Chapter 98: A Resplendent Resolution (2)
Thwack! Memories always hurt. The plume of smoke burning overhead. The corpses on the ground. Mother lay still. Father’s eyes had lost focus. Javier grabbed, shoved, and shook their shoulders. But there was no response. Not even a smile.
Thwack! The impact shook his shoulders. The impact stirred memories in him. The shout outside the barn. Something seemed to be in there! He rose the moment he heard the shout, crawling and rolling into a stack of hay in the barn. There inside the compact and musty pile of hay, Javier made a resolution. He owed his life to his parents, so he would make it worth it. He would live so that one day, he could choose the place he would take his last breath for himself.
Thwack! The impact hit his shoulders again. Javier opened his eyes amid the shock, being jostled out of the memory of when he was five years old, hiding in the pile of hay. He was now 21 years old. He lifted his head, and his eyes saw the flustered face of his enemy.
“What…”
The ferocious radiance illuminated his enemy’s face. The brilliant resolution enveloped the table leg. Javier noticed the aura in the table leg in his hand. But it wasn’t just the block of wood. His hand, wrist, arms, shoulders, and heart glimmered with the aura.
Thump…! Thump! His unprecedented resolution wrapped his heart, tapping into and opening a firm manaheart. Like the groan of a giant carrying the sky, the manaheart split and spread away. Destruction for regeneration. Death for resurrection. Breakage and recomposition. Perishing and being born. It split and spread, only to gather, connect, and breathe. The beginning and the end circulated. The beginning called the ending. In between the attractions and at the end of the balanced destruction and regeneration of chaos. The heart of the beginning pumped like his resolution from his memory.
Thud! The newly generated mana heart beat for the first time. A different force tapped his blood vessels awake. They pumped as it spread to all corners of his body, raving and seeping into himself. Every cell reacted. The mana circulated without an end, which was only possible for sword masters. Javier moved amid it.
Thwack!
“…!”
He wielded the table leg, and the aura wrapped around it reacted on its own as though it was a living beast going after its prey. Each ray of aura sharpened the blade and discharged an insurmountable, raging force, following the trajectory of the table leg. It then bounced off the sword Sir Kyle was slamming down.
Clash! As the sword bounced off, Sir Kyle’s eyes flew open in terror.
What’s happening?!
He couldn’t wrap his head around what was happening right now. Why was there an aura in the table leg in that boy’s hand? How was it possible to produce aura through an object like a table leg? Amid the curiosity, shock, and disbelief, he closely managed to grasp his sword back. He pulled it to his side, feeling a sense of crisis, and defended the left top by instinct.
Wham! Javier’s table leg came down at him, and its aura gushed out as if it was a fang of a predator.
“Argh…!”
He almost failed to block it. And even though it was just one sword strike, his waist staggered, and he almost keeled over.
No way!
He jumped back in alarm. He couldn’t believe it. The aura loaded in a mere splinter of wood made him retreat.
This is a lie. A scam!
Grit! Sir Kyle felt as though his world was crumbling to pieces. A sense of shame surged in him as his pride was shredded to pieces. Sir Kyle gritted his teeth and gripped his sword tighter. Who was he? A genius swordsman. A human weapon. A strategic arsenal.
I need to regain my footing first.
Sir Kyle took a breath, and that alone controlled his emotions enough. His heart was no longer feeling flustered. He shoved the shock and terror to the side and focused on the enemy in front of him after pulling himself together. And with a cold, icy gaze, he studied his opponent.
Slash!
The table leg was coming at him, and the aura formed in streaks following the trajectory.
Admit it. He’s become a sword master as well.
That was an aura, for sure. He had to admit it so that he could come up with a stronger aura to fight back and crush it. That would be his best shot at defeating this silver-haired, monstrously talented novice. His eyes burned with determination.
Exhale! Grit!
It was time for a head-on fight. Sir Kyle hurtled with such resolution and harnessed every bit of his mana into his sword. And there, he brandished the sword with all the aura he could muster.
There is no way I will lose in an aura-on-aura fight!
He had years more of experience as a sword master. He had to be better by several folds when it came to the power of the aura and his skills. He believed in himself and came up with a surefire method.
