Chapter 135: One Step Forward (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 135: One Step Forward (1)
Fifteen days ago.
Whoosh.
Crackle.
Roman lit the furnace.
Using the Flame Divine Art, he fully absorbed the shimmering heat radiating all around him.
'If I had met Butler for the first time in a situation where I couldn't escape, would I have made it out alive?'
He fell deep into thought.
While his hands rhythmically struck the steel, his mind drifted back to the past.
'With my strength at the time, victory wasn't guaranteed. I was only able to defeat Butler in the Great Warrior Battle because I had time to prepare. When we first crossed paths, I wasn't ready to handle a 5-Star Aura. Perhaps the memories of my past life made me arrogant. In a war where the Hector Kingdom threw everything they had at us, the appearance of an enemy I couldn't handle was only natural.'
In truth, he had anticipated variables like Butler.
That was why he had secured an escape route and engaged the enemy through guerrilla warfare.
'I still haven't fully accepted the fact that I am weak.'
It wasn't arrogance.
It was a cognitive dissonance stemming from his past life.
Though he constantly strove to adapt as Roman Dmitry in this life, the fact remained that his soul was that of the Heavenly Demon, Baek Joong-hyuk. That was why he clashed with his enemies. Facing the very real danger of someone like Butler, he saw with his own eyes and felt with his own skin that his current standing was not as grand as he had believed.
It was not a bad experience.
Though he had risked his life in the process, defeating Butler had given Roman a clear grasp of where he stood.
'In my past life, I was confident I could defeat anyone, no matter who they were. But in this life, I cannot. Butler is far from the best on the continent; he isn't even the strongest in the Hector Kingdom. Yet, I had to risk my life against such a man, and this kind of struggle might repeat itself in countless battles to come. If I want to always survive as the victor against the powerhouses of this continent, this pathetic level of strength will never be enough.'
Clang!
Clang!
He hammered the steel like a madman.
It was laughable.
He had caused so much trouble while living as Roman Dmitry, yet he hadn't been fully prepared to handle the consequences. If he had been defeated back then, the fallout wouldn't have been his alone to bear. The subordinates who trusted and followed him would have all died, and their families would have resented Roman for the rest of their lives.
He did not fear their resentment.
However, he refused to betray their trust.
He wanted to prove to the people who had taken his hand in this dog-eat-dog world that their choice had been the right one.
'The people who follow me—it was my own greed that accepted them. Excuses like the enemy being stronger than expected or unforeseen variables arising are utterly meaningless. I must be prepared to handle any situation. Even if I face a swordsman far stronger than Butler, I will sever their head and stand unshaken at the peak.'
The peak.
It was a lonely and solitary place.
One could not hope for anyone else to shoulder their burdens, and a weak mind did not belong at the summit.
He endured it.
Because this was the life he desired.
Even if the burdens he had to carry grew heavier because of it, Roman loathed the very thought of living a life of submission to anyone.
Whoosh.
Crackle.
The flames flared up.
Roman hammered the steel without pause.
Slowly, so very slowly, his consciousness sank into the fire.
* * *
Time passed.
As the sun rose and set, Roman did not take a single step out of the forge. He only repeated the act of hammering steel before the blazing furnace.
Clang!
Clang!
His mouth was bone-dry.
His face grew flushed, then turned a deep, burning crimson. His crackling skin began to show the early signs of burns. Dizziness washed over him in waves. Having not consumed a single drop of water or a grain of rice all this time, his body constantly signaled that it had reached its limit.
Even so, Roman's eyes remained unwavering.
As his tangled thoughts cleared, he focused on a single purpose.
'I need a sword that can accept the new me.'
Entering the State of Selflessness, he focused entirely on the present.
Immersed in the sword, he struck the steel at a constant rhythm and pace.
Clang!
The impact reverberated.
Red sparks flew in all directions.
Hunger, fatigue, and intense heat threatened to disrupt his senses, but Roman overcame them all with a single breath.
"Fuu."
Using the Flame Divine Art, he inhaled the flames, drawing in the mana within them.
As he exhaled, the impurities in his body were burned away by the heat.
He wasn't simply hammering steel.
Using the sword and the flames as mediums, Roman was striving to forge his own body into an ideal form.
Marquis Valentino had once wondered how a sword like Blaze could ever be created, but even if he knew the truth, replicating it would be impossible. A sword that responded perfectly to mana and even amplified its power could not be forged through conventional means. It could only be born because it shared the very process of Roman's breathing.
Clang!
Every time he struck the sword, Roman's mana was transferred into the steel.
And when he inhaled, the mana transferred to the steel was drawn back, pulling out the steel's impurities along with it.
Through this repeated cycle, the steel transformed into a state completely attuned to mana.
People assumed he was making swords out of ordinary steel, but steel that had shared this breath with Roman became an entirely different substance. It was a process that could not be replicated even if one knew the method. Forgetting the pain of his burning skin, Roman repeated the same action countless times like a man possessed.
One day, two days...
Time flew by.
His body was no longer in a normal state, but by assimilating with nature and absorbing its energy, Roman gained the strength to keep moving.
An extreme state.
He burned with madness.
Pushing himself to the absolute limit, Roman tested his boundaries.
He lost track of how many times he had repeated the motion.
He forgot the pain.
He forgot the hunger.
Even the sensation of swinging his arm faded, his body moving entirely on autopilot in a state of unconsciousness.
On exactly the fifteenth day.
