The day after splitting the ogre’s body in half.
A new rule was added to the tournament:
“No use of Aura.”
It was blatantly aimed at me.
Though I wasn’t entirely pleased, I accepted it humbly.
After all, I had already overcome the biggest hurdle.
If I had been prohibited from using Aura against the ogre, it would have been much tougher.
A wooden sword, not even a real one, wouldn’t have been able to leave a scratch on the ogre’s body.
Of course, I could have targeted its weak points or vital areas, but the process would have been tedious.
One wrong move could have easily led to an injury.
“From the next match to the finals, it’s one-on-one duels, so even without Aura…”
I was confident it wouldn’t be a big issue.
That was until I saw the opponent I would face in the next match.
The opponent was clad in full-plate armor, covering their entire body in steel.
They looked as if they were ready to march straight to a battlefield, fully armed from head to toe.
“Referee, is it allowed to wear full-plate armor in this tournament?”
“According to the new rules, there’s no issue with it.”
“This is ridiculous.”
I had been so focused on the rule change regarding Aura that I hadn’t checked the other changes.
Allowing both the ban on Aura and full-body armor simultaneously—wasn’t this clearly malicious, aiming to disqualify me?
The organizer’s blatant disregard for fairness made me laugh in disbelief.
“I never thought I’d see a fully armored knight in a tournament.”
“Is that not okay?”
“This isn’t a battlefield; it’s an arena! A place where warriors fight blood-soaked battles for excitement. Full-body armor is like hiding behind a shield like a coward. Where’s the thrill in that?”
“Now that you mention it, it does seem a bit unsporting.”
Some of the spectators, who had been busy criticizing me earlier, began expressing dissatisfaction with the current situation.
These were either people who valued honor or regular attendees of the arena who disliked seeing its traditions forcibly altered.
This was the backlash of attempting to impose changes on what was supposed to be a traditional, honorable arena.
“Crush that imperial bastard!”
“Don’t hold back—finish it in one strike!”
“If you lose after going this far, we won’t let you live it down!”
However, the overwhelming opinion was still that I had to be eliminated no matter the cost.
This is the kind of world where it’s hard to catch a break.
“What idiots! If you’d dealt with this earlier, we wouldn’t have ended up with this ridiculous situation!”
It seemed my opponent, clad in full armor, wasn’t particularly thrilled with the situation either.
After all, unlike me, his equipment screamed overkill.
Even if he defeated me, he wouldn’t gain any honor.
The discrepancy in equipment was so stark that it would raise questions—wouldn’t it be strange if he didn’t win?
“This is why those at the bottom always have it the hardest.”
The spectators had no understanding of the orders imposed on him by his superiors and were busy hurling insults.
Even if he wanted to give up, he likely couldn’t, lest he be accused of cowardice for fearing the Empire.
A pitiful position, no matter how you looked at it.
That said, I didn’t feel even an ounce of sympathy for him.
If it were me, I’d refuse to stoop to such a level and try to win with my own skills.
Even if I lost, I’d at least protect my honor until the end.
“Referee, let’s get this over with. I want to finish quickly and rest.”
“You arrogant brat, I’ll teach you a lesson!”
I raised my voice loud enough for my opponent to hear, urging the referee to begin.
It wasn’t just a request to start—it was a deliberate provocation.
I couldn’t just sit and watch him grumble endlessly.
It seemed to work perfectly because, even before the referee could signal the start, my opponent unsheathed his real sword.
The match began with the referee’s shout:
“Begin!”
“Hup…!”
My opponent let out a sharp cry and quickly closed the distance between us.
He was likely a Sword Expert, unable to break through the wall to become a Master.
Though he couldn’t use Aura, he was skilled enough in swordsmanship to warrant attention.
“Show me how great the Empire’s swordsmanship really is!”
He seemed to think of me as an equal Expert, now that the rules prevented me from using Aura.
On top of that, the overwhelming difference in equipment made him underestimate me.
What a frog in a well, completely unaware of his misguided assumptions.
“Do you really think you can beat me?”
As his sword came for me, I effortlessly parried it and thrust my wooden sword toward his neck.
Clang!
The wooden sword slid between the seams of his helmet and armor.
He resisted immediately, but the gap had already been created.
Having successfully exploited his weak point, I didn’t press further and instead stepped back.
“In an environment where Aura cannot be used, for an Expert to stand on equal footing with a Master, the difference in experience must be minimal.”
The common theory is that the only difference between a fully matured Expert and a novice Master is Aura.
This is a belief I strongly agree with.
When I first awakened my Aura, my master assigned me a task to wipe out a band of mountain bandits led by a Sword Expert.
Overconfident in my newfound Master rank, I went in head-on.
I nearly died to an Expert. It’s a humiliating memory I’ll never forget.
“Urgh!”
“And when do you think I became a Master?”
As I pressed him with just a wooden sword, my opponent couldn’t answer.
Still, the sharpness in his eyes indicated he thought of me as nothing more than a rookie.
While Sword Masters my age are rare, they aren’t entirely unheard of.
Most of them, however, have only recently ascended to Master rank, which likely explains his dismissive attitude.
