Chapter 243
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 243
Jeremy gave a dismissive flick of his wrist, his expression relaxed.
“I’m your senior, so I’ll let you have the first move.”
Jeremy was offering me the opening strike.
Trying to act like a dignified senior now, of all times? It was a little late for that, but I saw no reason to refuse his generosity.
“Fine, then.”
Fwoosh—
In an instant, I folded space and lunged forward, appearing directly under Jeremy’s nose.
“……!”
I immediately threw a heavy punch aimed straight for his face.
I’ve been itching to hit that smug face of his for a long time.
The number of times his interference had complicated my life was beyond counting. Furthermore, according to the Chairman, he’d been clinging to Freya and badmouthing me behind my back. There was no way I could look at him with anything but disdain.
Fwoom—
But contrary to my intentions, my fist whistled through empty air. Jeremy had dodged the strike with a simple, fluid tilt of his head.
His reaction speed and movements were sharper than I’d anticipated.
Right now, thanks to the consistent doses of the new medicine, I’ve overcome the penalty of my severed meridians.
The penalty that had halved my physical abilities—the weight that had always held me back—was gone. Furthermore, I was maintaining my Demonization, which dramatically boosted my physical stats. My raw attributes alone now exceeded 90.
For him to dodge my attack so effortlessly meant his physical capabilities were superior to mine.
After casually evading the blow, Jeremy retreated a few steps. As he moved, he wove demonic energy into a sword, gripping the hilt tightly.
Shhhk—
I narrowed my eyes at the ominous aura bleeding from his demonic blade.
Jeremy is a swordsman.
He was a prince of Gilbert, the kingdom of knights, and had served as the head of Ishtal’s disciplinary committee. If the story had followed its original path, he was a talent destined to become a Sword Saint. I had to remain wary of his technique.
Moreover, the soul inhabiting that body was King Kaim, the man once feared as the Overlord Sword.
Ch-jijik—
Suddenly, his sword gleamed, and a long stream of black sword qi erupted from the edge.
It was an aura on a completely different level from any knight I had seen before. It wasn't just a thin layer of energy coating the steel; he extended the sword qi like a whip and lashed out at me.
Swoosh—
I rolled to dodge the lethal arc of energy and slammed a hand onto the ground.
Transmutation!
KRAAANG—!
A massive earthen wall erupted from beneath Jeremy’s feet. A typical enemy would have been caught by the rising stone and blown to bits.
Fwoom—
But Jeremy did the opposite; he kicked off the rising wall, using the momentum to charge straight at me. He closed the distance in a heartbeat, flying like a bolt of dark light as he unleashed his sword qi.
It was too late to dodge.
Aegis!
I summoned Aegis and rapidly transmuted several more earthen walls in front of me to intercept his charge.
However—
Zzzzzung—
“……!”
Jeremy cut straight through the earthen walls and my defensive magic as if they weren't there, rushing toward me without losing an ounce of speed. He passed through the barriers I’d erected as if there was zero resistance.
No matter how transcendent the cutting power of his sword qi was, this shouldn't have been possible. In that moment, I understood why he had been chosen as the successor to achieve the "great cause."
The ability to cut through space!
King Kaim’s swordsmanship had reached a divine level—a state where he could sever the very boundary between dimensions and space if he willed it.
In that case...
I manifested my own Authority, twisting the trajectory of the sword aimed for my throat.
Krrrk—
“……!”
For a fleeting second, the sword’s path distorted along with space itself.
An attack that can cut anything versus an ability that can twist anything.
When two contradictory Authorities clash, the one of a higher tier gains the upper hand. It was only for an instant, but it proved that my ability to manipulate space was a higher power than his ability to merely cut it.
Jeremy’s sword sliced through empty air. I seized the opening and slammed my fist into his abdomen.
Kuduk—
“Keuk.”
My fist shattered the barrier surrounding his body. I immediately distorted space at the point of impact, erasing the internal organs within his torso.
Fwoosh—
But despite the literal hole gaping in his stomach, he retreated with an air of indifference.
“Hoo.”
Taking a deep breath, Jeremy glared at me and spoke.
“Is that your Authority? Indeed, you are worthy of discussing the great cause.”
