Chapter 18

Mad Swordsman of the Shadow World (18)

The night air over the rocky area was cold.

Behind them in the distance, Section 1 and Section 3 were probably still locked in a fierce melee, yet strangely, the sounds reaching this place seemed distant, as though heard underwater.

Moonlight traced the outlines of the rocks in white, and the shadows of the two boys stretched long across them.

Five steps.

Too far for a wooden sword to reach, yet too close to let one’s guard down.

Isaac was the first to speak.

“Name.”

“...”

“I should at least know the name of the bastard who took down seven of my search party without making a sound.”

Theron looked at Isaac for a moment.

A face younger than he remembered.

But those eyes were exactly as he remembered them.

“Theron.”

“Theron...”

Isaac repeated the name as though rolling it over his tongue.

“Was there someone by that name in Section 5? Well, it doesn’t matter.”

The wooden sword resting on his shoulder slowly lowered toward the ground.

“Because I won’t need to remember it after this.”

And before he had even finished speaking.

Paat!

Isaac’s figure surged forward low, almost sweeping across the ground.

Fast.

He had already reached his maximum speed with the very first step.

An acceleration that erased the preparatory motion.

Something only talent could make possible.

Swoosh!

An upward reverse-edge slash skimmed along the ground. But Theron’s wooden sword extended precisely toward the end of its trajectory.

Clack!

The sound of wooden swords colliding echoed across the rocky area.

But Isaac’s sword had already moved on to the next attack.

He converted the rebound directly into a turn and swung toward the opposite shoulder.

Clack! Clack!

Theron blocked twice in succession.

Blocking them was fine, but.

‘...Heavier than I expected.’

His palm tingled.

That was not strength that should come from the body of a fourteen-year-old.

At this age, Isaac had already instinctively learned how to gather the elasticity of his entire body into a single point.

Pabababat!

Isaac’s assault continued.

High. Low, then high again.

An instinctive sword that constantly broke its rhythm so its trajectory could not be read.

Theron retreated while deflecting every attack.

Block, redirect, retreat half a step.

There were no flashy counterattacks.

But Isaac’s eyes were narrowing more and more.

‘...What is this?’

It was strange.

He was definitely the one pushing forward.

And yet, the longer it went on, the more it felt as though he were striking a wall.

The bastard’s sword was already waiting wherever his own sword was supposed to land.

Once was coincidence.

Twice was skill.

But this...

‘It’s every single one.’

Isaac withdrew his sword and leaped backward.

The distance between them widened to five steps once again.

“...You.”

Isaac glared at Theron while steadying his roughened breathing.

“What are you? I’ve never heard that Section 5 had someone like you.”

“I told you my name is Theron.”

“Then why didn’t I know the name of someone like you?”

Moreover...

“That third swing just now. You’re the first person who’s ever stopped it. No, you didn’t stop it. You were already waiting there before I even attacked.”

That was the terrifying nature of a sensory-type powerhouse.

After exchanging only a few moves, he accurately grasped the essence through his body.

“I’ve never seen you before.”

Isaac pointed the tip of his wooden sword at Theron.

“But it doesn’t feel like the first time I’ve seen you. It’s irritating.”

Theron did not answer.

He could not answer.

‘Of course.’

Because I watched your sword develop for more than ten years.

—Theron. I’ll watch your back.

The voice of the man who had once stood back-to-back with him amid the smoke of battle brushed past his ears.

A comrade who had crossed hundreds of deadly battlefields with him.

There was no one in the world who knew better than Theron where Isaac’s sword began and how far it would grow.

‘...But the you in front of me now isn’t that man.’

Theron quietly folded away his emotions.

The Isaac before him now was fourteen.

Right now, he was not a comrade, but a wall in this exam that had to be broken.

And there was one more thing.

‘Rougher... than I remember.’

He had confirmed something while exchanging several blows.

The roots of the trajectories were the same, but the texture was different.

Half a beat more impatient than the sword Isaac would later refine, and with a rawer finish.

Naturally.

This was the sword of an unpolished gemstone.

‘If I rely on my memories... I’ll get cut.’

It was the same as the terrain.

Memory was only a reference. What he trusted was the opponent before his eyes.

Just as Theron adjusted his grip on his wooden sword, Isaac gave a faint laugh.

