Chapter Intermission: The Sword Dancer’s Boisterous Dance
While the goblins were renewing their alliance with the Kushain Believers after defeating the Red King, the bloodbath in the east was coming to an end.
The Anti-Red-King forces led by Vine the Mad Blade of the Burning Bright Moons.
“We’ll go around.”
It was the dead of the night. Covered entirely in a black hood from head to toe, Vine led the Anti-Red-King forces to attack the headquarters of the Red King. From the flow of the clouds above their heads, Vine felt it would rain tonight.
They had 40 people in total. These people, who were picked out among the best from various clans, walked through the dark alleys, where not even the light of the moon reached. Steadily, they approached the headquarters of the Red King. Though not the best districts, this second-class district would turn into a heavily populated market at noon. Many commoners lived here, and although they lived peacefully, there was a tavern here, which the Red King used as their headquarters.
“Surround it. Good.”
Seeing the lights on the bar and hearing the continuing hustle and bustle coming from inside, Vine narrowed her eyes as she smiled a ferocious smile beneath her hood. That was a smile akin to that of a ferocious predator that’s marked its prey.
Vine opened the door of the inn.
“Excuse me.”
Though a tavern, it also served as a cheap inn on the second floor. The store was so noisy awhile ago, but now, it was so quiet it seemed all that noise awhile ago was nothing but a lie. Within the crowd in the tavern could be seen thug-like adventurers, a one-eyed expert swordswoman, and some hunters.
Vine’s voice was by no means loud, but the moment she entered, the atmosphere changed. Adventurers risked their lives in their work and was sensitive to that sort of atmosphere. Because of that they all went quiet, causing the barmaids to look around them, wondering what was up.
“I was looking for something…”
Vine’s voice resounded throughout the quiet store as she slowly revealed her face.
“Wench, you’re the mad blade—”
“—SHAaAa!!”
As soon as a thug-like adventurer spoke, the front of Vine’s robe opened, and a curved sword was quickly unsheathed from her waist. Blood spurting, the thug’s head flew in the air as Vine’s black hair hidden beneath her hood danced.
“And now I’ve found it.”
Bathed in blood, Vine’s ferocious smile was greeted by screams throughout the store.
In the blink of an eye, the entire tavern was busied once more, as guests tried to flee while the members of the Red King tried to kill Vine.
“Die, Mad Blade!”
“A ha ha hahaha!”
An adventurer approached Vine while jeering, but Vine only laughed as she drew her sword and cut the adventurer’s two arms, then with the return of her blade, lopped off his head.
“The lot of you can all go die!”
Without the slightest hint of mercy or restraint, Vine killed all foes that came into range. Her honey-colored legs that slipped out the slit of her skirt drew a crimson tree peony from the spurting blood. Her beautifully arranged face only served to make her ferocious smile appear sadistic.
Her entire body was dyed in blood as her blade brought death.
Experienced adventurers, innocent prostitutes, fleeing adventurers, assassins, hunters… Without any hint of discrimination, Vine killed every one of them.
When the corpses had numbered more than 20, the expert swordswoman stood up and blocked her way.
“I don’t know the situation, but I can’t sit back and watch this evil any longer.”
“Hah? If you don’t know the situation, then roll up your ass and run away. I’ll kill anyone who gets in my way.”
Vine licked the blood on her face with her red lips as she sheathed her curved sword by her hips. Facing her, the swordswoman took her thick sword and wielded it in front of her blue eyes.
“…For the sake of justice, I will put an end to your acts of evil here!”
“Don’t bark, mutt! If you’re going to talk about justice, then talk with your sword!”
Their battle lasted for only a moment. When Vine drew her curved sword, the swordswoman moved to stop it with her thick sword. The swordswoman felt the curved sword that moved as if it were flowing hit her sword. She was sure she’d won.
If two swords clashed at the same speed. It stood to reason that the thinner sword would break. The swordswoman believed that logic was sound, but unfortunately, reality had no obligations to adhere to her logic.
Still, she was an expert swordswoman. The moment she couldn’t feel the sensation of Vine’s sword breaking, she immediately twisted her body.
Vine’s thin curved sword cut through even the swordwoman’s thick sword.
“KU!”
In a flash, a terrifying wound had been cut on the swordwoman’s shoulder. The force threw her into the ground, and she rolled to the chairs and tables.
Clicking her tongue, Vine instantly turned around, and there an assassin had tried to take advantage of her opening.
“!?”
“Naive!”
