Chapter 49: Engraving

When engraving something onto the body, one had to teach without mercy.

I drew my sword and lunged forward, swinging it relentlessly. *Whoosh* — the moment the wind was sliced, the flat of my blade had already reached my brother’s head.

Before he could even react, the sword had struck.

“Head!”

“Guaaack!”

*Thwack!* The flat of the blade struck his head directly.

‘That’s got to hurt.’

Even though I had controlled my strength, there was no way to withstand being hit by a slab of iron. The moment a groan escaped his lips, I moved again.

“There’s an opening! Head again!”

*Whooooosh* — I swung the sword with brutal force.

*Thwack!* Another direct hit exploded against him.

“I told you it was the head!”

“Urgh!”

Just because he was kind didn’t mean he lacked a temper. My brother gritted his teeth and swung his sword back at me. I used my footwork to dodge the blade aimed at my chest by a hair’s breadth.

After dodging, an opening appeared! I twisted my body back around and swung the flat of my blade once more.

“Aha! Not the Opern style, use the new swordsmanship! Again, the head!”

*Thwaaaaaack!*

Perhaps that was a bit too hard. My brother, who rarely complained of pain, squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his teeth.

‘It can’t be helped.’

I wasn’t doing this for enjoyment. I was simply gifting him the best medicine: a good thrashing!

“Here I come again!”

“Come at me!”

*Bam! Kaboom!*

Fortunately, my brother was qualitatively different from someone like Hoden. Even when in pain, he didn’t back away.

When the strength in his hand holding the sword began to fade, he squeezed out every last drop of his remaining power.

*Whooooosh —*

I tried not to take my eyes off the swinging sword.

I drove my body forward, and at some point…

“That’s it!”

“…Hah!”

He began to follow the movements of my sword. While stomping his feet according to the Opern family’s style, his hands simultaneously executed the Daecheon Divine Sword Technique.

“Start from the first form! Drop your shoulders lower!”

“Understood!”

*Whooooosh —*

The first form, Heavenly Star Ten Swords. A technique that contained ten variations within a single strike unfolded from my brother’s hands.

‘It doesn’t matter if his level is still low.’

*Vrooooom —* He swung once, but within that swing, ten variations were contained. Within each of the vibrating, echoing changes of the sword, True Qi began to coalesce.

They were ten shifting moves, and at the same time, ten killing strikes! The essence of the Illusion Sword, which was difficult for someone as straightforward as my brother to perform, was manifesting at his fingertips!

“That’s it! The important part is the application. Shifting the sword comes from controlling your Soulforce, and the variations within are constant—”

“It means creating change. To say that ten variations serve as the beginning for ten thousand changes… Ah. So that’s how it is?”

My brother finished my sentence before I even could. Those weren’t words he had spoken consciously.

‘Could it be… again?’

It was a murmur escaped from him unknowingly.

*Oooooooo —* My brother’s Soulforce transformed in an instant. His swordsmanship, which had been purely honest and focused only on charging forward, began to embrace change.

*Woooooo —* A single swing created two variations, then four changes, then ten forms. In an instant, a hundred techniques were drawn in the air.

*Sliiiiiice —*

Smoothly. Yet violently.

Lost in a trance, my brother’s eyes were already half-closed.

He swung his sword in that state. He didn’t even bother to save the Aura remaining in his body. *Whoosh* — the Soulforce extending outward was immense.

While in this trance, he moved and tuned the surrounding energy, making it his own.

‘He probably doesn’t even know how he’s moving.’

It was a type of rampage. But at the same time, it was enlightenment.

If someone could guide him, this trancelike rampage would lead to a breakthrough. The body would swallow the realization on its own and take a step forward.

Among the mind, Soulforce, and body mentioned in martial arts, this type of enlightenment was how the body developed first!

*Sliiiiiice —*

He sliced through the air. He added variations. He swung. Every strike was aimed at me.

*Crash!*

An explosion occurred as sword met sword. Even then, the trance did not break. Instead, it was as if he had been waiting for the impact to dive even deeper.

“Heh… He’s strong.”

These were strikes being swung unconsciously. There was no restraint, no etiquette. His instinctive swings held immense depth!

“Ah… Crazy!”

With every swing, he advanced one step.

For a martial artist, this was a moment that might only happen once in a lifetime.

I couldn’t block him. No, I shouldn’t block him. I had to accept every strike. Only then could he break through his shell and awaken.

“I’m going to make you pay for this later. Damn it.”

*Oooooooo —* I also unleashed my internal power without holding back. Sixty years’ worth of internal power swirled through my body, breathing life into me.

My feet stomped upon the ground, dominating the space.

I matched my sword to my brother’s, which was undergoing Myriad Changes.

*Clang! Bam! Screeech!*

From left to right. When the sword spreading to the right moved upward, my sword followed as if dancing in unison, inducing even greater changes.

Drawing him out, uniting, and harmonizing.

Countless shifting moves were exchanged. It wasn’t a matter of how many exchanges occurred. A sword that contained Myriad Changes within a single exchange could not be counted in such a way.

‘What a contradiction.’

Who would have thought that a man with the most honest sword in the world would gain enlightenment through shifting techniques!

“Haaaat!”

“…”

*Kaaaa-baaaaaam!*

I was merely matching him. At some point, it wasn’t just my brother enjoying himself; both of us were.

*Whooooosh —*

Only the swords played and moved between the two of us.