Suppress him in an aura sword fight, slice the table leg, and use the momentum to take his head next!
Slash! Sir Kyle’s aura sword. Javier’s aura table leg. The fangs of the two beasts collided.
Clash! The sword broke into dozens of pieces, and some of them stabbed Sir Kyle’s body.
“…!”
Sir Kyle didn’t have the time to scream or feel pain.
How?
The moment his brain formed a question in terror, he saw Javier’s table leg flash with light. Then, it came down on his right shoulder like a streak of lightning.
Slash! Blood splattered. Sir Kyle’s amputated right arm flew in the air with his sword still in its grip. It fell to the ground, the blood drawing a pool of red, staining the white marble.
“Argh…!”
Sir Kyle grimaced in pain, but before he could wrap the injury, Javier mercilessly kicked him in the gut. Bam!
“…!”
His nose got smashed, and he staggered and collapsed to the ground. But before he hit the ground, Javier grabbed the back of his neck and steadied his limp body.
“Anybody takes a step forward, and I shall slice his neck.”
Javier’s icy voice rang aloud in the room. That was when it occurred to Sir Kyle what kind of sorrowful state he found himself in.
Could this be true…? Could it be that I’ve been taken hostage?
Sir Kyle’s trembling eyes stared straight ahead. The banquet hall came into view. The noble women clamped their mouths with their hands, holding their screams. The nobles, drained of color, protected their noble wives. The royal guards flinched with swords in their hands, all flustered. Then, he looked down at himself. A hostage without a right arm, whose neck was being gripped by the mewling silver-haired boy.
Whoosh… He suddenly felt the table leg on his shoulder. Its aura licked his right earlobe to his terror. That was when he had a realization. He had lost. He had become a hostage. Any struggle and he would get beheaded.
I… lost to this boy…? Argh…
Sir Kyle’s face fell at last, along with the pride he held so dearly. But Javier didn’t care in the least about his despair. Javier simply stared at the royal guards as he took steps toward the entrance of the corridor. At that moment, he smiled wryly.
Out of all the people in here, this one had to be my hostage.
It was ironic that the person Javier held hostage to protect the queen was her would-be assassin. But he didn’t care. His most important mission right now was to ensure that no one would step foot in the rest area. There may be a traitor among the guards. Javier couldn’t trust anyone, so he made sure that no one passed him.
Master Lloyd… May what you are doing end in success…
He wished that Lloyd would save the queen. He hoped and waited faithfully, and just as Lloyd got involved in this case through his trust in Javier, the same thing would be done for him. Javier would guard this place due to his trust in Lloyd. Javier’s gaze suppressed everyone with its hostility. The new sword master. The royal guards could do nothing but lower their swords in the face of his overwhelming might.
Ziiing…!
[The Asrahan Core Technique Skill Option 4: Circle Shift has been activated.]
[All the circles are set to gear six. Fixed at RPM 6,000.]
Hmph!
The rest area was quiet. Beads of sweat dripped from Lloyd’s face. The circle rotated at high speed around his heart, creating a strong absorption power and wrapping the poison around his organ.
It’s almost done.
The volume and potency of the poison he absorbed from the queen was no laughing matter.
One mistake, and it’ll spread all over my body.
If that happened, he would die for sure. He could ascertain as the poison felt potent even though he was feeling it indirectly.
The moment it spreads, it’s going to block all my nerves and melt their surrounding tissue.
It’d inflict comprehensive damage to his tissue, and large blood clots would block his blood flow, putting a halt to the oxygen supply in his body. Once that happened, all his organs would stop functioning, and he would fall into shock.
I must never lower the circle rotation power.
Lloyd stayed vigilant, never letting his guard down. He was like a poison-filled bucket going around at full speed. As long as it kept spinning, the centrifugal force would be maintained and keep the poison in check. But once it weakened, the rotation would slow down and make the poison burst out of the bucket as there would be no centrifugal force. It would cover him, and he would surely die as a result.
So, these three circles act like a bucket. Okay, I’m done.
Ziiing! The circles continued spinning, and now, no poison could be absorbed. It was finished.
“Okay. It’s done, my dear client, no, Your Highness…”
Lloyd slowly rose lest the circles’ rotations lose their speed. Like a sleepy sloth, he measured his steps and walked away from the queen.
