Chapter 70
"You're here again today."
"Ah, you mean Lady Emily. Well, it's just routine, isn't it."
Her face and hands holding the sword were youthful.
But her expression was endlessly serious, making her unapproachable.
Blossoming divine power.
The holy power moves through the holy blood vessels positioned throughout her body.
Gathering and gathering in one place, it settles like a solid kernel.
But that was all.
Considering Emily's age, that alone was a truly remarkable achievement, but she wasn't satisfied.
'Dad said he created a bud inside his body.'
Normally, one gathers and gathers the inherent holy power, purifies it, and when needed, unfolds the bud to create a flower.
That amplifies the holy power.
Manhwa-bongyuk.
Emily's goal was to create that in her dantian.
"Is this even possible?"
She thought she could just gather it like clay and shape it, but that wasn't the case at all.
She was just doubtful if it was even possible in the first place. Gathering the formless ki inside her body solidly and giving it form.
Yes, shaping the holy power into the form of a bud—she could do that much.
But that it blooms like a flower?
She couldn't understand at all how holy power gathered together could form a bud and then bloom.
It sounds easy, but when she tried to do it herself, it seemed impossible.
'Dad wouldn't have lied.'
But it was so difficult that she almost wished it had been a lie.
Even Callius took several years to achieve it, so it was only natural. No matter how much of a genius Emily was, the one who created this was none other than the Order's Saintess, Stella.
If Callius hadn't overcome near-death and the characteristic of Four-Deaths-Ten-Lives hadn't activated, he might have taken ten full years.
Even with her understanding of swordsmanship and innate talent, achieving Manhwa-bongyuk through words alone was difficult.
But Emily didn't give up.
It was something her father, who was called a wastrel, had accomplished.
Of course, the more she trained, the more Callius's greatness soaked into her entire being.
'I should have asked.'
She didn't ask out of vain pride.
Now she regretted it a little.
She never thought he would leave the North so hastily.
He won't be back for a while now, so there was no way to ask even if she wanted to.
"Creating sword aura isn't difficult."
Although, it wasn't the Silver Flower Blossom Sword like her father's. She wanted to imitate that form but absolutely couldn't.
How could she make sword aura that seeps into the sword in the form of ki look like it had petals attached?
'This isn't something that can be achieved through effort alone. Dad was never a dullard.'
The more she tried to follow his sword, the more she understood.
Callius was never a dullard. If he were truly a dullard, he wouldn't be able to learn such swordsmanship even if it took years.
"Grandfather said he never taught him, and he said he's never seen anyone else who could wield the Silver Flower Blossom Sword except Saintess Stella..."
He didn't learn from anyone.
There was a high possibility he self-taught by seeing something the saintess left behind.
Even so, the difficulty of the Silver Flower Blossom Sword wouldn't have been filled.
Emily once again realized her father's effort and calmly closed her eyes.
Though she hadn't received direct instruction from him, the combat he showed on the battlefield was itself a guide.
Closing her eyes, it was still vivid.
His swordsmanship that swept through the battlefield with abandon. Beautiful and swift.
The battle with the Grand Warrior.
The battle with the Legion Commander—Emily had seen both with her eyes and taken them to heart.
And once more.
She grasps her sword.
Then she closes her eyes and observes herself.
.
.
.
"Amazing. Sword aura at that age."
"She's his daughter. It's only natural."
"Indeed, indeed."
The knights watching Emily's training didn't spare their praise, saying she was truly her father's daughter.
Sword aura at ten years old.
They couldn't even imagine how strong she'd be when she came of age.
"At that level, shouldn't we send her to the Royal Swordsmanship Academy in Calladie? I heard that's where only geniuses gather?"
"Pshaw! Even if they're geniuses, can any of them compare to the lady who directly ran through the battlefield! Even if there were a hundred of those kids, they'd be pissing themselves after tasting an orc's axe once!"
Aaron, full of pride, said while thumping his chest.
Then the other knights nodded as if it were obvious.
"But when will Lord Callius return? We decided to serve him as our lord, but I didn't expect him to leave right away... Why didn't he take us with him?"
"Sir Aaron. Try to understand our lord's intentions. He cherishes the North."
"That's what I'm saying! If he cherishes it, why did he leave? He could have stayed a bit longer."
The magical beasts had dried up at the root, and the orcs were nowhere to be seen.
The castle walls were nearly repaired, and rebuilding the destroyed villages was something time would solve.
The North had found peace.
But peace is not eternal.
"Our lord is a count now. He'll soon become the patriarch and has to rule the North, but those Carpe bastards only praise the North without giving any help, so he must have gone to turn everything upside down."
You know his personality. Just thinking about what he'd do as an Inquisitor gives me chills.
"They're all going to die."
"Those Inquisitor bastards or whatever will be the first to die, right? Didn't they originally come here to interrogate our lord?"
"What?! Those bastards who broke our bridge supports! Lord Callius knows that!?"