Shhhh—
When Jeremy placed a hand over the wound, it knit back together in an instant. He had supposedly gained immortality through the ritual of the immortal race. It was a truly bizarre, grotesque regenerative power.
No, it wasn't just his regeneration.
If it weren't for my Authority that erases space itself, I wouldn't have even been able to injure him.
I had definitely broken through his barrier and landed a solid punch, but the physical impact itself hadn't dealt any effective damage. An attack honed through bloody training with Amur had been rendered useless. The only thing that had actually hurt him was the Authority of Spatial Distortion.
His pure physical stats might even surpass Girena's, whom I had fought before.
“Well then, I shall see if your Authority can block this as well.”
Shwa-shwa-shwa—
As he swung his sword through the air, crescent-shaped blades of black sword qi rained down. Each one possessed the power to slice through space itself. It was an onslaught that no shield or barrier could hope to block.
But for me, defending wasn't that difficult. The principle was the same as his previous attack; he was simply trying to overwhelm me with volume.
Zzzzzung—
I extended both hands and slightly warped the direction of the incoming sword qi.
KWA-GWA-GWA-GWANG—!
The deflected blades exploded behind me, sending plumes of dust billowing into the air. A moment later, the haze settled.
I stood there, composed, in the center of the destruction. His deflected sword qi had only succeeded in destroying the unfortunate altar; I was completely unharmed.
I casually brushed a bit of dust off my shoulder. “Looks like I can block it.”
My nonchalant declaration made his expression harden.
Twitch—
His face contorted with rage. The ability he had spent a lifetime honing had been rendered futile by my Authority. Looking at his twisted features, I recalled a story I had heard before.
Gilean told me about King Kaim.
Kaim, the king of the knight kingdom of Gilbert. As a descendant of the Knight King, he had dedicated his entire life to achieving an unparalleled level of swordsmanship. In his later years, Kaim reached a divine state where he could even cut through space.
But this brought him no peace. What was the point of becoming stronger? All that remained was a body that was gradually aging and mana that was slowly scattering. Overcome by the fear of death, King Kaim gradually went mad.
It was then that Venerable Rimgar of the immortal race extended a hand. He promised eternal life and invited Kaim to participate in the great cause. Blinded by the prospect of immortality, King Kaim accepted, sacrificing countless citizens and even his own flesh and blood to reach this point.
He likely couldn't believe that after sacrificing everything, he was being pushed back by a mere brat like me.
Kuduk—
Jeremy’s face twisted grotesquely, and the phantom face of King Kaim emerged from beneath the skin.
Just as I thought. The outer shell is Jeremy, but King Kaim’s soul was latent in his subconscious.
“By the likes of you...!”
Fwoosh—
His form vanished from my sight for an instant.
“My sword is not one to be stopped by the likes of you!”
Kaim reappeared behind me, swinging his blade in a lethal arc. But I had already anticipated the move and calmly stepped out of the way.
Fwoom—
Fwa-ba-bang—
Kaim’s strikes came relentlessly. But thanks to my training with Amur, I was confident in close-quarters combat.
Tat—
I dodged what I could and blocked what I had to.
Only his sword can cut through space.
If I stayed inside the sword's effective range and struck his arms and wrists, I could deflect the trajectory without even needing to use my Authority.
Fwa-ba-bang—
I dove into Kaim’s guard and unleashed the hand-to-hand techniques I had learned from Amur. Our limbs clashed in a blur of motion.
“Keuk.”
King Kaim may have been a master of the sword, but in this kind of ultra-close-range brawl, I clearly held the upper hand.
Thwack—
He was gradually forced back, and finally, I landed a clean hit on his face. My fist shattered his nose. Although it wasn't "effective" damage given his regenerative abilities, I had succeeded in shattering his composure.
“You bastard!”
Enraged that his attacks were being neutralized and that he’d taken a solid hit to the face, Kaim let out a roar and thrust one hand toward the sky.
Krrrrumble—
Simultaneously, a colossal blade of demonic energy formed in the air. It was the same greatsword of demonic energy that had slain the Red Dragon Baltan in a single blow.
“Try and block this!”
Flash—
Accompanied by black lightning, the greatsword of demonic energy fell with the speed of a light beam. This, too, possessed the Authority to cut through space—the reason Baltan had met such a futile end.
