Rohan drew the longsword.
It had belonged to a Noxis soldier.
"Here I come."
BOOM—!
The spot Kaisen launched from caved inward.
Despite his enormous body, he was unbelievably fast.
Instead of dodging, Rohan raised his sword.
He wanted to experience Kaisen's fighting style.
BOOM! Sword met sword, producing a strange sound unlike the usual clash.
"Ghk!"
The impact felt as though it would rip his wrist off.
Rohan's body lifted into the air and flew backward.
His back scraped across the ground, and dirt filled his mouth.
"Pathetic. Are you made of paper?"
Kaisen mocked him while casually spinning the greatsword in one hand.
Rohan rose without replying.
'Heavy.'
Kaisen's sword was not merely heavy.
Power exploded simultaneously from his legs, waist, and shoulders.
Rather than swinging the sword, he drove it down with his entire body.
Rohan waited for Kaisen to approach first.
"Hmph. Have you lost your nerve?"
As expected, Kaisen charged again.
This time, the strike swept horizontally.
Rohan rolled across the ground and slipped aside.
SWISH—! A sound more like the air being torn apart than sliced brushed past his ear.
The sword tip swept past his waist as if grazing him.
At the same time, Kaisen's exposed leg entered his vision.
Rohan immediately thrust his sword at Kaisen's lower body.
CLANG!
Sparks flew.
The flat of the greatsword had already dropped to shield the leg.
'He's fast too.'
The space had clearly been open.
The moment Rohan tried to move, a fist like a bear's paw flashed into view.
The punch grazed Rohan's jaw as he twisted his head aside.
A direct hit would have knocked him unconscious.
Kaisen snickered.
"You know something? People from the Rookie mountain region are skilled at hand-to-hand combat too. We have to kill a bear with our bare hands to be recognized as adults."
He seemed pleased that the spar had nearly ended with one punch.
'Talking so much won't do him any good.'
He was freely revealing information no different from his own weapon.
Rohan wiped his mouth and organized his thoughts.
'He uses swordsmanship and hand-to-hand combat together.'
Curiosity filled Rohan's mind.
Rohan had never experienced a technique that adjusted distance and alternated between sword and fist.
If one evaded the sword, the fist followed.
It was troublesome, but something he could handle if he knew about it.
'Can I turn it back against him?'
Action came before contemplation.
Rohan moved first.
He charged head-on, changed course, and thrust diagonally.
If he could not win a frontal contest, he only had to exploit his advantage in speed and wear Kaisen down.
Kaisen narrowly twisted his shoulder aside and avoided the sword.
Then he immediately stomped a foot like a bear's paw toward Rohan, who had closed to point-blank range.
As though he had expected it, Rohan twisted aside and thrust his sword.
Swift Sword.
The crescent sword flashed from his waist toward Kaisen's ankle.
RIP— The fabric around Kaisen's ankle split open.
"Hah! Playing cheap tricks, are you?"
Only the fabric had torn... but for a moment, alarm appeared in Kaisen's eyes.
Something changed.
Kaisen planted his feet firmly and took a defensive stance.
Rohan grinned.
"Did that fluster you?"
"Fuck off."
As Rohan scraped at his pride, Kaisen's face turned nearly red enough to burst.
He looked like an enraged beast.
Kaisen was the first to charge.
SWISH—! Rohan narrowly evaded the swift thrust that almost cut him.
When the distance closed, Kaisen extended his empty hand as always.
His fingers brushed Rohan's collar without catching it.
Instead.
SLASH—!
Swift Sword.
Rohan answered the same technique with the same method.
This time, a red line appeared across the back of Kaisen's hand.
"Your hand was cut."
"Fuck! Are you fighting with your mouth?"
Kaisen huffed furiously.
Rohan's thoughts raced.
'Fast but crude. Every attack is full of power, but they're linear. When I give him the distance, he uses hand-to-hand combat.'
The greatest problem was.......
CLATTER.
Rohan dropped the longsword he was holding.
SHING— He then drew the one-handed sword at his waist.
'His sword is full of emotion.'
The corner of Rohan's mouth twisted.
A person ruled by emotion could not defeat someone rational.
***
"What a load of shit."
Kaisen cursed when Rohan drew a new sword.
He was changing swords in the middle of a fight?
And while he held the advantage, no less.
It was a clear act of contempt for his opponent.
"I'll take you seriously."
Kaisen shifted from holding the sword in one hand to gripping it with both.
The Rookie mountain region's swordsmanship, which mixed in hand-to-hand combat, did not work on Rohan.
Then he only had to abandon it cleanly.
'That crescent sword is bothersome.'
