The Academy’s Weapon Replicator

While fighting, Notker felt a sense of strangeness.

The fight with Aster was neck and neck. Their sword strikes barely grazed the tips of each other's skin, tearing their collars.

They dodged and blocked each other by a hair's breadth, and sometimes they boldly aimed for a counterattack and stabbed.

He didn't know how many moves they had exchanged, but the balance of power was even.

That's why he knew something.

'...What is it?'

He hadn't noticed it in the ongoing neck-and-neck fight.

Soon, Notker came to a chilling thought.

'Why has the fight been equal from the beginning until now?'

Then, at Aster's provocation, he raised his aura and entered with his true skills.

From the time he fought with his strength out to the time he was giving it his all.

It was all strangely 'even'.

'What is it? No, it doesn't make sense. That can't be!'

Notker was a man comparable to the Zodiac. He was a recognized powerhouse in Manggot. Not only that, but they, called the Shepherds of the Round Table, were never inferior to the Zodiac in individual strength.

Swish! Swish!

Clang!!

His sword grazed Aster's cheek. It cut his hair. Their swords clashed, and he countered Aster's counterattack.

...All of that in an instant.

It felt like the harmony of actors on a stage.

'What is this, what am I fighting...?'

Aster's face was serious, and as much as he was facing the battle, a heavy air flowed.

But that serious attitude was like.

"Ugh, this, this bastard!!!"

Notker's sword was raised. A lightning-fast strike, a speed that Aster hadn't been able to avoid so far. He intended to force a power struggle.

However.

Thud

"There's nothing below."

Along with Aster's short whisper.

Thud!

Notker fell forward. Aster had tripped him.

At that moment, Notker felt like he had become one of the monsters in front of the barrier he had been watching. He remembered the ridiculous sight of monsters colliding and collapsing with just one of Aster's auras.

"Your movements have become bigger due to impatience."

"What, did you say...?"

Notker stood up. It was hard to ignore those words.

His movements got bigger? Of course, he knew that. But the speed Notker displayed after that, Aster had responded by blocking it all so far. He knew that, so he was able to make big movements.

Until a moment ago, it was all speed that he had been defending against, but now he was counterattacking because his movements had become bigger.

What this meant was clear.

'...This bastard, he's adjusting to me...!'

Aster wasn't failing to keep up with Notker's speed.

He was matching his speed.

"You, dare, use that kind of fighting style on me...!"

Notker's hands trembled. He had never felt such humiliation.

In Manggot, where he was born and raised, all kinds of murderous intent swarmed. Not to mention the monsters, the people of Manggot weren't that naive. If they saw even the slightest gap, they would take everything from each other.

But all of them, even if they were foolish enough to die in vain at Notker's hands, had the desperate will to survive and kill their enemies.

Notker remembered the faces of lives facing death.

That's why he knew.

That's why he didn't like Aster's face.

"Aster Evans...! You have no desperation!"

Aster didn't smell of death.

Notker's aura concentrated on his sword. The aura flowing through the greatsword now extended beyond the blade, increasing its thickness and length.

It was the same technique that Frondier used to extend the blade of his small sword with aura. However, while Frondier used it as a 'trick' to momentarily adjust the length of the blade, Notker deployed it constantly.

"Give it your all! Aster!!"

Notker yelled. Naturally, the voice tinged with aura resonated loudly throughout the area.

As if it were just a little noisy, Aster's expression frowned slightly.

"You're saying the same thing."

"The same thing?"

"Everyone I fight tells me that. To give it my all."

What was that supposed to mean?

Did that mean he had treated all the enemies he had fought so far in this way?

"I am giving it my all."

"Don't talk nonsense...!"

"As proof, I can see your hidden strength."

"......!"

At that, Notker's words stopped.

Aster still looked at Notker with serious eyes.

"What does it mean to give it your all? Is it giving it your all to attack without thinking, with strength and speed that surpasses yours? If I had done that, I would have lost my life in panic at your aura right now."

Aster's aura swelled. But his blade didn't lengthen like Notker's. It only became clearer, harder.

"One of the biggest things I realized in Constel was that I know nothing about others."

It wasn't that Aster had never been arrogant.

He received divine power far stronger than others, possessed physical abilities that surpassed others.

He grew up receiving hellish training from his older sister, who had reached the peak with just swordsmanship.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he had received the expectations of not only Constel but the entire continent. As his God 'Baldur' had said, he was the 'hope of humanity', and he was aware of it himself.

However.

A certain girl had mastered aura much earlier than him,

A rival-like boy had already shown exceptional talent in fighting,

And his classmate, as a magician, walked with the same expectations as him.

'...There's no one as pathetic as you, Aster.'

He mocked himself.

—I couldn't be there for them when it mattered. When Constel was attacked, and during the school trip. I couldn't look around because of my own greed.

The voice of a pitch-black guy, whose insides he still couldn't understand, echoed in his ears.

He believed he had seen others without prejudice. That he would believe only what he saw and judge for himself. That he wouldn't be swayed by other people's rumors or gossip.

But even Aster himself, after hearing Baldur's warning, after learning that the target was called 'Sloth'.

—That's how you got stronger. Because you saw me as a threat.

What did he do?

What were you looking at, Aster?

"No matter what you say, my way is the same."

"......Still hiding your strength?"

"You must also have some strength left."

At those words, Notker felt an inexplicable chill.

He knew exactly what it was.

"I will fight until all your resources are exhausted."

"This, this guy...!"

The reason he didn't like Aster's face.

From the moment they first met until now, Aster hadn't been looking at Notker properly.

His serious and cautious gaze was directed elsewhere.

"If you could read someone completely with desperation, it would be quite simple."

Aster's cold gaze was still.

From the moment he was fighting Notker, to whenever he fought anyone in the past.

He was facing the shadow of just one person.

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