The dull sound of wooden swords clashing against each other echoed inside the swordsmanship training ground.

 

Iria, the first-year top student, and Ariel, the second-year top student and the strongest in the academy, crossed swords.

 

The matchup between the two was enough to draw the attention of those around them.

 

Ariel’s strength was undoubted, and Iria’s evaluation in the eyes of others had also greatly risen after defeating Sera.

 

In fact, even though everyone knew the likely result, they still thought Iria might have a chance. After all, Iria defeated Sera, who was second-ranked among the second-year students. Seeing that, she might be able to contend with Ariel.

 

Many people were watching intently. It had been a while since they had watched Ariel’s match after he had proven his superiority to the academy students.

 

No one dared to challenge him with a sword. No matter who won, it was clear it would be an interesting spectacle.

 

If Ariel lost, it meant the academy’s strongest had changed. If Iria lost, it would be the first loss etched into her brilliant track record.

 

Anyway, that was the atmosphere.

 

-Clang!!

 

A dull impact sound spread out.

 

Similar sword strikes and similar weights.

 

Iria stared at Ariel while holding the wooden sword with both hands. Their swordsmanship overlapped to a strange extent.

 

Because the swords the two wielded were all derived from the same person.

 

‘As expected of the Sword Saint’s disciple.’

 

The Sword Saint Freya, who taught swordsmanship to Ariel, founded the Imperial Sword Style.

 

She refined her swordsmanship to make it easier for others to use and distributed it to many people in the Empire.

 

That’s why there were overlapping parts. Iria had also borrowed from others since she had never learned the sword.

 

She also used Imperial Sword Style the most because it was the easiest and most powerful.

 

But the two’s swordsmanship were different.

 

Because even if it was derived from the same source, what each contained differed.

 

Iria puts weight into the sword based on her excellent physical abilities. Sometimes some people point out that swordsmanship that presses down with strength isn’t real, but that’s all nonsense.

 

Because in a world where the logic of power holds, whatever is strong is justice.

 

That’s why Iria’s simple yet rough swordsmanship wasn’t looked down upon. The sword’s trajectory is as straightforward as possible, and there is no particular technical element.

 

But it is heavy. Each sword strike is as heavy as a mountain, enough to render everything of the opponent powerless.

 

It is a sword strike that one cannot block even knowing it. That’s why Iria wielding a sword is scary.

 

On the other hand, Ariel was the type to flexibly parry incoming sword strikes with speed and technique.

 

Ariel calmly deflected Iria’s heavy sword strikes and then launched his counterattack.

 

It was derived from the sixth strike of the Imperial Sword Style, in which the trajectory is bent once before the sword is swung.

 

“……”

 

Iria tilted her head back to avoid it.

 

After exchanging several sword blows, Iria’s evaluation of Ariel’s strength was as follows:

 

Technically superior to Iria but slower. While he might appear fast to ordinary students, he didn’t measure up to Iria’s level of speed.

 

Additionally, his strikes were light. They lacked the decisive power needed to win the match. Though they might seem impressive to ordinary students, they didn’t meet Iria’s expectations.

 

The first thing Iria felt was puzzlement. From the appearance shown so far, it didn’t come to mind that he was the academy’s strongest.

 

Rather, Iria felt Sera was superior. Iria’s match with Sera left her with surprises. In comparison, Ariel was nothing but disappointing.

 

‘Did I misjudge the person?’

 

Iria tilted her head.

 

Only after observing a bit more carefully could Iria identify the source of her discomfort.

 

Lucia, whom Iria had clashed wooden swords with before, channeled mana into the sword and displayed explosive power in an instant. In Sera’s case, her swordsmanship was terrible, but her utilization of pressure by detonating mana was excellent.

 

But Ariel doesn’t have that. Unlike those Iria had faced, no mana could be found in Ariel.

 

It wasn’t that he wasn’t using it. Simply put, the substance called mana itself couldn’t be felt from his body.

 

He was hiding something. Iria became a bit interested in that part.

 

‘Should I try provoking him?’

 

Iria, whose interest was piqued, changed her stance of gripping the sword. She loads her overwhelming physical abilities onto the basics of the sword stolen from others.

 

With the sound of kicking the ground, Iria’s figure disappeared.