Vine swung her sword diagonally from the shoulder, creating a corpse with a shocked expression. She kicked the corpse away, then turned to the terrified members of the Red King. With an intoxicated expression, she spoke.
“Are you sure it’s okay not to run? Everyone who enters my range is going to die, you know? It doesn’t matter who you are.”
The way Vine looked as she slowly walked toward them while saying that was no different than a death god descending.
“HI, HIYAaAAAA!?”
Vine watched as the adventurers ran away, then she looked up at the second floor. As soon as they went outside, they were killed by the adventurers surrounding the building. They could either be killed by her or killed by those outside. As for which one was better, that needn’t be said.
“Now, where is my main objective?”
With a smile that would send even demons running barefooted, Vine climbed up the creaking stairs. There were three rooms. Vine stood before the door closest to her and smiled with satisfaction.
As the curved sword from her waist twinkled, a silver line was drawn upon the door.
“Damn… it…”
Behind that door was an adventurer who had quietened his breathing. Blood spurted out and the adventurer fell before her. As if he were nothing more than rubbish in the way, Vine kicked him off as she peeked inside the room. Her curved sword had already been sheathed
“Eek! Stop it… Please don’t kill me!”
Inside the room was a naked girl hiding her body under the sheets.
“Oh… Did I make a mistake?”
Vine looked down at the girl and asked.
“Is that everyone?”
“I don’t know, I don’t know… Don’t kill me.”
Seeing the girl trembling, Vine clicked her tongue and turned around.
“Tch… Get lost.”
The moment Vine showed her back, the girl stood up quietly and with the knife hidden under the sheets, stabbed at Vine.
“Too careless, Vine!”
No. She attempted to stab her, but all her knife hit was air.
“Careless? No. This is what it means to have ‘leisure’.”
The girl followed the source of that voice with her eyes, and there, Vine, was right below her, knees folded, crouching, then with a stroke, the girl’s hands were cut off. Vine laughed sadistically and in the next moment, the girl’s head was lopped off.
After leaving the room, she checked the other two rooms.
The creaking sound of Vine’s footsteps resounded clearly throughout the second floor. It was as if those creaks were counting the seconds until execution. The creaking sound stopped before the door of the second room.
“UWAAAAA!”
After a moment, a young man darted out of the second room.
“Is it this one?”
The man had darted out with a knife, but Vine had already cut off the hands holding it. The intense pain left the man squirming on the ground after tumbling. While Vine was looking down at him, she kicked his head once, and then stepped on it.
“GAH, Uu…”
Vine ignored the sensation of the guy’s nose being crushed as she looked at his face.
“You’re the accountant, Ryusta, right?”
“E-Eek!”
“If you resist, I’ll kil you. If you open your mouth without permission, I’ll kill you. If you piss me off, I’ll kill you. Understand?”
Ryusta nodded several times, then Vine made him stand up and they left the second floor.
After handing him to the adventurers of the anti-red-king group, she poured oil throughout the inn.
“W-Wait.”
The expert swordswoman from before that Vine failed to kill stood up while covering her wounds.
“Why are you doing something like this? Don’t you have any conscience?”
“Why, you ask? KUHAHHAHA.”
Vine laughed as if she’d heard a really funny joke.
“It’s for justice. I’m doing it for justice.”
Reflected on Vine’s eyes was a deeply rooted dark flame.
“Justice? This? There’s no awy something like this could be…”
“Justice should be served cold and without mercy. Only the filthy weak serve justice lukewarm.”
“Who would permit a justice like this?”
The swordswoman was looking at a mountain of corpses. From the chagrin on their faces, one could feel even their rotting hatred. But Vine looked down at those corpses and proudly said.
“Me. I permit it. And I say that it is evil for bastards I don’t like to keep on breathing!”
“Vine, the soldiers are coming! We have to go.”
After receiving the report from the adventurer, Vine laughed like a demon at the swordswoman.
“You don’t know justice.”
“I don’t know justice?”
“Yes. You know nothing. Hey, little girl. Don’t you want to know where true justice lies?”
From the way Vine was smiling now, none would think she had just massacred an entire tavern. As if charmed by those eyes, the swordswoman looked past the corpses with hollowed eyes.
Her current state was like that of a sleepwalker.
“I…”
“Now, come. If you wish to know justice, I shall show it to you.”
As she left her muttering and in a daze, they once again walked into the shadows.
In their wake, they left behind only the burning headquarters of the Red King.
