I Became the Childhood Friend of the Northern Duchess – Chapter 232

Edgar finally realized.

The enemy before him had been fighting at a child’s play level until now.

Sure, they might have been sincere in their battle attitude, but there was no doubt they hadn’t fought with their full power.

It was as if they had only used their strength as a human.

But now it was different. The enemy had wiped away even the remnants of any consideration they once had.

This was no longer a battle to prove strength. It was an overwhelming situation where the strong oppressed the weak.

Edgar was acutely aware of the unreasonable violence, enduring the rain of magic falling all around him.

“Haah, haah…”

It had barely been thirty minutes since Albrecht changed appearance.

Yet Edgar’s breath had already risen to the brink.

‘This is maddening.’

Looking at the enemy, who now bore no trace of the title ‘sorcerer,’ Edgar tried to steady his labored breathing.

Each attack was heavy and sharp enough to kill him in one hit.

The moment he let his guard down, his head would surely part ways with his body.

With that tension, his head throbbed, and sweat poured down like rain.

At this point, he couldn’t even think about counterattacking or using trickery like before.

Albrecht hadn’t stopped using his magic just because his appearance changed; in fact, he was tormenting Edgar with even more diverse spells than before.

The attacks had only become fiercer, with additional tricks added.

Objectively speaking, it was a situation where it wouldn’t be strange to lose all fighting spirit.

The gap between Albrecht and Edgar was that huge.

It wasn’t just about who had greater capabilities; there was an essential disparity that made it seem impossible to bridge that gap between man and god.

Swoosh.

Edgar, who understood this better than anyone, nonetheless picked up his sword again.

His golden eyes showed no signs of agitation. The blade pointed directly at Albrecht without the slightest deviation.

From the start, he never thought he could defeat the Empire’s greatest sorcerer lightly.

He just engaged in the fight because it was necessary.

For him to collapse now after seeing such a disparity in power was far from the path Edgar Billhark pursued.

– Are you really going to charge at me like that?

As Albrecht’s voice resonated directly in his head again, Edgar calmly focused his gaze and nodded.

“Yeah.”

– Are you pretending to be strong or are you really fearless?

“Neither. Pretending to be strong doesn’t match my temperament, and saying I’m fearless just sounds like a roundabout way to call me an idiot.”

As a man, he felt there should be times to feign strength.

However, for Edgar, that wasn’t the case, at least not now.

A man’s bravado should only be used to avoid making the woman he loves cry.

And he believed that a fearless human was simply someone who didn’t know their place.

Being afraid allows a person to know when to back down and understand how to protect something.

Without the fear of losing, of being defeated, or of dying, a person was nothing more than a beast desperately clinging to a life that could end at any moment.

Edgar had never thought he wanted to become that kind of human.

– …….

As he calmly recited his thoughts, Albrecht fell silent.

He understood what the man before him wanted to say.

The reason this man was holding a sword was not out of despair or pride from not wanting to look pathetic before his enemy.

He still believed he could win.

Even after witnessing such a gap in power.

For a figure like Albrecht, it meant that there was still a glimmer of hope in Edgar’s eyes.

‘Good.’

It could be seen as an arrogant response filled with confidence.

But Albrecht, covered in dark shapes, offered a faint smile that no one else could see.

While he would’ve liked to enjoy the sight of the pitiful man floundering, on the other hand, he thought this wasn’t a bad game either.

Thud. Thud.

The dark shapes that represented Albrecht’s magic and essence resumed their movement.

Feeling the ominous aura, Edgar silently focused only on the enemy before him.

Despite the urgent situation, his mind grew colder.

It was an unprecedented sensation. It felt like the sword in his hand was alive, stubbornly refusing to part with him.

‘It’s even denser than when I faced Kelrag.’

Perhaps that meant his concentration was at its peak.

With this sensation, he felt like he could manage somehow.

It was unfounded confidence, but since it was the first time he felt this way in his life, Edgar found himself certain.

He could defeat that towering enemy.

Swoosh!

As his confidence surged, he stepped forward, and dark forms rushed at him from all directions.

