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Chapter 4

I knew it. There’s something special about the Cardenas bloodline. He had to find out the truth about the original Duke Cardenas, their ancestor. Otherwise, he’d be stuck with groundless speculations at best.

With that, Leonard ducked.

Woosh!

The fierce swing narrowly missed him, making No. 157 flush.

“Come on, pull out your sword! Or I’ll kill you for real!” he shouted in anger.

“Hm?” Leonard only shrugged. “With your level of skill, that might be difficult.”

“You bastard!”

Leonard’s words pushed the trainee over the edge. This time, No. 157 went for his head, not his body. Even with a wooden sword, a swift, well-placed blow could kill or permanently disable him. And if the trainee had the physical gifts of a Cardenas, things would not end well.

Then I just need to avoid being hit.

He took half a step back as the sword came down, missing his nose. When No. 157 re-aimed, Leonard twisted to avoid his strike.

No. 157’s hits were fast and precise, considering his age, but that was the end of it.

The fundamentals have been drilled into him. I don’t know who taught him, but they taught him well.

There were people like him in murim as well. Once students were well-trained in the fundamentals of sword arts such as the Three Aspects, Six Harmonies, and Eight Directions, they started learning more advanced techniques and progressed faster than students who’d been neglectful in their basic skills. However...

He’s too honest. It makes sense for his age. He was too young to know how to mix in feints or to change direction mid-movement. Even martial artists who were considered gifted tended to learn those things when they were 15 or older.

Leonard thought about this as he thrust out his hand.

“You...?!” No. 157 was taken aback by Leonard’s reckless move, but he’d already swung his sword and couldn’t stop. At this rate, he would crush No. 381’s hand. The two other trainees behind him were shocked.

Tap—

What came was not the sound of breaking bones but a sound similar to wood hitting straw.

The move was simple enough. While the sword swung in diagonally, Leonard hit it aside with his left hand. Once it lost its momentum and trajectory, he snatched it with his right hand, demonstrating the large skill gap between them.

Before No. 157 could react—Crack! Leonard broke the wooden sword in his two hands and punched the trainee in the chin with an uppercut. The trainee crumpled like a marionette.

Leonard didn’t even spare him a glance as he dusted the splinters off his hands. He’s about as strong as I remember.

His memory was accurate. No. 157 was a little stronger and had an intense thirst for battle, but other than that, there wasn’t a big difference between them. The reason Leonard was still in 381st place was because he didn’t like hurting others, unlike No. 157. At some point, whether or not a person had a violent personality made no difference in a fight, but for children who couldn’t even be considered Third-Class martial artists, it was a vital factor.

A child who doesn’t hesitate to hurt someone versus a child who is afraid of fighting and pain. Even if the two have a similar level of skill, it’s clear who would win.

In fact, the Sword Emperor Yeon Mu-Hyuk had watched many people die because they couldn’t assume the right mindset. Gifted students with promising futures, greenhorns who’d never experienced real battles, and even those who simply didn’t like spilling blood because they were born with good hearts had died. As someone who’d lived and died by the sword, Leonard never could understand them.

“Do you understand the difference between us now?” he said, staring at the other two trainees as he gave No. 157 a few light kicks.

They were trembling, as one might expect from two noble children. They didn’t try to protest or accuse him of using dirty tricks. They had come to realize how much stronger he was.

Leonard was secretly impressed. He gestured for them to come forward. “Come at me, both of you. Or run away if you want. I don’t care.”

The two trainees unwittingly stumbled back, scowling. Their preservation instincts wrestled with their childish spite, but ultimately, their childish spite won. Unable to withstand their shame, No. 98 and No. 121 drew their swords. However, their reckless bravado would have caused their deaths if this were a real battle.

You sure are lucky, you runts.

Leonard prepared to karate-chop them, chuckling as he watched them charge stiffly with fear. He didn’t have the desire to go that far with kids.

Before he received the title of Sword Emperor after joining the Ten Venerables, he had many, many gruesome titles.

The Blood Sword Asura. Death’s Caller. The Sword Demon.

He was known for his bloodthirsty personality. Once he unsheathed his sword, he didn’t stop until someone’s blood was spilled. Because of this, even members of demonic cults feared him.

***

While four trainees bickered early in the morning, someone watched them from afar.

A group of people were stationed at the very top of the bell tower, which overlooked the entire training facility. These monitors were called Owls, and they were in charge of observing the trainees’ behavior. While instructors watched over the trainees from inside the buildings, they watched from the outside.

One of the monitors muttered to himself. “I’m surprised. I didn’t know No. 381 was so strong.”

