"I heard the news that you returned to the capital. If that's the case, this is the only place you'd co."
"......"
"Did you do that too? You completely split it in two."
Gabi glanced at the rock, split diagonally in an X shape, a result of Maya's sword aura cleaving through it in a single strike.
"Impressive. Tomorrow, you’ll officially co of age, and you’ve already reached this level of mastery. I couldn't even dream of such things at your age."
When she was younger, Maya had been brought to the capital by her master, Gabi, who had saved her life. The first place she ever trained with her sword, which had been a gift from her master, was this very clearing. From the mont she embarked on rigorous training, she always kept her eyes on that rock.
It was as if reaching the level where she could slice through that rock would solve all her worries and pain. Every day, without fail, she aid her sword at that boulder, staring it down. And now, she had finally cut through it.
But despite achieving what she had pursued since childhood, Maya’s face showed no joy or sense of accomplishnt.
"How do you rember my birthday...?"
Her voice was emotionless, cold. Gabi, looking down at her long-ti disciple, smiled gently.
"You've gotten wittier since I last saw you. Does any teacher ever forget their student’s birthday?"
"It’s been years since we last saw each other. How could you still rember? If soone isn’t by your side, it’s natural to forget them."
To Maya, whose mind was broken, this was a perfectly reasonable question.
Once the thread of a relationship is severed, there’s no reason to look back. After leaving her nest and becoming a Hero candidate, Maya hadn’t clung to the past. She had only retained the lessons that were useful for her survival. Everything else, she had erased from her mind without hesitation.
...But apparently, Gabi saw things differently.
"Even when you’re not by my side, a precious bond doesn’t break, Maya."
Gazing beyond the clearing at the stream trickling along, Gabi fixed her eyes on the shade of a weeping willow near the water’s edge. It was the spot where master and disciple used to sit together, enjoying peaceful monts after their grueling training sessions.
"You may think you left everything behind when you walked away, but to , there was always an empty space where you should have been. A space too poignant to forget or ignore."
At Gabi’s words, Maya, who had been silent, raised her head.
Following her master’s gaze, she looked in the sa direction, then softly asked:
"I watched Farewell to the Conqueror. Both the first and second parts."
"Yes, I know."
"I heard you were involved in its production. Did you write the second part?"
Her hand trembled slightly as she gripped the hilt of her sword, "Eternal Ice." Her hollow eyes stared into the void as she spoke coldly.
"Did you write the script that way because you wanted to see it?"
"Of course not. I only advised on the project."
Gabi's eyes fell on Maya's blue hair, which was braided in the sa way her master used to do it. Gabi had once gifted Maya a pearl hairpin shaped like a butterfly after they beca master and disciple.
"The script was entirely written by Phantom, the Hero candidate of the Pen. From the first part, which showcased Xiang Yu at his peak, to the second part, which depicted his downfall."
"......"
Another heavy silence fell between them.
The disciple remained stubbornly quiet, and the master, as always, tolerated her disciple’s mood. The atmosphere was cold yet warm, as if snow was falling while flowers blood—a silence both sharp and gentle at once.
"...I thought that as long as I had strength, I could do anything."
It was Maya who broke the silence first.
"If I had strength, I wouldn’t have to grovel. If I had strength, I wouldn’t have to be afraid. If I had strength, I wouldn’t have to compromise. And if I had strength..."
Then I wouldn’t have to lose anything.
That belief had driven her to dedicate her life to the sword. Her broken mind had repeated the sa ssage to her every day.
As a powerless child, she had witnessed the pitiful deaths of her parents. Had Gabi not saved her, she would likely have suffered the sa fate.
If she had been stronger back then, such a tragedy would never have happened—or so she believed.
But the second part of Farewell to the Conqueror had shaken her deeply.
"Are you really saying Gabi didn’t write that script? Did the Hero candidate who wrote the first part also write the second part that way?"
"Yes, that’s right. I never touched the script. You know that, having seen the first part yourself, don’t you, Maya?"
"......"
"Phantom understands the nature of ‘strength’ better than most. He knows how much power one can wield with strength, how the world can be shaken by it, and..."
Gabi sighed softly, a sowhat bitter expression on her face.
"...how you can lose everything by relying solely on strength."
Xiang Yu had been defeated because he relied solely on brute force.
Xiang Yu lost everything he held dear because he believed in nothing but strength.
The plot was in direct conflict with Maya’s own beliefs. Yet, she couldn’t help but absorb it and be convinced by it.
Of course, it wasn’t just that Farewell to the Conqueror was intricately written and captivating.
The demonic presence that corrupted Xiang Yu’s mind and drove him to madness was eerily similar to sothing Maya herself was all too familiar with.
It mirrored the impulses that constantly whispered in her mind, urging her to kill and revel in violence. It mocked her, telling her that her parents had died because of her own weakness.
"......"
Maya suddenly recalled the argunt between Xiang Yu and Liu Bang on Mount Guangwu. Xiang Yu had taken Liu Bang’s father, Liu Taigong, hostage, threatening to boil him alive. Liu Bang’s retort still echoed in her mind:
"Xiang Yu! Aren’t we sworn brothers? If my father is your father, how dare you boil our father alive, you unfilial scoundrel! Go ahead and do it! Just make sure you send a bowl of the broth once it's done!"
Of course, Liu Bang’s scathing insult was morable in its own right.
Even so fans of Liu Bang had shaken their heads, saying, “That was a bit much.”
But what truly captivated Maya was what ca next.
It was an original line that Phantom had inserted to enhance the drama.
"Kill, kill, kill! It seems that vicious word is always at your lips! Didn’t you once say you drew your righteous sword to survive this cruel world?"
