Chapter 388: The Second Continental War (11)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 388: The Second Continental War (11)
Kevin.
He was someone who was never supposed to be here.
According to Kronos's calculations, he should have still been in Valhalla. Yet, here he was, standing before Ares far sooner than anyone could have predicted.
Rustle.
Kevin stepped forward, pushing his way through the thicket.
He was in a wretched state.
His hair was wildly disheveled, and the dark, sunken shadows beneath his eyes made his utter exhaustion painfully obvious. His appearance alone told the whole story. Kevin and his companions must have pushed themselves to the absolute limit to reach Dmitry. Then, upon hearing news of the Kronos Imperial Army, they had likely scattered to scour the wilderness.
His arms hung loosely at his sides.
In his right hand, he loosely gripped a sword.
With his deeply sunken eyes, Kevin muttered like a man possessed.
"When I first received the report of your betrayal, I couldn't believe it. To think that you—the man who slaughtered Valhalla's rankers for Dmitry's sake just a short while ago—were actually a dog serving the Kronos Empire. No one, myself included, could accept it. At first, I thought I was just denying reality. A comrade I had trusted with my back on the battlefield had betrayed us. But as time passed, the ominous feeling that took over my mind was a bit different from the others."
That day, everyone had been furious.
Consumed by rage, Chris ordered a forced march, pushing them toward the Frank border day and night.
Thanks to that, they drastically cut down their travel time.
Even completing the journey in three days required an incredibly grueling pace, but they managed to arrive via the Warp Gate in the Endless Mountains just as dawn broke on the third day. Fortunately, Dmitry was safe. But while they felt a wave of relief that Dmitry hadn't fallen, their blazing anger toward Ares for his betrayal quickly flared up all over again.
"Thinking back, the reason it was so hard for me to accept reality was because you were a powerhouse recognized by everyone in Dmitry. I knew exactly how devastating your betrayal would be. Because you—someone even I couldn't guarantee a victory against—were highly likely to inflict enough damage to bring Dmitry down. It wasn't that I trusted you. It was that I couldn't accept the consequences of your betrayal."
His words were directed at Ares, but they also sounded like a monologue reflecting on the grim reality of their situation.
With eyes flickering with madness, Kevin took a step toward Ares. Then another.
"Every single moment on the way to Dmitry, I prayed to the heavens. Please, please let Dmitry be safe. Do not let it fall to evil forces like Kronos. And God answered my prayers. Dmitry is safe, and He even granted the final wish I so desperately desired."
Stop.
He halted his steps.
The distance between them was short.
They were close enough that if either decided to strike, their swords would clash in an instant.
Kevin smiled.
Beneath his wildly disheveled hair, his expression reflected the dark nature of his final wish.
"My final wish was that I would be the first to find you, Ares. From this moment on, just as I prayed night after night, I will tear you limb from limb to appease the souls of the Dmitry people who died because of you."
No more.
Words were no longer needed.
The moment Kevin's voice faded—
Flash!
Boom!
Kevin and Ares lunged at each other like starving beasts.
* * *
Flash!
A brilliant light flared across their vision.
Kevin twisted his head to evade Ares's attack, then slashed at Ares's chest without hesitation.
Clang!
The strike was blocked.
Ares's expression was ice-cold.
Kevin had shown clear intent to kill with that last strike. There was no longer a shred of camaraderie between them.
"Foolish bastard. If you wanted to take me down, you shouldn't have come alone."
Crash!
Rumble!
Kevin was blown backward.
Ares's Aura flared violently. He closed the distance in an instant, unleashing a relentless barrage of attacks. Every time the 6-Star Aura unleashed its powerful shockwaves, Kevin's body shuddered. No matter how phenomenally Kevin had grown, he was not Chris. He could not yet clash head-on with Ares's Aura.
Swish! Swish!
Their attacks crossed paths.
After blocking a rapid succession of incoming strikes, Kevin closed the distance so tightly he could feel his opponent's breath.
Clang!
Clash! Clash! Clash!
