Campione 08

by Trials of the Devil Kings

  "W-What happened?"

  Erica was a girl who always maintained lady-like composure at all times. However, in that moment she was muttering in shock, completely forgetting her usual mannerisms.

  "Could it really be that man's doing...?"

  Liliana was also stupefied.

  This expression was unbecoming for a talented mage and witch who should be better versed in mysterious matters than the average mage.

  "Sorry, did I scare you two? Umm, actually I was wondering if this would work like a signal fire to call out people related to this fort."

  This frivolous-sounding voice belonged to the amnesiac young man, of course.

  Who on earth was this man —!?

  Just as the two girls cast a gaze of fear at him for the first time...

  A gray horse arrived, galloping across the rolling Tuscan hills. It was a strong, vigorous and fierce-looking horse with a raven-haired beauty sitting upon its saddle. She appeared to be of Latin descent, bearing a resolute expression.

  Her black hair was tied back in a ponytail. Or as the words implied, like a horse's tail.

  "...I was wondering if it was an invasion started by some association, and who does it turn out to be? Salvatore Doni. Though I suppose our brief contact makes you my unworthy disciple, what on earth is going on here? Depending on circumstances, I may have to cut off your head as compensation."

  The black-haired rider declared heroically from atop her horse.

  If this was indeed Saint Raffaello, then she must be the exalted paladino — the top swordsman in Europe holding the position of the "Knight of the Holy Grail"!

  Part 5

  Though supposed to be advanced in age, Saint Raffaello looked completely like someone in her twenties.

  Magi whose magical power had reached the purest heights would recover significant youth and vigor. It was said that the effect was particularly potent for women.

  Saint Raffaello's heroic and awe-inspiring beauty must have been the blessed result of that effect.

  "What's up, Doni? Did you forget my face because of injuries from the beating you took? If that's the case, I won't be surprised at all because it's you."

  "...Ah, it's exactly as you say."

  The young man named Salvatore Doni replied, undaunted by his master's questioning.

  This was a name that Erica had never heard before, even though she had gathered personal profiles on virtually all the top ranking knights across Europe in case it might come in handy. Who on earth could this young man be —?

  "To be frank, I do seem to have lost my memory."

  "Don't say it like you caught a flu, moron!"

  "Well well, don't be angry. This morning when I woke up I found myself sleeping on some unknown country roadside... And then, I was thinking I must do something to recall past events."

  Now that it was mentioned, this was the first time for Erica to hear of the past experiences of the young man named Doni.

  "Strolling over to the nearby monastery, I heard your name being mentioned. Anyway, making my way through this and that, I finally got here... Seeing you, I finally understand."

  The man named Doni smiled. It was a friendly smiling face as radiant as sunshine.

  However, a dark shadow seemed to flash across his pupils for an instant.

  He was no ordinary person. His body clearly held evidence that he was no common mortal.

  "What I needed to do was see you. And if I could fight you then that sense of vagueness would surely go away. That's what I have been feeling, and it's unbearable."

  The young man readied the replica sword in at middle level.

  It was an ordinary looking stance that felt uninteresting and lacking in splendor.

  However, Erica somehow felt a chill when she saw that posture.

  If she had to face sword strikes delivered by that ordinary stance, very likely any spell would be sliced apart?

  A meaningless notion.

  Erica glanced at Liliana beside her. She too, was staring at the man named Doni with her face completely pale.

  Perhaps her childhood friend and rival was facing the same fear? This was a man who was more than a match for the prodigies of Milan, the red and blue young geniuses!

  "Indeed, doing this is perfectly within your character. Unilaterally doing as you pleased while muttering to yourself..."

  Saint Raffaello grumbled and dismounted.

  "Maybe this counts as an acceptable reason? I keep feeling that my sword training has reached an impasse, which is why I want to fight with the strongest swordsman I know, and gain some kind of clue in the process — See, if you think about it this way, everything works out now!"

