The God-Possessed Swordsmanship Genius - Chapter 20

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 20: The Swordsman Blessed by God

* * *

Allen walked the path of the sword.
It was the fastest way back to the Main Estate.
Only swordsmen of the family who had succeeded in their missions could walk this road home, and so it was a sacred path.

‘Come to think of it, this is my first time.’

He had seen this road countless times, but this was the first time he had walked it on his way back. The strange feeling was no illusion.
As he made his way past the statues of past lords lined up on either side of him.
Allen noticed someone waiting for him at the end of the path.

“Brother?”

The one waiting for Allen at the end of the path was Lucas.
Glad to see him, Allen’s steps quickened on their own.
Once he stood before Lucas, Allen asked.

“Were you on your way somewhere? Or were you, by any chance, waiting for me?”
“It’s not as if we just happened to run into each other.”

The Main Estate was vast. You could wander it for three days and three nights and still not cover it all.
In a place this large, bumping into the one person you were looking for was nearly impossible.

“You could have just said you were waiting, and spared yourself the riddles. So how did you know?”
“Do you have any idea how many eyes the family has across the continent?”

The Main Estate bordered the Owen Kingdom, yet the carriage ride to this place was still quite long.
Where exactly had news of his whereabouts been picked up from?
Once again, he was struck by the reality that the entire north of the continent belonged to the Bishuken.

“Then my mission report must have already gone up, hasn’t it?”
As a matter of fact, the Lord is looking for you.
“For me?”

Allen was taken aback.
Normally, he would have returned to his quarters, unpacked, and rested for a day before going to see his father. It was already too late for that now.
But if his father was the one looking for him, that changed things.
It wasn’t a matter for the early evening. He would have to go to his father even if it meant being woken from sleep in the dead of night.

“I’d better go right away. Ah, I haven’t even washed up properly. Will that be all right?”
“Do you really think the Lord cares about something like that?”
“Fair enough. But is that why you were waiting for me?”
“No.”

Lucas’s expression grew complicated.

“It’s about the Sword Corps.”
“The Sword Corps? Ah, you’re the commander of the Bigeom-dae, aren’t you?”

Bigeom-dae.
It was a name he hadn’t thought of in a long time.
It was a corps of formidable strength and standing, even within the Main Estate, and Lucas had taken command of the Bigeom-dae early on and had been running it ever since.
There had been a time when Allen had admired his older brother. He had even dreamed of following in his footsteps and becoming commander of the Bigeom-dae.
But that was then, and this is now.

“What does the Bigeom-dae business have to do with me?”
“…Let’s leave that for later. For now, let’s go.”

With a reaction I couldn’t read, Lucas spun on his heel.
Lucas’s strides toward the Lord’s Hall were quick.
Allen fell in step beside him.

“You took your time getting back. Did you manage to sort out whatever you went to do?”

It was a question born of Allen mentioning that he had somewhere to go.

“Very well. Better than I expected.”
“I’ve no idea what you came back with, but your eyes look different.”

Lucas could tell that something in Allen’s gaze had changed.
Having trained in the same swordsmanship, he was more attuned to such things.
Allen had advanced a full step in his cultivation.

‘Quick.’

He said it as though it were nothing much, but inwardly, Lucas was startled.
The Curse of Bima had only just lifted, and already he’d gained this much.
It almost made Lucas wonder whether the curse had lifted because his brother’s talent had blazed so brightly that a curse like that had no hope of holding him back.

“Did you get your hands on some elixir?”
“Want a share?”
“No thanks. I can’t stand anything bitter.”

At Lucas’s answer, Allen burst out laughing.
Not liking bitter things. As excuses went, it was a truly ridiculous one.

‘Figures. You must have swallowed plenty, Brother.’

An elixir as precious as the Star Flower wasn’t something one came across often, yet Lucas, most likely, had consumed every sort of elixir imaginable.
Unlike Allen, he had never been touched by the Curse of Bima, and he had been the strongest candidate for the next Lord.

“Oh, and that money you borrowed…”
“Forget about it. Pay me back once you’re better off than I am.”
“Then you’d better get paid back now, hadn’t you?”

Allen shook the pouch slung over his shoulder as he spoke.

