Chapter 317: The Empire's Blade (5)

"..."

Giving no answer, Leandro finally took in the figure before him properly.

Features sharp enough to have been carved. He could be called handsome by any standard, yet his face was buried under layers of paint that resembled stage makeup, glittering with ornaments. A silver corset held up massive pectorals, below which a translucent silk dress flowed down to golden heels with absurdly high lifts.

Leandro was bewildered. Did the man truly withstand all of his attacks dressed in such a cumbersome outfit? Even after pulling the man into the first domain before striking, Leandro failed to kill him.

The technique was incomplete, not even half-formed—just a concept he had barely begun to shape. Yet, no one had ever blocked it even once. This man stopped it thrice.

Can I win against him?

The vivid sensation that still lingered in his hand pressed heavily upon him. The answer was obvious. Defeat was the only outcome.

Just as he reached that conclusion, belated cries erupted around them.

"How... how could he clash blades with His Excellency...?"

"T-this can't be happening..."

"Impossible..."

As if to punctuate their shock, Leandro's opponent said, "It has been such,

such

a long time since I enjoyed a fight like this.

Hohoho

! Tell me, what is your name?"

"Leandro..."

"Excellent, young Leandro. From your name alone, I'd guess a most illustrious lineage stands behind you, yes?"

Leandro hesitated. He had no desire to name his mother's family, who had turned their backs on him even before the funeral. Nor did he want to speak of his father, who had wasted away in a small room, buried in books until death claimed him.

"Who knows. What about you?"

"Oh my, such a handsome man asking for a young maiden's name!

Ohoho

! How embarrassing! That is a secret."

"..."

Leandro silently studied this so-called "maiden." To him, sex had never been defined by anything other than the structure of the body's organs. Not that he could, or wanted to, verify it here. Even if offered proof, he would have refused to see it. Still, beyond such distinctions, the one before him was far too massive to be called a maiden.

"Nevertheless, since you've asked so sweetly... I'll tell only you." His thick lips, painted a deep pink, coquettishly parted several times before he said again, "You may call me Laura.

Hoho...

but telling you my name is so embarrassing, I might just have to make a mess of you now!"

Laura readjusted his grip on the sword. The strike that followed was textbook: the very downward slash Leandro had forced Robin to repeatedly practice, with a slap to his cheek whenever he faltered. Though slower than Robin's wild swings, the pressure was overwhelming. In spite of the empty air, the blow seemed to seal every escape.

Leandro didn't even want to evade. Never before had he faced someone who forced him to exert himself fully. This was an attack he couldn't be sure of countering, even with all his strength. It even made Leandro want to test Laura and measure his power against him.

Tutuk.

Something inside of Leandro snapped. He lowered his sword, then whipped it upward with explosive force. A clash of pale white and azure light burst forth, and he was driven back. The shock rattled through his arms so violently that his bones felt like shattering. Though it was merely steel against steel, the dueling ground beneath them fractured like glass.

The earlier collisions had been too fast for the eye to follow. This time, the impact alone sent violent tremors through the air. Both the force bearing down and driving upward were monstrous. Even knights standing twenty paces away were thrown back to the ground by the shockwave.

Their Order was no band of earnest trainees. They were men of wealth and influence more than discipline, but they weren't entirely ignorant of swordsmanship. They couldn't grasp what had happened in the first exchanges—but this, at least, they understood.

"That... that's Sword Energy!"

"No... even greater... so vast, so clear..."

To their astonishment, Leandro's upward strike had forced Laura's descending blade aside. In the next moment, the greatsword spun in a vicious arc toward Leandro's waist. Leandro leaped back, narrowly dodging it. Had he stood still, he'd have been cleaved in half.

Laura simply grinned, teeth bared wide. Then, he leaped forward again, bringing his sword down for another devastating strike.

Paaang!

The blast thundered outward, hair whipping wildly in the gale. Leandro had to use both hands to catch the attack, but to no avail. He was driven down, the dueling ground cracking beneath his feet, his ankles sinking deep into the earth. Pinned like a tree root, Leandro glared upward.

Laura wriggled his thick fingers and burst into laughter. "

Ohoho

! You're simply delightful! How could you be this marvelous?"

"..."

Had Leandro not braced his legs, he would've been forced to his knees. That raw strength, with technique nor spin, was what did him in. Laura had outperformed Leandro in both strength and speed. And yet, the thought sent a thrill coursing through Leandro. Never once had he felt this before.

Leandro let out a low laugh. "

Khuhk...

"

Though his feet were buried in stone and soil, he felt as if he could fly. The suffocating pressure surrounding him was exhilarating.

How did he move just now?

How did he block twelve strikes in a row?

How could his downward slash carry such weight?