As if to say they wouldn’t even give him a chance to retaliate.

Edgar immediately leaped from his position as if he had been waiting for it.

– Catio, Arma.

Unless he used floating magic, there was no place left to move in the sky.

Realizing this, Albrecht summoned various weapons with magic to aim at Edgar, who hung in midair.

Swords, spears, golden arrows, even hammers and sickles were all there.

Swoosh! With no delay, the weapons flew straight towards a single target.

Watching this unfold, Edgar’s left hand moved behind him, and he swiftly swung both hands, knocking all the projectiles aimed at him to the ground.

Crack! These weren’t mere shapes created from mana; mixed with alchemy, they were real weapons. As Edgar’s sword shattered them, iron shards fell to the ground like rain.

And shortly after, Edgar landed.

In his left hand was a new sword, somehow already in his grasp.

‘Dual wielding?’

It was the first time Albrecht had actually seen someone do that.

Dual wielding was a technique that, while it might work in a flashy dance, was hard to pull off effectively in real combat.

Moreover, the transitioning between defense and attack wasn’t very fluid.

But Albrecht interpreted the sight differently.

The fact that Edgar took out a new sword now indicated that he had given up on defense entirely to focus solely on attack.

He proved it when Edgar, who had vanished from his field of vision, suddenly closed the distance in the blink of an eye.

As if to say, now it was his turn after successfully blocking the previous attack.

With Albrecht having missed the point of initiation once again, he reflexively cast a spell.

– Lacerosus.

It was a spell similar to what Shepard had used against Kelrag a while ago.

But the details in form and size were different.

If the previous one was like a massive screw, this was smaller, like a thorn, but with many more of them.

It was only miraculous to avoid them all.

Yet, despite the countless magical thorns dancing in the air, Edgar closed the distance without an ounce of hesitation.

In retaliation, the purple thorns crashed into him.

“Ugh!”

Swish! One of the thorns grazed Edgar’s arm and cheek, drawing blood as a faint groan escaped him.

But stopping here wouldn’t open any admirable path for him.

Edgar merely moved his legs instinctively, following the direction his instincts pointed at.

With swords in both hands, he executed their respective attacks, mercilessly slicing through the incoming assault.

To Albrecht, watching those movements, it was like witnessing a possessed ghost.

That wasn’t merely a swordsman; it was almost the essence of a dual-wielder.

Bam!

The magic hurled at Edgar screamed as it disintegrated, but Albrecht remained unshaken, waiting for a chance to strike.

The moment Edgar’s movements faltered, even by the slightest margin…

Now was the time!

And that moment soon arrived.

As thorns sliced at Edgar’s legs, causing him to pause ever so slightly, Albrecht immediately condensed his mana to create a massive spear.

Whoosh! The spear, fired without even a sound, pierced Edgar’s arm.

His intent had been to strike through the heart, yet he had pivoted his body to block with his sword, causing the miscalculation.

Even though he had failed to achieve his intended target, Albrecht smiled as a victor.

However, Edgar did not stop.

Crack!

The pain in his arm radiated to his head.

At the same time, the bubbling sound filled his mind, letting the blood within him boil.

It urged him not to stop, to cut through the enemy right now.

So, with clenched teeth, Edgar overcame his pain and swung the arm that had been moving.

The blue mana enshrined in the blade cut through Albrecht’s body, slicing away the dark mass that concealed him.

But it was still insufficient.

– ……!

Just like before, Edgar’s new model vanished again.

Could he really recreate this movement after sustaining that kind of injury?

Albrecht gasped not in awe, but in horror as he drew in the shadows strewn around him once more.

‘It still works!’

However, even being a reflexive act, it was inevitably slower than responding with the eyes.

Edgar’s blade didn’t miss that fleeting moment.

In the world, it was a movement that only he could embody. That was the basis on which he aimed his sword at the illustrious Albrecht.

In close quarters, he had his own unique fighting style that guaranteed absolute superiority against anyone.

As long as he maintained that advantage, Edgar was confident he wouldn’t lose to anyone.

Even if the opponent was the Empire’s greatest sorcerer.

Jerking.

