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Is this the ground?

I couldn’t tell.

I couldn’t tell whether I had succeeded or failed.

While observing the lightning storm, I’d been so focused that I’d lost track of time. I had no idea whether the 100 days had passed...

I could ask FAD, but I saw no sign of it when I looked around.

Clang, clang, clang...

I suddenly heard a peculiar sound, of metal hitting metal.

I knew that it was being caused by someone’s footsteps.

As I looked in the direction of the sound, I saw Fourth Senior Brother walking toward me from within the fog.

“Fourth Senior Brother.”

[You did it.]

I did it.

That meant...

[This is the ground.]

I observed my surroundings.

What I saw wasn’t particularly different from the summit.

The ground seemed to stretch into the distance a fair bit, but because of the fog, it didn’t feel any different.

Then my senior brother raised his arms toward the sky.

As he did, FAD flew in from somewhere—though it was clearly struggling—and reattached itself to Fourth Senior Brother’s arm.

He stood there for a while before speaking to me.

[Honestly, this was beyond my expectations.]

I let out an awkward laugh. I couldn’t believe it either.

[Your progress with the Strongest Fire Technique was impressive on its own, but you achieved results beyond that. Especially that footwork you displayed at the end. Depending on how you use it, you may be able to avoid the demon lord’s authority as well.]

“Then... did I succeed?”

[Yes.]

My legs gave out and I collapsed to the ground.

“Haah...”

I released the breath I’d been holding.

Due to the nature of Spirit Mountain, I wasn’t tired, but I wanted to sleep for two days straight all the same.

“So I can return now?”

[If you wish, you can return right now.]

Hearing that, I became a little curious.

“How much time do I have left?”

[Of your 100 days, approximately one hour remains.]

That was really close.

Honestly, I felt like I’d gotten lucky.

But... one hour...

I looked at my senior brother.

“So what you’re saying is that I can stay here for another hour?”

[That’s true, but you don’t need any more training.]

I thought the same.

Even if I had training left to do, I would turn it down.

If I had training left to do.

“Do you remember the first thing I said?”

[What did you say?]

I checked my condition and got up.

Due to the effect of lightning-walker steps, my legs were sore, but I could still move.

At the very least, I had enough strength to fight one last time.

I showed the proper etiquette just as Master had taught me: pulling up my two hands, making a fist with one of them, and covering it with the other.

A useless display of manners not needed in the world of martial arts.

[...Hah.]

Fourth Senior Brother smirked.

With a more excited and joking tone than I’d expected, I said, “Luan Bednicker, fifth disciple of Baek Nogwang, the Strongest Under the Heavens, formally requests a spar.”

Fourth Senior Brother looked at me.

[Don’t you need to rest?]

“I think this moment is perfect.”

[Really...?]

He let out a low laugh before taking the same posture as me.

[...Arang, fourth disciple of Baek Nogwang, the Allmaster. I accept the request of Luan Bednicker.]

***

To be honest, I had never properly sparred against any of my senior disciples.

They were always so busy and rarely visited Spirit Mountain, and even when they did, they never stayed for long.

However, I had still heard about their martial arts.

If what Master had told me was correct, then Fourth Senior Brother—Arang’s martial art was the Thousand-Faced Indestructible Metal Technique.

—The Thousand-Faced Indestructible Metal Technique is a breathing technique, but also not.

I hadn’t understood what Master meant back then, but I had an idea now.

Fourth Senior Brother had said that his body wasn’t able to accrue internal energy.

That meant he didn’t need to circulate, so his technique was probably different in form from other breathing techniques.

Fourth Senior Brother put his hands in his pockets as he looked at me.

Should I attack first? Or should I wait?

As I mulled that over...

[What’s the first thing you think of when you hear the word ‘metal’?]

It was an unexpected question.

I thought for a moment before replying, “‘Sturdy’?”

[That’s right. Although metals have their differences, they are generally hard and study. However, there are all sorts of metals in this world.]

