Upon arriving at the training ground, Kail gazed steadily at the knights running hard across the training field.
Whether they sensed his gaze or not, one senior knight who had been leading the knights came dashing over.
“Sir Kail. What brings you here?”
“Oh, nothing much. Just thought I’d do a little training.”
The rumor of him defeating both the head of the knights and Myungwol in consecutive battles with just one sword had already spread throughout the Imperial Capital.
Rather than dismissing him as a mere boy, the knights treated him as a Master who had completed a single sword.
Receiving the utmost hospitality from the senior knight, Kail was able to claim a portion of the training ground for himself.
“You can use this area.”
“Thanks.”
“If it’s not too much trouble, may I observe your training?”
“No problem.”
It felt odd to decline after being treated so well, but there was one issue. Kail had come here to test the abilities of the Demon Sword.
Not knowing what powers the Demon Sword held, could he really have the knights nearby?
“It might be dangerous.”
“I’ll manage. I’m prepared for that.”
“In that case, sure.”
After issuing his warning, Kail watched as the surrounding knights encircled him like spectators, then carefully drew his sword.
The moment he unsheathed the Demon Sword, the knights who had been calmly watching him shifted into battle stance. The demonic energy emanating from the sword had provoked them.
“Tch.”
Kail smirked at the knights before infusing Aura into the Demon Sword. His Aura suppressed the demonic energy of the sword and began to awaken the demon within.
Perhaps due to holding the Demon Sword, the sacred mark on the back of his hand also started to react. The Demon Sword, which hadn’t shown any reaction when he infused Aura, began to radiate demonic energy like it was having a seizure upon contact with the holy power of the sacred mark.
“Ugh-!”
“What is this…!”
“He wields something like that…?”
Ignoring the astonished voices of the surrounding knights, Kail focused on handling the Demon Sword.
At some point, Kail found himself stepping into a world entirely blackened.
He quickly realized this place was inside the Demon Sword.
“Is anyone here?”
A pitch-black world without a single ray of light. Kail raised the back of his hand and activated the sacred mark. Holy rays burst forth from the imprint given by the Virgin Saintess, beginning to erase the darkness.
An evil spirit hiding in the shadows, waiting for an opportunity, spasmed as it was grazed by the holy rays.
─Kyaaaaaaak-!
For a demon, holy power was its natural enemy. At just a touch, the holy light that set its whole body ablaze caused the demon to start wrapping the surrounding darkness around itself to shield from the light.
Cloaked in darkness like a mantle, blocking out the light, the demon burned with blue eyes from beneath its unseen hood.
Seeing this, Kail smirked.
“Come at me.”
─Krrrr……
“Why, are you scared because of this?”
Watching the demon lurking far away, waiting for an opportunity, Kail extinguished the glowing sacred mark on the back of his hand.
The moment the sacred mark lost its light, the demon lunged fiercely as if it had been waiting for this moment. Its movements, cloaked in darkness within the shadows, were impossible to track with the naked eye, leaving only trails of blue light where it passed.
But Kail was someone who could emit another ray of light besides the sacred mark. Aura Blade. The superhuman power that cuts through anything began to shine.
─Kyaaaaaak-!
Unlike the holy power that caused spasms at just a touch, perhaps thinking the Aura Blade was manageable, the demon launched itself straight at Kail.
Kail swung his sword nonchalantly at the demon flying towards him. It was the Meyer style he had spent over a decade sweating and bleeding to master, now flowing naturally without conscious effort.
“Flash Chaos.”
In an instant, Kail’s arm split into dozens. Moving so fast, it appeared as if a single arm had divided into dozens.
The demon smirked seeing the dozens of arms but couldn’t laugh at what happened next. The Aura Blade that grazed past it split the demon’s body into dozens of pieces.
Normally, it should have been able to recover using the surrounding darkness, but for some reason, its body wouldn’t reattach.
Kail looked down at the demon twitching in dozens of pieces and gripped the Aura Blade.
“I met a guy like you not too long ago.”
Thinking of the Apostle of the Evil God Cult—a monster that wouldn’t die no matter how many times he killed it—Kail whispered that this was excessively easy compared to that, and cleaved the demon’s head.
At the same time—he returned to the original world.
Emerging from the demon’s mindscape filled with nothing but darkness, Kail surveyed the knights sprawled around him, pondering what exactly had happened.
“What the, these guys……”
They didn’t look like they had fallen from being struck. After all, even the captain of the knights, a fellow Master like himself, lay collapsed over there.
Even if they had been manipulated by the Demon Sword while he fought it, the forces capable of easily subduing them were right in front of his eyes.