Their weapons collided in a frantic frenzy.
Kevin tilted his head back just in time, but the edge of the blade sheared off his bangs. When he immediately attempted a counterattack, Ares didn't yield an inch, instead slamming his sword down with sheer brute force. Even when Kevin deflected the blow and aimed for a vital spot, Ares left zero openings.
With his fiercely blazing Aura, Ares tore straight through Kevin's Aura.
Screeech!
Overwhelming power.
Ares was simply a cut above.
He, too, had made immense strides through his training with Roman Dmitry. Regardless of the difference in raw power, he completely overwhelmed Kevin in pure swordsmanship. The talent once hailed as the greatest in Valhalla—combined with the years of experience he had accumulated—had fully blossomed upon meeting Roman Dmitry.
He was the real deal.
This was the strength that had overwhelmed Chris.
Ares's suffocating presence crushed Kevin, trampling over his fierce resistance.
Flash!
Blood splattered.
It was only a shallow cut on Kevin's leg, but it marked the beginning of the end.
Rumble!
Swish! Swish!
Ares's attacks gradually began to hit home.
Kevin's pattern of dodging by a hair's breadth no longer worked. Ares didn't allow a single one of Kevin's attacks to connect, casually deflecting them as if taming a mad dog. It was a clear display of superior skill. His rock-solid fundamentals perfectly shut down Kevin's erratic strikes, and at some point, the tide of the battle irrevocably shifted.
Kevin's reckless momentum was broken.
With Ares blocking every single strike, Kevin was forced onto the defensive, enduring a barrage of rapid counterattacks.
Boom!
Crash! Crash!
Rumble!
Aura exploded across the clearing.
The Asura Sword Technique, which Ares had learned from Roman Dmitry, manifested in full force, cutting off any space for Kevin to escape. Just as Ares had said, Kevin had made a fatal mistake. If he truly intended to eliminate Ares, he shouldn't have scoured the outskirts of Dmitry alone; he should have brought allies to support him.
Of course, Kevin was strong.
Even Ares, who had been hailed as a peerless genius, had not been this strong at Kevin's age.
But this was a battlefield.
No matter how promising a warrior's future might be, it was a cruel world where current shortcomings were paid for with one's life.
Clang!
Kevin's arm was knocked aside.
Having cornered his prey, Ares flashed a cruel smile.
"It's over."
Flash!
Kevin desperately raised his sword to block.
But...
His Aura was instantly torn apart.
At the exact same moment, Kevin's chest was slashed wide open, spraying a fountain of blood in all directions.
* * *
The duel with Ares.
Both Ares and Kevin knew the outcome of this fight all too well.
To claim the position of Dmitry's second-in-command, Kevin had fought Chris twice. In their first clash, he had suffered an overwhelming defeat despite receiving guidance from Roman Dmitry. Later, when he challenged Chris to claim the sword bestowed by their Liege, he had once again failed to scale the towering wall that was Chris.
Chris was strong.
Just as Kevin grew, Chris also developed at a rapid pace, and people always agreed that Chris was superior to Kevin.
And Ares had defeated that very Chris.
Although the battlefield was not a place where simple arithmetic applied, it was an undeniable fact that Ares—the man who had bested Chris—was stronger than Kevin. That was why Ares had remained wary of variables. He had assumed Kevin would bring allies along, but absurdly, the boy was truly alone.
It was laughable.
There was no reason to drag this out any longer.
As his sword tore through Kevin's chest, Ares was absolutely certain he had put an end to the fight.
Whoosh.
Drip. Drip.
Kevin stumbled back.
His eyes, now shrouded in even deeper shadows, were cold and sunken. Blood poured in torrents from his shredded chest. The battle was practically over. Ares had once considered Kevin a comrade, but since their paths had diverged, he had zero intention of showing mercy by sparing his life.
However...
"You really are strong."
Kevin smirked.
The look in his eyes was far from normal.
Paying no heed to his grisly wound, Kevin lowered his stance like a wild beast and glared up at Ares.
