Ch. 229

The match followed standard regulations: three rounds, each with a five-minute time limit. And during that long-awaited first round, I saw nothing.

Literally nothing.

The other spectators were just as stunned.

Instead of cheering, everyone held their breath, fidgeting and groaning like dogs that needed to pee.

They had to know what was happening to react, but it was like we’d all gone blind.

Was that dark blur the wind or Rovenin? Was that faint, shifting blue shape Trenpe?

Everyone had probably expected to see something spectacular.

A clash between Swordmasters, a battle of pride—how fierce and thrilling it would be. They must have come here full of those expectations.

But it was a huge misconception. Almost everyone, myself included, couldn’t even follow the shadows of their fight.

At best, Ash was probably the only one properly watching the duel.

[I’m here, Master! Huh? What’s wrong?]

Aside from the occasional clang of colliding blades and the brief moments when they paused to check their distance, there was nothing to see.

I seriously considered burying my face in my knees and crying.

[Are you crying? I got you binoculars, so cheer up! Here! Look through these, quick!]

[…Binoculars or not, I still need something to see! Those guys are too fast to even tell what they’re doing! I can’t even tell who is who in the first place!]

This wasn’t a fight for ordinary people. It wasn’t some street brawl you could sit back and enjoy.

If I’d been even a little more petty, I would’ve demanded a refund. It was like going to a concert and not being able to hear the music because you were out of range.

I’d come all this way to see the duel of the century, only to find the players’ level was so high that normal people couldn’t see anything. It was tragic.

“Agh!”

No matter how hard I strained my eyes, it was useless.

Whenever I thought, ‘Ah, he swung!’ the other one was suddenly on the opposite side, and by the time I managed to follow him with my eyes, they were already far apart again.

[The Count’s sword is faster, Master.]

[You can see that?]

[It’s more like I feel it, right? In the end, what they’re swinging is just a metal object. Since metal is under my jurisdiction… I can roughly sense where it’s moving.]

I’m worse than Rai.

Rai plopped the binoculars he’d brought onto my lap, but it only made me feel worse.

It didn’t seem like I’d see anything even if I used them. I tried, but the narrowed field of vision only made it harder to follow their movements.

“…Can it really be this invisible…? I’m starting to feel some self-loathing.”

[…Why are you suddenly using formal speech?]

“I’m having a serious reality check.”

[Hey, it happens. Master is a Spirit Mage, right? There’s no need for you to move fast. You know you’re saying this out loud, right?]

Maybe I wasn’t the only one shaken by this duel, but the shock I took was on another level. Other people could still think, ‘Wow, so that’s how amazing Swordmasters are,’ and just be impressed, but this wasn’t someone else’s problem to me.

As someone grinding her teeth, aiming to fight one of them, I couldn’t help feeling miserable. The shock of not even being able to see their movements was enormous.

I’d thought I’d been training in my own way, so it felt like I’d been betrayed by myself.

I’d watched Ash use his sword carefully and felt relieved that I could see quite a bit, but now I realized that was only because Ash had never needed to fight with all his strength. I had completely underestimated him.

‘This is wrong… This can’t be right! I’m at way too much of a disadvantage! The moment I fight Rovenin, my head will fly off!’

If I let Rai eat Rovenin’s sword first, I might have a shot at winning. But I didn’t want to win like that.

I wanted him to show his swordsmanship as a swordsman, and I wanted to win as a Spirit Mage.

Stopping him from using his sword was the same as stopping me from using Spirits. It wasn’t that I was obsessed with fairness, but I had a lot of pride as a Spirit Mage.

If I only wanted to kill him, I would’ve just poisoned him without any fuss.

I wanted to defeat him as a Spirit Mage. That was the only way to restore and protect the pride that had been crushed in my childhood.

I knew in my head that Mages couldn’t fight swordsmen, but I’d thought I was different, that someday I could win. I don’t think I properly accounted for how exceptional he was. Whether I didn’t want to admit it or just didn’t think it was this bad.

Watching that maddeningly complex exchange of blades and those lightning-fast movements I couldn’t even dream of tracking, I was honestly scared.

And I was angry that my eyes couldn’t even tell whose blood that red stain on the arena floor belonged to.

While staring uselessly at a match whose progress I couldn’t grasp at all, I only became more convinced that I couldn’t beat Rovenin.

Since I’d never seen a sword fight at this level before, the shock hit even harder.

‘I never underestimated swordsmen. But I had no idea they could become this strong. They’re already beyond human!’

Can I beat Rovenin without taking his sword?

Is that really how I want to win?

No—but that guy is a monster. While I was being torn apart by that dilemma, the first round ended. Judging from the fact that even the judges hadn’t really seen the match clearly, they couldn’t easily decide the winner.

Then, after they checked the wound on Rovenin’s forearm, the first round was awarded to the Count.