In the east, where the rain poured on endlessly, was the last base of the Red King, Harianse. Midway through the minor countries, within the Iron Country, Elfa, was the old fortress that had been throughly repaired by the Red King and was currently being used as their base.
Although it was by no means a large fortress, only able to Accommodate 400 men, now that the Red King was in war, it was the most ideal place to store their necessary resources. Within that fortress were 200 men. Shunrai himself was among that 200.
Normally, Shunrai would be loitering the city looking for enemies to kill, but he had to return to Harianse because his accountant, Ryusta, who was kidnapped had returned.
“So, where’s that woman?”
Ryusta was on the verge of death. From the looks of things, he had not received any treatment at all. His cut arms were left to fester, he was burning with high fever, and yet despite that, he still managed to reach the fortress.
Despite the terrible condition he was in, Shunrai spoke normally with Ryusta.
“…Ah, AH.”
“Right, Vine the Mad Blade.”
“Aa, NOoOOoOoOOO!”
The moment he heard the name, Vine, he started screaming. The other clan members pushed him down, but he kept on hallucinating. While hallucinating, he suddenly looked up blankly, then his heart stopped.
“…He’s dead.”
As his subordinate said that, Shunrai looked outside.
The clouded heavens pushed aside the body of the God of Fire as it erupted with thunder. It was a perfect weather for an attack. When Shunrai heard a scream, he knew that the enemy was here.
“They’re coming. Get to position!”
“HA!”
The members of the Red King quickly exited the room, then as Shunrai grasped his scimitar, he ran outside, where the rain never stopped. There, the assailant was, wearing a water-repelling robe with a hood that hid his face.
Despite not being able to see the figure’s face, Shunrai knew who it was just from the killing intent pouring out of him.
“ViNEeEe!”
Shunrai bolted off, but Vine threw her robe at him to block his sight. At the same time, she slashed out with her curved blade from her waist. Shunrai didn’t bother to dodge. He ran straight through the robe, already having planned his next steps.
“SHaAaA!!”
Vine cried out a battle cry as her curved sword slipped out of its sheathe. It cut through even the very drops of rain as it made its way for Shunrai. At about the same time they took a step, their drawn swords moved even faster, and then steel clashed with steel. With the distance between them closed with the first strike, they took another step and attacked once more. They had deflected each other’s sword, but they continued to bear their fangs at each other, seeking to take the other’s life.
They clashed again. Sparks erupted, and they moved their body away from it
Splattering off the accumulated rainwater, they took another step and sooner than the torn robe could even reach the ground, they released a third strike.
“RIaAAaA!!”
“KUSOGAaa!!”
Their battle cries clashed. With everything they had put behind their sword, it was easy to imagine that the battle would end as soon as it hit either one of them.
In the second clash, Shunrai’s sword failed to stop Vine’s sword from assuming a low stance. In the next moment, that sword slashed diagonally up. Vine swung that sword up with one hand, but even as Shunrai was forced face up, his posture broken, he managed to barely dodge it with the tip of his nose. From that broken posture, Shunrai turned his back on Vine.
With vicious strengh, he released his own attack, aiming even lower than the sword Vine had unleashed, reaching for her right arm. Vine knew that she wouldn’t be able to dodge this, so she immediately let go of her sword, allowing the scimitar to pass between her hand and her sword. Immediately after, Vine stretched out her arm a little and grasped the handle of her curved sword with her fingertips, then with a reverse grip, slashed down with her sword toward Shunrai, who was still finishing his earlier attack.
“GU!?”
“KA!?”
Shunrai knew that if he stepped back, he would be on the receiving end of a counterattack, so he immediately abandoned his defense and rammed his body against Vine. Although her blade managed to shallowly cut his body, his life was not in any danger. With her flank taken, Vine immediately realized that she had erred, so she tried to move away.
But compared to Vine, who couldn’t see her enemy because her arm was in the way, Shunrai was now in a position who could attack anywhere and hit. As if to measure the distance between him and Vine, who immediately jumped back, Shunrai leaped and his heavy slash cut Vine’s thighs.
Blood spurted, but the drops of rain smashed it back into Vine’s honey-colored skin.
The reason Shunrai couldn’t inflict a fatal wound was because Vine’s curved sword had grazed Shunrai’s neck. Not being able to take that step made his attack that much more shallow.
After getting some distance from each other within the rain, the two swordsmen took a breath. Normally, if they moved this much, their body temperature would rise and the breath they exhaled would turn white, but there was no white in the breath they exhaled. They did not want the other to perceive any openings from the depth of their breath, so they kept their breath shallow. This too was one of the tricks of a swordsman.
