The perfect swing wasn’t perfect.

Inside the sanctum’s inner training field, an enclosed room with nothing inside save for a barrel of wooden swords, was a lone swordsman who practiced his vertical swing. A young man—some might think him old due to his gray hair—who had reserved the space solely for himself, one deemed by others as a void.

Crack!

The wood shattered to pieces, not being able to withstand his swing.

Vod stared at what remained of the wooden sword, the handle in his grip, and tossed it away. On the floor, laid countless handles with their wooden blades broken.

‘Your swing is perfect,’ his father’s words echoed. ‘Keep it up; and you’ll eventually summon Zenia’s formless sword. I know you will, Vod.’

‘…’

Vod took another sword from the barrel.

‘Your swing is empty,’ came a voice from behind, Ignes’s.

Vod ignored her and gripped the handle of the sword tightly with both hands. Closing his eyes to imagine an opponent whom he would slash. After forming a faceless illusory opponent, he opened his eyes and swung vertically.

Crack!

The wood shattered, leaving only the handle.

‘It’s more of a weakness than strength,’ Ignes commented. Always the same words.

Vod tossed the handle and grabbed another sword.

‘Zenia help me with my stubborn son…’ She made an audible sigh.

‘How do you propose me winning against her then?’ He spoke his mind. Ignes’s presence was bothering him; he wanted her away.

‘How’s breaking your sword going to help?’ she asked back.

‘I need a slash that could cut her immortality.’

‘You don’t need to win against her. Occupy her long enough for the others to win, then we’re subjugating her with numbers.’

‘She’s strong. The previous sword saint did that and failed.’

‘You’re stronger than him.’

‘You’ve never fought her, Ignes. Stalling ends up with losing; and there’s no winning if I can’t kill her.’

Silence.

She stood in front of him, staring into the so-called void of his eyes.

‘You judged her to be strong. Alright. But your swing won’t be enough to cut her immortality. Not unless you could answer me this: Why do you fight?’ It was one of the 3 questions. Something that followers of the sword were supposed to have answers for.

‘I don’t need a reason to fight.’

‘And that’s why you’re empty.’

Vod never understood her. What did being empty has to do with anything? It didn’t change the fact that he was the strongest swordsperson in the sanctum.

Vod was about to grab another wooden sword, but he heard a loud shout from outside.

‘We’re being attacked!! The monster worship—’ the voice was cut short, silenced.

The sanctum was being invaded. He could hear screams and the clashes of weapon outside.

Vod took a wooden sword from the barrel, gripping the handle tightly. Then, he grabbed the barrel’s rim, and tossed it to Ignes. Those wooden swords needed to make do until he obtained metal swords.

In this attack, he knew that she would be here.

To win, he would have to kill the immortal.

***

Dunnford and Ray walked through the alleyway. Light raindrops were falling.

It was paramount to check on Elaine, as she could be too immersed in her magic investigation to realize the nearing skystorm. Dunnford expected to find her inside the alleyway, specifically at the spot where the Extinct Formulae Magic had been inscribed, but he wouldn’t be surprised if she wasn’t there.

She could be leaving with Freya, Dunnford thought.

‘Master Ray, do you think Miss Elaine had left?’

Ray shrugged. ‘It doesn’t matter if she’s here or not.’

With the enemy using magic, Dunnford preferred to have a mage around whom he could consult to. However, it seemed that Ray wasn’t of the same opinion.

Dunnford led them to a turn. Arriving at an open space inside the alleyway, they could spot Elaine crouching on the ground and investigating the Extinct Formulae Magic.

She hadn’t left Lune.

‘Miss Elaine, is there any progress?’ Dunnford asked as he approached.

Elaine didn’t respond. She was absorbed in figuring out what the Extinct Formulae Magic was negating.

‘Miss Elaine?’ Dunnford touched her shoulder.

This gesture surprised Elaine and she turned with a startle; relieved to see that it was Dunnford. ‘You scared me!’

‘I apologize about that.’ Seeing this reaction, he promised to himself that he would figure out a method to call the immersed Elaine without surprising her. ‘Is there any progress?’

‘There’s none.’ Elaine messed her hair in frustration; only now noticing it was wet. She just realized it had been raining.

‘Freya left you behind,’ Ray remarked.

‘I choose to stay.’

‘What for? You’re not making any progress whatsoever.’

‘You’re saying that you would have made progress then?’

‘I’m saying that you’re doing nothing here.’

An argument between them erupted.

Dunnford had seen this coming the moment Ray had decided to tag along.

Regardless, from the conversation, he had caught that she chose to stay—chose to help them. I had made her stay.

As they continued arguing, Dunnford—weighed with the slight guilt that he had separated Elaine from Freya—figured that it was best to settle the matter fast; that would be to everyone’s interest: the sanctum’s and theirs. Of course, however, he wasn’t letting his emotion fully control him.

Considering that there had been no progress in the investigation, it seemed that he needed to take a risk.

Not having any progress could end up being riskier, he concluded.

‘Let’s negate the negate,’ he made his call. This caught Ray and Elaine’s attention, and they stopped their arguments. ‘Miss Elaine, I would like you to employ defensive magic around me. Master Ray, I would like you to observe from a safe distance, see what happens when the Extinct Formulae Magic gets negated.

‘I’ll be the one to use the negation magic.’

This could be a trap and he could be stepping into one; but, if it was, knowing would mean progress.

Time to check the unknown.

***

Brig swung her dull sword horizontally toward her opponent.

The monster worshipper, a man wearing black raincoat; equipped with a metal spear, raised his weapon to block her attack.

The dull blade hit the metal shaft.

Clang!

