Starfoster Academy.
In the hallways, a group of students held up a male student to the walls maliciously.
The leader of the group, a tall and sturdy student, growled:
"You damn busybody! How many times do I have to bash into that thick skull of yours not to mess with my business, huh Aurelius?!"
The male student hanging on the wall, Aurelius, groggily raised his head and looked at the students in front of him.
'Uh damn… My head hurts. Who are these people again?'
As soon as he got a look at their appearances, his mind instantly recalled who the people were.
'Ah right. Dumb ogre, goblin man, ugly troll face and the breed of satan…'
Unsurprisingly, it was the usual spawn of cliché cartoonish school bullies that annoyed him three times a week.
Knowing that, it wasn't a surprise that they were here…
At some point, Aurelius wanted to ask, don't you guys get tired at all?
'It's either they're incredibly stupid or incredibly dumb…'
Aurelius sighed. Then again he did read some little bit of psychology in his free time. It was a website he accidentally pressed while browsing random things.
On the website was a long essay that he read everything (skipped) and understood (did not learn a single thing) entirely.
He remembered a line of it that he thought was the gist of the whole essay; people bully others because they're ugly and insecure.
That's it. There were probably a lot more context to that line and additional nuance and complexity, but that was what he just remembered.
Recalling that line, it was true. Aurelius nodded seriously as he observed the faces of the bullies holding him.
The leader was a sturdy, big student with a slightly… 'unique' face while the other three standing behind him were also relatively the same in appearance.
If you look at the faces of these anthropoids… monsters? spawn of hell? He couldn't even describe their faces aptly.
Sometimes he wondered, just what did these little shits parents looked like? Did their parents engage in Eugenics to create the most ugly spawn possible? It's also possible that it was the result of incestual behaviour, or as he liked to call it, keeping the royal bloodline pure.
'What's the purpose? To create a face that scares even the Ashurins?'
Thinking of that, Aurelius furrowed his brows and looked at the bullies again, this time carefully examining the details of their faces.
"What are you looking at Aurelius…?"
The Dumb Ogre angrily frowned.
As the man frowned, his face creased and exemplified the detail on his face. Even Aurelius felt creeped out.
…Is it possible?
"Fuck you!"
Dumb Ogre slammed his back to the walls.
Bam—!
Aurelius growled in pain. Although the student uniforms did cover most of the damage from external impacts, there were still some leaking pain akin to ant bites.
'Ah damn it… I lost trail of my thoughts… What was I thinking about again? Heh, that could very well be the hope of this bastard to change his life.'
Aurelius looked at Dumb Ogre pitifully.
"What the fuck is that face for?!"
Ignorant of his pitiful fate, the Dumb Ogre cried out.
Hearing that, Aurelius, for like the sixty ninth time, sighed.
As far as he recalled, Dumb Ogre was a member of the Lacrosse family, people with strong bodies and impressive strength but not-so impressive in the intelligence side.
"My friend, don't blame me. It's your fault."
Aurelius snickered, waving his hand in dismissal.
Looking at Aurelius' face full of pity and nonchalance, Dumb Ogre felt his anger rise through the roof. It was like the man's mind was uncaring of them… apathetic.
That was right—it was like Aurelius was utterly apathetic towards them.
'Are we nothing in your eyes, you piece of shit?!'
Unable to control himself, he raised his other hand and manifested a silver knuckle on top of it.
Woosh!
That mystical scene caused sudden chaos and uproar among the rest of the group.
"Carlson, don't! We can beat this piece of shit all we want but don't use your Volund!"
"Carlson, calm down!"
"Senior Fillian told us not to, remember!?"
Upon seeing the knuckle, the goons shouted while Aurelius widened his eyes, staring at Dumb Ogre in disbelief.
'This absolute buffoon… is he really going to use his volund unauthorized?
He was sure to himself that when that knuckle comes crashing down, bruises wouldn't be his only problem. It would be a broken skull.
Hell, he probably wouldn't have any problems anymore as he could die depending on the strength applied.
But that was if it landed on him.
"Hehe, now I really want to see your face full of pity you bastard!!"
Carlson chuckled, cracking his fingers.
Ignoring the cries of his henchmen, he gathered some power to his knuckles. Not enough to kill, but enough to render someone crippled.
