「The Dragon Sword you borrowed was recreated in the spirit world by the witches. So whether you put it in your mouth and eat it or not makes no difference. The real thing will remain intact.」

"... Are you sure there won't be any problems?"

「No? There actually is a problem. If you eat that blade, the flame within it... the sword's soul, that is, will be completely absorbed into you. It really will become an antique, a mere ornament. A blade good for absolutely nothing.」

"..."

「But what does that matter? No one has recognized its worth for hundreds of years. Far better for you to put it to use than to leave its luster fading away.」

Shameless.

Utterly shameless.

But...

"You're absolutely right. This sword must want that too, wouldn't you say?"

「Naturally. Becoming one with a Caravan is the greatest honor any blade in this world could wish for.」

He wasn't wrong.

"That bastard! Catch that bastard!"

Having slaughtered several champions, I now had the Great Land's conquering army chasing me in a frenzy. Getting away from them wasn't difficult. Countless defenders and fighters were here to serve as my shield. My brief departure alone wouldn't cause any trouble on the battlefield.

"Sword Demon! The Valkyrie's been defeated!"

"Oh, really?"

Amid all this, word reached me that Maia the Valkyrie had fallen. I wasn't particularly surprised. I had never entertained the slightest thought that she could defeat Seolyun. At a similar level, beating Seolyun through swordsmanship alone was impossible. To win against her, you needed something that could change the odds. A power bordering on cheating, like my path of steel, the line.

That was why I wasn't terribly shaken.

"By the way, is there somewhere nearby where I can light a fire? Or a fire that's already blazing? It's urgent."

Instead, I set about preparing to do the deed.

* * *

As the War Duels progressed, the fighters learned just how terrifying a force the Great Land's conquering army recorded in history truly was. This was true not only of the fighters participating on Han's side, but also of those fighting for the Great Land. Even without the Khan's descendant, who made them invincible, they were fearsome enough.

Han's defenses were formidable. In a Territory Battle, the defending side naturally enjoyed an immense advantage. Han showed extraordinary strength in holding back the advancing army from behind its walls. Yet the sight of the conquering army relentlessly devouring ground despite its staggering losses was downright appalling. Were they not afraid to die? Even after so many deaths, the vast army seemed not to have dwindled at all. As time passed, the fighters even began to imagine that the Great Land's conquering army might be infinite. Its ceaseless onslaught made it look like an undying legion. They began to wonder whether defeating it was even possible...

In the midst of this, Sword Demon Liam, who had been fighting at the very front, left his post. He abruptly went off in search of fire, summoning the Guardian Dragon as he did so. The dragon emerged as the sky opened and steadily cut down the enemy. That left only one more chance to bring down that supreme being. Using the time the Guardian Dragon bought them, the defenders pushed the enemy back once more. But their morale had visibly faltered. They had overcome the earlier crisis this way too. In the end, wasn't time on the enemy's side?

The enemy would keep coming and eventually reach the walls. It was maddeningly terrifying. But there was nowhere to retreat. If they fled, an army no different from a horde of demons would trample Han and destroy it. And so the soldiers thrust their spears forward despite their fear.

The fighters from the eastern continent read the emotions on their faces. They knew why the soldiers were afraid, and why they could not retreat even so. Though they were only virtual recreations, those faces felt all too real.

"Ah."

Confronted with that desperation, more and more eastern-continent fighters chose death, unable to bring themselves to swing their swords. Some even squeezed their eyes shut and forfeited. That was why Han's defenders had managed to hold out at all. Had the Great Land's fighters, skilled swordsmen who knew Han well, taken an active role, the War Duels would have ended long ago.

The more thoroughly they knew Han, the more they found themselves sympathizing with the soldiers. That was why they could not fight. They were human. Humans who felt sorrow and carried painful histories. And so the War Duels took a peculiar course.

Some fighters even obstructed the conquering army's advance despite belonging to the Great Land's side.

"No more! I can't do this anymore! I don't need some dragon artifact. We—"

But their resistance ended after they killed a mere six or seven soldiers. The Arena's organizers took no special action, leaving them alone. Wasn't this, too, part of war? They had designed the event this way precisely to enjoy a variety of unpredictable sights. These things were entertaining too...

And so the War Duels grew ever more intense.

Several hours had passed before they knew it, and both sides were growing weary.

This was a thoroughly realistic picture of war, one that never appeared in chivalric novels. Spectators who had experienced war even once could relate to what was unfolding. This was what war was like.

