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Chapter 371
A pure silver-white sword.
Once, I gifted this sword to a friend.
So she wouldn’t go around getting beaten up sowhere.
It didn’t have any special power—just a light, sturdy blade that I thought would suit her.
That was all… but I guess it didn’t an anything in the end.
Still, if that man Felibank really knew who Isna was, he wouldn’t have needed to show the sword at all.
What kind of ssage was he trying to send through it?
…Well.
Whatever.
“We’ll go to Mielephon. It’s already late today, so stay in Cascadia for the night before returning.”
Rebecca herself refused to go back to her guild.
I couldn’t exactly let her camp outside.
So I took her back to Cascadia, rented her a room, and at daybreak headed straight for the Mielephon household.
But she wasn’t there.
Well, it wasn’t surprising.
Disappearing without a word and reappearing later was practically her trademark.
Still, parents are parents.
Isna’s mother, Duchess Catsey Mielephon, seed to know exactly where she’d gone.
“When she’s heartbroken, places she would go? Hmm… there is one.”
Without asking anything, she gave the location.
Among forests owned by the Mielephon family, there was a giant waterfall famous for its breathtaking beauty.
Entry to the area was strictly forbidden, and no one else stayed there—
but apparently Isna always ran there whenever Catsey scolded her.
“Take this.”
“What is it?”
“A permit to enter the forest. Show this to the knights at the gate and they’ll let you through.”
I didn’t really need it, but it would’ve been rude to refuse.
“Viscount.”
“Yes, Duchess.”
“Are you using the sword well?”
The demon-slaying blade, Elekstra?
“Yes, quite well. Do you need it back?”
It was an impressive weapon… but honestly, ever since becoming a Grandmaster, swords had long stopped being anything more than tools for cutting.
Even when I first nad my blades ‘Black Night Sword No. 1 and No. 2,’ I just used them casually.
“No, keep it. No one except you can use it properly anyway. Instead… take care of my daughter. She looks fine on the outside, but her heart seems deeply wounded.”
She said this calmly before returning to her work.
I bowed lightly and left with Luna, heading straight for the forest.
The knights blocking the gate stepped aside as soon as they saw the permit.
Inside, the forest felt overwhelmingly natural, untouched.
At first I wondered why such a forest was restricted—
but after stepping inside, I understood.
“The mana here is ridiculously dense.”
“Dense enough to harm an ordinary human body.”
Following the map, we reached the place.
“…Oh.”
It was easily the most beautiful waterfall I had ever seen.
Crystal-clear water cascaded endlessly, forming a wide lake that glittered under the sunlight.
And—
A red-haired woman sat in a small rocking chair by the water, staring blankly at the waterfall.
Her usual twin tails were undone, her long hair flowing freely.
She rocked the chair lightly, unable to hide her tangled emotions.
Step… step…
Leaving Luna behind, I slowly approached.
“What are you doing here?”
“Mm? Leon? Why are you here?”
Her usual self—Isna Mielephon.
As soon as she saw , her eyes sparkled as if nothing was wrong, as though no inner turmoil existed.
I stood beside her, looking out at the waterfall.
“I heard this is your favorite place.”
“It is. I ca here once with my grandfather as a kid, totally fell in love with it. So I co here sotis to heal.”
Silence followed as she continued rocking.
I asked without looking at her.
“Still hearing that voice lately?”
“No, it’s been quiet since then.”
Liar.
She was probably ignoring it.
If what Rebecca said was true, then Isna had been fighting the Red Moon in a different way—
and likely still was.
She’s my age.
Unlike , she didn’t survive Labrynthos centuries.
This must be a heavy burden for her.
“If things get tough, tell anyti. I’ll help.”
“Hearing that from a married man sounds weird.”
“You said we’re friends. Can’t a friend help you?”
“Hahaha!”
She burst into laughter.
“I appreciate the concern, but I think I’ll rest here a while longer. Since you ca all the way, could you tell my mother I’ll stay longer?”
I calmly refused.
“Duchess Catsey didn’t ask to bring you back.”
“…What? So you ca on your own?”
