Chapter 98
THOK—!
Memories always hurt.
Blazing black flames.
Corpses strewn beneath them.
Mother didn’t move.
Father’s eyes had lost their focus.
He grabbed their shoulders. Pushed. Shook them.
No reply. No smile.
THOKK—!
A jolt shook his shoulders.
That jolt stabbed at his memories. Twisted them.
A voice shouting from outside the barn.
Saying something was over there.
He got up the moment he heard it. Crawled. Rolled.
He crammed himself into a haystack in the corner of the barn.
Cramped and musty, buried in hay, he made a vow.
That his parents had hidden and saved his life.
That he would not let it end in vain.
That he would survive.
And that one day, far in the future—
He would choose for himself where he would die.
THOKK—!
Another jolt struck his shoulder.
Within that impact, Javier Asrahan opened his eyes.
He escaped the memory of the haystack when he was six.
Now twenty-one, he raised his head to face the present.
He saw his opponent’s startled expression.
“What the…?”
That face was lit by a fierce radiance.
The brilliant resolve that wreathed the broken table leg.
[Aura] bloomed from the wooden chunk in his hand.
And it wasn’t just the table leg.
From his grip to his wrist—
From wrist to forearm and shoulder—
Until finally, it reached the powerful beat of his heart.
THUMP, THU-THUMP!
An unprecedented resonance wrapped around his heart.
It struck his solid [Mana Heart] and cracked it open.
Like a giant groaning under the weight of the sky.
The [Mana Heart] fractured and scattered.
Destruction for the sake of regeneration.
Death in pursuit of rebirth.
Breaking and rebuilding.
Oblivion and genesis.
It scattered and split—
Converged, connected, and breathed.
The beginning and the end formed a cycle.
The end called forth the beginning.
Between one jolt and the next—
At the balance of destruction and chaotic rebirth—
Just as he had vowed within that childhood memory—
The primordial heart began to beat.
THUUUMP—!
The newly born [Mana Heart] let out its first cry.
Power on a completely different level struck his bloodstream awake.
It spread through every corner of his body.
Rampaging and seeping into him.
Every cell responded.
It was the endless circulation of [Mana] achievable only by a [Swordmaster].
Within that flow, Javier moved.
BOOM!
“……!”
He swung the table leg.
The [Aura] wrapping the table leg responded on its own.
Like a living beast hunting prey.
Each strand of the radiant [Aura] honed its edge.
It swept along the arc of the table leg in a violent storm.
It deflected the sword that Sir Cherny had been pressing down with.
CRASH!
The blade was knocked away in a single blow.
Sir Cherny’s eyes widened in shock.
‘What is this!?’
He didn’t understand.
What in the world was happening?
Why did that silver-haired brat’s table leg have [Aura]?
No—was it even possible for a mere table leg to generate [Aura]?
In a mix of disbelief, shock, and confusion, he barely recovered his sword. Pulled it back. Sensed the danger. Instinctively guarded his upper left.
BOOOM—!
Javier’s table leg came crashing down.
The [Aura] surrounding it poured forth like a beast’s fangs.
“……Ghhk!”
He barely blocked it.
He had blocked only one strike—
Yet his waist buckled.
His knees nearly gave out.
‘Impossible!’
He stumbled back in haste.
It was just a chunk of wood.
A broken table leg—nothing more.
Yet the [Aura] infused in it had forced him back?
‘This is a lie. It’s a scam!’
CRACK!
His understanding of the world began to collapse.
Even his pride felt trampled and shattered.
Sir Cherny ground his teeth in that agony.
He gripped his sword tighter, more savagely.
He was a genius swordsman in his own right.
A [Swordmaster]—a human weapon, a strategic asset.
‘I have to regain the momentum.’
Inhale—one deep breath.
With just that, he steadied his emotions.
He suppressed his panic.
Shoved the shock and confusion aside.
Collected his shaken core and focused on the opponent before him.
With cold eyes, he analyzed his foe.
SWISH!
Javier’s table leg swept horizontally like a flash of lightning.
Trailing behind it, streams of chilling [Aura] bloomed.
‘I must admit it. He’s become a [Swordmaster].’
That’s definitely [Aura].
He had to acknowledge it.
Which meant he had to counter with an even stronger [Aura] and crush him.
That was the only way to destroy this monstrous silver-haired prodigy.
With firm resolve, his eyes gleamed like blades.
‘HAAH!’
CRACK—!
A head-on clash.
With his hardened resolve, he charged.
He poured all his [Mana] into his sword.
Summoned his strongest [Aura Sword] and swung it.
‘In a clash of [Aura], I won’t lose!’
He’d spent far longer as a [Swordmaster].
His [Aura] was stronger, and his mastery of it far superior.
He believed in himself.
He was sure.
‘I’ll dominate the [Aura] battle, break that damned wooden stick, and take his head with the momentum!’
SWIIING!
Sir Cherny’s [Aura Sword].