 

So fast that not even an afterimage remained. Iria poured in raining sword strikes toward Ariel like that.

 

She kept swinging, curious how long he could keep receiving them. At a speed ordinary people couldn’t even follow with their eyes.

 

However, when Iria increased her speed, Ariel didn’t crumble. The more he received the sword, the more he accelerated, and now he started keeping up with Iria’s fast speed.

 

As expected, something was strange. Ariel was reacting to Iria’s sword strikes with an uncanny precision.

 

It was impossible with normal human reaction speed. Unless he was using mana for corrections like Sera or Albert, Ariel seemed to be reacting without any such assistance.

 

Is that really possible?

 

To conclude first, no. That was not a domain possible for the human race. Iria could do it because she wasn’t human, but Ariel was human.

 

Then, it was highly probable that he, too, was raising his speed with some kind of trick.

 

What that might be, Iria would be able to find out if she pressured him more.

 

Iria raised her speed to another level. Now, except for some superhumans, no one could see her movements.

 

It was when her speed became too fast for Ariel to handle. The instant speed from kicking the ground with strong leg strength was fast enough that even Ariel momentarily missed her movements.

 

“Ugh?!”

 

To Ariel, who showed signs of being flustered, Iria swung her sword to finish it.

 

And,

 

Just before Iria’s sword strike reached, a platinum-colored light burst from Ariel’s body.

 

***

 

Records of the previous Hero Elion can be easily found even in the academy’s library.

 

He was clearly human but was rarely born with a body that couldn’t handle mana. To be more precise, a different substance occupied the place where mana should have existed.

 

Something superior to mana.

 

People called the platinum-colored light surrounding the holy sword the Hero’s Starlight.

 

The Hero’s Starlight, which seemed as if it would be forgotten with Elion’s death, was now being reproduced by Ariel.

 

The radiant, platinum-colored starlight blocked Iria’s sword strike with strength surpassing that of a typical mana barrier. Following that, the starlight launched an attack against her.

 

Iria was surprised, but even more so, Ariel himself seemed taken aback.

 

He immediately put down the wooden sword and checked Iria’s condition.

 

He approached Iria, who had also dropped the wooden sword on the floor.

 

“Sorry! Are you okay?!”

 

“……”

 

Iria sat down on the spot and frowned.

 

She had been touched by the starlight and suffered severe burns on her arm. Unlike usual, this wound was difficult to regenerate. Even a light touch from the starlight was causing it to eat away at her body.

 

What Ariel had been hiding hurt much more than Iria thought. The Hero’s Starlight doesn’t harm humans, but when it touches monsters, it causes a purification reaction.

 

Ariel immediately put down the wooden sword and checked Iria’s condition. She wasn’t hit by the sword strike, but the burns on her arm were severe.

 

He reached out to help Iria, but she didn’t take it.

 

“…… Don’t touch me.”

 

Iria glared with fierce eyes. Feeling a momentary threat to her life, he had no choice but to back away.

 

Iria turned her steps and left the swordsmanship training ground, which was in turmoil in many ways.

 

Even after she left, Ariel couldn’t raise his head for a while. He seemed to think everything was his mistake.

 

Sera, who had been watching everything from behind with her arms crossed, said in a small voice,

 

“You went too far this time, Ariel.”

 

“…… Sorry.”

 

“It’s not me you should apologize to. Well, should I make another opportunity next time?”

 

“Please do.”

 

This accident wasn’t Ariel’s fault.

 

He still can’t fully control the Hero’s Starlight. It was an unstable state where he didn’t know when he might lose control.

 

That’s why he hesitated to use it. He had no intention of showing the starlight in the match with Iria.

 

But the starlight was a bit different from mana. Regardless of his will, if the owner is deemed to be in danger, it enters an autonomous defense mode on its own.

 

There was no problem up to here. The Hero’s Starlight touching the human body didn’t affect it.

 

But it was fatal to Iria.

 

Regardless of the result, it wasn’t something for him to feel responsible for.

 

Ariel didn’t fully understand his power yet. He seemed to think even the simple autonomous defense was an overload reaction due to his lack of control.

 

Unintentionally, this time, Ariel had a reason to seek out Iria.