T*ash of the Count's Family

However,

“That is unfortunate.”

He had seen the weakness in Choi Han’s power.

He walked toward Choi Han at an easy pace.

“I think you must feel it too. That if you try to carry two contradictions at once, there is a limit to how far that growth can go.”

Choi Han’s eyes wavered.

Never once in all the years he had lived had he felt a limit in this power he had grasped.

It’s only slow.

The Heavenly Demon had already forged his individuality.

But Choi Han could not even begin to sense what shape his own individuality would take.

Of course, the fact that he already possessed a force that was uniquely his own was outstanding in itself, so he could not show any sign of that in front of the others.

But now that he was facing this holy knight, the word limit drove itself unusually deep into his mind.

“If it blossoms properly, your individuality will surpass Transparent-grade and become Five-Colored-grade.”

The highest-ranking holy knight smiled.

“But if you insist on trying to carry both things halfway, that arrogance will ultimately keep you from ever blossoming.”

His gaze shifted briefly toward the Heavenly Demon.

The Heavenly Demon was fighting Head Steward Hitelis.

BANG!

BANG, BANG, BANG!

Hitelis and the Heavenly Demon were trading blow after blow amid a constant barrage of thunderous impacts, with no room to care about anything happening elsewhere.

At first glance, the Heavenly Demon seemed to be getting pushed back, yet as time passed, the dark red clouds around him began to churn more violently, and the situation seemed to be improving.

Following the highest-ranking holy knight’s gaze, Choi Han’s eyes also turned briefly toward the Heavenly Demon.

He could see the smile on the man’s face.

He looked like someone who was pleased with his own growth.

“Individuality is something only those who have reached a clear answer about their very existence can possess.”

“......”

Choi Han bit his lip at the highest-ranking holy knight’s words.

That black force of his had never wavered no matter what kind of force it faced.

It was the force that held the life he had lived, the life that had kept walking without losing hope even in despair.

That force was also his pride in the life he had lived.

And yet, when it faced that highest-ranking holy knight, it wavered.

That force held chaos, which was nothing.

The one born within chaos truly understood chaos.

Within him, too, there was both despair and hope.

No—there was nothing at all.

He clearly recognized that he could become anything and be nothing, that he was chaos itself, and accepted that as himself.

The small gray smoke blooming from that ordinary iron sword was firmer than Choi Han’s black dragon.

The highest-ranking holy knight.

He had unquestionably lived a life more firmly defined than Choi Han’s.

And his swordsmanship was better as well.

His force was steadier.

His swordsmanship was superior.

He has definitely lived longer than I have.

He was not a Single-Born like Choi Han, but whatever growth he had undergone within chaos, he clearly had far more experience and years behind him than Choi Han did.

Because he called everyone children.

He’s strong.

Yes.

Strong.

That highest-ranking holy knight was the strongest swordsman Choi Han had ever faced.

Certainty in himself.

A personal way of facing life.

His understanding of power.

The years he had spent with the sword.

In every one of those things, he was ahead of Choi Han.

That was rare.

Until now, whenever Choi Han faced an enemy, there had always been at least one thing in which he was ahead.

That was why he had been able to keep walking his own path without ever breaking.

“Mm. His Holiness’s vitality is as formidable as chaos itself.”

“Kraaaagh—!”

Listening to the Pope’s screams, the highest-ranking holy knight raised both blades toward Choi Han.

“I suppose I must save him.”

He had not believed the Pope would be pushed back by Cale.

Those hungry mouths of the Pope were beings of truly powerful greed. He had believed they would not yield.

He had thought the Pope would seize hold of Cale, that container, and offer him up to the God of Chaos.

And yet instead, even while being stained by chaos, Cale had pushed forward and seized the Pope himself.

If the Pope has yielded even after throwing off restraint—

Then the highest-ranking holy knight now had to fulfill his own role.

“You cannot stop me. Not yet, fledgling swordsman and dragon.”

He spoke calmly.

At those words, Choi Han faltered.

His gaze moved past the highest-ranking holy knight and reached someone approaching from farther away.

“!”

His pupils shook.

The highest-ranking holy knight drew a faint smile and immediately lunged at Choi Han.

And then—

KABOOOOOM!

With a roar, both of his swords were blocked.

“Hmm.”

One by the smiling Clopeh.

“......”

And the other by the grim-faced Choi Han.

Choi Han’s gaze shifted to Clopeh.

He had clearly seen him earlier, charging straight here without so much as looking at anything around him.

And the Clopeh who had come that way—

“You are strong.”

Blood was trickling from the corner of his mouth.

“You are quite fast.”

The highest-ranking holy knight casually flicked his sword aside.

“Ghk!”

Clopeh was shoved backward with a groan.

His white aura had already been deeply cut through.

Crack.

And a fracture ran through his sword.

Choi Han knew that the sword in Clopeh’s hand was supposed to be the most precious and expensive blade in the Sekka family.

And yet that sword had cracked with alarming ease and split almost halfway apart.

Of course, that was also why Clopeh had survived.

“......”

But what caught Choi Han’s eye was Clopeh’s body, which was covered in injuries.

The wounds he had taken while dragging General Mol this far.

The wounds from holding back the holy knights alone as they tried to reach the Pope.

And the wounds from breaking past the holy knights and sprinting all the way here.

“......”

And now blood was spilling from his mouth too, as though he had taken internal injuries while blocking the highest-ranking holy knight’s sword.

His complexion was pale.

The blood was black.

He carried dead mana inside his body, so even if he could handle it, there was no way his body was in a normal state right now.