Javier’s table leg, infused with [Aura].
Two beasts’ fangs collided.
CRAAASH—!
The sword shattered.
It exploded into dozens of fragments.
They pierced Sir Cherny’s entire body.
“……!”
He didn’t even have time to scream.
Not even a second to feel pain.
‘Why?’
He had just formed that horrified thought when—
Javier’s table leg gleamed coldly.
It slashed down like lightning on Sir Cherny’s right shoulder.
SLICK!
Blood sprayed in wild arcs.
And with it, Sir Cherny’s severed right arm flew through the air.
Still clutching the broken sword, it fell to the white marble floor, painting it red.
“……Ghhhk!”
Sir Cherny’s face twisted in agony.
But he couldn’t even clutch his severed shoulder.
A merciless kick struck him.
CRACK—!
“……!”
It crushed his nose in one blow.
He staggered, on the verge of collapsing—
But before he could fall, a hand grabbed the back of his neck.
“If anyone takes a single step forward from this point on, I’ll slice his throat.”
From behind came Javier’s chilling voice.
Only then did Sir Cherny realize what a pathetic state he was in.
‘What the—am I… a hostage now?’
His trembling eyes scanned the scene ahead.
He saw the banquet hall.
Noble ladies covering their mouths, stifling screams.
Pale-faced nobles shielding them.
Royal Guards gripping their drawn swords, frozen in confusion.
And… himself—held by the scruff of the neck by a silver-haired brat, missing an arm, taken hostage.
ZZZZZ…
At some point, a table leg had been placed atop his shoulder.
The [Aura] wrapped around it flickered coldly against his right earlobe.
In that instant, he felt it in his skin.
That he had lost.
That he was now a hostage.
That if he even attempted to resist, that [Aura] would slice through his neck in a flash.
‘I… lost to a brat like this… ghhk.’
Sir Cherny’s expression collapsed with the pride he had been barely holding on to. Of course, Javier cared nothing for his despair.
Javier’s cold gaze was fixed solely on the Royal Guards.
Still gripping Sir Cherny, he stepped back—one step, two steps—toward the corridor exit.
And then, he couldn’t help but let out a bitter smile.
‘Of all people… this guy had to be the hostage.’
To protect the Queen, he had taken the Queen’s would-be assassin as a hostage. The irony.
But it didn’t matter.
What mattered most now was not letting anyone enter the rest area at the end of the corridor.
There could still be more traitors among the Royal Guards.
He couldn’t trust anyone yet.
No one could be allowed to pass.
‘So please, Lord Lloyd. Let your effort succeed.’
So that the Queen may be saved.
Javier hoped, believed, and waited.
Just as Lloyd had believed in him and charged into this crisis—
He now vowed to believe in Lloyd and guard this place.
With determined eyes, he overwhelmed the room.
A newly born [Swordmaster], radiating the sword’s cry of awakening.
Before that majesty forged by the Iron-Blooded Knight, the Royal Guards dared not advance—they simply lowered the tips of their swords.
♣
ZEEEEEEE—!
[Asrahan Heart Technique Skill Option ④: Activating Circle Shift.]
[All Circles have been set to Gear 6. Locked at 6,000 RPM.]
‘Haaaah!’
In the silent royal rest chamber—
Beads of sweat dripped from Lloyd, one by one.
With each drop, a high-speed [Circle] spun around his heart.
The furious rotation generated suction.
The deadly poison absorbed from the Queen began accumulating around his heart.
‘Almost there.’
The amount of poison he had absorbed from the Queen—
What he had gathered around his heart was massive.
And the pressure of it was no joke.
‘One slip and it’ll spread throughout my body.’
And if it did?
He would die. No doubt.
That, he was certain of.
The toxicity he could sense even indirectly was that vicious.
‘If it spreads, it’ll not only shut down my nerves—it’ll melt everything around them.’
It would cause widespread tissue damage.
Massive blood clots would block his vessels.
Oxygen supply to his extremities would be cut off, leading to organ failure and ultimately, shock.
‘So I absolutely cannot let the Circle’s rotation slow down.’
Lloyd took every precaution.
His current state was like spinning a bucket full of poison as hard as he could.
As long as he kept spinning it, the centrifugal force held the poison in place.
But if his spinning weakened?
If the rotation slowed?
The moment that force vanished, the poison would spill everywhere.
And he, soaked in it, would die for sure.
‘So these three Circles are acting as the bucket. There. It’s done.’
ZEEEEEEEE—!
The [Circles] maintained their spin.
And now, no more poison was flowing into them.
The absorption phase was over.
“Alright. That’s the end of it, dear custo… I mean, Your Majesty.”
Lloyd slowly straightened up.
Careful not to slow the [Circles]—moving deliberately, like a sloth still half-asleep, he gently backed away from the Queen.
‘Now that absorption is done, time to safely expel it.’
Conveniently, there was a wine bottle nearby he had spotted earlier.