“Well, whatever. You don’t have to answer.”

Crack.

The sound of his neck turning from side to side echoed low through the darkness.

“After exchanging a few moves, I get it. You... you’re going easy on me, aren’t you?”

“...”

“You just block while reading someone? That’s a pretty irritating habit.”

Isaac lowered his stance.

It was different from before.

The playfulness had vanished from his eyes.

His toes gripped the ground.

And a low vibration, as though the air itself were humming, began spreading from his body.

Mana.

Rough and immature, but unquestionably mana being released.

“You should pay the price for that arrogant attitude.”

Hoo.

The moment Isaac let out a short breath.

Boom!

The ground burst.

If his earlier charge had been fast, this was disappearance.

But...

‘Lower front.’

Theron’s body made the judgment before his eyes did.

Claaack!

The wooden swords crossed with a sound like sparks bursting, and for the first time Theron’s feet were pushed back two full steps.

The numbness traveled from his wrist all the way to his shoulder.

‘A sword imbued with mana... is this strong.’

He could block it.

But if he kept doing so with his current body, his wrist would give out first.

Pabababat!

Isaac’s consecutive attacks poured down like a storm.

One strike. Two. Three.

Theron gradually began to be pushed backward.

With a rock behind him, he redirected sideways again.

“Why?! Try acting cocky like before!”

Isaac’s wooden sword grazed Theron’s shoulder and tore his clothes.

Reading an attack and keeping up with it were two different matters.

He could see the trajectory.

But his body could not fully keep pace with the speed empowered by mana.

‘...No choice.’

Theron quietly steadied his breathing.

His original plan had been to finish this without using mana.

The Dark Tempest mana cultivation method was a card that could not be shown to anyone on this island.

But the opponent in front of him was not someone he could defeat while holding back his cards.

‘Not all of it.’

One layer.

Just enough to leave no trace.

Theron closed his eyes and opened them.

In that brief blink.

Sssst.

A soundless storm began flowing through Theron’s body.

It was at that exact moment that goosebumps rose across Isaac’s entire body.

“...!”

There was nothing visible.

No burst of presence, no humming of the air.

And yet, in the span of a single blink, the prey before his eyes...

Had become something entirely different.

“You...”

For the first time, the smile disappeared from Isaac’s lips.

And Theron slowly raised his wooden sword.

“Now... it’s my turn.”

_________________

Meanwhile, the Section 5 trainees who had escaped the melee.

Eight shadows raced along the forest path swallowed by darkness.

“Huff... huff... hey, how many?”

“Twelve! Twelve!”

Renil grinned as he clutched the tokens inside his clothes.

They were the spoils they had swept up from the fallen trainees while Section 1 was tangled up with Section 3.

“Including ours, that makes twenty... Am I dreaming?”

“Shut up and run. Count them after we get back.”

Perka hurried them onward while glancing behind.

There was no sign of pursuit.

The ones busy tearing each other apart had no room to chase eight people who had vanished into the darkness.

“But...”

Suddenly, Tioren slowed his pace and spoke.

“Where’s Theron?”

“Huh? Now that you mention it...”

Renil looked around.

If Theron was the one who had set this whole thing up, he should have been watching from somewhere.

But far from joining them, there was not even a glimpse of his shadow.

“Don’t tell me he got caught?”

“That guy?”

Perka gave a faint laugh.

“Worry about ourselves. That guy is... probably right about now.”

Perka’s gaze turned toward the darkness in the direction of the rocky area.

“Playing with the most expensive prey.”

________________

This time, Theron moved first.

Tap.

His first step was actually slow.

A leisurely step, like a stroll, the complete opposite of Isaac’s explosive charge.

And yet that slow step looked strangely large in Isaac’s eyes.

‘What is with this sense of distance...!’

By the time he raised his wooden sword in response to that one step.

Theron had already entered within the second.

Swoosh!

For the first time, Theron’s wooden sword traced an offensive path.

An extremely simple rising slash flowing from below to above.

‘I could block something like this with my eyes closed...!’

Isaac’s wooden sword moved out to meet it.

But...

Slip.

At the point where the swords should have collided, Theron’s sword disappeared.

Halfway through the trajectory, he changed its texture with nothing but a movement of his wrist, half a beat off rhythm.