He showed me his metallic arm...

Splash.

...And it began to change.

“...”

I lost focus for a moment as I watched something unbelievable.

The metal of his arm was moving like a slime.

* * * * *

* * * * *

“What... is that?”

[Shape-memory alloy.]

“...”

So... what is that?

[I’m coming.]

At that moment, the sloshing metal began to take shape.

It took the form of a sharp and deadly sword.

Dash!

The moment I saw him dashing toward me, I quickly reeled in my senses and prepared to respond.

Vwoong!

It didn’t seem like an ordinary sword.

The moment I dodged the blade, I felt heat as intense as magma.

That sword was hot enough to be dangerous even to me, who had learned the Strongest Fire Technique.

For some reason, I wanted to respond with my own sword as well, but...

Clack!

“...?”

Suddenly, I felt a weight on my hips.

Unexpectedly, when I looked down, I saw the Sword of Seven Sins.

It might be obvious, but I hadn’t had it before this moment.

[Do you use the sword as well?]

“Do you want to see?”

[This will be interesting.]

When he said that, I drew my sword to face him.

Recalling my last fight—against the high priest—I performed the Galactic Sword.

Clang clang clang!

The attacks were so fierce that sparks poured from our clashing blades.

Fourth Senior Brother’s sword was imbued with intense killing intent. Rather than a sword art, it felt more like an assassination art that valued lethality above all else.

[It’s a good sword. Most weapons can’t withstand my blade.]

“It’s a relic.”

[I want to disassemble it.]

“Ehehe. You’ll be punished if you... do!” I said, emphasizing the last word as I kicked his chest.

Clang!

It felt like hitting a sheet of metal.

Okay. I guess I won’t be able to get through without using internal energy.

Honestly, it didn’t truly matter.

This was not a real battle where we were after each other’s lives, it was a spar to clash with our martial arts.

Fourth Senior Brother’s arms continued to shift.

From a sword to a long spear to a club to an ax to sometimes just a fist.

Once, it turned into a fierce weapon with many whirring teeth, and once, his fingers curved like a raptor’s.

The scary part was that Fourth Senior Brother utilized all those weapons with equal proficiency.

“Thousand-Faced” was an apt description of the technique.

But...

Even with so many methods at hand, he was still just one person.

Being able to use so many different weapons wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

I recalled the feeling I’d had in my final fight against the demons.

Galactic Sword with my left, White Sun Form with my right.

On top of that, I considered using hidden steps with my left leg and lightning-walker steps with my right, but I stopped myself.

Steps needed to be harmonious, not complicated.

Pwoosh!

A storm of heat escaped Fourth Senior Brother’s body.

Steam poured out of his body like a boiling kettle.

I flinched a little, and when I looked, Fourth Senior Brother was already in the air.

I couldn’t tell what, but I could see that something was coming out of the soles of his feet.

Was he using that to fly?

He reached out with one arm and grabbed it with his other arm as if to stabilize it.

It looked like he was aiming his arm toward me...

Clack!

As I’d expected, his arm changed forms once more.

Clang clang clang!

It looked more terrifying than anything else I’d seen him do.

I was in awe as I asked, “...What’s this?”

[What does it look like?]

“Hmm... a cannon?”

[Something like that.]

Fourth Senior Brother chuckled.

[Though it’s about a thousand times stronger.]

Immediately, light seemed to condense in his cannon arm...

BOOOOM!

And an energy blast shot at me with a deafening boom.

What the—

Was he trying to kill me?

That thought crossed my mind, but then I noticed that the projectile was slower than lightning.

I immediately used my lightning-walker steps.

Lightning-walker steps was the technique I’d created while dodging lightning, and I honestly thought it was nearly perfect.

I didn’t think it was perfect only because of a single characteristic...

When I finished moving to a destination, my body would stop for a moment.

If I could eliminate that downside, I could use it as my core footwork technique.

