Broken Possessors of Infinite Regression Academy

‘A Sword Saint with a weapon.’

I was curious to see how strong the Sword Saint would be with a proper weapon, even if it was just a wooden sword. And I wondered about the Demon King, who had shattered the Sword Saint in a head-on confrontation.

Astaroth, who had stolen the Demon King’s power, had been a challenging opponent. Despite using mana breathing and physical enhancement techniques, I had to use healing magic to put my bones back together after each attack.

In other words, without healing magic, I couldn’t guarantee victory. If I had faced a similar situation, I would have avoided a direct confrontation and instead tried to land a decisive blow.

‘It didn’t feel like she was completely shattered by the Demon King…’

It was possible that the power of the Demon King within Astaroth and Elysier was different, but that wasn’t something to worry about now. It was a matter to discuss with the other three later.

I pulled out the dagger I had received from the Chairman and held it in my hand. I intended to use this gift at some point.

As I thought about making it bigger, the entire sword instantly grew to a size similar to Eternity. It had the opposite color combination to Eternity, and the Sword Saint immediately reacted to this unfamiliar weapon.

“My, a sword made of dragon scales. Did the Chairman make this for you?”

“Yes. How did you know?”

“I heard that the Chairman raided the imperial treasury to repay a debt of gratitude, and the energy emanating from the sword is unusual. It must be because it’s infused with dragon’s breath.”

“Dragon’s breath…”

“I’m talking about their breath attack. Look, the sword is already transforming to fit your hand. It’s impossible to do this naturally without the power of their breath.”

Just as she said, I could feel the hilt moving faintly, adjusting to fit my hand perfectly. It felt like I was becoming one with the hilt rather than just holding it.

“It’s already adapting to you, recognizing you as its master. Once it’s fully tamed, it will become an excellent sword that will only allow you to touch it, refusing even the touch of others. It’s generally called a Dragon Fang Sword because it’s made of dragon scales and fangs, but if you want, you can give it a different name.”

“How do you know so much?”

“Because my sword was like that. It’s been a while since I picked it up…”

The Sword Saint smiled bitterly. Come to think of it, I never did see her with a real sword, did I?

“Now, the explanation ends here. It’s time to begin what you came here for.”

The Sword Saint clapped her hands. That’s right. I wasn’t the only one in the training ground.

In addition to Leona and Aria, there was Priscilla, who had been present at the first spar, Elysier, whom the Sword Saint had specifically instructed to join, and Laura and her direct disciple, Karna, who had joined because she felt lonely sitting out.

With the exception of Rosalia, who was sitting in the audience and had almost no combat ability, almost all the combat-capable personnel near me had been mobilized.

Everyone except Ibrante. She wasn’t really close enough to be included here.

‘I wonder what she’s doing now.’

I hadn’t heard from her since I last thanked her, and I wondered if she had made enough money to completely quit mercenary work and focus on taking care of her siblings.

“…I thought I was supposed to fight the other students.”

“No one would dare question the Sword Saint’s orders. Just stay put.” Laura, standing next to Elysier, who was grumbling about the Sword Saint making her out to be a liar, raised her staff as if to tell him to calm down. It was a staff that also functioned as a sword.

I wondered if teaching Laura the Dark Sword technique would be effective.

“Go all out. I’ll match your intensity.”

“Really? I’m super strong now. Go- Ack?!”

Before Leona, who was confidently emitting a golden light from the Holy Sword, could finish her sentence, she found herself embedded in the opposite wall of the training ground. Blue hair fell over her as fragments of the broken wall rained down.

The Sword Saint had somehow returned to her original position. Everyone stared at her in astonishment.

“Did you see that just now?”

“…If you had seen it, you wouldn’t be making that face.”

The two of them couldn’t even look, and Leona had allowed the attack to hit her, so the other three were obvious. Maybe Karna had a chance.

‘I did see it…’

I saw it all: the Sword Saint rushing towards Leona, stabbing her in the gut while avoiding vital points, and then returning to her original position as if time had rewound.

It was just that I had only seen it.

“Ouch, that hurts…! Did you really hit me?!”

“If I had hit you with all my strength, you would have been blown to pieces by now. I adjusted my strength to just hurt you, so stop whining and get up.”

“Ouch…! Just you wait!”

Leona gritted her teeth and struggled to her feet, but the Sword Saint, who was watching her with a pleased smile, slowly turned her head. It seemed that I was next.

“Child, I am personally very grateful to you.”

“What?”

In response to my question, the Sword Saint silently caressed the wooden sword in her right hand with loving eyes. I could guess why she was grateful without her saying it.

“It’s woefully inadequate as a reward…”

Wooong, mana infused the rough wooden blade. Karna’s face, watching from the side, turned deathly pale.

“Watch closely and learn. This is the first lesson.”

As she spoke, the Sword Saint’s figure disappeared. Instinctively, I raised the Dragon Fang Sword towards where the afterimage would arrive. As soon as I did, the sword blade began to vibrate. Kkigik, my feet slid back a few inches.

‘I didn’t see it.’

