Glen frowned as he watched Derus Robert, who remained calm.
“He's gotten stronger.”
His fingertips trembled at the aura emanating from Derus. It was a power that transcended the framework of an Transcendent. It felt natural that King Lecros, who had the nickname “Silent Sword Sovereign,” had fallen like that.
“But more than that...”
What shocked him was not the man’s power. It was something deeper. The very soul of Derus Robert had changed. It felt as though he had become something other than human.
“Long time no see.”
Derus Robert slowly turned his body and looked at him.
“Glenn Zieghart.”
He raised his chin, as if intending to take him hostage, with the king Lecros standing in front of him.
“Judging by how quickly you arrived, you must have been waiting in Zieghart.”
Derus tapped his fingers in surprise.
“I thought you'd be hiding in Montiro, where the Black Tower is, but you stayed with your family. Do you not care if your grandson and son die?”
He mentioned the names of Karun and Raon, as if he knew everything about the Black Tower raid.
“Those kids are strong. They won't fall to the Black Tower.”
Glen shook his head calmly, showing his trust in Raon and Karun.
“Really? That's different from what I know.”
Derus twisted the sword piercing King Lecros's shoulder slightly, as if to provoke Glen.
“...”
King Lecros felt the pain of his flesh and bones being torn apart, but he did not let out even a small groan.
“My lord. Please do not worry about me, and slay this demon.”
He raised his gaze firmly, asking him to kill Derus without concerning himself with him.
“It's not easy to be the king of a country.”
Derus Robert muttered, blowing a breath of air.
“I need to shut him up.”
He gathered his index and middle fingers and stabbed the king Lecros in the back.
“Ugh!”
King Lecros couldn't move a finger, as if all the aura flow had been blocked, and froze in place.
“...”
Glen looked at the king Lecros, who couldn't even move his eyes, then turned his gaze to Derus.
“When did you realize we were targeting the Black Tower?”
“I knew a little earlier than the Black Tower.”
Derus shrugged his shoulders as if he had known the plan before the attack.
“Then you could have prevented the surprise attack?”
Glen frowned and glared at Derus.
“Why?”
Derus shrugged his shoulders as if to ask why he should stop it.
“What?”
“I don't want the Black Tower to be the final battlefield.”
He shook his head, saying that now was not the time for a real war.
“It's better to take advantage of the fact that everyone's attention is focused on the Black Tower to test my abilities and kill this incompetent king.”
Derus twisted his lips, saying that it was better to eliminate one enemy than to save his comrades.
“Don’t you agree?”
He seemed excited as he flicked his finger and pressed down on King Lecros’s wound.
“……”
King Lecros felt intense pain but did not waver, glaring at Derus as if to say, “Kill him.”
“Wait a moment. ”
Glenn took in the king’s gaze and tightened his grip on the Heavenly Tremor Sword.
“Are you really going to do this? The moment you move, this country will lose its king.”
Despite possessing an aura that was not inferior to his own, Derus did not hesitate to take hostages. It was a behavior that defied understanding.
‘Moreover….’
That wound was also inflicted by a surprise attack.
It was obvious just by looking at it. The wound King Lecros had suffered was not from being stabbed from the front, but from a surprise attack from behind.
It was surprising that he used an assassin-like fighting style despite possessing such power.
‘I knew that Derus Robert of the Heavenly Sword Fortress was a human made of smoke, but I didn’t expect him to be this different.’
Derus abandoned the opportunity to save the Black Tower Lord and infiltrated Owen to target King Lecros.
Even though he had the strength to save his allies, he chose a strategy to kill the enemy. It seemed harder to understand him because the memory of Derus Robert of the Thousand Swords still lingered in his mind.
“This is difficult.”
I can't read that guy's mind.
With all my experience, I could usually predict what kind of person someone was based on their social status and behavior.
But Derus Robert was different.
Even though he had the power to overwhelm the transcendent beings of the Five Kings, he didn't hesitate to ambush them or take hostages. It was beyond my understanding.
“Interesting.”
Derus Robert glanced at Glen and narrowed his eyes.
“You're just a human, and there's no one behind you, so how did you reach such a level?”
He narrowed his eyes as if he couldn't understand himself.
“Of course, as a human, you can't escape the law of causality.”
Derus chuckled as if he knew Glen's condition.
“Stop hiding and come out.”
As he raised his hand, a blond young man with pure white wings spread walked out from behind the pillar. His appearance alone was breathtaking, shattering any sense of calm. He was not human, but a celestial being.
“Please.”
Derus handed over King Lecros, whom he had been holding hostage, to the celestial being. From the way he spoke, it didn't seem like they were in a superior-subordinate relationship.
“...”.
Glenn frowned as he watched the scene.
‘This isn't an ordinary angel.’
Having witnessed Uriel's descent, he knew that Derus had connections to the celestial realm.
