Chapter 21…
There was no need for a referee, nor an arbitrator.
This was not a duel meant to decide victory or defeat, and the Sword Empress’s level was far too high for injuries to even be a concern.
All that was needed was a signal to begin.
That alone was enough.
As a courtesy to the Sword Empress, none other than the Commander of the Imperial Guard Knights stepped forward.
He was the very model of a perfect knight—hardly inferior even when compared to her.
His heavy voice echoed throughout the grand arena.
“If both of you are ready.”
A brief silence.
Countless eyes focused on Dante and the Sword Empress.
“You may begin.”
Fwaaash—!
The instant the Commander’s words ended, Dante shot forward faster than an arrow released from a bow.
When had he drawn it?
The nameless sword of his family gleamed coldly, unleashing a silver light.
An unpredictable movement.
Dante’s sword cut through the air, aiming straight for Isabella’s heart.
Its speed and trajectory were unimaginable for the sword of a mere ten-year-old child.
Isabella’s brows twitched.
She instantly realized Dante was far faster than she had expected.
Swish—!
Her white blade, drawn so fast it was invisible, flashed out.
Just before Dante’s sword could reach her chest, she predicted the trajectory perfectly and blocked it with her own blade.
Clang—!
A clear metallic sound rang out, scattering in all directions.
Their swords clashed head-on, sparking faint flames as they scraped against each other.
Whoooom—!
A belated shockwave rippled outward in concentric circles, shaking the surroundings.
‘Extraordinary.’
Dante trembled at the immense power he felt through his fingertips.
Isabella’s sword carried not only physical might but also an unshakable will.
If his father’s sword was overwhelming weight that crushed everything, her sword was like the sky itself—vast, encompassing all things.
A distant firmament unreachable by mortals.
For Dante as he was now, it was an unfathomable realm.
Even in a single exchange, he could tell—her sword had already reached its peak.
But in terms of shock, Isabella’s was far greater.
No, “shock” wasn’t enough.
It was astonishment, even horror.
From the moment he drew his sword to the very first clash—truthfully, Isabella hadn’t even seen his movements.
The fact that she blocked him at all was pure luck, guided only by instinct.
“…How old did you say you were?”
She couldn’t help but ask.
Barely ten years old.
Still too young to properly wield a real blade.
And yet this boy—this child—had shown movements like this?
It could only mean he had awakened a stigmata.
There was no other explanation.
“It is old enough to wield a sword.”
At Dante’s calm reply, Isabella let out a wry chuckle.
“Yes, I suppose so.”
Age didn’t matter.
Dante was already enough to be called a swordsman in his own right.
“I had intended to go easy on you.”
It was meant to be a kind of courtesy, an exchange to win favor with the Empire.
That was what she had thought—just moments ago.
That the Emperor wanted to give Xenon Aquites’s son a good experience.
But she had been wrong.
When he said he had his father’s permission, he hadn’t been lying.
“From here on, I’ll be serious.”
Vmmm—!
She twisted her wrist, her white blade spinning.
“Haah!”
Dante inhaled sharply as the sudden force made his arm fling upward.
Swiish—!
Seizing the opening, Isabella’s attack came flying in.
A free yet deadly trajectory.
The piercing thrust that seemed to tear through space itself made Dante’s breath catch.
‘I can’t see it.’
It was too smooth, too fast to follow with his eyes.
All he could feel was the instinct to evade.
But Dante did not back down.
Crunch—!
His soles shattered the arena floor as he shifted half a step to the side.
At the same time, twisting his body, he slashed downward.
Screech—!
A perfectly predicted angle.
Isabella’s sword screeched as it was deflected to the side.
Boom—!
Her blade embedded itself into the ground, shards exploding upward.
‘Now!’
Dante’s sword traced a graceful arc.
A lightning-fast strike focused solely on speed.
Like a beam of light, it cut through the debris, darting straight for Isabella’s shoulder.
Swish-swish-swish—!
Her left leg bent swiftly, lowering her nearly to the ground.
The strike passed harmlessly through the empty air.
The whole exchange had lasted a single second.
To ordinary eyes, it was incomprehensible.
“Not bad.”
Isabella rose from her dodge and stepped forward.
In an instant, the distance between them vanished.
A horizontal slash—simple, but devastating.
Warnings screamed in Dante’s head.
He brought his sword down in a crude, instinctive motion.
There was no finesse.
But the result was anything but simple.
Give flesh, cut bone.
Her blade would slice him, but his own strike would split her skull.
A reckless defense—or rather, an attack—paid for with his own life.
Isabella’s eyes widened.
Who could have imagined this boy would wield such a blade?
It was the kind of strike a battle-worn mercenary of decades might use.
