Why is Asia here?
As soon as Encrid faced her, a few things came to mind. They arose naturally without him needing to think too hard.
'The sheriff.'
Why had he come to him?
Jealousy was part of the reason, but more importantly, it was because he saw an opportunity. He judged that Encrid must be guilty of something.
And that crime was killing Viscount Bentra, but Junior Knight Asia could have been a witness. If she had intervened, it might not have happened.
But it did.
'Asia didn't stop it.'
Asia's involvement had been influenced by the Marquis.
So, whose side is the Marquis of Octo on?
Or... has the Knights' order turned its back on him?
Could that even be possible?
A Knightless order of Knights... Didn't Asia mention that only a few Junior-Knights remained in the Capital?
Several complex thoughts overlapped and tangled like a thread children had played with, becoming hopelessly knotted.
Encrid cut through it decisively. He couldn't act like Krais. Nor did he need to.
The person with the answers was standing right in front of him, so he only had to ask.
"Why?"
Encrid spoke. A short but heavy question.
Asia drew her sword. The thin blade stood straight, caught between the edge of darkness and light. She responded.
"I told you, this is the end. Go back."
There was no emotion in her eyes. She was like a single sword standing before him.
The sound of clashing metal and distant shouts from outside faded away. It was as if two actors were facing each other on the stage of the hallway.
Encrid also drew Silver.
Srrng.
The sound of the sword being drawn from its scabbard, bound with iron at the tip, was unnervingly sharp. The silver longsword emerged, as if flaunting itself.
Encrid gripped the hilt with both hands and calmed his breath.
The sunlight streamed in through the window, to his left and Asia's right. The light passed between them, creating a long line that divided Encrid and Asia.
"Step aside."
Asia spoke again.
It sounded like a plea.
"Why?"
He asked, but knew the answer wouldn't come. There was too much he didn't know to figure it out. And Asia wasn't likely to give him any clear answers.
She watched him, expressionless, without a hint of laughter.
Asia showed no signs of killing intent or aggression. She simply stood there, as immovable as an inanimate object.
On one side of the hallway stood rare porcelain, the kind one could only find in the southern regions. Asia looked no different from those porcelains. She seemed as lifeless as a still life.
Encrid adjusted his grip on the sword again.
Seeing this, Asia spoke.
"You're drinking punishment wine."
"It's a hobby."
Encrid responded out of habit.
Asia's expression didn't break at his words. Instead, her aura shifted. It was Intimidation. As her aura changed, so did the atmosphere.
Encrid could almost see a wall forming in front of him, centered around Asia.
It wasn't just the intent to kill him if he approached. Her willpower alone, her refusal to yield, formed this Intimidation.
An utterly solid wall.
It stretched beyond what the eye could see, and breaking it would be like trying to shatter steel.
But Encrid was someone who enjoyed either jumping over or drilling through such walls.
Ting.
Encrid stretched his sword to the side, measuring the distance to the wall.
Silver's tip struck the right wall. He withdrew the sword, gripping the hilt with both hands again, and raised it above his head.
Though the width of the hallway was narrow, there was no lack of height.
If they fought here, the paintings, southern porcelain, and expensive vases hanging on the walls would surely be destroyed.
But this wasn't the time to care about such things.
Encrid steadied his breath once more.
His opponent was reading his breath.
Neither Asia nor Encrid swung their swords first.
Both were reading each other's breathing, calculating the timing.
They had done this countless times. They had sparred more than twenty times.
The line of light that stretched between them grew longer.
On the wall to the right, directly behind them, three swords hung crossed. Above them was a shield shaped like the symbol of the Sun God, forming a decorative set.
The sword in the center was positioned vertically, with its tip closest to the floor.
As the line of light grew longer, it naturally reached the tip of the central blade. Though the blade was not sharp, it was polished and reflected the light.
As soon as the light gleamed— Encrid kicked off the ground.
Boom!
There was no room to conserve strength, nor did he have the luxury to do so.