A short break was given before the second round began, and I felt exhausted, as if I’d been the one fighting.

I was so deflated that even Ash started to worry.

“You could see it, right?”

“…Roughly.”

“I couldn’t see anything. I tried so hard to catch just a glimpse that I got dizzy. It turns out this is all I am.”

(T/N : Where is the ever narcissistic Geenie I know? Im not used to this version of Geenie. Reality check does hit deep. Im sure Geenie will make a comeback. )

I was someone whose overflowing confidence was usually the problem, yet for a moment I shrank in front of the battle between these two swordsmen who’d gone beyond human limits.

Thinking back, the strongest swordsman I’d seen up close was Ash, and even then I’d never been able to fully follow the tip of his sword.

And he’d never once pointed that sword tip at me. What a kind world I’d been living in.

[Ugh… I’m mad!]

[Because Rovenin is stronger than you thought?]

[No! Because I think I’ve grown up too sheltered!]

[…? What? I don’t have ears. Can you say that again?]

[I think I grew up too much like a hothouse flower! That’s why I’m so complacent!]

[Did you forget about getting kidnapped by that dragon who snacks on ogres? Or grinding those slave traders into dust? And just recently, almost getting crushed to death under the lake while treasure hunting?]

No matter what Rai said, my frustration wouldn’t go away.

While I gnawed on my fingertips, the second round started, but for some reason I didn’t want to look. I wouldn’t see anything anyway.

Ash tried to comfort me, but it didn’t help much.

“Geenie, don’t rush to see with your eyes. Try to find their presence first.”

“Easier said than done! Do you think I’m you!”

“Now… don’t get mad. You can do it too. It’s just a matter of technique. Trust me and close your eyes.”

“…If I close my eyes, I’ll see even less.”

“Don’t say that. Just once, please.”

Grumbling at his gentle coaxing, I reluctantly closed my eyes.

Honestly, if I couldn’t see anything with them open, I didn’t have much to lose by closing them.

While the others cheered at the start of the round, all I was aware of was my eyeballs rolling behind my lids.

“It’s not difficult. It might even be easy for you.”

“There are too many people… Rovenin’s presence is too far away.”

“Ignore what you don’t need.”

I knew what Ash meant, but it was hard to focus.

With my eyes closed, the sound of countless people all mixed together into a jumble and felt like it was pouring down on me.

“There are two fierce beasts locked in an intense fight over there. And there might be rabbits, squirrels… chickens nearby. But those two are completely different from those things. Two big ones. You know that, right, Geenie? They’re different.”

“Umm…”

“Find them, focus on them, and feel them. Make them yours.”

Ash’s slow stroking of my shoulder helped me relax my body.

With my eyes closed and my arms folded, I slowly fumbled through the darkness for those two unusually large, ferocious presences. They were far away, but I could feel them. Their existence stood out far more clearly and overwhelmingly than anyone else’s here.

“Normally, it would be hard to sense them because they’d be suppressing their presence, but not now. They’re bristling with killing intent, competing to see who is the stronger being. There won’t be an easier time to feel them than this. Geenie, you can feel them.”

“I feel them.”

“Then grab them.”

I steadied myself with a sensation similar to when I trained my Mana, holding my breath.

In this noisy heat, they felt cold precisely because they were so sharp. I felt like I’d lose that feeling the moment I opened my eyes.

“I don’t know. What does it mean to grab them?”

“It’s hard because you’re thinking about it too much. Geenie? You’re the one who controls that big Spirit… Endairon, right?”

“Why are you bringing up Endairon?”

“You’re the one who controls something like that. You controlled that enormous being so precisely that it filled and swept through the cave, yet never touched us. It’s similar to that. It’s all about where you place your senses.”

“…Where.”

“Yes, that’s the only difference. Sensing is easier than controlling. You have to sense something first to control it, right? Right? You already know how to do this. You just never had anyone explain the trick to you.”

Like when I controlled Endairon… like when I sensed that massive body and decided where it would flow…

I didn’t know how long I’d been concentrating, but the moment I clearly felt the presence of Rovenin and Count Trenpe was when they started using Sword energy.

Even with my eyes closed, the sharpness of it made my fingertips twitch when their Sword energies clashed fiercely.

The flow of Mana can be felt even with your eyes shut. Above all, Sword energy is fierce like a falling thunderbolt, and desolate like the deep crater left where it strikes.

“Did you find it?”

I nodded slightly.

“If their movements have entered you, then open your eyes.”

I opened my eyes, and even then, the sensation I’d grabbed didn’t vanish.

It was closer to reading and feeling the flow than to simply seeing it. Like Rai said, feeling the metal.

“I see it.”

The traces of Sword energy were drawn clearly in my mind. Who was dominating?

It was Rovenin.

He was swallowing the Count.