“That hidden art just now was pretty good,” Shin said. The sword he had drawn was the Restoration Sword Keheth, a demon sword capable of healing wounds. He pulled out another one and stitched his sliding body together.
“Surely now you understand the difference between us,” Zaimon said, turning back to look at him. “It’s not a gap that can be closed through desperation alone.”
“Thanks to us crossing swords, I’m starting to get used to this world now.”
Zaimon drew the Castle Slasher from its sheath again. “Getting used to it won’t help you get stronger.”
He took a step forwards for another fearless charge, fully relying on Balandialtar for defense. In essence, it was a simple, brute move that used pure power to seal Shin’s various techniques.
“Especially not,” Zaimon added, “with that half-dead body!”
The Castle Slasher came swinging down mercilessly, but this time, Shin deflected it with his demon sword.
“What?!” Zaimon exclaimed.
Two, three, then four more blows were rapidly exchanged. Shin kept up with each one.
“Tch!”
Zaimon picked up speed, coming up behind Shin at his fastest speed yet.
“How wasteful,” Shin said. “All these moves relying on nothing but speed.”
The screech of clashing metal echoed throughout the sky fortress. Zaimon’s Castle Slasher went spinning through the air, eventually stabbing into the ground some distance away.
“Have you been holding back all this time?” Zaimon asked.
“No. Like I said, I’m just finally getting used to things.” Shin took a step forwards, swinging his sword.
Zaimon leaped aside close enough to his Castle Slasher to grab it. “Familiarity won’t make you stronger or faster.”
Zaimon’s Magic Eyes glinted. He was finally trying to look into the abyss of Shin’s sword abilities that were now on par with his own.
“Not by swinging with brute force, no.” Shin brought his demon sword down from over his head, clashing with Zaimon’s sword. Zaimon’s knees buckled under the incredible weight behind Shin’s blade.
“Second Balandias is located on a deeper level than Militia’s World,” Shin said, “so the weight of the sword, magic field, and air all interact differently.”
“Which should mean you can’t move freely...”
“That’s where you’re mistaken. What it means is that in Second Balandias, my sword is faster and heavier than it would be in Militia’s World.” Shin pushed harder, forcing Zaimon’s knees to buckle further. Zaimon managed to redirect the force of Shin’s blade to the side and retreated backwards.
Shin continued. “If I swing my sword according to my senses, not by the rules of our worlds, all those shackles would be inverted. Therefore, the weight and magic field here will allow my sword to move faster, heavier, and with more power.”
Zaimon’s sword thrust forwards in the shortest possible maneuver to intercept Shin’s approach. Shin’s demon sword, in response, took a long and complex route towards Zaimon’s blade. Considering the distance, Zaimon should have been faster, but Shin’s sword was still the first to reach its target.
“Guh!”
Shin’s demon blade stabbed into the gaps of Zaimon’s armor. Shin still couldn’t cut the skin, but the dull pain made Zaimon frown.
“In this world, that order of castle construction must be the strongest order there is. It would make the most sense to use a sword that cuts precisely just castles of order. If that condition is fulfilled, there is no need for power.”
“In Balandias, castles are stronger than swords. What you’re saying is impossible...”
“Then strain your Eyes and look into the abyss of my sword.”
Shin pushed his sword harder towards Zaimon. His demon sword moved with a weight and speed several times heavier and faster than he could have moved it in Militia’s World, as though it was being boosted by the order of Balandias rather than being weighed down.
“Grrruuuh!”
“When the order of swords is at its greatest and the order of castles is at its weakest, the two overlap and tear apart order itself. That is the sense of the sword.”
Being able to perceive that single point was already a difficult feat, but to go further and be able to manipulate it and tear it apart was nearly impossible. It wasn’t just a matter of being fast or strong. It was only when a move made perfect sense that the slash of Shin’s demon sword could cut down order.
Weight, magic field, air—at this point in the battle, all the shackles of order sided with the sword instead. Zaimon had more power, speed, and magic than Shin currently, but the brute force of Shin’s sword was no match for him. If it were Militia’s World, Lay could do something similar. Eventually, through physical repetition of the action with his body and sources, he could have come to understand the right way to swing his sword to achieve a similar effect.
But the only one of my followers who could do that now—and easily—while still new to an unfamiliar world like Second Balandias was Shin.
“Gah... Urk!”
