Chapter 395: The Presence of a Single Man (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 395: The Presence of a Single Man (5)
Everyone held their breath.
No, they had no choice but to do so.
Crushed beneath the sheer weight of the destructive energy swirling around Castro, no one dared to make a sound.
It was then.
Whoosh!
Rumble!
Castro kicked off the ground.
The Great Warrior Battle had begun the moment they locked eyes. The destructive energy swirling around Castro erupted into a massive Aura—a power unlike anything the onlookers had ever witnessed. Rising over a dozen meters as if to pierce the heavens themselves, the erupting Aura instantly slashed toward Roman Dmitry.
Boom!
Crash!
The power was immense.
The ground tore open, swept up into the vortex of Aura. As Roman Dmitry dodged the attack, deep fissures spiderwebbed across the castle wall behind him. It was an astonishing sight. Layers of magic defense had been erected specifically to withstand Kronos's attacks, yet the barrier shattered from the mere shockwaves of Castro's Aura.
And then—
Boom!
Crash, crash, crash!
Castro relentlessly pressed his assault.
Like a sword of judgment plunging from the heavens, the massive Aura exploded repeatedly over Roman Dmitry's head.
The wind howled.
A storm of Aura raged, blurring the battlefield until it was hard to see with the naked eye. Just the sight of Roman Dmitry blocking such a brutal onslaught was enough to evoke awe. This was the unknown realm people had only ever imagined. The 7-Star Aura existed on an entirely different level. While the new Aura system Roman Dmitry advocated pursued efficient emission, Castro's reckless, unbridled release had reached its absolute peak, displaying a destructive power that far surpassed human limits.
"As expected of your reputation. You are no pushover."
Whoosh.
Castro cut through space.
Pinpointing Roman Dmitry's position with fierce eyes, he targeted his vitals with swift, concise strikes.
Slash, slash, slash!
Rumble!
He was undeniably strong.
Castro did not simply unleash massive power with every swing; he adjusted the intensity of his Aura depending on the situation, driving his opponent back with frantic pressure. Roman Dmitry's cold eyes tracked his every movement. Facing strikes that would pierce his vitals at the slightest opening, Roman Dmitry fiercely counterattacked.
Clang!
He blocked the attack and slashed back.
As a flash of light swept toward Castro's neck, the First Sword of Kronos charged forward aggressively, attempting a counterattack of his own.
It was an unfamiliar sight.
Recently, not a single person had been able to properly exchange blows with Roman Dmitry, yet Castro proved his overwhelming presence with just a brief clash. The world had judged Castro too hastily. Just because he had spent a long time in the imperial court did not mean his skills had deteriorated.
Rather, he had improved.
He had risen to an unimaginably high realm, rightfully claiming the title of Kronos's absolute.
However—
"Pathetic."
Instantly, Castro's expression contorted beneath his helmet.
Pathetic?
What on earth did he mean by saying such a thing in the middle of this fierce exchange?
Did it mean his swordsmanship, his Aura, was at a level Roman Dmitry deemed 'pathetic'? Whatever the intent, it was an insult Castro could not tolerate. To prove himself as a swordsman, he had pushed for the Great Warrior Battle despite knowing it was strategically inefficient.
Therefore—
"Let's see if you can still utter such nonsense after taking this!"
Rumble!
Rumble, rumble!
His Aura rose with destructive intent.
Swirling around him in a shroud of black light, the Aura gathered at the tip of his sword, taking the shape of a giant sun. It was his ultimate secret technique. There had been no need to use such a move against someone like Cesar, but he had resolved to unleash it should a monster like Roman Dmitry ever appear.
In his mind, no one in the world could block this attack.
Seeing Roman Dmitry pull back his sword to attempt a counter, Castro plunged his Aura straight down.
"Die— gasp?!"
At that moment, flash!
He saw it.
The Aura plunging down according to his will was instantly split by a sudden flash of light. It was an indescribable sight. The sun-shaped Aura was an attack unleashed with all his might, yet it was miserably torn to shreds. A second later, a sudden, searing pain flared across his entire face.
"Agh!"
Blood splattered.
He fell to his knees without even realizing it.
Looking down at the ground, his eyes caught the drops of blood dripping from his face and the shattered pieces of his helmet.
It was a complete defeat.
The moment he accepted that reality, Roman Dmitry's cold voice echoed from above.
"In all my time in this world, I have never met an opponent who could withstand my full power. And..."
Castro raised his head.
The pouring sunlight shone down on Roman Dmitry.
"You are no exception."
* * *
Suddenly, a memory from the past flashed through Castro's mind.
Alexander, the one who had granted him his power, had looked down at Castro and Ares and said:
"I have very high expectations for the two of you. Castro will prove my way, and Ares will prove the new way. Prove for yourselves which path is truly correct. If either of you brings a result that satisfies me, I promise that I will recognize him as the greatest swordsman in the new world and grant him all wealth and honor. To me, that is just as important as ruling the Salamander Continent."
Alexander's desire was genuine.
