Return of the Calamity-Class Death Knight

Chapter 56

“It’s interesting, but nothing special,” Damien remarked.

Upon hearing Damien’s words, Jacques felt a faint anger. The swordsmanship he was employing was a high-level technique that Low-class knightss could not belittle. It was the Phantom Swords technique, the technique favored by Swordmaster Shinkirou, who had been active a century ago. Shinkirou was a highly renowned swordsman even in the empire, where masters were as common as sand piles.

When Jacques got hold of the Phantom Sword manual, he was ecstatic to the point of losing his composure. However, his joy was short-lived as the manual was mostly lost. Despite this, Jacques couldn’t bring himself to give up on the Phantom Sword. The name value associated with Shinkirou was too immense.

Jacques believed that mastering the perfectly restored Phantom Sword would elevate him to the level of a master. So, he devoted his life to it, and though he achieved only a meager 30% restoration rate, it was enough to create a convincing illusion.

“You seem to take great pride in that swordsmanship,” Damian commented, irritating Jacques with each word.

The Phantom Sword represented everything for Jacques, guiding him toward the mastery he sought.

“I’ll shatter that illusion,” Damian declared.

As Damian swung the sword, its aura began to resonate. Witnessing this, Jacques felt a sense of foreboding. Throughout his life, he had never encountered a sword technique that amplified the aura like this.

Damian flicked his sword with his finger, and immediately, the aura spread in all directions. A storm of sound swept through the surroundings, and the residual illusions charging towards Damian turned into dust.

Not only the charging illusions but all the illusions created by Jacques vanished, leaving him alone.

“….”

In the face of this unexpected scene, Jacques was left dumbfounded. Illusions created by the Phantom Sword were not supposed to be erased so easily. They were resistant to cutting or piercing and required a significant amount of accumulated shock beyond what an ordinary person or Low-class knights could achieve for them to disappear.

But now, they vanished at the mere sound?

“This is a major flaw of the Phantom Sword. Its weaknesses are as clear as its strengths,” Damian said, adjusting his sword. Jacques’ instincts sounded the alarm.

“Now, is it my turn?” Damian rushed towards Jacques.

Jacques snapped back to reality, realizing the battle was far from over.

“Don’t get too cocky just because you managed to erase illusions!” he retorted, as the Low-class knight initiated an attack against a middle-class knight.

It was an unexpected turn of events. Jacques felt anger rising within him. Both of them swung their swords at each other, and dozens of trajectories collided and vanished. The clashing sound of metal resonated continuously.

“Damien! It’s about time you get your act together! I’ll show you the true essence of Phantom Sword!” Jacques extended his sword towards Damien, simultaneously creating two illusions.

Three Jacques simultaneously thrust their swords. Each aimed for a different vulnerable spot. In that moment, Damien swept his sword with his palm, and the aura resonated.

The aura erased the illusions. Only the real Jacques was exposed.

“What?”

Compared to the previous occurrence, the aura was unbelievably small. Yet, it was enough to make the illusions disappear. In the moment of Jacques’ confusion, Damien swung his sword, leaving a long gash on Jacques’ cheek.

He allowed a Low-class knight to inflict a wound on his face.

Before feeling the pain, a deep sense of humiliation spread through Jacques’ entire being. Life burst into his eyes.

“Don’t act so arrogant!”

Jacques manipulated his magic to create an illusion. However, before the illusion could take form, the magic dispersed and vanished. No matter how many attempts he made, the same result occurred.

A situation where the Phantom Sword user couldn’t create illusions.

In his perplexity, Damien spoke to Jacques, “What, a middle-class knight like you can’t understand the situation?”

Only then did Jacques realize why his illusions were being blocked. It was due to Damien’s sword. The damn sword emitted a disruptive aura, hindering the concentration of magic and preventing the creation of illusions.

“What is this…!”

For the Phantom Sword to be blocked by such a simple technique was unthinkable. It shouldn’t be happening.