The blade that shot in swiftly whenever the distance closed.
Kaisen had dismissed it as a trophy taken from Meiwa, but it was anything but ordinary.
Though crude, what the bastard used was undoubtedly the Nakandiya tribe's unique swordsmanship.
That did not mean Kaisen had to fear it.
He did not know when Rohan had trained in Meiwa's technique, but all he had to do was keep Rohan from closing the distance.
Rohan was more agile than expected, but not so fast that Kaisen's eyes and body could not follow him.
'You're dead.'
How long had it been since he last held his sword with both hands?
Rohan's improvement from simply correcting his stance was encouraging, though.
Kaisen did not believe he could lose.
Rohan was trying to face this greatsword with nothing but a one-handed sword?
One exchange would shatter the small weapon.
The boy was better than expected, but this proved he was still an inexperienced novice.
That was when Kaisen snorted.
Rohan twirled his sword and spoke.
"I'll take you seriously too."
A vein bulged at Kaisen's temple.
At that instant, Rohan charged straight ahead.
'Idiot.'
His movements were agile, but Kaisen was a seasoned soldier.
He had seen movements like this countless times.
Now that he had decided to focus on his sword, he had no need to look for an opening.
He only had to swing at Rohan with all his might.
If Rohan blocked, his little sword would shatter.
SWISH—! Kaisen thrust his sword along the predicted path.
'......?'
But his sword cut through empty air.
Rohan vanished from his sight for an instant.
It had never happened before, leaving Kaisen deeply flustered.
SWISH, CLANG!
Sensing movement to his right, he instinctively raised his sword.
Sparks flew through the air at the same moment.
He had nearly been cut.
It was just as he caught his breath after barely managing to defend himself.
"Hmm......?"
His right side burned.
He was bleeding.
Rohan held the crescent sword in his left hand.
Kaisen ground his teeth.
"You're good at cheap tricks."
"Do you think cheap tricks are all I have?"
Rohan charged again.
Not to be outdone, Kaisen swung his sword to meet him.
Kaisen was confident he would not lose a sword-against-sword contest like this.
CLANG, CLANG, CLAANG—!
Several exchanges passed in an instant.
'Fuck, what is this?'
As their swords traded blows, Kaisen felt an increasing sense that something was wrong.
'What kind of bastard swordsmanship is this?!'
There was nothing special about Rohan's swordsmanship.
Yet for some reason, it was exceptionally difficult to block.
It felt as though he were fighting several people.
'How can it be this unpredictable?'
During his wandering years, he had fought someone who had learned swordsmanship in many different places.
Kaisen had initially been pushed back, but he had ultimately seized the advantage.
The swordsmanship had been unpredictable but lacked depth.
Yet this boy was unpredictable, while every one of his strikes also possessed depth.
Each strike seemed like one that required years of training to produce.
'I'm being pushed back?'
I'm Kaisen.
The man no one in the unit dared provoke.
A soldier who had survived by crushing countless enemies on the battlefield.
Yet rather than parrying the sword of a fifteen-year-old novice, he kept losing sight of him.
"Damn it! You little rat!"
Every time Rohan vanished from his sight, another part of his body burned.
The crescent sword left shallow cuts across his flesh.
It was only a spar, so an ordinary person might have hesitated to cut someone, but this bastard felt no such reluctance.
At last, Kaisen's anger reached its limit.
"Fine, let's take this all the way."
CRUNCH.
The ground beneath Kaisen's foot suddenly sank.
The sudden pressure wriggled up his calf like a snake.
His strongest possible move.
Condensed Explosion.
"Kaisen, don't!"
Creed, who had been watching the spar, charged in, but it was already too late.
The force that began in Kaisen's leg moved into his upper body in an instant.
And then into the sword tip.
Rohan's approaching form entered his vision.
And then.
WHINE—!
Light flared at the tip of Kaisen's sword as though condensing.
Mana exploded in an instant, creating a tremendous backlash.
"Ghk—!"
With a dying scream, Rohan flew away.
He tumbled for a long distance and only stopped after slamming into a tree.
Kaisen breathed harshly.
"Haa. Haa."
"Kaisen, you bastard! Are you insane?"
Creed ran to Rohan.
Rohan twitched once, then went limp.
CLATTER— The crescent sword fell from his hand.
Kaisen, who had been panting with rage, gradually calmed his breathing.
"Ah......."
A sigh escaped him as he came to his senses.
Kaisen looked back and forth between his hands and Rohan.
'Fuck...... What did I do?'
Did winning this way mean anything?
Against a mere fifteen-year-old.......
His arms were covered in shallow cuts.
His pride hurt.
