I Became the Martial God's Youngest Disciple

Thinking about it, this was the first time in both my past and present lives that I had directly competed with the Iron-Blooded Lord. That even applied to sparring.

I'd seen Delac's doll at the academy, but at that time, I'd competed against Leone's doll instead. Seren had been the one to fight Delac's doll, but I hadn't seen how he fought in detail. Leone wasn't an opponent I could take lightly, so I couldn't afford to watch the fight back then.

Maybe that was why my heart was beating quickly like I was a rookie martial artist about to face a strong enemy.

Now, in the middle of the night, at the training ground at the back of the main house, Delac and I stood facing each other. Assad, the referee of the sparring match, was sitting in a chair and quietly watching us.

He said, "This is just a spar, so control your strength. Other than that, there are no specific rules. That means you can fight as you like. However, I will decide the result of the sparring match at my own discretion. Once I call it, you must stop immediately."

I nodded and drew my sword. I had thought deeply about what to choose as my first weapon. My main technique was the White Sun Eclipse, which normally meant it would be best to fight with my bare hands. The reason why I chose the Seven Sins Sword this time wasn't because I looked down on the man in front of me, though.

On the contrary, I chose the Seven Sins Sword because I was vigilant. Delac currently had no information about me, so by drawing a sword and taking the stance of the Galaxy Sword, I would naturally be regarded as a swordsman.

My plan was to use the Galaxy Sword before switching to bare hands at the right moment to unleash the White Sun Eclipse. If everything went according to plan, it would be a pretty good surprise attack.

The moment I drew my sword, Delac also drew the sword at his waist. The Badnikers' treasure sword, Michael, revealed its appearance. As if by some strange coincidence, the moment the blade was drawn, the moon obscured by the dark clouds was revealed and shone on the edge.

I could see Michael faintly trembling. Only a few select treasure swords, the so-called divine swords, would show such a reaction. They resonated with the surrounding environment, the other person's presence, and the owner's will.

I erased the smile from my face. Delac was no longer a dull-faced newcomer when holding the sword. He had returned to being the Iron-Blooded Lord.

He glanced at me before thrusting his sword. This was despite the fact that more than twenty steps separated the Iron-Blooded Lord from me.

Despite the distance, I twisted my upper body as though dodging an invisible strike. Delac's blade was right in front of me in an instant. This was a blessing I was familiar with: the Shadow Blessing. I'd initially thought it was a ranged attack, but it was actually a movement technique.

I narrowly dodged the attack and swung the Seven Sins Sword, having caught sight of a rather fatal opening after his thrust.

As if waiting for this moment, Delac's figure suddenly sank. As if he was sinking beneath a swamp, he vanished into his own shadow on the ground.

It was a similar blessing to that of Peter Fang, the wolf beastman from the Hero Society. Of course, Delac's blessing was much stronger and more elegant. He could even attack directly from within the shadows.

The moment Delac appeared far away, a shadow shaped like a thorn rose from the ground. Judging from its range, he intended to drive me into a corner. That was the one thing I couldn't allow to happen.

I took a leap forward and narrowed the distance between myself and Delac.

Delac's eyes sank as he stared directly at me with a terrifyingly eerie expression. It was the look of a man who didn't care whether the person was a friend, lover, or even family the moment he defined them as his enemy.

Still, I liked this. I smiled even as I felt a chill run down my spine.

There was still a considerable distance between me and Delac. At the very least, it wasn't one that could be narrowed by a single leap. I was forced to drop to the ground. Judging from my speed, I would land around five steps away from Delac.

He seemed to have calculated the distance, as a shadow pit appeared in the spot where I was set to land. Shadow teeth formed like the jaws of a flytrap.

However, from the start, I had controlled the force of my leap to fall just short of the trap. I activated Crowtaker just before my feet touched the ground. A single wing sprouted from my back and my falling body shot upward.

In the blink of an eye, I closed the distance to Delac and swung my sword at him.

Baaaang!

