Extra in a Romance Fantasy

169 – The Sword Master (9)

As I continued to walk through the desolate field, I suddenly stopped.

From a considerable distance now, I felt the complete cessation of someone’s breath.

And the owner of that presence was none other than the Sword Master.

“……”

I knew the Sword Master was going to die.

After all, I was the one who had struck him.

In truth, the wounds on the Sword Master’s body were not that severe.

By ordinary standards, they could be considered quite significant, but that was merely a general standard; for a transcendent martial artist like the Sword Master, one could exaggerate and say it was nothing more than a scratch.

Yet, despite that, the Sword Master was dead.

Because what I had struck was not merely his skin and flesh.

I had, at the same time as inflicting wounds on his body, severed his ‘life force.’

As a result, the Sword Master lost his strength in a single blow and ultimately met his death.

To ‘cut’ the ‘life force.’

If someone were to hear this, they would doubt the sanity of the one who spoke it.

It simply doesn’t make sense.

A martial artist who has reached a certain level can cut through rock.

A martial artist who has attained a noble level can even cut through mountains.

However, to cut the life force is an entirely different matter.

—

Well, vitality is not something visible like a rock or a mountain.

It merely exists conceptually.

If it were magic that explores truth and challenges the world’s providence, perhaps it could be possible, but for a martial artist, it is not.

A martial artist, no matter how much they elevate their level, can ultimately only deliver stronger, faster, and sharper attacks.

That is the common perception of martial artists.

Therefore, there would be no one who would believe in the notion of cutting vitality.

However, I have certainly severed vitality with my own hands.

Through the enlightenment gained from my battle with the swordsman, I truly stepped into a new realm, and from that moment, the world I saw changed completely.

Many things became visible, including the vitality that existed within the swordsman’s body.

I cut it.

And I killed the swordsman.

The new realm was, quite literally, a new world.

It showed me a world entirely different from before, and it continues to show me even now.

Within such things, I felt a sensation as if I had been reborn.

No one would believe it.

Unless they stepped into this realm, unless they saw this spectacle with their own eyes.

And, perhaps, the swordsman was no different.

Until the moment of his death, he would not have understood what he had been severing, or why he was dying.

“……”

The swordsman, Dreyr Hexler, is dead.

In a place where no one’s gaze reaches, quietly.

In light of that fact, I felt a mix of relief and complex emotions.

The swordsman was, in a sense, a wall to me.

When I first met the swordsman, I was defeated without being able to use either my hands or feet.

I did not lose in an instant, but that was only because the swordsman chose not to do so.

Had the swordsman decided to, it would not be an exaggeration to say that I would have been killed in a single blow.

Because of that, knowing that, after losing to the swordsman, I experienced a significant shock.

It was the first proper defeat I had ever encountered in my life, and above all, I felt deeply that there was an overwhelming gap between us that could not be bridged in an instant, a gap that was difficult to express even with the word “overwhelming.”

Thus, I devoted considerable effort to recalling my fight with the swordsman.

Even while training in Cheryl’s space, I immersed myself in practice, imagining the battle with the swordsman.

—

—

The reason I was so concerned about the Sword Master was, of course, personal resentment.

For not being able to inflict even a scratch on him and being defeated helplessly.

However, it wasn’t solely for that reason.

At that time, I had anticipated it.

If I wanted to thwart the plans of the church, I would inevitably clash with the Sword Master again.

As long as I pursued that goal, I knew that someday the Sword Master would once more stand in my way.

Thus, I contemplated and trained for a battle with the Sword Master.

And at the end of such efforts, I believed I had taken a step further into the realm of intention, stepping into a new domain…

…Well, looking back now, that was an illusion, but at the time, I truly thought so.

And in my heart back then, confidence also began to grow.

Confidence that perhaps, even if I fought the Sword Master again, I might have a chance of winning.

That confidence deepened when I obtained the Hero’s Sword during the resurrection of Armianon.

Having ascended to a new realm and wielding a sword that could be said to be the greatest in history, I thought it would be entirely possible to defeat the Sword Master.

However, to put it bluntly, that was an illusion.

Upon reuniting with him and crossing swords, I realized.

The fact that the Sword Master was positioned far ahead of me.

That my chances of winning were, by no means, high.

