“At last. I’ve been waiting for you, Abel.”
“I have not been waiting for you.”
Orenju and Abel.
Swords raised, the two faced each other.
For the first ti in a year.
And yet...
What is this? No, it is Abel. I know that. I know that, but he is far too different from a year ago.
Orenju drew in one deep breath, then slowly breathed it out.
He was under so much pressure that he could not keep himself calm without doing that.
Abel was doing nothing.
He was rely holding his sword at the ready.
He was not even exerting any particular pressure.
And yet...
He is too different from a year ago! Abel is human, damn it. Can a human change this much in only one year? Just facing him... am I trembling? No, no, no. ? A servant of Lord Garwin?
Orenju drew in another deep breath, then slowly exhaled.
“What is wrong, Orenju?”
Abel asked.
At that question, Orenju flinched.
It was like his heart had been seized in a fist, like his throat had been squeezed shut... a pressure he could not make sense of.
“You’ve changed in a year.”
The words slipped from Orenju’s mouth before he could stop them.
He had said it. He had been forced to say it.
Unless he put it into words, he could not escape that crushing sensation....
“Have I? I suppose I have begun swinging a sword every day.”
Abel answered with a series of thoughtful nods.
There was no strain in him at all.
“I do not think this is sothing that superficial.”
“Even if you say that...”
Orenju forced the words out through clenched teeth, but Abel was perfectly unconcerned.
In truth, Abel hardly felt any change in himself.
In the Eastern Nations, he had recovered the feeling he had once held—the desire to grow stronger.
That much was true.
But he also knew that did not an a person beca strong in a year or so.
For now, he had only just resud his efforts.
The results would appear years from now, perhaps even more than a decade later....
“To be honest, I would have preferred to fight you again a little later.”
“What did you say?”
“I an I wanted to fight you after I had grown a little stronger!”
Abel invaded the distance between them all at once.
CLANG.
Sword rang loudly against sword.
Abel’s barrage began.
“Gh...”
Orenju was desperate to defend.
Abel was human, while Orenju was a servant of a Demon Man.
Ordinarily, a servant of a Demon Man was overwhelmingly superior to a human in both strength and speed.
Even now, Orenju should have surpassed Abel in both strength and speed.
And yet...
Abel was pressing him.
Why?
Because Orenju had been ntally overwheld by Abel.
In a duel between people, the mind occupied an extrely large part.
Had Ryo not always said so?
Robbing the opponent of composure was the most basic of basics in combat against another person.
Angering an opponent was not the only way to rob him of composure.
Frightening him robbed him of composure too.
When composure was lost, where did the effect show most clearly?
Strength?
Speed?
No. Technique.
Orenju’s wounds increased before their eyes.
He had not taken a fatal blow.
His arms and legs still moved without issue.
His combat ability itself had not fallen, but...
The place taking the greatest damage was not sowhere visible.
It was inside his heart.
Why? Why has such a gap opened between us?
That thought threw Orenju’s mind into disorder.
In truth, the gap was not as large as Orenju believed.
Rather, Orenju was superior in strength and speed.
There was no astonishing gap in technique either.
But because his heart had fallen behind, that gap had spread into his technique, and his wounds were multiplying.
Abel, for his part, did not understand all of that.
He only knew that reading ahead was smoother than usual.
He only knew that his body moved more smoothly than usual too.
And sohow, his sword seed to be shining white rather than red....
Leaving the sword aside, he knew the rest was going well.
At the sa ti, he also understood that Orenju’s mind was in disorder, that disorder was appearing as a gap in technique, and the results were expanding from there.
If he understood that, he would exploit it to the fullest.
There was no need to open his mouth.
He only had to show him the sword.
If he did that...
“Impossible... Why is there this much difference between us?”
The words leaked from Orenju’s mouth like a curse.
Of course, Abel answered nothing.
If he answered, that information might beco the trigger that allowed Orenju to recover.
Without a word, the clash of blades grew fiercer still.
User Comments
0 comments from readers