The Reincarnated Assassin Is a Genius Swordsman

Chapter 1544 (Side Story) Having been born human, surpassing a boundary that no mortal body could cross to become a god of the sword, the martial artist turned into light and slowly floated up into the sky. It was not something he did himself. Gravity, the mortal shackle, was loosening of its own accord. As if sensing that this world could no longer hold him, it raised a staircase bathed in warm light, blessing the birth of a new Sword God. He looked only at the sky as he climbed the staircase of light. As he ascended the steps, the countless scars etched into him from a life as a martial artist and the evidence of the years he had lived as a man scattered away as a soft light. Watching that sight, people realized something: that the peerless swordsman who had cut down the god of death and split apart destruction itself had been, after all, an ordinary human no different from themselves. An ordinary person who knew fear, who hated hardship and pain, who was afraid of death. A hero who had endured that suffering for the sake of others and never let go of his sword until the very end was now departing for a world beyond the Continent's reach. What he left behind was salvation, and what he took with him was the life of one person who, just like them, would go on missing being human. Standing at the top of the staircase, he lowered his gaze for a moment. As if trying not to forget the faces of all the people who had been with him until now, he looked them over one by one, then, wearing a smile as bright as light, pushed off with the toes of his feet still on the step. In that instant, he became the Sword of Light, splitting through the sky of the mortal world, and ascended into the world beyond the heavens. Through the rift he had torn open in the sky, a dazzling radiance no one had ever seen before poured down, illuminating the path of the swordsman who was now gone. As that warmth fell upon the poison and curses left behind by the Demonic Dragon of Destruction and the god of death, ripples of purification rolled across the rivers and earth that had been stained blood-red. The people raised trembling eyes and followed him. As if vowing never to forget his face, that smile as vivid as sunlight, they watched the light vanish into the rift in the torn sky. The people clutched their chests with trembling hands. Faces that had gone pale with shock were now flushed with overwhelming emotion, wet with tears. The old knight with hair gone white, the magician covered in blood, the priest who had forsaken their god, even the boy gripping a sword with his small, fern-like hands—all dropped their weapons and sank to their knees as if entranced. The people steadied their trembling eyes. Tears streamed down their cheeks and dripped from the tips of their chins, but no one thought to wipe them away. Their eyes were fixed only on the far side of the sky, on the back of the martial artist who, wrapped in that magnificent light, was becoming an eternal sword. With trembling lips, the people called out his name. Starting with a cry that burst from lips as parched as desert sand, his name broke out from every direction. Until their voices went hoarse, with voices soaked in tears, every survivor of the war called out to him. It was not a prayer to a god. It was gratitude toward a man who had lived in this world alongside them and sacrificed himself for their sake, and a desire to hold onto him until the very end. Even the people calling his name didn't know whether they were telling him to go well, or begging him not to go at all. The swordsman never looked back. But in the final moment, as his sword ascended into the sky, it turned over and tilted slightly downward toward the earth. A sword salute. It was the final farewell of a man who had been born into the Zieghart family, fought as a Zieghart martial artist, and become head of the Zieghart house to protect the world. At that small gesture, the Zieghart swordsmen who had fallen to their knees wailed aloud. As if welcoming a new god, the torn sky released a blindingly brilliant radiance, and the instant it settled, he was no longer visible at all. That day. Raon Zieghart became a legend. * * * "Raon…?" In Runaan's once-calm eyes, a tremor more violent than ever before erupted. "Raon, Raon, Raon, Raon, Raon…." She let fall the sword she had always cherished and held close, and like one entranced, called out only Raon's name. "N-no!" Evelyn stared at the sky where Raon had disappeared and shook her head fiercely. "Absolutely not! If you leave like this, what am I supposed to do!" Her eyes blazed with madness, just as they had when she was called Merlin. "I'll follow you somehow! I can't become a widow already!" Evelyn, who hadn't even gotten married, called herself a widow and began conjuring up some unknown magic circle. "D-does this even make sense?" Martha ground her teeth and slammed her fist into the ground. "I have a mountain of things I wanted to say, things I wanted to do—how does it make sense for you to leave like this!" She screamed that there were far too many things she hadn't been able to do for Raon. "Lord Raon…." Siyana, the Guardian of Sepia, descended on the hand of the Water Spirit King, Elayim. "Y-you never said anything like this. You said we'd eat Nadine bread together once it was all over…." As if this were something she could never have imagined, she shook her head, biting her lip until it bled. "L-Lord Raon!" Denning Rose came running, her face flushed red. "Ah, to think I couldn't even see his face one last time…." Having been at headquarters and only come out after the war ended, she sank to her knees as if regretting that she had missed Raon's final moment. "Raon, Raon, Raon, Raon…." "I'll find you somehow! Even if I have to destroy the Heavenly Realm with magic!" "Leaving like this—I can't stand it unless I land a punch on you!" Runaan, as if her mind had gone blank at Raon's ascension, could only call his name; Evelyn gritted her teeth, vowing to destroy the Heavenly Realm; and Martha, declaring she wouldn't let Raon off easy, kept slamming her fists down wildly. "I have to find Lord Raon too, no matter what. I haven't even finished writing his book yet!" "The Heavenly Realm and Ascension…." Siyana said she needed to finish the biography of Raon Zieghart, but as if that weren't the only reason, she kept biting her lip with a desperate expression; Denning Rose, meanwhile, nodded with a sharp, intellectual look in her eyes, as though already