If it were an ordinary angel, a single sword strike would be enough to take it down, but this angel was different. If he didn't take it seriously, it could become dangerous.
“As expected...”
Derus Robert raised the sword dripping with the blood of the king of Lecros and aimed it at his own heart.
“I was curious about the difference between you and me, but this is perfect.”
He nodded his chin as if to say, “Let's fight.”
Gooooo!
When Derus Robert raised his sword, a chilling sensation spread beneath his feet, as if ice spikes had sprouted.
“As your junior, I'll go first.”
He rolled his left foot and thrust out his sword, which glowed with a blue light.
Chi-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-
Even before Derus' sword touched him, he felt a pain as if his body and soul had been pierced by the blade.
The realm of manifesting the sword cultivated in the mind into reality. As expected, Derus Robert had reached a different realm from other transcendents.
“But it's still insufficient.”
Glen twisted the Heavenly Tremor diagonally and parried Derus's sword strike as it pierced through space.
Zzzzzzzzz!
Though it was merely a clash of swords, a massive storm of aura erupted, tearing apart the entire palace. The ceiling flew away, walls collapsed, and the blue sky and dark earth were exposed.
“You blocked that so easily?”
Derus let out a breath of disbelief. It looked like a ordinary thrust, but just a moment ago, he had used the peak of his technique.
He had intended to split not only Glen but also the ground behind him, but he hadn't expected it to be blocked so easily.
“Now it's my turn.”
A crimson lightning bolt erupted from the Heavenly Tremor Sword Glen had raised. With a dazzling glow, his sword descended upon Derus’s head.
Kwaaaarrrr!
Glen’s sword strike, as if containing the thunder of the heavens, was imbued with the resolve to shatter his enemy.
“Impressive!”
Even for the transcendent being known as the Five Kings, the power was enough to tear off limbs, but Derus charged forward despite witnessing it.
Paaang!
A blue light like the sea erupted from his sword, cutting off his own sword strike midway before it could explode.
It was a decisive cut that severed the flow before the sword technique could reach its full power.
“As expected.”
Glenn narrowed his eyes as he watched Derus brush off the remaining lightning from his sword.
“That guy has already surpassed the other Five Kings.”
At this point, Derus Robert possessed the power to defeat all the leaders of the Five Kings and Five Demons, except for Heavenly Demon and himself.
It hadn't been that long since he had disappeared, so it was hard to understand how he had acquired such power.
“Now that I've seen your guts, shall we get started?”
Derus smiled slyly and swung his wrist. The blue light surrounding his sword turned into a pitch-black darkness that was ominous.
“The aura of death...”
The aura of death was a power refined and polished once more. Naturally, it was a much more dangerous and vicious aura, so one had to be careful even to touch it.
Chi-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-
He summoned an even more intense lightning aura above the Heavenly Tremor and slashed through the darkness that was closing in.
Kwaaah!
Since ancient times, lightning has possessed the power to destroy evil. The aura of death could not even resist the red lightning and faded away helplessly.
“That's the aura of a thunder god.”
Despite his sword strike melting away, Derus remained unfazed, unleashing another strike imbued with an even denser aura of death. It seemed as though darkness capable of obscuring the sun was rising around him.
Kwaaahhhhhhh!
The aura of death and the crimson lightning clashed violently, causing crimson cracks to erupt across the sky and earth.
The people of Owen, who were watching the royal palace, muttered that the end of the world had come and knelt down on the spot.
“This is taking too long.”
I need to end this quickly.
As Glen split the darkness created by Derus and tried to move forward, he felt a chilling sensation behind him.
Ssssss.
Derus Robert. He had hidden in the darkness and launched a surprise attack, just as he had done to Lecros.
Death's aura was scattered like mist, so it was difficult to sense the surprise attack before he approached.
However, his body was in a state where he could manifest his imagination into reality. He bent the Heavenly Tremor Sword downward like a sword stance and parried Derus's sword, which was coming in at an odd angle.
Zzzzzzz!
Derus was pushed back and exhaled deeply.
“It's definitely different.”
He lowered his trembling hand and pursed his lips.
“But it's not that far off.”
***
Lecros bit his lip as he looked at the celestial being who had grabbed him from behind.
“There's no opening.”
Even if he wasn't injured, it wouldn't be easy to fight against that angel's aura.
Unlike the celestial being that Raon had captured before, this one seemed to be a high-ranking angel with a name.
“Then I'll have to wait for an opportunity.”
Moving carelessly would only hinder the battle. It seemed better to watch Glen and Derus’s fight and wait for an opportunity.
“I didn’t expect Derus to have grown so strong.”
Regardless of defeating him, seeing that he wasn’t being pushed back by Glen’s sword, it was clear that Derus had already risen to a position different from the other Five Kings’ leaders.
“I don’t understand.”
Despite possessing strength comparable to Glen’s, Derus resorted to ambushes and dirty tactics like throwing rocks and sand.