He could not shake off his past life.
He wished to recreate martial arts, and though their eras were different, Castro and Ares chose different methods to achieve that goal.
In the beginning, Castro's growth was overwhelming.
Naturally, because Castro had lived much longer than Ares, he was able to claim the title of the greatest on the continent at an early stage based on Alexander's teachings. But as Ares grew, the situation changed. Ares had initially been nothing more than a novice who didn't warrant a second glance, but as he absorbed the new method, he grew rapidly enough to threaten Castro's position.
Then one day, right after ending the war with Dmitry, Alexander spoke to Castro with a shocked expression:
"Castro. Your way—no, my way—can never defeat Roman Dmitry. The swordsmanship Roman Dmitry uses is the very ideal I have envisioned. So you don't have to try anymore. From now on, I will bet everything on Ares's way, and I will send him as a spy to steal Roman Dmitry's martial arts. Unfortunately, my way, which changed the world, was not the correct answer."
It was a devastating blow.
Castro had worked tenaciously to reach the 7-Star Realm.
It was a realm where he could defeat someone like Ares with a single strike, yet he was forced to swallow a statement that branded him as having no future. From then on, he clung to his training even more obsessively. To prove that Alexander's words were wrong, he frantically polished his own method.
And yet—
"Ugh..."
He was defeated.
With blood dripping thickly from his mouth, Castro looked up at Roman Dmitry with a face full of despair.
"...Emperor Alexander was right. I cannot defeat you with my method. I dedicated my life to perfecting that single strike which you cut down so easily, but it was just the wrong path from the start."
His voice boiled with a mixture of sadness, resentment, and anger.
Castro glared with wide eyes and shouted, his tone dripping with spite.
"I admit it. You are indeed the First Sword of the Continent. But..."
Sssss.
Rumble.
Magic power rose.
Dark energy billowed around Castro, and his eyes turned pitch black.
At that moment, whoosh!
The world was dyed in darkness.
"That does not mean you will walk out of here alive."
* * *
The Great Warrior Battle had two purposes from the start.
The first was a pure duel. The second was to isolate Roman Dmitry and eliminate him by any means necessary should they lose in skill.
Whoosh!
Rumble!
The world changed.
The dark magic power exploded, dyeing the surroundings in pitch black. It completely isolated the space so that Umberto's soldiers watching from the castle wall could not intervene. At the same time, Castro absorbed the dark magic power. It boiled madly throughout his body, and he simultaneously released the limits of his Primordial Qi.
That was not all.
Before Roman Dmitry could even react, shadows surged from the surroundings, reaching out with dark, grasping hands.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
"Bind him."
Hundreds of hands took over the area.
As the shadow magic tried to grab Roman Dmitry's entire body, he dodged concisely and cut them down one by one. It was a familiar power. He had experienced this pattern once before in Valhalla's territory, but the number and power of the shadows were far greater this time.
It was then.
"You will surely die here!"
Boom!
Rumble!
A massive impact shook the area.
With pitch-black eyes, Castro instantly cut through space and attacked with an Aura shimmering with darkness. It was a destructive power that surpassed even the 7-Star Aura. Although it did not swirl as wildly as before, the condensed power burned fiercely like black flames, repeatedly pressing Roman Dmitry.
Boom!
Crash, crash, crash!
Castro had abandoned his soul.
Unleashing his Primordial Qi would cost him his life, and accepting the dark magic power meant giving up his dignity as a human.
But he had no regrets.
The moment he accepted the fact that he could never defeat Roman Dmitry, his reason to continue living as the human named Castro vanished. This was the devil's bargain offered by Alexander. Having embraced this dark power, Castro displayed an immense, terrifying destructive force, completely different from before.
Boom!
Rumble!
The world shook.
Whenever Castro finished a flurry of attacks, the shadows timed their release of magic power.
Whoosh!
Slash, slash, slash!
The dark magic power whipped through the air.
Some of it wrapped around Roman Dmitry's body like grasping hands, while others struck down directly to inflict damage. All of them were blocked by Roman's swift reactions. However, the shadows relentlessly rose up whenever an opening appeared, and some even threw themselves into the storm of Aura, aiming for his blind spots.
Shatter!
Their bodies were torn apart.
Yet, that alone was enough.
While Roman Dmitry's attention was momentarily diverted by the shadows, Castro closed the distance, his eyes burning with ferocity.
Boom!
Rumble!
It was a devastating blow.
It was undeniably the most threatening attack Roman had faced in his current life. The onslaught of the shadows, interlocking with Castro's strikes like perfectly timed gears, left him with absolutely no breathing room. Kronos's trap was formidable. To catch a leviathan like Roman Dmitry, they had abandoned the empire's pride and sacrificed the soul of Castro, the First Sword of Kronos.
If they could only kill him, it was a sacrifice well worth making.
The moment Castro, whose attack had just been blocked, tried to charge in once again, Roman Dmitry's eyes changed.
'Heavenly Demon Sword Technique - Latter Half First Form.'
