<Chapter 7>
The news of Ruin’s recovery spread quickly throughout the family.
The servants, who would have been punished for showing emotions, remained silent, but the blood relatives—especially Ruin’s siblings—could not hide their shock.
“Big brother is back?”
“That’s right! I just saw him at the training grounds!”
“The training grounds…?”
“Yeah! And he’s completely recovered!”
The boy standing frozen across from Deash was Dain Bern, the second son.
Unlike Ruin, Dain was a prodigy in swordsmanship and a flawless candidate to be the next heir of House Hybern.
The only obstacle was his age.
Once he turned fifteen, the age symbolizing adulthood in House Bern, everyone expected him to inherit the title of Grand Duke without question.
“How could this be…?”
It was unbelievable.
The Ruin in Dain’s memories had always been a frail, skeletal figure confined to his bed, his condition so pitiful that even sympathy seemed futile.
And yet, the brother who had clung to life in such misery was now standing before them, completely healthy.
“I need to see this for myself.”
With Deash leading the way, Dain arrived at the training grounds, only to find Ruin standing in the center, gazing quietly at the sky.
Deash wore a strange expression.
“He’s still at it. I don’t even know how many hours it’s been now.”
Dain struggled to understand what Ruin was doing.
“He’s just been standing there?”
“Yeah. Since morning. He hasn’t moved once.”
Dain couldn’t hide his unease.
No training method in their family involved just standing still like this.
If he were practicing the family’s secret sword techniques, he wouldn’t have been doing it in a training ground used by mere knights.
“Brother…?”
Ruin’s clear, emotionless eyes turned toward his younger siblings.
Eyes devoid of any feelings.
Dain instinctively suppressed the urge to step back.
It wasn’t aura, nor was it anything tangible. It was simply a pure, overwhelming presence.
Even as someone hailed as the greatest prodigy of his time, having reached the level of a three-star knight at just fourteen, Dain had never felt such pressure before.
“What is it?”
Dain, who had come all this way, suddenly found himself at a loss for words.
The last time he saw his brother, Ruin’s skeletal frame had been barely held together, veins bulging grotesquely beneath his skin, his entire being teetering on the edge of death.
But now, he was different.
He was still thin, still lacking vitality, yet he was solid, strong.
“If you have no reason to be here, then don’t disturb me. Leave.”
Again, Dain nearly recoiled.
The crushing weight of Ruin’s presence was suffocating.
This authority, this dominance—Dain had only ever felt it from their father or from Uncle Yukain.
‘And this… is the brother they called the disgrace of House Hybern?’
Dain refused to accept that he had just felt fear toward Ruin.
His pride wouldn’t allow it.
“Disturb you?”
Dain’s intense aura flared as he glared at Ruin, who remained indifferent.
“A knight interfering with another’s training…”
Dain scoffed.
“Don’t be ridiculous. Staring blankly at the sky isn’t training. If that counts, then breathing must be training too.”
Ruin’s gaze briefly returned to the sky.
He had been curious about how he would feel seeing his younger brother again, but now he knew, there was no warmth in him.
Dain, the Sword King.
The prodigious knight of the Kingdom of Lermadel.
The youngest family head in House Hybern’s history.
But despite his genius, he had spent his life tormented by his own inadequacy, forever crushed under the shadow of the Sword Saint.
And House Hybern’s destruction—
No matter how it was justified, it had been Dain’s sin.
“…Foolish child.”
Dain’s expression twisted in rage.
“What did you just say?”
Never had anyone in their family dared to insult him, not even their father.
Not once had he heard such humiliating words directed at him.
“Did you not understand? You’re not just foolish. You’re downright stupid.”
“You—”
Dain clenched his jaw so tightly that his lip split open.
As someone who had taken immense pride in the honor of House Hybern, who had never once forsaken his knightly duties, he had never been more insulted.
He tore off his glove and threw it at Ruin’s feet.
Thud.
Ruin stared down at the glove on the ground.
“You know that duels between blood relatives are forbidden by family law, don’t you?”
“Shut up! House Hybern does not recognize a banished failure as family!”
Clang!
Dain drew his sword, and Ruin let out a small laugh.
“So you’ve even abandoned your honor.”
“What?”
Suddenly, Ruin’s entire being radiated an indescribable, savage intensity.
“A knight does not draw his sword against an unarmed opponent. There is nothing more meaningless than crossing blades with someone who has forsaken their code. I have no interest in looking at you any longer. Get lost.”
Dain’s face burned with fury.
His very sword had just been insulted.
Overwhelmed by rage, he spat out his words.
“Get a sword.”
Ruin smirked once again.
“Now you care about honor? How admirable. At least you know shame.”
“Shut up and get a sword!”
Ruin slowly shook his head.
“A mere child who doesn’t even understand knightly virtue dares to challenge me?”
And with that, Ruin once again began converting his lifeforce into True Magic through the power of the Bloodline magic.
<So you truly wish to die?>
Gyrobel couldn’t understand Ruin at all.
He had already sacrificed half of his life force by summoning the demon’s spirit.
As a mortal, his limited lifespan should have made him value his time above all else.
Yet he threw it away so easily.
<I don’t care if your pathetic life ends. But if you continue using your life force like this, your Bloodline’s power may shatter.>
Ruin chuckled.
That prideful demon lord of the demon realm was not worrying about him.
He was concerned that his own vision might be shattered by such a mere fledgling.
