The buildings in the downtown area began to crumble with just one loud roar.
“What in the…”
“The world is vast, my friend.”
Duke defended against the vassal’s axe blade with the back of his hand and swung his greatsword with as much malice extinguished as possible.
“Hieeeek!”
Although he held back, it was still a chilling blow to those on the receiving end.
“Why?? How could this be??”
The retainers were confused.
They understood that with many eyes watching, they had to fight their best.
But they questioned if it had to go this far.
Of course, none of those feelings reached Duke.
‘A battle of clashing ideals! It’s a situation that makes the heart swell!’
To Duke, the knight chasing romantic ideals, there was nothing more enjoyable than having to point his sword at his own allies in order to protect his beliefs.
Of course, that wasn’t the only reason.
‘Soon Sneeria Realm will be under attack as well.’
He figured it wouldn’t hurt to use this chance to power everyone up.
Duke swung his greatsword downwards, consciously controlling the speed so the retainers could narrowly avoid it.
Kooowng!
A dividing line was carved into the ground where the sword struck.
The shadows split apart along that line.
The moment Duke’s gaze turned toward the two resulting shadowy heaps, a whip sprung from his own shadow.
“Hmm.”
The moment the whip coiled around his arm, concealed daggers from the shadows where the retainers hid lunged for his armpits, spots that were difficult to defend with armor.
‘So they’re targeting the Achilles’ heels that are hard to defend. Well trained indeed.’
Duke, pleased with their training, smirked.
‘If they can handle this, I can go a bit harder.’
Tzeaaang!
An incredible sound echoed, one that was hard to believe came from a cloth uniform.
The daggers that rebounded off Duke’s armpits clearly conveyed their owners’ bewilderment.
But the merciless knight Duke had no intention of waiting for them now that his sword was drawn.
“In battle, hesitation is death. Consider this good fortune.”
As he said that, he grabbed the still airborne pole.
As Duke pulled the pole towards him, the retainer holding it came flying up like a crop being harvested.
“Wha…?”
“You’ve come this far.”
Duke grabbed the retainer by the collar and threw him into the air.
Kooowng!
The retainer thrown by Duke slammed into a wall without the chance to dissipate into shadows to reduce the impact.
“You’re not dead, I’m sure.”
At Duke’s words, another retainer flew out from the shadows to rescue the fallen one while shaking his head at the others.
– “He’s not dead, but he’s in pain as if he could be.”
– “This will take a while to heal.”
Biting their teeth, the retainers readjusted their grips on their weapons.
But even in this seemingly desperate situation, they could give their all because their lord was leading the charge.
“Haaaat!”
Hana emerged from the shadows and swung her scythe in a large arc, aiming for the neck.
Duke caught the scythe with telekinesis just before it reached his neck and swung his sword upwards.
Hana maintained her form until the sword was just about to touch her, then dispersed into shadowy crows.
“Good attempt.”
Ordinarily, the crows would have distracted him and opened him up to attack.
But Duke wasn’t someone who relied solely on sight.
‘Right side.’
Following her magic, Duke swung his sword.
When the sword cut through another shadowy figure, he realized he’d been deceived.
‘Then let’s try… above!’
Tzaaaang!
Switching her scythe to an axe, she delivered a powerful strike with the help of gravity.
For the first time, Duke’s knees buckled slightly.
‘As expected!’
There was no sense of shame.
After all, he had been holding back his abilities specifically for her and the retainers.
If anything, he was the one surprised by her achievement.
“You have a great understanding of yourself.”
Duke didn’t hesitate to offer praise whenever he got the chance.
It was his own prescription for her, someone who always lacked confidence in the original story.
Hana too accepted his praise with a small smile.
‘Enjoying this.’
She didn’t fundamentally enjoy combat.
She joined the resistance out of a sense of mission, swung her scythe for her beliefs, maintained her position as lady of the manor with a sense of responsibility. To her, her own realm of martial arts was merely a means to create an ideal world.
She liked meditation and training, but combat with the intention of harming others was a tough duty she never enjoyed.
However, while listening to Duke’s praise, her thoughts began to change.
‘It’s not that I dislike combat..’
She just…
‘I needed to be praised.’
