Chapter 237

Of all those interested in crossing swords with Theo, none was more eager than Kyle.

‘I want to see just how much your blade has grown.’

Kyle had always felt a quiet joy watching Theo’s relentless growth.

For Theo, life had always been a series of battles.

Colliding, struggling, and then somehow overcoming.

When faced with yet another obstacle, Theo never hesitated to clash with it head-on.

That unyielding journey reminded Kyle of his own past.

Perhaps that was why he found himself constantly drawn to Theo, why he couldn't help but keep an eye on him.

Every time they met like this, it felt as though Kyle was looking at a younger version of himself.

‘I hope this is enjoyable, too.’

Kyle genuinely meant it.

After all, the days he could still wield his sword were numbered.

***

‘Where is he?’

Theo tightly gripped the Dragon Fang Blade as his eyes scanned his surroundings with precision.

The Triple Core connected to his mana stream vibrated more fiercely than ever before.

And yet, finding even a trace of Kyle's presence was nearly impossible.

Even the Black Dragon, who prided himself on concealment, would leave behind the faintest clues. Kyle, however, left absolutely nothing.

It was as though his existence had been erased from this world.

‘No, it’s not erasure. He’s severed it. Both presence and trace.’

Theo began to wonder—was there anything Kyle couldn’t sever?

Swordsmanship that could cut through even the concept of presence… Surely, this was no longer in the realm of humans.

At that moment, a faint offensive pressure brushed against Theo’s senses.

‘Straight ahead!’

Theo slammed his foot into the ground and swung his greatsword downward.

Boom!

A heavy impact rocked the blade.

The shockwave was so powerful it felt as though his wrist might be torn off.

With Herculean strength exceeding 200 on the power scale, Theo managed to endure it.

Still, he had to put enormous force into his legs to maintain balance. Veins bulged on his calves as the effort took its toll.

But then—

Slash!

Blood suddenly spurted from his left shoulder.

‘What just happened…?’

The attack had clearly come from the front. So why was there a wound on his left?

The question barely had time to form in Theo’s mind before—

Shing!

This time, a sharp pain sliced across his left lower side.

Theo spun his body, striking upward from below.

The greatsword flashed brilliantly, carving a sharp arc through the air.

This time, he infused it with the essence of Celestial Circle, an advanced form of the Dragon’s Claw technique.

He wanted to show Kyle how far he had come, how much he had refined the dazzling strikes his father once demonstrated.

It was perfect.

Kyle would surely be impressed—or so Theo thought—

Thud!

A heavy impact suddenly struck Theo’s right side, and blood gushed from the new wound.

Once again, the injury was nowhere near the point of contact.

“You’ve grasped the essence of the circle and even glimpsed the nature of time. Yet, it seems you’ve not yet grasped the concept of space.”

A soft chuckle echoed in Theo’s ears.

Kyle’s voice carried the weight of both amusement and instruction.

Theo didn’t have time to ask what he meant.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Dozens, no, hundreds of flashes descended upon him like a storm.

Each one carried the same power as Kyle’s infamous Dragon Slash.

The only thought in Theo’s mind was clear: If I fail to block these, I die.

He raised his greatsword high and unleashed four Ethereal Blades in rapid succession.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The clash of steel against steel sent countless sparks flying in all directions.

Aura fragments exploded outward, and the shockwaves rattled not only Theo’s body but his very mind.

-“Wh-what is this? I can’t see anything at all!”

-“It’s like he blocks one flash only to have another immediately take its place… Incredible!”

-“Amazing!”

Even the fact that Theo could read Kyle’s flashes was proof enough of his exceptional skill as a swordsman.

To defend against them? That elevated him to a master among masters.

To block Kyle’s relentless chain of attacks head-on was nothing short of miraculous.

The spectators—Nine Dragons and others alike—watched with bated breath.

Some less skilled fighters gasped in awe, while the more prideful ones bit their lips in frustration.

“Our dear brother…”

“It seems…”

“For the first time, he’s enjoying playing with his son this much.”

Julius and the Black Dragon exchanged knowing glances.

To them, Kyle’s movements seemed playful, even restrained.

But the standard of “playing” for Kyle was nothing like what normal humans could comprehend.

