Chapter 103 - The Sword that Split the Heavens (6)
He hadn’t realized he had suffered a mental attack up until a moment ago. He hardened his mental barrier in response, and he put a very skillful lock over this barrier. When he felt the movement of his body slacken a little bit, he continuously changed his mental defensive pattern to protect his mind.
However… Azell started to slowly deceive his sense again.
In all he did, Duran"s reaction was incrementally getting slower. His eyes took in the sight. The information was processed, and he tried to decide on how to respond... Still, he still found that he was slightly slower than he ought to be, and Duran was at a disadvantage.
‘Where is he attacking me from?’
He was sure his mind was being attacked from some angle. He had thought he had blocked every avenue that could be used to attack his mind, so how was Azell doing this?
Azell spoke as Duran was gripped in his confusion.
“As expected, there are techniques that I don"t know about. You used a technique that uses reflexive response, which doesn"t require the control of the conscious mind. This technique didn"t exist in the Dragon Demon war. Since it isn"t a forgotten secret technique, I"m guessing it was developed afterwards?”
Giles and Boar had also used simiar techniques. The movement was independent from the order given by one"s mind. The reflexive responses were engraved into the body, and it could be used to reach the state of Detachment. One would be able to reach peak efficiency in one"s movements.... Azell didn"t know any technique that dealt with such concepts.
“You are superb. You remind me of a Spirit Order pract.i.tioner I met a long time ago. However, you haven"t completely mastered the meaning behind the concept of "seeing".”
“What?”
Pah-ahk!
It was unbelievable, but Duran"s side was split open as blood fountained forth.
In a flash, Duran realized his sight had been narrowed to the extreme. It wasn"t just his sight. All of his senses were hyper-focused on Azell, who was in front of him. This had created a blind spot in his senses. Normally, he wouldn"t allow such a thing to happen.
When his vision suddenly dimmed to a pin p.r.i.c.k, he came to an understanding. It hadn"t just been his sight. All his senses had been focused on the Azell in front of him. This act had created a blindspot in his senses that would have never existed in normal times. When his weak point was revealed, Azell"s clone had appeared next to Duran, and it had stabbed him.
Azell retracted his clone. He spoke as he walked past the falling Duran.
“You only focused on the opponent in front of you. This is the reason behind your death.”
“…seeing. I see. Vision… No, you manipulated me into paying attention only to you...”
Duran was on his knees. His mumbled words sounded like a groan. He was also a high rank Spirit Order pract.i.tioner. Azell had given him a small hint, yet he was able to figure out why he had lost.
When a person only focuses on a target in front of oneself, one’s field of vision became narrowed. Even a person, who normally looks at his surrounding, would become preoccupied by a sword coming towards one"s body from the front. If one frantically blocked the incoming sword strikes, one would have no idea what was going on in the back or the side of oneself.
Azell had used this characteristic to his advantage. He used the fact that they were looking into each other"s eyes, and he mixed in illusions to cause minor errors in how Duran perceived his movements.
He used this tactic to fl.u.s.ter Duran, and at the same time, he ate away at Duran’s sense using his mental wave. He made it so that Duran became solely focused in blocking his attack. When he confirmed there was a big blind spot formed in Duran’s senses, Azell used his clone to deliver a critical blow.
‘This man is a monster. I can"t do anything...’
Duran shuddered when he realized the gulf between Azell and himself. However, he couldn"t just fall like this. Even if it was a hopeless situation, he had to get up.
“No way. I cannot fall here... Miss... My mistress...”
His wound was too deep. The sword had cut through his bones, and it had even punctured his heart. He had no answer for this.
Moreover, there had been a curse like power within Azell"s sword. It made a mess of the flow of his magical energy within his body. He couldn"t even use Spirit Order to stem his bleeding.
“Saibein-nim. I was incapable of... Your daughter... I wasn"t able to protect here. I"m sorr....”
Duran crumpled before he could finish his words.
8
Niberis was lying on the floor, and she couldn’t even move the tips of her fingers. She had suffered too serious of an injury. Even if she focused on healing, she wouldn’t be healed enough to re-enter the battle. While she was in such a state, their situation was getting worse by the minute.
‘Duran.’
When Duran died, Niberis knew it.
He had been a human saved by her father, Saibein. He had repeatedly distinguished himself in battle, and Duran had risen to a rank where all the Dragon Demons respected him. In truth, he wasn’t someone she could order around as if he was an underling beneath her. However, he insisted on acting like a subordinate, because he wanted to repay the favor shown to him by Saibein. He tried his best to help her in any way.
Since she was born to a n.o.ble bloodline, she had grown up with everything at her beck and call. She took his devotion for granted.
Moreover, at times, he had an att.i.tude of monitoring her as if she was a child playing near water. She had been annoyed by his mothering, and she considered him to be bothersome.
However, her heart was hurting right now. This was the first time she had experienced something like this since she became an adult. This was the first time she had shed tears for losing someone.
‘Don"t be sorry. There is no reason why you should feel sorry.’
For the first time in her life, she hated her own incompetence.
It wasn"t as if this was the first time she found her abilities to be deficient. In the past, her pride had taken a big hit when she failed her mission thanks to Azell. She became self-aware that her abilities were lacking, so she had dedicated to re-training herself.
However, it hadn"t been enough. She had lost again.
If it was her past self, her pride would have gotten hurt again, and she would have lashed out in anger. However, she hated her own deficiency so much that she couldn’t stand herself. It was the reality that she hadn"t been able to do anything when someone devoted to her had lost his life... It hurt more than her impending death.
‘Guardian Shadows… Even they are here...’
