Unlike those of the Blanche family who were born with white magic, those in the Orde royal family didn't have black magic flowing in their bodies. Instead, they were able to use black magic if they had an item that provided black magic. Others couldn't survive when using black magic, but those in the royal family were able to use it without fear of death.
There was only one magical artifact that was passed down through members of the royal family in the country, so black magic was, essentially, only used by the royal family. Even Hylli, who had focused his entire life on swordsmanship, could use black magic if he possessed the artifact.
'Hylli was born through incest, so were there health issues that stemmed from it? Or did he feel betrayed by the emperor and empress because of it?'
I ran my fingers over my fingernails as a nervous habit. But Hylli wasn't someone who would get angered to this extent just because of a physical issue, so I shook my head.
He wasn't as bad as the Hylli in the original novel, but the current Hylli also had some violent tendencies that he couldn't hide. Others around him worried at first about how he had changed, but as the days passed, he grew more fearsome and people began to keep their distance from him. Only Cory and I stayed and took care of him from time to time.
I was most worried about his violent state during afternoon classes.
These days, he had a tendency to just swing without thought as soon as he got his hands on his sword. Even if he spoke less these days, I could see that he was trying to tamp down on those tendencies of his, but there were times when there was a wild glint in his eyes. His emotions seemed to go haywire whenever he held his sword. His pupils dilated and grew hazier and he swung his sword without a single thought.
Today's duel was the same.
Like clockwork, Hylli and I began to duel as soon as we finished warming up. Because we had been practicing together since our first year in the academy, I knew it was hard for me to keep up with his skills but knew his fighting patterns.
When you keep working with someone for a long time, you end up learning their habits without you knowing. For example, like how someone puts their hand on their neck when they're angry, or how someone fiddles their fingers when they're lying. After practicing against Hylli for years, I knew his fighting habits based on his mood.
When Hylli was happy, he became faster and used a lot of upwards swinging motions. When he was sad, he used a lot less power but used a lot more defensive stances. On the other hand, when he was angry, he used a lot of downward swinging motions and increased in power.
Like that, I ended up learning about his emotions through his sword after going against him every day.
Hylli was always honest when it came to his blade.
Even though he did change, his surroundings and his environment remained the same from junior year. We ran laps around the large training hall and stretched to work on our basic stamina training. When we finished with our basic training, the sun was always at the highest point in the sky. The bright sun shone down on us through the open roof of the training hall.
Whenever we finished our basic training, we huffed and grabbed our wooden swords to practice. Everyone squinted against the bright light of the sun. I didn't really know if it was because of the training or because of the warmth of the sun, but I was always a sweaty mess before dueling. I wiped my sweaty hands on my pants and grabbed the sword to see Hylli waiting, just like always. Ever since junior year.
His eyes glowed red under the shadow of his bangs, as if he was shooting arrows at me. His eyes weren't the round, innocent eyes that I had first seen him with. Now, they were sharp, tired, and looked like they were struggling.
Even before we began our duel, he seemed deep in thought. His eyes were empty.
He was looking at me, but he wasn't seeing me. He seemed to fall deeper into his thoughts and emotions. I couldn't help but feel unfamiliar with him right now. We tried to start our daily duel, but I didn't even think he was noticing me as a duel partner. He was that out of it right now.
When the semester just started, I had initially thought that he didn't change too much. But I was wrong. He had faced some kind of shock, and he had changed as he forced down his exploding emotions without himself realizing. It wasn't the normal, right way of maturing.
Tat!
Like always, Hylli and I briefly nodded as we began to duel. As soon as we began, the sound of wooden swords hitting each other rang through the hall.
As I faced him every day as his conditioned seemed to worsen, I could feel his sword getting rougher around the edges. He didn't have the concern for his partner like before. He used to care for his partner as he matched them, and knew when to fight and when to defend. There was an excitement and assuredness in his sword before.
In the beginning of the duel, Hylli tried his best to be as careful as he could. He tried his best to show me his usual personality, and he even forced himself to smile as he received my attacks.
Hylli tried to hide himself as best as he could, but he couldn't hide his small habits. He defended more than he attacked. He had an awkward expression on his face that was unlike him, and his backward movements indicated that he wanted to end the duel early. Hylli seemed like he wanted to avoid me.
"Seriously, what is going on?"
I muttered quietly. Hylli didn't respond.
An overwhelming mix of feelings began to erupt in me. I thought we were close, but I couldn't help but feel disappointed at Hylli who couldn't trust me when he needed me most.