Flash!
The sensation was entirely different.
Magic power raged.
That very attack, which had split Castro's secret technique in a single blow, once again cut through space to plunge Castro into despair.
However—
Boom!
Clang, clang, clang!
Castro's face filled with sheer ecstasy.
He blocked the attack—which he hadn't even been able to see properly earlier—by a hair's breadth, and withstood the entire shockwave of the Aura. This was the reason Castro had sold his soul. He had wanted a power strong enough to face Roman Dmitry. Although not a single person in this life had ever withstood Roman Dmitry's latter half forms, Castro did not stop at merely blocking the attack; instead, he charged forward.
Rumble!
Magic power raged around him.
His face, twisted with madness, showed immense joy.
"Hahaha! Did you see that? Your power is no longer invincible!"
In this current life, it was a first.
Even in Murim, those who could withstand the latter half forms were rare, yet Castro had proven the power of darkness.
But that was all.
Roman Dmitry stared back at Castro with a calm expression.
"And?"
People often harbored a delusion.
The Heavenly Demon's sword—if they managed to block it, they rejoiced as if they had won.
They had only blocked a single attack, yet they failed to comprehend what would follow.
Swordsmanship—a duel where lives were on the line—did not end just because one attack was blocked. Blocking a strike only barely qualified you to stand before the opponent.
What did that mean?
The blow Castro had just blocked was not a full-power, fatal strike, but merely one of countless attacks they would exchange.
Therefore—
Boom!
His arm was knocked aside.
Castro had barely blocked the initial attack, and his eyes widened at the powerful force erupting continuously toward him.
Shadows threw themselves forward.
Flash!
Dozens of shadows trying to protect Castro were instantly torn to shreds, and Roman Dmitry was already right in front of his face.
Castro pushed his power to the absolute limit.
He gritted his teeth and blocked Roman Dmitry's attacks, but with every consecutive impact, Castro's eyes shook violently.
Every single strike defied common sense.
While he was desperately struggling just to block, Roman Dmitry swung his sword as if it were nothing.
Roman Dmitry—no, the Heavenly Demon Baek Joong-hyuk—did not want an opponent who could merely withstand the Heavenly Demon Sword Technique. That was a basic requirement. He wanted a powerful existence who could actually threaten him in a duel of hundreds of exchanges.
Flash!
"Agh!"
An arm flew off.
Flash!
A leg flew off.
Amidst the blood splattering in all directions, Castro stared at Roman Dmitry in utter disbelief.
Thud.
He collapsed, rolling on the ground.
He had no strength left.
Even though he had sold his soul and exploded his Primordial Qi, and even with a 7-Star foundation, the absolute limit of what he could manage was exchanging a few blows with Roman Dmitry.
He struggled to push himself up.
Having lost an arm and a leg, he had completely lost his balance. Even as his face pressed into the dirt, he painfully raised his head to look at Roman Dmitry.
"I told you."
The gaze looking down at him was freezing cold.
Roman Dmitry showed not a hint of tension, nor a shred of fear.
"I have never met an opponent who could make me draw out my full power."
* * *
This was not a simple wall.
It was the sky.
The sky above the sky.
An existence so high that one could not even dare to look up at it.
He had finally seen the true essence of Roman Dmitry.
Accepting this reality, Castro laughed like a madman, his face completely dazed.
"Puhahaha! Hahaha! You are truly a monster. Roman Dmitry is indeed the greatest sword on the continent!"
Sssss.
The darkness receded.
The shadows scattered.
Atop the castle wall, the soldiers watched in shock.
To those who had been thrown into a panic when the darkness rose, only a brief moment seemed to have passed. Yet, as the darkness cleared, they were suddenly met with the miserable sight of Castro kneeling on the ground.
They had no way of knowing what had transpired.
What was certain, however, was that although Castro had unleashed his full power, he had utterly failed to defeat Roman Dmitry.
Castro spoke.
"If you are left alone, you will probably march all the way to the capital of Kronos and cut off the Emperor's head. But tell me, what changes even if you do that? You and I both know the truth. The true master of Kronos is not the Emperor. That is why I, who should be protecting the Emperor, left the imperial court to be here."
It was a shocking statement.
He had denied the very foundation of Kronos.
As the onlookers fell into confusion, Castro's eyes gleamed with madness.
"You have offended Lord Alexander. He, like you, does not tolerate compromise. If he has resolved to kill you and conquer the Salamander Continent, it is as good as reality."
Sssss.
His body began to dissolve.
At the brink of death, Castro screamed as if leaving behind one final curse.
"He will descend upon this world! To punish you pathetic fools who struggle so desperately, Lord Alexander will judge you himself! Behold! See who you are truly up against! While I have been fighting here, the Cairo Kingdom has fallen into the abyss of despair and is screaming in agony!"
He could no longer speak.
With those final words, his body completely dissolved into smoke.
But his words were the truth.
At this very moment, while Roman Dmitry was occupied with Castro, the shadow of despair was falling upon Cairo's Western Front.