Chapter 112
Chapter 112
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 112
Chapter Title: The Archbishops' Descent (5)
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“Are you insulting me……!”
Egillas moved.
The Demon Spirit Sword Alkais was already in his hand.
[Be careful!]
‘I know.’
Flash!
The blade, swirling with black and green, tore through the space.
Egillas had arms far longer than most, and Alkais was a long sword to begin with.
Even a simple swing covered an immense range.
“……!”
Boom!
I blocked Egillas’s attack.
Seeing me fend it off without struggle made his eyes waver.
“You bastard……!”
I could sense murderous intent surging from his body.
A barrage of relentless strikes followed.
Alkais’s slashes ripped the space to shreds.
Rumble rumble boom!
The sound echoed massively.
My Ashurai and his Alkais—the two Demon Spirit Swords—clashed repeatedly.
In the midst of dozens of exchanges, I lunged forward with a wide stance.
I had found an opening amid Alkais’s endless assaults.
Flash!
Ultra-high-speed dash.
But Egillas remained unfazed.
Instead, he raised his left hand as if he’d been waiting.
The bandages wrapping his entire arm glowed black. Extreme mana.
Thud!
The slash I unleashed was blocked by his left hand.
[Incredible defense!]
Ashurai’s blade aura was fully deployed.
Even accounting for the mana flowing through those bandages, he’d stopped a Demon Spirit Sword’s blade aura barehanded.
“……!”
But Egillas’s eyes wavered.
Part of the bandage around his hand had torn away.
Flash!
Egillas moved swiftly.
He was trying to create distance.
With his long arms, he figured keeping range would be advantageous.
[Now!]
Crackle!
I channeled mana into the Demon Spirit Sword Xantia, which I’d prepared in advance.
Not to launch it with telekinesis.
This was my unique technique: transforming the blade aura into lightning attribute and firing it at ultra-high speed—Heavenly Thunder.
“……!”
Rumble rumble boom!
The sinister shortsword shot out at blinding speed, scattering lightning as it engulfed Egillas.
But he parried Xantia with superhuman reflexes.
“Urk……!”
A groan escaped Egillas’s lips for the first time.
He’d successfully raised his left hand to block, but couldn’t prevent his palm from being shredded.
[Damage dealt!]
‘Yeah.’
I’d prioritized activation speed over power, so no fatal blow, but it neutralized his left hand.
“…….”
Rage flickered in Egillas’s eyes.
Mixed with bewilderment.
“What the hell are you……!”
Egillas ranked among the top combatants in the Dialogue Church’s infiltration unit.
He was stunned to see me holding my ground without retreating an inch.
“How did you reach that level at your age?! Even mastering the Dialogue Circulation Method, you’re not even twenty! It’s utterly impossible!”
“Your imagination’s lacking, Egillas.”
“What?!”
“Think outside the box.”
I gripped Ashurai and shifted into a new stance.
“Maybe I was originally a Dialogue Church powerhouse who reincarnated with memories from a past life.”
“Don’t joke around……!”
It’s true.
“Quit screwing around, Sion Aleyas!”
Egillas kicked off the ground and leaped.
His shredded left hand was already rewrapped in bandages.
The bones and tendons inside probably hadn’t healed, so he couldn’t grip with it, but with bandages supporting and mana flowing, he could use it as a club.
“Ooooh!”
Rumble rumble boom!
Black sword bullets erupted from Demon Spirit Sword Alkais, pouring down like a storm.
I deployed Ashurai’s blade aura and charged through the gaps.
His bandage-wrapped left arm swung like a mace, but I dodged by a hair.
In that instant.
‘Killing intent!’
Chilling killing intent washed over me.
The entire space felt saturated with it.
I turned my gaze and saw Egillas thrusting for the first time.
Fwoosh!
Space pierced.
An absolute ultra-high-speed thrust aimed to impale me.
I barely swung Ashurai to deflect it, but the impact sent me skidding back.
[Hey! You okay?!]
‘That did some damage.’
Calming my aching body, I looked up to see Egillas staring in disbelief.
“You blocked that too? Are you really just 8-star?”
That last attack had been his full power.
He was asking how I’d stopped a killing thrust fueled by maximum 9-star mana.
“Hey, Egillas.”
I resumed my stance and replied.
“Do you still think I’m only 8-star?”
“What?”
“I hit 8-star mana after the Edel Felt family subjugation. That was months ago.”
I drew up my mana.
Right now, inside me…… three circles from the Dialogue Circulation Method were spinning.
