I Regressed to My Ruined Family – 79

 #I returned, and my family was ruined (80)

Count Marek.

He received the sword of the Grand Duke.

“It’s heavy.”

Even with his superhuman eyes, it was difficult to find any weaknesses in the Grand Duke.

He was truly a proper knight.

And he was already half-way to becoming a complete knight.

“There’s only one thing missing.”

The amount of mana he possessed within his body.

It was astonishing.

There were few knights he had encountered in his life who he considered “perfect.”

“…It’s as if I’m looking at the duke.”

The head of the Laysian Duke’s family.

Duke Gerond.

That was the first knight that came to mind when he saw the Grand Duke. Not a transcendent being like himself, who was only halfway there, but a monster who could truly be called transcendent.

“The level I can see is at best a 7-star.”

But why did he think of a transcendent being every time he saw him?

Marek smiled wryly.

But only for a moment.

He began to swing his sword.

One strike.

Two strikes.

The more he swung, the faster Marek’s sword became.

By the time he had struck ten times,

the speed of his sword had increased to the point where no one in the grand hall or the audience could see it with the naked eye.

It was overwhelming.

Marek’s attacks were so fierce that there were no words to describe them.

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A terrifying sword wind.

The Grand Prince standing in the middle of it looked as if he was about to collapse at any moment.

However.

Everyone’s expectations were completely wrong.

Instead, the Grand Prince was not only catching up to Marek’s speed little by little, but also launching sharp counterattacks, dancing between Marek’s swords.

“…What am I looking at?”

“…Oh my god.”

Count Marek was a knight known as a transcendent being. Naturally, everyone thought that the Grand Prince would fall before ten blows.

But how could he be fighting back against a knight known as a transcendent being?

He began to wonder if what he was seeing was a dream.

In the midst of their sword fight.

Marek swung his sword toward the Grand Duke’s chest.

“An opening.”

Ethan’s eyes lit up.

Marek had no intention of killing him. That much was clear from the way he was using his sword.

It was the same now.

As if trying to swat away a fly that had stuck to his body, Marek’s sword was swinging much wider than before.

He was practically signaling for him to dodge.

He had disliked him from the moment they first met.

What’s more, his sword was emitting flames similar to those Teron had created.

They seemed even more refined and stable than Teron’s.

“I see.”

Now he was certain.

Marek and the other high-ranking members had mastered techniques that appeared to be far superior to those Teron had learned.

They had mastered techniques that overcame weaknesses.

Then what was Teron, who had mastered imperfect techniques?

“An experimental subject and a puppet.”

When he saw him standing there like a docile lamb, not even resisting the black-robed man he had seen earlier.

No matter how he looked at it, that was the only conclusion he could come to.

He must have used some kind of technique to maximize negative emotions and apply them to the flames.

Otherwise, there was no way an eighteen-year-old could have built up such intense emotions.

Even though he was angry because of what Teron had done, Ethan’s thoughts were still cold and calculated.

“The basic preparations are complete.”

This was the Ardan Duke’s mansion.

And he was now on the verge of becoming the duke.

The ruler of the vast ducal territory.

From now on, he had no intention of bowing his head to anyone.

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Not even the emperor of the empire.

“I’ll show you.”

The sword of the duke.

He would prove once again that it was sharper than anything else in the world.

No one would be able to laugh at the name Ardan.

In that sense.

Avoiding the count’s sword in front of him was the worst of all options.

Ethan jumped without hesitation between the swords.

The sword flashed with flames as it approached his heart.

“I’ll give you my bones.”

I’ll take your flesh.

[Red Flame Style, Chapter 4]

[Fire Body]

Flames erupted from Ethan’s chest. They were not ordinary flames, but snow-white ones.

Marek’s flames collided with Ethan’s white flames. The white flames, which had briefly withstood Marek’s black flames, quickly faded away.

Puuu!

The sword pierced his chest.

This was the first time he had been attacked so directly since using the Fire Body.

Attacks from someone who had reached superhuman levels were definitely different. Blood spurted from his chest.

However.

He felt no pain at all. Instead, he smiled slightly and swung his sword toward Marek’s neck.

“…!”

The count’s eyes widened.

There were too many eyes watching.

Killing the grand duke would not be difficult, but then there would be problems afterward.

The Seven Houses of the Kingdom.

Killing the grand duke, who was a powerful candidate to succeed the duke for the sake of the three princes, here?

Who wouldn’t see that as a plot to take over the Duke’s family?

Moreover, the Grand Prince was a descendant of a hero. He was someone who should not have been killed here.

Even for the Duke of Leysian, it would be as difficult as plucking stars from the sky to restore the people’s hearts that had been turned against him by the Grand Prince’s death.

Don’t come any closer.

He swung his sword with all his might.

Only a madman would rush into such a situation.

But the Grand Duke…

“…He really is mad.”

Even with blood gushing from his chest, he swung his sword at my neck.

There was nothing else to say but “madman.”

If that wasn’t the case.

