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Chapter 325

What is a Sword Master?

It is the realm where one tempers the body to circulate aura, surpassing the first of many human limitations.

That is the realm of the Sword Master.

But more than the body, what truly matters at that stage is the mind.

At the level of a Sword Master, the control over one’s body transcends far beyond ordinary human limits—surpassing mere aura sense.

“If a human could consciously control their own organs, or use muscles that they normally never use, what do you think would happen?”

“……”

“Take the brain, for example. They say humans use only a fraction of it during their lifetime. What if you surpassed that limit and controlled it—so much that the brain’s usage became several times that of an ordinary person?”

“Ah… alright, I get it, so put that thing away!”

Melissa, nose pinched and screaming, was currently bound hand and foot in the middle of the training hall.

Ignoring her struggles, I continued calmly.

“They often say that once you cross the wall of Sword Mastery, it’s like you suddenly become a different person altogether. That isn’t wrong. Once you break through, everything feels so natural that you wonder why it was difficult before. The movements of the body, the flow of aura, and even the vast reserves of stored aura within the body that normally can’t be accessed.”

Flail! Flap!

She thrashed like a fish out of water, as if sensing what awaited her.

“The point is this: if you enter that state fully even once, you are a Sword Master. Even if unstable, a few days of correction will fix it.”

Sword Masters can be called superhuman with swordsmanship alone, you ask?

Melissa was already halfway there in that regard.

“No, I told you I don’t need this!”

“Trust your brother. I’ll make sure you won’t be beaten anywhere.”

I nodded.

“Well? Open up.”

Melissa resisted furiously, but I pinned her down, immobilizing her.

“She’s struggling too much, how are we supposed to do this?”

Luna, holding Melissa’s upper body down, asked.

“What do you mean? Just hold her open and shove it in. Don’t worry, once she gets used to it, it’ll even feel good.”

At my words, Luna’s face twisted in distaste, and the beastfolk and elf maids watching nearby blushed furiously, whispering.

“What’s wrong with them?”

“Your… phrasing is a little…”

“Hm?”

I retraced my words, and then my face darkened.

“You people are insane!!”

I roared, making the maids scream and flee.

“Kyah!”

“The young master is angry!”

I scowled and forcibly pried Melissa’s mouth open, pouring the elixir in.

“Mmph… mmphhh!”

“Melissa, listen. The drug is strong. You’ll need to run your breathing technique at twice the usual speed.”

“Pfft!! How am I supposed to do that?!”

“You’ll do it. If not, the elixir’s effect will dissipate. Do the math.”

At my chilling tone, her face paled as she frantically focused.

Of course, I wasn’t about to stop.

“Once an engine is fueled, you have to keep adding fuel to keep it running. Common sense, isn’t it?”

“Wh-what are you saying?!”

Her face turned pale, but I popped open another vial and poured it in.

“Grk… grkkk!”

Her aura surged violently.

“No more… I can’t… mmph!”

She gagged, but the elixir dissolved the moment it touched her mouth lining.

Even in the midst of nausea, she desperately struggled to control the raging aura.

“Incredible. An ordinary human would’ve exploded and died.”

“That’s why the breathing technique exists—to withstand it.”

As she twitched on the floor, I drew my sword.

“What… what are you going to do…”

“You know how when muscles cramp, moving them helps? Same thing.”

Sensing what was coming, her body trembled.

“Come at me as if you’ll die if you don’t.”

* * *

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BOOM!! CRASH!!

The arena resounded with violent impacts.

Crimson-black aura erupted madly, crushing everything—yet it barely affected Leon.

Melissa was consumed by wild aura, like a lunatic drowning in its waves.

Broken sword fragments littered the ground—her own blades shattered from reckless swings.

Normally she wouldn’t make such mistakes.

But now, control was gone.

She fought like a beast.

Watching, Cheon Ryeong and Hwa Ryeong, the twins, paled.

As mid-level experts themselves, they couldn’t even judge the battle properly—it was like watching gods fight.

Melissa’s state was exactly that of someone forcibly elevating her realm by using elixirs to drive her aura berserk.

“This proves it. Great elixirs can raise one’s level, yes… but they cannot make someone break through to Master.”

“No matter the reason, this is too dangerous…”

Indeed, Melissa was forcefully driving herself into Sword Mastery with elixirs and reckless violence.

Before long, her body collapsed like a machine that had lost power.

“Not bad for a start. Today was three bottles, tomorrow we’ll try four.”

“Y-you crazy bastard… I feel like I’m dying…”

“You’ll be fine. People don’t die so easily.”

She groaned, begging Luna.

“L-Luna… heal me…”

“No. If I heal you now, everything you endured today will be wasted.”

“Damn it… you two devils…”

And she passed out cold.

“Lord Leon… are you certain this is a safe method?”

Cheon Ryeong asked anxiously.

“Forcing someone’s aura berserk the moment they drink an elixir… normally, that would cause instant qi deviation and death. And she drank not one, but three bottles…”

“You’ll see tomorrow.”

The next day, Melissa muttered with a haggard face,

“Do we… really have to do this again?”

“My stomach hurts. My whole body aches. Even my aura pathways feel shredded.”

“Mhm, I see.”

“If I take more, I’ll seriously die…”

“So your body damage is greater than expected.”