To Eldin, the sword was his faith and a means of comfort.

The weight of being the eldest son. The future Master of the House. A terrible pressure.

The sword was what allowed him to endure all that weight.

As he got older, the perceived weight of the sword grew lighter. He felt pleasure in the refreshing strikes he swung and thrust.

During the moments of training, he could shed all other duties and just swing.

Lighter. Even lighter. But the more he swung, the more others said Eldin’s sword had become heavier.

‘Nonsense.’

He was merely swinging as his heart desired.

He didn’t want to add weight even to his sword. He wanted to be light. Or rather, it was more accurate to say he wanted to be free.

He had swung like a madman. Whether others were watching or not, at any time.

He felt the brief freedom he could experience at any moment. Even as he watched his younger brother’s sword following him at a rapid pace, he didn’t feel rushed. He was satisfied as long as he could enjoy himself.

‘Was it thanks to that?’ He reached the stage of an Aura Practitioner at a rapid pace.

He was able to add speed by learning the concept of rotation that his brother had first shown him. He had surpassed the intermediate level.

The pleasure added to the heaviness gave him even greater freedom. He thought that was enough, but…

‘This is different. It’s bigger.’

The swordsmanship Rayrn displayed was different.

It split into countless pieces, but it didn’t grow weaker. It grew stronger as it split. Each and every piece contained killing intent. Just when he thought it was being swung to the left, it was already positioned on the right.

All around. Front, back, left, and right. Swords poured down ferociously from every direction.

‘This is it…’

The free sword he had imagined existed elsewhere.

The swordsmanship being painfully engraved into his body—the style his youngest brother had awkwardly handed over while saying he hadn’t even named it yet—had reached the limit of the swordsmanship he envisioned.

At some point, he enjoyed it. It was good. It was free.

And at the end of it…

*Whooooooosh —*

There was the freedom to pour everything in. The freedom of the sword. The true freedom of Eldin himself.

‘How long had he been swinging? When did he lose consciousness? He didn’t know.’

He just swung.

Until all his strength was exhausted. Until he could draw and use all the power around him. Until he used every last drop of his strength.

He shed all the weight he had been carrying in his heart.

In that moment.

“Haaa… Huff…”

He regained his senses.

He could realize that he was swinging a sword. The sword’s posture, its form, its meaning, the principles of martial arts that Rayrn spoke of.

He felt like he had touched the very edge of it.

He felt it not in a trance, but within his own will.

‘This is the real thing.’

He emerged from the true freedom of the trance. But it was new. He felt a sense of liberty.

And at the same time…

*Clannng —*

He felt the status of his brother, who was clashing swords with him.

His brother, who had always been frail. The youngest, whom he thought he would have to protect even after becoming the Master of the House, had grown to a level beyond merely clashing swords with him.

He had reached the peak of skill as both a Mage and a swordsman.

‘Perhaps this is just the beginning.’

Rayrn had accepted all of his strikes.

An Aura Expert at the low level… No, with this enlightenment, the intermediate level. Perhaps it was a new realm that couldn’t simply be described as Aura Expert.

‘It’s a completely new level.’

Eldin himself might have reached a realm entirely different from the generally known stages of swordsmanship. His brother was lightly receiving his sword. *Clang!* Without dodging or backing down an inch!

“Are you back to your senses now, Brother?”

“Ah… thanks to you. *Phew*.”

A deep exhaustion washed over him. Even so, he wanted to swing the sword more and more. His brother, whose sword was locked with his, read that intent.

*Clang! Bam!*

Rayrn accepted his blade as if he could do so forever. Eventually, in the end…

“Haaa…”

The one who lowered his sword and breathed heavily was Eldin. Though he wanted to swing hundreds or thousands of times more, he couldn’t move a single fingertip.

Just the act of holding the sword made him feel as if he had poured out all the strength in his entire body.

Even after accepting his strikes, Rayrn was still calm. At most, his face was slightly flushed.

‘He is great…’

His brother, who used to be so small, had become larger and stronger than anyone else. He was a giant.

That giant approached him with a bright smile. In that moment, he looked just like the brother he knew.

“Brother, congratulations on your great achievement.”

“Ah… it’s thanks to you.”

He swallowed the words that Rayrn’s achievement was even more incredible than his own. Instead, he said:

“Truly, thank you. Thanks to you, I was able to rise higher.”

“Haha. I’m glad. Still, I’m going to remember this favor. I’ll definitely collect on it later.”

“Fine. Let’s call it a debt. I’ll do whatever you ask, whenever you ask.”

He had incurred a precious debt. It was a debt he would have to repay some day.

“Hehe. Good. I’ll be sure to remember that. Well, I’ll head inside first. Swinging the sword like a madman has left me exhausted.”

Far from being exhausted, the flush on Rayrn’s face made him look even more vibrant.

His brother, who turned away while stretching, was clearly being considerate of Eldin. He was giving him space to be alone and organize his thoughts on this new realm.

*Click —*

As if there were nothing more to see, Rayrn lightly raised a hand and completely disappeared from the training grounds.

“…That fellow’s become quite bold. I might have been the only one who was stagnating.”

There was no jealousy. Instead, Eldin was delighted that his young brother had grown so much.

Instead, his motivation grew. He wanted to become a man worthy of being an older brother.

To not be a brother that Rayrn would find lacking.

*Whooooosh —*

“…I can still swing.”

He had to swing the sword more.