He picked it up.
Popped the cork.
Poured out the contents to empty it.
Then stuck his right index finger into the mouth of the bottle.
‘If I refine the poison into its pure extract, maybe five drops’ worth.’
He roughly estimated the amount of venom now raging inside his spinning [Circles].
Then focused his mind.
Regulated his breathing.
ZEEEEEE—!
While maintaining the Circle’s speed, he shifted the process.
From collection to purification.
From absorption to expulsion.
He reversed the process entirely.
And then he failed.
THOK—!
“—Gkk!”
Lloyd instinctively clutched his chest.
A searing pain tore through him, as if his heart had been squeezed and ruptured.
The shock was so intense that his vision went black for a second.
The [Circle Shift] had nearly halted from the impact.
‘What the hell. What is this?’
He was stunned.
He had done everything the same as always.
The usual pattern of absorbing and then releasing external energy.
He had followed that same, familiar process.
‘So why won’t it expel?’
The poison refused to release.
No—instead, it clung to the [Circles].
It stuck thickly to the spinning [Circles] like sticky oil residue.
It was the first time this had ever happened.
A chill ran down his spine.
‘What should I do?’
There wasn’t much time.
Even in the brief moment he pondered a solution, the poison clung even more stubbornly to the Circles.
The more it clung, the more the Circle rotation slowed.
Ding-dong.
[Asrahan Heart Technique Skill Option ④: Circle Shift movement is being disrupted.]
[Due to intense interference from an external element, Circle Shift’s maximum rotation speed is temporarily limited to Gear 5.]
[All Circles forcibly set to Gear 5. Locked at 5,000 RPM.]
ZEEEE… GRRRK!
At last, the Circle gears were forcibly dropped to Gear 5.
The max revolutions per minute had been reduced to five-sixths.
The poisonous energy trapped within the rotation responded even more violently.
It thrashed like a beast trying to break free from its cage.
‘Shit.’
Lloyd’s chest dropped.
This was no joke.
If he failed to react now, the gears would keep downgrading.
Eventually, the poison would break free of the rotation.
‘As if I’ll let it end like that!’
He racked his brain desperately.
Possibilities and hopes.
Every potential attempt and outcome.
He reviewed, checked, and calculated every scenario in an instant.
Perhaps his rising anxiety was plainly written on his face—
The pale Queen staggered to her feet and approached.
“Is something going wrong?”
“……”
He didn’t have the luxury to answer.
The Queen’s expression hardened.
“You’re unable to extract the poison you’ve absorbed?”
“……”
He barely managed a nod.
The Queen’s eyes sharpened.
“Can you concentrate the poison into one arm?”
“……”
He could.
But he didn’t want to.
Suddenly, a scene from The Iron-Blooded Knight novel flashed in his mind.
The Queen, Alicia, forcefully concentrating the poison into one arm—and cutting it off.
That was the emergency treatment she had performed on herself.
That was how she had lost her left arm.
‘No thanks to that.’
He refused with his eyes.
He motioned for her to step back.
‘Cutting off a limb is a bit much, even as a safe bet.’
If a method guaranteed loss, it was out of the question.
Better to go all-in, do or die.
Just like the method he had prepared.
‘Hoo…’
He inhaled sharply.
Facing the wall opposite the Queen—
At that moment, another ominous message appeared before his eyes.
Ding-dong.
[Asrahan Heart Technique Skill Option ④: Circle Shift is being continuously disrupted.]
[Due to increasingly intense external interference, Circle Shift’s maximum rotation speed has been limited to Gear 4.]
[All Circles forcibly adjusted to Gear 4. Locked at 4,000 RPM.]
THUUM—!
A greater resistance hit the [Circle]s.
They spun sluggishly, like wheels caught in a swamp.
The poisonous energy slowly crept out, slipping tendrils beyond the weakening centrifugal force.
A beast slipping through the cracking iron bars of its cage.
With a chill crawling over his skin, Lloyd reached out.
He grabbed a dinner knife from the table.
CRACK!
There would be no second chance.
It had to be clean in one go.
He made his decision and adjusted the gear shift.
‘2-3-3 split.’
ZEEEEEEEE—!
Set Alpha Circle to 2,000 RPM.
The other two to 3,000 RPM.
He dropped the rotational speed.
At last, the poison tore through the iron bars.
It escaped the grasp of the rotating [Circle]s.
And began its descent—toward his heart.
But in that very instant—
The three Circles, spinning at 2-3-3 ratio, resonated. They pulled together. They grabbed the poison by the scruff.
And collided.
TWAAAACK—!
Lloyd’s knife thrust out without hesitation.
Beyond that silver arc, a raging mana storm erupted.
This was the final resort—his only chance to extract the poison.
It was the moment the [Triple Detonation] was unleashed.
* * * * * *
(T/N: Im back! Lol, kidding. I had a free time so I’m trying to do some TL work. Mind you, we are still not on the regular upload schedule!)