“Th-then…”

“Then we’ll stick to three bottles today. Serqet produced another dose, so it’s fine.”

She trembled.

“Can’t I just quit…?”

“Some people would sell their souls to become Sword Masters. You’re lucky.”

“I know that but still…”

“Open up.”

“No, wait—mmph!”

Leon forced another dose down her throat.

“Don’t worry. A first-class healer is on standby if anything goes wrong.”

“You… bastard…”

BOOOOM!!!

Her aura burst forth, darker and fiercer than yesterday.

Swaying as if in pain, she nonetheless surrendered herself to the rampaging blood energy and once again went berserk.

And Leon, receiving her attacks without hesitation and striking back, deliberately provoked her into losing control even further.

Days passed like this.

Melissa’s appearance grew increasingly pitiful, her body worn out with fatigue.

When not dueling, she either slept like the dead or moved like a half-corpse while handling the duchy’s affairs.

She temporarily requested leave from the Academy, and Leon handled most of the territory’s duties in her place.

At first, the Cheon Ryeong and Hwa Ryeong expressed doubts, but as they watched Melissa’s sparring day after day—her aura growing sharper and more explosive—they shifted from suspicion to sheer astonishment.

“I have never seen such a reckless training method. If this were an ordinary human, they would have died from qi deviation a dozen times over by now…”

An “elixir rush” doesn’t mean you come out unscathed.

The Heavenly Demon Divine Sword and its cultivation method only allowed her to absorb and forcibly take in the medicine.

Beyond that, it required sheer personal malice and resolve.

“This is almost like…”

“Like demonic arts, right? That’s why it’s called the Heavenly Demon Divine Sword.”

Of course, outwardly it looked like nothing but mindless frenzy.

But as days went by, Melissa’s aura was refining itself to a surprising degree—clearly different from the demonic arts known in the Eastern Continent.

Whereas most demonic arts granted power at the cost of destroying the practitioner’s body, this one—though it drove her to the brink of death—was somehow making her healthier.

Melissa herself seemed to have realized this, unable to hide her frustration.

Then an accident happened.

“Hey, brat. Where did she go?”

“Uh… she… she ran away.”

“Back to that church again?”

Leon’s eyes gleamed.

At last, Melissa had broken and fled.

She had done so before—bolting from training when it overwhelmed her.

Leon grabbed a flash artifact in one hand and a tear-gas artifact in the other.

“Which way did she run?”

“Th-the thing is… I-I don’t really know…”

“Right. Thanks for your trouble.”

Handing the maid a box of delicious desserts, Leon gave a chilling smile.

“She’s gotten spoiled, hasn’t she.”

That was just a complaint.

Though the training was grueling, her body grew healthier and showed no aftereffects.

The only problem was how excruciating it felt to her.

At night, Leon checked her condition regularly, and the moment any issue arose, Luna’s healing took care of it.

The old Melissa would have clenched her teeth and endured.

But now, having entered a period of stability, she had grown lax.

Leon boldly set out to chase her down.

Pity though it was for Melissa, there was no point in running.

This wasn’t the first time.

Once, when she hid in a church, Leon simply tossed in a tear-gas artifact and left.

Fool her once, but not twice.

This time Melissa intended to run much farther.

Her destination, the dormitory of the Imperial Academy.

It was ridiculous for a duke of the realm to flee there—but survival came first.

Leon was broken.

His training method was undeniably effective and relatively safe.

But one element was shattered beyond repair,

His obsessive, near-psychotic determination.

It was as if he had lived through countless moments where if he didn’t do this, he would die horribly, until such desperation had become second nature.

Luna had sometimes said similar things, and Lispa Elde once warned Melissa directly.

“Your brother isn’t right in the head. One day, he might do something completely insane. You’d better keep a close eye on him.”

At the time, Melissa dismissed it as nonsense.

Now, she wasn’t so sure.

Granted, it was ironic for her, the runaway from harsh training, to complain about that.

Still, she couldn’t help it.

The feeling of her body being shattered was one thing.

The worst part—

The elixir tasted utterly vile.

Even a single dose made her stomach feel bloated with gas, leaving a slimy, nauseating sensation along her throat and gut.

How such a medicine could be absorbed instantly remained a mystery.

“Professor!”

The lifeline she reached for was none other than Academy Professor Rommel.

“Melissa cadet? What brings you here?”

“Professor! Please hide me! From that madma— I mean, from my crazy brother! Please protect me from him!”

“Melissa? What are you doing here?”

“Professor, please hide me! From that lunatic—my brother! He’ll kill me!”

Abandoning all dignity as a duke’s daughter, she begged.

Rommel said nothing, simply led her to a hidden storeroom and let her inside.

Moments later—

Knock, knock.

“Professor Rommel. It’s Leon Cascadia.”

“Ah, Lord Leon! What brings you here?”

“My lord has disappeared. I’m searching for her.”

“Oh my… she hasn’t come here. What happened?”

“…It’s embarrassing to say in public, but—she fled during training. I tracked her here, to the Academy. Have you seen her?”

At that, Professor Rommel’s eyes widened.

“Fled… from training?”

Bismark Rommel—one of the strictest professors in the Academy, famous for his grueling lessons—was stunned.

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