# Chapter 165
—
The nobles who had gathered for the engagement between Bayern and Dormund could not come to their senses.
“Wh-what is this…?”
An intruder had suddenly appeared and slain Bayern’s guardian knight.
That alone was absurd enough, yet the man had gone further—he gouged out the only eye of the celebration’s star, Bill Dormund.
Given Bill’s status and the place where this occurred, it was an incident grave enough to be likened to open rebellion.
Thus, the banquet hall, which only moments ago had been blooming with laughter, was instantly drowned in screams and chaos.
It was then that a man, who had been carefully observing the scene, muttered under his breath.
“Huh? That person… he looks like *him*.”
“…Looks like who?”
“Arthur Bayern!”
At that reply, the surrounding nobles widened their eyes.
“Arthur… Bayern?”
“Arthur Bayern? Who is that?”
“The heir of House Bayern who disappeared seven years ago! That man looks just like him!”
At that outcry, the atmosphere in the hall shifted.
“Black hair… black eyes. The symbol of Bayern, isn’t it?”
“Then… are you saying that man is Arthur Bayern?”
“Heh? Does that even make sense? Why would the missing heir of Bayern appear here of all places!”
Amidst this new wave of murmurs, all eyes turned toward Arthur.
Then, as Bill Dormund lay unconscious in a pool of blood, Arthur swung his crimson sword toward him.
The nobles gasped in horror, but before the strike could land—
Clang—!
The blow was blocked.
It was Cain Dormund.
The father of Bill, whose eye had just been torn out, and the true power-holder of the Empire.
At his sudden appearance, the nobles’ jaws dropped once again.
Finally facing one another, the two men spoke.
“Cain Dormund.”
“Arthur Bayern.”
As if on cue, the two called each other’s names and moved their blades.
Clang—!
Steel clashed and scraped against steel.
Cain’s eyes twitched violently as he snarled.
“You… how are you here?”
Arthur smiled brightly.
“That’s a strange question. You should be asking *why* I’m here, not how.”
“…What?”
“The reason is simple, Count Cain Dormund.”
Arthur’s eyes gleamed as he struck Cain’s sword aside.
Cain, forced back purely by strength, widened his eyes in shock.
Arthur’s crimson blade immediately pressed against his throat.
“I came here to kill you and the Dormund line.”
“……”
“Is that answer enough for you?”
Arthur’s words drew a pause from Cain, before the man let out a hollow laugh.
“Ha…ha.”
Shaking his head as though in disbelief, Cain suddenly struck away the blade aimed at his neck.
Arthur was forced back a step under the weight of the blow, and Cain’s face twisted grotesquely.
“You? Kill me? Bayern dares to kill *me*?”
As he said this, Cain’s eyes bloodshot with rage.
“Of all the jokes I’ve ever heard, that is the least amusing, and the most absurd.”
His lips curled into a mad grin.
Arthur, watching that face of madness, muttered softly.
“…Why would you think I’m joking?”
Arthur’s lips curved upward too, and in the next moment, his black eyes flushed red.
Just like Cain, Arthur surrendered himself to madness and laughed.
“I’m dead serious. I’ve come back to kill you, Cain.”
—
—
Cain swung upward, Arthur struck downward.
Clang—!
Their blades rang with a shriek of steel, and both men laughed.
“Haha….”
The sound was similar yet different, a strange echo of one another, as they launched into a frenzied exchange.
At first, their swords moved slowly. But the tempo surged, faster and faster, until their strikes raged like wild iron horses.
The air split; the void screamed.
The duel had already transcended the limits of human flesh.
The spectators could not even see the afterimages of their blades.
Even the knights who rushed in to subdue Arthur froze, their mission forgotten as they witnessed the two swordsmen clash.
In mere moments, the men had exchanged dozens of blows before leaping simultaneously into the air.
Tap—!
Arthur dashed ahead; Cain gave chase.
The audience, as though entranced, followed their movements with their steps.
Clang—!
They brought their battle into the garden, where white lilies of Bayern and red roses of Dormund bloomed side by side.
There, under starlight, their blades clashed once more, relentless.
Even the descending glow of the stars could not pierce between them.
In this moment, in this place, nothing could interfere between Arthur Bayern and Cain Dormund.
As they locked eyes, endlessly trading blows, Cain suddenly burst into laughter.
“Kuahahahaha—!”
In that instant, sword aura erupted from his blade.
It was a crimson energy, the same shade as his fiery red hair.
Brandishing the ultimate technique of swordsmen, Cain shouted with manic fervor.
“Arthur Bayern! Arthur Bayern! Thank you for returning alive like this!”
