By Zephyria 
I stepped three times on the air and landed beside Mac Weaber.
Mac Weaber handed me a voice amplification Artifact, so I attached it to my shirt collar. He saluted politely and then jogged to mingle among the Imperial Knights. I desperately wanted to scold him for being too much, but I didn’t have time to waste on trivial matters with everyone gathered.
The Knights looked up at me, and I looked down at them.
“Have you all been well?”
The Knights grinned at the casual address. I read the burning embers in their eyes. This passion and spirit were what brought them to this place.
I was no different.
“…It seems you’ve been doing very well. I’m glad you appear to be fully prepared.”
I made a lighthearted joke, then took a deep breath in and out. Only now did I feel a bit more myself. Yes, I was here to teach them. It didn’t matter who was watching or what they thought. I just had to do what I set out to do from the beginning.
“I said I would face five hundred, so you must have prepared a combined attack.”
Silence was the answer. I continued calmly.
“You are skilled at combined attacks. Just as a pack of beasts hunting together has an advantage, you must have always fought while watching your surroundings and leaving yourselves an escape route. However.”
I slowly released my Aura. Several Knights flinched.
“Remember this: a sword trained to cut down weak opponents will inevitably be weak itself.”
They all stiffened like starched fabric, their postures rigid as they stared at me. I was satisfied to see their hands twitching, trying to reach for their sword hilts, only to suppress the urge with sheer will.
“Give it your all. Attack without regard for your comrades’ injuries or your own death. See how far you can push yourselves, experience it, and engrave it into your bodies. So that you can call upon it whenever the time comes. And find it.”
It was still quiet all around. I raised my voice, speaking as if declaring a truth.
“The key to enlightenment, which can only be found by pushing yourselves to the very end.”
Their tense gazes followed me.
My presence, released only within this arena, must have felt like a suffocating Murderous Intent to the Knights. How often did those who always acted as the strong experience the fear of death?
I slowly descended the steps, as if to show off, and stood before them. The Knights, who had unconsciously taken half a step back, quickly returned to their original positions. It was natural, so I didn’t bother to reprimand them.
“Attack with all your might. Just think, ‘I need to land one hit on this guy.’ That’s the mindset. What if you get a little hurt? You’ll gain something from it.”
“…”
“Your goal… I suppose you can’t say ‘kill me’.”
What would be good? After a moment’s thought, I tapped the voice amplification Artifact clipped to my collar.
“So, let’s do this. Anyone who touches this Artifact, even slightly, will receive a separate reward. And… Lady Pitche.”
Rosalia Pitche, standing at the front left, stepped forward half a pace and responded with a booming voice.
“Yes!”
“Lady Rosalia Pitche, for the first three hours, you will stand in that corner and observe.”
“…What?”
“For you, the important thing right now isn’t to attack recklessly. You’ve only recently become a Grand Sword Master, so learning to use your eyes is more crucial. You need to consider whether you can see the sword I wield, how to counter it if you can, and how to touch it first.”
“…Uh, well… …Yeeees…”
I felt sorry for her, who was so full of enthusiasm, but it was a necessary step.
Rosalia Pitche blinked with a bewildered expression, replied weakly, and trudged towards the corner. The Knights watched her, but none of them laughed. Only I was laughing now.
“Well then, are you ready?”
❖ ❖ ❖
I could block a Sword Master’s sword without lifting a finger. However, I deliberately swung my sword in sequence. I parried the thrust from the right and deflected the slash from the left.
A person can attack and defend in at most four directions: north, south, east, and west. If you break it down further, you could say thirty-six directions. To parry the first incoming attack and then receive the next was less Swordsmanship and more Eye-technique. With eyes that were awake and hands that were nimble, there was nothing I couldn’t block.
Without taking a single step back, I fully maintained my Sword Domain.
This arena was already filled with the Murderous Intent I had dispersed. It was natural for a rabbit facing a tiger to freeze. Yet, if you force your legs, which refuse to move, to run, at some point you realize: I’m alive. I can do this.
With their hearts thus resolved, the Knights who swung their swords at me were admirable and commendable. A smile came easily to my lips.
“Hmph!”
[You’re open below.]
“Argh!”
[Watch your wrists.]
“Yaaah!”
[Don’t close your eyes, watch as you do it. Good.]
Amidst the clashing of swords and various battle cries, I gave necessary instructions via Sound Transmission to each individual, lest they mistake my words for their own.