I let out an empty laugh. Somehow, he'd blocked even that strike. Delac didn't have enough real combat experience or any prior knowledge about me, so that meant his basic judgment, reflexes, and dynamic vision—In short, his adaptability—were all far beyond the norm.

Baaam!

However, he was only at this level for a moment. It wasn't enough to be called truly extraordinary.

I unleashed the White Sun Eclipse that I had been holding back, slamming Scorching into Delac's abdomen and landing a blow dead-on. It was a strike that could shake the insides, no matter how tough the person.

I even hoped that this blow would decide the outcome, but that wasn't what happened. Delac's body flew back, but a chill ran down my spine the moment I glimpsed the look in his eyes. It wasn't the expression of a warrior caught off guard by a sudden attack.

Should I chase him, or briefly retreat? I thought for a moment as I watched Delac move away. Then I decided to pursue him. If this was a real battle, I would've been more cautious. However, it was a sparring match.

The moment I took my next step, I immediately realized my mistake. The flat ground shook and suddenly bound my right foot, to my surprise. I wondered if it was magic, or perhaps a spirit.

Before I could feel flustered, hundreds of daggers rained down from the sky. The sudden turn of events caused me to almost lose the flow of battle. Just moments ago, I had been fighting a swordsman. Then suddenly, the opponent turned into a mage.

I blocked the daggers with the Seven Sins Sword. Then with my free left foot, I stomped down to shatter the bindings restraining me. Meanwhile, Delac disappeared into the darkness again.

Ah, I wish I could use the Dark Sky Moonward Peak, I thought. I somehow felt that this technique would allow me to pinpoint the location of Delac hiding in the shadows. Of course, that was an impossible wish. So instead, I focused all my senses on the smallest irregularities in the environment.

The shadow spaces made no sound when opening or closing, so relying on my hearing would be useless. He wouldn't appear in a place where I could see him, which meant vision was also useless. Smell might have been of some use, but Delac's body was basically odorless. Even his faint natural odor of sweat was minimal, so it would likely be too late by the time I noticed his scent.

That left only touch. I sharpened the senses of my skin, concentrating on the flow of air. If a shadow space opened or closed, the movement of the surrounding air would inevitably change.

Left.

I stabbed my sword toward my left, but there was an immediate backlash. The shadow space had opened but no one was there.

A fake.

A chill ran down my spine and I dropped down almost as if falling. I felt a blade skimming over the back of my neck.

"Haha!" I burst out laughing from the rather ugly position I was in. I didn't know why, but I suddenly got excited.

The moment I realized I was grinning with my teeth exposed, I reached out and gripped my sword with my right hand. Mana surged through the blade and hundreds of spikes shot up, stabbing my palm. Normally, my fingers would've been shredded, but this time, I only bled a bit. There were two reasons for that: I had already wrapped concentrated energy around the blade, and I was wearing the Hidden Scales Armor.

Bam!

My blade pierced Delac's shoulder. Blood flowed, but there wasn't a single scream. Despite his wound, he maintained a calm expression as he analyzed the situation. His next decision was surprising. He immediately discarded the sword he was holding and punched me. The movement was somehow familiar.

The White Sun Eclipse? I wondered. To be precise, it was an imitation. Still, the stance was so solid that it couldn't be considered an ordinary imitation.

I had already been surprised many times in this short exchange. It seemed that would happen again in the future.

Before I knew it, I had let go of the Seven Sins Sword as Delac and I continued to exchange blows at close range. Of course, I didn't just use my fists. This kind of close-range combat could be described as my forte. I attacked Delac with my palms, fingers, elbows, shoulders, knees, feet, and even my forehead.

At first, my attacks landed. The first one hit perfectly, and the second one somehow managed to connect, but from the third attempt onward, it didn't work any longer.

Delac immediately attacked me in a similar way.

Crazy...

I looked at his shoulder while wondering how he was moving so well. However, the pierced shoulder was already healed. His regenerative ability was comparable to Verita's. Having a huge amount of mana or a high realm didn't necessarily increase one's healing power, so it was safe to say that he had a blessing related to recovery.