Didn’t Liu Bang rebuke Xiang Yu with those words, even as Xiang Yu threatened to boil his father?
"But now, whenever things don’t go your way, you’re quick to wave your sword at others! Tell , Xiang Yu! Do you kill to survive, or do you live to kill?!"
Do you kill to survive, or do you live to kill?
At that mont, sothing inside Maya cracked.
The shell she had wrapped around herself to protect her from the trauma of her parents’ deaths—the stubborn obsession that she would do anything to fulfill—began to crumble.
"I’m a Hero candidate."
"I know, Maya."
"I’m not like the villains who killed my parents. I’m a Hero candidate. I took up the sword to protect what’s mine."
Maya murmured in a hard, almost chanical tone, as if talking to herself. Then, as if suddenly drained of energy, she asked Gabi in a tired voice:
"Was Xiang Yu wrong? Is it wrong to seek strength? No matter how much strength you gain... can’t you protect what’s yours with it?"
"There’s no such thing as sothing that's purely wrong, Maya."
The empty sleeve of Gabi’s robe fluttered in the breeze.
Gabi moved closer to Maya, kneeling before her, and gently stroked her forr disciple’s cheek with her only remaining arm.
"It’s natural to seek strength to protect what’s precious to you. The world is harsh and cruel, and without strength, you may be preyed upon by the wicked."
"......"
"But if you try to solve everything with only that, you’ll run into trouble. The more you fixate on one thing, the narrower your perspective becos. And when your perspective narrows, you won’t be able to make wise decisions. Life isn’t that simple."
"...I hated the evil that took my parents away."
"I know."
"I didn’t want to lose anything else. So I made a decision. I’d kill all the evil I saw. I’d beco strong enough that I wouldn’t lose anything. If I could endure the sight of evil, then surely..."
Maya’s voice faltered, as if sothing were stuck in her throat, preventing her from continuing.
"Why didn’t you forget , Gabi?"
"......"
"Even though I said such terrible things and left. Even though I walked out on you, saying I’d never see you again. Why?"
"Sorry, Maya."
Instead of a long explanation, Gabi simply embraced Maya with her one remaining arm, holding her more tenderly than if she’d had both.
"I’m sorry I couldn’t understand you. I’m sorry I couldn’t guide you down the right path. I’m sorry I didn’t see your pain. It’s all my fault for failing to teach you properly."
"...You’ve gotten a lot smaller."
"Haha, you’ve grown. I’m glad you grew up healthy, without getting hurt."
Their conversation went beyond that of a master and disciple. It was more like one between a parent and child.
Maya didn’t respond. But neither did she try to pull away from her master’s embrace.
For the first ti in a long while, the warmth of her master’s arms felt as peaceful as the embrace of her long-lost parents.
[Oh heavens, please forgive the Overlord’s misdeeds.]
[Please don’t forget that you were never alone.]
Fan Zeng, who worried about Xiang Yu until his final breath despite being abandoned.
Yu Ji, who sacrificed her life to lead her beloved man off his tragic path.
As the images of these two overlapped in Maya’s mind, sothing wet rolled down her cheek.
She didn’t know why or how the tears began to fall, but once they did, she couldn’t stop them.
Strength ans you won’t lose anything?
Ironically, that belief had been flawed from the very start.
In her pursuit of strength, she had already abandoned everything, leaving it behind when she left for the capital.
She thought she had lost it all, but in truth, she had simply left behind two other parents who had always been there.
"Will you take back? If I say I want to stay by your side again... will you allow it?"
Xiang Yu, who, consud by a demonic spirit, never had the chance to reconcile with his master.
As she recalled that, Maya hesitantly asked her question. And Gabi, in her gentle tone, replied:
"I missed you, Maya. Thank you for coming back."
In a faraway world, completely separate from Earth, the bond between Fan Zeng and Xiang Yu, which had never been nded, was beautifully restored in a different form.
All thanks to two plays written by Professor Gabi’s student, Balthazar.
“Are you... sniff! The great playwright Phantom? I-I’m honored to et you... sniff!”
“I’m honored to et you as well, Your Highness.”
Sitting before in a lavishly decorated private room was a young boy.
Facing him, I did my best to hide my bewildernt and responded politely.
He was Wolfgang von Clausetwitz, the son of Emperor Heinrich and the much younger brother of Princess Diana.
This little boy had personally sparked the Admiral Li craze that had marked the debut of Phantom as a playwright.
His striking combination of black hair, inherited from his father, and li-colored eyes, inherited from his sister, made quite an impression.
At only twelve years old, his deanor was dignified, showing the refined grace of royalty.
...Yet the tears brimming in his eyes were eroding all that grace away.
“I-I’m sorry to bring this up, sniff, but wasn’t it a bit too much? How could you do that to Overlord Xiang Yu...?”
“Are you talking about Xiang Yu?”
I froze for a mont, uncertain of how to respond.
Now that I thought about it, none of the protagonists in Phantom’s works had ever had a happy ending, aside from Exodus and Chaplin’s Cody.
Admiral Yi had died from a gunshot wound in battle.
Caesar was assassinated at a senate eting.
And Socrates drank hemlock, refusing to escape from prison.
And now, even Xiang Yu, who seed invincible, had t his end?
From the prince’s perspective, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to think I was so kind of psychopath who enjoyed killing off my main characters.
Was that why he had called to the palace? To ask why I kept killing my protagonists?
“Sniff! My, my prized Double Dragon Sword...!”
Rubbing his swollen eyes, the small prince clenched his fists in frustration, his voice filled with anguish.
“It’s the sword that was used in the original performance of Admiral Li. I bought it at auction! And now, I can never get it again...!”
"...What?"
Double Dragon Sword?
Wait, what was going on here? Can soone please explain?
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