“…He’s a natural fighter.”

The superhuman was momentarily taken aback.

His body, trained over many years, naturally stepped back.

Whoosh!

The opening revealed by his momentary panic was larger than he had expected.

The sword swung down and left a red line on the count’s neck.

Drops of blood dripped from the count’s neck as he stepped back.

“…!”

It was only a small line, but

the audience couldn’t hide their surprise.

It meant that the second-in-command of the Duke’s family had been wounded by the Grand Duke.

Who would have thought that the Grand Duke would fight so hard against a knight known as a transcendent being!

Third Prince Teron.

What he showed was impressive, but it was nothing compared to the Grand Duke.

It wasn’t just the audience who was shocked.

The Black Mage who had come with Count Marek was also wide-eyed.

“…Count Marek was injured? Was the Grand Duke that powerful?”

When he first rushed at the count.

He thought he was just a reckless fool with a high sense of pride.

It was only natural for him to think that Marek would defeat the Grand Duke.

That was why he had been able to speak to the Crown Prince without any hesitation.

How surprised he was.

The black mana flowing toward Teron was shaking violently.

But that was only for a moment.

The Black Mage regained his composure and began to control his mana.

The Count was wounded, but that did not mean defeat.

It only proved that the Grand Duke had put up a good fight.

The Black Mage looked at Teron once more.

“What do you want?”

“The Duke’s family…”

“Yes. The Duke of Ardan. It is the family that Teron should rightfully inherit. But what happened today? There is a wolf in sheep’s clothing who covets Teron’s position.”

“Who…”

―The Grand Prince.

At those words, Teron frowned.

The Black Mage’s magic flowed out even more intensely. Teron’s pupils darkened in an instant.

―Remember. The Grand Prince is your enemy.

“Enemy…”

―And he is a powerful enemy who must be killed.

Teron blinked his eyes and then slumped down.

The Black Magician let out a sigh of relief. He was able to regain control that had been wavering slightly.

“However…”

Some of the negative emotions he had been building up had faded, so he felt he needed to go back and replenish them.

“That’s surprising.”

The emotions that the Seven Families of the Kingdom had instilled in him for nine years had faded with just one sparring match?

“Even if it’s only a part…”

He couldn’t hide his surprise.

The white flames contained the energy of purification.

It must have been those flames that caused the emotions instilled in Teron to fade.

Soon after, the Black Mage looked at Count Marek and whispered in mana.

“It’s over. There’s no need to waste any more time.”

Teron.

He was the perfect product of the Kingdom of Seven.

The reason Count Marek personally intervened in the battle was because the black magic power contained within Teron was wavering.

Baekyeom.

That technique was far more powerful than he had imagined.

No wonder even the brainwashing mixed with the power of the Duke of Agiles, who was known as the master of black magic, began to falter.

That was why Count Marek had no choice but to intervene in the battle.

He couldn’t let the brainwashing be broken.

Now, his mission was complete.

However.

The Grand Duke in front of him did not seem likely to let him go easily.

Even with blood pouring from his chest, the determination in his eyes as he stared at Marek had not wavered in the slightest.

“…Should I kill him here?”

Marek hesitated for a moment.

The Grand Duke.

He had learned this for sure during their sword fight today.

He was a dangerous man.

Even the Seven Guardians of the Kingdom could not control him. The more time he was given, the more he would grow in strength.

Marek hesitated for a moment.

“Stop!”

A voice filled with immense mana rang out from between the grand stands.

The audience’s attention was drawn to the voice, and they soon realized who it belonged to.

Count Welington!

He was one of the leading figures of the royalist faction and was known to be in charge of all information in the kingdom.

Not only the Seven Noble Families, but even the royalist faction’s core members had participated in the opening ceremony.

The moment the Earl of Welington stamped his foot, his figure became blurry. In the blink of an eye, he was standing in the middle of the arena.

The moment Earl Welington stepped forward,

his figure became blurry.

In the blink of an eye, he was standing in the center of the grand arena.

“How can there be so many superhumans?”

Ethan couldn’t hide his confusion.

Listening to the voices in the audience, it seemed that he was someone who provided information to the king.

He was far too skilled to be merely the leader of an information group.

He was a knight.

And not just any knight, but a real knight who could easily defeat Count Marek.

Soon, Wellington stood in front of the Grand Duke and Marek and said,

“His Majesty has issued a decree!”

At that moment,

Marek knelt down with his sword sheathed. The Black Mage did the same.

The audience also hurriedly knelt down and bowed their heads.

The king’s decree.

It was the natural response to hearing those words. However, there was one person who not only refused to kneel but also held his sword in his hand.

Ethan Ardan.

He was the one who had been granted immunity by the previous king.

Even with the king’s decree, no one could force him to act.

The heads of the duke’s family had never kneeled before anyone, at least within the duke’s domain.

That was true even if the king himself visited. The grand duke stood there calmly, looking at him.

For some reason, he was reminded of the previous duke.

Ethan and Wellington.

Their eyes met.