"Let me witness what King-class Hikari no Tachi really means."
Allen shut off his sense of sound and abandoned all restraint on his own killing intent.
At that moment, within the razor-sharp focus of his Kanryū (Flow Sense)—
Threads of "vibrations" rippled outward from his throat, spreading like ripples across a lake into the sticky darkness.
It was his sharpness.
It was also his killing intent.
Striking the darkness five meters ahead.
Striking—
Those white threads of killing intent from Ghislaine, restrained though they were, still dancing!
Killing intent—
Connected.
Ripples arose from both sides—
And then began to boil!
In that instant, the surrounding "darkness" was like viscous sewage pierced by a burning rod—bubbles rising up, rupturing under the force of released killing intent!
Expansion! Trembling!
The waves surged, churning up massive tides!
Within the roar of that tide—
A vibration answered from the other throat.
"Good!"
The bubbles all burst simultaneously!
The white thread streaked through the darkness, trailing long arcs of light—
And in a blink, reached Allen's waist!
Too fast—he couldn't react!
It forced Allen out of his Kanryū state!
The world regained color!
A crimson blade leaped across space and appeared directly before Allen's abdomen!
——
Rudy was watching.
This time, his eyes were wide, refusing to miss the top-level Sword God technique often mentioned by Allen and Paul over the past two years.
As a reincarnated soul, Rudy understood how extraordinary this world of swords and magic truly was.
Especially when casting magic—mana flowed through him, and he often felt like magic was omnipotent.
Even though the highest level of magic he could use was just Saint-tier.
But how did that compare to swordsmanship?
In this world, swordsmen stood above magicians in both status and strength. They could split stone with wooden blades, defying all logic.
And the Sword God Style—whose secrets Allen grasped through "Kanryū"—stood on the same tier.
What must that look like?
This was a King-class Hikari no Tachi.
Rudy stared at Ghislaine, at the sword at her waist—
And then he blanked out.
What did it feel like?
As if one second, you were in a bustling market—then the next, the world just… went still.
He hesitated, then realized—
It wasn't the world that had gone silent.
In that moment of confusion—Ghislaine's figure vanished from his view.
Damn it! He missed it again!
He whipped his head around, trying to spot Allen's position.
But just as his neck turned—
A deafening roar exploded across the training ground! The winds howled into visible shockwaves, blasting outward from Allen's location!
Before he could even make out the scene, the dust kicked up had already blinded him.
In the howling gale, that familiar ringing sound arrived slowly in his ears.
Rudy squeezed his eyes shut—then it hit him:
It hadn't been silence—
His hearing had been knocked out!
The shockwave from the sword's air-slicing force deafened him momentarily.
Because the blade was even faster than before—so the ringing reached his ears slower!
Rudy forced his eyes open.
And saw the source of the wind.
In his view—
The tree leaves above rustled and rained down.
Between the falling leaves—
Allen stood completely still. The blade in his hand extended downward—
Held in front of him.
And just ahead of his sword—
A blade hovered.
Held by Ghislaine.
Allen had once again perfectly placed his blade where it needed to be.
With his beyond-logical "Kanryū"—
He had once again predicted the attack's landing point.
Rudy's eyes widened.
As his hearing slowly returned, Eris's cheers nearby became clearer—louder.
Lifting his own spirits.
He wanted to shout too, to release this excitement!
This was King-class Hikari no Tachi—and Allen had blocked it.
Did that mean his abilities—
But in the next instant, Allen's voice drifted through the air, causing Rudy—who knew him so well—to freeze.
Two words.
"Too bad."
His tone was cold, displeased, and regretful.
Not words of triumph aimed at Ghislaine—
More like…
Words to himself.
——
In the eye of the shockwave, Allen's tousled bangs slowly drifted down before his eyes.
He lowered his gaze.
Ghislaine's blade had stopped cleanly at his waist.
Exactly the same distance as the previous Saint-tier Hikari no Tachi.
Still fifteen centimeters.
Not even a millimeter of deviation.
Why had the wind erupted?
Because she had forcibly halted her blade fifteen centimeters before him.
The momentum ceased, but the energy carried by the sword burst into the air unrestrained—
Creating a massive, explosion-like shockwave.
In front of him, Ghislaine was staring wide-eyed at the blade in front of her, clearly stunned—and openly impressed.
Allen only shook his head, and repeated—
"Too bad."
Ghislaine's tail swished.
"Too bad? You're being too modest. Honestly, the fact that you could still predict the strike's landing point this time already amazes me."
"I've never seen a Saint-tier swordsman who could see my Hikari no Tachi. Not even among King-tier have I seen that. My former opponents at this level either reacted based on deep familiarity with the technique—dodging, or escaping the strike zone entirely. But no one has ever precisely predicted where it would land."
"Not even the Water God Style opponents I've faced."
Her words reminded Allen of that scene in the original story, after the Great Teleportation, near the forest's edge, when Ghislaine—having lost her sanity—sliced a Sword Saint into tofu cubes before they could even raise their blade.
This was Ghislaine—the Emperor-rank gatekeeper of the Sword God Style.
At that moment, the sound of Eris and Rudy's hurried footsteps echoed from behind.
Allen raised his blade—
Showing it clearly to the approaching Eris and Rudy.
Sunlight hit the blade, reflecting a cold light—mixed with a chilling aura.
It was Allen's no-longer-concealed killing intent, pouring out from the unborn, suppressed edge of his strike.
Eris stiffened, her heels skidding to a stop. Frowning, she glanced cautiously at Allen, then at Ghislaine, who was sheathing her blade.
"What just happened?! Why 'too bad'? Who won?!"
As she spoke, the blade's reflection flashed into her eyes.
Instinctively, she turned toward the light.
It came from Allen's sword.
He subtly twisted his wrist, letting sunlight run along the blade—but at the midpoint, it flashed briefly.
That flash had stunned her eyes.
Eris blinked, then stared carefully.
At the middle of the blade, where the light flickered—
Was a tiny notch.
A mark every swordsman would recognize.
It was—
A cut.
A chip made from a blade clash.
The first appearance of the Hikari no Tachi had to be presented in an almost stream-of-consciousness form, to convey the surreal nature of such a technique and the supreme clarity of Flow Sense.
Not sure if readers will like that.
But don't worry—it's just for the debut. Future battles won't always be like this. I can't afford to "pad" the word count every time (lol).
(End of Chapter)
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