Encrid charged forward with explosive force, slashing downward with all his might.
The moment he approached, Asia reacted.
Her sword shot forward in a straight thrust. It was faster than any arrow.
Encrid swung his sword down. Asia's blade met Encrid's Silver.
Clang! Crrrrk!
Encrid attempted to overpower her, intending to break through the wall with sheer force, but Asia twisted her wrist, redirecting the trajectory of Silver's slash.
With practiced precision, she deflected the force of his strike.
Not wanting to be completely outmaneuvered, Encrid stepped back, conserving some strength. He allowed his sword to flow with the deflection.
He was ready to counter at any moment with added force.
As a result, a long mark was left beneath the window on the left side.
Despite his downward strike resembling a bolt of lightning, she had deflected it.
Asia immediately raised her sword again, then slowly lowered it, pointing it at Encrid.
It was the 'Targeting the Sword's Tip' stance.
Her signature move, her specialty.
However, it was also different from what Encrid had known.
Hadn't Rem already mentioned it?
"That's not all there is."
He understood by intuition.
No, countless real battles and natural talent allowed him to see another piece of what she was hiding.
It was a realm Encrid couldn't see.
But would that be a problem?
'Not at all.'
The tip of her sword was aimed at him. The world was reduced to just the sword's tip and himself. That was the essence of Asia's 'Targeting the Sword's Tip'.
A deceptive sword, an illusion.
Encrid already knew the answer to overcoming that sword.
After all, Ragna, Rem, and Jaxon had each shown him the answer many times.
Rem blocked the tip of the sword with his axe.
Ragna simply ignored the tip, obliterating anything in his path with sheer will.
Jaxon continuously struck down her sword before she could even begin the 'Targeting' stance.
All three methods were correct, but none of them fully applied to Encrid.
He had realized ever since absorbing some of Will's spirit.
'It only has meaning if I solve it myself.'
To advance, one must walk properly. The feet must be placed on the path. Stepping into empty space doesn't lead you forward. Taking a step doesn't mean you're moving forward if you're still standing in place.
To truly move forward, you must make the process your own. That's the way of walking on the road, pressing down on the earth, and pushing through the sand.
Just as Rem, Ragna, and Jaxon had their own methods, Encrid needed to find his own way.
He didn't expect everything to fall into place instantly.
He wasn't a genius. He knew that now.
"You're a genius."
The words the mercenary had once said to him as a child no longer stuck with him.
Instead, only the sword remained. The dream remained. What had mended his shattered dream?
The sword.
When Asia had left before, Encrid had regretted it, thinking he would have liked to spar with her a hundred more times.
Why was Asia blocking his path? He didn't know.
That he needed to hurry to save Krang? That, he knew.
But Encrid felt no sense of urgency.
If his heart had wavered with every such moment, he wouldn't have been able to hold on to his sword for this long.
So, he decided to do what needed to be done. No, he became completely absorbed in the present moment.
If blocked, he would overcome it. If obstructed, he would break through.
In that brief moment, Encrid organized his thoughts, reached a conclusion, and then drew the sword of his decision.
There was something he had wanted to try if he faced Asia one more time.
His own method.
Encrid closed his eyes.
If seeing was the problem, then why not just stop looking?
"...You really are crazy."
A semblance of emotion leaked from Asia's voice, which had become as still as an object.
She couldn't help but be astonished by what she saw.
She had held up well when he said his 'hobby' was punishment wine, but this was too much.
'Close his eyes?'
He was going to fight her with his eyes closed? Could a sane person even do such a thing?
Even with his eyes open, Asia had always won. Whether he bet half his life or his entire life, the result of their sparring had always been the same.
But now, because the tip of the sword blocked his view, he closed his eyes?
"Are you underestimating me? Or is this some new training you've been doing?"
Asia spat out her words one after another.
From her tone, Encrid got the feeling that she wasn't here by her own will.
If she truly wanted to be here, she would've swung her sword instead of talking.
