Chapter 273: Advent of the Heavenly Demon (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 273: Advent of the Heavenly Demon (5)
Roman Dmitry called out two names.
"Chris, Kevin. Step forward."
The crowd reacted with bewilderment. If this was an extension of his previous statement, Chris and Kevin were hardly suitable choices.
And yet, the two stepped forward without a moment's hesitation.
"From this moment on, I intend to put you forward as Dmitry's Great Warriors. If you lack the confidence to win, I will give you the chance to step back."
"Thank you for giving us the opportunity to represent Dmitry," Chris said.
"I will surely win," Kevin added.
Roman Dmitry looked at Duke Bamford, a silent challenge in his eyes.
Duke Bamford's expression turned icy cold. Anger surged past his limits, but he swallowed his boiling emotions. Roman Dmitry proposing a Great Warrior Battle was still within the realm of understanding. A monster who had defeated Barbosa would naturally want to use the variable of a Great Warrior Battle to turn the tide against the Kronos Empire. But Chris and Kevin were different. While investigating Roman Dmitry, the Empire had already finished identifying the figures associated with him.
The growth of those two had been meteoric.
They had made such immense progress that one might doubt if they were even the same people from when they first met Roman, but they still could not be considered true powerhouses by continental standards. In other words, they were not of the caliber to show their faces here, standing against the might of the Kronos Empire. The mere fact that these wet-behind-the-ears brats were stepping up as Great Warriors was a blatant insult to the Kronos Empire's pride.
Bamford's insides boiled.
He had no intention of playing into Roman Dmitry's hands. Yet, if he backed down in a situation like this, people would question it long after the war.
Why on earth?
Why would Duke Bamford, with so many formidable swordsmen under his command, refuse a Great Warrior Battle against mere nobodies like Chris and Kevin? This was a golden opportunity to seize victory. Backing down against opponents who weren't even ranked on the continent—and weren't even Roman Dmitry himself—was something his pride absolutely could not tolerate.
It was a blatant insult.
Duke Bamford spoke in a chilling voice. "Roman Dmitry. Do you know why Kronos is called an empire? It is not simply because it is a land ruled by His Majesty the Emperor. It is called an empire because it overflows with enough talent to fill this vast territory, and because those praised as great in mere kingdoms possess talents that are a dime a dozen in this land."
Hannibal? There was no need for him to step forward. Even excluding him, there were plenty of powerhouses in this war.
"Knowing that I could not put Hannibal forward as a Great Warrior after refusing a duel with you, you must have made such an absurd proposal," Bamford continued. "Fine. I accept the Great Warrior Battle. Even without Hannibal, I will show you that these brats—whose names people didn't even know ten, no, five years ago—cannot even hold a candle to the Kronos Empire."
A corner of Roman Dmitry's mouth twitched upward. He signaled with a nod, and Chris calmly stepped forward.
At that sight, Duke Bamford shouted, "Diego! Go and bring me that brat's head!"
* * *
The summoned man. Ranked 6th in Kronos.
He was Diego, a member of the Twelve Swords of the Continent, ranked 12th on the continental ranking.
For him, this was highly insulting to his pride. Though he was considered one of the lower-tier members of the Twelve Swords of the Continent alongside Barbosa, he was still a 6-Star Swordsman whom ordinary swordsmen dared not even look up to. Just as Duke Bamford said, the Kronos Empire was teeming with talent. Even without deploying Hannibal, there were other 6-Star Swordsmen who could take his place.
"I am Diego." He stepped forward.
Glancing at his opponent, he let out an annoyed sigh. He had heard the stories from Hannibal. Hannibal had encountered Chris on the battlefield, and Chris had abandoned his ally, Count Nicholas, fleeing just to save his own skin. That was Chris's reality. While making such progress at a young age certainly showed incredible future potential, the problem was that he was simply not on the level to face Diego right now.
Diego sneered. "I heard the loyalty of Dmitry's dogs is extraordinary, and seeing you, I can see it's true. To think a mere brat like you is the Great Warrior representing Dmitry against Kronos. I don't know how long Roman Dmitry will remember your loyalty, but the continent will record in history just how reckless and pathetic you were."
