Chapter 303: Luke and the Desperado Realm!
Nene and Kurono stood in the spectator seats, looking at the massive sword scar stretching into the distance as they recalled Luke's final strike from just now.
"Hey, Kuro… how long do you think it'll take him to touch that door?"
Nene's sudden question made Kurono freeze for a moment.
Then a faint look of reminiscence appeared on her face.
"Are you that sure he can reach that point?"
"Hmph. Even a quitter like you managed to touch that door halfway through. Of course he can."
Seeing that nostalgic look on Kurono's face instantly irritated Nene, and she instinctively snapped back at her.
Her closest friend, the rival she had seen as her lifelong opponent, had chosen to retire because of marriage and childbirth. She had even abandoned the Desperado realm that had already been within arm's reach.
Nene would remember that for the rest of her life.
Moreover, if Kurono had truly chosen to give it up completely, then perhaps that would have been one thing.
What angered Nene the most was that, deep down, Kurono still longed for battle and still yearned to become stronger, yet she forcefully suppressed her true feelings because of so-called "concern."
All that talk about "thinking of her family" was nothing more than Kurono sacrificing herself one-sidedly.
"…You're still angry about that?"
"Didn't I already apologize to you?"
Kurono sighed helplessly.
Every time this matter was brought up, she felt an inescapable guilt toward Nene.
"I don't want your apology!"
"I don't care about your apology at all!"
After angrily throwing those words at Kurono, Nene's expression slowly turned a little lonely.
"But… it's been a long time since I felt excited."
Seeing Nene like that, Kurono did not quite know how to continue the conversation.
In the end, with no better option, she changed the topic away from that matter.
"As for Luke, I don't think he'll touch the door to the Desperado realm before graduation, at least."
"That realm is different from everything else. It isn't something you can reach so easily."
"You've already pushed that door open, so you should understand that better than I do."
"Without a certain 'trigger,' no matter how outstanding his talent is, it won't matter."
"Oh? Is that what you think, Kurono?"
Just as Nene was about to respond, Nangou Torajirou's voice came from behind them.
"This old man's opinion is a little different from yours."
Nangou's words immediately drew Nene and Kurono's attention.
"Nangou-sensei, what do you mean?"
"Old man, are you saying Luke will touch that realm before graduation?"
Neither of them had expected Nangou Torajirou to evaluate Luke so highly.
Although Nene had been the one to ask the question, even she did not really believe Luke would touch the Desperado realm too early.
Her question had been more of an emotional reaction.
"This old man heard you two call that boy a 'monster' just now."
"Then, in your eyes, where exactly does that monster's strength lie?"
Nangou did not directly answer Nene and Kurono's question.
Instead, he first asked them a seemingly unrelated question.
"His speed of growth… I guess?"
Nene's tone carried a trace of uncertainty.
After all, since Nangou had heard their earlier conversation, he could not possibly be unaware of what she thought.
The fact that he still asked this question meant there was clearly something wrong with her understanding.
Yet Nene could not figure out where she was mistaken.
Beside her, Kurono also frowned slightly in thought.
Looking at the two of them, Nangou sighed before speaking.
"It's not your fault that you can't see it. It only means your path until now has been too smooth."
"Neither of you has ever fought a death match against an opponent you absolutely could not defeat, have you?"
"Both of you possessed mana far beyond ordinary people from a young age, along with extremely superior abilities."
"The only opponents you two could truly call rivals were each other, people whose strength was close to your own."
Nangou's words made both Nene and Kurono fall into thought.
After thinking carefully, they realized that was indeed the case.
Whether it was Nene's gravity or Kurono's time, both were terrifying abilities that ordinary Blazers could hardly even imagine.
On top of that, neither of them had low mana capacity.
In Japan, or even throughout the entire League, there were only a handful of people who could be compared to the two of them.
"Precisely because of that, neither of you has experienced what it feels like to fight against despair itself."
Of course, Nene and Kurono had experience fighting top-class powerhouses.
But just as Nangou said, they had never truly "fought to the death" against them.
Nangou looked at Nene and Kurono.
Seeing that both of them were listening carefully, he nodded and continued.
"You both saw that boy's swordsmanship."
"There's no need for this old man to say where it came from, is there?"
"The issue you two are focused on is that he learned 'that' swordsmanship. But what you should truly pay attention to is the situation in which that boy learned it."
"That strongest swordsman certainly wouldn't have taken the initiative to teach him."
"Which means there is only one answer."
At this point, both Nene and Kurono understood what Nangou was trying to say.
But that still did not answer their earlier doubt.
"Even if the two of them fought, what does that prove… Wait… fought…"
Halfway through her sentence, Nene suddenly seemed to understand something and spoke in surprise.
"Exactly. In this old man's eyes, the most abnormal thing about that boy is his utterly unshaken mentality."
"A swordsman, especially an excellent swordsman, is always like this."
"When someone crushes you in the area you are best at, even in the very thing you take pride in, no one can remain unaffected."
"Forget absorbing, understanding, and evolving from it. Simply recovering from the tension or fear would already be an enormous challenge."
"And his opponent was that person standing at the peak of the world."
"A student knight, especially one who specializes in the sword, fought that pure-white swordsman."
"Is it really possible for him to remain completely unmoved after that?"
Nangou narrowed his eyes, signaling Nene and Kurono to look once more at the enormous sword scar below.
"You two have both interacted with that boy normally, haven't you? Look at that sword scar. Can either of you feel even the slightest change in him?"
Watching Nene and Kurono fall into thought once again because of his words, Nangou finally added,
"To put it simply, the essence of the Desperado realm is the pursuit of the self, of one's true self."
"And that boy…"
He stopped there.
There was no need to say anything more.
"What that boy needs isn't some 'trigger.' As long as he keeps moving forward, he will naturally arrive before that door."
"And that time… won't be far away."
…
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