“It’s been a full ten years. I’ve been a Master for ten years now.”
“Don’t lie!”
“You can choose not to believe me if it makes you feel better. Either way, you’ll feel the difference in experience soon enough.”
Gripping my wooden sword tightly, I struck his iron helmet with all my strength.
Crash!
The durability of the wooden sword was no match for the iron, and it shattered.
However, the helmet—sealed on all sides—absorbed the full brunt of the impact, throwing off his sense of balance.
His vision would be spinning, and his ears ringing by now.
When I aimed at his neck with the broken wooden sword, he instinctively covered his neck with his hand.
I tossed the broken sword aside and grabbed his helmet with my hand.
My fingers dug into the metal as I slammed him to the ground.
Once he was forcibly laid flat, I clenched my fist and punched his helmet with all my might.
Bang!
With just one strike, the front of his helmet caved in.
“W-wait a moment!”
“There’s no ‘wait’ in battle!”
“If you’re a Sword Master, fight honorably with swordsmanship!”
“Screw that! Why waste honor on someone in full armor?”
I abandoned honor and opted for dirty tactics, a fighting style fittingly called “dirty fighting.”
My fists, hardened through training, were stronger than the wooden sword anyway.
The wooden sword had been a symbol of my resolve not to kill, a form of mercy.
But there was no need to show mercy to someone hiding behind armor.
“Let’s see what your face looks like.”
“Argh!”
I repeatedly struck his helmet, shaking his head violently.
As he fell into a dazed state where resistance was impossible, I wedged my hand into the gaps of his helmet.
With sheer force, I bent the metal and ripped off the helmet.
“Ugh!”
What was revealed underneath made me grimace in disgust.
The helmet reeked of a foul stench.
It seemed the violent shaking had caused him to vomit, and the acidic smell of stomach contents lingered.
Disgusted, I hoisted his body into the air and hurled him into the spectator seats.
“Kyaah! Disgusting!”
“Ugh…!”
“Hey! You crazy bastard! Why the hell are you throwing people into the stands?!”
“Haha! There was a pile of filth gathering there, and I just couldn’t resist…”
As I mocked them with feigned innocence, the crowd’s backlash grew louder.
Having achieved another victory with unstoppable momentum, I strutted out of the arena with a cocky gait.
The torrent of curses and insults hurled at my back was ignored.
If I was going to be hated no matter what, wouldn’t it be better to enjoy myself?
“By the way, I wonder how Letia is doing.”
For some reason, I’d been missing her more frequently these days.
At the border between the kingdom and the empire, the battlefield had turned into a wasteland.
Corpses littered the ground, blood soaked into the earth refusing to dry, and the air was filled with endless screams and shouts.
However, amidst the chaos, one person brought silence to this battlefield.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes, no issues.”
“Thank goodness! If even a scratch had marred Lady Letia’s precious form…”
“Spare me the pleasantries. Just handle the cleanup. I want to return as soon as possible.”
“Haha! Of course, leave everything to me and rest easy!”
Commander Rex, constantly bowing and flattering, dared not treat Letia carelessly.
Unlike Rex, who gave orders from the rear, Letia was the hero who secured victory on the front lines.
In fact, Rex’s strategies had been brutally countered in this battle, resulting in countless casualties.
Yet, the kingdom emerged victorious, thanks to one person alone: Letia Heter.
Her feat of single-handedly annihilating tens of thousands of enemy soldiers reshaped the course of the war.
She rewrote history that would otherwise have been recorded as a humiliating defeat.
‘What a sharp-tongued woman. But for saving me from dismissal, I’ll owe her for now.’
Rex, greedy to the core, harbored ambitions even as he watched Letia walk away with dignity.
Still, he wasn’t foolish enough to make any reckless moves against her.
He hid his fangs, waiting for the moment when his prey would weaken.
‘If we keep fighting on the same battlefield, an opportunity will eventually come.’
Perhaps he could earn her favor by rescuing her when she was isolated or caught in a trap.
That favor might grow into love, and she might give herself to him—such a filthy fantasy was interrupted.
“Don’t even dream of it.”
“W-who’s there?!”
The chilling voice in his ear snapped Rex out of his delusion, and he frantically looked around.
But there was no one near him.
Frightened and confused, Rex’s attention turned back to Letia, who was joined by her assistant, Jenis.
“Jenis, how is the carriage?”
“Everything, including your belongings, is ready for departure.”
“Let’s leave quickly! It’s been 10 days, 13 hours, 52 minutes, and 29… 30 seconds since I last saw Siyoon!”
“You were counting that precisely?”
“Of course! The time I spend apart from Siyoon makes the moments together even more precious!”
“Have you been thinking about Siyoon even during battle?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“Of course… I mean, since you’ve returned safely, I suppose it doesn’t matter.”
Even after years of serving Letia, Jenis found herself dumbfounded this time.
Her master’s obsessive love was one thing, but the fact that she could dominate a battlefield while distracted by such thoughts left Jenis speechless.
Shaking her head in disbelief, Jenis followed Letia.
‘Even if the world ends, there’s no way my master would look at another man.’