“Well, sort of. Though technically I was asked.”
“Asked? By who?”
Still looking at the waterfall, she asked.
“Rebecca.”
“……”
Her body flinched.
“You’ve had it rough.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Who’s Rebecca?”
“Here.”
I pulled out the silver sword and planted it into the ground before her.
“You really thought I wouldn’t notice?”
“…Well, you did make this sword.”
Cold tone.
A tone and expression I’d never seen from her.
“You said I betrayed you.”
“I did.”
“You said I killed everyone.”
“You did.”
“I never intended that.”
“Maybe. But the past doesn’t change. Not for you, not for .”
She slowly stood, gathering her long red hair and tying it into a ponytail—
with a glowing band of light, not a ribbon.
“Did you know? Garlan was the most loyal, most dedicated man to humanity. A kind soul. But here, he changed. As if he beca soone else. After being killed by your hands, sothing inside him twisted.”
“……”
Garlan.
The man who caused the schism within the Watchers.
“He betrayed us. I knew he disagreed with my decisions, but I couldn’t bring myself to punish him harshly. I understood his feelings.”
Most of the Watchers had apparently died by my hands back then.
Of course they’d hate .
Isna knew her choice could lead to ruin.
“At first, I believed the Watchers moved for the greater good. If personal grudges swayed us, the second chance we got would be aningless. That’s why I decided your strength was necessary. I didn’t want to kill you—I wanted to use you.”
Her reasoning was correct.
Even if they threw all their lives at and sohow won—
what would remain?
A handful of survivors fighting a hopeless war.
Killing was the greater loss.
Twisting fate was the only rational move.
“I knew… how many Watchers hated you. But I had no choice. I had to suppress them.”
But suppressed emotions eventually exploded.
“What was I supposed to do? If we just fought each other and died, what was the point of forming the organization at all?”
“Isna.”
“This is all your fault.”
Flas flared in her hand, forming a crimson sword.
Her cold eyes stared not at —
but at the version of inside their closed-off world.
“Why did you betray us? Why did you betray ? If you hadn’t, we wouldn’t have ended up like this. We wouldn’t have had to kill each other after fighting side by side.”
A violent aura burst from her.
She had long surpassed her grandfather, the Sword Saint Osberg.
“Too much has changed. If things were the sa as before… I would’ve just killed you before you got too strong. You’re soone I can’t beat anymore, no matter what trick I try.”
[Translator - Night]
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But nothing went the way she expected.
She leveled her sword at .
“Traitors are to be punished. That was always our rule. But after the revolt… after I killed the ones who killed my people… After I cut down their necks myself…”
Her eyes lost all color.
“I began wondering what any of it ant. From your perspective, this must sound like utter nonsense. Unbelievable, unacceptable.”
“Yeah. Honestly, it’s ridiculous.”
“But rember this—the mories we have aren’t so dream. Anyone who’s dread them even once knows they were real.”
Why?
I didn’t ask.
“That was the price we paid.”
The heavy price of awakening the power and the mories of that closed world.
Instead of answering, I took the demon sword out of my subspace and lowered it into my hand.
Neither of us spoke after that.
In truth, I’d been curious for a while—
what she was holding inside, just how strong she really was.
I don’t know how to comfort people.
For , the easiest thod was this.
Isna struck first.
* * *
Shriiing!!! KAAAAAANG!!!
A massive boom tore the air apart, shockwaves exploding outward.
The waterfall’s flow shook and split for a mont, then the lake rippled with huge waves.
Just one clash between Isna’s sword and mine was enough for the air to tremble and everything around us to be shaken.
Isna was just as strong as I’d expected—
no, stronger.
She was fast.
Not just as a figure of speech—
her speed was such that I had to predict her movents to respond, rather than simply watching and reacting.
What she was venting at now was little more than a tantrum.
Anger, betrayal, and all sorts of tangled emotions…
She had forced them down while leading the Watchers.
But then, overnight, the people she trusted betrayed her.
Her insides must have been ripped to shreds.
Going after Garlan and killing him now would be nothing but pointless venting.