If they did well, I praised them. If they made a mistake, I corrected them. If they were unsure, I told them to try the same method again. Most followed along well.
Those belonging to the Sierran Empire’s royal guard mostly valued combined attacks. It was the knight’s sword, after all, meant to protect oneself, one’s comrades, and one’s lord.
But what I was teaching now was not the knight’s sword. It wasn’t a sword for survival either. In fact, it was almost laughable to call it Swordsmanship.
It was, in a sense, a struggle to break out of one’s shell.
A sword was a weapon for killing. One could say a sword connects the two extremes of life and death. However, it is incredibly difficult for any living being to disregard its own life. Thus, the swords the Knights possessed now appeared to me as half-hearted swords.
To prevent them from being struck by blind swords, I observed all five hundred swords as one. If one sword seemed likely to tangle with another, I untangled them. If one Knight was about to collide with another, I created distance. I made openings so they could swing their swords without worrying about anything else.
I recalled the Sword energy Douglas Mustang had unleashed towards his students long ago. It was fine whether they understood it or not. Their eyes would open someday. I wanted them to see it, experience it, and feel it for themselves.
What couldn’t be broken, no matter how much it was struck, was not me. It was their own stubbornness, their lingering regrets, their attachments.
Swoosh!
[Now! Well done. Maintain that upper stance, one more time!]
Enlightenment was something that could never be easily attained. Only by fighting with all one’s might, with the resolve to die, with the resolve to lose everything, could one barely glimpse a sliver of it.
I mercilessly struck down all the Knights who charged at me. Still, not a single one retreated. Those who had been sent flying three yards charged again, digging their feet into the ground, and those whose bodies had been folded in half leaped back in.
Their neatly worn training clothes became smudged with dust. Some spat blood from between gritted teeth, while others cried tears and snot from frustration and indignation. Yet, they charged again.
Thus, one hour passed, then another, then a third.
Rosalia Pitche, who had been waiting patiently, beckoned me over and joined the fray. Trusting my words about disregarding the death of allies, she swung her sword wildly.
I calmly dispersed the surrounding attacks, helping to ensure that nearby Knights were not injured by Rosalia’s sword. Some of the panting Knights retreated, while others attacked even more fiercely.
Four hours passed, then five, then six.
By then, the sun had long since set. The arena was still brightly lit all around. While there were bright white lights installed everywhere, the colorful Sword energy emanating from the swords of over five hundred Martial artists never faded, making any other light seem dim in comparison.
And then, some more time passed. Far in the distance, Ruben waved. The screen in the crystal ball showed the clock.
One minute before the appointed time. I retracted the Murderous Intent I had dispersed. It was time to turn these fierce, admirable beasts back into humans.
Kuwung.
I stamped my foot. The ground rumbled, but no one looked around. Seeing the bloodshot eyes glaring at me, I sheathed my sword with a flourish, and one by one, they stood silently and closed their eyes. They were trying to retain what they had gained, reviewing what they had just learned.
Only a few of them kept their eyes wide open, staring at me.
Rosalia Pitche, who had been intently watching me, stomped her foot. She couldn’t imitate me right now and disrupt her comrades’ enlightenment, but she was clearly eager to try what she had seen, and I finally laughed again.
It was hot.
I wiped the sweat beading on my forehead with the back of my hand. It wasn’t sweat from physical exertion, but the sweat of endurance, shed because I had used so much mental energy to fully embrace them all without letting a single one get hurt.
I waited without rushing until those who were gasping and panting came to their senses. I surrounded the area with Aura Barriers, blocking out all sound. This was done so that not even the faintest hint of insight would be missed.
After another thirty minutes, some slowly straightened their bodies. I looked at the faces of the Knights who stood in neat rows. Looking at their spirited expressions, I knew which ones I needed to pay attention to.
“Has everyone regained their senses?”
“…Yes!”
After glancing at each other, the Knights returned a resounding answer.
I delivered the concluding remarks I had prepared, then dispersed the Aura Barriers. I didn’t hide my proud expression.
“Today’s guided sparring session ends here. I will be calling a few individuals separately later, but it is not for unpleasant reasons, so I hope to see you with smiles on your faces.”
“Yes!”
“Thank you!”
“You worked hard!”
I listened with satisfaction as they offered their thanks one by one.
“Now, let’s disperse.”