WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

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◈ Sword Master of the Fallen Kingdom

Chapter 47

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The Weight of Honor (4)

In the clear ring of steel, Kyle's voice sounded unusually loud. Cedric, who had been glaring at him, frowned.

Kyle had drawn first, smooth and quiet.

At a glance, it looked ordinary. It was a common bastard sword, the kind sold at any city forge. But the blade was different. Reflecting the morning sun, it gave off a brilliant glow. Even someone who knew nothing about weapons could tell it was no ordinary steel.

So he paid a fortune for it despite the plain look. Or he looted it off someone else.

Could it be... Stellarium?

The suspicion faded quickly.

No way. Star iron was so rare people called it a dream metal. Its production had ended entirely after the fall of the Hailen Kingdom.

Even among the Empire's and Federation's great houses, a star iron sword might be passed down once in generations, if at all. There was no way a mere mercenary would be holding one. Cedric stared at the blade for a moment, then looked back at Kyle. As the hum of steel died, silence settled over the dueling ground.

Even breathing sounded faint.

Everyone watched the two men facing each other before the duel.

"...So you're insane after all. A lowborn mercenary pretending to be a knight."

Cedric broke the silence first, not hiding his disgust.

"Don't speak carelessly about honor? I have no right? Were you saying that to me?"

"..."

"I've fought many duels, and I've never lost. Plenty of famous knights stood against me. Every one of them fell under my sword."

He was not lying. In House Krabel, Cedric was the strongest knight besides the order commander.

He had plenty of real combat experience, not just duels, but all kinds of missions that required force.

He never hesitated to kill.

"And yet."

Cedric rested his left hand on his pommel.

"You dare lecture me about honor?"

"..."

"Don't think your head will stay on your neck just because this is a duel between houses. Anything can happen in a duel. If you die by accident, that's your own responsibility. You too..."

"Your tongue runs long."

"What?"

"I said your words are too light for someone who talks about honor. Do all the knights of House Krabel duel with their mouths instead of swords, like you?"

Kyle said it with the same flat gaze. He showed no sign of tension. Cedric's left hand on the pommel turned white, creaking.

"...Looks like you won't come to your senses until I cut off an arm or a leg."

Shing.

Cedric drew with his right hand. His draw was as refined as Kyle's. Unlike Kyle's blade, Cedric's shone crimson.

"Solarium..."

Someone muttered under their breath.

It was not as rare as star iron, but Solarium was still one of the most precious metals for weapons and armor. Even the Rune Guardian that had protected the Grand Archive of Alenos had been made with Solarium. Even then, not entirely. Only key parts had used it.

"Too late now. I'll cut your limbs off just like you wanted."

Cedric gripped his sword with both hands. He pulled his right foot back and raised both hands beside his face. The horizontal crimson blade pointed at Kyle.

Kyle did the opposite. He let the strength drain from his right hand holding the sword. He simply stood with the blade lowered. Lowering his gaze, he looked at the dueling ground beneath him and his own feet planted on it. Then he slowly drew up the ring's mana from the ring on the middle finger of his left hand.

A sudden wind stirred.

A sudden wind brushed Kyle's black cloak and hair.

Bang!

Cedric moved first.

Dirt burst from under his feet. The knight shot straight forward. In a blink, Cedric was right in front of Kyle.

Claaang!

A harsh metallic crash exploded on the first strike. It was violent, the complete opposite of the clear ring from their earlier draw. The two blades crossed and screamed against each other.

"So you had something to rely on."

"..."

"You seem quite confident in your mana control."

Cedric sneered and shoved the locked blades toward Kyle.

A contest of raw force through steel.

Kyle did not budge.

Cedric had charged in with mana reinforcement from the start. Kyle had also drawn fully on the ring's mana. The screaming of both blades grew louder. Kyle turned his wrist slightly. Cedric's sword slid down Kyle's edge. Kyle pressed and flicked it away.

Cling!

For an instant, both stances broke.