Kyle’s strikes grew sharper and more precise as the battle continued, bending even the space around them.

Spatial Compression.

Kyle’s mastery of confining space, trapping his opponent within an invisible domain, was a method he had used for decades to toy with sparring partners.

To the victim, there was no escape, no path forward.

The suffocating feeling of being ensnared, their life slowly drained, was a hallmark of Kyle’s technique.

“This is a guiding duel.”

It was the Maehwa Palace Lord who offered a simple evaluation.

“A guiding duel?”

“Yes. It’s not just a fight where Theo learns through experience… Kyle is pushing him to evolve.”

“Evolve?”

Julius and the Black Dragon frowned.

If anyone could accurately judge the purpose of a duel, it was the Maehwa Palace Lord, whose skill in swordsmanship surpassed even theirs.

“He’s already reached transcendence, but Kyle wants to take him even further?”

“Yes.”

“Even if the upcoming mission is critical, this seems excessive. Even for Kyle, this level of guidance is pushing limits.”

Reaching transcendence meant carving out one’s own path and fully understanding the mission bestowed by the world.

It signified perfecting oneself and achieving divinity.

But such enlightenment could not be given by others—it had to be earned.

For Kyle to guide Theo so directly was almost unheard of.

Still, if anyone could minimize the pitfalls of Theo’s growth, it was Kyle, a living myth and an unparalleled master of the sword.

Even then, the chances of success were slim.

“I don’t know…”

The Maehwa Palace Lord trailed off, her lips pressing into a thin line.

Both Julius and the Black Dragon felt a sudden unease.

“You know something, don’t you?”

The Maehwa Palace Lord’s gaze wavered under their probing stares.

Meanwhile—

‘I can’t find a way out.’

Theo felt as though he had been trapped in a maze of razor-sharp winds.

No matter how many attacks he parried or deflected, the relentless storm of blades closed in on him.

The more he defended, the more wounds he accumulated.

The earlier injuries weren’t a fluke.

Kyle’s flashes were almost magical in nature—every strike seemed to inflict damage regardless of its trajectory.

Had Theo not awakened as a Draconian, he would already have collapsed from blood loss.

The path behind him was littered with blood, and his clothes were in tatters.

At first, Theo thought about retreating.

But he quickly dismissed the idea.

There was nowhere to go in this prison of blades.

Instead, he recalled Kyle’s words.

"It seems you’ve not yet grasped the concept of space."

Kyle had offered no further explanation, leaving Theo to uncover the truth on his own.

If there was a way out of this hellish storm, it had to lie within the meaning of those words.

‘If he’s trying to teach me something, the answer must lie within the knowledge I already possess. A path… I need to find the path!’

Theo knew that time was a circle.

Even if the world were to be destroyed by the Nameless Sovereign, the Pantheon would reset it to its beginning.

A vast, repeating cycle defined this world.

But what about space?

If time repeated, could the same be said of space?

Wouldn’t space be governed by entirely different laws, creating new civilizations and connections?

Time and space… Was Kyle telling him they weren’t separate?

‘No, something’s off. If space and time are one, they must both fit into the concept of the circle.’

Theo’s memories stretched back to his life as Yoo Tae-oh, when he had studied the White Tower’s secrets.

He had learned that time and space weren’t distinct entities.

Time accelerated in compressed space, and space could collapse entirely at the speed of light, enabling phenomena like teleportation or even time travel.

This unity of time and space—Spacetime (時空)—meant they could not be separated.

Kyle’s voice cut through his thoughts.

“Space is a prison.”

A prison?

“The laws are the bars, and the truths are the chains binding you. Unless you break free, you’ll never enter this realm.”

Kyle was pushing Theo to surpass transcendence, to break through into the realm of myth itself.

The storm of blades raged on, but Kyle’s voice remained clear and close, whispering in Theo’s ear.

“If you fail to grasp this, you’ll never stop Hilda or the Mad Dragon Emperor. Nor will you surpass the other Archdukes who might already be on equal footing with us.”

This entire domain—this battlefield—was Kyle’s spiritual realm.

Time, space, everything within Theo’s senses belonged to Kyle.