Episode 7: Training (3)
“What on earth are you saying, Lord Irwin?”
Paul Haxen protested fiercely against Irwin Lionbloom’s declaration.
“A duel to the death? Absolutely not! Do you think my son’s life is a game?”
“Lay a finger on my son, and you’ll regret it!”
“Leave this instant! I won’t tolerate any more of this insolence!”
It wasn’t just Paul Haxen who was outraged. His wife and daughter joined in the protest.
The only one who remained silent was his younger son, Abel Haxen.
“Stop them.”
Irwin Lionbloom didn’t bother to persuade or even acknowledge the Haxen family. He simply issued orders to his knights.
“Please, calm down, my lord.”
“Yes, there’s no need to get worked up over this.”
The knights spoke up, sensing that the situation was spiraling out of control.
The young lord glared at them with bloodshot eyes.
“Do you want to die first?”
The knights swallowed hard. They had served Irwin Lionbloom long enough to know he wasn’t joking.
“Enough with the nonsense. Just make sure they don’t interfere.”
Reluctantly, the knights blocked the Haxen family.
“Step aside! Do you think this is reasonable?”
“It’s the young lord’s command.”
“I said move!”
Paul Haxen tried to push past the knights, but their strength was too much for him.
Watching his father struggle, Damian Haxen felt a mix of emotions. His father was standing up to the Lionbloom heir for his sake. Respect and guilt washed over him simultaneously.
“Damian! No! Don’t do it! I’m begging you!”
Paul Haxen shouted desperately.
Damian had promised himself to follow his father’s words in this life. But today was an exception.
Why should he beg?
This was exactly the situation Damian Haxen had orchestrated.
“Pick up your weapon by the count of three. Surely, even a family like yours has something decent to use?”
Damian Haxen squinted his eyes. He was annoyed by the disrespect towards his family and the careless words being thrown around.
Winning the duel wasn’t enough. He wanted to crush their pride completely.
He glanced around for a suitable method.
Then he spotted something on the table.
“What are you doing?”
Irwin Lionbloom asked, puzzled.
Damian Haxen had picked up a fork meant for eating dessert.
“You said to pick up a weapon, didn’t you?”
“I meant a weapon for the duel.”
Damian Haxen twirled the fork casually.
“For someone like you, this is more than enough.”
Irwin Lionbloom burst into laughter, incredulous.
His laughter echoed for a while before his face twisted with murderous intent.
“I’ll make sure you die.”
Before the words had even left his mouth, Irwin Lionbloom lunged forward, swinging his longsword at Damian Haxen’s head.
Damian sidestepped, barely moving, and dodged the strike.
“You dodged that?”
Irwin Lionbloom looked surprised.
“Is this the skill of a sewer rat? Let’s see how long you can keep dodging.”
He swung his sword repeatedly, but Damian evaded each attack with minimal movement.
‘Just like his brother.’
In a past life, Damian Haxen had single-handedly brought down the Lionbloom family.
He had faced the heir, who had reached the level of a sword master and inherited the marquisate.
The heir’s talent was extraordinary, improving in real-time during their battle.
‘But I still won.’
After a grueling seven-hour duel, Damian had mastered all the heir’s techniques and defeated him.
‘I know the Lionbloom sword style inside out.’
The Lion’s Roar Sword.
Named for its ferocious momentum, like a lion’s roar.
But to Damian, who knew its weaknesses, it was no more threatening than a barking puppy.
“You…”
Irwin Lionbloom’s expression changed as his sword repeatedly sliced through empty air.
He realized something was amiss.
“How are you dodging all my attacks?”
“It’s just skill.”
Damian replied nonchalantly.
Irwin’s face flushed with anger.
“Stop spouting nonsense!”
With a shout, Irwin unleashed his aura.
His movements became noticeably faster.
‘Now dodging will be difficult.’
Thanks to his recent intense training, Damian’s basic stamina had improved significantly.
He wasn’t even out of breath despite the intense movement.
But his body was still too weak to keep up with Irwin’s aura-enhanced speed.
‘If I can’t dodge, I’ll deflect.’
Irwin brought his longsword down again, aiming for Damian’s head.
Damian blocked with the fork.
As the two metals clashed, Irwin’s lips twisted.
“Pathetic fool.”
A mere fork, designed for eating dessert, couldn’t possibly block a longsword.
The fork would shatter, and Damian’s wrist would be severed.
Or so Irwin thought, until the sword’s trajectory veered off course.
The blade, aimed at Damian’s head, missed and struck the ground.
Irwin’s face showed utter disbelief.
The knights were equally stunned.
“This brat?”
Irwin swung again, pulling the sword from the ground and slashing upward.
Once more, Damian blocked with the fork.
The sword’s path shifted again, shooting upward.
Irwin nearly lost his grip on the sword.
“What the…?”
Irwin gritted his teeth and swung again.
This time, he saw clearly what Damian was doing.
He caught the incoming sword between the fork’s tines and subtly altered its angle, deflecting it.
Irwin’s eyes widened in disbelief as he looked between the sword and the fork.
“How… how can someone like you use such a technique?”
Among Damian’s past opponents was a “Sword Saint.”
A master of the blade who could deflect not only arrows but even magic.