Perhaps, if the fight had continued as it was, had I not gained that accidental realization to advance to a new realm, the battle would undoubtedly have ended in the Sword Master’s victory.

There was that degree of disparity between the Sword Master and me.

The Sword Master was strong.

I haven’t faced every warrior on the continent, but surely, aside from me, there wouldn’t be a warrior stronger than the Sword Master in this land.

From that perspective, one could say the Sword Master was a man worthy of being called the strongest.

Despite thinking that, in the end, I denied the Sword Master and his world.

I asserted that he was not the strongest, that he was not even fit to be the strongest.

The reason I said such things was certainly not to take revenge on the Sword Master.

Unless he had done something to the people around me, what he had done to me was merely pushing me to the brink of death.

Of course, I am not a saint, and I am not someone who can laugh off such things, but my feelings regarding that matter were all resolved by draining the Sword Master’s life force.

Yet, even so, I insisted on saying such things in the end because I saw it.

The life the Sword Master had walked, his existence.

Because it was visible to my eyes.

—

As soon as I stepped into a new realm, a flood of his life rushed into my eyes, allowing me to see so much in an instant.

It was likely possible because my opponent was a swordsman.

It was the essence of a warrior who had reached the extreme, exerting all his power, that allowed me to glimpse his life through that essence.

In any case, I saw his life and came to know it.

What he had done.

How many innocent people he had killed.

Knowing that, I could not simply let the swordsman die as he was.

I could not allow him to breathe his last in a calm delusion, thinking it was just bad luck or that something had gone wrong.

That was why I deliberately spoke those words.

To shatter the swordsman’s confidence, to break that delusion, to dismantle his twisted world.

To put it bluntly, I do not think his thoughts themselves were wrong.

This world is not solely about talent.

Talent is undoubtedly important, but just because someone is exceptionally talented does not mean they can necessarily advance far or reach a higher realm.

Life, existence, is never determined by talent alone.

Effort, luck, trials, and countless other factors come into play, and only then is it determined.

Take the swordsman, for instance.

His talent is certainly genius-level, but he is not the only one with exceptional talent.

Yet, the swordsman survived and became the strongest warrior on the continent.

Something beyond mere talent made him the strongest warrior.

He himself is evidence and proof of that thought.

Therefore, I believe that the thought itself was not wrong.

However, he chose the wrong method.

He walked down the wrong path.

Under the pretext of fate, he took the lives of innocent people, robbed them of their existence.

That was a clear evil that could not be justified by any words.

“……”

I subtly turned my head to look back.

Perhaps because I was quite a distance away, I could not see the swordsman.

But even without seeing him, I knew.

That the swordsman was surely dead.

The man who achieved countless feats and created legends.

The man who became the hero of the empire and made his name known to all the people of the continent.

The man who was undoubtedly the strongest warrior on the continent.

In a place where no one’s gaze could reach, he breathed his last without anyone noticing.

It was a pitiful death unworthy of the continent’s strongest warrior.

Yet, it felt like a fitting end for a villain blinded by vain greed, who had taken the lives of countless people.

“……”

Soon, I turned my head to face forward.

Then, I began to take steps again.

There was no time to indulge in sentiment.

‘Joining my companions… I suppose I must give up on that.’

I concluded in my mind.

I decided to abandon the idea of reuniting with my companions.

Having reached a new realm, I realized something.

This space was not a temporary, isolated one.

It was one of the spaces created within the veil, and there was a significant physical distance from where I originally existed, where my companions still might be.

Of course, if I set my mind to it, I could join them without taking too much time.

Especially in my current state.

However.

There was no time.

My intuition, having truly entered a new realm and stepped into a literally transcendent state, was telling me.

That something unusual happening deep within this space was gradually approaching its end.

Thus, I gave up on reuniting with my companions.

I felt that I could no longer afford to delay.

I was worried about them.

The enemies they faced would likely be beyond what they could handle with their current strength.

Yet, it was an unavoidable choice.

I had to move forward.

In the end, I had no choice but to trust my companions.

Rachel, Aira, Alexis, Cedric, Chris, Wilhelm, and Ethan.

The power, the talent, the potential they possessed.

I felt a sense of relief that Ethan was there.

Ethan was the kind of man who always inspired a vague belief that he would do something.

“……”

Calming my anxiety and worries, I quickened my steps.

Towards the innermost depths of this space, guided by my intuition.