*WHIP*

The moment the wyvern army approached the ice barrier, Callithus noticed that the speed of their descent was alarmingly fast.

He soon discovered the reason.

A downdraft current was blowing. One so strong that it could not possibly be natural. It was as if the current was trying to pin them to the ground.

“Huh?”

And thus, the tragedy began.

Right before the wyvern army arrived, the hundreds of ice shields that Adjest materialized started to shatter simultaneously.

One of those pieces grazed Callithus’s armor. *CLANG*

Only a single fragment had brushed past him, but the Fourth-Circle magic that had been enchanted on the armor broke immediately.

It was strange. Even considering the acceleration, there was no way that a single ice fragment could be that destructive.

Callithus squinted his eyes. He quickly realized that the tens of thousands of ice shards rushing towards the wyvern army were all glowing faintly.

“Is that… … ?”

Callithus’s breath caught in his throat. He could not believe his very eyes. If his knowledge was correct, there was no doubt as to what this was. ‘Aura… … !’

Magic lay squarely in the domain of magicians, and aura in the domain of knights. A man of mediocrity would have a hard time mastering just one of those domains. But the woman in front of him had mastered both.

This was a feat only possible for Adjest Kingscrown, humanity’s strongest magical swordsman.

“KYAAAK!”

“HRAAAAGH!”

The sky, filled with a mixture of human and wyvern screams, quickly morphed into hell.

The wyvern army had flown into the field of aura-imbued shards, and just like that, they were torn apart.

Rapidly increasing their altitude and then suddenly diving to avoid the sniper had led to their demise.

From their perspective, tens of thousands of blade-like shards, each infused with aura, had just come flying at them from nowhere. No knight or magician could withstand such an absurd attack.

Watching his troops getting torn to pieces, Callithus spoke in a dazed voice. “This is absurd.”

Those were his final words.

Swept away by countless shards of ice, Callithus was torn asunder along with the wyvern that he was riding.

From the sky rained not just the wyvern unit’s artillery attacks, but their blood and guts.

* * *

Pittsburgh’s Central Square.

Leaving the dragon-shaped fountain between them, the Side Guard and Janissaries confronted each other.

The atmosphere of the two groups was quite different.

While the Side Guard prepared for battle like cold robots, the Janissaries bore eyes of wild beasts that could not contain their excitement.

Raphaello swallowed a laugh at the absurdity in the stark contrast between the two groups. The Royal Guard and the Janissaries.

Naturally, with the hundreds of years of war between Hebrion and Divide, the two groups had continuously competed for the position of the strongest on the continent.

These two groups were both knight-centric, serving the Hebrion Empire’s Imperial Family and Divide’s Royal Family respectively, making them the national pride and the symbol of strength for their countries.

This was a showdown between two groups claiming to be the continent’s strongest. “Get ready for battle.”

Starting with leader Brepon, the Janissaries all summoned their aura at the same time. The result was an extreme suppressive force bearing down on the area and its surroundings.

The Side Guard, apparently unphased by such a display, drew their weapons and aimed them at the Janissaries.

After a brief pause, they charged at each other with no regard to who moved first. *BANG*

*CRASH*

The two groups collided into each other fiercely, causing deafening roars to ring out in all directions.

The spacious square was instantly destroyed as aura coated weapons clanged against each other and magic exploded.

It was a fierce battle.

The Janissaries only had a few dozen people, but these troops were all knights strong enough to be commanders of any regular formation.

On the other hand, the Side Guard’s knights were less powerful, but they made up for it with their outstanding teamwork with high-ranking magicians.

They were two groups with vastly different compositions, but they both fought neck and neck. They were locked in a tense battle where neither side indicated any willingness to yield. However, the longer the battle continued, it was the Side Guard who would have the disadvantage. Their magicians would slowly run out of mana, and the Janissaries would likely triumph in a battle of pure swordsmanship. Even so, the Side Guard continued fighting calmly. They could fight fearlessly thanks to the presence of a man, who was currently fighting at the forefront of the battle alongside them.

*CLANG*

Raphaello stared ahead as he rotated the aura that wrapped around Gram.

Five swords rushed towards him.

Strong teamwork multiplied the power that any individual held by several times. And if that teamwork was between the best of the best, there was nothing more to say about the power they could wield.