The rising slash had already become a thrust toward Isaac’s side.

“Ugh!”

Isaac twisted his upper body and barely deflected it.

The wooden sword grazed his side and swept past his clothes.

But it was not over.

Clack! Clack-clack! Clack!

The missed thrust was withdrawn into a strike at the wrist.

When that wrist strike was blocked, it became a swing toward the shoulder.

At the place where one attack ended, the next attack was born.

A sword flowing like water, without a single broken joint.

‘Even if I block... it doesn’t end!’

Cold sweat began forming on Isaac’s back.

This pressure was on an entirely different level from the assault he had been delivering just moments ago.

If Isaac’s chain of attacks was a storm, this was water.

It seeped into any opening, and when blocked, it turned and flowed around.

Claaack!

Another collision.

This time, Isaac was the one pushed back.

His shoulders rose and fell faintly as he steadied his stance after retreating three steps.

“Haa... haa...”

Rough breathing.

The hand gripping his wooden sword tingled.

But even then, what filled Isaac’s mind was not fear.

‘That change just now... only with his wrist.’

That half-beat shift that bent the trajectory midway through.

His body was absorbing it before his mind could.

“...One more time.”

“What?”

“Show me that again. The thing you just did.”

Isaac grinned and lowered his stance again.

Eyes that intended to learn even while being beaten.

Theron’s eyebrow moved faintly.

‘...This bastard.’

He was growing even while being pushed back.

Each time they exchanged a blow, Isaac’s reactions changed little by little.

His previously slow responses became half a beat faster, and the angles Theron had pierced through gradually narrowed.

Growing while fighting.

That was the essence of Isaac’s talent.

“...”

Theron forcibly restrained the corners of his lips from rising as he adjusted his grip on the wooden sword.

He was happy to see the younger form and growth of his closest former comrade, but this was not a situation he could simply enjoy.

“Hoo... Watch carefully. There won’t be a second time.”

Isaac had asked him to show it, so Theron would.

But the price would be expensive.

Paat!

The two figures clashed once again.

Clack! Clack! Clack-clack-clack!

The sounds of wooden swords colliding pelted the rocky area like rain.

When Theron’s sword flowed, Isaac’s sword bit into it.

Technique and instinct.

Completion and raw stone.

Two swords of entirely different textures intertwined, throwing sparks in the darkness.

And after roughly twenty exchanges.

‘Now...!’

Theron’s eyes flashed.

Isaac’s breathing.

Into that tiny opening where inhalation became exhalation, Theron’s wooden sword slid.

A thrust aimed at the chest.

It was timing that could not be avoided.

But...

Paat!

Isaac’s body moved before thought.

He did not dodge.

He stepped in to meet it.

He gave up his chest in exchange for throwing his own wooden sword toward Theron’s neck.

‘He wants to trade blows...?’

In that instant, Theron’s body reacted.

The arm extending the thrust abandoned its trajectory and bent, striking aside Isaac’s incoming sword.

Claaang!

The two boys were knocked away simultaneously, opening the distance between them.

A mark from the tip of Theron’s wooden sword remained across Isaac’s chest, while several strands of hair sliced by the wind drifted beside Theron’s neck.

“...Haha.”

Isaac looked down at the mark on his chest and laughed.

“If that had landed properly, it would’ve been over just now.”

“In exchange for your life.”

“It’s a wooden sword.”

Isaac shrugged.

“And... I felt like I wouldn’t be able to land even one hit on you unless I did something like that.”

His breathing was rough, his clothes were torn, and his entire body ached.

And yet Isaac’s eyes burned brighter than ever.

“You know, Theron.”

With his wooden sword hanging loosely, Isaac began gathering the last of his strength into the tips of his feet.

“What section you belong to, where you came from... I don’t care about any of that anymore.”

Wooooong.

All the mana remaining in his body gathered into a single sword.

“Let’s... end this with one strike.”

One final exchange carrying everything they had.

Theron likewise quietly lowered his wooden sword.

The soundless storm flowing through his body traveled down his arm and settled at the tip of his sword.

The wind stopped.

Even the sounds of the distant melee seemed to hold their breath for this single moment.

Beneath the moonlight.

Two shadows kicked off the ground at the same time.

Boom!