I am the king of humans, but I did not understand humans. This likely wasn't only my problem. No king of beasts thinks about what they are and how they act. They just live as they please.
However, to the current me who has understood the Human Principle, it is visible.
Sensations flow swiftly along the nerves. The brain momentarily perceives the flashing information and reacts. The heart spurts blood, and the muscles pour out strength. The tightly bound bones and muscles elastically absorb the shock, transmitting it to the ground. The firmly compacted ground entirely absorbs even that massive shock.
Although my strength has increased, the opponent is also a strong one who has reached the truth. My body sustains severe damage from the enormous shock of the Master's strike. Bones dislocate, muscles tear, and the shock shakes my body.
But that is only for a moment.
My body, remembering its original form, returns with tremendous elasticity, and that soon becomes resistance, receiving the Master's strike.
This is the result.
No matter how Antares didn't have killing intent, I succeeded in grabbing and stopping his spear shaft.
"Wow. I blocked this?"
I didn't even intend to confirm it like this. Feeling proud, I felt the worth of completing the Human Principle.
The king of beasts is just strong. But since I didn't have such power from birth, I acquired power solely by studying and understanding. The ending is the same, but the process is truly a long way around.
So what. Now I have power too.
It feels a bit unpleasant because it's too similar to Qi Gong, though.
Well, in my case, it's still normal.
"Special note. Since the King of Humans lost his power, his inherent martial prowess is weak... Haa. This is why desk-jockeys are the biggest enemies of the field. What is this? He's on par with a decent King of Beasts."
Antares lamented while gripping the spear shaft tightly. He momentarily exerted his strength to pull the spear shaft out, but I, who was reading his thoughts, moved in the exact same direction to block it.
"And he handles it with human intelligence. I said~ we should practically consider him a Qi Master, didn't I? Tsk. See. Just me alone wasn't enough."
A tense contest of strength. Blood vessels bulged with all his might on his muscles, and on my body, blood that couldn't withstand the pressure seeped up to the skin. Antares grasped the spear shaft with a momentum different from before and muttered.
"That's why it was a good idea to bring them."
"Hughes! Get back!"
The spear shaft turns red hot. Even before the voice could be heard, I forcefully pushed the spear shaft away and leapt back. Cheongtapju did not miss the momentary gap created then and unleashed her Innate Demonic Art.
"Haaa-."
Crack. Antares' body froze along with the space itself.
Crystallization Theory, Absolute Hexahedron.
Due to the crystallized air, a localized vacuum occurred, and air was sucked into the empty space. The first thing to be crystallized by the Innate Demonic Art is the easily frozen ice. Antares was trapped inside the iceberg created by Cheongtapju.
It is an environment impossible to survive as a living being. Although he maintains himself as a Qi Master, that too seems likely to end soon.
However, even so, the flame does not go out.
"Lord Antares!"
"Stop right there!"
Looking back, Shea was engaged in combat with Schumachel. Schumachel received Shea's forcefully struck Jizan with his blade. His blade bent greatly as if it would break at any moment.
Jizan is a sword without recoil. The relic of the Demon God that permits strength only to Shea crushes with an immense mass. Physically, nothing could withstand it.
However, 'Li', the manifestation of the mind, transcended the limits of physics.
The sword that received Jizan swayed greatly. It made a twisting sound as if pulled to the limit like a fishing rod.
One might think it's a bending flexible sword, but looking again, his sword is a straight and solid longsword. If it bends that much, it should meet its elastic limit and break.
"Even though I'm only the lowest seat in the Seat of the Stars...!"
However.
His Undulating Sword absorbed all the force applied to it.
Elasticity is the property of returning to its original state when force is applied. If a greater force is applied, it repels even more powerfully. As long as it doesn't break.
However, Schumachel's sword does not break.
Undulating Sword. A counterattacking sword that absorbs all applied force and sends it back in the opposite direction. The greatly swaying blade fully carries the force and weight of Jizan. Shea was flustered by the resistance felt at her fingertips.
'Jizan is moving?! That sword is carrying the weight of a mountain?!'
Schumachel parried Jizan with the Undulating Sword. Only very slightly, but Jizan's trajectory was twisted. With a twang, the sword rebounded, and the suppressed force exploded as it was. The speed of the blade, bent like a whip, was truly transcendent.
"I won't lose to a frontier human!"
Stitching.
It isn't even a slash. From the end of the fully bent whip, at a speed easily surpassing the speed of sound, the blade shot out like a ray of light.
Qi Bullet. It passed in front of Shea's eyes and struck the pillar of Celsius far away. With just that single hit, the thick pillar shattered and collapsed.
