare for the attack… probably no one can defeat you unless one was a Sword Master.”
Woong!
Phat!
At that moment, a great sword larger than Grayson formed.
Irene didn’t hit him, his goal was to win.
Killing Grayson by hitting him in half wasn’t what Irene wanted.
In Irene’s eyes, which were looking clearly at the entire picture of the room, the surprised face of the opponent was looked at.
And there didn’t seem to be a single problem.
Grayson’s black sword was caught in the trajectory of the great sword which fell down.
Kaang!
Soon the sword split in half with a loud sound.
Kuvar could hear it. Something terrifying screamed.
Gulping, he asked.
“That sound just now, was it Grayson?”
“No.”
Responding to Irene right away, he added something with a puzzled expression.
“However… it seems certain that something unusual happened.”
‘This is…’
Grayson, who had lost his mind, opened his eyes as the black sword broke.
Vague memories came back.
The way he changed.
The change in his mind.
After staring at the dark ceiling for a long time, he closed his eyes.
‘I made an irreversible mistake.’
The power borrowed from the devil had disappeared.
Thanks to the young man from Krono.
It wasn’t exact, but the moment the fiery Aura touched him, he felt his body turn lighter.
He felt glad.
However, that didn’t mean that all that he had done till then was forgiven.
Clenching his teeth, he thought.
‘What I was giving in return for borrowing the power from the devil was… my pride.’
Yes.
He had no talent for Aura, but he achieved excellent swordsmanship, his confidence, his pride…
It was a treasure that he had to protect for the rest of his life, but he was about to give it up.
‘I threw away the meaning of life.’
Tears flowed from Grayson’s eyes.
Actual tears and not the blood.
He felt them running down his face and then on the floor until he felt lighter.
Irene Pareira.
He didn’t even think of wiping away the tears and sat cross legged.
Eventually, the two looked at each other.
And after a while Grayson spoke.
“What do you want?”
A voice which felt burnt out.
It wasn’t just the voice. As if life was sucked out of his body, he had lost the will to live.
His mind was a mess.
Kuvar, a spiritualist, knew that.
This meant that the ‘flame’, the most important of the five elements which made up life, had disappeared.
‘When the flame is extinguished the cycle of earth, metal, water and trees is cut off and life gets cut off. Unfortunately… this is it for Grayson.’
Kuvar’s expression darkened.
The man gave up on himself.
“Well.”
But not Irene Pareira.
Closer, more closer.
He walked over and sat right in front of Grayson.
And then looked at his opponent with shining eyes.
‘What?’
A look of embarrassment flashed on the face of the swordsman.
He tried to move his upper body back, but the energy emanating from Irene was too burdensome.
And he couldn’t move.
Irene, reached out faster than him, and grabbed Grayson’s hand.
“My request.”
“…”
“As cool as you were till now, I wish for Mr. Grayson to continue the gladiator matches.”
It was the moment Irene finished speaking.
Kuvar could feel the energy from the young man’s body enter Grayson.
A hot energy removing what the remaining darkness that was left behind and pushing away the chill in his body.
Seeing the embers come to life, the Orc spiritualist had no choice but to look at the scene in shock.