The locked blades came apart and cut opposite air. The distance that had been close enough to share breath opened up.

Kyle did not recover the sword thrown wide by recoil. He let his body follow inertia like drifting in a river and spun once to strike. By then, Cedric had turned the same way and swung as well. The two swords collided again.

Blades rebounded. Feet slid back.

A rapid chain of metallic impacts burst out.

A suffocating flurry erupted. Transparent silver and sunset crimson mixed wildly in the air. Sand across the ground was swept away by sword wind like fallen leaves in autumn.

Every blink held multiple metallic crashes.

This was nothing like a normal mercenary brawl. Both sides kept body reinforcement active through mana, allowing movements that should have been impossible.

Kyle did not rush. He blocked with minimal movement and probed for openings between exchanges.

He had not dealt direct damage yet.

That alone was enough to get under Cedric's skin.

With every clash, Cedric's expression changed. First arrogance, then doubt, then disbelief.

So it is orthodox knightly swordsmanship.

Kyle thought to himself.

Cedric's sword was straight. You could feel he had built it from the ground up, step by step, since his days as a squire. It was different from mercenaries who swung to survive.

A true orthodox knight.

If there was a gap in skill, the weaker one would not even be a match.

Even when skill was similar, the same rule applied. In life-and-death moments, the difference between a knight with solid roots and one without became decisive. Kyle knew that well because he had lived it himself.

In that sense, Cedric was the latter.

Just like Kyle.

That made things easier.

If he held the advantage, there were no variables.

Sssht!

A silver blade shot out and grazed Cedric's cheek.

He had no time to block. He had only turned to evade, and by the time he registered it, Kyle's sword had already passed his face. Cedric reflexively stepped back to open distance.

Drip, drip.

Something ran down his face.

Only then did he feel hot liquid.

His trembling eyes dropped.

"What was that? How did that happen? Did Veronica's side just get hit?"

"I couldn't see anything..."

"I thought he was just a mercenary. Was that a lie? Cedric is getting pushed back."

"No way. Sir Cedric has fought multiple duel trials, he's a real knight, and he's losing to that mercenary..."

The area around the dueling ground, silent until now, exploded into noise. The duel had briefly paused, and whispers spread everywhere as they looked at Kyle and Cedric.

"Huh..."

Even Kairon, the witness, was no different.

He stared at Kyle in shock.

Other mages might have missed it, but Kairon had seen every fierce calculation in that instant exchange.

That made it even more shocking.

The unknown mercenary who healed Gerard.

That mercenary is a knight. And an absurdly skilled one.

On the surface he looked like a veteran mercenary, but his swordsmanship was the opposite. His sword path held a knight's disciplined precision.

Kairon turned toward Gerard and Lena standing behind Kyle.

Both watched the duel with complete focus, just like him.

Yet there was not even a trace of doubt in their eyes when they looked at Kyle. They were tense, yes, but they were not imagining defeat. It looked like they were watching a fight whose outcome had been decided from the start.

So they already knew.

Kairon looked the other way.

Veronica and Marsen stood there blank-faced. The other radical elders looked much the same. The mages of the noble faction were frozen, unable to believe what they were seeing.

"Bl... blood..."

Cedric, still looking down, lifted his left hand to his cheek. He rubbed lightly and saw fresh red blood on his fingers.

I got cut?

A throbbing pain came a beat late.

Only then did it sink in that his cheek had been sliced.

When?

Cedric slowly raised his eyes and looked forward.

Kyle was still standing in the same posture, calmly staring at him.

A fluke.

Cedric clenched his teeth and told himself.

I made one mistake. There's no way my sword loses to that mercenary bastard...

"Will you continue?"

Kyle finally spoke.

In the center of the now-quiet dueling ground, his low voice reached Cedric clearly.

"Don't look down on me...!"

Cedric's face burned with humiliation. Gripping the hilt hard enough to crush it, he walked forward.

This time, he did not charge all at once. He took deliberate steps, closing the distance in a zigzag, as if to scramble sight and sense.

