Chapter 21
I didn’t answer with words. I just raised the wooden sword the professor gave me.
“Alright. Tell me when you’re ready. Then I’ll start the research.”
“Yes, Professor. I’m ready.”
But the words didn’t come out of my mouth.
The wooden sword felt heavy.
It was the same sword I had used since I was ten, but now it felt heavier than before.
What’s wrong? Did I lose strength in just a few months?
“Something wrong, Ray?”
“Just a moment, Professor.”
I stared at the wooden sword for a while.
The Unity Sword — becoming one with the sword.
But trying to truly become one with it made it feel even heavier.
I could fake it, like when I used Inspector Pale’s sword, just to show off.
But this time was different. It was a real sparring match.
I needed to fully become one with the sword — like when I fought in the poison cave or when I stopped the spy a few days ago.
Cold sweat ran down my back.
The feeling twisted in my hand. It was hard to fully become one with something the size of a wooden sword.
Am I not fully ready to use the Unity Sword yet?
But I couldn’t fight the professor with just a tree branch. I had no choice but to do my best now.
“…Amazing,” the professor said suddenly, eyes changing.
“It’s real. That’s the real Unity Sword.”
“…”
“Let’s begin.”
I nodded silently.
At the last moment, I just barely managed to become one with the sword.
My right arm extended.
Then the professor rushed forward.
A basic sword move — a vertical slash.
It was clean, fast, and textbook perfect.
But that wasn’t all.
Next to the wooden sword came another sword — a fake one.
A phantom sword — a false sword (허검).
I could see it clearly this time, filled with killing intent. It followed the same path as the wooden sword.
I twisted my body more to dodge both.
The professor spun smoothly and slashed horizontally.
A beautiful flow — followed by another false sword, coming with a delay.
Or was the false sword the first one to come? It happened so fast I couldn’t tell.
I dodged by moving my body even more.
—
“Moving too much is the fastest way to lose.”
Who said that? My brother? My father?
I didn’t know. I swung my right arm at the professor, who was slicing the air.
We were far apart.
But that didn’t matter.
As I let go slightly, the wooden sword in my hand shot forward — but didn’t leave my hand.
It just stretched, as if connected to me.
“Hu!”
The professor quickly reacted and blocked it with his wooden sword.
Crack!
The tip of the professor’s sword was cut off.
Of course it was. I was one with my sword. He wasn’t.
“Ha!”
The professor stepped back fast — like someone using aura. Many invisible swords rose around him.
So many false swords.
Eight of them came at me from all directions like spider legs.
Wow…
It was dazzling.
Too dazzling. I couldn’t respond to any of them.
And that was the right answer.
They were just illusions.
I could get hit. What I needed to dodge was the real sword behind them.
So when the eight false swords hit me at once—
“…”
My body twisted.
It hurt.
Why does it hurt so much if they’re not real?
Is this just my imagination? Or does it really hurt?
While I was distracted, the professor’s real attack aimed for the top of my head.
His sword was shorter now.
I blocked it, but my stance was off. My body bent backwards.
Then the next attack came quickly.
Too fast. I didn’t have time to raise my right arm.
So I raised my left arm instead — it was shorter.
“…!”
The professor’s eyes shook.
Why is this crazy kid trying to block a sword with his real hand?
Maybe he was going to stop his attack, but now he couldn’t.
But he misunderstood.
If I can swing a sword like my arm, then I can swing my hand like a sword too.
Snap!
My hand was fine.
Instead, his wooden sword broke in two.
“Hu!”
He jumped back quickly.
I chased after him.
The distance closed.
But then — just as if he planned it — more false swords rained down from everywhere.
Endless false swords.
Even if I knew they weren’t real, I couldn’t run into them.
Even one would hurt so much.
What would happen if I got hit by all of them at once?
Then I saw a quick vision.
A moment in the future — I saw myself diving through the swords.
Was that the future?
I wasn’t sure, but my body was already moving the same way.
Jumping through the falling false swords.
Before they could stab me, I passed through and stretched my hand out.
Speed wasn’t the point.
I wasn’t fast — I just found a small opening.
The future and the present overlapped for a moment.
But I had to stop.
Because in that future, I was stabbing the professor’s neck with my hand.
“…!”
I stopped right before I touched his neck.
The professor was staring at my hand.
“…Amazing.”
He smiled with admiration and dropped his sword, raising both hands.
“I surrender. I lost.”
“Uh…”
Even though I won, I dropped to the ground.
The professor hurried to help me.
“You okay? Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine.”
Just my legs gave out. The professor sighed and nodded.
“The Unity Sword really is something. Great research. I learned a lot even though I lost.”
