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The swords collided, not with the crash of metal, but with a concussive boom.
Cain lashed out with a series of straightforward slashes—nonetheless, Baron Ashval was fully occupied with preventing the strikes from biting into his flesh. Unfortunately for him, their swords seemed to be magnetically drawn to each other.
The Baron stared at his sword, perplexed. What’s going on here?
“Huh.” Cain exhaled sharply as he jumped. He gripped his man-sized sword in both hands and slammed it down with the weight of his entire body. Baron Ashval was crushed. The sheer force of the impact drove his feet into the ground and sent a sharp pain running down his spine.
Cain smiled grimly.
“One. More. Time.”
This time, Cain jumped a bit higher. He added a spin at the top, augmenting the force of his attack.
Such huge moves were frowned upon in a battle between the strong1. The blatant disregard for Baron Ashval made him erupt like a volcano.
“Boy!” He wrenched his mana into motion. A little more focused. A little more purposeful. There was more mana in his sword than a B-Class Knight could harness. It fluctuated violently from moment to moment but bathed his sword in misty blue flames.
“Aura Blade!” No one knew who said it.
Cain’s body flopped into a far corner.
“AGH… Ugh.” The young knight coughed bloody phlegm, wincing at his bruised innards, and smiled bitterly. “I didn’t expect you to reach A-Class that fast.”
“This is what a proper teacher gets you, rather than learning from some shady con man.” Ashval sneered. “If you crawl like a dog and lick my boots… maybe kneel before my crotch as well2, and I’ll spare your life. I might cut off a few limbs or a muscle here and there… Maybe rip out an eye or two? But you won’t die.”
Some of the enemy’s knights burst out laughing as Baron Ashval thrust his hips provocatively3.
“Sir Cain…” Charles stared at Cain anxiously.
“Heuk.” Cain spat a glob of blood. “I’ll think about it once Baron Ashval eats a few of my attacks.”
“See that? That’s a person who still can’t tell his asshole from a hole in the ground. Ahhhh… I guess I’ll just have to beat it into his head.” He wagged his finger at Cain. “Come here. I’ll make you understand how weak and worthless you are.”
“Even if you didn’t say anything…” Cain drew his body taut like a bowstring. “…that’s exactly what I was planning on doing.”
Cain barreled toward the Baron like a loose cannonball, much faster than the older man expected.
The second round did not go like the first. Their blades met with just as much explosive force, but Cain was not as wild as he was earlier. Baron Ashval realized that he wouldn’t be able to snap Cain’s blade. Supposedly, there was nothing in the world that an Aura Blade couldn’t cut, making it the ultimate weapon—but something was stopping him from unleashing its total power.
“Crazy—!” Ashval cussed as he was sprayed with blue sparks.
A-Class was something every knight dreams of facing. You could not retreat from it. It not only persists, but it constantly presses the enemy.
It wasn’t like Baron Ashval’s deep blue mana. This threat was subdued but menacing. Powerful, refined, and indisputable.
It was Aura Blade. Astonishingly, the young man had proven himself to be an A-Class, just like Baron Ashval.
There was a bang, and then a shadow went bouncing across the field.
“You… What did you—Ugh!” Baron Ashval puked blood. He struggled mightily but eventually collapsed to one knee.
“What was it you said?” Cain grinned cruelly and hefted his gigantic sword over his shoulder, reminiscent of a certain someone. “Oh, right: ‘Crawl like a dog, lick my boots, kneel before my crotch, and I might just let you live.’ Cutting off your limbs and eyeballs is too easy, don’t you think? How about we feed it to an orc or something while you’re still conscious? Like, I’ll take your eyeball out and dangle it in front of you for the monsters to eat.”
Baron Ashval could only grit his teeth before Cain’s scathing tongue. He couldn’t believe it, even after seeing it with his own eyes. It took him nearly fifty years of hard work to reach this state. Fifty years were sacrificed to birth an A-Class Knight in the Deogrant family.
And this kid, barely out of puberty, was already at the same level as him. He might be thirty years old at the oldest.
“Don’t make me laugh!” Tears of blood welled in Baron Ashval’s eyes. His hoarse cry bordered on a scream laden with jealousy and envy of Cain’s strength. It felt as if his entire life’s work had been invalidated with one word: talent.
His very mana trembled. The air around Baron Ashval sank and rumbled until it suddenly stilled.
And then it collapsed.
“UWAAAAAAAAAA!”
“This is bad…” Cain backed away with an awkward smile.
“Wha-What?”
“Fire! Fire!”
The reed field went up in flames, obscuring the air and sending the knights into a panic.
Excellent timing. Cain’s grin widened. He swiped his blade one last time, capturing the weakened Baron in a flash of shadow.
“Sir… Sir Cain?”
Cain looked over his shoulder. “Very soon, the most powerful reinforcements in history will cut us an escape route. The Young Lady and everyone else needs to follow my lead.”
“Y-Yes!” Charles was curious about “the most powerful reinforcements in history,” but she wasn’t in a position to question him.
She got her answer soon enough.
“It’s the B-Black Knight!”
“The Dennis River’s Black Knight!”
“M-M-Move!”
Cain strode onto the path without hesitation.
“Let’s go! Knights, follow me closely and cover the flanks.”
“Yes!”
Charles’s group slipped out of the encirclement into the growing flames.
Leo de Grans and the Lion King peered anxiously at the Reinhardt-Avalon border. The other Wilhelm Knights wore similar expressions.
There were 3,000 troops standing in their path.
“Why are there so many interesting people on the outskirts of Reinhardt?”
“This seems like a bit much. There are usually only a thousand of them; this looks like three thousand at minimum.”
“Ah… What a pain.” The Lion King rubbed his head.
Joshua stepped toward the troops.
“I am Joshua Sanders, Baron of Avalon.”
Someone on the other side moved to meet him. The aged knight wore a red cloak over his plate armor, identifying himself as the troops’ commander.
“I am Count Castar. I oversee the protection of Reinhardt’s border. We welcome Baron Joshua Sanders, proud Master of Avalon, to his return.”
The Wilhelm Knights puffed themselves up. Their king was favored, it seemed.
“We have been granted the honor of escorting the pride of Avalon home.”
“I appreciate your hospitality.”
“But…” Count Castar peeked at the gaggle behind Joshua. “I was unaware you would be accompanied by a party like this. These knights, well… I won’t question your relationship with them, but I must inform you that I cannot allow them to pass. Their identities are unknown. I’m sorry, but I must place the security of the border before your escort.”
“Ah…” Leo sighed despondently.
It was only to be expected. Count Castar’s response was completely reasonable—after all, who would let a hundred unknown knights wander through the border unchecked? The responsibility fell on Count Castar alone.
The Wilhelm Knights wanted to follow the king’s journey to its conclusion, but it appears they would stop here instead.
“I am—” The Lion King was about to step forward.
“They’re my knights,” Joshua said. His voice was rather quiet, almost casual—but it struck a chord deep in the Wilhelm Knights’ hearts.
Their fists clenched. Our king. Leo’s words lingered in their minds.
“Is there a problem with that?” Joshua asked.
TLN: Maybe because raw force is weaker than mana infused or magi or something like that? ED: I think it’s just that big attacks leave you more open to counterattacks. ↩️
EDN: I have no idea what “kneel before my crotch” is supposed to be, but it sounds gay enough to be correct. ↩️
EDN: I was wrong to doubt. It was literally gay. ↩️