Not that he knew to control his strength. He'll just chalk it up as an accident, shit happens. If the teachers didn't care about bullying surely they didn't care about some soon to be crippled unblessed.
However, just as he was about to strike—
"Wait."
Aurelius murmured loudly as he felt his worries increasingly grow. He didn't have much attachment to life, but dying to a bunch of stupid idiots with nothing to do?
"I'm not going to wait, Aurelius. Just close your eyes."
Carlson "Super Duper Dumb As A Fucking Rock Ogre" said.
Aurelius bit his lip.
Knowing this idiot, there was a high chance the man could really do it. A brainless fool was dangerous, indeed…
Should he surrender and apologize then? He didn't really have much pride. Aurelius snorted in his heart.
Pride was a foreign concept when his parents lacked dignity themselves. Others might misunderstand his resistance as some sort of pride, but not really. Far from it.
The only reason he kept standing up and resisting these hell spawns was that their reaction was fun to see, especially when they can't do anything but to keep throwing light punches.
Also they were annoying.
In other words, they were entertainment for him. Sure, they threw punches. But with the school uniform and good clinic room, damage was not a concern.
But… it would be a waste to just abandon the reputation he built for himself among the student campus, he painstakingly built it.
Aurelius thought for a moment before smiling widely.
Risking his life or future for mere reputation and fun…?
'I think I'm really crazy…'
He still doesn't feel like surrendering at all. Call him stupid or idiotic, but he found himself more daring.
Carefully arranging his words, Aurelius warned, his eyes narrowing.
"...Are you sure, Dumb Ogre? Hitting a person with a Volund is punishable by law."
"No one is going to know."
Carlson replied uncaringly, cracking his fingers.
Sigh… you left me no choice! Sorry, dumb ogre.
Taking that response as a cue, like a Master Wordsmith, words suddenly came out naturally out of Aurelius mouth:
"Sigh.."
"If you act like that, I would come to think even a rock is smarter than you. Don't lower my opinion of you more. But knowing you… a rock might as well be smarter. It leads me to think, didn't your parents know that Eugenics or Incest is a failed approach? What were they thinking? They were successful in their endeavour, but at what cost? Then again, children do inherit traits from their parents… you're most likely the combination of your parents intelligence, so you couldn't be blamed for being dumb. Your only fault is existing and not killing yourself upon looking at the mirror."
"What the fuck?!"
Carlson suddenly gnashed his teeth, increasing the power on his hand while veins erupted on his forehead.
Seeing their reaction, Aurelius lips curled into a smirk, infuriating the rest of the group.
Words, smooth as water, with the elegance of a drunken man, intensity of mating rabbits, impact of an asteroid, came so free and continued so fluidly:
"I doubt this could get through that thick skull of yours, but if it doesn't, you should entertain suicide. I recommend it. I'll say this only once: this is Starfoster Academy, one of the prestigious academies in the Kingdom, you think there aren't any CCTVs watching? They exist. Recording every action within every facility except the dormitory. They see this. Everything. The only reason they don't stop the bullying is because I'm a normal one. A non-Miracleborn unblessed, while you're a Miracleborn. They can ignore it, as long as you don't inflict too much damage or use Volund to break the law… but when you do….
"Let's just say things won't be pretty. Damn it, I almost forgot you're dumb. You might not get it. Let me reiterate the consequences according to law. If you do that, not only will your entire record be marked as unlawful, causing you to have no more future and be expelled. You will also be sent directly to jail. And do you know what you will experience in jail? Isolation. Starvation. But worst of all… I'll just say pity for those buttcheeks. Dont grab the soap in the shower. I'm not even accounting for the impact of your actions on your parents yet. They might lose their careers. They might drink themselves, lose themselves, divorce or maybe kill themselves after realising Eugenics was a lost cause. Not uncommon. If I was your dad, I would've killed myself when my wife announced she's pregnant. Hell, your ancestors might rise from the grave and exterminate their own bloodline in disgust and revulsion."
Aurelius chuckled at the end, his lips curling into a mocking smile.
Upon seeing Carlson's face growing pale white in mix anger and harrowing realization, Aurelius continued mercilessly.
"Come on, hit me. Hit me. In fact, I dare you to hit me, you fat piece of rotten garbage. Did your mother accidentally crap in her birth? No wonder you look so unnatural, nine months of birth was the accumulation of nine months of your mother's crap."