And killing now was sothing she couldn’t bring herself to do either.
So in the end, she abandoned grand causes and logic and just secluded herself here.
I had no intention of mocking that choice.
If I had been in her place, it might have turned out even worse.
I’m not good with people.
She had been shouldering that crushing burden all alone.
And the Watchers, who had been her support, were completely torn apart because of the decision she made.
With a fla-forged sword in one hand and an orichalcum sword in the other, she lunged at , unleashing fire and strange, unknown power without hesitation.
It looked like magic at a glance, but every bit of it was Authority.
In other words, if I got complacent just because I’m a Grandmaster, I could get seriously hurt.
Unfortunately…
Even this level of power wouldn’t be enough to defeat the Red Moon.
Having faced that monster directly, I’d concluded that unless one reaches the pinnacle—the Extre Realm—there’s no angle to win.
Surprisingly, Isna’s swordsmanship was very similar to my naless sword style.
When her blade ca close to cutting my throat, I accelerated in an instant and counterattacked—
but she would then use almost the sa thod to turn aside or receive my strikes.
“Did I teach you that too?”
“No. I learned it by watching you.”
Which is why many parts are different.
To be honest, though similar, the flow of her sword was quite different.
Her attacks ca with a sensation that she’d vanished and reappeared as she struck.
If I hadn’t regained my Grandmaster power yet, I might’ve ended up in real trouble more than once.
She looked at like she was asking, You got stronger again already?
I silently took her blows head-on.
Her strength was not sothing I could simply ‘go easy on’ and still handle.
But I could feel sothing was shackling her power.
“You… still haven’t recovered, have you?”
“……”
Even when I pointed out what Rebecca had said about her getting weaker at certain tis, Isna didn’t respond.
Magic circles sprang up all around in an instant—over twenty of them.
Almost in the blink of an eye, they completed their formation and fired off extre-cold ice spears at Isna.
She didn’t take a single step back.
With smooth, fluid movents, she cut every last one of them down.
Those might only be equivalent to fifth-circle spells, but heavily reinforced, their power was close to seventh-circle magic.
Cutting them down like that was impressive.
No sooner had she shredded my magic than heat surged around her.
A towering pillar of fire exploded upward from beneath my feet.
Fla of Authority.
Dangerous.
My instincts kicked in, telling this was bad.
I imdiately abandoned defense and focused on evasion, dodging the fire pillar—
and at the sa ti, used that trajectory to accelerate straight toward Isna.
The naless sword style might be famous for its counterattacks, but it has plenty of offensive applications too.
As my blade shot in, my personal world and laws were imposed upon it.
Once a person reaches Grandmaster, they can force their law into the very trajectory of their sword.
Cut.
With that intent, the sword sliced toward her.
A formless blade of sword energy swept horizontally toward her abdon from the opposite side, but Isna seed to know it was coming.
Using the sword in her remaining hand, she twisted and intercepted my attack.
Even though she blocked it, the mountain wall behind her erupted with a massive sword mark, shattering into countless flying fragnts.
A Grandmaster’s sword strike is not sothing you can block just by seeing it.
Yet she handled it in her own way, parrying and even counterattacking.
When I tried to grab her arm after blocking her attack, a kick flew in, disrupting my grip.
Then, as the distance widened again, Isna dispelled her fla sword and gripped the orichalcum sword with both hands, raising it into a high stance.
At the sa ti, a staggering density of aura erupted and began condensing around her.
I didn’t stop.
I kept low and rushed her, swinging my sword.
She clearly tracked my movent, and with a chilling gaze, brought her sword down.
ZZZRRRRAAAAAANG!!!
Her sword and mine collided again.
The sword energy that had been carving toward one another turned into a shockwave and shot straight up into the sky.
The pure white clouds hanging above us were the first to be ripped apart.
With a resounding BOOM, they were blown away in a circular pattern.
Then a massive crack appeared in the blue sky itself, splitting it open.
For a brief instant, that rift twisted and tore space apart.
I’m sure a lot of that phenonon was due to my power—
but the strike she had just unleashed also had more than enough strength to be called “a sword that cuts the sky.”
