WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ I Pulled Out Excalibur

Chapter 271

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Where the Stars Shine (1)

A star rose over the Underground City, Artman.

Seven stars shone.

The sky of the underground city had always been a ceiling of stone, and the stars there had been nothing but fakes, glowing ores embedded in rock...

But not now.

The dark ceiling became a night sky and was strewn with stars. The luminous ores set into the stone reflected starlight and glittered like stars themselves. The starlight that began at the highest point streamed downward.

The stars lit the alleys of the underground city, its dark corners, even places where not even the light of luminous ore had reached. They lit everything.

The ore lamps hanging from each house caught the starlight and gleamed like stars. Light reflected once, then reflected again and again, illuminating the eyes of those who lived in the underground city. They could not shine on their own, but by reflecting starlight, they could shine.

Stars shone in the underground city.

A city where not even a handful of starlight had ever seeped in was, at this very moment, shining brighter than any city aboveground.

The stars were shining.

At the center was the Star of Dawn.

The Star of Dawn, the star that lit the darkness.

As the star that announced the end of the long night and the arrival of morning shone above, everyone's gaze naturally turned to the square.

Because a star stood there.

The Rebel Knight, Mordred, was no different. He too stared at Najin standing before him. He looked at the Excalibur in Najin's hand.

It was different.

Its shape was different from the Excalibur Mordred remembered. The blade, the cross guard, the hilt, the pommel, all of it was different. Naturally, even the constellation engraved into the blade was different.

That was no longer Arthur's sword.

"..."

Mordred steadied his breathing. The flames filling his head subsided, if only slightly.

Whirl, clench.

Mordred reset his grip on his sword. Gone was the beastlike posture with his arms hanging low. He straightened his bent back and raised the blade to cover his face.

"Mordred."

He spoke his own name. Offering a light sword salute, Mordred leveled his blade at Najin, as if asking, what is your name.

"Najin."

Najin answered with his name. Names were exchanged, then sword salutes were exchanged. Both men knew exactly what came next.

Because they were knights, or once had been.

Shrrng.

Mordred's sword dragged low. Najin realized Mordred's stance had changed in an instant. He no longer mocked Najin or laughed at him. The beastlike posture was gone without a trace.

Knight of the Round Table, Mordred.

The knight who had once belonged to the Round Table no longer asked Najin about his qualifications. There was no need for that question anymore. Mordred wanted something from him now. Najin did not know what it was.

But he knew what he had to do.

As always.

Najin stepped forward.

2.

Star Sword, Excalibur.

Najin had drawn Excalibur two years ago, but in those two years he had only swung it twice.

When he killed Demon Knight Bernheigen.

And when he leaped into a dragon's mouth and cut out its heart.

Other than those two times, he had never swung Excalibur. That meant he had zero experience with it after leaving for the Outland. No matter how sharp Najin's senses and adaptability were, drawing and wielding a new weapon normally required time to adjust.

...Normally.

Yet for some reason, Najin felt that process had been skipped.

The sword in his hand did not feel like something separate from him. It felt like part of his body, familiar as if it had been with him from the beginning. Najin realized there was no need to separate himself from the sword.

The sword was himself.

Among swordsmen who reached Transcendence after long years of training, a very small number reached the realm where sword and self became one. A realm where sword and self were no longer separate, where the sword was oneself and oneself was the sword.

The stars engraved into Excalibur made Najin feel that unity. A star was life itself, the path one had walked, and no different from Najin himself.

Tak, Najin kicked off the ground.

His body felt light. His mind was clear. Every beat of his heart filled his whole body with vigor. His step felt so light it was as if he had been wearing shackles all this time.

He had taken one step.

Najin did not even register how much distance that step had crossed. He focused only on the fact that he had landed exactly where he intended to be.

Directly in front of Mordred. Najin's eyes tracked the path of Mordred's swinging blade.

Kaaaaang!

Sword struck sword. Until now, whenever blades collided, the wind pressure and recoil had thrown Najin across the ground, but this time he did not get pushed back at all. Even as the earth split and a storm raged from the impact, Najin did not move an inch.

Boom.

Instead, he stepped in farther. This time, to push Mordred back himself. Mordred, of course, did not yield quietly.

Corrupted or not, traitor or not.

He was a Transcendent who had lived for a thousand years. A swordsman who had already reached the summit over a millennium ago. Clarent flashed as Mordred unfurled his swordsmanship. The tip carved bizarre trajectories. It wrapped, struck, twisted, and hunted for an opening in an instant.

A technique so exquisite it was almost mystical.

Faced with that precise technique built on flawless distribution of power, Najin's eyes narrowed. Until now he had barely managed to endure that bizarre swordsmanship, but not anymore.

Because he could see.

Najin, who had stepped into Transcendence, felt it. His senses had become incomparably sharper than before. No, in this case, expansion fit better than sharpness.

And that expansion included sight.

Even before reaching Transcendence, Najin had eyes that could rival, and at times overwhelm, other Transcendents. When those eyes touched Transcendence, they transformed.

His vision expanded.

He could see things he normally could not. Mordred's tiniest motions, dozens of sword paths changing as the tip trembled, where Mordred's blade would come from and where it would flow next, what form it would change into after that.

He saw all of it.

The future kept shifting according to Najin's breathing, footwork, and micro-movements. While glimpsing countless branches, Najin chose the optimal path.

Ka, gakak.

He redirected Mordred's blade, and did not stop there, he kicked Mordred in the abdomen. In that instant exchange, the one driven back was Mordred.