Bam bam bam baaam!

I thought about it as we continued to fight. Delac's movements were like a sword stripped of all excess, forged only to fulfill its original role. There were no unnecessary ornaments or intricate patterns.

It was just like the family's treasure sword, Michael, which was now lying on the ground—a silvery-white sword made only to cut, stab, and kill.

It is an eerie talent.

I understood Assad's words. This was a talent that would probably appear once every few hundred years.

Even so, he wouldn't be able to win this fight.

Baaam!

The outcome was decided in an instant. At some point, Delac's steps became tangled as he imitated my movements. It was a proficiency issue.

The White Sun Eclipse was my martial art. It wasn't that I had created it, but that it had been created based on me. Everything from the stance to the movement and range, down to the smallest detail, was tailored to my body. Correcting any deviations would require a considerable amount of time and effort. Even I'd had to invest quite a bit of time adjusting to those faint discrepancies after my regression.

I drove my fist into Delac's exposed abdomen, followed by rapid strikes. The moment he staggered back, I kicked at his eye. Normally, this would've crushed the bridge of his nose and his eyeball, but it wasn't a serious concern with Delac's durability and regeneration ability.

Still, he won't be able to see for a while, I thought. The moment Delac lost his sense of balance, I snatched the Seven Sins Sword up from the ground. Then I gripped the sword with both hands and swung it straight down.

"Stop!"

Bam!

The blade pierced the ground right next to Delac's earlobe.

Assad continued, "It is Luan Badniker's victory."

***

I slowly got up.

I'd won against the Iron-Blooded Lord. I once again realized the magnitude of what I had done, but I didn't feel happy or excited.

I had won, but the match itself was decided in an instant and there were no serious injuries. If I was asked if I struggled, I wouldn't be able to truthfully answer yes.

However, the chill that ran down my spine was stronger than it would have been from any other battle. It was stunning just how many steps Delac had grown from this fight alone.

Then again, it would be more correct to call it recovery rather than growth. Unlike his mind, Delac's body seemed to perfectly remember his performance as the Iron-Blooded Lord.

Still, from a third party's perspective, recovery and growth were the same. The skills, improvisation, growth, and explosive power that Delac had just displayed in combat were enough to make anyone feel intimidated.

I already knew better than anyone how great he was, but Delac's true value seemed to be most visible when viewed from above, not below.

It made sense. If I were to imagine a huge tree that grew taller day by day, no matter how much I looked up to it from the ground, I wouldn't be able to truly grasp its size once it reached beyond the clouds. However, if I sat on the edge of the sky and looked down, the tree's impossible growth would be made clear at once. Most people would probably find it unsettling that a mere tree was actually capable of reaching beyond the sky.

Of course, I wasn't claiming to be the sky, and Delac wasn't a tree. The metaphor wasn't perfect. Still, that was what I felt.

My needless thoughts were interrupted when I saw Delac rubbing his eyes while raising only his upper body. I asked, "Are you okay?"

"Mmm," he replied. His eyes were slightly bloodshot, but it didn't look too serious. At worst, he just looked a bit shocked.

Come to think of it, I wondered if the Iron-Blooded Lord had ever lost an official battle. Of course, this was a sparring match.

No.Wait... I thought as I looked at Delac. The White Sun Eclipse he'd just performed was wonderful. Even in front of Bai Luguang, he might not have been reprimanded physically, and perhaps he would've only been corrected verbally.

The current Delac was like a blank sheet of drawing paper. No, on second thought, it wasn't quite to that extent. He was more like an unfinished painting with plenty of space to paint.

A thought came to mind. If that was the case, perhaps I could fill in those empty spaces as I wished, shaping Delac into a martial artist suited to my tastes. Depending on what I taught him, he could become even stronger than the original Iron-Blooded Lord.

Indeed, it would be the creation of the strongest father in history.

Should I call it Daddy Maker? I thought. My breathing became rough at the unexplainable rush of anticipation.

Delac hesitated as he was getting up and stepped back.

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