Prologue
Age 10.
I held a sword for the first time.
Age 11.
With my swordsmanship improving day by day, everyone in my family had high expectations.
Age 13.
Just three years after taking up the sword, I was called the “Sword of the Next Empire” and began to make a name for myself throughout the empire.
Age 15.
I entered the Royal Knight Training Institution, Rittergut, drawing the attention of many.
Age 17.
I still boasted exceptional swordsmanship.
Yet, I had not awakened my Starmark [星痕].
It felt as if an invisible wall was blocking my path.
I began to feel anxious, little by little.
Age 20.
Still, I had not gained my Starmark.
I was no longer called a genius.
I had fallen into the realm of mediocrity.
Age 22.
My dazzling past vanished without a trace, replaced by a new derisive title: “The Empire’s Failure.”
Age 23.
Eventually, Rittergut decided to expel me.
It meant there was no longer any hope.
I was forced back to my family.
Age 24.
Finally, my family gave up on me as well.
I was stripped of my position as heir, all support was cut off, and indifferent stares rained down upon me.
Yet, I did not let go of the sword.
It was the only path that proved I was still alive.
Age 25.
The world was chaotic.
War and disaster occurred almost every day.
Still, I focused solely on wielding my sword.
Age 27.
My family was destroyed.
Unknown assailants struck us suddenly, and everything collapsed.
Even while fleeing death, I never stopped my training.
Age 28.
I blended into a strange world and began to stand on my own.
All I had left in my possession was one thing:
The sword.
Age 30.
Eventually, I had no choice but to become a mercenary to survive.
Still, because I could handle a sword, I was given a B-rank mercenary status.
I swung my sword in the hell called the battlefield.
Age 40.
I swung my sword.
Age 50.
I swung my sword.
Age 60.
I discovered a faint clue, like a single ray of light in despair, on how to overcome the massive wall blocking my mind.
I swung my sword even harder.
Age 70.
I was no longer of an age to work as a mercenary.
I retreated to a remote mountain to prepare for the end of my life.
Even after decades of swinging my sword, the wall still did not allow me to surpass it.
A deep, gnawing despair seeped into my bones.
Age 80.
I could feel the end approaching.
My body no longer obeyed my will, and my mind grew increasingly clouded.
Even so, I swung my sword.
Even if my life ended tomorrow,
I would not regret this one swing at this very moment.
Age 85.
I no longer had the strength to wield my sword.
I lay my exhausted body upon the warm earth and gazed at the sky.
Only after letting go of the sword did I realize:
There is truth to be gained only when everything is abandoned.
My sword reached the sky.
At last, I could glimpse a fraction of what I had so long desired.
Though my frail body could not grasp it, I could at least mimic it.
Drawing out the last sparks of life, I lifted my sword.
All the despair and walls of limitation that had bound me shattered with a tremendous crash, like a massive glacier breaking apart.
From the void that opened up, an infinite, unfathomable power began to pour forth.
I breathed my last while witnessing the world split apart amidst a torrent of radiant light.
And at age 10.
I held a sword once again.