Just now, blocking was the priority. I had blocked the spot where the Sword Saint was going to strike.

In other words, it could also be interpreted as her deliberately aiming for the spot I had blocked. Why couldn’t she change her trajectory when she could move at such speed?

“Just now, what kind of swordsmanshipㅡ”

-Kwaaaaaaang!

Just as I was about to ask what kind of swordsmanship she had used, a strange sound came from the lower right. I looked down to see that the floor right next to me had collapsed as if a meteor had fallen on it.

I was surprised to see the floor crumbling as if it had been hit by a massive slash, despite the Dragon Fang Sword not receiving a significant impact. I wondered what kind of technique it was.

“This is called ‘Sword of the Void’. Did you see it, child?”

The Sword Saint was nonchalant as if it was nothing.

“What are you talking about? Your appearance or your swordsmanship?”

“I’d appreciate it if you could answer both.”

“I only saw your afterimage, and I have no idea what kind of swordsmanship it was.”

“You truly are remarkable, child. It took my first disciple there months just to perceive my movements. Now that you’ve followed my movements, I should teach you about this swordsmanship. It’s a very simple principle.”

The Sword Saint tapped the opposite side of the Dragon Fang Sword’s blade with her wooden sword. This time, the training ground on the lower left roared as it collapsed for dozens of meters.

“It’s about ignoring the defense magic, armor, or shield of the enemy and directly striking their body. That’s the essence of this swordsmanship. In my current state, I can just slice through concepts, but… you haven’t reached that level yet, have you, child?”

“I don’t think I’ll ever reach that level in my life.”

How could I understand such an abstract swordsmanship?

In the previous world, when I was learning magic, I was told a few times not to try to understand but to feel it with my heart. But slicing through concepts was a whole different level from that.

However, the Sword Saint seemed to take my words as a joke, as she chuckled and moved on to the next explanation.

The gist of her explanation was to set up a ‘KI’ by swinging the sword ahead of the shockwave, and then guide the shockwave to flow along the Ki.

“If you can guide the direction of the shockwave well, you can slice through a completely different spot or blow up their head by attacking their fingertips, just like I did just now. Do you understand, child?”

“……How do you send the ‘Ki’ beyond defense magic or armor?”

“Of course. How could I not have noticed that? On the other hand, the rest of the children didn’t move their eyes at all. They’ll need a little more time.”

The remaining sky-blue eye, still vivid, sparkled.

“So, for now, we should focus on the child.”

A smile, and acceleration. It was an action she had shown me several times before. Her body disappeared from where she stood.

I followed her movements with my eyes. The Sword Saint was approaching in a straight line, her arms, legs, and wooden sword perfectly positioned for a stab. But even as my eyes and mind reacted, my body remained still.

It meant that I was still not fast enough to keep up with her speed.

If I used mana breathing and physical enhancement together, I might be able to react, but I also felt that I shouldn’t do that. I wondered if there was another way, a different approach.

‘Another way…’

I fell into thought as I watched the Sword Saint approaching in slow motion. Her movements seemed slow, but my body was still moving even slower, unable to budge a finger.

‘…Why is she able to move so quickly?’

I decided to go back to the fundamental question. Why was the Sword Saint able to move at such incredible speed? Simply explaining it as being strong didn’t satisfy my curiosity.

There must be a limit to the amount of power her body could generate. So, why?

‘…’

Suddenly, I thought of a possibility. In the past, I would have dismissed it as absurd, but now, I felt that it was worth a try.

Even as I pondered, the distance between me and the Sword Saint was steadily decreasing. The tip of the wooden sword moved back a little further. I was about to allow hr to strike first.

‘It’s worth a try.’

After all, this wasn’t a real battle. If it worked, great, and if it didn’t, there would be plenty of other opportunities. I exhaled, as if using mana breathing, and recalled a memory.

It wasn’t a memory from this world, but from a distant past, a time when I desperately sought to increase my chances of victory by exploring magic without restraint.

Based on that memory, I changed my perception. Instead of the blue color commonly associated with mana, I began to see each tiny particle of mana.

I saw the Sword Saint accelerating by accepting each particle of mana.

‘Was that it?’

I smiled to myself. I already knew this concept. It was just a matter of applying it to swordsmanship instead of magic, a simple solution.

Instead of spewing out hundreds of magic circles per second through mana breathing, I just had to change them one by one.

Now that I understood the principle, it was time to put it into practice. How the Sword Saint had come to realize this concept wasn’t important. My top priority was to block the wooden sword that was right in front of me.

I accepted two mana particles. My body, which had been stubbornly frozen no matter how hard I tried, began to catch up with the accelerated time. I brought the Dragon Fang Sword to the trajectory of the wooden sword, clearly faster than the Sword Saint.

-Tteeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

As the ear-piercing sound rang out, time, which had slowed down infinitely, returned to normal.

“……My goodness.”

The Sword Saint whispered in awe, her remaining eye shifting between the blocked wooden sword and me, her expression one of disbelief.

“Just now, what did you… do?”

“You know, don’t you?”

I knew too.