Thus, their collapse wasn’t due to getting hit by someone else—it was due to something else.
“You alright?”
Tapping a knight lightly with his foot, the fallen knight merely twitched once—! showing no other reaction.
Observing them, Kail understood what had happened from the demonic energy emanating from the collapsed bodies.
‘Could it be that these guys went through the same thing I did?’
While he activated the Demon Sword’s ability and fought inside it, the surrounding knights had also been swept up by the Demon Sword’s power.
Meaning, the Demon Sword’s ability invited everyone nearby, including himself, into its mental world.
Until they defeated the hidden demon within, escape was impossible.
“Nice, this is.”
What could be called a dual-purpose technique. Dragging everyone around him into the Demon Sword and preventing escape until they defeated the demon.
Neither Masters nor even quite powerful Masters could avoid it, making it a finishing move that could hold them captive for a considerable amount of time.
The problem was that it dragged everyone in indiscriminately, but for an Aura Master like himself, that was rather an advantage.
‘If I infiltrate enemy territory and use this, I can subdue Masters and everyone else…….’
It was a Demon Sword specialized for guerrilla tactics.
What if it were wielded by an Aura Master specialized in guerrilla tactics?
It could perform better than most strategic weapons.
“But, when will these people wake up?”
As Kail worriedly eyed the knights, Bellion, noticing the commotion from afar, came running over.
Meeting him right after causing trouble was awkward, but he was also the only person who could resolve the current situation.
“Leon!”
“Kail! What kind of trouble have you caused this time!”
“Not exactly trouble…… First, can you call some people?”
“What do you mean, what happened!?”
“I was testing this and it got out of hand.”
Kail said this while casually lifting the Demon Sword Bellion had handed over. Seeing the Demon Sword, Bellion sighed in understanding and buried his face in his hands.
“……Clerics would suffice, right?”
“Please.”
Despite running all the way here, Bellion ended up sprinting again to gather every cleric in the Imperial Palace.
Only after receiving purification from the clerics did the knights finally open their eyes, suffering from PTSD for a while.
***
After the aftermath of the incident was handled, Kail received a scolding in Bellion’s room.
“How could you use that there?”
“I warned them it was dangerous.”
“No matter what, still……!”
Looking at the frustrated Bellion, Kail felt a bit guilty. But he couldn’t help it.
‘How was I supposed to know it had that kind of ability.’
Had he known, he wouldn’t have used it there. Even if he had known, there wasn’t anywhere else to practice.
“To begin with, aren’t the knights guarding the Imperial Palace too weak? Traumatized from fighting a demon for a short while? Back in my day—.”
“What do you mean, back in your day? The youngest member of the Imperial Knight Order is older than you by several years…….”
“I’m just saying, that’s all.”
Chuckling softly, Kail watched Bellion sigh deeply. Fortunately, this incident didn’t escalate into a major event.
No one died, it wasn’t Kail’s intention, and he had given prior warning—all these factors were considered.
Additionally, the highest-ranking official responsible for this incident—the head of the knights—was someone with a similarly stubborn mindset as Kail.
Because the head of the knights argued, like Kail said, that if they had been stronger, this wouldn’t have happened.
‘Seriously, there aren’t any decent people in this palace…….’
As Bellion cursed inwardly, someone knocked gently on the door. Bellion sighed deeply and said to come in, and at the same moment, a man swiftly appeared between the two.
“—What.”
“Huh, huh?”
Swiftly thrusting his sword at the suddenly appearing green-haired man, Kail acted instinctively.
The man lightly pushed away the sharp Demon Sword aimed at him with his hand and laughed with a carefree expression.
“Isn’t drawing your sword the moment you see me a bit much?”
“……Is that something a person who suddenly appears should say?”
“I knocked, didn’t I?”
“You knocked?”
Hearing that, Kail emitted Aura through the door. If someone had knocked earlier, someone should have been standing in front of it, yet no presence could be felt beyond the door.
Meaning, according to the green-haired man’s words, he had knocked and teleported inside.
Into the heavily magically protected Imperial Palace, and specifically into the prince’s room.
“It’s fine, Kail. He’s someone we know.”
“Someone we know?”
“Yeah. The weirdest person in this palace.”
“That’s harsh, Your Highness. Weird?”
The green-haired man said this and teleported again, sitting casually on the bed. As Kail marveled at his effortless magic usage, Bellion revealed his identity.
“The head of the palace’s magic corps. Merlin.”
“Pleased to meet you.”
Merlin, introduced by Bellion, waved casually. However, hearing that name, Kail’s eyes widened.
It was the same name as the person who had sent Arthur to the Academy.