"Do you intend to fight with your mouth?" Chris replied.
Diego laughed. Regardless of his orders, he had no intention of letting Chris die a peaceful death. "Right, let's see how long you can keep flapping that mouth."
No signal was needed. It was an unspoken agreement.
Knowing they were both ready to fight, Diego erupted with Aura and charged like a madman.
At that moment—
Slash!
Blood splattered near his eye.
It was a hair's breadth. Sensing a sudden explosion of mana from Chris, Diego had instinctively jerked his head back, only to feel a burning pain. Goosebumps broke out all over his body. His opponent was a mere brat who hadn't even reached 5-Star, yet that attack was so fast he could barely react to it.
Even so, he did not doubt his victory. That attack must have been the boy's full power, and since it had failed to land cleanly, the match was already decided.
Rumble!
Diego completely erased even the slightest hint of complacency from his mind.
* * *
Boom!
Rumble!
The 6-Star Aura erupted. As the force surged as if to swallow the world, Chris heightened all his senses to track his opponent's attack.
It was fast. And strong.
Though his recent growth allowed him to manifest a 4-Star Aura, he would not survive a head-on collision with that monstrous power. However, while teaching Kevin, Roman Dmitry had told them that the existence of Aura was not absolute. Emission was only temporary. People defined 6-Star as the realm where destructive force reached its limit, but if one could disrupt that flow even slightly, the situation would change.
Tap.
Tap.
He adjusted his footwork. Diego wanted optimal timing. By taking just a few steps back, Chris slightly delayed that timing, instantly locating the spot where the Aura was not perfectly distributed. The Aura enveloping the sword was irregular. While the fiercely burning sections exerted 150% of a 6-Star Aura's power, other parts were weak, holding barely half that strength.
It was a minute difference. A variation that ordinary swordsmen would never notice, but through his training with Roman Dmitry, Chris was able to spot it.
Clang!
Rumble!
Their Auras clashed. Chris was pushed far back by the immense impact, but that alone was enough to leave a shocked expression on Diego's face. He had blocked the attack with a mere 4-Star Aura. It was something incomprehensible by the common sense of this world.
As if denying reality, Diego pressed forward even harder.
Clang!
Crash! Crash!
It was a fierce clash. The exploding Aura did not allow for a single moment's respite.
But the more he unleashed his attacks, the redder Diego's face became.
Chris should have collapsed long ago, yet his continued endurance poured oil on the fire of Diego's rage. This was a fight where his victory was supposed to be a given. Because people were more interested in how overwhelmingly he would defeat his opponent rather than the win itself, the tightening expressions of the onlookers with every passing second revealed their growing disappointment.
The problem was, he couldn't bring the fight to a swift end.
Even while being pushed back one-sidedly, Chris's sudden, preemptive counterattacks sent chills down Diego's spine.
Flash.
It was fast. The link between attacks. With sharp eyes, Chris captured that tiny opening.
The past few days had been a time of cataclysmic change for him. Along with his physical growth, his expanded mind looked back on everything that had transpired. In the past, he hadn't understood the actions and words of Roman Dmitry. When he was overwhelmingly defeated even when Roman didn't use Aura, he had simply thought they were in entirely different leagues of skill.
Now, it was different.
Ultimately, Aura was merely an extension of swordsmanship.
While the accepted truth of the continent dictated that the power of Aura decided victory or defeat, Roman Dmitry had always emphasized swordsmanship itself. Just as he had taught him techniques like Lightning. Instead of simply overwhelming the opponent with Aura, Roman had conveyed through sparring how to truly understand swordsmanship and break the opponent down.
His past duel with Hannibal... he had been defeated mentally. Faced with that destructive Aura, he had believed he couldn't win anyway.
If Roman Dmitry had been in his place, even if he could only manifest a 4-Star Aura, would he have meekly accepted defeat against Hannibal?
No. Roman Dmitry would have surely overturned the situation with pure swordsmanship.