The sound of metal against metal, of the blade being deflected by the block, was what would have happened had the spear-wielder faced a normal opponent with a normal sword. However, that didn’t happen against Brig.

Creak.

Was the sound that occurred. Of the metal shaft being bent by overwhelming force. Brig’s sword swing penetrated through her opponent’s defense, crushing the block. Receiving the impact, her opponent was blown away physically by her strength.

That one opponent had taken Brig longer than intended to deal with.

Outside the sanctum, she assessed the situation of the now battlefield. Other squads grouped together and had protocols to deal with the attackers. Meanwhile, the Hawk squad were scattered all across, dealing against opponents individually.

Brig thought she should help her squad, at least the ones who wanted and needed help.

She was about to aid one of her squad members. However, she was distracted by a certain sound. Her sharp ears, through the commotion of the battlefield, picked up an ominous chanting from afar. The same exact chanting which she had once heard of before when facing monster worshippers.

A chanting for summoning magic.

To summon monsters.

***

Dunnford stood in front of two Extinct Formulae Magic.

One was written with blood by the monster worshippers. The other was written with a certain ink—which could replace blood—by Elaine. Now, all that Dunnford had to do was to complete the Extinct Formulae Magic written by Elaine by finishing a stroke.

Magic and mana are different, Dunnford thought.

Suppose that this was an offensive trap, it would be of magic and not of mana. Therefore, Dunnford’s invulnerability would protect him.

It could still be something else entirely.

The risk was not entirely gone.

Regardless, Dunnford had coated his finger with the ink; and he finished the stroke, activating the negation magic that Elaine made.

Time seemingly went still.

When he activated the magic—nothing happened.

The lack of happenings made Dunnford wonder if he had failed in activating the negation, or if there had been a subtle effect that went beyond his observations.

‘Miss Elaine,’ he turned to her, ‘did I make a mistake somewhere?’

Elaine was also confused because nothing happened. ‘The procedure wasn’t wrong.’

Her answer cleared the first possibility.

Dunnford turned to Ray, and he needed not his question to voice his observations.

‘The negate works,’ Ray said. ‘But it didn’t erase it.’

‘Master Ray, could you elaborate?’

‘The blood-written Extinct Formulae Magic had a crimson glow to it. After it is affected by the new inscription, it stopped glowing.’

It was glowing? Dunnford did not notice any glow before. However, he remembered that—

‘SHAA!!’

A loud hiss sounded. One that carried the influence to make the raindrops waver, rippling as they fell.

From the direction of the sanctum, Dunnford, Ray, and Elaine could feel a sinister presence. One similar to a being they had faced before. That of a monster.

‘Miss Elaine,’ Dunnford was quick to make decisions and issue orders, ‘it did negate something, check it. Master Ray, accompany her.’

Without wasting any more precious time, Dunnford dashed toward the sanctum, wind magic at the sole of his boots to boost his speed.

I hope I’m not too late…

***

Crack!

The sound of broken skull and shattering of wooden sword merged into one.

Some monster worshippers had slipped past into the sanctum; Ignes, carrying a close-to-empty barrel of wooden swords, was acting as a supporting role for Vod. Her son had shattered yet another sword, but in the process had taken down another intruder.

‘Another,’ Vod demanded.

Ignes handed to him a wooden sword. ‘That’s the last one.’

No response from Vod. He was never one to express gratitude.

A spear-wielder came charging at him. In response Vod charged back fearlessly. The moment the opponent made his thrusting motion, Vod, with his reflexes, immediately ducked and dodged the thrust completely.

Coming from below, he gripped the handle of the wooden sword tight.

Whilst Ignes was against Vod’s empty swing, this sight of him was something that never ceased to amaze her. When he was about to unleash his swing, the space around the blade always warped. And when he made a slash, it was as if he was cutting reality itself.

He swung the sword upward, a silent; perfect swing, hitting the spear-wielder’s jaw mercilessly.

Crack!

That was the last of his wooden swords.

Just when Ignes thought things couldn’t get worse, she heard a loud petrifying hiss from outside the sanctum. One that weighed down the air.

‘SHAA!!’

They’ve summoned a monster, she thought.

The odds of winning were still there. Ignes, the head of the sanctum, knew the capabilities of the sword worshippers. However, it was also precisely because of that knowledge that she knew: winning would come with the sacrifice of many.

Regardless, Ignes had to press onward. Who else but them to put a stand against the monster worshippers?

Vod remained impassive despite the monster’s presence. Seeing for himself that the barrel Ignes carried was empty, he eyed on the fallen spears on the ground.

Ignes knew that Vod never learned spears, but he was considering using it.

‘Squad leader!’ someone called. A small-sized man who carried a barrel full of metal swords. The person who was usually responsible in handing Vod a new sword whenever he broke one, Sto. ‘I’ve got you swords!’

His appearance was perfect.

Ignes grabbed herself two swords: one long, one short. Vod meanwhile took whichever.

‘Thank you,’ Ignes expressed her gratitude.

Vod, meanwhile, pressed onward and headed toward the hall. Sto, however, wasn’t discouraged by Vod’s attitude. If anything, it seemed that he was used to it, as he immediately followed Vod.

The path ahead, led by Vod, became clear of enemies as he defeated them almost instantaneously.

Finally, they arrived at the sanctum’s hall.

Under the statue of Zeni. were two figures. One was the immortal, writing a formula magic with her blood. The other was a spear-wielder who had a tube on the shaft of his spear, Haze.

The immortal noticed their presence and glanced over her shoulder.

She was delighted when she saw Vod.

‘I’ll get to kill you first.'

Vod responded by pointing his sword at her.