The day they visited Roman Dmitry.
“… I need someone I can trust to stay in Dmitry. Kevin. I decided that you were the right person for it. If, by any chance, the enemies come up with some plan, the person who can bring forth the best results on the battlefield without me is you, Kevin.”
In the words of Roman Dmitry, who trusted him, Kevin gave up on going to Valhalla and stayed in Dmitry. Since then, he has been troubled. If the theory that Kronos would attack Dmitry was right, what was the ‘worst’ he should prevent?
The defense of the wall was good, and the castle could be guarded by Fernando. Thinking so, Kevin arrived at this conclusion,
‘The castle wall is an area where people who are skilled are, such as Felix, who can bring us victory or defeat. The worst situation that I can prevent with my own power is the death of the Lord during the war. Dmitry is no longer a fief but a full-fledged nation. The bloodline of the royal family is an important factor in any situation, and there is a high chance that even Kronos will prioritize the assassination of the Duke.’
What could be done, and what had to be done. Kevin made up his mind and stayed in the chambers of the Duke.
The sun went down and rose again. Even though everyday life was what anyone would call boring, Kevin didn’t get bored. He also prepared food and other supplies. Some people looked at Kevin and asked if he had to go this far, but Kevin didn’t want to waste a single second. And today…
Tang! Tang!
He heard the signal of an enemy invasion. The war began outside, and the Royal Knights, such as Fernando, armed themselves and moved, saying they would prevent the invasion from the inside.
It was a confusing time. However, despite the presence of the shadows attacking the castle wall and invading, Kevin prepared for an unexpected situation. And as he thought, from far away, a mysterious being was approaching. And the presence that slowly approached from the end of the hallway found Kevin and smiled with an expression that said this was fun.
“A child, but has a ferocious face like a wild cat. I heard there is such a person under Roman Dmitry who holds madness and has such a venomous look in his eyes. His name was probably Kevin.”
At that, Kevin instinctively knew it.
‘An opponent I cannot defeat.’
It wasn’t that the enemy was difficult to defeat. He was a stronger warrior whom he couldn’t win over no matter what he tried. In the days when he knew nothing about sword techniques, he couldn’t properly assess the difference between him and his opponent, but now he knew the opponent was stronger.
Just looking at him made the hair on his body stand up. The moment he would exchange clashes with this opponent, he thought that his head would be cut down, but Kevin still got up with his sword in his hand.
He couldn’t back down now because Roman Dmiry trusted him. And until that man returned, he wasn’t going to let this guy pass through.
He sent a magic signal. The signal was passed on to Fernando, informing him of the situation here.
‘Five minutes from now. I can get that much time to take the Duke to a safe place.’
Clench.
He held his sword and said nothing. Then the opponent raised his aura and looked at Kevin.
“It feels nice. A chance to deal with a kill target and Dmitry at the same time. I will kill you here.”
Rumble.
Roarrr.
At that moment…
Flash.
Pat.
Kevin felt a burning pain rise around his neck.
He was fast. He thought the opponent would be fast, but he was faster than he could imagine.
Flash.
Pat.
And blood splashed from his neck. It was just a little different. In a situation where the ego in his head was screaming to avoid it, Kevin instinctively tilted his head back even though he couldn’t see or feel it.
Thankfully, his head didn’t get cut off. A burning pain rose from the shallow cut, and Sven looked at him with a happy look.
“Avoided it?”
The opponent was, at most, a 3-star swordsman. It shouldn’t have been an attack that he could avoid. Reacting to it should have been an amazing thing, but Sven didn’t think that a single avoidance would change the flow.
“Right, let us have fun. Fight your way until the end.”
Rumble.
Rumble.
Sven ran. At that fleeting moment, Sven was suddenly in front of Kevin, who created aura and tried to block Sven. But this time, his instinct warned him to avoid a head-on confrontation again.
Kevin changed the direction of his sword and even slightly brushed between his aura and Sven’s, which made a tremendous shock rise.
Kwaaang!
His body was pushed out, and part of the aura broke as if it wouldn’t rise again.
‘I am not his opponent at all.’
The 6-star aura was an overwhelming force. Kevin had been working hard to become stronger, and with the help of Felix, he had shown tremendous results in entering 3-star while doing the magic circle training.
It was a shocking growth. No matter how much Roman Dmitry looked after him, he didn’t know how to use swordsmanship properly until a few years ago, but his growth was fast.
Still, it all felt meaningless. The skill that Kevin worked hard for was shown to be weak in front of Sven.
‘I don’t have a chance of winning if I go against him head-on.’
Pat.
Tatak.
He moved back. He avoided the attacks as much as he could, and he made his entire body sensitive to be aware of any of Sven’s attacks. However, the moment his senses felt an attack and before he could even react, Kevin felt a powerful shock hit him.
If Kevin’s sixth sense, which couldn’t be explained by common sense, hadn’t told him the direction where Sven would attack, his body would have already been torn apart by the burning aura.
It felt so terrifying. Far from handling the enemy, just reacting to the attack was already a daunting situation.
Wheik.
An attack passed suddenly. Kevin thoroughly ruled out a collision with the opponent and avoided the attack. Then he quickly cut through the gap the opponent had revealed.
The opponent’s reaction was quick. When he tried to counterattack by pulling his sword before Sven could react, Kevin ended up evading it.
It felt like he was on a knife’s edge. If he hadn’t trained against Roman Dmitry, Kevin might have died from the first hit.