One step, two, three, four.

On the fifth step.

Whoosh!

Cedric launched forward.

Not a simple straight-line strike.

His legs made subtle left-right shifts beneath him. The crimson blade wavered like heat haze along with his blurred body.

Only for a moment.

Then the wavering sword rose at once.

The raised sword thrust forward at high speed.

A strike for a blind spot.

Several feints layered into a single attack.

The thrusting blade surged toward Kyle's neck.

Kyle did not panic. He set his lowered sword exactly against the incoming blade.

Claang!

After one metallic crash, a violent gust spread in all directions. Hair and cloaks whipped, and fine sand blew far from the center where Kyle and Cedric stood.

Cedric's blade stopped exactly on Kyle's sword.

A high-speed thrust, blocked with no margin at all.

Normally impossible.

Kyle made it possible.

Both swords, extended toward each other, trembled faintly in a deadlock that could break at any moment.

Kyle spoke flatly.

"Pathetic."

"What...?"

Cedric was still reeling from the impossible exchange.

Kyle turned his wrist slightly upward.

The shifted hilt lifted the silver blade.

The balance at the contact point broke, and Cedric's sword slid smoothly along Kyle's edge.

Cedric's sword path was forced off line.

The sliding crimson blade cut only empty air and missed Kyle completely.

Kyle stepped forward in that same motion.

Unlike Cedric's, Kyle's sword moved cleanly toward Cedric's neck.

Still guiding Cedric's scraping blade outward, he closed to within a hair of Cedric's skin.

If this keeps going, I'll get hit.

Cedric judged fast, rotated his hilt half a turn, and swept outward while the blades remained in contact. At the same time, he recovered, gripped with both hands, and slashed three times with enough force to tear Kyle apart.

Clang-clang-clang!

All three were blocked.

Counters came immediately.

Cedric swallowed and twisted away to evade Kyle's blade.

Dodge, thrust, swing, deflect.

The exchange became much faster and rougher than before.

At some point, neither side held back to test the other.

They unleashed strikes that would be fatal from even a graze.

In a blink, their positions switched, and cold flashes of steel burst again and again where bodies had stood moments earlier.

Damn it.

Cedric bit his lip.

He had lost count of how many exchanges had passed.

That silver net pouring before his eyes never stopped.

Defense and attack came at the same time.

The whole process of swordsmanship was fused into one.

Not a single opening appeared.

It felt like facing a mountain.

He hid his true strength.

Cedric finally understood.

No, he had suspected it from the first exchange.

He was never a mercenary.

Mercenaries do not use this kind of sword.

This was a knight's blade honed to the extreme.

A veteran knight hardened by countless battles.

Every strike was organized so perfectly it felt terrifying.

Cedric's reason told him he would be pushed back at this rate.

His instincts denied it.

Impossible. That lowborn bastard had to be a mere mercenary.

"Stop screwing around! You think that kind of sword can beat me?!"

Cursing without realizing it, Cedric shoved hard with his upper body against Kyle's blade. Mana-reinforced muscles in his arms erupted with force.

Kyle did not resist.

He stepped back.

Both feet lifted slightly into the air.

Boom!

Cedric kicked off the ground immediately.

He brought his lowered sword up on a diagonal.

A vivid light rose along the crimson edge.

"S-Sword Aura!"

Someone in the crowd shouted.

Cedric did not hear.

He did not register it.

At full speed, he closed until he was right in front of Kyle again.

By then, Kyle had already planted both feet.

As he set his stance, white threads of light coiled around his silver blade.

Cedric's eyes flew wide.

He's using Sword Aura too?

A sharp metallic clang split the air.

Their swords collided.

Crimson Sword Aura and pure white Sword Aura slammed into each other.

Both blades were thrown apart by recoil.

Sunset-red and pure white particles scattered through the air.

Crunch.

The instant his stance loosened, Kyle stepped forward.