planning to investigate the Heavenly Realm and Ascension. Unlike the others, the five women who had screamed Raon's name had no intention of simply ending it with tears—they clenched their fists and scattered, each to her own place. * * * "D-did he really leave?" Krein bit his lip as he stared at the sky, which glowed bluer than it ever had before. "I'm asking if that man really left!" Unable to believe it, he shook his tear-streaked face wildly. "Y-yeah, he's gone…." Dorian's chin trembled as he didn't even bother to wipe away the snot running down his face. "I—I can't feel the Young Master's presence or aura anywhere anymore…." He gripped the ground, calling Raon 'Young Master' just as he had back in his childhood. "Damn it! You made me suffer so much and now you're just leaving!" "Young Master. I really, thanks to you…." Krein spat out his regret over Raon as anger, while Dorian conveyed his as gratitude. "Hahaha!" Burren covered his forehead with his hand and burst into a hollow laugh. "I'd finally made up my mind to catch up to you, and here you are, leaving without even accepting my challenge." As if regretting that he hadn't mustered the courage sooner, he let hot tears fall between his fingers. "Fine. I'll follow you down that same path too." Burren let out a deep breath and lifted his head. "I'll catch up and tell you myself!" He clenched his back teeth hard, vowing to make sure he told Raon that he would catch up to him. "My Lord…." Mark Goetun lifted his blade upside down, as if receiving Raon's final farewell. "Thank you for giving me a new life." He bowed his head, saying that thanks to Raon, he had been able to feel happiness once again. "Same here." The Warring Steel Leader, Trevin, gave a short laugh and lifted his sword upside down. "Joining the Light Wind Palace widened my world." He wore a refreshing smile, saying that thanks to Raon he'd gotten to play in bigger waters. "Division Leader! Thank you for winning for us!" "Division Leader Raon! Your focus enhancement training saved my life! Thank you!" "Palace Master! You'd better raise hell over there too!" "Head of House! Beat up the immortals over there the way you beat us!" "Lord Raon! Wherever you go, make sure to keep up the focus enhancement training!" "Thank you for everything!" The swordsmen of the Light Wind Palace brought out the most familiar of all the titles they had ever used for Raon, bidding him farewell to the very last. "Grrgh!" Listening to the swordsmen's shouts, the Gambling Monster tipped the liquor bottle at his waist straight into his mouth. "I haven't drunk a single one of the liquors you gave me. For you to leave like this—it's truly a shame." As if wishing he could drink with Raon the way they used to when they made bets, he clutched the emptied bottle close and gazed up at the sky. "Looks like we picked the right lord, at least." The Blade Queen, Siera, gave a short laugh as she watched the backs of the Light Wind Palace swordsmen crying out Raon's name. "…Is it because our lord has ascended?" The Warlord, Yuber, narrowed his eyes. "Not at all!" Siera shook her head firmly. "I've seen countless kingdoms and families, but I've never once seen everyone miss someone who's left like that, all together, as one." She smiled brightly, saying this was the first time she'd seen a lord that everyone missed the way they missed Raon. "Certainly." Yuber nodded calmly. "I'd never seen anyone live with as much thought for others as our lord did. Thanks to him, I was able to change. No—we all were." He closed his eyes and opened them again, saying that he had come to follow Raon with genuine sincerity. "That's right. Honestly, I didn't care in the slightest what happened to the previous generation's will. I only picked him because he seemed interesting…." Siera clicked her tongue and rubbed her hands together. "For me, he became my first and last king." She drew her sword, dried blood caked on its blade, and set it upside down. "Yes. For us, he was our one and only lord." Yuber followed Siera's lead and set his blade upside down as well. "My Lord." Siera and Yuber performed one last sword salute toward Raon, the man both of them had truly respected and followed. "We'll meet again." * * * "…Ahh!" Sylvia had been gazing up at the sky with a soft smile, but the moment Raon disappeared, she collapsed right where she stood and burst into tears. "Raon, Raon…." She reached a hand toward the sky, calling the name of the son she could no longer touch. "You did well." Edgar bit his lip and supported Sylvia as she wailed in despair, stroking her hair. "You held back your tears all this time so you wouldn't be sad when Raon left, didn't you?" He nodded gently, as if he understood why Sylvia had only now broken down in tears. "Yeah…." Sylvia sniffled and nodded. "If I were sad, it would be hard on Raon. So just this once, I decided to send him off with a smile." As if it had weighed on her all this time that she'd been overprotective and overly worried about Raon in his childhood, she said she'd wanted to send him off with a smile at the very end, struggling to catch her breath. "Mom, Dad! Don't worry!" Sia nodded as she gripped Sylvia and Edgar's shoulders. "I made a promise to Raon! I'll protect you both from now on!" With tears welling in her eyes, she pounded her own chest, saying she had promised Raon that she would protect the family. "Yes. You do it." Rector approached, wearing a warm smile. "Protect the family, just like your brother did." He stroked Sia's head with a warm hand, smiling proudly at her. "Mm-hm. Grandpa, just trust me… waaahh!" Only then did the sorrow of Raon's disappearance seem to wash over Sia as well, and she burst into tears. "Sia!" "Sia…" Sylvia and Edgar embraced the crying Sia, and the three of them called out Raon's name together. "Haaah…." Rector looked in turn at his weeping daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter, then slowly turned his gaze up to the sky. "Raon. The void you've left behind is no small thing. No, it'll probably sink in even more coldly as time goes on than it does right now. Here, and also…." He lowered his gaze again, looking toward the Zieghart estate. "Over there too." Karoon, standing where Rector's gaze had landed, steadied his wavering eyes and lifted his head. "Zieghart swordsmen, hear me!" Karoon took a short breath and called out to the swordsmen who were sunk in grief and emotion. "We're heading back!" He stomped his foot and raised his voice, as if determined not to delay any longer. "To Zieghart!"