Hastily, she twisted her sword’s trajectory.
She never intended to truly wound him, nor did she want to take damage herself.
Her strike flowed into a defense as naturally as water.
Her white sword intercepted Dante’s descending attack aimed at her crown—
“Huh?”
But it wasn’t just her blade’s trajectory that had shifted.
At that very moment, as if he had been waiting for it, Dante slackened his wrist.
Swishhh—!
With no resistance, Isabella’s sword shot harmlessly upward.
I said her movements flowed like water, didn’t I?
Then Dante’s movements were like the wind.
Merely brushing past obstacles that lay in his path.
Ssshhk—!
His sword, belatedly empowered, descended.
Its target—Isabella’s head.
An absolute strike no one could avoid.
A look of disbelief spread across her face.
“You are…”
This couldn’t be described as mere talent or genius.
It was something beyond humanity—something transcendent.
In the end, Isabella could only acknowledge it.
This boy was not at the level of needing guidance.
At least in swordsmanship, he was already on equal footing with her.
She couldn’t understand how, but sometimes understanding wasn’t necessary.
Her body released a strand of mana.
A faint fragment of her true power, but enough.
Enough to stop this impossible strike.
Boom—!!
The air split apart.
Power erupted from her toes, sending shockwaves across the ground.
Her body blasted backward like a cannonball.
Thunk—
Dante’s sword halted.
There was no one before him anymore.
“Huuuh—.”
He exhaled the breath filling his lungs.
He didn’t show it, but he was exhausted.
Just a few exchanges had pushed even his evolved body to its limits.
Once more, Dante marveled at Isabella’s strength.
Then—
“I’ve lost.”
Her sudden declaration of defeat stunned everyone.
The spectators almost cried out in shock but quickly covered their mouths.
It would be improper to interrupt—and she wasn’t finished speaking.
“You displayed swordsmanship equal to mine at your age. Even if only for a short moment, that’s enough to call it my loss.”
Isabella spoke calmly.
Even while admitting defeat, her expression was utterly unfazed.
“But it would be a shame to end it here, wouldn’t it?”
“…Yes.”
Dante nodded.
He had come all the way to the capital for this match.
To end it in under five minutes would be far too unsatisfying.
“Then this time, I’ll use mana.”
At her words, the Imperial Guard Knights flinched.
The Sword Empress, wielding mana—
The meaning of that was no simple matter.
“Thank you for the honor.”
“Honor? Hardly.”
She waved dismissively with a hollow laugh.
“I’m simply curious.”
Curious how far he could endure.
Curious what his true limits were.
It was nothing more than an excuse to find out.
“But I’ll only show you once. So block it well.”
Silence fell.
From that moment, Dante saw only Isabella.
Everything else vanished, as though it had never existed.
Crack—!
She stepped forward, her sword in hand.
Spiderweb cracks spread across the arena floor.
A colossal force, incomparable to before.
The air itself trembled.
Her mana-infused blade filled all space as it came crashing down on him.
‘…The sky.’
The sensation he’d felt at the start now became clear.
Isabella’s trait was the sky, the firmament itself.
For a human body to dare embody the heavens—
Dante felt suffocated by the boundless expanse.
He had no idea how to respond.
And yet—
He stood his ground.
He couldn’t let it end like this.
He had to try something.
That instinctive desire awakened the dormant mana within him.
Thump—!
His heart pulsed, reverberating through his body.
Boom—!
Time that had stopped—
Boom—!
Senses that had been blocked—
Boooom—!
A mystery hidden from the unworthy—
Now began to blossom.
‘Ah…’
An unfamiliar sensation engulfed him.
His mind went blank.
It was as though his soul had been dismantled and reassembled anew.
No one told him to, but Dante closed his eyes.
Darkness came.
Yet he felt everything.
Isabella’s breath, her sword’s trajectory, the path of her mana.
‘If the Sword Empress’s trait is the sky, then mine is…’
He realized the answer himself.
“I am…”
He spoke with conviction.
“…Possibility.”
All his senses expanded infinitely.
Trait: Infinity.
With a fragment of that mystery imbued into his sword, Dante swung toward Isabella as she closed in.
The sky and infinity.
Similar, yet fundamentally different powers collided in the air.
Sshhhk—!
There was no struggle of strength.
Dante’s blade merely cut through the mana blocking his path and continued forward without end.
“What?”
Isabella’s eyes flew wide.
And she was not the only one.
The Imperial Guard Knights, the nobles, even the Emperor himself—
All of them stared in disbelief, mouths agape at the impossible sight.
And then—
Slice—!
Dante’s sword traced a crimson line across Isabella’s chest.