If her reaction had been a beat slower, no, if Hilde hadn't pulled her from behind, her face would have flown off. Shea muttered reflexively.
"Ugh... Thanks."
Hilde shouted from behind.
"Look at your opponent and fight! You're charging in ignorantly without even knowing their ability!"
"The opponent doesn't know my ability either..."
"Even so, are you gambling?! Do you have multiple lives?"
Schumachel, having spat out a powerful strike, clicked his tongue as if disappointed.
'Even if she was pulled from behind, it wasn't a distance that would miss... Her wrist went out momentarily. How much force was applied? More importantly, who is that woman in the back? There was no information about her.'
Very few people know Hilde's true appearance, and she usually went around in disguise. Even the Empire couldn't grasp her true identity.
In contrast, Hilde, who was part of the Yeonggwi, had collected all the information on her opponent.
"Schumachel of the Undulating Sword! He was one of the Five Tiger Generals of the Lilac Marquisate. It seems he has now joined the Seat of the Stars! His ability is the Undulating Sword. As you experienced, he can absorb and return the shock applied to the sword!"
"How do you know my information...!"
"That's not the only way to use it like just now. By adjusting the elasticity, he controls offense and defense, making him invincible in a hundred battles in a sword-clashing fight! Keep your distance, make your body light, and exchange momentary offense and defense!"
"To that extent?"
The most useful application of the Undulating Sword is adjusting the sword's elasticity. With this power, one can freely parry and receive the opponent's attacks. However, the combat ability hidden behind the bending sword was not well known, but to catch even that? From this frontier at that?
Schumachel, who had been quietly looking at Hilde, suddenly muttered.
"Are you my fan?"
"Huh?"
In the Lilac Marquisate, he only trained when he was young, became a Five Tiger General after becoming a Master, and the Archduchess protected him. The general's duties were too heavy and boring, and the only people he met were stuffy ministers.
Unable to overcome that stuffiness, Schumachel immediately went to the Empire and threw himself into the Seat of the Stars.
So what if his fame is high? Schumachel's desperate training was not to be praised by old ministers. It was not to become a general and command hundreds of people.
It was to be praised by young women and friends, and to lead around hundreds of fans!
Now, being only the lowest seat, he volunteered for the mission to gain some contribution. But he was a man who could abandon his home country for popularity!
Schumachel immediately let his face relax and said.
"Haha. As I rose to the Seat of the Stars, fans are appearing too. You look a bit cute, wanna be my concubine?"
"My?"
Hilde gave a slight sidelong glance. Soon changing to a smiling face, she said in a voice mixed with aegyo.
"I'm honored~. But for such an important matter, I need to get permission from my father~."
"No need for permission. I abandoned not only my family and parents but even my home country to rise to the Seat of the Stars. Don't mind what anyone forces you to do. You do what you want to do."
"Humanly, I think that's a bit much~. Moreover, for a daughter raised as a precious jewel to go as a concubine, wouldn't he light a fire in his eyes and try to stop it~."
Not even realizing that she was stalling for time, Schumachel answered seriously.
"The legal wife is out."
"It seems there's someone you've decided on?"
"No. But someday, someone I want to love for my whole life might appear. For that time, I have to keep the position of the legal wife empty."
Saying he would leave a spot for the best meeting that would come someday, the man who even abandoned his country for that struck a grand pose and said.
Naturally, to Hilde, it sounded like bullshit.
"That just means you want to keep looking around for the rest of your life, right~? It's a bit nauseating~."
'Aha~.'
Hilde. Her inner thoughts and her spoken words had swapped.
"So. What's the answer? If you become my concubine, I promise to send you safely to the Empire, stepping only on a flower path. Although I am the lowest seat of the Seat of the Stars, even as the concubine of the lowest seat, you will live a much more luxurious life than staying on the frontier."
"Hmm~. I can't listen anymore~. How long do I have to wait?"
Hilde said while picking her ear. Then, the ice that had been quietly flowing beneath their feet surged up all at once.
Innate Demonic Art, River of Ice.
Elsia Celsius's Innate Demonic Art had covered the surroundings before they knew it. The ice that surged up at the critical moment engulfed Schumachel.
A mage cannot be beaten in a prepared fight. Elsia, having subdued Schumachel and hurriedly approached, panted and said.
"A fight broke out outside! The Empire's troops are attacking! We are holding them off using the Artifact Warship, but we won't be able to hold out for long! What is going on?"
Hilde answered.
"It's a raid. The Ecliptic Twelve Palaces suddenly attacked."
"The Empire? Why?"
"Let's finish that after we stop him. He's trapped in that ice right now."
