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Everything in existence follows a principle.
A rule that says, if you do this and that, this will happen.
Even battles fought with swords obey such rules.
The quickest way to win is to strike before your opponent does, that’s the simplest example.
But against inferior beings, even such rules aren’t necessary.
Just glare at them a little, and they start trembling, dropping their swords in fear.
Still, that only works against inferior beings—
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「Heh! Hein! You’ve got a pretty strong presence, huh!」
To say something like that and casually point the tip of a sword at me, he’s got some nerve, I’ll give him that.
It’s pathetic to admit, but I found myself a bit troubled here.
He had fewer openings than I expected. If I wanted to break his stance, I might have to get at least somewhat serious.
The problem, of course, is whether I might accidentally kill him if I misjudge my strength.
If I ‘attack’, no student-level opponent would be able to handle it.
Even if I ended up killing Alphide incel here and now, I doubt I’d feel sad about it.
But what would Mother think?
She always tells me to get along with my friends.
And I’m fairly certain that killing someone doesn’t count as getting along.
Would it be enough to pay my respects at his memorial afterward?
No, that’s no good.
Something deep within me, as a son, tells me that would be wrong.
That’s why I want to hold back and knock him out without killing him, but,
「What’s wrong? Aren’t you coming? You were just like… whoosh! Like, throwing that aura out! Did you change your mind or something?」
Alphide incel’s cocky words were grating, but the real problem was that I had no confidence I could neutralize him without killing him using only a sword.
I can usually tell ‘how capable’ someone is just by looking at them, but for some reason, Alphide incel is the only one I can’t read.
He seems like a worthless inferior being with no real skill, yet at the same time, he appears competent enough that even Gaddem or Feri would struggle with him.
And since this is a swordsmanship mock battle, I can’t use magic either.
「You’re right. I changed my mind. You come at me」
So I told Alphide incel to make the first move.
It felt like a good plan.
If I just take one of his blows, I should be able to gauge his general skill level.
Come, inferior being!
—Or so I thought, but… he didn’t come.
Alphide incel made no move to charge in.
Instead, he fixed his gaze on me, standing firm as if waiting for me to make the first move.
There was a clear strength of will in his unshakable stance.
And before I knew it, the entire class of inferior beings had their eyes fixed on us.
「Tch. What a pain」
The complaint slipped from my mouth before I realized it.
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「Tch. What a pain」
Seeing Hein take his stance and mutter those words, Azel couldn’t help but think, ‘Oh come on, give me a break’.
The ‘pressure’ scraped against Azel’s skin.
—I had fought Hein several times before. But this was…
In an instant, Azel flipped his sword upward to deflect a horizontal slash.
—He caught me off guard.
‘Openings’ exist in every fighter, no matter how skilled. They are the fleeting gaps between conscious moments.
As long as one is human, those gaps cannot be eliminated.
They can only be concealed…
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Hein swung his sword in silence.
Thrusts, sweeps, downward strikes, each one was simple.
Yet Azel struggled to block them.
Hein’s second sweeping slash was once again parried by Azel.
But his movements were a bit awkward.
—Damn, this is hard to deal with.
Hein’s sword was relentlessly precise.
And while overly precise swordsmanship can be easy to read, Hein’s was both precise and cunning.
There is no such thing as a perfect stance.
Every stance has a weak point, and if that point is targeted, the stance collapses.
Hein’s sword struck at those weak points with uncanny accuracy.
—And on top of that, he doesn’t fall for feints.
Azel had been mixing real and false attacks repeatedly, but Hein didn’t react to any of them.
Even so, Azel’s sword was no slouch either.
There were moments when it nearly caught Hein’s neck or shoulder, but each time, he either dodged at the last second or deflected the attack with ease.
Their swords clashed again and again, the sound of steel against steel echoing heavily through the arena.
Hein’s strikes moved as though following a script, always sealing off Azel’s options.
Even so, Azel refused to retreat, continuing to launch counterattacks.
But each time his sword came close to striking Hein, Hein had already taken a step back.
—His awareness is too sharp. Was Hein always this ‘capable’?
In Azel’s mind, the image of the eight-armed demon general Kailardi surfaced.
Kailardi was one of the demon generals, known for his exceptional swordsmanship.
In a previous world, even Duke Orlean, the sword saint of that era, was defeated by him.
—If only I could use the ‘holy sword’ … Not that I could use something like that in a mock battle.
Still, he couldn’t afford to lose so easily.
From what Azel knew, Hein was a believer in strength.
Even if one wanted to get along with him, being weak meant there wasn’t even a conversation to be had.
That’s why Azel couldn’t let himself lose here, not if he wanted Hein to take an interest in him.
—So I can’t win as I am. No choice… I’ll have to use a bit of my power.
The power of a Hero.
The moment Azel resolved himself, Hein’s rhythm shifted, and he stepped in sharply toward Azel.
The speed was like lightning itself.
Azel instinctively thrust out his sword.
His sword reached Hein’s throat, and at the same time, Hein’s sword was pointed straight at Azel’s neck.
The onlookers collectively held their breath…
「…It’s over」
Hein said, sheathing his sword.
「So it’s a draw?」
Azel asked, and Hein responded, 「Yeah」 before turning and walking off.
The students who had been watching the mock battle erupted in cheers all at once.
The tension that had kept them frozen broke in a wave, and murmurs of excitement spread across the arena.
As Azel turned to watch Hein, he noticed something astonishing. Hein wasn’t sweating at all.
In contrast, Azel himself had a faint sheen of sweat on his forehead.
—He really ‘is’ different in a lot of ways.
Once again, Azel felt the reality of how ‘this world’ was not the one he had come from.
The way Hein looked down on others like insects was the same as the one he had known, but his behavior was entirely different.
At the very least, the Hein he knew would never accept a draw.
He never even trained seriously with a sword. He considered it a childish pastime for the masses.
Even when he did wield one, he simply poured his vast magical power into each swing and relied on brute force.
In short, it was just violence.
Well… that violence was terrifying in its own right.
—I didn’t win, but I guess that’s fine.
With a sense of accomplishment, Azel watched Hein’s back as he walked away.
「He was ‘looking’ at me」
Azel grinned and waved at Serena, who came running toward him.
What lingered in his mind were Hein’s eyes, eyes that had not looked at him like a bug, but as a person.
Azel had sensed that difference clearly.
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