“That...was Unlimited Sword Glint,” groaned Rodem, the preeminent authority on the Crystanian royal family’s bloodline skill.
The unidentified enemy was currently looking down on Sol’s party from midair. The high ground didn’t give him any significant advantage in light of the aerial mobility that magic imparted, but losing it before the fight had even begun felt uncomfortable, to put it mildly.
Reen and the others were quite sure they could have beaten the boss alone too, but not before the fight deteriorated into a mudslinging match where both sides whaled on each other in a race to bottom out the other’s HP barrier. The whole party working together could have clinched a clean victory, but even so, it would have taken significantly longer than an instant, which was how quickly the boss had actually died. No human was capable of pulling off such a feat, no matter how high their level. It belonged to the domain of legends like the All Dragon, the Elven Queen, and the Demon Lord.
Of course, Rosalind and Rodem had a hundred thousand slashes in store that could do the same thing. Each hit was imbued with a brief instant of stun lock that, with a single clean hit, would leave a target with no choice but to hunker down and weather the rest until they let up or ran out. At least, that was the case for those protected by HP barriers.
Of those present, Sol was unique in that he would die from catching a single flying slash. This weapon that had been of middling utility in his party’s arsenal was proving to be a surprisingly potent threat for its ability to directly target him, the party’s linchpin and weakness.
Additionally, just like Absolutus had the hidden effect of fully nullifying an attack beyond its defensive capabilities before shattering, Unlimited Sword Glint had its own hidden effect: No matter how beefy a target was, each slash was guaranteed to deal at least one point of HP damage on top of stunning the target.
Mana limits kept the former from being absolute, and more grievously, reserves spoke to the latter not being truly unlimited. Theoretically, these were obstacles that could be overcome, thereby perfecting the two skills. There was no way to say for sure that Sol was the only person capable of doing this, and there was no knowing how a perfected version might differ from what Rosalind had at the moment. For all the group knew, the interloper’s version might be able to directly harm even those protected by HP barriers. All things considered, it was best to be cautious.
More importantly, there was a matter of greater concern than the specific mechanics of the skill.
“That can only mean,” Rodem continued, “that we’re facing a product of our bloodline. More specifically, it can only be the last heir of Unlimited Sword Glint, who disappeared before inheriting Ruler’s Wisdom two centuries ago.”
No heir had appeared since, and it was now clear why: The last one had been alive this whole time. All nine generations had been pretending to have inherited it using the stock that remained inside Blue Water, like Rosalind had been planning to do. This revelation was as much a surprise to Blue Water as it was to anyone else.
As if to further drive home the shock, the figure pulled back his hood to bare his face. “It has been a while, esteemed ancestors. I never thought I would be meeting those of my homeland again after becoming a Ward. Your appearance has changed quite drastically since our last meeting.”
“Salyu Magica Crystania...”
The man whom Rodem identified as Salyu had wavy locks of ash-silver hair in the same shade as Rosalind’s, and his kind yet willful eyes also were pale silver like hers. Together with his shapely features and porcelain skin, it was clear to those who knew the signs that he carried the blood of Crystania’s royal family.
Nostalgia flashed across the interloper’s face, but he promptly said, “I actually discarded that name two hundred years ago. Now I officially go by Ward IX. You read it as ‘Novem’ but write it with an ‘I’ and an ‘X.’ Feel free to casually call me Novem.” His smile indicated that his white-hooded cloak and the crimson “IX” it bore were all that he was now.
What does that name mean? thought Sol. If he really is the ninth Ward, whatever that is, that means there are at least eight more like him. In the worst-case scenario, there is a chance all eight might join him before long. If I were them, that’s how I’d handle our group.
He shook his head to switch gears. Such musings could wait until after he defeated IX or when the other eight Wards actually appeared. If this was an opponent that could defeat the All Dragon, the Elven Queen, and the Demon Lord together, any reinforcements he summoned now would only add to the list of casualties.
“Are you...my ancestor?” asked Rosalind with hope in her voice.
IX had defeated the boss on the group’s behalf and wasn’t being overbearing or belligerent. Moreover, he was an adult who looked like her. As a seven-year-old who had lost her parents and had no living family, it was understandable that she wanted him to be a friend.