Even in a fair fight, he wouldn’t be significantly outmatched, so using such underhanded methods was incomprehensible.
“Of course, it doesn’t matter either way.”
Glenn blocked all of Derus' attacks, whether he used proper sword techniques or launched surprise attacks. His movements were so perfect, it was as if the god of swords had descended.
“Let's trust him and wait for our chance.”
Lecros slowly pushed back the deathly aura emanating from Derus as he focused on the battle between the two.
***
Chi-i-i-ing!
Glenn parried Derus's surprise attack from below his feet and thrust his sword toward the enemy's heart.
Pa-a-a-a-aang!
A crimson current erupted, and Derus Robert's shoulder was deeply gouged. Blood flowed from his body in a chillingly red stream.
“Hmph.”
Derus rose again as if he didn't care about his wound and delivered a sharp slash that sent a chill down the spine.
The aura of death emanating from his sword took the form of a reaper's scythe and extended outward.
“This is dangerous.”
Transcendence is the realm where one's imagination is manifested in reality. If Derus had regarded that sickle as a grim reaper, even a single touch could have inflicted a fatal wound.
Huff.
Glen exhaled briefly and channeled a true lightning bolt into the Heavenly Tremor Sword.
The Heavenly Thunder Technique.
The lightning, forged from his own soul, poured down as a crimson flash.
Kwaaah!
The scythe of death and the thunderbolt of the heavens collided, destroying everything in sight.
The aura evaporated, and a crimson current rose to the end of the sky, blackening everything below.
Goooh.
Glen stood as if nothing had happened, tilting his sword. It was as if the battle had never taken place.
But Derus Robert was kneeling on one knee, black blood dripping from his lips.
“Ugh...”
He climbed up the sword and pushed away Glen's aura, which affected both body and soul, frowning. For the first time in the fierce battle, the upper and lower ranks were divided.
“This is quite dangerous...”
As Derus let out a breath, Glen's sword rose again. The sword strike, curving like the tail of a comet, fell on Derus and the Celestial Tribe's heads.
“Kuh!”
Derus twisted his lips and poured the aura of death into his swaying sword. Newly ignited black flames rose like rose vines and enveloped his entire sword.
Kwaaang!
Glenn's sword strike once again cut through the aura of death that Derus had unleashed, leaving a bright red scar on his body.
“Kuh...”
Derus was pushed back helplessly and spat out black, dead blood.
“You're crazy. Is this the pinnacle of swordmanship...?”
The aura itself did not waver greatly, but the difference in skill between them was too great. It felt impossible to even fight him.
“As expected, it's not possible yet.”
Derus awkwardly smiled and stepped back. He wiped the blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, as if he hadn't been injured at all.
“But there is a harvest.”
Derus looked at Glen standing quietly and nodded.
“That's your current power. Without using the Heart Sword.”
He smiled, saying it was within his expectations.
“Next time we meet, I'll be able to reach that position.”
“Who said there will be a next time?”
Glen raised his sword and aimed it at both Derus and the angel holding Lecros.
“Can you really kill me? Along with your comrades?”
Derus stood next to King Lecros and twisted his lips into a smile.
“I can kill you.”
Glenn stared at Derus without flinching.
“If I want to kill, I can kill anyone.”
Unlike before, he had sharpened the blade of the sword to perfection. Now, no matter who the opponent was, he was confident he could cut through their soul without fail.
‘But that angel is a problem.’
The presence of that angel, who gave off a similar vibe to Uriel, was unsettling. Even if he were to sever Derus’s soul, if that angel were to do something to revive him, it would be meaningless.
‘Besides…’
I don't know if I'm ready.
As the sword had been perfected, the backlash was also great. Even if he killed Derus, he would immediately leave this world.
He wasn't afraid of dying himself, but he was worried about those left behind, and his fingertips felt numb.
“...”
Glenn bit his lip as he looked at Derus and the King of Lecros.
“You seem serious. Then I'll give you a choice.”
Derus dropped his playful expression and flicked his hand.
Puuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
“Kuh...”
King Lecros collapsed, spurting blood from his chest like a fountain.
Thud.
The angel grabbed the fallen King Lecros by the neck, threw him to the right, and then caused a golden flash to erupt from his palm.
“You choose.”
As Derus lowered his finger, his and the angel's bodies began to fade.
“Kill me, or save the king of this country.”
Derus twisted his lips, implying that if he didn't swing his sword, he would disappear.
“No, there's one more thing. If you kill me, you'll disappear too. Even if the Black Tower disappears, will the remaining ones be able to hold out?”
He shrugged his shoulders as if to ask what he would do.
“Don't worry about me! Kill him!”
King Lecros shouted for Derus to be killed, even as he coughed up blood.
“......”
Glen raised his gaze quietly, his grip tightening on the Heavenly Tremor Sword.