“And yet another one interferes.”

But the highest-ranking holy knight regarded Clopeh as below Choi Han and Sui Khan.

He had known the man was coming and still had not considered him worth worrying about.

The highest-ranking holy knight casually swung both swords.

“Ghk!”

Clopeh had to throw himself across the floor in a desperate roll to avoid them.

KABOOOM!

The floor where Clopeh had been standing moments ago shattered to pieces the instant the gray smoke touched it.

Even after seeing that, Clopeh sprang back to his feet at once and gripped his sword again.

And as he did, he went on speaking in the same gentle tone.

“No one can bar the path the legend walks.”

Hearing Clopeh’s lunatic rambling, Choi Han thought,

Crazy bastard.

This bastard really was insane.

Truly, undeniably insane. fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm

Because the moment he saw Clopeh, Choi Han understood his own condition.

He felt it with startling clarity.

I’m fine.

My body is fine.

Come to think of it, I’m not hurt.

A little dirt on me, sure, but—

“Hah!”

I’m the one in the best shape here.

The realization that had come over him left Choi Han dumbfounded.

Clang!

He could not forgive the enemies who had injured Choi Jung Soo and Choi Jung Gun.

He had been prepared to do anything.

Then why was he the one still fine?

Had that ever happened before?

Thinking about it, at some point Choi Han had realized that he was no longer getting hurt.

It had been like that even when he stood against the Blood Demon’s power in the Central Plains.

This force.

Ever since this force had begun holding him upright, he had not been injured.

But—

Is that what I wanted?

This small force, which he could still do little more than wrap around his own body.

This faint force, which he could barely manage to load onto his sword.

Could he only use it like this?

“No.”

Back in the Forest of Darkness, perhaps he had used it that way to protect himself, to endure, to survive.

But after coming out into the outside world, Choi Han had found something more important than that.

And even when he first gained this power,

he had wanted to step forward first in order to protect someone else.

That had not changed even now.

So why—

Why does Clopeh look like that while I’m still fine?

Even Lord Cale had been hurt that badly.

Sui Khan did not look as good as he did. Even the Heavenly Demon did not.

He was the one in the best shape.

That was not necessarily a bad thing.

Cale or Raon would probably be relieved and happy to see him like this.

...I can’t accept that.

Yes.

He could not accept it.

He wanted to become the sword standing foremost before Cale.

Woooo—wooooo—

The shimmering black force wrapped around Choi Han’s body began to quiver and vibrate.

“Oh dear.”

The highest-ranking holy knight understood at once.

“It would be troublesome if you blossomed now.”

The hunter families of Five Colored Blood. The highest-ranking holy knight possessed strength enough to face one of the Three Emperors.

From his perspective, the emergence of yet another fighter on that level was hardly welcome.

“I should cut you down before you bloom.”

He ignored the others at once and headed straight for Choi Han.

Tap!

The instant he kicked off the floor and charged toward him—

“......”

Choi Han drew in all the black force wrapped around his body.

He charged the highest-ranking holy knight with his bare body alone.

And he dispersed the savage black aura, the black dragon, as well.

Instead, he overlaid the black force he had drawn in onto his sword.

The highest-ranking holy knight had said it.

That individuality manifested only when one became absolutely certain of what one was.

The Heavenly Demon.

He was a man who believed he was the sky of the Demonic Cult—no, who thought that was simply the truth.

That was why he had come to create clouds befitting the sky of the Demonic Cult.

Then what do I want?

Whether Choi Han had carried hope in despair or not.

Whether he would go on carrying hope and carving out his own path from here forward or not.

Setting all of that aside, he thought of one thing.

I—

He recalled the fundamental base that had carried him through this entire process.

I—yes—

It was the very thought he had just had moments earlier.

I want to become the sword standing foremost.

Yes.

His companions. His friends. His family.

His homeland. His home.

Everything that surrounded him as a human being.

To protect all of it.

That was why he wanted to stand at the very front and face every enemy himself.

Woooooo—wooo—

Choi Han’s sword began to vibrate.

“!”

The highest-ranking holy knight’s eyes shook.

But Choi Han and his sword could no longer avoid either him or his own sword.

“...Dear me. And it has not even fully blossomed yet.”

KABOOOOOM!

A small, faint force.

That shimmering black force was small, but it writhed with savage violence.

And—

it did not yield.

Choi Han and the highest-ranking holy knight.

Their swords met, and neither gave even an inch.

Choi Han endured without being pushed back.

“...Dear me.”

The highest-ranking holy knight let out a sigh.

For the first time, beads of sweat formed on his forehead.

Beyond the small black force that was withstanding his sword—

looking into Choi Han’s eyes, the highest-ranking holy knight murmured,

“I have awakened a vicious beast.”

And watching that, Clopeh let out a faint smile.

“It’s been a while.”

It had been a long time since he had seen that look on Choi Han’s face.

That was when—

“...The dragon knight.”

The black-haired Sword Master who had ridden a bone dragon to protect Henituse territory.

When Cale had been raising his shield to block,

that man had stood before the shield and charged out declaring that he would destroy everything.

The Choi Han from that time was standing before his eyes now.

Clopeh let out a quiet snort.

“Gentle, my ass.”

For the first time, he openly contradicted something Lord Cale had said.

“He’s the craziest bastard here.”

Choi Han.

In Clopeh’s eyes, he was the maddest of them all.

No—he was the one most capable of becoming mad.

“......”

Choi Han returned to the moment when he had first taken the sword Cale had given him and truly protected something with it.