The absorption is done. It’s time to safely discharge it.
He spotted the wine bottle he had already eyed a while ago. Grabbing the wine bottle, he pulled the cork out and emptied the bottle. Then, he stuck his right index finger into the opening.
If I boil down the poison, I’d have about five drops.
He estimated the actual amount of the poison going rampant in the trap of his circles. He concentrated his mind, measuring his breath.
Zing! Keeping the rotation power intact, he shifted the direction. From collection to purification. From absorption to discharge. He took the steps opposite to what he had been taking. And he failed.
Thwack!
“Ack…!”
Lloyd reflexively clutched his heart, which was wracked with excruciating pain that seemed to squeeze it until it burst. Everything turned black at the massive pain, and he almost stopped the Circle Shift.
What the heck? What is this?
He was confused. He had done everything he normally did. Absorb the external energy and discharge it. He had simply followed his usual procedure.
Why can’t I discharge it?
The poison could not be released. It instead stuck to the circle like a sticky oil residue. It was glued to the rotating circle. This was something he was experiencing for the first time. He was scared.
What should I do?
Time wasn’t on Lloyd’s side. The poison continued to stick more and more to the circle with great tenacity even while he racked his brain for a solution. The circle slowed its rotation.
Ding Dong.
[The Asrahan Core Technique Skill Option 4: Something is interrupting the movement of the Circle Shift.]
[Due to the powerful external interruption, the maximum rotation number of the Circle Shift will be limited to five.]
[All the circles are set to gear five by force. Fixed at RPM 5,000.]
Crack… Crack!
Making things worse, the circle gear was forcefully decreased to five. This meant that the RPM was now at a 5/6 level compared to the previous one. And the poison trapped in the rotation power became more reactive and violent. It was like a beast that wanted to break through its cage and run free.
Dammit.
His heart sank. This was not a joke. The gear would continue to decrease if he didn’t respond quickly. The poison would be freed to roam around inside him.
Like I’d let that happen!
It was time for a full-out brainstorming session. Possibilities and hope. Trials and results. Lloyd reviewed all the scenarios in the twinkle of his eye. Inspection. Calculation. His anxiety must have been written all over his face because the queen, all pale and white, rose and staggered to his side.
“Is something going wrong?”
“…”
Lloyd didn’t have the time to respond to her. Her face turned serious.
“Can you not get the poison you absorbed out of your system?”
“…”
He barely nodded. The queen’s gaze turned stern.
“Can you transfer the poison into one arm?”
“…”
He could. But he didn’t want to. The Knight of Blood and Iron came to his mind. In the novel, the queen treated herself by concentrating the poison in her arm and cutting it off. That was how she lost her left arm.
No thank you.
He rejected her with his gaze, hinting that she should back off.
Cutting off my arm is just too drastic of a solution.
Any method that damaged him was overruled. No questions. He’d rather put himself in a do-or-die situation, which he was about to do now.
Whew…
He breathed in, and he faced the opposite side of the queen. Just then, an ominous message floated in front of his eyes.
Ding Dong.
[The Asrahan Core Technique Skill Option 4: Something is interrupting the movement of the Circle Shift.]
[Due to the powerful external interruption, the maximum rotation number of the Circle Shift will be limited to four.]
[All the circles are set to gear four by force. Fixed at RPM 4,000.]
Thud! The rotation of the circle received greater resistance. Now, the circles rotated like cogwheels caught in a swamp. The force of the poison started to creep outside the rotation’s power as it weakened. A beast in a crumbling cage. Feeling the terror of its movement, Lloyd held out his hand and grabbed the dining knife on the table.
Grip! One shot. Clean and cut. Lloyd adjusted the gear shift.
2:3:3.
Ziiing! The alpha circle was set to 2,000 RPM while the others were set to 3,000 RPM. As Lloyd lowered the rotation power, the poison finally broke the cage and rushed outside, making its way toward his heart. Just then, the three circles reverberated in the rotation ratio of 2:3:3. They pulled each other and grabbed the nape of the poison. Then, they collided.
Boom! Lloyd’s outstretched knife shot a ferocious storm of mana from its silvery end. This was his best bet for getting the poison out of his system. The triple mana blast.