Chapter 108
Chapter 108
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 108
Chapter Title: Cowardly Bastard
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A storm of astonishing black flames and lightning engulfed the arena training grounds.
In the midst of that spectacle, every falling petal from the World Tree was incinerated.
Even the students taking the exam stood frozen, utterly entranced by the sight.
Krash's Inferno Heavenly Thunder seemed not just far beyond the students' level—it looked like the pinnacle of talent itself.
"......Monster."
Someone muttered it without thinking.
The scene Krash had unleashed fit the word perfectly.
Amid those roaring black flames, Krash's eyes darted busily.
Crackle!
The moment Krash's Thunderclap activated, the Thunderclap Blade surged into motion.
The instant something invisible touched the blade's edge...
Boom!
A deafening explosion rang out, forcing Krash to stagger back.
"Hoo."
As he exhaled sharply, Krash's eyes blazed red.
He knew exactly what that attack had been.
An aura bomb.
Pirate Empress Kai Ran's signature special-made aura bomb.
She was the one who'd used those to indiscriminately blast sea erosion beasts left and right.
The fact that she was using it on a person meant she'd abandoned any mercy.
'Hit me with full power, so it'd be nice if you passed out.'
Krash cleaved through another aura bomb flying at him from the black flames with his sword.
Thanks to his Sixth Sense and Thunderclap, he could track Kai Ran's presence swiftly moving outside the flames.
She wouldn't stick to ranged attacks forever.
Her specialty was dagger techniques that dove in close.
'Coming.'
His Sixth Sense reacted in that instant.
The moment Krash gripped the Thunderclap Blade, three sword trails pierced through the black flames.
Clang, clang, clang!
His body, empowered by Inferno Erosion, solidly blocked Kai Ran's triple strike.
Kai Ran emerged from the flames, her uniform partially burned away, scorch marks everywhere.
One arm in particular bore severe burns.
Krash's Inferno Erosion, now at master level, had greater output than before.
Even if his aura realm was only at the early master stage, Krash's power far surpassed it.
And that was perfect for luring out the opponent's carelessness.
Kai Ran had even yielded the initiative because of it.
In that moment, Kai Ran burrowed deep into Krash's guard.
Her bizarre dagger style was disorienting.
Like motion sickness on a ship, making you dizzy.
Kai Ran's daggers cleverly shook the eye's focus.
But this time, she'd picked the wrong opponent.
Krash's Sixth Sense was a secret art created by a blind swordsman, independent of sight.
Crackle!
At the same time, Krash's Thunderclap amplified that Sixth Sense even further.
Unlike before, Heavenly Slaughter Star filled in Krash's physical limits and lacking talent.
The result? Krash saw through every path Kai Ran's sword would take.
"Ha ha."
Kai Ran let out an exasperated laugh.
Every swing of her daggers was completely read by Krash—none even grazed him.
His offense was absurd earlier, and now his defensive secret art was on this level too.
'Feels like fighting a damn wall.'
It was as if he embodied the pinnacle of offense and defense as one.
Krash had not a single opening.
What the hell had made him like this?
Not even a perfectionist would train to this extent.
Frankly, even Kai Ran couldn't see a way through him.
'Then.'
Kai Ran took a deep breath.
Aura surged through her entire body.
Her hair began to shimmer ash-gray along with the rippling aura.
'If I can't see a path, I'll make one.'
Ash-gray aura flickered along her dagger.
By the time Krash noticed, her dagger was already touching his Thunderclap Blade.
Boom!
The explosion echoed across the arena.
She'd layered the same aura bomb from before onto her dagger.
Her secret art: Explosive Lantern.
Against someone on the defense, unleash an attack that shatters it.
The blast that could pulverize sea erosion beasts was tough for even Krash to take head-on.
Bang, boom, boom!
Explosions continued in succession.
Krash's brow furrowed.
Using Explosive Lantern head-on like this meant Kai Ran couldn't avoid the shock either.
Yet she kept pouring it on, determined to disrupt his Thunderclap somehow.
'Totally reckless.'
Essentially, she'd turned it into a battle of endurance.
Whoosh!
In that instant, black flames surged along Krash's blade.
Rooooar!
Finally, their swords clashed head-on, engulfed in explosion and black flame.
Kai Ran's eyes met Krash's.
She realized what his counter was.
Amid the streaming sweat, a faint smile played on Krash's lips.
Sorry, but endurance battles were his specialty.
"If you're breaking through head-on..."
Krash's black flames roared fiercely.
"Then I'll break through head-on too."
Black flames versus explosions—who could endure longer?
* * *
By the time black flames and explosions filled the arena.
The secondary exam had effectively halted as everyone gawked at the spectacle.
And among those watching was Mary Diana.
This scene left her flustered.
The Krash before her eyes was worlds apart from the one she remembered.
He wasn't yielding an inch to Pirate Empress Kai Ran, swinging his sword right in her face.
Just fifteen years old.
Hard to believe that was the level he'd reached at that age.