"Are we sure they've balanced this properly?"

"It's been quite a while since the War Duels began, but the Great Land's conquering army shows no sign of shrinking. If anything, their numbers seem to have grown as reinforcements join them..."

"What an insane army."

"And originally, the Khan's descendant was there too? A true leader who turned that endless army into the mightiest force..."

"Yes. Han is only barely holding out because the Khan's descendant isn't there."

"How on earth did Han hold out during the actual War of Conquest...?"

Some spectators who had initially watched with interest now felt a chill at the realization that the army recreated in this virtual world was not a force consigned to history, but one that still existed. Moreover, its actual military strength far exceeded that of the virtual conquering army.

"Those monsters swallowed the entire eastern continent and tried to advance into these western lands too."

The Khan's descendant was not a figure of the past.

The descendant who had taken the great ancestor's name and declared himself Khan was very much alive. His determination to conquer every land remained unchanged as well. The War of Conquest that had swept across the eastern continent was still ongoing. The flames kindled by that terrifying conqueror had yet to die out. There was merely a temporary truce.

"If not for the Heavenly Empire... It doesn't bear thinking about."

To cross from the eastern continent to the western continent, one had to pass through the central continent. And on the central continent stood the mightiest empire in all those vast lands: Belma, the Heavenly Empire. The conquering army that had swept through the eastern continent had been stopped, unable to overcome the might of heaven. That was only natural. Known as Utopia, the Heavenly Empire had never suffered defeat since the Age of War.

Not once.

"How do you think this will end?"

"Honestly, I think the conquering army will win. The defenders have held them off admirably, but there's hardly any ground left. The difference in numbers was too great from the start. If they keep pushing like this, it's over."

"You can't know that. Even if they reach the foot of the walls, bringing them down is no easy task. Han only needs to hold out to win. If they lock the gates tight and the fighters fight with a little sense, the outcome is obvious. The defenders have a much greater advantage in a Territory Battle."

"Hmm. I can't say how it will end either."

The spectators held all manner of conversations as they watched the War Duels unfold.

"But there's one thing I know for certain."

And there was one thing that intrigued them even more than the unpredictable outcome.

"That fighter is the star of this duel."

"I agree."

"I believe that fighter's name was..."

One fighter.

A fighter shining like a star amid the soldiers surging forward like a tide.

"... The Black Bride, wasn't it?"

* * *

Seolyun sometimes thought that swinging a sword was like dreaming. As long as she wielded that blade, she could forget her many worries. It felt as though a small world of her own came into being. Stray thoughts, useless emotions, horrific memories of the past. For that moment, they vanished like smoke.

Her muscles relaxed completely, and peace came to her hazy mind. It was the only time Seolyun could be free. No one was as free within the sword as she was.

"Urgh—"

But in that haze, Seolyun sometimes struggled to control herself. That was why she could not swing her sword to her heart's content. Whenever she held a sword, she could not tell whether she was wielding the blade or the blade was wielding her. Violence that knew no appropriate limit. Her teacher had called it talent at times, and madness at others.

Now, for the first time in a very long while, Seolyun revealed her true nature without restraint. As her jet-black hair streamed behind her and her beautiful blade traced curves, countless enemy lives were extinguished in vain. Even the voices she had heard until she was sick of them had stopped.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. You have to live...

She could no longer hear the defeated soldier's voice, her parents' voices, or those of the captive children she had left behind. All she heard was steel clashing against steel, the sounds of death as her blade sliced through muscle and bone, and screams erupting as human beings were destroyed. Nothing but the noise of the battlefield.

"You—crazy—"

Killing intent came hurtling toward her.

Seolyun reacted the instant she sensed the threat. Tracing a beautiful arc, her blade moved along the enemy's edge as though barely brushing it. A metallic screech rang out, and she shattered the crossguard. She cut the wrist, severed the elbow, and separated the head from the torso. Every movement flowed into the next, like steps in a dance. An ordinary swordsman could never react to it. Those who wielded swords would instead feel awe before such overwhelming talent.

"You—"

Even a sword runner fighter fared no differently. Through her earlier training, Seolyun had already manifested faint wings. A pair of wings. Though this stage was commonly called half-formed wings, that did not apply to Seolyun. She did not rashly accelerate her body. Her acceleration acted upon her mind. Thus, the world she saw was so slow it seemed motionless. Within that slow world, Seolyun watched enemies spread their wings and approach. If she could see their movements, killing them was not difficult.