Leandro began to contract the first domain. To seize a diameter of three meters against this colossus was folly. He couldn't match him in terms of force density. In that case, he'd narrow his reach. From the surface to the line of the blade. From the line to the precise point. His domain would vanish, only to sharpen into the edge that carved through his.

Laura let out a grotesque laugh as he shifted his sword grip with both hands. "Splitting apart! As expected of a genius!

Eheheh

, you're the best!"

Has he noticed the change?

Leandro tore his legs free from the shattered ground and lunged forward. His strike was faster than the first one, eliciting a flicker of ecstasy in Laura's eyes. He drove his heel into the ground, kicking up the broken stone with monstrous force.

Paaat!

Chunks of rubble shot toward Leandro like throwing knives, blotting out his vision in an instant. A storm of fragments came crashing down. It was an attack he hadn't expected.

"

Aagh

!"

The shards struck those around them. Some fell screaming, bloodied. The Blue Lion Knights managed to shield themselves, but the defenseless courtesans seemed gravely wounded.

Laura sprang back, both hands trembling with excitement, grinning from ear to ear. "Oh my, oh my... to think you were hiding such skill!"

Leandro leveled his sword toward him, sharp and steady. In his periphery, he saw the courtesans lying on the ground, bleeding. The fire of battle that had surged within him went cold.

"That's enough..."

"Why stop?"

"Others are being dragged into this. Let's take it elsewhere."

"

Ohohoho

! Wonderful! I've always adored people whose values are so utterly unlike mine."

With a flushed face, he fanned himself with one hand. "You're like a knight from a fairytale. I like you more and more."

Laura lowered his blade. The way he held it looked careless, as though he'd toss it aside at any moment. Yet somehow, that posture seemed more dangerous than any stance before. Though Leandro saw a single sword in his grip, his instincts told him an attack could come from two directions at once.

Without meaning to, Leandro shifted into a stance for fighting multiple opponents.

Laura flared his nostrils and inhaled deeply, trembling with excitement. "

Hhuuhp... ah

... what a scent. This is it... One hundred percent... the scent of perfection."

Still muttering to himself, he smiled broadly. "Join the Blue Lion Knights! No, lead us! Become our commander!"

"Y-Your Excellency...?" someone stammered nearby.

Laura ignored them. "You're the best... flawless."

He struck a strange pose, one eye closed. Still, Leandro saw no opening. Even when he flung his longsword to the ground, the distance between them felt unchanged. In fact, his domain expanded the moment he let go of the weapon. Leandro leaped back and landed on the top of the wall. A foe he would have to stake his life against. Perhaps in six months, but not now. Didn't matter, as Leandro had once endured ten years of waiting.

"Where are you going? Come back, my one hundred percent!"

"I have other matters to attend to..."

"Oh? And what if I refuse to let you go?"

"I doubt you could prevent me from leaving."

Laura's atmosphere, stance, the cold metallic tang beneath his heavy makeup, and even the bitter taste on Leandro's tongue... His sharpened senses told him the truth: Laura's secret technique was a single, fatal strike at close range. Approaching him meant death. But escaping him? That, at least, would not be difficult.

"

Hohoho...

" Writhing, cheeks flushed red, Laura whispered, "If you crush a butterfly in your hands, it dies, doesn't it? Very well, I'll let you go. But you will return, seeking the flower."

Paaat!

Leandro shuddered once, then slipped away into the streets behind the capital.

***

Leandro made his way into the forest. The trees here grew tall and dense, their branches intertwining to deter human trespassers. He pushed between them, pressing forward.

Miyu had been left behind in the plains below; the forest was far too thick for her to follow. Strong enough to crush lesser beasts beneath her hooves, swift and clever enough to escape danger on her own, she required no protection.

Whoooosh!

A hollow wind whispered through the woods, like the lament of the dead. However, Leandro had visited here once a year. The sound was familiar to him.

Clearing a path with an axe and carving an easy road for himself had always been an option. However, if wanderers mistook it for a trail, they would surely fall prey to the beasts that lurked within. Better to leave it wild, leading people to believe it was a forest never to be entered. Still, as he pressed deeper, he noticed something he had never seen before: footprints.

Five. Seven... twelve.

Twelve distinct tracks, all leading in the same direction. Snow fell from the sky, covering them, but his senses were too keen to be deceived. The footprints were narrow, unnaturally so, as though their owners had lightened their weights. These were no ordinary men.

They're strong.

Had it not been Leandro, they would have gone unnoticed. Cautiously, he followed the trail further into the forest. Eventually, he came across a frozen stream. A hole had been broken through the ice, a sign that they had stopped to drink.

"..."

Just to confirm, Leandro unrolled the map he already knew by heart. The direction of their trail was clear: the lair. The nest where the tangle-beast slumbered, the one he had sworn vengeance against.

Garbera.

The monster that, after ten long years, would rise again.