Even Mary, born with the Divine Martial Body, couldn't fight like that at fifteen.
No, maybe not even now.
Back in the day.
As the Divine Spear, she'd have smiled fondly at this Krash, calling him a promising sprout.
But she wasn't the Divine Spear anymore.
A seventeen-year-old girl of talent.
She knew better than anyone how to awaken it.
But the wasted years searching for Arthur, plus a year in prison, had squandered her prime training time.
Of course, her innate talent remained.
Among her peers, no one but Charlotte could beat her.
But against the Krash in front of her now?
Well, that black flame looked too fierce to guarantee victory.
And that flame kept dragging her back to that nightmarish day.
Like how the boy called Krad—supposedly Abela's corpse—had blocked her spear that day.
Mary's eyes trembled.
Her grip tightened on her spear.
Looking back.
She regretted wasting the time she'd been given.
'If I fail Lady Sigrin's orders this time.'
She knew she'd be discarded.
Sigrin was the type to cut away anything unnecessary.
'No, no. Not that. Anything but that.'
Being abandoned by Sigrin might make Arthur abandon her too.
Mary knew deep down Arthur valued Sigrin more.
As Mary sank into her obsession with winning.
The battle between Krash and Kai Ran raged on.
Soon, both their bodies were scorched and covered in wounds from each other's attacks.
Even defending with physical prowess and aura had limits.
So they were both falling apart.
But one still held the edge.
Just as Kai Ran focused solely on offense.
Krash shifted his Thunderclap's direction.
Thunderclap fused Dull Sword and Lioner.
Infused with Lioner's lightning, it seemed slow to the eye but covered every point an attack could reach.
Thunderclap was the next realm after Dull Sword's space domination.
But now, Krash altered the flow.
Since he could predict every enemy attack, he swung first where it would land.
The result? His sword seized space before her attacks fully formed.
Thud!
Kai Ran's dagger twisted, staggering against Krash's sword.
Her eyes widened hugely.
But Krash's sword didn't stop, invading her attack range again.
A step faster than her own strikes.
Even though she was attacking, it felt like she was the one under assault.
Kai Ran felt her breath catch.
Krash's Inferno Erosion-empowered attacks were brutally heavy already.
Swinging like that trapped her in a sealed space.
This was no longer Dull Sword territory.
It had become a domineering sword solely for crushing the foe.
And Kai Ran, taking it head-on, couldn't withstand the power and kept retreating.
The Pirate Empress, famed even in the Outer Sea, was being pushed back by sheer force.
Krash's red eyes, heated by Inferno Erosion, flickered.
His Tyrant Sword evoked the Asura.
Seeing it, Kai Ran realized.
She didn't have much time left to block Krash's sword.
Even now, it was closing in.
Soon it'd shatter her defense and press against her throat.
'Good thing I didn't take that professor job.'
The aura on Kai Ran's sword began surpassing its previous limits.
Her ash-gray hair whipped around, glowing with aura.
'No shame in going all-out against a student.'
Then, head-on with one strike.
Pour everything into that one move.
Her aura blade—the mark of a master—glowed red-hot, radiating intense heat.
"E-everyone, get back!"
The exam proctors hurriedly cleared nearby kids.
The aura gathered on Kai Ran's sword was strong enough to warp the surrounding air.
It was power unfit for an entrance exam candidate.
But Kai Ran had forgotten Krash was just an applicant.
An opponent she wanted to clash full-force with.
That thought filled her mind.
As if resolved to obliterate the whole area.
Kai Ran's dagger thrust toward Krash.
Kai Ran's secret technique that shattered sea erosion beasts in one blow.
The moment Krash's sword crossed with Kai Ran's dagger bearing Great Detonation.
Crack!
Krash's blade suddenly began splitting toward her dagger.
As Kai Ran's eyes widened at the sight.
Shatter!
Krash's blade exploded into fragments.
Thanks to that, her Great Detonation hit empty air instead.
Roooooooar!
The massive explosion from Great Detonation swallowed the area.
But beneath that blast.
Krash, who had deliberately shattered the Thunderclap Blade, crouched low and regripped the hilt.
Only then did Kai Ran realize.
Krash had never intended a head-on clash from the start.
The provocative actions and counters were to bait her into full-power attacks.
From beginning to end, this guy had stubbornly fought a war of attrition.
For this one moment.
Rumble!
With thunderous roar, the Thunderclap Blade's edge reformed, scattering golden light.
Beneath it, Krash poured his full power into the Thunderclap once more.
Deep in his mind, atop the serene lake.
The instant a droplet fell into the mental lake, rippling its surface.
The surging dragon aura poured entirely into Krash's sword.
And that sword reached Kai Ran, burdened by the backlash of Great Detonation.
With the blade at her throat, Kai Ran swallowed a laugh.
'Sneaky bastard.'
If he could still output that much, he should've fought fair.
Inferno ErosionSecond Form
⟨ Inferno Heavenly Sword ⟩
The moment black flames dominated the arena, alongside Kai Ran's brief regret.