“Selling just this one would fetch a fortune.”
“Wait, what exactly is that pouch…?”

Lucas trailed off, his expression turning to disbelief.

“Don’t tell me… is that a Subspace Pouch?”
“It is.”

Allen nodded and drew a backpack out of the pouch.
The large pack he had carried when he first left the family slid out of that small pouch with ease.
Once he realized what the pouch was, Lucas wore a look of sheer bewilderment.

“What on earth did you do out there? Did you rob the Quin Family’s treasure vault or something?”

He seemed far more astonished by the Subspace Pouch than by the fact that Allen had returned stronger after taking an elixir.
Elixirs could be obtained one way or another, but a Subspace Pouch was truly hard to come by.

“The Quin treasure vault must hold things far grander than this. Anyway, with all that said, you still won’t let me pay you back?”
“That’s settled. Didn’t I tell you? It’s a gift.”
“As expected of the Bigeom-dae Master. Such a generous hand.”

Lucas’s reaction was clearly different from Baudon’s or Yusia’s.
He did look a little surprised at the mention of a subspace pouch, but he didn’t covet it or anything of the sort.
Then again, if Lucas wanted, he could obtain artifacts far more valuable than a subspace pouch, so it made sense.
Of course.

‘The Star Flower… it’s better not to mention it.’

Even if he’s my brother, he might actually be jealous over this one.

* * *

Lucas split off in the middle of the road, saying he had business left with the Bigeom-dae.
If he was going to head back like this, Allen wondered why he’d waited at all, but Allen went straight to the Lord’s Hall first.
Right now, meeting Father mattered more than meeting his brother.
Whether the claim that he’d been waiting was true or not, Iorga greeted Allen and spoke.

“I’ve been waiting for you.”
“I’m sorry for returning so late.”
“Not at all. It was a mission with no set return date, so you haven’t come back late.”

Iorga, who had been guiding Allen, stopped in front of the Lord’s Hall.

“Please go in.”
“What about you, old man?”
“The Lord wishes to see the Second Young Master alone.”

Allen had heard as much, but he hadn’t expected Iorga to be barred from entering as well.
Allen felt a tightness in his chest.
Father wanted a private audience with him.
There had been times when it went the other way around, but this was the first time it had happened like this.

Screeech.

The swordsmen on either side pushed open the doors of the Lord’s Hall.
Far off, he could see his father seated on the throne.
Unlike last time, his father wasn’t holding a brush.
Allen walked into the Lord’s Hall without hesitation. Behind him, the doors shut with a thud.
Allen approached Axion slowly, stopped a short distance away, and knelt.

“Allen Bishuken has completed the mission and returned.”

Allen lifted his bowed head and looked at Axion.
He had said he wanted a private audience, yet Axion wore the very same expression as always.
His son, who had fallen under the Curse of Bima, had returned after completing his first mission.
What would Father say, I wonder?
It was Allen who broke the silence and spoke first.

“This time it was a success, right?”

At the words that openly fished for praise, the corners of Axion’s mouth lifted.

“You killed them all.”

At those words, Allen realized why Axion had summoned him separately.

‘So that’s what this is about.’

The original mission had been to eliminate the leader of Cheolswae-hoe.
Yet Allen had come back from this mission after cutting down dozens of men.
Evidently, that had caught his father’s attention.

‘Did I go too far?’

His father had assumed this mission was his first kill.
And on top of that, Allen had returned after slaughtering more than fifty men entirely on his own. No doubt his father was wondering just what kind of person his son had become.
And then.

“How did you kill them?”
“Sir?”

Axion’s question took Allen a moment to process, and he asked it back to him.
He had been bracing himself for a different question, something like why he had done it, and had been working out an answer for that.

“Well, with my sword…”
“Do you think I’d ask if I didn’t already know that?”

Axion swept his gaze across the Lord’s Hall as he spoke.

“I want you to do the same thing right here.”

Allen blinked, caught off guard by his father’s words. Then his eyes slid across the room.
Here, in the Lord’s Hall?
To do the same thing meant reproducing the swordsmanship he had unleashed when he swept through Cheolswae-hoe.

Allen rose from his seat and looked at Axion.
Allen’s expression seemed to ask whether he was really serious, and Axion gave a slow nod.