“Let’s finish this.”

Suddenly, Damien’s speed increased. The number of trajectories multiplied.

“This is absurd…”

Jacques had no time to speak. He desperately tried to parry Damien’s sword.

“Oh? Be careful; you might lose an arm.”

Before he could finish speaking, Jacques’ forearm stung. Damien’s sword had grazed past.

“Get your act together. Otherwise, you might lose a wrist.”

This time, the wrist was cut, though not deep. Just a slight graze on the skin.

Jacques’ eyes widened significantly.

As a middle-class knight, he was being outperformed by a low-class knight. No, it was embarrassing even to admit being outperformed.

He was being toyed with like a plaything.

“This sword… Do you even know what kind of sword this is? It’s not a sword that someone like you can handle!”

Jacques exclaimed. Damien smirked at the sight.

“Making a fuss with such mediocre swordsmanship.”

“Mediocre? Nonsense… Ugh!”

Damien swept Jacques aside. Jacques’ body flew backward.

He received another blow. Jacques coughed while the sword remained stuck in the ground.

“Yes, you…”

Jacques glared at Damien. Damien stood at a distance.

“Before I kill you, let me show you something interesting.”

Damien took a step forward. Suddenly, there was an afterimage left in the place he was standing.

With each step Damien took, more afterimages appeared.

Over dozens of them were left on the ground.

“You, you…”

Jacques looked at Damien with trembling fingers.

“How, how… the Phantom sword…”

“Saw and learned.”

“Nonsense…”

“By the way, I can do this too.”

Damien flicked his fingers.

Suddenly, the afterimages swung their swords towards each other. The afterimages cut by the swords disappeared.

Jacques’ mouth gaped at the sight.

He couldn’t move the afterimages so skillfully.

At best, he could only give one command. Dreaming of giving different commands was impossible.

“Jacques, wake up. You’re swordsmanship isn’t that great.”

Jacques slowly shifted his gaze at Damien’s words.

“Oh, to be precise, it’s quite a decent swordsmanship. It’s just broken. Strange, isn’t it? The principles of the technique are quite advanced, but the actual techniques using those principles are pitifully inadequate.”

Damien continued speaking.

“There probably was an original swordsmanship. You probably tore it apart and modified it as you pleased. It’s a case of improving the bad. Maybe you tried to restore it but failed.”

Damien didn’t stop at merely copying the swordsmanship.

He was examining everything in detail.

“Understanding the principles makes it easy to create a technique. The original swordsmanship was probably in this form.”

An afterimage appeared in front of Damien.

The afterimage walked forward and eventually began to split.

One person became two, two became four, and four became eight.

Suddenly, the entire world was filled with afterimages.

“…!”

The Phantom sword restored by Jacques could only create illusions where the user was present.

That’s why Jacques kept moving constantly. It was to leave afterimages.

However, Damien created illusions while remaining still. Moreover, the number of entities he could create far surpassed what Jacques could produce.

At this point, they were no longer afterimages.

They should be called clones.

“Did you say Phantom sword? The original of this sword is probably something like this.”

In order to restore the Phantom sword, Jacques collected all the anecdotes related to illusions.

Among them, there were many statements suggesting that Illusionists were not just one but dozens.

This was because the illusions created by Illusionists moved as if they were real.

Jacques made relentless efforts to realize those testimonies.

However, Jacques could only create afterimages, not clones.

What Jacques couldn’t restore in his lifetime, Damien perfectly restored in just a few minutes.

“How… how on earth did you restore the Phantom sword!?”

“Just did.”

Damien said nonchalantly.

“Just did, and it worked.”

With those words, Jacques’ pupils darkened.

In his younger years, Jacques believed he was a genius.

His peers in training were all much weaker than him. He quickly rose to the ranks of the Low Class several years ahead of others.

He couldn’t help but be deluded. He believed he was a ‘genius.’

This delusion was shattered just after reaching the Low Class.