Seolyun's talent showed her a path that would let her kill any enemy, no matter how fast they were.

As long as she could see them.

Before the approaching swords, the yin-yang pattern she traced reached completion. A peculiar rotation took hold, and the enemies fell one by one without even knowing why they were dying. Like leaves falling before the wind.

Every stroke of her blade claimed at least one life.

As that process repeated again and again, corpses piled up wherever Seolyun had passed. The eyes watching her were now steeped in fear. The more fear she faced from her enemies, the greater her madness grew. It showed her how to destroy them efficiently, how to inflict the most consummate violence.

Seolyun had not even had a chance to properly reveal her newly acquired wings. She felt a subtle emptiness at that. She had finally gained wings, yet there was nowhere to exercise their power. Everyone fell helplessly before her. Then a question occurred to her.

'... Why?'

Why did I feel empty?

Seolyun could not understand the source of that emptiness. Hadn't the sword always been nothing more than a tool to me? Why, then, did she feel empty because she had not properly tested the level she had worked to reach? Wasn't that a luxury only warriors who had so much could indulge in? Warriors who delighted in growing stronger each day and took pleasure in showing what they had gained.

Seolyun did not think she belonged among them. She had so much to answer for. So much to bear. Having lost everything, she had nothing more to lose. Nothing mattered except becoming an immortal and ascending to heaven. She had to reach paradise. It was her duty, for the sake of those who had believed in her...

So she had no right to take pride in testing the progress of her swordsmanship, or to delight in how she had changed. In that time, she should draw even a little closer to heaven. That was what she had to do...

"Look!"

But...

"The sky's opening!"

Was that truly what she had to do?

"The Guardian Dragon is appearing for the third time! This is the last one!"

She was not strong enough to abandon everything and spend the rest of her life bearing only their sorrow. She was not so extraordinary a person that she could shoulder such a tremendous responsibility. Seolyun was only a girl. A girl who had lost her way. A girl who did not know which path to take.

"That means..."

Who had decided she had no right to be happy?

Who had demanded that Seolyun bear all that sorrow and responsibility? No one had demanded it. No one had decreed it. Those things were born of her guilt. None of her loved ones had wanted her to live as an avenger. They had not ordered her to live like an empty shell after losing everything.

"Sword Demon! Sword Demon Liam is coming!"

All they had said was this.

Please, just live.

"Th-the true king is coming."

"What? What's gotten into them all of a sudden?"

"The king! He's coming to protect us!"

"Han's defenders have suddenly gone mad! These bastards are spouting nonsense—"

"The true! King—!"

Seolyun looked at the opening sky. She saw the Guardian Dragon slowly revealing itself. Beyond the majestic dragon, she saw a young man running powerfully through the defenders. She saw the energy emanating from him as well. At the same time, her hand tightened around her sword. The emptiness that had swept over her only moments before was fading. Anticipation rose in its place.

Her heart was pounding.

Looking at the young man, Sword Demon Liam—at Arhan—Seolyun recalled words she had heard long ago.

["You have a future. If I can die for that future, it will be an honor."]

What was the future the defeated soldier had spoken of?

["You can become anything, child."]

What had the defeated soldier wanted me to become?

My mother and father, who had died with their eyes wide open, my friends and neighbors—all those precious people. After I fought tooth and nail to survive, what kind of life had they wanted me to lead? She did not know.

Perhaps she would never know.

["You have to live."]

That was something I had to discover for myself.

["If you survive, you can see tomorrow."]

To do that, she had to move toward tomorrow.

A tomorrow whose promises she could not know.

A tomorrow of endless possibilities precisely because of that.

The days she had spent learning the sword had been tedious. So had the days she had lived in the Arena as The Black Bride. Everything had felt empty. The whole world had been colorless. But what about lately?

What had the days since meeting Arhan been like...?

"Ah."

Seolyun's eyes shone. Just this once, she decided to follow her heart instead of indulging in miserable thoughts born of guilt. Toward wherever this pounding heart led her. Toward a place where she could freely feel joy rather than sorrow.

"... You're finally here."

A small smile formed on Seolyun's lips.

"Little Gladiator."

A deeply satisfied smile.

* * *

I raised the sword in my hand.

The Dragon Sword was no more.

I had eaten every last bit of it.

But though its physical form was gone, the Dragon Sword had not vanished.

That sword would be recreated here.

Because it remained within me.

"Whew."