His blade swung with a roar, forcing Arthur to abandon his block and withdraw.
But Cain pursued relentlessly.
“Because you returned, I can see my beloved son again! I am endlessly grateful to you!”
Arthur dodged his strikes, frowning in confusion.
‘See his son again? What nonsense is that?’
Ian had died by Arthur’s hand in the northern snowfields of Arcane.
Though baffled, Arthur had no time to dwell on it.
Shhhk—!
Cain’s sword aura grew wilder with each swing.
Aura—only aura could oppose aura.
Arthur’s eyes gleamed as the ring upon his chest vibrated.
Fwoooosh—!
Mana burst forth, enveloping Arthur’s crimson blade.
Cain’s eyes widened in shock, and the onlooking nobles cried out.
“Th-that’s—!!”
“Sword aura!?”
“Could he be… a swordsman above the Fifth Circle!?”
Indeed, Arthur’s crimson blade now shimmered with gray sword aura, gleaming like moonlight.
“…What? You can wield aura too?”
Cain barely managed to block Arthur’s sudden strike.
Boom—!
Crimson and gray light scattered.
Arthur’s lips curved upward.
“Why? Surprised that a mute can wield aura?”
Cain’s brow twitched violently at the taunt.
Arthur, seeing the rare flicker of Cain’s unease, marveled.
‘Ah… so even this man can make such a face.’
It was understandable.
The mute Arthur Bayern, thought to be gone for seven years, now wielded aura.
Arthur couldn’t help but laugh.
‘Ten years I waited to kill this man.’
And aura was not all he had forged in that time.
Clang—!
Arthur forced Cain’s sword aside and lunged.
Cain, eyes wide, barely raised his blade in time.
Clang—!
He blocked it—yet still stumbled back a step.
His expression twisted in disbelief.
‘I… was pushed back? Against Arthur Bayern’s blade? Even while wielding aura?’
Such a thing should never happen.
More than shock, fury consumed him.
Cain’s chest-ring trembled violently.
Buzzzzz—!!
Eighth Circle.
The ferocity of a swordsman on the brink of Sword Mastery surged forth.
But Arthur did not flinch.
Clang—!
The strike that once seemed an immovable wall—whether in his past life or this one—no longer frightened him.
And so, Arthur laughed, free of madness now.
“Haha….”
The freshness of that laugh made even the spectators widen their eyes.
Arthur’s sword began to dance.
Clang—! Clang! Clang—!!!
Unpatterned, gray aura poured forth like a storm of assassins.
For the first time, Cain’s blade wavered.
“…Kuhk—!”
He strained, desperate to overturn the tide, but his once-absolute sword no longer obeyed him.
His body felt heavy, sodden like wet cotton, and for the first time, the sword in his hand felt foreign.
Infuriated by the anomaly, Cain roared.
“What have you done to me, Arthur Bayern! Is this some curse!?”
Arthur laughed.
“No? I’m no dark mage—how could I curse you?”
Moonlight scattered from his blade.
Shaaah—!
A soft glow, like the full moon in the night sky, wrapped around Arthur’s sword aura.
The nobles gasped. Even the knights, unable to intervene, gaped.
“…That’s?”
“Sword aura? No… I’ve never heard of aura taking the form of moonlight.”
Arthur raised his sword.
Cain, alarmed, gripped his own blade with both hands.
Clang—!
Steel screamed as Cain barely held on—yet could not stop the strike itself.
Crack—!
His sword aura fractured.
Moonlight pierced his crimson energy, shattering it.
Cain’s jaw dropped.
“What…? Moonlight?”
And with it came the realization.
Every swordsman longed for a single realm:
The transcendent state where one could sheath their sword in moonlight.
Sword Master.
Those who reached it bore blades people called:
\[The divine swords that can cut even what cannot be cut.]
Recalling the adage, Cain stared at his crumbling aura and muttered.
“You… you’re a Sword Master?”
“Took you long enough to realize?”
At his words, the moonlight on Arthur’s sword flared brilliantly.
“…!”
The audience could not contain their astonishment at the radiant sight.
As darkness itself seemed devoured by the moonlight, Arthur leveled his sword at Cain and whispered.
“…Cain, I have one request.”
He swung lightly.
“Don’t die easily. You don’t deserve even that.”
The moonlight burst forth, breaking through Cain’s aura, and shattered his blade outright.
Cain lowered his head.
“……”
Brilliant moonlight lingered upon his chest.
Warm blood dripped down—he had been struck.
Cain let out a hollow laugh and collapsed, murmuring.
“Arthur Bayern… just what… are you?”