I raised my head and watched the massive blade hurtling toward me.
An Authority of that magnitude can't be avoided by simply twisting its trajectory.
Even if I deflected its path, the sheer shockwave from the impact would tear my body to shreds. In that case, I had no choice but to meet it head-on.
Chk—
I raised my hand toward the sky. At that, King Kaim burst into crazed laughter.
“Khahaha! Do you think you can block an attack that even the Dragon Language could not stop?!”
I ignored his taunts, manifested my Authority, and asked myself a question.
Can an Authority that cuts space continue to cut space indefinitely?
If that were the case, King Kaim’s attack shouldn't have stopped at destroying the altar; it should have pierced through to the other side of the planet. But reality was different. His attack had buried itself deep in the ground, but it was ultimately stopped by the earth.
This meant that even the Authority to cut space had its limits. If so, all I had to do was block it until the Authority’s power was exhausted.
Until the power of his greatsword is spent, I will simply stack infinite layers of space!
Zzzzzung—
I continuously layered space above my head, forming a shield of infinitely overlapping dimensions.
KRAAANG—
Finally, the greatsword of demonic energy and the shield of space collided, creating a massive shockwave of mana.
Krrrr-ack—
His greatsword relentlessly tore through the shield of space, closing the distance. But for every layer the shield lost, a new one was added, pushing the attack back again and again.
And so, the battle between the spear that could pierce anything and the shield that could block anything...
Shatter—
...ended in the shield’s victory as his greatsword finally fractured. The blade, unable to penetrate the infinite spatial shield, dissipated into particles of demonic energy.
“……”
Kaim seemed to be in deep shock. His ultimate technique had been blocked, and he froze on the spot. Retracting the shield of space, I shrugged and offered a word of "consolation."
“Don’t be too disheartened. Your opponent is me, after all.”
Though I wasn't sure if that was actually comforting.
King Kaim, standing frozen and trembling, forced his lips to move.
“Yes… perhaps I cannot kill you. But you cannot kill me either!”
With all his attacks blocked, Kaim fell back on the immortality of his physical form. It sounded like a desperate mental victory, but he was technically right.
My fists, honed through training with Amur, are living weapons, but my physical attacks can't deal lasting damage to him.
The Authority to distort space was effective, but even that was largely meaningless in the face of his overwhelming regenerative power. If he decided to drag this out, relying on his infinite regeneration as a weapon, things could get tedious.
However.
“If you can’t die… then I just won’t kill you.”
I had already planted several spatial coordinates inside his body during our earlier exchange. All that was left was to manifest the Authority I had inscribed on those coordinates.
Click—
I snapped my fingers.
Zzzzzung—
Centered on the points where I had planted the coordinates, space began to distort, swallowing his body. Starting with the nose I had broken, then the arms and legs I had touched while fighting up close, and every single joint in between.
The warping space began to slice his body into pieces, absorbing each fragment into a separate dimension.
Having judged that I couldn't kill him with a direct approach, I chose to divide him into multiple pieces and confine each one in a different dimension. No matter how overwhelming his regenerative power was, it would be useless if his entire body was torn apart and scattered across the multiverse.
“Wh-what is this? What is this, I say!”
King Kaim shrieked as he was sucked into the void beyond. But as his vocal cords vanished into another dimension, even his death throes were cut short.
I watched his body disappear beyond the dimensional rift and closed my eyes.
Infinite life force and an immortal body.
Because of the immortality he so desperately craved, his body would be torn to pieces and suffer for all eternity. I could only hope that his suffering might, in some small way, appease the grudges of the countless people who died because of his greed.
Zzzzzung—
With that final thought, I closed the space. The altar became quiet, as if nothing had ever happened.
Thud—
Once his entire body had been sucked beyond space, only the Dragon Heart of Baltan, which he had swallowed, was left lying on the altar.
What a precious item.
I bent down to pick up the Dragon Heart, then raised my hand high into the air.
“UWOOOOH!!”
At my declaration of victory, the demons let out a roar that threatened to shake the entire meteor crater. I let their eardrum-shattering cries wash over me as I looked up at Iscariot, who sat upon the high throne.
“Next.”