That's how it had always been when they sparred.
But that wasn't his concern. Encrid was enjoying himself. He relished this moment. He smiled, excited just by the prospect of facing Asia.
Still in that state, he closed his eyes and sharpened his hearing. His ears became his substitute for his eyes.
"If you hone your sense techniques, you can see without your eyes."
Jaxon had said this countless times.
His subordinates had shown such abilities before.
They could understand the movements of a person standing behind them without even looking.
Audin had mentioned something about sensing the vibrations in the air.
"You know by feeling."
Rem had simply referred to it as a gut instinct.
Ragna had questioned whether it was even necessary to know what movements were happening behind him.
If you just swing your sword and cut, that's all that matters, he said.
It was very Ragna-like.
And Jaxon, of course, didn't need any further explanation.
"You feel the vibrations of the air with your touch, and you listen to the sound with your ears."
Distinguishing and understanding subtle sounds was the foundation of sense techniques.
They were all similar, but the way they explained it and how they realized it differed.
Encrid had trained in such techniques, refining them until he acquired the Sense of Evasion, a blade of instinct.
With that, Encrid moved with his eyes closed.
To put it simply, the man who had been laughing with his eyes closed was now the one launching the first attack.
"This crazy bastard."
Asia spat out the words as if chewing them. Her tone wasn't purely one of criticism, there was a hint of respect as well.
Encrid relied on his memory for the first strike.
He remembered where Asia had stood, and he had heard her voice.
With that, he unleashed his 'Will in an instant.
Boom!
The ground beneath him cracked and exploded. Dust from beneath the carpet erupted into the air.
Encrid swung his sword with all his strength. He didn't hold back just because the opponent was someone he knew.
* * *
Asia couldn't let Encrid pass. The biggest reason was simple.
'If you get past me, you'll die.'
Even if she let him through, Encrid wouldn't survive.
So she blocked him here.
Whether she came willingly, was coerced, or had no other choice in standing here.
'That can be dealt with later.'
With complete resolve, Encrid faced the opponent before him, clashing with all his might.
Eyes closed, he narrowed the distance, splitting the moment. His sword plunged downward without hesitation.
Asia responded at the same speed, meeting the strike without diminishing her intensity.
Her swordplay seemed twice as fast as when Encrid had his eyes open.
She held her thin rapier horizontally and struck upward, twisting her ankle to diffuse the force. Just like before, she used the thin blade to deflect the power behind Encrid's strike. Receiving the blow would be too slow, so she captured the exact moment of impact and twisted to destabilize it.
That's how Asia fought.
Her rapier moved like a fluttering piece of cloth.
Ting-ting-ting.
The sound, soft and delicate, didn't match the force of the downward strike. Encrid's sword was deflected to the side. Asia loosened her grip on the hilt for a moment, then tightened it again.
In an instant, the muscles inside her leather bracer-clad forearm tensed, adding more strength. She gathered the remaining force and thrust forward.
Whoosh.
Before the blade even reached him, the air hit first. The pressure and intensity made the hair on Encrid's body stand on end.
He had no time to recover from his downward slash.
Instead, Encrid had already grasped Silver with his left hand only, while his right hand drew the sword from his right hip.
Gripping it in reverse, he blocked the thrust. His Gladius intercepted the tip of Asia's rapier.
Bang!
The perfect balance of precision and power transmitted the force of the rapier's thrust through the Gladius.
Encrid's feet briefly left the ground, pushed back by the impact.
'She has the advantage in strength.'
Asia was aware of this too. Encrid's sheer strength was terrifying. A single failed strike could be devastating.
But failure wasn't an option. She wouldn't be struck by such a blunt blade.
Moreover, the fact that he was fighting with his eyes closed meant a lack of precision.
Encrid opened his eyes as he retreated. Asia leveled her sword at him once again.
She could continue fighting like this for hours.
Endless combat was part of the Knights' advanced training.
Of course, she had completed that training.
As for Encrid...
"One more time."
He smiled.