Arthur rested the moonlit blade on his shoulder and answered.
“I’m the madman of a ducal house who came here to kill you.”
—
—
A heavy silence fell.
“……”
None dared speak hastily in the face of what had just unfolded.
Cain Dortmund—
The Empire’s greatest knight, had been defeated.
Defeated by Arthur Bayern, the mute heir who had vanished seven years ago.
The revelation was not just shocking—it was terrifying.
Yet amidst that terror, one man clung to reason.
One of Dormund’s Thirteen Fangs.
The Serpent.
“Protect the Lord—!!!!”
His shout jolted the Dormund knights from their stupor.
Shiiing!
Dozens of blades were drawn.
In one swift leap, Dormund’s knights surrounded the fallen Cain.
Arthur’s brow twitched.
‘…The same as before.’
Not this life, but in the past.
When Arthur had fallen beneath Cain’s blade, it was the same.
Cain Dormund was never alone.
He was followed by hundreds of knights, thousands of soldiers, and countless factions supporting him.
‘I had to fight all of them along with Cain.’
That was why his revenge failed in his previous life.
No matter how great the individual, one cannot defeat the masses.
But this time was different.
Now, Arthur had the power to overcome even those multitudes.
‘If I use everything here and now, I can kill Cain.’
His eyes gleamed as he prepared to raise his moonlit sword—
But suddenly, someone stepped up behind him, aiming a gun at Dormund’s knights.
Startled, Arthur turned—and saw a familiar pointed ear.
“Jeannie?”
“…I was going to just watch from the shadows, but they’re playing dirty with numbers.”
She jerked her chin.
“Go, Young Master. I’ll cover you.”
Arthur’s eyes widened.
“Uh…”
Words trailed off.
This unfamiliar situation, never before experienced, froze his thoughts.
‘I… have an ally fighting by my side?’
He had always fought alone.
Always stood alone on the battlefield.
So to have someone stand beside him—it was foreign. Frightening.
But not unpleasant.
Rather, it was refreshing. Uplifting.
Even if it was only one person, the fact that someone stood with him was enough.
At that moment, another stepped forward.
“…Hehe. Guess it’s my turn to shine?”
Arthur turned in surprise again.
Golden hair gleamed atop bronzed skin—Leon.
“…Leon? Why are you standing next to me?”
“What kind of thing to say is that? You expect a friend to just sit by while you fight alone?”
Arthur fell silent.
Then Jeannie gripped his shoulder.
“Young Master. Eyes front.”
Arthur quickly refocused.
“The Serpent of Dormund… from what I know, he’s a sorcerer. Different from dark magic, but a vile shaman all the same.”
Her hand tightened on his shoulder.
“Don’t underestimate him. End this quickly. Dragging it out won’t do us any good.”
Her words helped Arthur regain his clarity, and he laughed.
“Haha….”
“…?”
“This feels good. This is a first for me….”
Trailing off, he turned to them both.
“Thank you.”
“…!”
“Because of you two, I get to experience something like this. It feels good.”
At his sudden words, both were left speechless.
‘…Arthur Bayern.’
‘He just said thank you?’
Since knowing him, they had rarely heard such gratitude.
Why now, they didn’t know.
But before they could react further, Arthur lifted his sword and leveled it at Dormund’s retainers.
“…!”
They instinctively stepped back.
The moonlight on Arthur’s blade flared brighter, dazzling.
The Dormund retainers swallowed hard.
‘M-moonlight….’
‘Only a Sword Master can wield that….’
‘Then that man… Arthur Bayern really is a Sword Master?’
And a Sword Master never loses.
That fact made them tremble, but they did not retreat.
“…We will guard our Lord with our lives.”
They were men sworn to Cain.
His swords in life and death alike.
As they surrounded Cain, the spectators gasped in awe.
“Unbelievable…”
Cain Dormund’s defeat.
Arthur Bayern’s return.
Dozens of knights facing three figures.
An impossible reality had come alive before their eyes.
The tension on the field grew ever sharper.
“……”
All knew—if even one moved, the battle would begin.
The air quivered in a silent tug of war.
And then, someone broke the balance.
“…From this moment, all forces will aid Young Master Arthur Bayern.”
Arthur turned in shock.
There they were—dozens of knights and hundreds of soldiers, bearing the lion insignia upon their chests.
And behind them, weeping openly—his butler, Anna.
Arthur’s eyes widened as the Bayern knights encircled him and roared.
“We support the rightful heir of Bayern, Arthur Bayern, returned after seven years!”
It was the roar of the sleeping lion, awakened once more.
—
So good !!!