I Returned with the Cheat Holy Sword

So.

It was all well and good to boldly declare they were going to rescue the Black Mirror—but the real issue was just that.
Panhyma summed it up in a single sentence:
“…How are we supposed to get close to that thing?”

Now that they were directly beneath the Black Mirror, the problem was even more obvious.
The altitude at which that massive whale floated was outright absurd.
Even when he craned his neck up at a full ninety-degree angle, it still felt impossibly far overhead.

“Well, that’s true.”
“…And even if we could get close, that thing’s so massive there’s no way the three of us have the firepower to handle it—”
“Let’s just focus on getting up there first.”

Carlyle fiddled with the bracelet on his wrist.
The Eye of Kyria, acquired from the Tower some time ago.
A device that explosively boosted the user’s mana sensitivity.

Linked with the Holy Sword, it also allowed him to instantly fire off any spell he’d learned.
And just now—
The Holy Sword had perfectly absorbed the spell Vespa fired earlier.

A spell that caused a massive explosion at point-blank range, vaporizing everything in the vicinity.
But what mattered wasn’t the destructive force per se—
It was the structure of the spell, capable of channeling that much energy in a single burst.

And the recoil that came with it.
‘How many shots do you think you’ll need, Hero?’
[Three.]
‘And your mana? You won’t run out?’

[Not a chance.]
Yep, figures.
With a snort, he kicked at the undercarriage of the motorwagen.

Ripping apart a perfectly good vehicle did bring a twinge of guilt—but there was no helping it.
He thought back to an old game he’d played as a kid.
Back then, there was something called a rocket jump.

You fired an explosive weapon at your feet to propel yourself higher. Totally impossible in real life.
But here, in this world—
They had someone who could turn imagination itself into reality.
“Panhyma, when I count to three, open us a path.”

“…?”
Panhyma gave Carlyle a look that clearly said, What the hell are you talking about?
It wasn’t just the sudden demand to “open a path” that confused him.

More fundamentally—
“…You’re talking like something’s actually going to happen when you count to three, comrade.”
“Yeah. It will.”

Mana gathered around the Holy Sword.
So thick and intense that even Vespa and Panhyma glanced at him in alarm.
A basic truth.

In his past life, when it came to spell variety, raw power, and efficiency, Vespa easily outclassed Carlyle.
But Carlyle’s mana reserves were absurd—on a scale that rendered the original caster’s intent meaningless. A literal deus ex machina.
And what followed was a perfect demonstration of that fact.

“One.”
The next instant—
A brilliant white beam shot out from the Holy Sword.

BOOM—!
BOOOOOOOOOOM—!
A colossal explosion erupted beneath them, and the motorwagen shot upward at terrifying speed.
Despite the blast, the Hero had manipulated the mana with such precise control that the vehicle itself took no damage.

Vespa and Panhyma’s faces both went white as sheets.
“What the actual fu—?!”
“KYAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!”

As the two of them screamed in their own unique ways, Carlyle calmly aimed the Holy Sword once more through the torn-open undercarriage.
“Two.”
Unlike the others—on the verge of fainting—his voice was perfectly calm.

Another blast.
The motorwagen, already high in the sky, rocketed even higher.
“Wow. You can see the clouds.”

“----!!!”
“----------!!!!”
Carlyle’s laid-back comment was completely drowned out by Vespa and Panhyma’s wordless shrieks.

But still—credit where credit’s due.
Even in this utterly insane situation, someone was still trying to follow Carlyle’s intent.
“Carlyle! The direction—look out!”

Vespa, tears spilling from her eyes, pointed frantically at the Black Mirror.
…Though in fairness, she wasn’t following his “intent” so much as instinctively reacting to avoid dying.
They’d managed to reach the correct altitude with those two blasts, but at this trajectory, they were going to plummet straight back down without ever reaching the Black Mirror.

“Well then. Let’s get closer.”
With that, Carlyle casually stuck the Holy Sword out the side window.
Not downward—but backward.

Panhyma, realizing what was about to happen, turned blue in the face again.
“You—! This is a ground vehicle, dammit! It’s not a flying machine!”
He screamed, but—

“That’s just what unimaginative people say.”
“Comrade, seriously—stop doing crazy th—!”
“Three.”

