Chapter 198

In the courtyard where the match had unfolded, the Emperor’s offer to Logan had precipitated a real sword duel at the center of the area.

“What is going on in the middle of the Imperial Palace…”

“Who would dare counter the Emperor’s will?”

“Well, a fight between a superhuman and a regular knight won’t last long.”

“That may be true, but…”

Nobles huddled close, positioning themselves at the ends of the courtyard, in front of the knights, surrounding the two duelists.

Logan, too, had naturally brought along his armor and equipment left at the secondary palace and now confronted his enemy in the middle of the palace’s front yard.

‘I didn’t foresee this coming…’

Jerome Decaide.

A monster who, at the young age among superhumans of fifty, received the title of the greatest swordsman of the continent.

His fame spread across the world around that time.

But to the people of Grandia, he meant something else.

A superhuman who, in his thirties, made the most significant contributions in the Grandia conquest war – a superhuman who secured victory in the war by beheading Juan Douglas, the only sorcerer and most influential figure of the kingdom.

Naturally, he had been a primary assassination target for the Grandia Liberation Front.

‘Of course, they never dared to actually try.’

Twenty years after the conquest war.

Jerome Decaide, just before Logan’s previous life had ended, was nothing short of a monster among superhumans.

But now…

“It might be wise for you to retreat now. Once it comes to this, even I can’t hold back much.”

The face laughing at him from a not too distant spot was not at all monstrous.

Displaying confidence backed with visible emotion, as if there were no match for him yet…

‘Just a young pup.’

At best, he was a superhuman on the level of Blake, Luther Kyle, or the former Wicken Calia.

Of course, it might have been presumptuous for Logan, who had not yet become a superhuman, to look down on someone who had become a skilled aura user in their thirties as a young pup.

But somehow, Logan was convinced he would not lose.

That time, armed with artifacts, he had held his ground against Wicken and even managed to kill Jordan by luck.

He was at a different level now than he had been then.

And it was a showdown against Jerome, whose traits he knew well.

“I don’t mind if you don’t hold back. I have no intention of doing so either. We should show our true abilities to His Majesty the Emperor, shouldn’t we?”

“Hmm. His Majesty has high standards in assessing talent. It seems you’ve been lucky to defeat a superhuman before, but from what I can see, that was just an interesting case that caught His Majesty’s attention.”

“What?”

Had the Emperor summoned him just for that?

The retort was half-hearted, but Jerome’s expression was serious.

“So, don’t be mistaken. You’d be better off not expecting such luck again. It would be for your own future.”

Casually offering advice as if he were the adult in the situation was almost laughable.

No matter if that would usually be a common understanding.

“Thank you for the advice. Shall we begin, then?”

“Heh. You’re hurrying us, I see.”

At that moment, an elderly knight with striking white hair and blue eyes, standing between Jerome and Logan, asked.

“Are both of you ready?”

A strong momentum carried in an elderly voice.

This impressive old knight with a contrasting aura was no ordinary person.

‘The current greatest swordsman of the continent, Tris Hornsby.’

The superhuman who had accounted for the biggest share of the pressure on Logan earlier, but up close, there was a slightly different feel.

A disharmonious sensation faintly captured by transcendent senses.

The feeling was like water leaking from a fully-filled jar or a small, hardly noticeable flaw etched into a completed work of art.

That peculiar sensation allowed Logan to guess the condition of this famous swordsman of the continent.

‘Maybe this is why he didn’t reveal himself during the war…’

While it was somewhat comforting from the kingdom’s perspective, it felt odd to sense that this mighty superhuman was also succumbing to the ravages of time.

Of course, there was no time for sentimentality.

“Yes, master. I am ready.”

“I’m ready as well.”

Following Jerome’s voice, Logan nodded, and Tris smoothly moved back, almost as if an unseen hand were pulling him.

At the same moment, a clear voice resonated across the space.

“His Majesty is watching. Both participants, display your utmost skill! However, considering the purpose of this duel and its dangers, the use of artifacts is prohibited.”

The two competitors’ eyes ignited at once.

‘Jerome Decaide. His superhuman trait is the unusual superpower among rare ones: the Absolute Sight.’

The monster of the future devastatingly shattered all incoming attacks preemptively, pierced through every defense before it could be raised, and overwhelmed all adversaries he faced.

At that time, the only known ways to beat him were an overwhelming number of troops, or speed or magic incomprehensible even to his senses and reactions.

And it was axiomatic that there existed no speed that could overwhelm him as a superhuman nor magic his defenses couldn’t neutralize.

But now…

Boom!

The novice superhuman was astonished to face ‘Rain’, an aura user who blocked his attack head-on.

“You blocked the aura?!”

From that one exchange, Logan swiftly appraised the situation.

‘He’s not yet able to wield his trait properly.’n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Had he been the Jerome Logan knew, he would have anticipated his attack being blocked and used a different move.

Jerome’s baffled expression was merely an opportunity for Logan.

“Hup!”

With a short cry, Logan surged forward directly into the face of his bewildered opponent. Even as Jerome’s eyes shone silver, Logan simply thrust his sword at the greatest speed he could muster.

The strike aimed at Jerome, now laden with too much force, slithered like a golden beam, targeting his neck.

“What?!”

Slice.

‘Too bad…!’

The decisive strike aimed at the silver-eyed target merely grazed the temple of its intent.

Blood trickled next to his eye, mirroring Jerome’s contorted expression, Logan’s face was likewise not pleased.