"When I said I would pursue you alone, the others were horrified. They tried to stop me. They asked if I could handle you by myself if I actually found you. Ares, the man whom even Lord Chris couldn't defeat."
His wound squirmed.
The dripping blood suddenly slowed, and the torn flesh began to knit itself back together.
It was a horrifying, unnatural sight.
A wound that would have instantly killed an ordinary person was healing through sheer, monstrous regenerative power.
"I agreed with them. I challenged Lord Chris twice, and I was miserably defeated both times. But you see... those fights were just spars. Pure duels where neither of us risked our lives or intended to kill. I don't believe I would ever lose to Lord Chris on a real battlefield."
Grip.
He tightened his hold on his sword.
A bizarre, suffocating atmosphere settled over the clearing.
Even Ares, who had been confidently stepping toward him, halted at the dangerous aura now emanating from the boy.
Kevin spoke.
"Let me make this clear. Facing me in a life-or-death battle is a completely different story."
At that moment—
Flash!
Boom!
Kevin lunged at Ares once more.
* * *
He was fast.
As Kevin appeared before him in the blink of an eye, Ares calmly stared down the incoming attack.
'A frontal assault.'
It was Kevin's usual pattern.
It was familiar.
Ares blocked Kevin's strike in a single, fluid motion, then slashed at a slight opening without missing a beat.
Slash!
Blood sprayed from Kevin's arm.
Yet, Kevin showed no reaction.
He didn't groan in pain, nor did he falter or retreat.
As Kevin immediately launched a vicious follow-up attack, Ares's eyes darted quickly, reading the next move.
'The right.'
Whoosh!
Rumble!
He twisted his body to cleanly evade the strike.
He slashed Kevin's back as the boy lunged inward. When Kevin countered with a fierce upward slash, Ares met it head-on with his Aura, overpowering him with raw strength. A massive shockwave erupted. Immediately after the violent tremor subsided, Ares spotted Kevin aiming for his lower body and mercilessly slashed the boy's arms and legs.
Splatter!
Blood sprayed everywhere.
It was a clean hit.
Ares expected Kevin to falter this time, but the madness-tinged eyes of the boy remained entirely unshaken.
'Has he forgotten pain in his madness?'
It was a certainty.
Kevin had often shown a madness-driven side on the battlefield, a state where he forgot all pain and fought with reckless abandon. His movements were like those of a wild beast that had transcended human limits. But even as Kevin pressed on frantically, breaking free of all conventional forms, Ares refused to let himself get swept up in his opponent's momentum.
Throwing one's life away did not bridge an overwhelming gap in pure skill.
Losing one's reason was, in fact, the perfect opportunity for Ares.
Rumble!
Kevin charged.
In that split second, Ares's eyes shifted.
'This is the end.'
Flash!
He slashed Kevin's arm.
It was a deep, crippling cut this time.
Ares was a step faster. Feeling the sensation of his blade biting deep into bone, he was certain that regardless of pain, Kevin's body would now suffer severe physical limitations. Forgetting pain was merely a psychological trick. Just because a wound didn't hurt didn't mean the physical damage wasn't there. With a cut this deep, Kevin's movements had to slow down.
However...
Whoosh!
Boom!
"...!"
Ares's eyes widened in shock.
It was a hair's breadth.
Kevin attempted a brutal counterattack, swinging his sword upward as if the wound meant nothing. The moment Ares dodged, he retaliated by slashing Kevin's thigh. Yet, Kevin's counterattack seamlessly flowed into another strike aimed squarely at Ares's vitals. Despite having his arm and thigh deeply gashed, the boy's movements hadn't slowed in the slightest.
It was then that Ares finally saw it.
Kevin's arm and thigh.
The wounds there were rapidly regenerating, just as his chest had.
The torn flesh knit itself back together while emitting a faint, acrid smoke, completely defying all common sense.
The Stage of Encroachment.
He was completely consumed by madness.