The gap between them, briefly widened, closed again.

Startled, Cedric pulled his rebounding sword in front of his chest.

A defensive posture.

The vivid crimson blade stood like a wall before Kyle.

Got you.

Kyle did not strike the blade guarding Cedric's torso.

He lowered the sword that looked ready to swing and lifted his free left leg instead, whipping it toward Cedric's side like a lash.

Cedric realized Kyle's intent too late and twisted to dodge.

Too late.

Thoom!

A hard impact traveled back through Kyle's foot.

A well-forged breastplate had blocked the kick.

Kyle did not stop. He poured even more mana into his leg.

The iron breastplate crumpled helplessly.

Crkkk.

Metal warped.

Cedric's face twisted in pain.

Kyle felt the clear break of ribs through his toes.

Kyle drove the sword in his right hand toward the center of Cedric's chest.

Claang!

A Sword Aura thrust.

Cedric barely blocked it.

In exchange, his body flew into the air.

Thrown nearly to the edge of the dueling ground, Cedric rolled across the dirt.

Only after several desperate rolls did he twitch and brace himself with his left arm.

His vision flickered.

Ringing filled his ears.

Sudden vertigo hit.

His mind blurred.

Consciousness kept slipping.

"Kuhh!"

Cedric opened his mouth and vomited blood rising up his throat.

Bright red blood ran between rough, ragged breaths.

Groping at his side, he found that the breastplate, smooth just moments before, was now completely caved in.

With broken ribs, even breathing was hard.

"What is this..."

"What did I just see?"

"Sir Cedric is losing..."

"This is invalid! That mercenary bastard must have used a trick!"

"But his armor is completely crushed, and he's coughing blood..."

The murmuring spread like wildfire.

Veronica shouted at Cedric, collapsed nearby and unable to rise.

"What are you doing? Are you playing games with me right now?!"

She screamed.

Marsen beside her had gone pale and speechless.

The other noble-faction mages and elders behind him were no different.

Veronica looked ready to rush into the dueling ground.

"Get up! Get up right now! You can't even beat one trash mercenary?"

"..."

"Can you still call yourself a knight of House Krabel? If you lose this duel, do you think your head stays on your shoulders? Get up now! Our house's honor is being dragged through the mud!"

Veronica's sharp voice thundered across the ground.

The crowd's whispering grew louder.

Kyle watched the fallen Cedric, then gave Veronica and Marsen behind him a brief glance and sheathed his sword.

Kairon, standing near the center edge of the dueling ground, was staring at him.

Kyle gave a small nod.

Kairon looked to both sides and spoke.

"It seems the result is clear."

"..."

"The condition for victory is that one side declares surrender, or suffers a critical wound that leaves them unable to fight. Veronica's proxy, Cedric Balmore, can no longer continue this duel, therefore the winner of this honor duel is..."

Kairon was about to announce the winner.

Cedric, still on the ground, slowly rose.

Kairon tried to speak again.

Kyle raised a hand to stop him.

Cedric had somehow gotten to his feet, swaying, and now glared at Kyle as if he wanted to kill him.

Blood was visible at his mouth and across his armor.

"...Fine. I admit it. I underestimated you."

"..."

Cedric looked down at the hand gripping his sword.

Kyle, resting a hand on the hilt of his sheathed blade, asked,

"Will you continue?"

"The duel ends only when one side surrenders or suffers a critical wound. I have not been hurt to the point I cannot move, and I have not surrendered."

He raised his sword.

It was slower than before the injury, but Kyle read the force still in it.

"One strike. Just one. Surely you won't run."

Cedric muttered, taunting him.

Kyle glanced at Kairon.

Frowning, Kairon shook his head. By rule, Cedric was not wrong, so the duel had to continue.

Kyle looked down at his sheathed sword for a moment, then spoke.

"Do it."

"...What?"

His voice was dry and rough.

Cedric stared at Kyle.

Kyle lifted his gaze and met Cedric's eyes.

Those black pupils were sunken deep.