The Sword Saint had reached the pinnacle of “Flow Insight,” the ability to read the flow of all attacks.
After a three-day battle, Damian had emerged victorious.
“I’m a genius.”
He had no intention of explaining further. Damian kept his answer short and simple.
The response only fueled Irwin’s rage.
“I told you to stop spouting nonsense!”
Irwin steadied his grip on the sword.
His aura flared even more intensely.
“This time, I’ll cut you down, fork and all!”
Irwin attacked with renewed ferocity.
Damian deflected each strike effortlessly.
“Wha… what is this?”
“What am I witnessing?”
The knights watching were in shock.
At first, they thought Damian’s initial deflection was luck.
But as it happened again and again, they had to accept the truth.
Damian Haxen possessed extraordinary sword skills.
“Honey, what am I seeing?”
“I… I don’t know.”
The Haxen family was equally astonished.
Paul Haxen and his family watched Damian with dazed expressions.
“Did he really take down all those guards at the tavern by himself?”
While everyone else was in disbelief, Damian felt a deep sense of satisfaction.
‘The effects of the elixir are impressive. I need to get more.’
Despite the prolonged movement, he wasn’t exhausted.
Ordinary training wouldn’t have boosted his stamina this quickly.
As Damian pondered, Irwin Lionbloom’s voice cut through his thoughts.
“This… this is impossible!”
Perhaps due to his repeated failures, Irwin’s face twisted with rage.
“How can I, the heir of Lionbloom, be unable to handle a mere insect like you?”
Among those present, Damian was the first to notice the change.
A reddish-brown aura began to emanate from Irwin’s longsword. The knights gasped in horror.
“My lord! You mustn’t use your aura!”
Aura.
The ultimate weapon, forged through years of training.
When imbued on a blade, it could slice through steel like water, and when wielded on a hammer, it could shatter boulders.
It was thanks to aura that humans, despite their frailty, had dominated the continent over countless other species.
“Let’s see if you can block this too!”
The aura-infused sword slashed diagonally at Damian.
Damian raised the fork to meet the incoming blade.
In that moment, everyone foresaw Damian’s demise.
The fork seemed poised to slice through him, and he was certain his body would be severed.
But then—
”…Huh?”
“What the—?”
“What?”
Nothing happened. The legendary swordmaster’s skill, “Universal Insight,” effortlessly deflected even the aura-infused attack.
The sight was so unbelievable that Erwin Lionbloom’s mind went blank for a moment.
In that instant, his grip on the longsword slackened.
Noticing this, Damian Haxen applied a bit more pressure with the fork.
The longsword slipped from Erwin’s hand and clattered uselessly to the ground.
With his weapon gone, Erwin Lionbloom was left defenseless.
Damian Haxen charged forward.
Before Erwin could react, the fork slashed across his neck.
A thin line of blood appeared on Erwin Lionbloom’s throat.
As his neck was cut, Erwin Lionbloom saw his life flash before his eyes.
Every moment he’d lived through flickered past him.
Yet, even as the vision ended, he wasn’t pulled into the afterlife.
”…Hah, hah!”
Erwin screamed and collapsed to the floor.
His trembling hand reached for his neck. Blood trickled out, but the wound wasn’t deep.
“I’m… I’m alive?”
Though he hadn’t died, the sheer terror left him paralyzed.
Erwin shouted at the knights around him.
“What are you doing? Protect me! Now!”
“Stay back.”
Before he knew it, Damian Haxen was standing beside him.
“This duel continues until one of us is dead. Anyone who interferes will be the first to die.”
Damian threatened, pointing the fork at Erwin.
Threatening with a fork meant for cutting cake—it was absurd.
Yet, no one laughed.
“Erwin Lionbloom.”
Damian’s voice was icy.
“I am the victor of this duel. As agreed, you will not speak of the past incident again.”
Part of him wanted to kill Erwin right there.
But Damian knew he wasn’t yet strong enough to take on the Lionbloom family.
“I don’t want to see your face again. Leave now.”
With that, Damian placed the fork back on the table.
Erwin Lionbloom fled the Haxen estate as if his life depended on it.
”…Damian, I can’t help but ask today.”
As soon as Erwin left, Damian’s family surrounded him with questions.
“When, where, and from whom did you learn such swordsmanship?”
When they heard he had single-handedly faced off against tavern guards, they dismissed it as a strange tale.
But today was different. The Lionbloom family was renowned for their elite knights.
To handle Erwin Lionbloom, a prodigy of such a family, like a child?
And to deflect a sword imbued with aura?
“Hmm.”
Faced with his family’s questions, Damian fell into silent contemplation.
There was no way they’d believe he had returned from the future.
The problem was, he couldn’t come up with a plausible explanation.
He had become so extraordinarily strong.
In the end, Damian gave up on explaining.
“I just figured it out on my own.”
His father gave him a peculiar look.
“Don’t joke around.”
“I’m not joking.”
“Do you think you’re some kind of heaven-sent genius? Suddenly mastering such swordsmanship?”
Damian’s eyes widened.
“How did you know? That’s exactly right.”
“Damian!”
“Well, I’m off to train now.”
Damian evaded his father’s interrogation and made his escape.