The shadow’s movements suddenly stopped.

Clearly, the target was right before Albrecht’s eyes, yet it was as if he had momentarily lost sight of his opponent’s presence.

This was inevitable. Edgar’s movements were made to create that impression.

Albrecht only realized this at the very end, yet by the time he noticed, it was already too late.

Swoosh.

The blue mana entwined in the sword fortified its form even further.

As if searching for someone, it howled and resonated with the surrounding mana.

The shadows that had been hesitating to follow Edgar’s movements reacted too late, but by then, Edgar’s blade had already found its target.

At that moment, Albrecht realized.

The man standing before him had known precisely where his heart was located all along.

There was no other reason for him to stab a spot that he would never aim for against an ordinary human, as if it were a vital point.

With a noise reminiscent of breaking water, Edgar’s blade plunged into Albrecht’s heart.

No longer did he feel the sensation of cutting through a person like before.

The strange feeling one experiences when the sword digs into flesh, the warmth of a person when they come close, the scent of blood wafting through the air, all of it had vanished.

“Cough!”

But even so, his opponent was formidable.

In that moment, Albrecht, who deemed it impossible to evade or block now, urgently cast a spell that pierced through Edgar’s abdomen with a fearsome blade.

Holding his mouth against the flood of blood that erupted, Edgar dropped the sword in his right hand to the ground.

His body, which had endured until now, screamed as though it could go on no longer.

The bones that had endured Albrecht’s immense mana were wailing in concert.

In an instant, his vision spun, but Edgar somehow managed to keep himself steady.

At the edge of his gaze was a sword lodged in Albrecht’s body, still radiating clear mana despite being disconnected from its master.

– Did you know?

“…Yeah.”

He recognized that Albrecht’s voice no longer held the strength it once did.

Of course, it wouldn’t. The spot he had pierced was where Albrecht’s heart lay.

More precisely, it was where the source of mana that now functioned as his heart resided, having transitioned away from being human.

Drip. Drip.

With such a place destroyed, there was no way even the illustrious Albrecht could withstand it.

As if to prove it, the black mass that cloaked his body began to melt away like butter, dripping to the ground.

The conclusion to the conflict that felt like it would last forever was drawing near.

Thud. Edgar’s body, realizing the end, fell forward.

Though the magic that had pierced his abdomen vanished as Albrecht’s source of mana was destroyed, the wound didn’t heal.

Boom.

“Damn it, of all times…”

A foreboding noise echoed as the remaining ruins of the ceiling began to crumble, and Edgar couldn’t hide his dismay.

Why was this building, which had held up so well throughout the fierce battle, collapsing now? The question was swiftly answered by Albrecht.

– It’s not unexpected. The reason this castle has stood was because of my mana. Naturally, it would collapse along with my death.

Who would have thought it was built that way?

The moment Edgar realized why the castle had felt sturdy during the battle, he wore a grin of curiosity.

Though the situation wasn’t exactly favorable, it was no time for satisfaction.

– If you run now, you might just save your life.

“Stop talking nonsense. My legs are shaking so much I can barely move.”

Albrecht threw his first and last piece of advice at Edgar, who lay on the ground, yet what returned was nothing but curses.

He certainly knew that he couldn’t escape that obvious truth.

But now it truly was impossible. He thought even just moving his lips was an achievement.

‘Still, did I do well enough?’

In the fairy tales he had read as a child, heroes who defeated the villain usually returned safely and lived happily ever after with the princess. Unfortunately, that didn’t seem to apply to someone who wasn’t a hero.

This time, he had truly come with the intention of returning, yet with this, he would make his second lie, feeling unworthy to face Ariel in death.

But still, wouldn’t this be considered somewhat justifiable?

Though he might not return, he was a man who had valiantly fought and died for slaying the scourge tormenting the Empire; he figured he should at least receive a compliment for that.

‘I’m so tired.’

As the sound of the crumbling castle became a lullaby, Edgar closed his eyes.

At that moment, a hazy light slipped in through his eyelids.

Surely, it was the sunlight shining through the gaps of the collapsed building. Even as his consciousness faded, he thought so.