The third spell exploded from the Holy Sword, fired behind them—
And the motorwagen launched straight toward the Black Mirror at insane speed.
…At this point, it wasn’t a car anymore.

It was more like a fighter jet on a kamikaze mission.
“Ugh—gghhhh—!”
“Hang in there, Vespa! If you puke now, we’re doomed!”

“C-Carlyle! Why are you—why—!”
“Isn’t it exhilarating?!”
[…You are one thoroughly insane man.]

Honestly, who in this Hero’s party wasn’t insane?
[You might actually be in the running to match me, at this point.]
‘Don’t go picking fights now!’

Thunderous roars. Air ripping. Skin-piercing high-altitude wind. Human screams. All of it swirled together in a deafening symphony.
And with this much noise—
Of course the Black Mirror noticed.

—…
—…!!
With a deep cry, black mana began to rise in ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) thick waves around its body.
The black tendrils again—only this time, far denser. Far heavier.

Naturally. They were close to the main body now.
Which meant—
“Panhyma! Time to do what you promised!”

“I NEVER AGREED TO THIS INSANITY—!”
He said that—but Panhyma had already drawn the sword from his hip with lightning speed.
Honestly, this is absurd.

If this were just about clearing out a wide area, Vespa would be more efficient.
Magic’s superiority always lay in area-of-effect power projection.
But expecting Vespa to handle this was a stretch.

Even if she often broke the rules of magic, it was still a discipline that demanded intense concentration. In this chaos, you couldn’t count on her full power.
Carlyle himself needed to conserve mana for what came after, so firing another spell was out.
Which meant—they had no choice but to push the burden onto Panhyma.

Still, there wasn’t a doubt in his mind that the man could do it.
This was—
The Sword Saint.

A peerless talent, whose swordsmanship even the Hero acknowledged he couldn’t match.
—Hff…—
A cloud of white breath escaped from Panhyma’s lips.

A technique seen only among the highest-tier swordsmen of the Far East: Breathing.
By aligning the inner flow of spiritual energy, it allowed him to activate his style’s secret techniques.
He slid a finger along the tsuba and gripped the hilt.

Carlyle recognized this move.
Haima-ryu Ancient Sword Technique – Form I.
Dragon Slayer.

“Haah—!”
As the mist of breath spread outward—
Panhyma drew his blade with a screeching flash.

His speed was deranged—like the swing had only a beginning and an end, with no middle.
The arc of the blade twisted space itself.
If this world were a painting, it was like the artist had sliced a thick black brushstroke straight across it.

All the approaching tendrils were severed in a single stroke.
…Unbelievable.
Every time he saw it, it was ridiculous.

If Carlyle’s sword was fire, then this man’s sword was water.
Carlyle’s blows were raw, destructive force—tearing things apart.
But Panhyma’s blade slipped in with surgical precision. It infiltrated.

Water is the sharpest element. It seeps into everything.
It suited Panhyma’s calm, controlled temperament in battle—
“…What the hell?! Why is it this strong?!”

“……”
“What did Chief Leti do to this blade?! That draw speed’s completely bonkers!”
“……”

…Okay. Maybe not completely calm.
Apparently, the sword’s draw speed was much faster than normal.
He was wondering if Leti had added something—and sure enough, the scabbard now had a mana-trigger mechanism that launched the blade like a gun.

To put it simply—
“Double power on first strike”?
…Now that it was laid out like that, it really did seem like an amazing buff skill.

Leti—clearly far more skilled than she let on.
Carlyle smirked and kicked the increasingly battered door of the motorwagen.
Even though he’d carefully regulated the technique to minimize damage to the vehicle, it was unrealistic to expect it to remain unscathed after all that.

“But seriously, comrade! How the hell are we supposed to get back down from here—?!”
Panhyma had a point.
They were so high up now, even the Hero’s party couldn’t survive a freefall from this altitude.

Carlyle was fully aware of that.
But he didn’t care.
Because they wouldn’t need it anymore.

“We’ll ride that back down.”
He pointed straight ahead.
At the Black Mirror.

“…?”
Panhyma gawked at him, jaw slack, all common sense forgotten.
And Carlyle grinned.

It was time to settle the score from his past life—when he’d tried and failed to tame the Black Mirror.
Right here, right now.