  "You're making things work out too easily! That's why you are the biggest moron! Anyway, something concerns me."

  A great sword with a broad blade appeared in Saint Raffaello's hand.

  It was summoned by magic. The silver blade gave off a chilling sense of elegance and tenacity, shining brilliantly with power reminiscent of a lion's majesty.

  Could this be one of the "Twin Swords of the Lion and the Master Musician"?

  "I know you are one of those people for whom words are a waste of time. Salvatore Doni, you are a true genius, a monstrous child of heaven in regard to swords... However, you are not a man who plays games, what new technique have you mastered now?"

  Saint Raffaello pointed her sword at the fort that had been split into two.

  "This is simply..."

  The beautiful paladino shook her head as giving up all hope.

  Then she pointed the tip of her sword at Salvatore Doni.

  "This reminds me, your stupidity is so great that not even death can cure it. Let's talk using the blades of our swords. Come, you unworthy idiot disciple. It's been a while since I gave you a good loving..."

  A rather strange master-disciple conversation.

  A formidable battle seemed to be imminent.

  For young knights, the opportunity to witness such a battle must have been a chance of a life time. However, Erica Blandelli was not one to be satisfied so easily.

  Erica felt her gaze unwittingly drawn by the intensely peculiar personalities of the master-disciple pair.

  However, she still had other goals. There was that task she needed to accomplish.

  "Please wait a moment, Saint Raffaello! It is a pleasure meeting you for the first time. I am Liliana Kranjcar, knight belonging to the [Bronze Black Cross]. Today I make my visit for the sake of inheriting the famed twin swords in your possession."

  Even as Erica recovered her fighting spirit, Liliana was the first to yell out before her.

  She got ahead. Oh well, whatever, as befits my rival. She doesn't want to be just a bystander either. In that case, let's fight in cooperation.

  For young upstarts like Erica and Liliana, trying to compete against this master-disciple pair required strategy!

  "I, Erica Blandelli, have also arrived for the same purpose as Dame Liliana here. So it turns out that Sir Salvatore who came along with us was also looking for Madam Saint Raffaello... Due to Sir Salvatore's vague memories, we still have yet to ascertain the relationship between you two."

  Erica spoke as she bowed elegantly.

  Grasp the situation as quickly as possible and change from being a bystander to a participant.

  "If possible, as your junior I also wish —"

  "Pray elucidate the details."

  Faced with Liliana and Erica's identical requests, Saint Raffaello sighed.

  "Based on your family names, you must be the successors to the Houses of Kranjcar and Blandelli. What a disaster for you to be caught up in this moron's antics... Salvatore Doni is a knight from Siena. Extremely talented with the sword, but a complete failure in magic."

  Siena was another ancient city in Tuscany along with Florence and Pisa.

  However, it was definitely not a major center in magic.

  In Italy, there were a total of seven prestigious magic associations. Rome's [Female
Wolf] and [Eagle of the Blue Sky], Turin's [Olden Dame], Florence's [Capital of Lilies], Palermo's [Aegis], and last but not least, Milan's [Copper Black Cross] and [Bronze Black Cross]. Altogether they were known as the "Seven Sisters."

  It was common practice for talented young men and women to be recruited and relocated to these prestigious associations.

  For example, the one who got along poorly with Erica, Gennaro Gantz, came to Milan from Reggio Calabria a few years ago. All things said, "a knight from Siena" implied that this young man named Doni had never brushed shoulders with elites.

  "This fellow came to me a year ago and said 'please teach me a bit of swordsmanship.' I discovered that he did have some good qualities despite being an idiot, so I instructed him for a while. But then he disappeared after merely a month."

  The young man was ruefully scratching his head in response to her reproach.

  "Hmm... I can't really remember. Even if you glare at me with such scary eyes..."