“Begin.”
“…Yes.”

Shing.

Allen drew his sword slowly.
He stepped forward a little and took his place at the center of the Lord’s Hall.
Thankfully, the hall was vast, more than enough room to swing a blade.
Still, I never imagined I’d be drawing steel in the Lord’s Hall.

‘Well, I suppose this is an opportunity too.’

How many chances would he ever get to swing a sword right in front of Axion Bishuken?
In a way, it was a greater opportunity than any Qi-enhancing elixir.
Since he had agreed to do it, he resolved to do it properly.
Allen closed his eyes and opened them again.

Dozens of imaginary enemies materialized within the Lord’s Hall.
Far off, in front of his father, stood the leader of Cheolswae-hoe and Meiran.
Dozens of men closed in around Allen. The very same situation as before was unfolding once more.
At the moment a man wielding an axe charged toward him.
Allen’s sword flashed.

Seongsin-ryu, First Form.
Bora.

Kwaaaaak!

The body of the axe-wielding man split in two.
Allen truly began to race across the inside of the Lord’s Hall.
Dozens of men charged at Allen all at once.
Cutting through them like a gust of wind, Allen’s sword found the vital points of each man, piercing and slashing with precision.

And then, the next form.

Seongsin-ryu, Second Form.
Sonagi.

Whoosh.

Allen’s blade let out a rushing sound through the air.
No sword energy flew from it.
They had asked him to recreate that moment, but they couldn’t very well have him tear up the Lord’s Hall.
Still, Axion could see it.
The form Allen had unleashed from his blade sweeping through dozens of men.

Having released the form, Allen came to a brief halt where he stood.
The frightened men scattered in disarray, shrieking. Seizing the gap, Allen moved like the wind once more.
There was no hesitation in Allen’s sword as it took the lives of his enemies. With each stroke, the glint in Axion’s eyes grew steadily more intrigued.
At last, Osval, the Cheolswae-hoe leader who had been left standing, tried to take Meiran hostage.
The moment he saw it, Allen unleashed his final form.

First Form, Bora.

Pwahak!

In Allen’s vision, Osval’s arm went flying through the air.
Osval screamed and dropped to his knees.
That was the end of the fight.
Coming back to himself, Allen lifted his head.
Without his noticing, he had returned from the dilapidated warehouse to the Lord’s Hall.
For a moment, Allen stood there, looking up at Axion.

I wonder what Father will say after watching my fight?
Allen had recreated that moment with everything he had. He had strained not to fall short in the slightest, and he hadn’t tried to add a single embellishment.
Even so, deep down, he had expected at least a remark along the lines of ‘Not bad.’

Tch.

Axion clicked his tongue.
He looked like something had displeased him.

“So there were hostages.”

The words caught Allen completely off guard.
What Axion said next was even more startling.

“You should have gone for his throat instead of his arm at the end. That would have been safer for the hostage.”

Allen had assumed he looked like he was just hacking at empty air, yet Axion spoke as though he had been standing right there at the scene.
What came after was even more surprising.

“Your forms are a mess. Above all, the movements are too big and too predictable. You need to learn to weave forms in between ordinary sword techniques.”
“Did you stop midway because you were savoring the first form you’d unleashed? Whatever the reason, your stride grew wider when you moved into the next move than it had been before.”
“Your stance is too low. I suppose you meant it to deceive your enemies’ eyes, and the intent is fine, but you overdid it. Lower your body too far and the sword loses its power.”

Axion’s corrections weren’t just one or two.
Stride, stance, the wobble in the blade that came from both, and how forms and sword techniques connected.
Allen began reworking the fight in his mind according to Axion’s corrections.
If he followed Axion’s words exactly, a far more efficient fight was truly possible.

‘So I made this many mistakes.’

Allen lowered his head.

“I’m sorry. I showed you something shameful.”

He was ashamed of himself for secretly hoping to be praised.
For a swordsman of Axion’s caliber, his own swordsmanship was riddled with errors.
He still had a very, very long way to go.
That was what he had been thinking.

“No. There’s no need to be ashamed.”

From above his bowed head, Axion’s voice reached him.
The words that followed made Allen’s breath catch in his throat.

“That was excellent.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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