Chapter 99- The Duel

Chapter 99: Chapter 99- The Duel

The square of the Iron Haven was empty by the time Leo and Caelum reached it, as it was already late in the night.

The workers had gone home. The market stalls were already closed. Only the structures of the new terraces circling the crater remained, pale timber and fresh stone catching the last light of the day.

Above them the dragon skull still lay there, watching over everything with its split jaw opened toward the sky. It had become a monument, as the registrar had turned it into part of the construction, leaving it as it was.

Hugh followed the two.

"You two are really gonna duke it out?" he asked.

Leo said, "He asked for it."

Caelum stopped in his tracks and gave Leo a death stare. "You asked for the duel."

"Right, right. Fine, I asked." Leo shrugged.

Hugh gave both of them a long look.

"No killing. No destructive skills."

Hugh warned them. Then he looked at Leo and continued, "Especially no giant lightning spears. We don’t want another crater in the town. Idris has enough to deal with already."

"No promises about the square," Leo said.

Hugh pointed a finger at him. "That was not a joke."

Leo smiled, but it did not last long.

His body was still sore from the use of holy power. No potion seemed to be doing anything for that.

Leo and Caelum stood in the empty square.

"Any particular rules?" Leo asked.

"No killing and no skills that could kill," Caelum said.

Leo nodded and pointed at the sword Caelum was holding. "Law Breaker is off the table."

Caelum agreed. "Okay, and Devilization stays off."

Leo’s hands drifted toward the two marks at the mention of it and nodded. "Off."

They stepped into the open platform toward the center of the square—or what was available amid the construction.

Leo unsheathed the Ashen Blade from his back, while Caelum’s sword was already in his hand.

"Ready?" Caelum asked.

Leo took a deep breath and nodded.

Then...

Caelum moved first.

One quiet step forward.

Leo had expected a hard opening, something that would test the new blade. But what came was unexpected.

The sword’s point was already coming at Leo’s throat.

Leo managed to kick it aside and jumped back. The motion was clean enough.

But Caelum was already attacking again.

The long blade was already flicking toward Leo’s chest.

Leo caught the blade with the Ashen Blade. Steel rang through the square.

Leo knew that the sword had more weight at the front, so he was prepared for it. But there was no drag when Caelum recovered his stance. Leo couldn’t figure out how Caelum managed to do it.

Caelum redirected the deflected sword at another angle toward Leo.

Leo kept blocking the attacks.

Once. Twice.

On the third strike, Leo could not even manage to bring his sword up as Caelum’s sword rested against his neck.

"And you are dead," Caelum said.

"That was fast."

"I was not faster than you." Caelum shrugged.

Leo reset his stance. "Let’s go again."

Leo focused his best. He kept track of every movement Caelum made—every twitch of his shoulder, every turn.

Leo saw Caelum’s blade move. He predicted it and attacked from an angle that would force Caelum to retreat, then changed his own strike mid-motion.

For a second Leo thought he had it.

But Caelum moved half a step.

That was all it took.

Leo’s sword cut through empty air. Caelum’s sword struck Leo across the forearm. Caelum used the flat of the blade, so no injury was made, but the pain still numbed his hand.

The Ashen Blade dipped, almost falling.

And once again Caelum’s sword was at his throat.

"Dead again," Caelum said with a chuckle.

Leo gave a helpless smile.

Caelum moved like he knew exactly how Leo would move.

Leo was only good at overpowering monsters with brute force and high-level skills, but his technical skill and swordsmanship were lackluster.

"How does your sword move like that?" Leo muttered.

"The sword does not decide where I stand," Caelum said. "It does not decide when I move. It only follows."

The words hit Leo harder than any strike.

Leo let the words settle in and said, "Again."

The third exchange lasted a bit longer.

Leo stopped looking for openings. He stopped trying to calculate and plan.

Instead, he watched Caelum—every single body movement. He kept track of his breathing, the tension in his wrist with each swing, the smallest shift in weight behind his ankles and hips.

Caelum slashed high.

Leo did not move to stop the blade but stepped toward Caelum.

His sword slid across Caelum’s and into the space near Caelum’s shoulder.

Caelum’s eyes sharpened for the first time since the duel began.

Just as Leo thought this was successful, Caelum caught Leo’s arm guard from below, causing the sword’s trajectory to change as Leo’s wrist lifted.

And in that brief moment, Leo lost his composure. That was all it took for Caelum’s sword to rest against his throat.

Leo froze.

For a few seconds they both stood motionless in the same position.

