I became aware of the gazes and hostility pouring toward me.

The first thing I did was look for Kyle.

Finding him wasn’t difficult. He had already turned his head and was looking at me. There was distance between us, yet I recognized him instantly. A knight standing still in the blood-colored air.

In the end, this is a fight between you and me.

When our fight ends, the war will also reach its conclusion.

No matter how it ends, the end of this unbearably long hostility.

I could no longer keep the resolve I had made when my memories were incomplete, but I still didn’t want to see Kyle die to a human weapon.

I wouldn’t be able to keep my sanity if I witnessed that with my own eyes.

So now, just as Ami said, I was prepared to stake even a comrade’s life...

“Yun.”

BOOOOM!

Shells from a large drone poured down toward the place where Kyle stood.

It gave me a chance to speak. I turned toward Sasu, who was throwing away the neck of a Creature.

“What.”

“You’re staying here because you have to guard the portal device, right?”

“That’s right.”

“A fire mage has appeared in the headquarters portal zone.”

Yun snapped his head around.

While listening to the sound of shells exploding under Kyle’s sword strikes, I continued.

“Command authority was transferred to Ska for certain reasons. I was just about to cross over when the mage appeared...”

“I’ve already grasped the situation.”

Yun indicated I didn’t need to explain further.

“You had to come here anyway.”

He wasn’t wrong.

If Meierbold was at headquarters, Kyle was here.

And the one I had to hold back... was Kyle.

I exhaled slowly, then took out a syringe from my uniform pocket.

It was the one I had received from Yoow.

I quickly pulled off the cap and drove the needle into a vein.

A strange sensation swept through my body.

Soon after, it felt as if something I hadn’t even realized was blocked suddenly opened.

Like peeling away a very thin membrane, my body felt clear and refreshed.

Perhaps it was a subtle shift only those who had reached the peak of swordsmanship, magic, or creature control could perceive.

“Not a blood injection... Sixth sense?”

Yun murmured as if speaking to himself.

“You released what you were hiding?”

“Yes.”

My kin could recognize me again.

«The bastard of the World Tree has arrived!»

See?

A heavy emotion flew in and struck me.

«Push forward quickly!»

It wasn’t Kyle’s.

It was the emotions of my kin behind the portal device, sensing my presence.

Hatred and rage that had accumulated over decades slammed into my core.

Noisy emotions surged like waves and swept across my chest. I inhaled those feelings—ones I had grown accustomed to at some point—and observed Kyle’s movements.

It was time to go.

Near the collapsed Core device, Kyle was clearing away bombs and raising his sword.

He had been fighting someone, and now he was readying another attack.

Kairos and Ami, most likely.

“Go.”

“Be careful.”

I finished preparing to launch a sword strike.

“Yun.”

I called out while holding my stance. Yun looked at me like he was asking what now.

That’s harsh.

I gave a bitter smile and looked at Sasu.

By now I was very used to those inorganic eyes.

Then I swung my sword.

“It was fun being your deputy for three years.”

BOOOOM!

I released the sword strike.

The wind slammed into my head.

Among the many branches of the attack spreading outward, I chased the one in the center.

I ran right behind it, closing in with a heavy presence.

It seemed Yun said something.

But I didn’t have time to hear it. I had to stop Kyle quickly.

The multiple sword strikes I had fired swept away the surrounding monsters as they curved through the air. At the last moment, they merged back into one.

Just as the strike Kyle had sent flying toward somewhere was about to reach its target—

My merged sword strike collided with his.

BOOOOM!

The two strikes clashed.

The impact created a massive wave across the ground.

“Uaaah!”

“Argh!”

Sorry, seniors.

But there wasn’t time to warn them.

All I could do was hope they would endure the shockwaves Kyle and I created while continuing to fight.

Resisting the blast slamming against my body, I watched what the aftermath swept away.

Then I drove my sword into the ground and ran toward those Kyle’s strike had been aiming for.

Ruins. Creature corpses.

People rolling across the ground as if they had been caught in a tidal wave.

“Kai!”

Instead of enduring the shockwave, they were tumbling like rag dolls.

“Ami!”

“Hilde!”

Ami lifted her head while holding Kairos.

The composition looked ominous.

It was the same kind of scene as when Kairos lost an eye.

But this time Ami wasn’t crying.

Instead she looked past my shoulder with terrified eyes.

“Behind you!”

Clang!

I blocked the incoming sword.

In front of me were golden eyes blazing with rage.

Veins bulged across his forehead and neck. Jet-black hair whipped in the wind, covering part of his face.

The gaze of a predator.

Condensed fury struck me.

«Hildebert.»

Kyle growled.

«Looks like you’re confident enough to show your back.»

The emotion struck me like a blow.

It was heavier than any emotion transmitted by anyone else.

One of the most intense I had ever received.

Even though I had been hardened to negative emotional transfer while facing countless enemies in the Empire... even though I had been enduring the negative energy Kyle had been sending from afar...

For a moment I almost collapsed and vomited, just like when I first faced my master’s killing intent at the age of ten.

«Seeing the state you came in...»

Ah, shit.

«I thought you came prepared.»

How does he even live carrying emotions like this all the time?

Clang!

I deflected the blade.

I moved downward, Kyle upward.

We knocked aside each other’s swords and naturally widened the distance between us.

Dust and fragments settled.

We stood facing each other in battle stances, simultaneously studying the other’s movements.

Grrrrk...

«Preparedness.»

While steadying the breath that had turned ragged under the emotional pressure, I moved my parched tongue.

«I finished preparing a long time ago.»

«Ha.»

Kyle sneered.

«Of course. That’s why you handed your sword over to a mere human.»

Grrk...

A suspicious cry sounded nearby.