Only then did Elsia discover someone frozen on the shattered table. Cheongtapju was continuously increasing the size of the ice, to the point where it was hard to even see who was inside.
Elsia, having grasped the opponent's situation, felt relieved.
"Have you subdued him? Then there shouldn't be a problem. I should take him hostage and disarm the troops outside."
"No."
Cheongtapju answered with a cold, hardened face. She had surrounded Antares with several layers of the Innate Demonic Art's power, but she hadn't relaxed her guard for a single moment.
Because she felt the hotly burning flame inside the Innate Demonic Art. Cheongtapju muttered.
"It's melting. It should be impossible with Qi Gong. What is his ability?"
Hilde answered immediately.
"Ecliptic Twelve Palaces. Antares of the Crimson Scale Spear. His Li is the most unpredictable. An unextinguishable flame rises from his spear."
"Flame? What kind?"
"I don't know. What kind of flame it is, what properties it has, how it moves. For now, a flame rises from his spear, and he is said to be able to freely manipulate that flame. Since it's unclear how freely, don't let your guard down."
The abilities of the Ecliptic Twelve Palaces are famous, but there is a difference between seeing them from afar and directly experiencing them. Especially for an ability that looks flashy like Antares's.
"One thing for certain is that the flame definitely has light and heat. There's a high possibility that ice won't work against his Crimson Scale Spear!"
"It's a Match Spear."
Antares's voice flowed out. Cracks had formed in the ice. Startled, Cheongtapju activated her Innate Demonic Art, but the flame leaking through the cracks only grew larger.
"It's a Match Spear. That's my Li, but they gave it the name Crimson Scale Spear because it lacked style. What's wrong with Match Spear? It's intuitive and good."
Antares walked out calmly from the melting ice. Wrapped in hot flames all over his body.
It does not go out. Even without air, even covered in ice, even if melted water flows down and soaks it, the flame still burns hotly.
That is Li.
A force that denies common sense and logic and coerces the world.
Match Spear? What. How is that a match. Red Phosphorus Round is a much closer description!
"Because you keep calling it Crimson Scale Spear, Crimson Scale Spear all the time, my Li is getting increasingly bizarre. It follows the name."
Swish. He lightly swung his spear. Then, the flame burning at the tip of the spear left a long trajectory like an afterimage. The afterimage was still so hot that the rushing ice melted as it was.
It's not ice that can be blocked by flame, but no ice can stop that flame from 'burning'. Because the 'Li' that twists open the world guarantees the integrity of that flame.
"It won't work. It's like a mage's counter. I'll deal with him."
He looks hot, but I can withstand it with the Human Principle. In the meantime, if I activate the Demon God, I should be able to blow him away again.
Antares looked at me approaching and muttered.
"I'd like to test our skills once. But I'll pass that to the next opportunity."
"Who said I'd step aside?"
It won't be easy to ignore me who has awakened the Human Principle. Antares looked at me standing firm and called someone via sound transmission.
"Spica. It's your turn. Come out."
Bang.
A fist pierces through the wall and comes out. The wall made of ice and bricks crumbled down. A woman appeared where the wall had been roughly torn apart like tofu.
She was a girl in a sleeveless, light outfit. With slightly dark skin, her hair was tied in a single strand. Only traces of solid training were visible on her exposed body. It was a physique that went beyond healthy, exuding sturdiness.
"This?"
Before her swaying black hair could even fully settle, she alternated looking at Antares and me in confrontation. Antares nodded.
My vision shook.
Huh?
Wait. I was hit before I could even read her thoughts. My jaw was shaken, and the control of my body was delayed for a moment. Before I knew it, the woman was standing in front of me with her fist clenched.
If it's the strength of the flesh, I won't lose now. I reinforced my body with the Human Principle, and at the same time, extended my arm at the limit speed of a human. My fist pierced the wind in an instant.
However. I felt nothing at my fingertips. Instead, I felt dozens of consecutive shocks to my abdomen. Even before I could perceive it, my body
"Keuk! Cough!"
What?
Mind reading didn't react! That wasn't something she thought about and acted upon consciously!
Is this, Heavenly Reflex?
"Hughes!"
Someone's voice reached my numb ears, but it was too far away. Antares passed by me, but I couldn't focus my attention there. The woman in front of me was completely empty, while simultaneously occupying all of my directions.
Ecliptic Twelve Palaces.
Spica of Virgo. Her epithet is the Sword Empress.
The only reason she was given the name of Sword Empress despite not using a sword. Because she was a fellow disciple of the Sword Saint.
Spica asked me, who was cringing from the shock.
"Sword Saint. Where are you?"