“You went easy on me, Professor.”
“What are you talking about? I went all out.”
“If you had used aura even a little…”
“Hey!”
The professor frowned and looked serious.
“In pure swordsmanship research, there’s no aura. That’s the rule.”
“Well… I also felt the false swords were spreading out, not fully targeting me. Did you control that on purpose?”
“…You noticed that?”
“That’s why I could find an opening. You made it on purpose.”
“Ha!”
Suddenly the professor hugged me.
“It’s real! We’ve finally found the real one!”
“Ugh, Professor…”
“You’re the successor of our swordsmanship school!”
“…What?”
“Haha! I have to tell the other sword professors right away! Oh, you beautiful genius!”
“Um, wait—”
I pushed him back and asked,
“What do you mean ‘swordsmanship school’? You mean the Academy’s sword class?”
“No, no. It’s something else. Not important right now… Hmm. But in that match, you used the Unity Sword with your bare hand, right?”
“Yes.”
“That was amazing. You surprised me. I didn’t expect that. It gave me a lot to think about. And I got to know your skills.”
“I’m glad you liked it.”
“Liked it? You’re now our class representative. In fact, let’s talk about next week’s class competition.”
“…What?”
The professor smiled cheerfully. Class rep? Already?
The Academy uses a credit system.
You graduate based on how many credits you earn over 4 years. Your class rank is also based on credits.
And the biggest thing that affects your credits is the Class Competition.
So it’s basically the most important part of the whole Academy.
Every month, there’s a class battle.
Each class picks 3 students.
Class B and Class C fight first. The winner faces Class A in the finals.
The winning class gets +1 credit for everyone. The losing class in the first match gets -1 credit.
Class A has an advantage, but they usually win anyway, so it doesn’t matter much.
The key point is this: even if you lose, if you participate as a class rep, you get +1 credit.
And you get +1 more for each win.
So B and C class students actually have a chance to gain more if they win early matches.
If you want to graduate with good results, you have to join the battles and do well.
—
“If I earn 5 points, I can switch classes next year, right?”
“Yeah. Planning to move to Class A?”
“No, it’s just…”
I wanted to bring Phil from Class C into Class B. But that would depend on his results, not mine.
“I get it. A good graduation score means going to Class A is better.”
“But I thought class reps were picked through a test?”
“Only from the second month. The first month, the homeroom professor picks.”
“Oh…”
“We’ll start testing soon anyway. But for sword matches, you’ll be picked for sure.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
I didn’t deny it — it was probably true.
But being the strongest doesn’t mean I have to join.
I could refuse.
And honestly, I didn’t want to.
Fighting in front of the whole school? Not my style.
I didn’t come here to be famous or get good grades.
The future led me here.
I came to the Academy to connect to a future where I take revenge on the Poison King Cult.
Even if I get bad grades, even if I don’t graduate — I don’t care.
Oh, and the bottom 10 students won’t graduate in their 4th year.
But the real reason…
I just don’t want to be in the spotlight.
Not because of personality or taste.
Anyone who went through what I did would feel the same.
When I close my eyes, I still see it.
The poison cave.
Dark, wet, and horribly smelly.
Even in dreams.
The same dream, over and over again. I still haven’t escaped that place.
Maybe I never will.
And me, fighting in front of everyone?
That’s just…
“…Hard to imagine.”
“Huh?”
Just thinking about it made me shiver.
I bowed to Professor Totten.
Professor, I’m sorry. I can’t join the competition. Not now, not ever.
But just as I was about to say that—
—
“Look at me!”
A loud voice echoed in my head.
“I’m the best! I have to be the best!”
“Everyone’s watching me! The whole Academy is watching me!”
“I’ll succeed for sure! I’ll graduate top of the class and make the Granble family number one in swordsmanship!”
It was my brother’s voice.
“Hm? You okay? You look pale.”
The professor’s face overlapped with my brother’s.
I took a deep breath and shook my head.
“I’m fine. Just a little overwhelmed.”
A lot, actually.
But this was my brother’s dream.
So I’ll do it.
He protected me — how could I say no?
He’s not here, but I am.
“Thank you for recommending me. I’ll do my best as Class B’s sword representative.”
“You’re not lacking at all. Even 4th years can’t beat you in swordsmanship.”
I said it seriously, but the professor nodded like it was obvious.
That felt a bit anticlimactic.
But he didn’t know everything about me.
—
“But the match is best two out of three. We need one more win from the other events — aura battle and mixed battle.”
“I hope we win too.”
“I think I have an idea…”
The professor smiled sharply.
“In the competition, one person can join two events. Want to try the mixed battle too?”