Not because of Rohan, but because he was ashamed of himself.
He raised his head and spoke to Creed.
"Squad Leader. I think we should call this Rohan's victory."
"What?"
"Using my secret technique was excessive... And I'm the one with more wounds... Rohan was impressive too......."
Kaisen rambled.
Creed let out an incredulous laugh.
"Your neck."
"Pardon?"
"In a real fight, your head would have flown before you could activate the technique."
Kaisen rubbed his neck, looking confused.
Something warm stained his hand.
It was blood.
His eyes soon widened.
'When did he......?'
Kaisen's hand trembled faintly.
Just as Creed had said, his head would have come off in a real battle.
His gaze slowly shifted toward Rohan.
For some reason, Rohan's small body lying on the ground seemed enormous.
***
Crickets chirped through the night.
Kaisen lay in bed with one arm beneath his head and glanced toward Rohan.
Rohan remained sprawled out, unable to rise.
He had charged into an exploding blade and slammed violently into a tree. Naturally, he would not wake for some time.
He appeared to have suffered internal injuries, because even pouring a potion into him had not awakened him.
'I'm so damn embarrassed.'
Kaisen's face burned as he recalled his fight with Rohan.
He had let a mere fifteen-year-old boy toy with him.
More than losing the duel, he hated himself for failing to control his emotions and even using his secret technique on Rohan.
'Why was I so emotional?'
Kaisen was an emotional person, but he was different when he held a sword.
He knew better than anyone that while moderate anger increased one's offensive power, crossing a certain line destroyed all judgment.
'Did he do it deliberately?'
He recalled Rohan needling his pride while pointing to each sword, as well as the remarks Rohan had tossed out during the fight.
He thought of soldiers who robbed their opponents of all composure with battlefield banter.
He did not know whether Rohan had done it deliberately, but Kaisen had ultimately danced to the tune of that serpent's tongue.
The thought made him even more ashamed.
"Mmm."
A noise came from Rohan's cot.
His eyes were still closed, but the groan suggested he would awaken soon.
Looking at Rohan brought the day's battle creeping back into Kaisen's thoughts.
'I should never have judged and dismissed him by appearances.'
He had disregarded Rohan because the boy looked small and frail, but he should not have.
It had been arrogance and conceit.
For some reason, it felt as though Rohan had taught him a lesson instead.
Then he thought of Rohan's swordsmanship.
Rohan's swordsmanship surpassed that of an ordinary soldier. No, it had been truly impressive.
'Especially that unpredictable swordsmanship.'
It was a strange sword art belonging to neither Noxis nor Carnia.
Each motion of the hand that extended the sword had been fierce and sharp.
Bastard swordsmanship without a lineage was ordinarily shallow, yet every one of Rohan's strikes possessed depth.
For Kaisen, who had stubbornly mastered a single sword art, it was the most difficult problem imaginable.
'And that agility.......'
He had lost sight of Rohan more than once.
The back of his neck, where Rohan had aimed his final strike, suddenly felt cold.
If Rohan had chosen, Kaisen would already be dead.
'I wonder how far he'll go.'
Rohan had clearly said he would kill Muria, and beyond that, Reinach.
Could Rohan's sword ever reach Reinach?
Reinach was the most monstrous figure on the entire continent.
A living legend whose mere appearance left an entire area in ruins.
'Someday... perhaps it really will be possible?'
After facing Rohan, Kaisen could believe the claim might not be entirely absurd.
"Mmm......."
Suddenly, movement came from Rohan's bed.
Sensing Rohan regain consciousness, Kaisen hurriedly closed his eyes.
'Fuck, why am I......?'
He felt like a child caught secretly eating food from the kitchen.
To hell with it. Kaisen simply pretended to sleep.
Even so, all his attention remained on Rohan.
Rustle. Clatter.
He heard Rohan gather his swords and rise.
'He's going out in that condition?'
What a peculiar bastard.
Yet Rohan's footsteps came closer.
Could he possibly be approaching Kaisen?
For some reason, Kaisen's heart pounded.
"Get up."
Goddamn it!
The footsteps had indeed been coming toward him.
"I know you're not asleep."
"Yaaawn—. Smack. Mmm. Rohan. What is it?"
Kaisen rubbed his eyes and rose, pretending to be half asleep.
He could only attempt the performance because he did not know that he snored the instant his head touched a pillow.
Rohan looked at Kaisen as if he found him pathetic and spoke.
"Follow me."
"W-why?"
"Condensed Explosion. You have to teach me."
"......Ahem. Very well."
Unlike his jeering that afternoon, Kaisen obediently collected his sword.
Rohan had earned the right.