A brief clash.

In that clash, both Mordred and Najin finished judging each other. The moment that judgment ended, both charged at each other.

Kang, kangaaang! The sounds of blades colliding rang out in succession, and each collision sent storms whipping through the surroundings. They split instants ordinary eyes could not even read and slammed into each other again and again.

To Transcendents, time was relative. At this moment, absolute time held no meaning for either of them. Attacks that spread sword aura wide and swept the area also held no meaning. What killed a Transcendent was not a massive wave. It was a single sharp spear, a dagger meant to pierce a heart.

Countless condensed killing blows flew back and forth.

Najin's sword cut Mordred. Mordred's sword cut Najin. Blood sprayed. Sometimes Najin was pushed back, sometimes Mordred was.

Platinum sword aura and dark crimson sword aura tangled.

Kiiiiiiing!

They shoved, split, and shattered each other.

Shwaaaak!

Through the spray of blood, they both thrust their swords at each other. The airborne blood touched sword aura and vaporized. Flesh was cut, blades sank in, sword aura scorched their bodies, and still neither stopped. If anything, they accelerated.

This was not a fight where one side overwhelmed the other.

It was an even fight where both wounded the other and made the other bleed. Najin covered his technical gap against Mordred with future sight and Excalibur's output. Mordred covered his output gap with skill.

Spurt.

Their blades grazed each other's flesh at the same time. Buildings and boulders behind each of them split open without a sound.

Whirl, crunch.

Almost at the same moment, both reached with their hands, kicked with their feet, and swung their swords. Motions to bat away or redirect the other's blade and the counterattacks happened simultaneously. The crack of bones breaking rang out.

'Now.'

Spitting out the blood filling his mouth, Najin gripped Excalibur tight. As he did, he realized something.

'Now... I think I understand.'

What Transcendence was. What becoming a Transcendent meant. What it meant to be certain of oneself, Najin understood.

Flash.

The first star engraved into Excalibur lit up. The moment the Star of Challenge shone, Najin's movement became bolder. He plunged in and slashed upward, just like Ivan had.

Crack, Mordred's sword strike split apart.

Mordred moved to continue the attack as if he had expected it, and Najin sharpened his blade and thrust it like a spear. Like the Helm Knight, Najin unleashed a charge with a single sword.

The third star, Breakthrough, shone.

A storm exploded from the sword tip. The bursting storm broke Mordred's stance. But Mordred also aimed for Najin's opening and drove his blade in. Dark crimson sword aura pierced Najin's shoulder.

The fourth, Indomitable.

Endure it, this much pain was nothing.

In a moment when his stance should have collapsed, Najin did not collapse and brought his sword down. Of the seven stars engraved into Excalibur, four lit up at once and amplified the sword aura.

Crack.

Mordred's shoulder was deeply cut. The ground gouged open, and scattered starlight glowed pure white.

"..."

Pushed back, Mordred looked at Najin without a word. Then he raised the sword in both hands.

As if he had seen enough.

As if he meant to finish it now, stars rose behind Mordred. He possessed eleven stars, but what Mordred, as an Avatar Body, could draw and use was at best half of half of that.

Three.

Mordred chose those three stars.

Negation, he denied what had been given to him.

Defiance of Heaven, he chose to defy providence.

And lastly, Final Curtain.

The sword that had brought the final curtain down on Arthurian legend shone.

3.

The moment Mordred raised Clarent, the scenery around them distorted. Najin knew by instinct that this was Mordred's image, his stage.

A land that had lost all color.

On a land filled with fallen stars, corpses, and flayed dragon scales, Mordred stood alone. The Clarent in his hand alone shone dark crimson in that colorless stage.

Creak, skreeeeech.

Unable to withstand that power, the scenery warped. The stage began to groan. Under the torrent of power the Avatar Body could not contain, the entire underground city started to shake.

"You will deny me three times."

The Star of Negation shone.

"You will defy providence."

The Star of Defiance of Heaven shone.

"And you will place a period at the end of my story."

The Star of Final Curtain shone.

Najin realized the one reciting the stories echoing through the stage was not Mordred.

Arthur was speaking to Mordred.

The knight who had been granted the role of rebellion by his own king raised his sword. Mordred said nothing, but his ominously glowing blade asked Najin a question.

If you wish to write new history, you must break this dark crimson star.

The Star of Final Curtain trembled.

Najin silently took his stance.

Challenge, Dragon-Slaying, Breakthrough, Indomitable, Requiem, Banter, Selection.

The seven stars engraved into Excalibur blazed fiercely. Merlin, who had been sharing Najin's power, had by then returned inside him. She wrapped her hand around his.

Release.

The starlight accumulated within Excalibur burst out. The Authority within Excalibur amplified Najin's sword aura and amplified the starlight. The brilliantly shining platinum sword aura did not lose its color even on the colorless stage Mordred had spread.

It did not stop at keeping its color. It dyed the entire area in Najin's color. Even on a Transcendent's stage, Najin no longer lost himself.

Najin, standing firm in the underground city where stars had risen, raised his sword. First Horn stance. Holding the sword that symbolized the first emperor of the Empire, Najin took the First Horn stance.

Clarent was the Sword of Finality that ended a legend.

Excalibur was the sword that announced the beginning of a new history.

Two swords with opposing concepts shone. Stars with different lights shone. In Camlann, which had lost its color, a dark crimson star moved, and in the underground city that had lost its stars, a risen star moved.

The ■■ Star (■■ Star) and the Star of Dawn shone.

Stars shining in their own colors collided.

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