To call that rely the highest level of a Mind Master’s power would be an understatent.
In the first place, titles like Sword Master, Mind Master, or even Grandmaster didn’t seem to an much to her.
I’d seen a similar case before.
In Labyrinthos, I’d once t a Sword God known as the Princess of Destruction.
The Authority that being possessed was the sa kind of thing.
If we’re only talking about output, Isna’s chances of winning against are close to zero.
But overwhelming Authority and absurd combat experience had made her this strong.
The most surprising part was her battle experience.
Just what kind of fights does a person have to go through to get that good?
Considering how many tis I had to die to reach where I am…
she must be a being of extre talent—that much I cannot deny.
But even so, I could gradually feel her attacks growing weaker.
Before long, it seed her strength had run dry; she failed to fully block my sword and her stance collapsed.
I imdiately released my grip on the sword, clenched my fist, and threw a punch.
[Taiji – Steel]
[Disharmonic Yin-Yang – Collapse]
It was powerful enough to kill most enemies in a single blow, and I didn’t hesitate to put that much force into it.
Even then, she weakened the force in an instant and mounted a response.
But she couldn’t completely nullify it—
she vomited blood, her body skipping across the water several tis like a stone before finally plunging beneath the surface.
A massive shockwave spread across the entire lake, sending enormous ripples from where she sank.
It was like throwing a huge boulder into a calm pond—
the lake split wide enough to expose the bottom at the epicenter, before the water rushed back in.
I looked down at my arm, which was buzzing with a deep vibration, and let out a dry laugh.
“She really is ridiculously strong.”
From the vantage point of soone who’s gone beyond the wall of Grandmaster, the difference in power between that and a Mind Master is overwhelming.
It might not show in obvious ways, but each of my attacks places an enormous strain on her.
And yet she endured it all with overwhelming skill and Authority, lasting for tens of minutes.
If she ever becos a Grandmaster…
just how strong will she be?
One thing’s for sure: she’s definitely not soone I can face halfheartedly and still beat.
Judging by raw strength alone, she’s strong enough to cut down any of the Red Moon’s underlings I’ve t so far, all by herself.
That thought flickered across my mind, but I soon pushed it aside.
I lightly stepped onto the lake’s surface.
My feet, which should have sunk beneath the water, stayed afloat like leaves, not sinking at all.
Splash, splash.
As I walked toward where she had fallen, she slowly rose back up to the surface.
“……”
She silently looked at .
“Feel a little better?”
Instead of answering, she raised her sword again.
Then her hand went to the bracelet on her wrist.
A seal?
At that mont, Luna swooped down between us, her gray wings spread wide.
“That’s enough. No more.”
She grabbed Isna’s arm and stopped her.
Then she spoke.
“Any further and you really die. I won’t allow suicide.”
At Luna’s firm stance, Isna stared at her for a mont, then quietly dispelled the fla sword in her hand.
She gazed at Luna, then asked,
“Let ask just one thing, Leon.”
“Go ahead.”
“Will you… betray us?”
What was the intent behind that question?
It sounded like a desperate plea,
Please, just this once, don’t betray .
A cry begging to confirm that her choice wasn’t wrong this ti.
She had made the only choice that spared both the Watchers and from being wiped out—by having walk a different path.
But that choice ended with the Watchers collapsing completely.
In that case, maybe I’m her last lifeline—
a version of who won’t betray humanity and will stay on their side until the end.
“Let’s get one thing straight, Isna.”
“……”
“I can never, for any reason, be on the sa side as the Red Moon. And even if I did sohow end up on the sa side, there would absolutely be a reason behind it.”
That’s what I believe.
I don’t know why the in that closed world betrayed everyone—
but looking back over his actions, there are too many strange points.
As if it was saying that betrayal had to happen.
That kind of choice is sothing you only need to make once.
Twice is unnecessary.
“And if betraying you like that is what led to this present… then I have no reason to betray anyone ever again.”
The strength slowly slipped from Isna’s hand.
“…You damn bastard…”
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