EP.73
“You have no talent for martial arts.”
In the nine regressions Jin had experienced, that was the most frequently heard remark from others.
“Do you lack talent in swordsmanship, spear technique, archery, and even in barehanded combat? That’s a bit much, don’t you think?”
“…Isn’t that a bit harsh? I’ve been trying my best, you know.”
“What good does effort do? The problem is that your efforts yield little result. Besides, you’re a regresser, aren’t you? Even if you build a strong body, if you regress, you simply revert to the way you were, while your skills hardly improve at all. Truly, you are a foolish student with no redeeming qualities.”
“…..”
It was indeed an agonizing truth, but making excuses at this point would only make Jin look more pathetic, so he chose to remain silent.
“However, having no advantages doesn’t mean it’s entirely negative. To say you have no advantages is to say there are no glaring weaknesses either. In other words, you possess a vessel that can contain everything, despite lacking notable strengths.”
“…Is that a compliment?”
Why did it sound to Jin like being told he would never succeed, prompting him to try different things even if there was no hope?
“Of course, it’s not a compliment. I simply want to say that even a talentless and foolish student like you can eventually master at least one skill if you work hard enough.”
“…Do you think I won’t be able to overcome the End?”
“No, that’s not it. I believe you can ultimately break free from all the Endings.”
She cast a sidelong glance at Jin, her expression indifferent.
“Even though you are a foolish student devoid of talent, on the flip side, you are granted infinite opportunities through your regressions, aren’t you? If you can’t succeed in ten tries, try a hundred; if a hundred fails, throw yourself at it a thousand times. Eventually, you will achieve your goal.”
“…..”
Once again, she proved to be a merciless master, who, instead of inspiring hope in her student, seemed intent on extinguishing his motivation.
“Overcoming the End isn’t the most important thing for you. What’s more crucial are the countless people you will encounter as you repeat your life. Compared to that, the End is truly insignificant.”
As she spoke, she gently caressed Jin’s cheek with her hand, as if handling a priceless treasure.
“You will face many people in the cycles of your life, enduring countless hardships and pains. And in the process, your emotions will be endlessly worn down and diminished. That is not a realm I can assist you with. Life is a sea of suffering, and it is inherently human to struggle endlessly within that pain.”
“…Master.”
“That’s precisely why I want to empower you—not for the sake of fighting the End, but so you can assert your will as you live your life. To not bend your will to others and to pursue what you believe is right.”
“I believe that’s the last gift this foolish master can give you.”
With that, she crafted a martial art tailored specifically for her hapless student.
Of course, it wasn’t an easy task. Even for someone with top-tier talent on the continent, creating a martial art that a dullard could learn and master through mere effort was nearly impossible.
In the end, she was unable to complete a martial art for her student.
However, her will was transmitted through Jin to her future self, and after countless regressions and countless aids from various people, she eventually managed to create a single technique.
It took a full 30 years. She named the technique she created for her student “Exceed.”
“Never use it recklessly. It’s a technique crafted by both the past and present versions of me, but it’s exceedingly dangerous.”
She held a disdain for the technique she had created.
“Exceed burns your own life force as fuel to unleash its power. There’s no doubt about its might, but it’s a cursed technique that will ultimately devour you one day.”
“Remember this: You are a regresser, and though death may hold little meaning for you, it’s precisely because of that that you must value your life and hold it dear.”
Nevertheless, she created this technique for Jin because she anticipated there would come a time in his future journey where he would need such a technique.
…Like this very moment.
“…You.”
An ominous sound, reminiscent of thunder, filled the training ground. Yet, on the surface, Jin appeared unchanged. He showed no fierce demeanor, nor was he exuding any aura.
…However, the Count’s honed senses as a warrior were ringing alarm bells as he observed Jin.
“Never let your guard down. That man possesses the means to kill you.”
And the Count chose to trust this instinct more than his rational mind.
In an instant, he enveloped himself in an aura at speeds invisible to the eye and hastily pulled a magical gun from within his cloak.
A simple sword alone would not be enough to defeat him. He would need to combine it with Seryas’s signature technique, ‘Song of the Sky,’ to bring the opponent down!
And then—
KWA-BOOM!
What unfolded was entirely in the realm of instinct. The moment the Count unconsciously took a step back, the spot where he had just been standing erupted as if it had been detonated.
‘Did I not perceive that?’
It was absurd. Could there truly be an attack in this world that he couldn’t recognize?
The Count possessed a psychic ability known as ‘Momentary Foresight.’
In essence, it allowed him to read the flow of battle almost like a game of strategy, predicting the future and selecting the best move to change it—a psychic ability that was undeniably one of the strongest in personal combat.
Yet, even with such Momentary Foresight, the Count was unable to anticipate Jin’s attack.
How was it possible? By what means?
The Count was only able to comprehend, a beat too late, the incredible speed at which beams of light were flickering around his body.
‘Light speed!’
Even while seeing it, he could not grasp it. How could a human move at the very speed of lightning?
Of course, calling it the actual speed of light was a stretch, but in this context, it was an irrelevant detail. The fact remained that catching up to Jin moving at such speed was an impossible task for the Count.
‘TEN SECONDS.’
Observing the Count, who was wielding both a sword and a gun in a manner reminiscent of Altina, Jin made a decision in his heart.
‘I’ll finish this in ten seconds.’
Still, as a father-in-law, he would start lightly.
The moment he made that decision, the light began to branch out. In an instant, the scattered light spread through the training ground.