“Right, if Blue Water is here, it makes sense that an heir is too.” A slight wistfulness colored IX’s smile. “Ah, yes, I see my older sister in you. Oh, the memories.”
Rosalind was still visible through Rodem’s semitransparent body, though being enveloped in it made for an odd sight. It made sense that she bore a resemblance to IX’s sister, who had continued the bloodline after IX’s disappearance.
Julia asked, “Does that mean you’re over two hundred years old?”
“Not even we get to live forever.” IX shook his head with a self-depracating grin. “We retain our youthful looks, like the elves do, but no human body can live for two hundred years. Normally, I’m asleep, and for some reason, that stops me from aging. This is the third time I’ve been woken since becoming a Ward. I’m guessing the previous time was seventy years ago, based on the number you mentioned.”
His easy manner was coming from a place of superiority. He wasn’t being belligerent because he wasn’t taking Sol’s group seriously—they weren’t worth the emotional effort. Everyone other than Rosalind caught this undertone in the deceptively relaxed mood in the room and raised their guard even further.
“I’m sure a lot has changed in that time.” IX smirked, looking completely unconcerned by the All Dragon’s rage-filled glare. In spite of his words and expression, his scorn was seeping through, propped up by a certainty that the world would never change no matter how much time passed.
After all, the Wards were called on to nip all significant changes in the bud. They existed for the sole purpose of warding off nexus beings from beyond and their agents. IX had every confidence that the Wards were doing a perfect job of shielding this world from such intruders and that the world did not have the ability to change on its own.
“It has, actually. Crystania has been restored and Atriesta rebuilt,” said Rodem, intentionally choosing what it thought would best get a rise out of IX. The memories from the fall of Atriesta and the destruction of Crystania remained fresh in its mind, but it did not lay the blame for what had happened at Salyu’s feet, though he had been pronounced a nexus being by the Wards at the time. That said, he was not only showing no sign of having been coerced into joining the Wards, but he even sounded proud when naming himself one of them. That changed things.
“What? Is that even poss—?” IX looked surprised but then said softly, “Well, someone capable of forcing it to happen would explain my presence here.”
He had been nowhere as powerful when being chased down as a nexus being, and the same went for the two beings he himself had dealt with. Though he did not doubt that he still held an absolute advantage thanks to the power he had been given as Ward IX, there was now a little recognition in his eye when he looked at Sol.
“Lord Sol’s power made it possible,” Rodem said, then adopted a goading tone. “So what is someone who abandoned his homeland to take up the ridiculous title of Ward Novem here for?”
“I’m here to ‘ward off’ the latest nexus being, of course,” IX replied, cracks showing in the veneer of his composure. “That’s what we do, which is why we’re called Wards and allowed to continue living.”
“Let me get this straight,” Rodem growled. “When other Wards appeared, calling you a nexus being, and erased the entire western part of the continent, including Crystania, you bent the knee to them and became their lapdog. And now, you want to kill the one who gave us back our homeland. Do I have that right, you knave?”
Two centuries ago, when the Wards had suddenly appeared and condemned Crystania’s crown prince, demanding that he be handed over to be warded off, the entire country had taken up arms. There was no denying this decision was partly motivated by their pride as the continent’s greatest power and the head of the federation of the seven countries in the west. More crucially, Crystania had believed that its crown prince, who possessed a massive inner mana pool and his family’s bloodline skill, would unseal territories, clear dungeons, and otherwise better the world. And the country did not take kindly to the Wards showing up to throw their weight around and belittle their hopes and dreams.
It was a pity they had lost, but Blue Water had come to terms with it. A real fight wasn’t one that you could choose to engage in only if you were sure of victory. It was a choice made when two sides had something they simply could not compromise on and were resolved to see it through or die trying. At least, that was how Rodem saw it, thus its anger with Salyu.
“Oof, you sure know how to make a man feel bad.” IX shrugged nonchalantly. “I had no choice back then, just as I have no choice now. That said, you have every right to criticize me for it, and I’m willing to accept it all with grace. I am, after all, now Ward Novem—that is, the enemy to The Boy Who Will End the World.”
After declaring him a nexus being, the Wards had tried to get at him by inciting Country Eater to raze all seven countries in the west, including Crystania, and twisted history by pinning the blame on one of them and making them out to be a traitor to humanity. As a result, countless people had died and even more had lost their homes and become drifters.