While Azell was sweeping through his enemies like a gale, the Guardian Shadows appeared as they used the Dragon Sword Duke as a marker they could trace. The Dragon Demon king worshippers were already in poor shape, yet they had lost the numerical advantage. They were now being trampled.
“…Niberis.”
Even in such a situation where she couldn’t do anything, there was a voice murmuring towards her.
Kieren Baldazark.
He was the heir to the great Dragon Demon General Baldazark.
He was the most talented of his generation to be produced from the Plain of Darkness. He was a compet.i.tor, who threatened her standing.
“You… At the very least, you must...”
She knew why he struggled to speak even as his voice was filled with pain. She even saw him shedding tears for her. She also knew why he hadn"t hesitated in using his body to shield her.
If she could speak, she wanted to say these words.
‘Duke Baldazark. You were always a crier.’
After her coming of age ceremony, Niberis treated Kieren with a cold heart. The elders tried to trigger her compet.i.tive spirit, so they had always compared her to Kieren. It chafed her so much that she couldn"t bear it.
However, she always knew what emotion was in his eyes as he looked at her.
He was so open about it, so how could she not know?
Moreover, the relationship between the two had been completely different before they went through their coming of age ceremonies.
‘Don"t cry. You look like an idiot. You are the descendent of the great Baldazark. You"ve inherited such n.o.ble blood, yet your actions will besmirch your rank.’
Currently, he was considered to be an outstanding individual, but when he was young, he had been a weak crybaby. Unlike Niberis, Kieren had a lot of siblings vying for the honor of being Baldazark"s heir. Even if he had been a crybaby, Kieren had been very talented, so his siblings subjected him to all kinds of torment.
Whenever he cried, Niberis gave a stern scolding, and she was able to correct his mindset. When they were in their childhood, the two of them researched magic, and they always talked about their future. They grew close to each other.
‘Kieren. I’ve never truly hated you, not even once.’
Their positions required them to be antagonistic towards each other. However, after establishing themselves as heirs, she had thought the two of them might have a future together. However, the elder were gripped by the fear of the world, and they were overtaken by the fanaticism towards the Dragon Demon King. The elders damaged the progress of their relationship.
“Niberis.”
Niberis suddenly heard another voice. At the same time, she felt a spike of anger and irritation.
‘Laura.’
Laura had suddenly appeared from nowhere to become her compet.i.tor.
Unlike Kieren, Niberis had never met Laura during childhood. After several years after her coming of age ceremony, Laura had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. She had appeared when her predecessor fell by the hands of the Guardian Shadows.
The two of them had never gotten along.
The fact that they were compet.i.tors wasn’t the only reason. Of course, she was annoyed by the appearance of another compet.i.tor, but she was also annoyed by the fact that she didn’t know what Laura was thinking.
Niberis felt bad when she looked into her eyes. It was as if Laura was able to ignore all feelings, and it felt as if Laura’s eyes didn’t attach any value to Niberis.
“Please don"t die. I don"t like you...no, I don"t like all of you, but... Still, if you die, I"ll feel bad for Duke Baldazark.”
Niberis became angry. Even now, Laura was making her feel annoyed. Could Laura not hold herself back from annoying her even in such a situation?
However, unlike her words, what Laura did next was beyond imagination.
9
Laura had never liked Niberis.
In truth, this wasn"t only limited to Niberis. She disliked Kieren, Jeffers, and the Plain of Darkness... She hated everything around her. She detested the beings, who had given birth to her. She detested her upbringing, and she hated that she had become Aunsaurus" heir.
However, she only knew this way of life. She was a Dragon Demon king worshipper, and her role as the heir of Aunsaurus solely defined who she was.
The first memory Laura could recall was around the time when she looked like a 4 year old human child. She opened her eyes in a large gla.s.s tube filled with special liquid made by the alchemists.
She had been completely ignorant of her own self until she was pulled out of gla.s.s tbe. She had no idea what was going on as she looked at her surrounding.
‘You are number 47. You should remember that. Well, there is no way you’ll forget it.’
When she came out of the gla.s.s tube, she didn"t have a name. At the time, she had exactly 139 siblings, and they were all called by their numbers.
For reference, there were only 139 other beings that were labeled. When she first came out, she saw 10 of her siblings not receive any numbers, and they were sent away to never to be seen again. At the time, she hadn"t known what had happened to them, but now she knew. They had failed to meet some requirement, so they were sc.r.a.pped.
‘You were all born with the blood of the great Aunsaurus within you. However, only one of you will inherit his name.’
All of her siblings were intelligent, and they had talent in magic. It had only been 1 year since they came out of the the gla.s.s tubes, yet they had already learned how to speak and write. When they learned the basic knowledge, they started learning magic.
Of course, a high amount of danger followed anyone, who studied magic. They only had one year to learn the magic in peace. Afterwards, they were ordered to face monsters, and they were told to summon evil spirits using magic....
They faced dangerous situations daily where it hadn’t been surprising to see her sibliings die.
During this process, the number of siblings she had dropped steadily. Moreover, a variety of methods were used to measure their abilities and potential. If one failed several times at a task, one would be labeled a failed product. These beings were branded before they disappeared to an unknown location.
After 10 years, half of their original number remained. At that point, all her sibling including herself was able to receive a name instead of a number.
‘Laura Aunsaurus.’
On the day she was given her first name, Laura was swept up by an indescribable feeling. From the time she came out of the gla.s.s tube, she had always been called by a number. As her intelligence and wisdom increased, she realized how demeaning this practice was. This was why she always dreamed of the day when she received her name. She would be accepted as a legitimate and unique individual.
On the day she received her name, Laura repeated her name several hundred times. It was the most she had spoken in a single day since her birth.