Zaimon embedded his legs into the floor to stand his ground against Shin’s attack with a release of magic power, coughing up blood from the strain. His left hand reached for Shin’s demon sword—and grasped it.
“The moment your sword comes to a stop, you’re just asking for it to be broken!”
Zaimon swung his Castle Slasher at Shin’s blade with all his might. But while the blade chipped, it didn’t snap completely.
“How...?”
“It didn’t break earlier either,” Shin pointed out. “This demon sword is the only one that won’t break.”
Shin took a step forwards with a thrust of his blade through the gaps of Zaimon’s armor, blood leaking through the gaps immediately after.
“Veylonbosm!”
Zaimon fired explosive flames at Shin from close range. It looked like they made direct contact, but Zaimon’s eyes only narrowed harshly. Shin had drawn his demon sword out of Zaimon’s abdomen and used it to block the Veylonbosm.
Zaimon sidestepped while continuing to fire Veylonbosm, with Shin promptly cutting down each blast of flame.
“What is that demon sword?” Zaimon asked.
“The Castlefall Sword Mezberetta. It can only cut castles and doesn’t have much of an edge, so I rarely ever draw it in Militia’s World.”
Swirling flames were sliced apart with an explosive sound.
“But it seems it’s quite a good matchup for Balandias.”
Shin was against a castle demon in the Silvercastle World—his opponent was essentially a castle. Even when a sword slipped through the gaps of Zaimon’s armor, his skin, reinforced by Balandialtar, couldn’t be pierced. Zaimon’s essence as a castle allowed him to be enhanced through castle construction magic.
All throughout their battle, Shin had probably noticed the slight difference in performance in each demon sword he drew compared to in Militia’s World. He had pulled out the Castlefall Sword to test his theory, and it turned out to be Balandias’s critical weakness.
“Impossible. Your chief god’s order is rotation. The order of wheels and turbines. How could you have a demon sword that opposes Balandias’s order so perfectly?”
“That’s just a vehicle.”
“Don’t play the fool. Your ruler was just spinning like a top!”
“My liege was merely turning on a whim. Nothing more.”
“On a whim?!” Zaimon’s eyes widened as Shin ran through the next Veylonbosm to reach him. “You can’t fool me with such lies!”
Zaimon’s Castle Slasher flashed. His target was the Restoration Sword holding Shin’s body together. The wound from the Winter Wind Strike had yet to be healed, so destroying the demon sword would render Shin immobile. But Mezberetta moved faster than the flash, knocking the Castle Slasher away.
Using his refined sense of sword, Shin had swung Mezberetta down, chipping the blade in the process of wounding Zaimon’s neck. Zaimon withstood the attack and swung his castle sword again.
“Castle Slasher, first hidden art—”
The invisible slash was released at close range.
“Castlefall Sword, third hidden art—”
At the same time, Shin turned on the spot, releasing his demon sword’s power.
“Winter Wind Strike.”
A large magic power wrapped around Mezberetta, turning it into a siege weapon that could destroy ramparts.
“Battering Ram.”
With a thundering sound much like a ram smashing into a wall, the Castle Slasher left Zaimon’s hand. Shin’s Battering Ram had stabbed Zaimon’s abdomen before Zaimon’s invisible slash could reach him. The armor of Balandialtar crumbled to pieces, with the blade of the Castlefall Sword shattering at the same time. Although the blade was designed to target the weakness of the Silvercastle World, it was still a demon sword from the shallows, and after Shin cast Battering Ram, it could no longer withstand the impact of another blow.
“Unfortunately for you,” Zaimon said, hand grabbing the Restoration Sword in Shin’s body. The magic circle for Veylonbosm appeared. “It’s my wi—”
Zaimon stopped abruptly, unable to believe what he was seeing.
Shin was holding Zaimon’s Castle Slasher, pointing it back at him.
“Winter Wind Strike.”
The invisible slash cut through the interior walls of the castle as Zaimon’s head went flying.
“The hidden art...of the Castle Slasher you just picked up... How...”
His body fell, his head rolling on the ground. Shin stood beside him, and with a slash of his new sword, used Castle Slasher to remove the Pablohetra insignia on his uniform, sending it into the air.
“I will say it as many times as it takes,” Shin said to the immobile Zaimon, catching the insignia midair. “You’ve been using order as an excuse to run away from reality.”