Even while managing the manor with responsibility, hearing the occasional “thank you” from her people gave her the strength to get up again.
But in combat, there was none of that.
When her combat ended, all that was left were retainers thanking her for her hard work, with no one truly acknowledging her effort in that single battle.
For her, Duke’s incessant praise…
‘This is what it feels like to be recognized.’
This was enough to make her smile.
Kooowng!
The clash of their sword auras turned the surrounding area into a wasteland.
Then from the direction of the lord’s mansion where Duke had his back turned, a thunderous sound came.
“Hmm. It looks like they’re finishing up over there.”
With that, the excitement in Hana’s chest began to ebb.
‘Happy times always end so quickly.’
She too was ready to conclude, acknowledging defeat and gathering her shadowy scythe and retainers.
“Indeed, my…”
However, Duke interrupted her words.
“Let’s go all out with the final strike. Don’t worry about the surroundings.”
Hana tightened her grip on her scythe.
‘Really, is it truly alright?’
Was it okay to go all out without considering the damage to the surroundings?
As if reading her thoughts from her face, Duke encouraged her.
“Trust me. Give it your all, everything you’ve worked to achieve. I will affirm you.”
Hana let go of her last thread of reason, drawn in by the deep voice ringing in her ears.
– “We can’t, My Lady!”
Ignoring the retainers’ protests from the shadows, she began gathering her magic.
Duke also switched from holding his greatsword with one hand to both, and began gathering his magic.
“Come! Cut the chains of responsibility that weigh you down with that scythe!”
A dark mist formed from shadows rose around Hana’s body.
Just once.
She was going to put everything into this single strike.
“At this moment, you are not Sneeria, but Yohana!”
The mist began taking on a more defined shape.
The mist turned into bones, forming a giant skeleton above her.
This was the ultimate technique she possessed.
But this moment was different.
Duke’s perception of her level increasing resonated with her.
As if responding to someone who was fully affirming her.
Level 50
The transformation was shown as muscular tendrils began covering the skeleton.
Eventually, the skeleton transformed into the dried husk of a lich, who then donned robes and spread its wings.
Right there, she gave this technique a new name.
“Mesis – Mortis!”
The reaper swung its scythe.
A chillingly dark scythe that swallowed even light and air flew towards Duke’s upper body.
Duke took a step forward and responded to the strike.
“Scythe Night.”
The tip of Duke’s sword met the scythe precisely.
The sword cut through the scythe without resistance, bisecting it and slashing through the reaper’s upper body.
The slash didn’t stop there but continued through the fortress wall behind the reaper.
There was no sound of a savage explosion.
It was hard to believe that such a precise strike had come from his heavy greatsword, and where the strike had passed, there was no sound at all.
Silently, along with the reaper, the fortress wall slid forward.
Beyond the crumbling inner fortress wall, dawn was just breaking.
With his back to the dawn, Duke questioned the stunned Hana.
“Shall we continue?”
In response to his question, Hana, with the sun at her back, replied with a refreshing smile.
“My perfect defeat.”
Simultaneously, a black message box appeared in front of Duke.
[Duke! It’s over!]
Duke nodded with satisfaction and sheathed his greatsword.
“Seems the target of our contract has disappeared. My lord and I will not punish you for your actions this dawn, Lord of Sneeria Realm.”
She too bowed her head while sweeping away her shadows.
“We’ll need to renew our contract. By the way, is it possible for me to stay here a little longer?”
“I welcome it. My lord will likely welcome it as well.”
The two, who seemed so affectionate it was hard to believe they had just fought, walked side by side toward the mansion.
Duke had an intuition that he would never forget the sight of Hana smiling with the rising sun at her back that day.
…
“Wow, is my neck still attached?”
“It seems like we did well not stepping out earlier?”
“I’m never sparring with Sir Erwick again.”
“I… my lower back… feels like it’s dying…”
“But how do we clean up this mess?”
From within Hana’s shadows, the retainers quietly exchanged hand signals.
Their gazes turned toward the neatly severed fortress wall.
Soon enough, their gazes shifted away.
“It’s not our territory.”
“Sir Erwick must’ve had his reasons.”