Drip.
Plop.
Roman's skin began to peel away.
The blistered, weeping skin from the burns sloughed off, and beneath it, new skin as white as jade began to grow.
The second Shedding Bones and Rebirth.
Roman was beginning to undergo another transformation.
* * *
That day, Roman stepped out of the forge.
Though he transitioned from intense heat to a biting cold wind, his senses remained perfectly serene.
Immunity to Heat and Cold.
He had entered a new realm.
Now, neither cold nor heat could affect him.
'The second Shedding Bones and Rebirth. I have now laid the foundation to enter a new realm.'
In his Dantian, the newly absorbed mana seethed.
As the mana threatened to erupt like an active volcano, Roman focused his mind, slowly shaping the world around him.
One, then two.
Presences materialized.
Soon, the imaginary figures rushed toward Roman with ferocious speed.
Rumble!
Crash!
Exploding Aura.
It was Butler.
Not just one, but two Butlers appeared, simultaneously unleashing their 5-Star Aura as they attacked Roman. Not long ago, this was an attack he could not have faced head-on. Roman's existence had seemed as precarious as a candle flickering in the wind, but now, he raised the Aura from his Dantian and blocked Butler's attack directly.
Boom!
Crash! Clang!
A massive shockwave erupted.
Roman did not budge.
Though cuts opened on his gaunt, starved face, he stepped directly into the storm of Aura and unleashed his sword technique.
'Heavenly Demon Sword Technique, First Form of the First Half.'
Clang!
He struck at Butler's head.
The first Butler raised his sword to block the strike, while the second Butler swiftly lunged into the open space, aiming for Roman's flank. A gust of wind blew. Just as the sword grazed past his flank by a hair's breadth, the first Butler, who had blocked the frontal attack, exploded his Aura and launched another strike.
'Heavenly Demon Sword Technique, Second Form of the First Half.'
Boom!
Rumble!
He met the enemies' attacks head-on.
Subsequently, they exchanged dozens of blows.
It was a speed barely trackable by the naked eye. Neither Roman nor the Butlers gave an inch, relentlessly pressing each other. It was a situation where it wouldn't be surprising if anyone's head flew off at any second. If even one of them faltered in their breathing for a split second, the opponent would seize the opening and slit their throat.
The boundary of life and death.
Standing on the precipice of death, even as real wounds opened on his body, the wild beating of his heart made Roman feel truly alive.
'I did not choose a new life to become a loser. I, Roman Dmitry, will always remain the predator.'
Boom!
Rumble!
He overwhelmed his opponents.
Heavenly Demon Sword Technique, Third Form of the First Half.
Mana swirled violently.
It was the exact same attack as before, but the explosively increased mana completely overpowered Butler. Realizing they couldn't win individually, the imaginary Butlers joined forces and rushed Roman simultaneously.
Exploding Aura.
They struck at the exact same spot.
If it had been his past self, he wouldn't have had the strength to block that attack. He would have had to run to survive, and he would have had to accept whatever consequences came with defeat.
But now, things were different.
Having spent half a month in the State of Selflessness, Roman had taken a step into a different world.
'Heavenly Demon Sword Technique, Third Form of the Second Half.'
Rumble!
Crash!
The Heavenly Demon's Sword.
Roman unleashed the power of his past life.
* * *
The Heavenly Demon Sword Technique.
It was divided into three stages.
The three forms of the first half.
The three forms of the second half.
The three forms of the latter half.
Once a martial artist underwent three rounds of Shedding Bones and Rebirth and became capable of using the three forms of the latter half, there would be absolutely no opponent capable of blocking it. This was not arrogance. It was the absolute certainty of the Heavenly Demon, Baek Joong-hyuk, forged by defeating those hailed as the ultimate masters of the Murim.
Therefore:
'Using the forms of the second half is more than enough to defeat Butler.'
It was a certainty.
He was confident in his victory, but Roman could not be satisfied with just that.
'I do not desire a mediocre victory. If I use the Heavenly Demon Sword Technique in the exact same way as in my past life, I will certainly win, but I won't be able to completely overwhelm my opponent as I wish. Butler is not the strongest on the continent. If I cannot even overwhelm someone like him, I will never be able to achieve what I set out to do in the future.'
His mana seethed.
Time seemed to slow down.
Staring at the two Butlers rushing toward him, a new possibility suddenly occurred to Roman.
'Is unleashing the power of my past life exactly as it was truly the right choice? The swordsmen of this world choose to explosively erupt their Aura. Though it may leave them partially vulnerable, in terms of raw, concentrated power, it can exert a force greater than what I currently manifest. Therefore, responding with the exact same moves every time is a foolish choice. Depending on the situation and the opponent, I need to adopt the methods of this world.'
A shift in perspective.
He thought differently.
Rather than blindly dismissing the methods of this new world as trash, he integrated the necessary elements into his martial arts.
'Heavenly Demon Sword Technique, Third Form of the Second Half.'
Rumble!
Crash!
His Dantian convulsed.
Instead of evenly distributing the required amount of power throughout the sword, he allowed a portion of his mana to erupt explosively.
A middle ground between his current life and his past life.
He found a fitting compromise.
He unleashed it with immense force, but not recklessly like the people of this world.
And then...
Rumble!
An intensely exploding Aura.
A brilliant shroud of light that seemed to overturn the world swallowed Butler's existence whole.
Boom!
Crash! Rumble!