As the light dispersed and split apart, it took the form of a being of light above the Count’s head and came crashing down with a fist filled with electric energy.
KWA-BAAM!
The building of the training ground shook violently. The lightning strike slammed down into the arena, causing it to collapse with devastating force.
“Gkh!”
However, surprisingly, the Count at the center remained unharmed. He had protected himself with his aura and successfully anticipated the final moment to redirect the shockwave.
The shockwave pushed the Count back, and the distance between the two grew to several dozen meters in the blink of an eye. Yet before even a breath could be caught, they clashed once more.
KWA-BAKOW!
Auras and bolts of electricity erupted from all directions.
The scene was breathtaking, as golden lines and blue auras painted the air in a spectacular display.
Yet, at the heart of that spectacle, Count Seryas found himself inadvertently biting his lip tightly.
‘Fast.’
Since mastering his skills, there hadn’t been an opponent with whom he could face off so directly. Even the famed Pendragon Duke or Count Lisithea, known as the strongest among the Empire’s masters, would find it nearly impossible to overwhelm him.
Battles fundamentally revolve around reading your opponent’s moves, and the Count possessed an unfair advantage, able to see through all of his opponent’s intentions and respond accordingly.
But now, before him, Jin had devised an incredibly simple countermeasure.
Launching rapid-fire attacks so fast that even foresight might prove futile.
Even if the Count anticipated his opponent’s intent and laid down plans ahead of time, Jin would seamlessly evade or counterattack in the intervals between strikes.
It was ludicrous. To think that someone who was barely in his late teens could be so battle-hardened as to match his level of ‘reading’ without even using an aura!
KWA-BOOM!
Swords and fists collided. The trajectories of the magical gun and trails of light twisted into intricate patterns.
Seven seconds into the fight, the Count realized with growing clarity that his limbs were becoming disoriented before Jin’s dance-like movements.
No, he came to realize that Jin’s movements seemed to shift and change in anticipation of his own actions just moments ahead.
‘…This, this guy, could it be….’
Until now, he had thought it was a misunderstanding, but it wasn’t. Jin had fully grasped not just his movements, but everything about ‘Song of the Sky’!
And there was only one person who could inform Jin of the nature of ‘Song of the Sky’s’ movements—
‘Altina.’
What a disgraceful daughter she was! Had she really fallen for that brat to the extent of revealing everything about their family to him?
In the end, Jin, having broken through all the prior traps laid by the Count, slammed his foot down above the Count’s head. It was an attack imbued with tremendous force, capable of shattering the ground in a single blow.
KWA-BOOM!
With a deafening roar that echoed all around, both Jin and the Count were sent flying in opposite directions.
As the Count hastily landed on the ground, a single premonition struck his mind.
In a moment, he would be faced with two attacks. One would come from the front, and the other would be a barrage of light that would strike from his right side.
He had to admit it. Though he didn’t understand the principles behind it, from a standpoint of speed alone, Jin was perhaps the strongest opponent the Count had ever encountered.
It would be safe to assume that there was no way for him to defend against two simultaneous incoming attacks.
His best option would likely be to somehow defend against the frontal attack while retreating to strengthen his defenses.
‘But that’s not possible.’
Such a choice was something the Count’s pride would never allow.
Despite the appearance, he was a powerful master who had long ruled from the celestial heights within the Empire.
For him, retreating under the attacks of a mere teenager and his daughter’s boyfriend was nothing short of humiliation.
Thus, the decision was made: it would be a frontal confrontation. The reason was simple. The Count felt he wouldn’t be able to get a good night’s sleep unless he landed a solid hit on this kid tonight.
‘I’m going in.’
He prepared for a cross-counter. Drawing on a magical bullet infused with the essence of Desperado’s breaking spell.
Click—
He raised the magical gun. This bullet contained the maximum amount of aura the Count could muster. No matter how fast Jin was, there would come a moment when he had no option but to reveal himself and attack!
He already knew the timing through his foresight. If he fired the bullet at subsonic speed just 0.1 seconds before the wave of light reached him, Jin would surely sustain a critical injury as well.
WHOOSH!
In the next instant, as anticipated, a massive wave of light rushed toward him head-on.
Now! The Count fired the magical bullet right toward the center of the light wave—
“…..”
And then, time froze.
The timing was perfect. Just before the wave of light enveloped him, the bullet successfully pierced through space.
…However, the wave of light charging at the Count from the front turned out to be nothing more than simple light, devoid of any meaning.
“I thought it was light speed, but it turns out it wasn’t really light.”
Gazing at Jin’s fist lodged into his side, the Count muttered in disbelief.
“It wasn’t light; it was simply that your speed was so great that it left behind an afterimage like a wave of light in the present realm. Truly absurd technique. Equally unfathomable is who could have created such a thing.”
“It’s my master who’s truly eccentric.”
At Jin’s quiet remark, the Count couldn’t help but smirk and chuckle.
“Jin.”
“Yes.”
“My defeat and your victory. I acknowledge it.”
With the Count’s strangely calm words, Jin too broke into a weary smile.
Just moments ago, he had been intent on blasting his head off, and now he acted as if he was above winning or losing.
But regrettably, it seemed the Count’s words weren’t entirely finished yet.
“I don’t know about anything else… but if you ever make my daughter cry, I will truly kill you. Understand?”
“…Yes.”
If he was going to say such things, why even engage in a duel in the first place?
With a small sigh in his heart, Jin thought to himself.
