Chương 85: Rivalry

Noah smiled as he tightened his grip around the sword. His neck burned. A sharp, terrible pain spread through the scar as memories of that fateful day flashed through his mind. The forest. The cherry blossoms. The graceful movement of Inari's blade. The cold sensation of steel passing through his throat. The moment he died.

"Beauty and vice." Noah raised his sword.

"Those are truly contradictory feelings to inspire in someone, Inari." Elijah's eyes narrowed.

"So you recognized me without the mask." He released a tired sigh.

"So much for maintaining a secret identity." Then he stepped forward. Cherry blossom petals exploded around his body. Elijah vanished. He reappeared directly in front of Noah, his katana already sweeping toward his neck. Noah ducked. The blade passed close enough to cut several strands of black hair. His scar flared with agony. But he did not freeze.

"Royal Arts—Leg Reaper!" Noah swung low, aiming to sever Elijah's legs before he could recover.

"Spring Style—Water Wheel." Elijah's katana flowed downward in a smooth, circular motion. For a moment, it appeared as though water moved along the blade, guiding it through the air. Steel struck steel. Elijah redirected Noah's attack with effortless precision. Noah immediately leaned back as the katana continued upward, narrowly avoiding another slash across his chest. The two separated.

"You're going to regret refusing to use your Regalia." Elijah rested the katana near his shoulder.

"You never know." A faint smile touched his face.

"I may decide to use mine." Noah laughed.

"You don't have one." Elijah's expression shifted slightly.

"No one carries a sword that valuable if they possess a Regalia they can summon whenever they wish." Noah lowered himself into another stance.

"The Fafnir bloodline is extremely sensitive to mana." His green draconic eyes sharpened.

"I've been training that sense recently." Mana clung to everything. People. Plants. The earth beneath their feet. Even the arena walls carried faint traces left behind by the thousands of people gathered within them. Noah focused upon Elijah's katana.

"But I can't sense anything surrounding that blade." No mana entered it. No ability flowed through it. The weapon seemed like an empty space within the world.

"That sword is made from barium, isn't it?" Noah smiled. Barium was among the rarest and most expensive metals in existence. Nearly ninety percent of the world's supply was purchased directly by the Emperor. It was notoriously difficult to shape, requiring specialized tools and craftsmen willing to endure the dangers of working with it. But its unique properties made the struggle worthwhile. Barium suppressed mana. Abilities weakened around it. Divine energy struggled to flow through it.

In the hands of a skilled swordsman, it was one of the most dangerous weapons imaginable. Elijah glanced down at his katana. Then back toward Noah.

"You've become far more observant since the last time we fought." Noah's scar continued to burn. He ignored it.

"And I've become far harder to kill."

"Yes." Elijah glanced down at the barium blade.

"It was payment from the Emperor during my time as one of his executioners." A faint smile crossed his face as he remembered the day he had received it.

"He gave it to me in advance before assigning me a rather difficult target." Noah adjusted his stance.

"Who?" Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

"The Doctor." Noah's eyes widened.

"Not the mask or the title," Elijah continued.

"The man beneath them." He chuckled.

"Naturally, the Emperor had no idea that the person he ordered me to kill would eventually become The Doctor."

"What happened?"

"I found him." Elijah's fingers tightened around the hilt of his katana.

"And instead of killing him, I chose to serve him." Noah stared at him. Of all the stories he had expected, that was not one of them.

"Within The Crows, only three of us know The Doctor's true identity." Elijah raised one finger.

"The Wing of Sloth, Midnight." A second.

"The Wing of Pride, Queen." Then a third.

"And me." Noah narrowed his eyes.

"Any chance you'll tell me who he is?" Elijah smiled.

"I'm certain you'll discover the truth one day." He lowered himself into a stance.

"But enough about the past." Cherry blossom petals began gathering around his body.

"Let us live for the present…" The petals scattered.

"And die for the future." Elijah vanished. He appeared directly in front of Noah, his sword already descending. Cherry blossoms spiraled around his body, disrupting the mana flowing through the air. Noah's head throbbed. His developing mana sense became overwhelmed by static. Elijah's presence blurred into a distorted mass, impossible to read or predict. Noah raised his blade just in time. Steel crashed against steel.

"I'm going to regret telling you about my mana sense, aren't I?"