It wasn’t one of my kin, but the presence of a dangerous monster was clearly close.

I couldn’t tell whether Kairos had summoned it or the enemy had released it.

I also heard the sound of spellcasting.

Because Kyle and I hadn’t fully crossed swords yet, others were still able to intervene.

Fine by me.

Before truly exchanging blades, I wanted to confirm Kairos’s condition.

He was definitely injured.

Suppressing the rising anxiety, I examined the burning presence that was Kyle.

Those golden eyes surely read even my thoughts.

A sword embedded with sapphire.

From the moment we met we had been rivals.

We had sparred countless times.

Because we had crossed swords so often, we knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses well.

Even habits.

For example—you're always the one who attacks first.

KRAAAAH!

BOOOOM!

Something surged up between Kyle and me.

It was a huge monster shaped like a giant cutlassfish.

I didn’t know what it was, but it rose like a wall and blocked my view. At the same time countless gray arrows rained down from the sky.

Valdez’s magic.

Fwoosh!

The moment Kyle swung his sword and instantly split the massive monster between us in two, I seized the opportunity and launched a strike.

Six sword strikes shot toward where I estimated Valdez to be.

Kyle cursed in the language of our kin.

«Valdez!»

“Kai!”

The moment he ran toward his kin, I twisted my body and sprinted as well.

“Hilde!”

Ami closed the distance in an instant.

Kairos was slung over her shoulder.

“Jack, internal bleeding!”

“...You cut your hair.”

A hoarse voice spoke.

I kicked up a storm of sand and stopped in front of the creature controller, then hurriedly dropped to one knee beside the man Ami carefully set down.

The moment Ami placed Kairos on the ground, she shot upward into the sky.

“I’ll keep drawing them away!”

I couldn’t even answer before grabbing the controller’s hand.

I began the transfer—but the bastard coughed and gave a faint smile.

“So. Did you finish things properly without me?”

What?

Now?

In this situation?

After finishing the transfer, I quickly examined Kairos from head to toe, then lifted my head.

I stared at the orange eyes in disbelief.

The ground around Kairos writhed.

“Thanks. I think I’ve fully recovered because of that.”

“Are you still mad?”

Wheeeeee—

BOOOOM!

The creature controller instantly commanded a swarm of flying monsters and slammed them into a spot behind me, then stood up.

I rose with him and muttered.

“Sorry. I really did intend to apologize sincerely, but... isn’t this a bad time for that?”

“It’s nothing new for me to be immature.”

Kairos answered casually.

He was so calm that for a moment I almost replied, “Yeah, that’s true.”

Of course, Kyle’s presence snapped me back to reality first.

The Swordmaster cutting down the monsters Kairos poured out as if they were nothing.

Dozens of life signals vanished instantly.

“Besides, you’re about to do the same thing again. Of course I’d be angry.”

But the basic combat method of a creature controller is overwhelming numbers.

And this particular controller was unrivaled when it came to supplying those numbers.

Kairos spread both arms and gathered an enormous swarm of monsters in front of Kyle.

Creatures covering the ground like ants swarming sugar.

They rushed toward the Swordmaster targeting Ami.

I looked at the side of the controller’s face as he launched monsters like comets.

His brow was furrowed.

“Kairos.”

“Hilde.”

Kairos answered.

“I don’t want to hear any possible last messages, so forget everything else and deal with Kyle.”

Orange eyes rolled toward me.

“Win overwhelmingly enough to subdue him without killing him. Then come back.”

Wooooong—

I couldn’t decide what kind of answer to give.

So for a brief moment I hesitated.

At that moment, a yellow teleportation circle appeared in midair.

Not as powerful as Meierbold’s—but still impressive.

BOOOOM!

Fragments flew toward us.

Valdez’s magic. Despite his gentle appearance, his spells were aggressive and practical.

I ran forward in front of Kairos and swung my sword, slicing apart the dozens of sharp fragments flying toward us.

Clangclangclang!

If it had been an ordinary sword, the edge would have been ruined.

Especially since some fragments were still hot artillery shells.

Valdez’s magic—gathering scattered weapon fragments from the battlefield and firing them back at enemies—was always lethal.

Especially to the seniors.

They didn’t know that mage’s spells.

“I’ll /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ handle him.”

Kairos said quietly.

“You go. Ami can’t hold out alone for long.”

“Watch the distance.”

I advised while sprinting toward Kyle.

“Valdez’s weakness is distance.”

«Fire Dragon Orb!»

The voice of Kyle’s treasured mage echoed.

«A swarm attack doesn’t work on me.»

«Is that so?»

Behind me Kairos laughed as he replied.

«It’s an honor to face you like this, Mage.»

I didn’t hear the rest of the conversation.

Because I had already entered the range of Kyle’s sword.

And so we faced each other again.

The golden gaze that had been looking up at Ami instantly shot toward me.

Now I forgot everything else and focused only on Kyle.

The monsters crawling everywhere. The corpses of monsters. Even my kin finally crossing the collapsed Core device.

All of it vanished from my sight.

Focus converging on a single point.

My longtime rival.

Still with perfectly white sclera.

CLAAANG!

Aura flared as my sword met Kyle’s.

Kyle’s yellow eyes widened.

***

Erich Erhart stood in front of a mansion engulfed in flames.

He had just received news about the situation at Black Badger headquarters.

They had barely begun reconstruction, yet it had already been infiltrated again, and ordinary staff were fleeing from the headquarters grounds.

There was also a report that the Core device surrounding headquarters had been activated.

“Everyone is doing their job. I suppose I should finish mine as well.”

He walked across the blackened ruins.

Then he looked at the person standing before him and spoke coldly.

“It’s time to finish this, Yekaterina.”