Kevin's mind moved solely according to the dictates of his madness, completely indifferent to the gruesome injuries his body sustained. With every strike he made, a new wound appeared on his flesh. Blood splattered, and skin tore. Though Kevin was absolutely drenched in his own blood, his speed in lunging at Ares never once faltered.
And finally...
Slash!
Kevin's arm was cut deep, but in a brilliant Flash, his blade managed to graze Ares's arm.
Ares grimaced in pain and viciously slashed Kevin's flank. Even with a wound so deep his entrails threatened to spill out, Kevin thrust his sword directly toward Ares's heart. The attack did not connect. However, faced with such a reckless, suicidal strike akin to a Mutual Destruction technique, Ares was forced to hastily dodge, disrupting the flow of his mana.
This was... a battle that defied all logic.
The sight of this blood-drenched specter relentlessly pursuing him finally began to crack Ares's ironclad composure.
'If this drags on any longer, things will get dangerous.'
Ares's plan didn't end with Kevin.
He had to eliminate this mad dog and then assassinate the King of Dmitry. He simply could not afford to waste any more time here.
Boom!
Rumble!
He violently flared his Aura.
He acknowledged Kevin's strength.
The boy had shown incredible power to push him this far at such a young age, but Ares still didn't believe it would change the outcome of this battle. Kevin's erratic, suicidal nature might fluster those unfamiliar with it. But to Ares, who had once fought by his side as a comrade, Kevin's wild movements revealed clear, exploitable weaknesses.
Swish!
Kevin lunged inward.
It was a bold, desperate attack.
The moment Ares met Kevin's madness-filled gaze, his lips curled into a sneer.
"I acknowledge you."
He had anticipated it.
He knew Kevin would recklessly charge in.
Ares swung his sword with lethal precision.
If he severed the head, no matter how monstrous the boy's regenerative powers were, he would never survive.
But at that exact moment...
Smirk.
Kevin smiled.
The frantic madness in his eyes vanished, instantly returning to a chilling, lucid calm as he stared directly at Ares.
The third stage of the Ghost Soul Demonic Art.
It was the realm of Control.
Having stepped into this profound new realm, Kevin did something completely different from his previous mad rush—he took a single step back.
Whoosh!
Boom!
Ares's lethal strike hit empty air.
Their gazes locked.
The moment Ares gritted his teeth and tried to launch an immediate follow-up attack, Kevin unleashed his true, unbridled power.
'Heavenly Demon Sword Technique - First Half Third Form.'
Aura erupted in a violent, world-rending tempest.
Ares, who had held a clear advantage in raw power until now, was completely swept away by Kevin's overwhelming strike.
Boom!
Crash! Crash! Crash!
Rumble!
"Aaargh!"
A scream echoed through the wilderness.
Ares miraculously managed to raise his sword to block the attack in that split second, but the Heavenly Demon Sword Technique mercilessly tore through his Aura and shredded his flesh. He was not like Kevin. Lacking the boy's abnormal regenerative abilities, Ares collapsed heavily to his knees, his blood-soaked hair falling over his face.
"Cough... Gasp..."
He coughed up a thick mouthful of blood.
It was an unbelievable turn of events.
When he had resolved to betray Dmitry, he had never once imagined he would be defeated—not by Roman Dmitry, but by Kevin.
From above him, Kevin's cold voice drifted down.
"I told you. Facing me in a life-or-death battle is a completely different story."
Grab.
Kevin grabbed him roughly by the hair.
Ares's head was pulled up limply. Looking up, he saw Kevin, who was just as drenched in blood as he was. It was a miracle the boy was even standing in that mangled state. Ares desperately wanted to strike back with his trembling hands, but his body no longer obeyed his commands.
It was then.
Splash.
Kevin poured a potion over Ares's face.
And then, he spoke.
"Don't die so easily. You are my gift to appease the souls of the Dmitry people who died in this war... and for my Lord, who will surely return."
He forced the rest of the potion down Ares's throat.
Ares shuddered violently.
This was a miserable, agonizing end he had never anticipated.