His mouth was dry. He attacked him all at once. He knew he could never win. However, knowing the truth didn’t make Kevin back down.
‘It is now.’
Pat.
The attack fell. Then he rushed into the arms of the opponent. For an opponent who should have avoided a head-on fight, a bold breakthrough was a decision that could have changed the variables.
Sven’s reaction was quick this time as well. Kevin knew that the retrieved sword would attack him, but instead of stepping back, he pushed ahead.
Rumble!
He put his life at risk. In the first place, without even trying to block the enemy’s attack, he aimed for the opponent’s neck while letting the attack flow through a narrow gap.
The aura exploded. Roman Dmitry said that no matter how much the body determines the power of aura, having a high level of aura didn’t mean victory. And he believed that because the events in the past proved it. The moment his attack worked, he thought that even a 6-star aura swordsman would have no choice but to aim for his throat.
But….
“Nice.”
Sven laughed, and then,
Clench.
“Kuak.”
Kevin fell to the ground. At the same time, feeling as if he was being blown away, his aura shattered, and his arm was torn. He couldn’t even properly check how the hell the guy countered.
Kevin hurriedly raised himself on the ground, but Sven had a very laidback look, as if he didn’t even care about taking advantage of this.
Drop.
Blood dripped from his forearm. And the pain gradually faded from his mangled arm.
“If that is the end, then you need to die.”
The end. The fight between the two of them showed a gap that Kevin couldn’t narrow down. Then Kevin suppressed the pain. Despite knowing how reckless this match was and knowing that he had no choice but to die, he couldn’t just leave.
Whenever he thought of Roman Dmitry, the grace he got from him made it impossible for him to lower his trembling arms.
He’d rather die. If he couldn’t follow his orders, he had no intention of seeing his master.
Rumble!
Rumble!
Sven ran, and at that moment, Kevin’s mind sank.
The voices in his head said,
[You can never win.]
[Run.]
[This is impossible from the start.]
For the first time after learning the martial arts of the Crazy Demon, he showed weakness. Kevin always did what they said. The boy who was nothing needed help in order to be active on the battlefield and assimilated his mind as a result of being sunk into madness.
But this time, it didn’t help. Even if his stubbornness led to his death, there were areas in Kevin’s life that refused to let him compromise.
The first day he saw Roman Dmitry, Kevin gained hope for life. He ended his life in the slums, and his parents and younger siblings came to know how beautiful human life was.
And Roman Dmitry said,
“I want you to be my sword. However, the value of a person isn’t determined by the will of another. So now, I will tell you three paths that you can choose from.”
The first was to wait and see, just like Hans. The second was to be strong, normally. And the third was to risk his life.
As he cut off his arm, Kevin constantly thought of his life in the slum. When he thought about it now, his emotions at that time were different from the blind loyalty he has for Roman Dmitry now, and there was also the thought of not wanting to miss a chance that he had been given for the first time in his life.
The slums weren’t just a world of poverty. In a world where there weren’t any chances, Roman Dmitry was a chance that he could have never received in his lifetime.
His arm was cut off. Looking up with a pale face, Roman Dmitry looked down at him like a bright sun.
“From now on, you will live as my sword and replace me.”
On that day, Kevin found the meaning of life. The boy who wandered around the slums worried about his life and realized for the first time that day that someone could live a worthwhile life. So his feelings for Roman Dmitry were above the norm.
Because he had lived a life where he always lacked something, he could never lose the feeling of being satisfied for the first time. It must have been from that point on.
For Roman Dmitry, he also believed that death would brighten the life he lived. It wouldn’t have been strange at all if the life of a normal slum boy ended on the day he met the Blood Fangs.
[You will die at this rate.]
[Even if you die, you cannot escape.]
[Leave it to us.]
[We will help.]
His mind was collapsing. As the egos began to assimilate with Kevin, violent changes began to happen, and Kevin accepted these changes.
The internal changes had nothing to do with reality. Seeing Kevin distracted, Sven tried to end the fight. But…
Kwang!
Rumble.
There was no sensation in his hand. This time, he clearly intended to kill him with this attack, but he couldn’t hear any screams.
“You avoided that? What are you?”
He admired him. Despite being so young, it was great for Kevin to endure this. In the direction where his gaze stopped, Kevin, who avoided the attack, was looking at Sven with a strange look.
The Crazy Demon’s martial arts had three levels.
First, was assimilation—it was a process of accepting it.
The second was erosion—the martial arts would dominate his body.
And the third was control. When the madness in his head is put into action, he can perfectly manifest the martial arts of the Crazy Demon.
Right now, at this moment, Kevin has entered that phase. By losing his reasoning, he became a madman who couldn’t make normal judgments despite using martial arts.
He was in a precarious state. He was a madman who couldn’t control himself. Everything—just like Roman Dmitry’s orders and judgments—was out of his mind, and his body just followed one instinct in his heart.
The intent to kill. Because one killed without care when they saw people, people who mastered these martial arts were called Crazy Demons. In exchange for gaining such a strong power in a short period of time, the devil’s martial arts were dangerous powers that devoured the faint-hearted in an instant.
Only desires for instinct remained. Kevin looked at Sven with glistening eyes and murderous intent, and blood dripped from his arm.
“…You cannot walk past this place.”
Kevin. What he wanted wasn’t victory or survival. It was to fulfill Roman Dmitry’s orders.
