Jurgen Barthel served as an aide to Oscar Luska, vice commander of the Imperial Magic Division and the Inferno Magician. That was why he knew Oscar held the young man in front of him, Ryo, in high regard. He might have always spoken of Ryo bitterly, but Jurgen knew that Oscar recognized that Ryo’s magic was at the same level as his own, or perhaps even surpassing his.
Could Jurgen defeat such an opponent? Not in a battle of magic, and he knew that. There was no doubt that he and Ryo were both magicians, but that didn’t mean they had to fight using magic.
Swords worked just as well.
He was the second son of the Barthel family, a line of counts who produced warriors and soldiers. At the age of fifteen, he defeated his tutor. At sixteen, he was so skilled with the blade that even his father, the head of the household, couldn’t win against him. Even now, the only person within his circle who could defeat him was his older brother, eight years his senior. And that brother was one of the Emperor’s Twelve Knights, meaning he was one of the strongest in the country. It was simply impossible to defeat Jurgen with a sword unless you were on that level too. Even Oscar, whom he served so faithfully, was likely no match for Jurgen in terms of pure swordsmanship.
It was understandable then that he felt confident against Ryo. Sure, he’d watched the water magician survive a one-on-eight sword fight. He even thought the other man’s swordsmanship was surprisingly honed for a magician, but he didn’t consider Ryo unbeatable by any means—even if he stood no chance of beating him in a magic battle. Plus, with all his allies frozen, his only choice was to fight him with a sword... Perhaps this had been inevitable, even from the start.
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His swordsmanship is incredible.
As he deflected Jurgen’s attacks, Ryo found himself secretly impressed that a magician could wield a sword this skillfully. Every downward strike, upward swipe, diagonal and reverse slash, sweep, and thrust was a perfectly refined product of tens of thousands of hours of practice.
His style reminds me of Abel’s.
Yes, indeed. Skill obtained not through complacency but continuous effort... Abel and Jurgen might have shared similar circumstances in that respect. Ryo knew absolutely nothing about Jurgen’s background, but his blade revealed everything about how its master had lived until now, how he’d faced down his foes, and showed beyond a shadow of a doubt that his talent was forged through steady effort without cutting corners.
Swordsmen like this are formidable. And dangerous.
Ryo knew that this was not an opponent against whom superficial techniques would work. There would be no quick victory against this opponent.
Because this opponent was stronger than him, and Ryo knew he needed to fight with that knowledge.
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He doesn’t falter... Jurgen thought while swinging his sword.
The water magician’s swordsmanship was solid. No matter how Jurgen struck, his opponent’s blade didn’t waver.
That level of defense... It means he hasn’t been treating swordsmanship as a hobby while focusing on magic. The style’s different, but his stability reminds me of my brother’s.
His older brother Hartmut’s skill with the sword was unrivaled in the Empire, so anyone with comparable defense was extraordinary.
If I panic, I’ll lose...
Jurgen had steeled himself from the beginning. He hadn’t expected an easy opponent, but he’d genuinely believed that a sword fight would be more manageable than magical combat... No, of course, he knew he was up against a truly difficult opponent, even in this arena.
He’s human, which means he will slip up. I’ll simply wait for my moment...
From the beginning, Jurgen had been attacking and Ryo defending. As long as he kept his advantage as the attacker, he could exploit any chinks in the man’s proverbial armor and win.
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Ryo sometimes fantasized about what would happen if he fought Abel seriously. He figured it would never happen in his lifetime, but perhaps his battle with Jurgen was close enough.
In pure swordsmanship, Ryo wasn’t confident he could beat Abel. He had recently begun acquiring a technique similar to Sera’s Wind Robe, allowing him to increase his speed... If he could use it, he might be able to overwhelm Abel—but Ryo could only tap into that power when he was totally and completely locked in. He couldn’t put himself into that state of mind whenever he wanted, unfortunately, so defeating Abel still remained out of reach. If he had any hope of surpassing him, it would have to be by combining swordsmanship with magic. He had no idea how to do that, though, so he was left with one option: return to the basics.
It was the golden rule. Those with a solid grasp of the fundamentals are always strong. It was also the reason Ryo respected Abel so deeply.
Ryo exhaled deeply, inhaled, and then assumed the proper stance. That was all the preparation he needed to do. Now, he just had to concentrate on his swordsmanship and defend!
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Has he gotten even stronger?
Jurgen frowned inwardly. He hadn’t expected to face such a strong and unwavering opponent. He had been pressing his advantage the entire time, trying to find an opening, but Ryo remained unshaken. In fact, he seemed to be getting stronger with each passing moment.
If his comrades hadn’t been captured, he would have retreated. The thought of them flickered intrusively through Jurgen’s mind. He glanced at them out of the corner of his eye, their bodies encased in ice. Were they okay? No, he couldn’t imagine they were okay in that state, which was exactly why he couldn’t just ignore them and withdraw alone. Besides, General Rancius was probably still fighting...
First, his thoughts wavered, and then his heart, and finally his sword.
In front of his unwavering opponent, he faltered.
And Ryo swung his sword in a wide horizontal arc.
Jurgen would have typically parried it, but for a split second, his reaction was delayed. He braced his feet, intending to block, and then his foot slipped. Too late, he realized that ice had formed beneath him. The next moment, a sharp pain hit him in the back of his head...and he lost consciousness.
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While the two magicians dueled, an adventurer and a military commander continued their own fight.
“I figured you’d give me a run for my money from the very start, but damn—you’re stronger than I imagined,” Abel said lightheartedly.
His opponent, General Rancius, remained silent.
And the difference in their attitudes was a direct reflection of the fight itself.
What the hell kind of adventurer is he?! His offense and defense are perfect, and his technique is beyond compare! How is this even possible?!
Rancius gritted his teeth, panicked by Abel’s unexpected strength. Of course, he wasn’t the most powerful swordsman in the Empire. As the commander of the Shadow Regiment, he was confident that he was second to none as a military mind—but there were others superior to him in individual combat. He wouldn’t last more than a few seconds against one of the Twelve Knights, for example, and he felt no shame at that. In fact, he would retreat. And now, he felt the same way. But...
The other one took my men out.
Eight of his subordinates had surrounded an adventurer wearing a robe who looked like a magician, but he could see from here that they were down to four. Unbelievable. A place like this wasn’t where the Shadow Regiment excelled. They much preferred a city or a dense forest. Although this was a forest, it was a fairly open area... Even so, it should have been impossible for eight members of his regiment to go up against a single adventurer and come up short. To add insult to injury, the adventurer was taking them down one by one as time went on...
Then the magician beat another one, leaving just three.
At that moment, Rancius saw the robed adventurer start running while the remaining three simultaneously froze.
“What in blazes?!”
What a shocking sight. The shock might not have been so bad if it had happened right in front of him, but the distance and the fact that his attention was elsewhere delayed General Rancius’s reaction. This was a battlefield, and his opponent wasn’t the robed adventurer.
“What are you looking at?”
Those were the last words he heard before he fell unconscious.
When Ryo defeated Jurgen, all nineteen members of the imperial army became his and Abel’s prisoners.