He’d been tracking the four trainees because they’d headed off in a different direction, even though it was almost time for the morning session. He’d been rewarded with something unexpected. The ranking badges had a monitoring device, sensing harsh movements and when they lost consciousness during battle to change the rankings as needed. That was why he knew their numbers.

“Geez. I really didn’t expect that,” the Owl murmured as he watched No. 381 push past No. 98 and No. 121 to strike them from behind. The scuffle could’ve ended if he simply hit them on the head, but No. 381 went so far as to hold his hands behind his back to taunt them. The Owl was too far away to read their lips, but he could tell that they were saying something to each other.

No. 98 and No. 121 even attempted a flimsy coordinated attack, but they didn’t even graze No. 381’s clothes. The fight ended in an instant.

“It’s over.”

While No. 98 and No. 121 were out of breath due to their unsuccessful onslaught, No. 381 dashed like lightning and hit them in the solar plexus. Their core was unstable due to their shallow breathing, and the two trainees hit the ground at the same time. At least they hadn’t eaten breakfast yet. Thankfully, they didn’t throw up.

It was an indisputable victory for No. 381.

“Beating No. 157 wasn’t that impressive, but he actually defeated No. 98 and No. 121 with his bare hands without being hit. He’s changed so much after his stay at the infirmary. Did the concussion help him or something?” The Owl scratched his head as if he himself knew how ridiculous that sounded. “Did he hide his skill? But why? His records are so clean that he can’t possibly be a spy. Maybe he finally decided to show his true power because of the gang war.”

His pen suddenly stopped in the middle of writing the report.

“... Huh?!”

He didn’t know if he was imagining it, but he felt as if No. 381 was looking back at him as he stood among the three bodies. A moment later, however, No. 381 turned around and started walking to who-knows-where.

The Owl shook his head as he watched. It can’t be. He wouldn’t be able to sense me from this distance without using mana. But if he felt me watching him, he must have very good instincts.

Such as a sixth sense.

If No. 381 had been hiding his true power, it was possible. The Owl hadn’t even been watching him with animosity, but if No. 381 could sense him from that distance, he should be able to easily dodge the trainees’ simplistic attacks with his eyes closed.

At the very end of the report, the Owl noted, “Likely has extremely heightened senses.” He put his pen down.

“This class of trainees will be very fun to watch. I hope they’re not as predictable as the previous class,” he remarked.

Members of the Cardenas family always exceeded expectations, but if a person put a bunch of them together and forced them to compete, usually the outcome was predictable. Nearly all of the highest-ranking trainees were direct descendants, and it was typical of them to create gangs and fight with each other.

“But not only did an indirect descendant reach such high a ranking, he’s refusing to join any faction...”

No. 381 just might make history.

“I’m looking forward to it, No. 381. Oh, I suppose he’s No. 98 now.” The Owl grinned at the thought of updating Leonard’s ranking. Sometimes, he got so bored that he missed the front lines, but every now and then, peculiar things happened and kept his interest.

Leonard went inside the building and disappeared from sight, not even knowing that he was now No. 98.

***

“I think there was someone watching me.” As soon as he closed the door behind him, Leonard let out a long sigh. He was pretty sure he’d sensed someone on the top of the bell tower. There was little doubt in his mind that there were chaperones to make sure trainees didn’t seriously injure or kill each other when they bickered. If it seemed like Leonard was going to do something drastic, they likely would’ve gone so far as to step in.

Well, it doesn’t matter because I’m not planning to hide anything that won’t get me into trouble...

He also had the feeling that the gang war was bigger and more complicated than he’d initially thought. No. 1 was coercing members to join his group, while branch members were banding together to oppose the direct descendants. The thought that there were two more factions was exhausting. It would be nice if they kept it between themselves and ignored him, but now that Leonard had begun to show off his power, he would seem like a shiny object they couldn’t resist. However, he didn’t want it to cut into his training time. He wasn’t sure how to handle this.

“Hm. This is complicated.”

They wouldn’t listen to him no matter what he said, but as the Sword Emperor, his ego wouldn’t allow him to hide his power either. After all, he was the lunatic who had immediately sought out Heavenly Demon after hitting a wall in his training.

Leonard’s solution was very simple.

“I’ll just beat everyone who comes to me one by one. That’s all I can do.”

Not even their mob mentality stood a chance in the face of his sheer strength. As a Creation Realm master, he’d already used this method several times before, and he was confident in his choice. Leonard nodded.

The Cardenas training class’s annual gang war was about to turn into a bloodbath.