‘DON’! A crashing sound resounded throughout the fortress.
As if that sound was a signal of some sort, the two swordsmen moved once again.
Vine had not spared any time to sheathe her sword. Instead, she immediately sent it scything down towards Shunrai’s neck. Shunrai also aimed for her neck. The two of them moved at almost the same moment, but Vine was a little slower. After being injured on the legs, even though Vine moved her sword following the fastest trajectory possible, her attack was still clearly weaker than before.
Shunrai had seen through that weakness in a moment, so he received her attack with his blade and allowed her curved sword to slide off, then he brought the battle up close. Vine hated fighting at such close distances. There has always been a difference in muscle between men and women. As such, Vine’s odds of winning were much lower when their swords were locked. To make things worse, her injury made her steps weaker.
“Tch!”
Vine clicked her tongue and retreated. Vine swung her sword to escape from Shunrai’s scimitar, which came swinging crossway as if it were flying, but all her curved sword cut were the drops of rain. When she landed, she immediately assumed stance, but there was no stopping Shunrai’s pursuit. He didn’t give her the slightest chance to fix her posture as he mustered all of his scimitar’s might and slashed in a straight line toward Vine.
With that last attack released from a stance where the sword was positioned on his shoulder, Shunrai was able to use all of his muscles – from his back, to his shoulders, to his arms – allowing him to bring forth an attack akin to that of a lightning hammer. The drops of rain splattered at the descent of the scimitar.
With no time to think up a response, the most Vine could do was jump back. Shunrai’s attack split the ground and crushed the rock underneath, sending fragments toward Vine. The impact was so great that Vine lost her footing. As she tumbled behind her, she looked for her enemy.
But that too was only for a moment before she immediately got back to feet and counterattacked, not minding that her long black hair was touching the ground.. She ran through the rain as she dragged her curved sword along the ground.
“DiEeee!”
“HA!”
Vine roared and ran like an angry beast, but Shunrai calmly responded to her. He originally held the advantage in strength. If not for Vine’s strange method of drawing the sword, Shunrai believed the odds of victory more than favored him. Water splashed and Vine’s curved sword slashed up from a low stance. Shunrai calmly blocked it.
Because of that attack that was all power and no technique, a big opening had been left open. Naturally, Shunrai wasn’t about to miss that. After blocking Vine’s attack, Shunrai pushed his way through her curved sword and swung his scimitar for her head.
Immediately, Vine crouched and the scimitar passed over her head.. Vine’s long black hair was cut as it followed late, then the scimitar moved with a speed faster than the eyes could grasp toward Vine. Somehow, Vine managed to block with her curved sword, but the impact still sent her flying.
While in midair, Vine fixed her posture, but when she tried to land, the scimitar was there to greet her. She didn’t even have the time to curse as she was forced to defend once again with her curved sword. Vine pushed up her sword with only one hand to parry Shunrai’s scimitar.
But Shunrai went even further. He had already predicted that she would try to parry his attack, so he had already let go of it and sent a kick flying toward Vine, who looked at him with shock. Still midair, there was no running left for Vine, and she cleanly received that kick. Vine clearly heard a number of her ribs breaking as she fell and tumbled into the mud.
Vine puked, then she violently wiped her mouth and brushed away her hair. She glared hatefully at Shunrai.
“…Bastard.”
“Let’s go.”
Shunrai wielded his scimitar over his shoulder once more.
After a short pause, they once again closed the distance between them. After having her ribs broken, there was now clearly some white mixed in with Vine’s breath. Compared to her, Shunrai’s breath was perfectly normal. When the distance between them had closed a little, Vine sheathed her sword, assumed a low stance, and ran.
“That technique won’t work on me anymore!”
At first, Shunrai was shocked at the strange way Vine drew her sword, but after clashing swords several times, he has already seen through her technique. Moreover, he has also grasped the exact length of Vine’s curved sword.
He didn’t need even a minute to resolve himself to deflect her sword and strike her with a fatal blow.
Vine’s curved sword clashed with Shunrai’s scimitar. Shunrai’s scimitar had followed the trajectory of Vine’s curved sword, but when they met, he immediately realized his error.
Vine’s slender curved sword had cut into Shunrai’s naked sword.
“This was your plan!?”
After the curved sword had cut halfway into his scimitar, the scimitar broke. But Shunrai was not your average swordsman. Shunrai threw away his broken sword, then he closed the already closed distance between them even further and sent kicks flying her way.