  "What a troublesome fool. Anyway, you are the fellow with poor intellect, rude manners, and always playing little tricks. The only things you can remember are those related to martial arts. All it took was a month for you to memorize my techniques."

  Was this the result of his inborn talent?

  Such arrogance was only permitted for those born with outstanding aptitude. Furthermore, Saint Raffaello had declared in no uncertain terms that he was a "genius."

  "Did we have that kind of relationship...? Well, anyway, that has little to do with our meeting here now."

  The genius swordsman, who transcended Erica and Liliana's imaginations, spoke to them with a knowing smile.

  "Could you two back off for a while? I should be done in a bit. Anyway, sorry!"

  The young man signaled with his eyes.

  Immediately, Doni's right arm began shining with a bright silver luster. He stabbed the replica sword into the ground and simply pulled it out again.

  — This resulted in a slash that split the earth apart.

  The ground beneath Erica and Liliana collapsed and split open. Like the medieval fort just now, the ground was cleanly cut into two.

  The two surprised girls fell down into the depths of the earth. Due to the ground collapsing from the young man's "slash," the girls were swept underground together with the debris.

  Did Salvatore Doni actually overhear Erica and Liliana's speculation about "something underground"?

  Which is why he forced the two of them down there to prevent them from interfering in his fight? For his own purpose.

  A fool in appearance but quite crafty in reality — from this, Erica and Liliana caught sight of another aspect of the young man described by Saint Raffaello.

  "As expected... It's still you after all."

  The paladino named Saint Raffaello murmured to herself.

  Salvatore Doni's terrifying ability. Swinging the replica sword with the brilliantly shining silver arm, the earth was split apart together along with the underground church.

  She recognized it for what it was.

  During the stage in life when she fought under the title of Saint Raffaello, she had often witnessed many examples of such ultimate power.

  Dejanstahl Voban's manipulation of storms, the army of the dead under his command, and vast empty wastelands the result of incineration by hellfire.

  Beautiful Cult Leader Luo Hao's unparalleled unarmed might, singing songs of destruction, scattering otherworldly flowers across the mortal realm.

  Graceful Madame Aisha's summoning of eternal spring and endless winter.

  And now, the "King of Swords" who slices through all existence was born —!

  "Ahahahahaha! Thanks to this blessing of longevity, even though an unworthy disciple, I now witness the birth of Epimetheus' illegitimate child from my lineage! What a surprise!"

  Saint Raffaello cried out to the silver-armed swordsman.

  "Hey, idiot disciple, what were you doing before your poor little mind lost its memory?"

  "Hmm... I feel like I was fighting someone somewhere, but I can't recall the details."

  Doni readied the fake sword as he spoke.

  Saint Raffaello scoffed at this silly answer.

  "You even forgot how things happened, what a useless idiot disciple. Well then, you shall answer with your body... Through actual combat, show me the sword skills of the man who defeated a god!"

  The great silver sword — the magical Cuore di Leone came swinging.

  This was a strike from one of the twin swords. Its name implied "soul of the lion." This steel embodied unrelenting valor and carried the attribute of indestructibility.

  Doni's silver arm dispelled its brilliance before the magic sword of the lion.

  "Eh, you're not going use your authority? Planning on going easy on a human like me? How admirable!"

  "Authorities, whatever, I don't know anything about that. But it's not a battle of sword skills if I use that arm, so it would be meaningless."

  Using this exchange of dialogue as the signal to begin, the two of them simultaneously attacked with their swords.

  Saint Raffaello swung Cuore di Leone upwards in a massive arc, while Doni slashed with lightning speed along the central approach.

  Clang! A direct frontal clash.

  Sword struck sword intensely, and like that the blades slowly inched towards their opponents.

  Had these been ordinary swords, such a violent direct clash would likely snap the blades outright.

  For Cuore di Leone, such concerns would have been redundant. Its pliable structure would not fracture under this level of stress, and even in the off chance that it did break, it could mend itself immediately.