...Now isn’t the time to be thinking about that.

I felt the ground I had just been standing on flip upside down as I jumped up toward my fourth senior brother, who was still standing in the air.

As his body filled my vision, I swung the Sword of Seven Sins.

Clang!

He blocked with his left arm without any trouble.

It had suddenly taken on the form of a wide metal shield.

And his right arm...

Was still a cannon.

Hmm.

Maybe he couldn’t change it as quickly due to how large it was?

Only now did I feel like I could understand how my fourth senior brother fought.

I noticed that most of his attention was on the Sword of Seven Sins.

Bam!

I immediately grabbed his shoulder with my left hand before kneeing him in the side.

I think that worked?

My knee definitely struck him, and I felt a little more than when I’d punched him earlier.

Of course, he immediately batted me away with his shield arm.

Boom!

I flew back down like a cannonball and was struck into the ground.

“Puha...”

I couldn’t help but laugh.

So this is it for me for now.

When I’d been descending the mountain, I’d believed I could do it without any internal energy, but it was definitely needed when fighting someone stronger than me.

Fourth Senior Brother seemed to have noticed that my fighting spirit had disappeared as he slowly descended.

“You’re really strong.”

[It would be different if you had internal energy.]

He hadn’t used everything either...

But since we weren’t so awkward with each other that we needed to be only nice to each other, I just laughed.

[Are you satisfied?]

“Yes.”

[Good. Then... it’s time to go.]

I looked at my fourth senior brother.

It was a funny feeling.

His face was smooth, with no discernable facial features...

But every time I saw him like this, it was as if we were meeting eye to eye.

Maybe Fourth Senior Brother felt the same because he suddenly gave me something.

[It’s a parting gift.]

I reflexively caught the object that tumbled through the air.

“What is this?”

[A coin.]

It definitely looked like a coin.

[Just once, you can use it to call me to you.]

“Uh... in my world?”

[In your world. That object has enough authority to do so.]

I looked at the coin, fascinated.

It looked ordinary. I couldn’t sense anything special about it.

“How do I use it?”

[Just flip it into the air.]

“Ah.”

I nodded.

Although there wasn’t much to say, I felt like I wanted to talk a little more.

A hundred days wasn’t a short amount of time, but I hadn’t had much time to talk with my fourth senior brother.

“Will I see you again?”

Fourth Senior Brother chuckled before calling out to me.

[Youngest.]

“Yes?”

[What was your name?]

“...”

I blinked twice before bursting into laughter.

For some reason, it felt like Fourth Senior Brother was smiling.

“...Luan. It’s Luan Bednicker.”

[Good. Don’t forget that.]

At that moment, the fog around us converged toward me.

Rather than feeling unpleasant, it felt comforting.

It was as if I had been dunked into a hot spring.

The fog consumed Fourth Senior Brother’s visage.

Through it, I faintly heard his voice.

[You’ll be able to do it.]

***

“...Are you listening?”

“...”

“What’s with your expression?”

“Do you want to go home?”

“This is his home.”

“Ah, right.”

A fleeting conversation.

I blinked for a moment before adapting to the situation.

The feeling of a busy building with the smell of food, and the gazes of two different people.

These guys...

“Karis.”

“Yeah?”

“Evan.”

“What?”

I looked at Karis, who wasn’t bleeding from his chest, and Evan, who wasn’t the vice-cult leader.

Seeing them looking normal, I let out a laugh.

Was I in the cafeteria right now?

As I looked around, I saw Hector’s unamused face and Charon’s frustrated expression. I even saw Sellen, who was just leaving the cafeteria.

“You don’t look too good. Are you hurt somewhere?”

Evan looked at me with worry in his face, but I shook my head.

“No. Rather...”

Stab.

I used the fork in front of me to stab a sausage.

It was a little cold, but I aggressively ripped it apart with my teeth as I smiled.

“...This is perfect.”