It happened when he lost in a duel against a knight who was also called a genius.

The first experience of defeat.

The first experience of confusion.

The first experience of bitterness.

Various emotions entangled. Jacques couldn’t admit defeat and challenged again.

The result was even more disastrous. Unlike the first time when he at least swung the sword once, this time he couldn’t even wield the sword and was defeated.

When asked how the opponent easily defeated him, the so-called genius replied like this.

-Just did.

-Just did, and it worked.

That one sentence shattered Jacques’ delusion.

Jacques was not a genius. Just slightly better than others.

Since that day, Jacques has obsessed over the sword like a madman. He gave up all pleasures and focused only on training.

After a decade or so, Jacques reached the Middle Class.

And the ‘real’ geniuses ascended to the High Class.

Despair overwhelmed Jacques due to the gap that effort alone couldn’t bridge.

It must have been then that Jacques started to fixate on potions and master techniques. He thought that by consuming high-quality potions enhancing his senses, he could compensate for his lack of talent.

He hoped to obtain knowledge he hadn’t realized through the knowledge left by the Masters.

And so, for another decade or so.

Jacques remained in the Middle Class.

Others might have given up, acknowledged their shortcomings, and settled.

But Jacques didn’t give up. He was determined to surpass the ‘real’ geniuses.

But today, he heard the same words.

“Just did, and it worked.”

The emotions that had accumulated over many years ignited.

The emotions were like rancid oil. The flames consumed the emotions and rose fiercely.

A rage so immense swept over Jacques that even he couldn’t contain it.

“Now… you said ‘just did’?”

Force involuntarily surged into the hand gripping the hilt.

“Yes! It just worked! Just! Just! You bloody ‘just’!”

Teeth clenched on their own. Blood rushed in the veins, threatening to burst any moment.

Geniuses were always like that.

They effortlessly caught up with what others had painstakingly worked on.

And they always spouted the ridiculous phrase ‘just did.’

“It wasn’t a coincidence! You were a genius, a genius! Damien! You were a genius too!”

Jacques intermittently began to laugh. Madness emanated from his laughter.

“No, not just a genius! No other genius I’ve seen could do what you did!

No genius Jacques encountered could steal another’s swordsmanship like Damien.

But Damien not only stole the swordsmanship, he perfectly wielded it and even restored it immediately.

“Enough. It’s all unnecessary. I’ll kill you even if I have to discard everything I have!”

If he couldn’t be the best, he’d find meaning elsewhere.

In this moment, Jacques decided to find meaning in trampling Damien, the unparalleled genius, before he could bloom.

The Master Class techniques Jacques possessed didn’t just include the Phantom sword.

Jacques pricked his body all over with his finger.

Stimulating the mana-flowing veins.

The stimulated blood infused with mana. The surging mana brought out Jacques’ latent power.

Madness of Bolstering fury.

This was the last resort of a Master swordsman who was once called the incarnation of war, he in his last moments in a fight burned his own body to ashes.

In terms of level alone, the technique was far higher than the Phantom sword technique, however it couldn’t be used recklessly as it required sacrificing one’s life.

The Art of Sacrificial Raging Demon Manifestation.

His muscles swelled all over his body. Mana rampaged ferociously.

Jacques raised his sword. The violently surging mana created a crimson aura.

“Die!”

Jacques swung his sword down. The colossal blow cleaved Damien’s body in half.

“…?”

However, something was strange. Even though Damien’s body was cleaved in half, no blood flowed. The severed section seemed strangely hollow.

“No way…?”

Damien’s body, split in half, turned into an illusion and disappeared.

He had deceived his own eyes using the Phantom Sword technique.

A situation where he fell victim to his own technique.

Jacques’ pupils dilated with veins pulsating. The whites of his eyes turned a deep red.

“Damien Haksen! I’ll tear you apart…”

At that moment, a sword thrust from behind and beheaded Jacques.