  On the other hand, Doni was using a mere fake sword. As they pressed their blades against each other, delighted smiles surfaced on the faces of both swordsmen.

  Display your skills through fierce attacks like this — Saint Raffaello invited with her eyes and Doni nodded lightly in response.

  The two of them separated their swords and stepped back.

  One side would strike with the sword, and the other would defend.

  One side would make a sudden thrust and the other would deflect or guard in response.

  The two swords clashed and repelled each other repeatedly, sending sparks flying, trying to prove their superiority.

  The root of this battle was a primal competitive urge.

  Whose sword was stronger, faster, sharper —

  A competition in all such aspects.

  In terms of "strength" and "gentleness," simply stated, this was a duel of "strength."

  On the other hand, this battle was obviously not limited to swordsmanship. Saint Raffaello in particular, was a master of knightly techniques that combined magic and swordsmanship in battle —

  "O Steel of the lion, the king of swords that has cut down thousands of armored foes!"

  Cuore di Leone attacked in conjunction with spell words.

  Her beloved sword was infused with iron alchemy that enhanced its sharpness. Were Doni to take the strike head on like just now, his fake sword would be split into two!

  Doni suppressed the attack by exhibiting a technique best described as "gentle."

  Saint Raffaello swung Cuore di Leone down with great force.

  The fake sword pressed itself against the body of the opponent's blade — rather, they were entangled. The fake sword was now acting like a steel snake.

  Cuore di Leone, which should have sliced Doni apart, was deflected off course.

  The fake sword tangled itself around Cuore di Leone like a snake, preventing it from being swung freely.

  — Against an opponent's force of 100, one shall use a force of 10 to absorb its power, the way cotton soaks up water, thereby blocking it, defending.

  A technique of this sort was known as the "dissipating force" amongst Chinese martial artists.

  Simply stated, it was the concept of neutralizing unyielding "strong" force with "gentleness."

  At t
his time, Salvatore Doni's mind and body had entered a heightened state of intense clarity.

  Pressing his sword tightly against Saint Raffaello's blade, he perturbed his master's movements by using the fake sword like a snake to shift her aim, neutralizing the slicing attacks.

  Rather than focusing on dodging the enemy's attacks, this was active defense performed with initiative, seeking to discover openings in the opponent's sword techniques —

  Using "gentleness," Doni was able to overwhelm Cuore di Leone.

  "Not bad, as expected!"

  Saint Raffaello laughed. Was this enough to seal the lion?

  Using gentle strength to carry out techniques uniting the strong with the gentle was one of the most wondrous pinnacles of martial achievement. But what about using gentle force to counter gentle force?

  Saint Raffaello relaxed her body as if it were made of cotton. She began to control the motions of her sword and her entire body like a snake, a leech, or like cotton.

  Compared to the fake sword moving under Doni's control, the magic sword of the lion flowed gently with greater softness. Its motions were far more elegant and soothing in comparison.

  The sword was being swung with elegance as if the renowned Renaissance master Raphael was moving his paintbrush —

  Indeed, Salvatore Doni was a genius and a blessed child of heaven in his disposition towards swords.

  However, Saint Raffaello was just as talented. Though they may be similarly gifted in nature, the difference in accumulated experience was decidedly vast. Perhaps the unworthy disciple had approached the master's skill with the "strong" sword, but clearly he had yet to master the "gentle"—

  Saint Raffaello casually retracted the lion's sword from entanglement from Doni's snake-like sword.

  And just as casually, she resumed with a slashing attack.

  Whenever the elderly master delivered a smooth and unhurried blow, no impetuous youngster had ever been able to evade... This was one of many legends passed down in martial circles. Masters who had reached such heights were virtually unheard of.

  But of course, it would be most redundant to state that it was perfectly possible for Saint Raffaello!

  What are you going to do, unworthy disciple!?

  Doni's right arm proceeded to shine brightly with a silver luster — is he really activating his authority?