Back when he first caused a sensation in Dmitry, Roman Dmitry had not been the overwhelmingly powerful figure he was now, yet he had always defeated opponents deemed impossible to beat. Chris wanted to follow that path. Rather than conforming to the common sense of reality, he wanted to overcome the limits of reality, just as Roman Dmitry had.
Whoosh!
Rumble!
Aura tore through the air. Even though it happened right before his eyes, Chris kept his gaze fixed on his opponent until the very end, targeting a split-second opening.
Flash.
A single strike.
His opponent's face was painted with bewilderment. For the first time, Diego pulled back his sword, choosing defense over offense.
Suddenly, Roman Dmitry's words came to mind. When they had finally reunited, Roman Dmitry had noticed the change in Chris and said:
"Chris. Once, people called you the greatest talent of Dmitry. But now that you have created something new on your own, their assessment is wrong."
From the very first moment they met, Roman Dmitry had recognized Chris's talent.
"On the Salamander Continent, there is no talent that surpasses yours."
That declaration felt different. Though Roman Dmitry himself was likely excluded from that scope, even after facing continental monsters like Barbosa, Roman had told him that he was the greatest talent on the continent. That was why Roman had put him forward in this Great Warrior Battle against the Kronos Empire. Roman Dmitry's conviction gave him boundless confidence.
Clang!
Rumble!
He blocked the attack. Amidst the chaotic, tangled exchange of blows, Chris bided his time.
His Aura boiled. The fully warmed-up Aura raged wildly, but Chris did not allow it to erupt from his Dantian. He suppressed it tightly. Lightning was the sharp compression of a momentary burst. Knight Commander Jonathan's secret technique utilized an explosive burst to maximize speed. Based on these two concepts, Chris had reconstructed the pathway stretching from his Dantian to his sword, forging a channel as thin and hard as steel.
It was the result of his Shedding Bones and Rebirth.
He took a deep breath.
The exact moment Diego lost his composure and recklessly lunged forward—
Flash.
Rumble!
The Aura exploded. Reaching from his Dantian to his sword in a mere fraction of a second, it displayed a speed that human senses could not comprehend.
Single Flash.
A speed that transcended limits.
Diego's eyes flew open at the burning pain that suddenly flared up.
* * *
He hadn't seen it. He hadn't reacted to it.
The moment he thought of attempting something, a flash of light appeared, and Diego was instantly enveloped in searing pain.
"...Ugh?!"
Blood splattered. His chest was slashed.
In his panic, Diego tried to pull back his sword to block any further attacks, but Chris did not miss the opening and pressed his advantage relentlessly. He slashed at Diego's leg as he tried to block, throwing him off balance. When Diego raised his sword with a face contorted in pain, Chris kicked him square in the chest, sending him tumbling backward.
Thud!
Diego hadn't let his guard down. He had fought with everything he had, determined to punish Chris and resolved not to allow even a single counterattack.
It was just... it was simply too fast.
The flash tearing through space was a Fast Sword Technique pushed to its absolute limit, and in the world Diego had lived in, no one used such swordsmanship. He could not afford to collapse like this. The Great Warrior Battle had already begun, and the excuse that Chris was more terrifying than expected would never work on the Emperor of Kronos.
In this duel, his life was on the line.
Diego struggled to his feet, but what awaited him was Chris's next strike.
Just once. He had lost the momentum.
Diego was undoubtedly a powerhouse, a monster against whom even Chris could not guarantee victory a hundred times out of a hundred. However, his opponent did not know what kind of weapon Chris possessed. That was his fatal mistake. Having forged a new path, Chris had become a warrior so formidable that once his opponent lost the momentum even for a single moment, they could never turn the tide.
Slash!
An arm flew through the air.
Forced to his knees, Diego tried to counterattack with his remaining arm. He did not cry out in surrender. He would rather choose death. It was the only way to keep his family alive.
As his other arm was severed, Diego fell face-first onto the ground.
It was over. If Chris sheathed his sword now, everyone would acknowledge his victory.
At that moment, through the crowd of people whose faces were painted with shock, Chris locked eyes with Hannibal.
And then—
Crunch!
As if to show everyone, he put a definitive end to the duel with death.