Aurelius arrogantly raised his head, putting his face in front of Carlson. He looked straight into the man's eyes, as though scrutinizing the man's soul.
"What, are you scared now? You only amount to this much, Dumb Ogre or what was your name again… Crapson?"
After finishing his words, silence reigned in the place.
"Haa..haa…"
Slowly, Carlsen deeply breathed as he felt his body tremble in extreme anger.
Retracting his head, Aurelius was wondering if he had gone too far. Not like he particularly cared. The man didn't have any guts to attack him anyways.
He mostly exaggerated some of his claims. Not like the Dumb Ogre will catch that anyway.
Even if the dumb ogre did, the worst that could happen is him and the dumb ogre being expelled from this school.
Carlsen immediately snapped back to his rationale and gritted his teeth. He dematerialized the silver knuckle.
Grabbing Aurelius' uniform, he bashed the poor man to the wall with all his strength, causing blood to drip from Aurelius' forehead.
"Let's go. Pick a better fucking victim next time, this unblessed is annoying to deal with. Little shit Aurelius thinks his family is still good."
"Fuck…. you… coward…"
Before Aurelius blacked out, he felt regret that he was no longer able to mess with Carlsen and the rest.
***
While Aurelius was unconscious, he had a dream.
'The era of the Sword Saint is over.'
Not just any dream. It was a vivid and realistic dream. In the dream, he was watching a man in his forties surrounded by countless opponents with magical weapons.
'That title again. Sword Saint… stop calling me that. It was simply the sword that brought me to this path. Nothing more, nothing less.'
Despite being outnumbered by his enemies, the man stood tall with a calm expression while holding a pair of swords on both of his hands.
Then one of his enemies asked the man a question before engaging:
'You show no fear. The Xin Dynasty hunts for you. Bringing even the best of the best of all immortals in the world. Why so?'
The man in his forties chuckled at that. Shaking his head, he answered:
'Fear is for the unchallenged. I fought demi-gods, demon kings and even dragon lords… and yet you expect for me a sliver of fear to leak? You underestimate the sword forged by vicisitudes of countless battles.'
'In fact, I have some motives myself for coming here. The Sword showed me that I'm going to die here by something.'
The man in his forties smiled, eliciting a clanging sound from his swords.
'In spite of death, there is opportunity. To slice even destiny and reach the pinnacle of the sword. It is either I die by destiny, or I live unaffected by it.'
Hearing that, his enemies were astounded, even awed by his determination and fanaticism. This was the Sword Saint that ruled for thousands of years. This was the Sword Saint with humble beginnings, eventually reaching the pinnacle of the sword.
Soon after, no more words were exchanged. The battle officially began. And the man in his forties swung.
Grace, intention and technique—it was all perfect.
In each of his swings, an immortal fell.
Despite the burst of blood and agonizing screams on the field, the battle was beautiful. Beyond that, mesmerizing. It was the type of effect the legendary wielder of the sword emitted.
And yet, even so… as his enemies slowly exhaust and die out. So did the man. But the man still swung, with no desire to run, the man preserved.
By the end of it all, the man was the only one remaining.
'And here I thought I was going to die by someone among them, I even cut the thread of death itself. With this done, there's nothing left this world has to offer to me. I've become the Pinnacle. The Master of the Sword.'
The man in his forties chuckled, his body fallen on the ground exhausted. He stared at the sky, reminiscing of something.
'...But the sword was not wrong. It was never wrong. It turns out, I'm the one going to kill myself..'
There was no purpose left when one reached the pinnacle. Although the sword is a path without end, even he felt lonely and bored at the invincibility.
How many family and relatives he saw wither amidst his unaging invincible lifetime? Too many to count.
Now even he was tired. As he smiled, he recalled his memories. A youth from thousands of years ago picking up a sword, but now a desolate soul about to be buried by it.
Perhaps in his next life he could continue to master the sword endlessly…
Mindlessly, the man in his forties raised one of his swords and threw it in the air. As the sword rotated in the air, it slowly fell to his body.
For the last time, the man smiled in maddened fashion.
'...To live by the sword, to die by the sword.'
As the sword fell to the man's chest, the world echoed a sound. It was unknown if it was sorrow for a legend who died. Or joy for a murderer slain.