But if Ruin hadn’t been prepared for something of this level, he wouldn’t have returned to the past in the first place.
Ruin’s smirk deepened.
“How long do you plan to stand there like that?”
In that instant, the sword technique of the Martial War Sword of the House of Hybern burst forth from Dain’s blade.
This swordsmanship, also known as Lion Sword, was the kingdom’s finest technique, specialized in dominating space itself.
Watching Dain’s blade carve an eerily perfect trajectory, a faint, satisfied smile crept onto Ruin’s lips for the first time.
CLANG!
A dazzling flash of the blade grazed Ruin’s face.
And at that moment, Dain saw it.
That unreadable smile reflected on the blade.
The shock of Ruin dodging his seemingly perfect strike was nothing compared to the sheer eeriness of that smile.
Every hair on Dain’s body stood on end.
“UAAAAHHH!”
His face twisted with rage as he launched another relentless assault.
As the sacred light of his sword flickered, Ruin’s eyes gleamed with interest.
“He’s already starting to sense Spiritual Aura?”
The soul of a knight, Spiritual Aura.
Though still faint, the energy unmistakably carried the essence of Spiritual Aura, meaning Dain was already knocking on the door of Fourth Star Knight.
Considering his age, it was an achievement beyond imagination.
A true prodigy of the Lermadel Kingdom and a worthy successor to the House of Hybern.
However—
CRACK!
Ruin’s hand shot forward, gripping Dain’s underarm in an instant.
Dain gritted his teeth, trying to resist, but the pain was beyond endurance.
“AAARGH!”
Ruin’s gaze remained utterly indifferent, devoid of even the slightest emotion.
“Your sword is full of openings. Nothing but flashy, hollow technique.”
Every single one of Ruin’s moves was so lethal and brutal that even the superhumans of the continent had been left in awe.
On the battlefield, more enemies had fallen to his martial arts than to his magic.
The Grand Mage Ruin’s unique combat technique had been recognized even by Gregora, the War God of the Bloodlord Battle Realm.
Though he had only ever scratched its surface, deeming it less efficient than black magic, against knights below the Sixth Star, it was more than effective.
“Let go! Let go of me! AAAAHH!”
Ruin grabbed Dain’s head and slammed it into the ground.
THUD!
“Feel it.”
For the first time in his life, Dain tasted the bitter scent of dirt.
As he glared up at Ruin with murderous intent, Ruin’s lips twisted in grim satisfaction.
“That is the ground.”
Dain bit his lips so hard that they bled.
Tears streamed down his face uncontrollably.
“Are you angry?”
“I—I’LL KILL YOU! This humiliation… One day, I swear—!”
“You’re directing your anger at the wrong person, Dain. You should be angry at yourself.”
Ruin’s smirk vanished.
“You must have thought you were impressive, awakening your Aura. But the reality is, this is your limit. You’re so poorly trained that you let an unarmed opponent seize you in two moves. A genius blinded by talent, lost in empty praise.”
“Wh-what?!”
“Did it never cross your mind why I haven’t lost my composure even once?”
“I—I…”
“You’ve never tasted defeat, so you never learned to assess your opponent’s true strength. The training knights played along with you, making you feel like a real warrior. And you basked in that illusion.”
CLANG!
SNAP!
With a flick of Ruin’s wrist, Dain’s sword shattered.
“Wh-what are you doing?! My sword—!”
Dain opened his mouth to shout but quickly shut it.
He couldn’t comprehend the principles or power behind Ruin’s effortless movement.
“You are unworthy of wielding a sword.”
“Who—who are you to say that?! The King himself knighted me and gave me that blade!”
At those words, Ruin rubbed his aching temples.
A child’s dazzling tricks always amuse the elderly.
The most powerful man in the kingdom had named him the kingdom’s treasure, had showered him with praise, had knighted him.
And this fool had drowned in that glory.
“Listen well. If this were a real battlefield, your neck would already be broken. You’d be just another nameless corpse lying cold in the dirt.”
Ruin released Dain’s hair and slowly stood.
“Until you can satisfy me, I will call you nothing more than a corpse.”
“Big Brother—!”
“You, shut your mouth as well.”
Though once a tragic woman, Deash had played no small part in their house’s downfall—an ignorant, foolish sister.
“…What did you just say?”
Hearing such words for the first time in her life, Deash was left utterly speechless.
“The family does not exist to indulge your vanity, Deash. If the only thing filling your soul is those gaudy dresses and accessories, then leave. Go beyond the castle walls and live as some nameless branch family member.”
“KYAAA!!”
Deash clutched her ears and screamed, as if she could no longer bear to listen.
But Ruin had no intention of stopping.
“If you strip away the name of our house, what is left of you? No matter how desperately you cling to high society, vying for attention, tell me, who would truly look at you beyond your extravagant dress?”
Ruin’s cold eyes landed on Deash’s ornate, gold-embroidered gown, his lips curling in a mocking sneer.
“Until you prove yourself worthy, you too shall be known as nothing but a dress.”
“Accept it or reject it, I don’t care. Go and think about it carefully.”
“Seethe with anger.”
“Curse your own limits. Hate me with every fiber of your being.”
“Sink to the very bottom.”
Ruin’s icy gaze drifted toward the vast, blue sky.
Because he knew.
He knew just how terrifying a person could become once they had truly hit rock bottom.
If his siblings could crawl back up from that abyss, then the future of House Hybern would not be bleak.