The Janissary knights moved, thinking that it would be impossible even for a King-Class swordsman to block this attack.

But instead, Raphaello took a step forward.

During the slight moment while the Janissaries were taken aback, Raphaello’s sword moved. *SLASH*

The signature aura wheel of the Sword Grand Master easily shredded the knight standing before him.

“Huh?”

The knight that stood right behind the slain knight let out a stupid sound.

Raphaello kicked his abdomen. Despite having witnessed his colleague being slaughtered in front of him, his face remained stoic, with only one thought in his mind: victory.

*BANG*

Although he had focused on materializing his aura, that did not mean he had neglected the other ways of using aura. As he kicked someone with his body, which had been enhanced by his immense King-Class aura, nearby soldiers turned towards the sound of what they had thought was a bomb going off.

*BANG*

The half-folded body of the knight crashed into the fountain and exploded. There was no need to check if he was still alive.

“Th-This monster… … !”

As two of them had been overpowered in an instant, their formation had collapsed even before they could try further coordinated attacks.

Raphaello bent down as soon as he took a step. *WHIP*

A Janissary knight attacked after estimating where Raphaello would advance. Unfortunately, his attack was to no avail.

Raphaello felt the sharpness of the blade as it grazed past his head. But without hesitation, he swung Gram sideways.

The knight that had swung his sword at Raphaello was cleaved in half before he realized what had happened, long before he even had a chance to get back into position.

“Following attacks with your eyes? You’ve still got a long way to go.”

From there, Raphaello did a half-turn and struck his sword down at the incoming stab aimed at the left side of his lower body.

*CRAASH*

As the ends of their swords clashed, a massive shockwave erupted. *SPLAT*

Blood splattered everywhere. Just like that, the knight on the receiving end of the exchange exploded into scraps of meat.

Raphaello wiped the blood off his cheek as he levelled his sword at the last knight still standing.

*CLANG*

A sharp metallic clang rang out. “Ooh.”

Raphaello subconsciously let out an exclamation. Brepon, the leader of the Janissaries, had stepped in instantly to stop his sword.

*CLING*

Brepon pushed back Raphaello’s sword as he spoke.

“I would like to exchange pointers with the Sword Grand Master.”

As soon as his words ended, aura rose from his sword in a threatening manner. At the same time, three wheels formed on Raphaello’s sword and began to rotate. *CRAAASH*

As aura crashed against aura, a massive explosion swept through the surrounding area. The battle between the King-Class swordsmen was unlike any other.

Even amidst those explosions, the two did not stop swinging their swords.

It was a battle where a multitude of blows was exchanged every second.

In contrast to his position as the Empire’s shield, Raphaello was going all out on his offensive while Brepon was forced onto the backfoot, stuck defending against his onslaught.

*CLANG*

“Let me ask you one thing.”

Raphaello said to Brepon as they were locked in combat. “Why are you following Divide’s orders?”

It was a simple yet deep question.

Brepon did not have trouble understanding the implications of his question, but he answered the question while ignoring its nature.

“… … Why, that’s easy. That’s because I’m a knight of Divide.”

Brepon pushed back Raphaello’s sword. His instantaneous use of aura had caused his strength to surpass Raphaello’s for a second.

“As a knight who has sworn allegiance to the Royal Family, what more reason would I need to follow the country’s orders? I’m simply following my master’s orders faithfully.”

Hearing that answer, Raphaello’s expression went cold. “That’s the worst answer.”

His tone had also turned icy cold. His attitude was sharper than ever.

The number of wheels encircling Gram increased as the rotations accelerated. The amount of aura that the sword held was menacing.

An overwhelming pressure.

“There’s no more need for me to continue talking to someone who’s stopped thinking. Let’s finish this quickly.”

Soon, six wheels formed on his sword.

The sight of the six wheels, spinning as if they would swallow everything, clearly proved that Raphaello had reached a point where there was no doubt that he was deserving of the title Sword Grand Master.

Even faced with this overwhelming spectacle, Brepon silently raised his sword. “It won’t be that easy.”

Blue flames shot up and wrapped themselves around his sword. The vigor that he exuded did not fall behind Raphaello.

The strongest knights, from the Hebrion Empire and the Kingdom of Divide. Once again, the two swords crossed each other.