Caelum retreated as he sheathed his sword.

"It was better than before," he said.

Leo laughed. "You still killed me."

"Yes."

"That’s your whole review?"

"You moved before you finished thinking. That was better. Then you stopped trusting it."

Leo wanted to argue. He wanted to say that he had seen the elbow coming. That he had simply not expected it to hit with that much force. That the new sword changed the angle of everything.

But those were excuses.

Caelum studied him for a moment. "Why are you angry?"

Leo blinked. "Because I keep losing. Why else?"

"You know I’ve been on a losing streak.

At first a flame-using guy with a fucking star in his shoulder kicked my ash and took my soul-bound sword.

Then I lost again against the old man Rook...

Then I lost against the guy called Thane.

Then I felt like I still lost when the devil appeared.

And I lost to you...

Fuckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk."

Leo let out his frustration.

Caelum said, "Well, you are a blacksmith. I think this is already pretty good." He continued, "You are trying to make your production class fight."

Leo froze.

Hugh, who was cleaning the statue nearby, also paused.

Leo’s grip tightened around the Ashen Blade.

"What does that mean?"

Caelum looked almost uncomfortable, as if he had not expected Leo to ask. Then he spoke carefully.

"I think your blacksmith class is restricting you."

Leo’s expression hardened.

"Well, I can’t say that. If I didn’t have this class, I would be nothing.

It gave me a sword. It gave you that sword. It gave me armor, flames, more ways to survive than I can count. Without it, I would not be standing here."

"I know," Caelum said. "That is not what I mean."

He lifted his sword a little.

"This is a good weapon. Better than good. But it cannot parry for me. It cannot decide where my feet go. It cannot make me take a hit when someone is behind me."

Leo did not answer.

"You keep finding a new answer in the forge," Caelum continued. "A stronger weapon. Better armor. Another skill. Another flame. When fighting gets hard, you look for something your class can give you."

"That is what a class is for," Leo said.

"Maybe," Caelum answered as his fingers tightened around the sword. "But trying to do everything can become one’s cage."

Caelum thought for a while.

Leo stayed silent.

Then Caelum continued, "I was offered other classes. Epic, Legendary... classes that promised higher stats, faster movement, and better skills."

"And you refused them?" Leo asked, shocked.

Caelum nodded. "Yes. I refused them and stuck to my ordinary swordsman class.

I do not want any class to tell me what kind of swordsman I should become. I want to forge my own path. I want to achieve the level of legend with this ordinary class."

Hugh, who was also listening, let out a low whistle at that. He had been pursuing the same thing. He could not help but nod at the young man’s sentiment.

The idea settled in Leo’s chest as well.

He had always been a blacksmith—before Myth Online, before all the eternal flames, the crown, and everything else.

Forging was not a tool he had picked up because the system offered it.

It was from his father’s forge. His family’s work. His hands remembering heat and weight and the sound of steel before he could explain any of it.

He could not give it up.

He would not.

But every time a stronger enemy appeared, what had he done?

He had forged a better answer.

When that answer was not enough, he had searched for another one.

More armor. More fire. More power.

Now that he looked back, he might have been trying to force the Eternal Forge to become something it was not.

For a second, the old memories from the forge dimension and the previous forge holders resurfaced.

The broken swords...

The ruined forge...

Empty halls...

Echoes of men and women who had once held the Eternal Forge before him and then disappeared into the long river of time.

Maybe they had stood where he stood now.

Maybe they had been blacksmiths who found themselves facing things that could kill them, and maybe they had tried to give the class the capability to combat because they had also faced the same helplessness.

Maybe this weakness was the reason all the previous forge holders faced annihilation.

It was only a thought.

Not a truth.

But it would not leave him alone.

"So you think I should give up being a blacksmith?" Leo asked.

Caelum’s face darkened. "No. "

"Forging is your essence. I can see that. You made this sword because you understood what I needed even before I did. "

"What I meant was, don’t let your class limit you. Build your own path. "

...

"This path—I don’t know what it might be—but it is up to you. No one can help you. You’ve got to figure it out yourself. "

"A blacksmith who learns to fight is not less of a blacksmith. A swordsman who knows how his blade is made is not less of a swordsman. You do not have to make the Eternal Forge do everything. Let it be your foundation. Then build on it."

The words settled slowly.

Leo took another breath.

"Let’s fight one last time," Leo said.

Caelum nodded, and both lunged at each other.

Sword met sword, and the sound of steel echoed through the plaza.