"If I know, would he not know?"
The knights nodded repeatedly.
Most of those gathered were ones who had crossed battlefields with Callius. They called themselves the Callius Knights, so they knew his personality better than anyone.
"They're going to die soon."
Because he was a lord with a truly filthy personality.
* * *
A quiet silence flowed.
They were ones who had swung their swords on countless battlefields, but at this moment they couldn't help but be flustered.
'Does he have confidence?'
'That he can kill all three of us...'
Such thoughts dominated their minds.
Gulp.
Raiven's Adam's apple rose and fell.
If his judgment was so, their course of action was set.
"Strike!"
Clang-!
Callius, having blocked Raiven's sword, pulled his body back and maintained distance.
The holy power latent in Manhwa-bongyuk's First Bud awakens.
The bud unfurls and the flower fully blooms.
The pure holy power wraps around Callius and his sword unfolds the Silver Flower Blossom Sword.
Clash-!
'What power...!'
Startled by Callius's power, Raiven furrowed his brow.
Though flustered, Druma's greatsword immediately came crashing down from an angle.
A broad and massive straight blade.
'Form—Guillotine.'
Glancing at Druma's sword, Callius chose to dodge rather than block his great blade.
Boom-!
Dodging Druma's sword, sand and dust rose proportionate to its size, and when it settled, a square earthen wall had formed, just large enough to trap a person.
It was Guillotine's innate ability.
Without even a moment to catch their breath.
Whirring—
Bug sounds tickled Callius's ears.
These weren't bugs as small as grains of sand.
They must have gathered together, as their size had become fist-sized, allowing them to withstand gravity and fly about.
Their number reached thirty, but the fact that they had grown this large meant...
"Easy to cut down too."
Cutting them down was effortless.
Swish-slash!
"My loyal insects!"
Orkal bit his lip.
Seeing him rush in, Callius raised his sword to meet him, but then stepped back once more.
Slash!
'Akasha spreading poison.'
Raiven had spread poison.
The poisonous energy that melted and oxidized the floor made Callius frown.
"These bug bastards are annoying."
Dealing with them one by one isn't difficult. But with all three attacking simultaneously, it was exceedingly troublesome.
"There's only one bug, and that's Orkal."
"Who's a bug!"
Orkal and Druma grumbling.
And Raiven gripped his sword with evident tension.
"It seems you haven't reached Master yet?"
Perhaps from relief that it was their misconception. Raiven and the captains smirked, and Orkal cackled.
They had been mistaken until they clashed, but after exchanging swords once, they seemed to get a feel for it.
Well, if he were truly a Master, an Inquisitor Captain wouldn't even be a match.
Raiven's lips twisted.
"What, it's nothing special. At this level, was there even a need for all three of us to go at once?"
"Don't let your guard down. He might still have something hidden."
Orkal's jeering and Raiven's voice, thick with delight, echoed through the forest.
"Don't let your guard down. That sword. It's a demon sword."
"What? A demon sword? Have you gone mad?"
The strange patterns on the scabbard. And the mane and scales that seemed to be from a magical beast—the rosary definitely wasn't made from those.
"Even without a holy relic, we cannot let you live now."
As Inquisitors, a demon sword was naturally a product of heresy, a cursed object that must be destroyed.
However, the expressions looking at it held an unmistakable greed.
It was then.
Whoosh—
Killing intent surged from Callius's center like wind.
They flinched.
The captains, trembling at the tremendous killing intent, looked at Callius.
Crackle, sizzle.
"Don't get cocky."
The scabbard was made of leather that looked like beast's fur and scales.
It looked like something's thick bone, and the crossguard had a bizarre shape like lightning.
The aura emanating from the sword drawn from thin air was both familiar and alien.
Blue lightning crackled and orbited around Callius.
As the blade was drawn from the scabbard, it contained dazzlingly blue lightning energy.
"Lightning energy? A demon sword?"
"It's an aura I've seen somewhere before."
Raiven had good intuition.
Callius planted the Tyrant Sword into the ground and grasped the Thunder Sword.
Crackle, zap!
As soon as he slowly drew it from the scabbard, the ferociously rising blue lightning enveloped Callius.
Swish.
When fully drawn, the lightning flowing from the sword stretched out as if alive.
"I'll give you one last chance."
The red-heated blade.
Conversely, the flickering blue lightning energy.
The blue reflection on Callius's face created an uncanny eeriness.
"I have never betrayed the Order."
He spoke the truth. But what returned was only mocking dismissal.
"What a joke!"
"How could your trash swordsmanship become like that without the help of a holy relic."
But even at their mockery, Callius curved his lips.
"Right."
He had thought maybe, and indeed it was so.
Even the slightest guilt in his heart seemed to be washed away.
"Keep not believing."
From now on, even if they believed, he wouldn't stop his sword.
The moment they thought Callius's sword had pointed toward the sky.
Kwaddudududuk!
Heaven and earth were overturned.