"Of course." Elijah smiled. His katana slid along Noah's sword before twisting toward his throat. Noah knocked it aside and answered with a slash toward Elijah's chest. Elijah stepped around it. Their blades collided again. And again. Each strike came faster than the last. Elijah's movements carried the grace of falling blossoms, every cut flowing naturally into the next. Noah's technique lacked the same refinement, but he met that elegance with relentless determination. Sword clashed against sword.

Neither fighter surrendered an inch. Noah's scar continued to burn. His hands trembled whenever Elijah's blade approached his neck. Yet every time fear threatened to stop him, Noah stepped forward.

"Royal Arts—Knight Killer!" Noah vanished. Using Royal March, he appeared behind Elijah in a flash, his sword already thrusting toward the assassin's back. The blade came within inches of piercing him. Elijah reacted instantly. He planted one foot and flipped backward over Noah, twisting through the air with his katana raised above his head.

"Spring Style—Heavy Rain." Elijah descended. Water seemed to pour from his blade as he swung downward, countless droplets trailing behind the steel. Noah spun around.

"Royal Arts—Earthquake!" He answered with a powerful upward slash. Their blades collided. The impact sent a violent tremor through Noah's arms. Elijah's strike felt impossibly heavy, as though Noah were not blocking a single blade, but a thousand smaller swords falling upon him at once. An endless downpour of steel. Noah gritted his teeth as his knees began to buckle beneath the pressure. The ordinary sword groaned in his hands. He could not overpower the technique. So he abandoned the clash.

Royal March surged through his legs. Noah shot backward with incredible speed, escaping just as Elijah's blade crashed into the ground. The sand erupted beneath the impact. Noah slid to a stop several meters away, smoke rising from the soles of his boots. His arms trembled from the force of the exchange. Elijah calmly lifted his katana. The illusion of rain faded from its edge. Noah smiled despite the pain.

"Your swordsmanship is even more ridiculous than I remembered."

"You've grown stronger." Elijah raised his katana and settled into another stance.

"But surely you can feel the difference between our skill." Noah tightened his grip around the ordinary sword.

"How much longer do you intend to continue this reckless display of bravado?"

"A little longer." Noah smiled and took a slow breath.

"Just a bit more." Elijah studied him carefully. Then his hand moved toward the hilt at his waist.

"Prepare yourself." His body lowered.

"I'm about to use a technique you know quite well." The scar where Inari had severed his arm began to ache. He remembered the flash of pale-blue light. The sudden emptiness at his shoulder. The blood pouring onto the forest floor. His scarred neck burned along with it. He knew what was coming.

"Spring Style—Pale Blue Bloom." Elijah moved. Noah barely saw him. One moment, the assassin stood across the arena. The next, a trail of pale-blue cherry blossoms filled the space between them. Elijah's blade was already upon him. Noah did not think. He acted entirely on instinct.

"Royal Arts—Guardian!" A single golden ring appeared over Noah's body. Not around his entire form. Only at the exact point Elijah's katana was destined to strike. Steel met light. The Pale Blue Bloom rebounded from the ring with a deafening crack. Elijah's eyes widened. Royal Arts—Guardian was an incredibly powerful defensive technique. It allowed its user to surround their body with golden rings capable of repelling incoming attacks.

But maintaining protection across the entire body consumed an overwhelming amount of mana. Used carelessly, it could leave Noah too exhausted to continue fighting. So he had created only one ring. Placed upon a single point. At the precise location Elijah intended to cut. The golden light shattered. Elijah slid backward across the sand. Noah remained standing. His sword was already raised. Something clicked within him. The burning in his neck faded. The noise of the crowd disappeared.

Even Lux's voice vanished from his awareness. Noah's breathing became calm. His trembling hands grew still. His green eyes sharpened as every movement around him seemed to slow. He had entered the zone. Elijah stared at him. Then excitement flashed through his lifeless blue eyes.

"What an absurd child." Noah lowered himself into a stance.

"I'm almost grateful you spent so much of your life crippled." A genuine smile crossed Elijah's face.

"Had you trained properly from the beginning…" His fingers tightened around his katana.

"You might already have become the Sword Master." Noah's blade shifted slightly. Elijah could feel it. The difference in skill remained enormous. But for the first time, the distance between them no longer felt impossible. Elijah raised his sword.

"You're going to become a wonderful rival." Noah smiled.