Sleung – As Kail drew his sword, Kaines hardened his expression and raised both hands.
“Where exactly did you hear that nonsense─.”
Kaines, who had been smoothly continuing his sentence, suddenly recoiled at an unimaginable timing. Kail, who had rushed forward the moment Kaines flinched, found that the distance between them wasn’t closing as expected.
Upon closer inspection, Kaines was escaping as if gliding across the ground. How such a thing was possible was beyond comprehension. After all, Aura manifested wildly different effects depending on the user. Maybe becoming a Master with a bow instead of a sword allowed for something like this.
And so, Kail utilized the privilege of his youthful body in its prime—boundless stamina. Without holding back, he pounded the ground beneath him, propelling himself forward like a cannonball.
“There─!”
“What a beastly display.”
A surprisingly swift but ultimately futile chase unfolded briefly—until Kaines reached into his pocket and pulled out his magically compacted bow.
The moment his Aura coursed through the bow, the embedded magic activated, completing a bow nearly half the size of what he usually used.
A shortbow, designed for mounted combat or firing while moving, now rested in his hand. Twisting only his upper body while still sliding backward, Kaines fired the bow without hesitation.
*Fweeeng!*
“Ugh-!?”
Kail, intending to casually deflect the not-so-fast arrow, felt an overwhelming pressure crash over him the moment his Aura Blade clashed with the arrow’s Aura.
His arm was violently thrown back, and his forward momentum abruptly slowed.
Seeing Kail’s pace falter, Kaines seized the opportunity, continuously firing arrows to press Kail further. Once the gap widened even slightly, it quickly grew to an insurmountable distance.
Having fled to a range where pursuit on foot was impossible, Kaines leisurely stopped and returned the bow to his pocket.
“─For a swordsman to challenge an archer. Foolish.”
“You damn ranged brat…”
“Lack of experience, kid. If you’d known who I was, you would’ve called for backup instead of charging in alone.”
Shrugging his shoulders, Kaines lamented how Kail’s overconfidence had ruined everything. Though unlikely, had Kail brought the Academy’s Headmaster along? Kaines wouldn’t have escaped so easily.
“In any case, consider my earlier offer nullified.”
“─Hoo.”
“Then, this─.”
As Kaines turned to leave, he realized something had cleanly severed his arm and flown off.
Glancing down at his detached arm and cautiously turning his head, he spotted Kail standing there, having just thrown something.
Kail, who had hurled his own sword, smirked as he looked at Kaines with his severed arm.
“Strike.”
“You damned brat…!”
“So you’re not the only one who can attack from afar, huh?”
“You lunatic! How do you plan to block my attacks now that you don’t have a sword?”
As Kaines spoke, he once again drew his bow. Kail, wondering how Kaines could possibly fire a bow with one arm missing, noticed that no blood flowed from the stump.
Though droplets of blood formed, they didn’t flow further. Puzzled by this, Kail soon saw the concentrated Aura emanating from the severed cross-section and understood the trick.
‘What is that?’
Kaines had used Aura to recreate his lost left arm. By sealing off the severed area, blood pooled but didn’t spill.
With his newly formed Aura Hand, Kaines gripped the bowstring. The Aura dripping from his fingertips coalesced into a sharp arrow.
“Die.”
Heaven’s Bow.
Watching the densely concentrated Aura arrow fly toward him, Kail sensed the world slowing down—a phenomenon akin to the flashbacks one experiences at death’s door.
Instinctively, he knew being hit by that arrow meant certain death. Yet, he couldn’t block or dodge it. To unleash his Aura Blade, he needed a sword—but he’d already thrown his far away.
Dodging was equally impossible since the Aura-infused arrow would follow his movements, guided by Kaines’ will.
‘Damn, I shouldn’t have thrown my sword.’
This was the price of acting without thinking. In this infinitely stretched world, Kail faced a choice: remain trapped forever within his mind or accept death and return to reality.
Neither option appealed to him. He didn’t want to be eternally imprisoned in his mental world to avoid death, nor did he wish to embrace it.
Thus, solving the problem required a method no ordinary person could conceive. After pondering briefly, Kail realized the answer to every problem lay within the problem itself.
‘Ah-ha.’
At this moment, the problem was the incoming Aura arrow.
Staring at the arrow, Kail grasped the solution.
Closing his eyes, he seized the Aura flowing within his body.
Without a sword, he couldn’t manifest an Aura Blade—that common belief controlled his subconscious.
But hadn’t Kaines just proven otherwise with his actions?
‘I’ll draw it out.’
In his mind, he envisioned a single sword. While impossible for an ordinary person to materialize a blade from imagination, an Aura Master had ample resources to bring such visions to life.
They could project imagined constructs into reality. And so, Kail did. Grasping the Aura Blade now firmly in his hand, he smiled with satisfaction.
The next instant, he slashed the arrow hurtling toward him. Though both were dense manifestations of Aura, the blade clinging to his body was more tightly condensed than the detached arrow.
*KABOOM!*
The collision of Aura against Aura erupted in a deafening explosion. Watching the shattered Aura arrow dissipate, Kail finally exhaled deeply.
Lost in thought, breathing in and out absentmindedly, he suddenly remembered he had been chasing Kaines and snapped his head up.
By then, Kaines had already fled—taking his severed arm with him.
* * *
‘Damn, what kind of monster is that guy?’
While fleeing with his severed arm, Kaines recalled the scene he’d just witnessed—the swordsman, deprived of his weapon, crafting a sword from pure Aura to slice through his arrow.
Kaines hadn’t arrogantly believed he alone could create bows and arrows from Aura; surely others could achieve similar feats.
But for a swordsman, especially a newly minted Master, to accomplish such a feat? Unbelievable. Even the organization’s elite “Swords” couldn’t manage that, could they?
‘Should I eliminate him now before it’s too late?’
Kaines knew all too well how monstrous talents grew when left unchecked. They advanced at an astonishing rate, almost imperceptibly.
If he let Kail live, who knew how much stronger he’d become by their next encounter?
‘…I’ll suggest it upon my return.’
Fortunately, the organization housed plenty of madmen eager to crush burgeoning talents. Whether the fruit was ripe or not, they’d pluck it and feast without hesitation.
Deciding to enlist their help, Kaines swiftly exited the Academy grounds.
* * *
After the fight ended, I walked in the direction I’d thrown my sword to retrieve it.
Upon spotting where it had landed, my expression darkened.
‘Oh no, this is bad.’
The sword was embedded deep in the Headmaster’s office window. Considering the protective barrier the Headmaster had set up after the recent theft incident, this meant my sword had shattered that barrier before lodging itself there.
Imagining the Headmaster stroking his beard in frustration, I shivered slightly and cautiously climbed to his office.
As expected, the Headmaster sat there, scowling and sipping tea.
“Student Kail Meyer.”
“Yes, Headmaster.”
“Did someone order you to assassinate me?”
“No, nothing like that.”
“Then explain why a sword infused with Aura flew straight into my office window.”
“Well─.”
I gave my best excuse: terrorists had infiltrated the Academy, and I threw my sword to stop them from escaping.
I saw it sever an arm but never expected it to fly all the way here.
The Headmaster stared at me incredulously.
“Shouldn’t you have informed an adult like me or Sir Gawein first?”
“Yes, I suppose so…?”
“Had you done that, we could’ve apprehended him without issue.”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“Then, Kail, this entire incident is entirely your fault.”
“Yes, it is…”
“Punishment. Clean the faculty restroom for a week. Any objections?”
“None at all…”
Thankfully, the Headmaster was merciful and let the matter drop.