“I’m at 9-star mana level now.”
“…….”
Egillas stared blankly, speechless.
No outburst of denial like before.
Only after a long pause did he rasp a question.
“What method did you use?”
“I stole it from Brishura and Mekringel.”
That’s right.
When I captured Brishura last time, and just now when I took down Mekringel.
I absorbed their 9-star mana with Igzard.
Restored my spent mana, and settled some into my circles.
Mana settled into circles strengthens them, increasing total capacity.
Once capacity exceeds what the current circles can handle, you add more circles to advance.
I currently hold three Dialogue Circulation Method circles.
Each stores mana equivalent to three normal circles, making me 9-star equivalent.
I’d finally regained my mana from my days as Archbishop Hausel.
“You stole their mana?”
“Yeah.”
“How?”
“Do I need to tell you?”
Egillas’s pupils trembled faintly.
His mind raced through possibilities. But he’d never guess the truth.
He was clearly shaken.
* * *
‘I don’t get it at all.’
Egillas felt rattled facing Sion Aleyas.
Decades as a Dialogue Church archbishop had given him every experience imaginable. But this sensation was new.
Before him stood not a young man, but a boyish knight. And Egillas felt something close to fear.
Fear of the unknown.
‘I really don’t know.’
Sion was truly an enigma.
His ties to the Dialogue Church made sense.
His mana control and swordsmanship clearly bore their mark.
But that didn’t explain everything.
‘This guy…… he’s dangerous.’
He’d just claimed to have reached 9-star.
Egillas couldn’t precisely gauge Sion’s mana.
But seeing him block every attack, it seemed legit.
‘And if he’s building mana with the Dialogue Circulation Method…… he could surpass 9-star.’
Controlling 9-star mana that way would mean only three circles.
Humanity’s limit was thought to be 9-star—or more precisely, nine circles.
Sion…… might reach the uncharted 10-star.
‘Way too dangerous.’
Egillas decided he couldn’t let Sion live.
Had to eliminate him here, before he grew further.
For the infiltration unit’s future—no, the Dialogue Church’s.
‘Must kill him.’
With that resolve, he surged his mana.
His sword style, the Evil King Miasma Flow, unfolded.
* * *
[Egillas’s sword style!]
Seeing dark green energy pour from Egillas, Igzard shouted.
[I sense deadly poison! Be careful!]
Poison.
As Igzard said, it was poison.
Even a graze from that dark green aura let the toxin invade, rotting flesh and melting bone.
That was Egillas’s sword style: Evil King Miasma Flow.
“Die, Sion Aleyas.”
His voice dripped with killing intent.
The sword flew at speed far beyond before, targeting my chest.
[The range is insane!]
I dodged the thrust—cloaked in dark green—by a hair.
As Igzard marveled, the reach was monstrous.
Looking up, I saw the bandages on Egillas’s right arm fully unwound.
Beneath, his flesh writhed like thousands of earthworms.
Artificially engineered muscles and bones extended and contracted his arm at will.
“Eup!”
Another thrust came.
Like spamming high-powered attack spells with no delay.
I kept dodging by inches, but knew I couldn’t last.
‘Each thrust grows stronger, faster. Soon, one I can’t evade.’
No matter how focused, the unavoidable moment loomed.
A mere shoulder graze meant defeat.
So……
‘Igzard.’
[Honestly, I’d rather talk you out of it.]
Igzard responded to my call with worry.
[You just hit 9-star mana and expanded to three circles. Stabilizing them takes long meditation to circulate mana properly.]
‘If I push the circles to their limit now, is it dangerous?’
[Not life-threatening, but you’ll be bedridden for a while.]
‘Worth the risk.’
Egillas was a formidable foe.
Especially the Evil King Miasma Flow—it could claim my life.
A few days bedridden? Manageable.
[I get your resolve! I’ll support you all out!]
Igzard steeled himself too.
My chest’s circles spun wildly, releasing mana.
I felt Igzard giving his all to help me control it.
‘Only one way to break Egillas’s sword style.’
Heavenly Thunder’s ultra-fast slashes, Purgatory’s mana devouring—neither would work.
To counter his style, nothing else.
‘The realm I once reached.’
The countless powerhouses I’d fought before.
Kurt Aleyas and the Holy Knights’ 9-stars.
What let me face them head-on: my sword’s pinnacle.
With 9-star mana now, even my unfinished body could recreate it.
‘My sword style.’
Archbishop Hausel’s sword style.
After seventeen years, that absolute power descended, shredding Egillas’s style to pieces.