That translucent blade lunged toward me. I deflected it with my gauntlet and scrambled backward. “Impossible! Why is your magic flowing through the wood?! As long as Lady Nosfy’s spell formula is inscribed here, it should be impossible to sever!”
Kanami did not answer that question. His expression signaled the end of lighthearted banter; from here on, it was serious business.
With no choice, I searched for the cause myself. Then I noticed the blade that he had extended wasn’t pale purple but colorless.
“The color of his magic has changed? No, the quality of his magic is different? Could it be... He’s tampered with his own soul, altering the very attribute of the magic it generates?! How terrifying!”
The answer came from the right arm still embedded within Kanami and the altered magic power. It was too unbelievable. It was precisely because I had become an Essence Thief, deepening my understanding of souls and magic power, that I could comprehend it. To tamper with one’s own soul was an act blasphemous enough to defy even the gods. One wrong move and it would lead to a ruin more terrifying than death.
“I’ll lose the use of one arm, but at last I can fight with a sword. Even if the De Liffide and Telliaria come at me together, I’ll be fine now.”
“You’re insane!”
“It’s all for the sake of defeating you, Ide!” Shouting that, Kanami swung his sword at himself. He fought against himself with absolute focus, utilizing every ounce of his talent, fighting with all his might.
An indescribable emotion welled up in my chest—a mix of joy and sorrow, anger and utter bewilderment. And before I knew it, the movements of the surrounding De Liffide had slowed. I didn’t know what means he was using, but Kanami seemed to be mimicking me, preemptively feeding magic to the plants. The pure plants, confused by this enemy offering them so much sustenance, were beginning to grow attached. Soon, the plants’ attacks would become unusable. The advantage Lady Nosfy had brought crumbled away.
The poison inside of Kanami had been forcibly neutralized, and both sword and magic were now permitted. There was no choice but to create distance between us now. I couldn’t lose heart. I should have anticipated the possibility that my variant martial art techniques might not work. I just had to move on to the next plan as originally intended.
“Wood Spears!” I unleashed the trump card I’d prepared before the central staircase of Viaysia Castle. Shattering the nation’s finest magic gems, I released the ultimate wood-attribute grand magic.
The wooden staircase warped, transforming into countless long, sharp thorns that pierced the enemy. But Kanami glided effortlessly through the gaps between those thorns. The time this trump card bought me was barely a second, if that.
Kanami’s sword attacked me relentlessly from afar, without a single misstep. I managed to block it with my gauntlets, but I could feel them slowly wearing down. At this rate, even weapons forged from Yggdrasil wouldn’t hold out. This sword’s range was deadly. Unable to flee or close in, I’d be sliced to pieces.
I immediately sprinted up the transforming central staircase. Along the way, I shattered several expensive magic stones I’d prepared, using them to stall my enemy while desperately creating distance. However, this was tantamount to telling Kanami that my strategies were running out. Seeming certain there were no significant traps left, he began swinging his sword with renewed vigor.
Wood-attribute grand magic spells were swept away like scraps of paper. The thick trunks trying to swallow the enemy, the countless root tentacles, the storm of leaves slicing flesh, the sap that melted everything—all were swept away, swept away, swept away, and sliced through. But that wasn’t all. Even the very stage I had prepared—Viaysia Castle—was now within this absurd swordsman’s reach. The pillars in the great hall, the spiral staircase, the thick walls, the ceiling separating the third and fourth floors, the floor itself—everything, regardless of distance or size, was sliced apart by Kanami the Founder.
Kanami pursued me, his two unfathomably void-like, jet-black eyes shining. As my prideful castle was effortlessly sliced apart, I could only flee, my face twisted in anguish. Upward, using everything at my disposal, I fled and fled and kept fleeing.
I finally reached the throne room of the castle. The national flag hanging on the wall fluttered in the wind blowing through the window. This was the very place I had intended as the final destination for our duel. In that sense, it was going according to plan. Yet, my expression only twisted further. I hadn’t arrived here by choice—I’d been driven here, cornered.
I fled to the foot of the throne and turned. Then Kanami abruptly halted his swinging sword. He seemed attached to this throne room. He retracted the extended blade and began surveying the area. Perhaps he, too, had intended this place as the final destination for our duel. So quietly did he do this that it seemed he had withdrawn his will to fight and now just stared at me.
Irritated by his composure, I couldn’t help but spill out what lay deep within my heart. “Why, Kanami?! Why fight me so relentlessly?! Why toy with your soul?! Why do you want to defeat me so badly?! You have no connection to Viaysia whatsoever! You’re not even from this world! Why involve yourself in our affairs?!” Only now did I hurl the resentment I’d held from the very beginning at him.
Hearing those words, Kanami answered without a moment’s delay, as if he’d been waiting for the question. “Why else? Because I couldn’t stand watching you two siblings suffer, that’s why! Everything about you feels too personal to ignore! That’s why I couldn’t just leave you alone!”
“Too personal to ignore? You mean... That’s why?!”
Kanami had likely decided that if he was the one to speak, he would answer only with words. Facing me, clearly shaken, he lowered his blade, halted his advance, and assumed a stance waiting for my next words. Seeing that , I keenly felt that, unlike me, he still had plenty of composure left, and I bit my lower lip. I’d done everything I could.
The duel had begun on the world’s most favorable field for me. I’d used poison and traps. I’d received tremendous support from Apostle Sith and Lady Nosfy. This castle had blocked my enemy’s ultimate tricks, Past Sight and Future Sight.
Even so, his overwhelming strength... I knew he grew stronger the more we fought, but this was too much. Too cowardly, too powerful. Now, it felt as if everything within me was being read by the man before me. Indeed, in combat, he had often moved before I could even make my own move.
To defeat this man, who seemed like a bundle of learning ability, I had to stake everything on one instant and finish him off. Yet, he could prevent that before the fight even began with his Future Sight spell. To begin with, his invisibility and dimensional shift spells meant I couldn’t easily get within striking distance. On top of that, his Swordmanship had reached Master Lorwen’s level. He absorbed enemy skills as he fought, and if that right arm touched me, it would mean instant death.
How was I supposed to kill him? How was I supposed to fight him? Ah, this was ridiculous. Ridiculous, ridiculous, ridiculous... This was what a true powerhouse was. Gradually, the anger faded, replaced by ink-black despair filling my heart. My spirit nearly broke.
“Ide! Remember what Titee said earlier! This time, you saw your sister clearly with your own eyes, didn’t you?! Did that look like someone else’s puppet to you?!”