No excitement. No agitation.

"The result will be the same anyway."

A calm answer.

Only then did Cedric see it.

After all that fierce exchange, Kyle's breathing was still steady.

Nothing like Cedric, who was coughing blood and fighting to control his breath.

As if Kyle had been playing with him.

Playing with me?

Me?

"Ha..."

Silence swallowed the dueling ground again.

Cedric crushed the hilt in his grip.

"I'll show you something good. You won't be disappointed this time."

His feet moved again.

His lips pulled into a long smile.

His vision narrowed. The noise around him faded.

Only that lowborn mercenary bastard in front of him remained.

Let's see if your precious skill can stop this too.

Step by step quickened.

Walk became run.

Run became a full charge.

Before he knew it, Cedric was already rushing Kyle.

Refined mana raged through his whole body.

The crimson Sword Aura that had faded rose on his blade again.

Cedric smoothly extended his right arm and thrust.

It looked similar to before.

This time, it was different.

The strike aimed at Kyle split into multiple afterimages.

Crimson blades divided into nearly ten.

The Sword Aura wrapped around the blade swelled as if exploding.

The swelling aura turned to flame and took shape.

Roaring flames of nine dragons.

The roar of flame thundered across the dueling ground.

Flames became dragon heads.

Nine dragons, jaws open, rushed to tear apart Kyle's entire body.

A beat too late, Kairon recognized the sword form, and his eyes went wide.

"Stop! Are you trying to kill each other?!"

His desperate shout did not reach them.

Cedric thrust all nine split blades with full force.

He struck to kill.

A kill in the middle of a duel carried no criminal charge.

If the opponent failed to withstand a knight's sword form and suffered fatal wounds or died on the spot, that was no issue.

It only meant the opponent was weak.

This same form had killed other knights before.

Even the strongest knight would not escape fatal injury.

It was the most destructive technique in Cedric's arsenal.

You brought this on yourself, forgetting your place.

Just as Cedric's dragons, certain of victory, were about to hit Kyle.

For the first time since sheathing his sword, Kyle moved.

Holding the scabbard with his left hand, he flicked the Cross-Guard with his thumb.

The hilt sprang up slightly from recoil.

Ting!

A clear metallic note.

Kyle caught the hilt lightly with his right hand and drew.

The blade leaving the scabbard burned white.

Asherad Royal Swordsmanship, First Form.

Rising Flame.

Fwaaah!

The white blade severed the first dragon head that lunged in.

The severed head melted away in the air.

As the first attack was blocked so easily, Cedric's eyes slowly widened.

Kyle did not stop.

The instant he confirmed the first head had fallen, he drove his left foot forward and lowered his body.

Eight dragons still remained in front of him.

Kyle held the blade straight behind his shoulder and gripped the hilt with both hands.

Asherad Royal Swordsmanship, Second Form.

Dance of Embers.

Flames burst to life.

Sword Aura became flame.

The purest, unquenchable eternal fire.

Pure white flames cut across the charging crimson flames.

Slash!

The second dragon head fell.

The third fell as well.

That was the beginning.

Kyle's body shot forward in a fierce straight line.

The rising pure white spiral tore through the roaring sunset dragons without pause.

Cedric's all-out strike had already been completely broken.

A blade like the noon sun cut through the wave of dragons effortlessly.

Four, five, six, seven.

When the eighth dragon was cut, Kyle stamped down his final step right in front of Cedric.

I got devoured instead?

Impossible. I've never seen a sword form like that...

Boom!

The ground shook.

Cedric's ninth dragon vanished.

The split sword lost its illusion and was knocked over his shoulder.

From below, a white-flamed blade rose.

Cedric twisted in a hurry.

As his body turned, his sword path twisted with it.

That broken line left his posture open, and Kyle's blade cleanly carved across the knight's right shoulder.

Slaaash!

Through the spray of blood, the forearm holding the sword flew into the air.

A beat later, a horrific scream tore out.

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