As Vine’s body bent like the character ‘く’, Shunrai dropped an elbow on her spine from above. As Vine fell to her knees, Shunrai sent another powerful kick to her arm, breaking her bones and sending her sword flying. Vine had already used up the last of her strength, and without her curved sword, there was no longer any way for her to run at this distance. Her right arm dangled powerlessly.
Her state was so bad that it was curious how she was even able to stand up. Breathing heavily, Vine jumped to where Shunrai’s broken scimitar was and picked it up.
“I don’t like using someone else’s weapon, but killing you with your own sword is perfectly appropriate for your name, ‘Mad Blade’.”
“…The one who’s dying is you!”
Vine used her anger to numb herself to the pain and fatigue as she once again stepped forward. After switching weapons, the two mad swordsmen closed the distance between them once more. This time they rushed into the clash faster than any of their previous clashes. Before their heightened focus, even the very drops of rain seemed to have stopped. Vine, whose range was shorter, swung her sword a little faster.
Shunrai changed his trajectory when he saw that, as well as the trajectory of the curved sword he looted.
The drops of rain deflected as their two weapons clashed once more. Drawing a circle, the two of them separated from each other. Normally, Vine would have stepped back here, but she instead held ground. Vine held up the remaining half part of the scimitar over her shoulder and forcefully swung it with only one arm despite its weight.
Seeing that, Shunrai was sure that he’d won. Contests between swordsmen were more often a battle of logic than not. Battles decided by a single blow aside, in a battle like this battle between Shunrai and Vine, where they had to exchange blow several times, having to break your posture just to force out an attack was fatal.
If he could just block this one blow, there would be no more after it. He was sure that she would have no more strength to do so. After all, she was basically announcing with her movements that unless she ended this battle here, there would be no next time.
During battles between swordsmen that require extreme levels of focus, from time to time, there are such cases when a swordsman would lose his focus and attempt such a reckless attack.
Shunrai has always made such foes pay that recklessness with their life.
Not to mention that the swordsman before him only had a sword left and was a heavy sword meant to be held with both hands. It should be difficult for Vine’s slender arms just to swing it.
Shunrai would block her attack, then he would decide this battle. He would claim Vine’s life with his next attack.
Shunrai’s decision was correct and was the natural conclusion to arrive to given his background as a swordsman.
Vine swung her scimitar, and Shunrai received her attack with the inner part of his curved blade.
Shunrai’s mouth twisted. The woman before her was a powerful foe indeed. Ever since Brandika died, his heart has been filled with nothing but fighting. In that sense, the woman before him was truly the greatest foe he could have asked for. But she too will end. As he anticipated the pleasure of plucking her life, he looked on as their blades clashed, but in the next moment, a hard sound resounded and the curved sword before him was crushed. All of the sudden, the end had come… For him.
“…Impossible.”
A wound was cut from his shoulder to his chest. As Shunrai looked at the scimitar that cut his body, he collapsed to his knees. There were no coincidences in battle, so before he died, Shunrai traced back the path of that sword.
Why did he lose?
No, more importantly, why did Vine’s curve sword break? Was it at its limit already? But it shouldn’t have suffered any damages to its body. Did he overlook something? No. Shunrai denied it. Even if it was only for a short while, it was still a weapon that he’d entrusted hsi life to.
There should have been no mistake in his appraisal of it. In the first place, if it really was weakened, at most, the scimitar should have just cut into it.
Was it skill?
Was there really that big of a difference between him and this woman in front of him? Vine looked at her as she stood. She looked worse off than Shunrai in fact.
That too was a no. If there was such a huge difference in skill, then she would not have ended up into such a pitiful appearance.
“Why?”
That was a question asked from the bottom of his heart. As a man who lived only for the sword and was mad for it, he wanted to know the answer before he died.
“Consider this a gift for your visit to the Underworld Goddess. I’ll let you in a secret. I’m not a swordsman.”
Too much blood had already run too Shunrai’s head, but he could not understand her words. Vine seemed to find his face really funny, as she made an evil smile. Meanwhile, she picked up the broken curved blade.
That curved sword should have long lost its sharpness, but Vine took a stance with it by her waist, and with a splendid step that one would not expect from someone whose ribs were broken, she swung that curved sword and lopped Shunrai’s head off.
“I’m an enchanter.”
As Shunrai’s head flew off his body and heard her last words, he smiled.
Ah, so you were a sham.