I had felt the same in my past life.
In my past life, I had a younger brother named Saeyoo. He was directly below me, and he tried his best to help me to the best of his abilities. But as Saeyoo grew older, he began to hide his feelings a lot more. Whenever he came home covered in injuries, he never told me what was going on. He just complained like always and smiled from time to time.
I wanted to have a talk with Saeyoo to unravel the damage to his body and his emotions. I wanted to help Saeyoo and wanted to find a way, but all I received was "You can't help me anyway!" And Saeyoo continued to hide himself and avoided me.
I felt like the emotions I felt then were similar to the ones I was feeling now. Damn it, I might have some kind of sickness where I can't help but want to help others who felt like my younger siblings. Hestia and Hylli both, I knew them ever since we were young. I felt like they were my younger siblings. The memories we had made along the way were the same.
Honestly, I didn't know what to do right now. I didn't know if I should lend a hand to Hylli, or just act like everything was normal, just like Hylli wanted. I wished there was someone who could just point me to the right answers, but that kind of system didn't exist. It was all my choice.
"…..?"
Hylli, who had been deep in thought and just defending himself, suddenly began to let out an incredible amount of murderous intent. Then, he suddenly moved and changed his pattern. Hylli's eyes no longer saw me. The air grew tense as Hylli suddenly began to move differently.
I didn't know what he was thinking, but Hylli's attacks grew fiercer. I couldn't help but think of when Hylli slammed his blade against the wooden figure. And his anger-fueled attack began just like that.
'He lost his mind.....'
Hylli's formerly empty eyes were suddenly filled with rage. His eyes glinted with recognition. But the light in his eyes were wild. It was full of murderous rage. He wasn't seeing me. He seemed to have put someone else in my place. Whenever our blades touched, I could feel rage and a deep sadness.
Hylli suddenly got close to me as he attacked. I couldn't help but get chills. His eyes glinted as he met my eyes. He didn't have that care he usually had when he fought against me. He seemed to think that I would obviously block all of his stupidly strong attacks.
I barely blocked his one-handed attack with both hands. I felt like I would get buried in the ground at his downward strikes, so I took a few steps back. I felt all of my hairs stand as I grew nervous. Then, his continued senseless attacks continued.
"Hylli! Hey! Wake up!"
I yelled, but our surroundings were loud and the sound of our blades buried my voice. Damn it. I exhaled sharply and then breathed in. I made sure that my lungs were filled with oxygen and searched for the magic within my body. Just so I could use it at a moment's notice.
I used all of the magic that I could to increase my strength. I increased the strength in my legs and my arms and my hips. I activated a spell that would transport me to the nurse's office when I passed out just in case something happened. It was always important to have a back-up plan.
If only I had a bit more magic, I could've just knocked him out. Sadly, I didn't have enough magic.
I blamed my sad magic stores and used a ton of distracting spells like fireballs against Hylli. Hylli just cut my attacks in half with his blade and continued attacking. I barely blocked his sword thanks to the distractions. I didn't know if he was completely serious or not, but his attacks were incredibly frightening. His expression more so.
Sadly, all of my attacks were blocked, and I, once again, barely blocked his attack. Attacking was hard enough, but blocking was just as hard. Honestly, the murderous aura around him was difficult to bear. Hylli had that main character buff of his when it came to swordsmanship, so his skills were comparable to none. And with those skills, when he seriously came at me like this, I couldn't win. He was almost a swordmaster at this point. It was obvious.
I knew that I wouldn't be able to fight like this for much longer.
Hylli's continued attack was coming close, but I couldn't block it. I tried to use other spells, but my magic was running low. I had no other point of escape other than just passing out.
I was glad that I put that nurse's office transportation spell earlier. I stopped defending myself to just let myself pass out.
Wow. I'm so excited. The sick bay, again. Damn it, if only I had some more magic….
I couldn't even fathom how much I would get hurt, so I couldn't help but smile bitterly.
I stared at Hylli's incoming blade and got ready for the strike to come.
If I used this against him, would he tell me what was going on? He injured me, so I would probably be able to butt in and learn about what was going on. I smiled bitterly as I tried to distract myself from the current situation.
Taat.
But the blow I was expecting didn't arrive, nor was I transported to the nurse's office. Nothing hurt.
In front of me was a familiar head of silver hair. Swanhaden had blocked Hylli's attack instead.
Swan grabbed my arm with one hand and pulled me behind him.
"Stand back."
Swan told me as he closed in on Hylli.