‘This could be problematic…’

As Logan’s ominous thoughts arose, an intense shout broke out from the high seat.

“Jerome!!”

His master, Tris, shot up as if to leap forward, shouting his name.

“I’m not done! It was but carelessness! Please grant me another chance!”

Jerome cried out as if convulsing, losing his usual composure.

Frowning at this, Tris turned around, but…

“Continue. This is intriguing.”

Amused, the Emperor nodded with a smile, encouraging the duel to proceed.

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

Only after Jerome bowed deeply to the Emperor did exclamations erupt among the watching nobles.

“What’s this? Has the saint lost?”

“No, not a loss. Just minor injuries…”

“Blood is pouring out, what’s minor about that!”

“But he admitted he was careless.”

Amidst the murmurs, Jerome swiftly stemmed the flow of blood with a touch to his head.

‘As expected…’

Even for a novice, a superhuman was a superhuman.

It seemed trivial for him to stop the bleeding from a mere scratch.

“I may have underestimated you. My apologies. You’re indeed impressive for blocking aura and exhibiting such an exotic attack without being an aura user. But it won’t be easy from now on. Take care.”

“Looking forward to it.”

In reply to Jerome’s lengthy warning, Logan answered shortly and succinctly.

Jerome’s pride must have been hurt.

With a firm expression and lips sealed shut, Jerome’s silver gaze now wholly transformed as he lunged toward Logan.

Compared to the monster of the future whose pupils just faintly shifted to silver, Jerome now seemed to exert excessive force.

‘How much can you block?’

As will arose, golden force-blades sprung from Logan’s sword tip, curling like snakes to target Jerome’s ribs as he charged.

The thrusting sword remained untouched, and the freely curling force-blade attacked in another direction.

Logan had chosen this method to combat Jerome’s traits—his dual-offensive maneuver, fashioned from lessons learned about the drawbacks of Franz’s moonlight sword, a former rival.

Jerome’s response was simple.

Continuing his charge, he arched his torso back and slid in a tackle while his boot tips exploded with silver aura aimed to shatter Logan’s lower half.

Jumping slightly, Logan dodged and, with a descending strike, sent his Lux sword and a golden force-blade aiming for different vitals like lightning.

But those attacks, targeting the neck and lower half simultaneously, were deflected by Jerome, who lay down and countered them with a single sword stroke from his lower half up.

‘Blast!’

Logan had the edge due to aura power in both directions of his sword force, making it possible.

In the following instant, as Jerome leaped up, he hurtled toward Logan, suspended in mid-air.

Aura surged murderously from his sword tip, threatening to pierce Logan’s chest right when Jerome’s eyes assumed a victoriously silver gleam, and a smile crossed his lips.

‘He’s still inexperienced.’

However, rather than defending at that perilous moment in mid-air, Logan thrust forward, with a golden beam targeting Jerome’s face.

The widening eyes and wavering sword tip revealed Jerome was not used to a dogfight style of combat with suicidal inclinations.

But the instant Jerome’s eyes rekindled with a silver sheen, his hesitating sword sweep shifted decisively sideways.

Explosion of aura.

That simple move disrupted Logan’s attempt to twist away from Jerome’s sword strike with Lux and target his vitals with the Snake Blade, rendering it impossible.

Instead, struggling to regain balance in mid-air and forcing a landing, Logan saw fierce silver aura loom before him.

Yet Logan’s attention focused not on the radiant silver aura but on Jerome’s eyes, which were diminishing in their luster, retaining only a faint silver in the pupils.

A silvery moon on a blue lake.

The faintly glowing eyes of a grim reaper.

These phrases described the emblematic features of the ‘monster’ Jerome Decaide.

‘This is absurd…’

He expected difficulty.

Never had he thought he would aid the enemy’s evolution.

The more he could not afford to back down.

‘I must break him here!’

Resolutely.

Just as he made his decision, Logan disappeared from his spot like a phantom.

Silver aura fruitlessly swept past a mere shadow left by the ghost.

Jerome’s gaze flickered again.

One of the few ways to subvert Absolute Sight—overwhelming speed.

At least for now, Logan was much faster than the inexperienced superhuman Jerome.

Clash!

“Cough!”

A superhuman, defying the norm, was being overwhelmingly pushed back by one not superhuman.

The unusual sight left every observer utterly shocked.

Even those who lacked martial prowess could tell that Jerome was doing nothing but defending from one spot.

“Can that be?!”

“Does that even make sense?”

Amidst the escalating noise from the dignitaries, Logan, relentlessly pushing Jerome, did not feel at ease.

‘He’s blocking all of this too?’

Wooo.

An achingly intense pain from the overtaxed force-core suggested that its limit was near.

On top of that, the enemy seemed to be getting accustomed to the sped-up movements.

A grinding sensation.

‘Even a young monster is still a monster, huh? Then…’

There was only one gambit left.

The long scar on the face of the Jerome from his previous life.

The sole scar of the monster was infamous.

– In my inexperienced days, I had not yet grasped the art of seeing the unseen.

With that memory, Logan, continuing his swift movements, slammed his sword into the ground in front of Jerome.

Torrential waves of force.

Sixteen layers of force waves erupted from the spot where Lux struck the earth, overturning the entire front.

Roaring explosion!

As dust billowed, silver and gold interwove amid the thickening cloud, and every spectator’s eyes widened at once.