Chapter 1020
Chapter 1020
Raon subdued the turbulent blazing energy of the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation enveloping the Heavenly Drive.
‘They spoke the truth. All this time, I have been entirely too obsessed with the sheer might of my swordcraft.’
Throughout his regimen, he had drilled every conceivable form, progressing from the absolute fundamentals to the most sophisticated arts. Yet in real life-or-death engagements, he consistently relied on maneuvers defined purely by overwhelming velocity and raw force.
‘I felt compelled to finish skirmishes instantly.’
Had any conflict dragged out, the lives of his companions and troops would have been forfeit. Because of that weight, he instinctively selected the most immediate avenue in combat, which naturally steered him toward wide-area, destructive advanced sword arts.
‘Yet that was not inherently the most rapid approach.’
It remained undeniable that advanced techniques possessed superior destructive capacity. Even so, had he maintained mental composure and deployed the exact right method suited to the precise instance, he could have concluded his encounters with far greater speed and economy. Instead, he had abandoned deeper tactical contemplation, seeking only to crush his opposition through overwhelming power and raw speed.
A flush of shame crept over his face at the realization that he possessed this knowledge yet had neglected to apply it.
‘Reflecting on it now, the styles I have relied upon lately have been terribly uniform.’
He had leaned excessively upon the devastating Flame Dragon Strike, the comprehensive harmony of Flame and Ice Unification, the legacy forms of the Azure Sky Sword and Celestial Thunder Arts, alongside his personally crafted arts—Void Slash and Whispering Wind.
‘Were I to unleash that entire repertoire right this second, Briana would likely fall before me.’
Regardless of how formidable Briana’s spirit might be, the physical frame and aura reserve she occupied were bound by the constraints of the Queen of Swords. If he resolved to unleash his total might, even invoking his Sword Domain, triumph would eventually be his.
‘Yet securing victory through such means holds no value.’
He had deliberately provoked both the Queen of Swords and the Thespian Emperor because he genuinely desired to clash with Briana, honoring the caution Glenn had imparted. Form matching form, blade answering blade—only by overcoming Briana on those exact terms could he justify his arrival here and advance his own boundaries.
“Have you stumbled upon an epiphany?”
Briana’s mouth twisted in obvious disdain.
“I regret to inform you, but such comprehension cannot be grasped in a fleeting instant.”
She tilted her head dismissively, signaling utter incredulity.
“Mastering fundamental forms is never a matter of mere innate genius; it demands hundreds of thousands of grueling repetitions.”
Briana lifted her faintly shimmering blade and narrowed her gaze.
“Even someone endowed with your extraordinary gifts must surrender vast oceans of time to attain it.”
With a faint smirk that suggested she intended to teach him that lesson firsthand, she kicked against the stone surface.
‘Astonishing quickness.’
Even while operating through the physical vessel and aura reservoirs of the Queen of Swords, the sheer perfection of her movement allowed Briana to materialize before his vision like an instantaneous streak of lightning.
‘Her blade execution borders on absolute perfection as well.’
Though Supreme Swordsmanship prioritizes penetrating thrusts, Briana introduced a subtle twist to her edge at the exact instant of impact, weaving in slicing and rending trajectories. It was precisely that bizarre mechanical alteration that had previously scored cuts across his waist and thigh. The gulf between the Queen of Swords and Briana stood unmistakably wide.
“Hundreds of thousands of repetitions, is it…”
Raon drew back his left heel, his gaze tracking Briana’s incoming weapon as it bored forward with the precision of an awl.
“It seems to me I have accumulated at least that much practice myself.”
He transitioned through the Supreme Harmony’s Third Step, saturating the maneuver with the delicate flow of fluid swordplay. Emulating an autumn leaf drifting gently to the earth while evading an outstretched palm, he guided Briana’s incoming thrust harmlessly aside.
“Ridiculous drivel. You could not have achieved that tally even had you gripped a blade straight from the womb.”
Snapping at him to hold his tongue, Briana twisted her wrist. The weapon held within her fingers angled abruptly in an unnatural line, darting directly toward his ribs.
‘Velocity and brute force do not equate to the summit of swordsmanship. To properly neutralize Briana’s trajectory…’
Raon lifted onto the tips of his toes like an alert crane, carving a soft half-circle with the Heavenly Drive. A crisp ring resonated outward. Flowing like rolling water, the Heavenly Drive met Briana’s strike, giving birth to a sharp cacophony that sounded like countless ceramic plates shattering all at once. Yet, contrary to the deafening collision, virtually zero reverberation traveled into his grip.
‘This is how I ought to have received her blows from the very beginning.’
He had redirected the kinetic force outward into the air rather than permitting it to rattle his own frame. Because Briana infused the principle of supreme penetration directly into Supreme Swordsmanship—a style already resting at the pinnacle of martial arts—even his mightiest defensive maneuvers had previously sent intense shocks vibrating through his physical body and mental focus.
Now, however, by seamlessly marrying his steps with the sword movements demanded by the immediate circumstance, the jarring impact that once accompanied clashes using Flame Dragon Strike or Flame and Ice Unification vanished without a trace.
‘Foot movements hold equal significance to the wielding of the edge itself.’
Across the vast majority of his past battles, he had favored the rapid, explosive variations of the Supreme Harmony Step. In contrast, weaving in the gentle cadence of the Third Step or the anchored grounding of the Fifth Step proved vastly more functional here. A breeze whipped past.
Briana’s brow furrowed, caught off guard by his rock-solid deflection, yet she immediately launched another straight thrust. The dark aura coalescing along the point of her weapon climbed with the lethal sharpness of icicles clinging to an overhang.
‘This pattern is far from basic either.’
Briana struck with the suddenness of an ambush, maneuvering her steel along paths that completely obscured her intended target.
‘Yet even if the final point remains concealed, the strike must ultimately arrive somewhere.’
Raon lowered his posture, settling his weight into bent knees. Drawing forth the radiant heat of the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation over the edge of the Heavenly Drive, he waited calmly for Briana’s weapon to close the distance.
“Tch!”
Noticing that her intended path had been anticipated, Briana shifted her shoulder and accelerated the thrust. It was a rapid adjustment aimed at shattering the rhythm of the exchange and robbing him of a stable defense.
‘I anticipated as much.’
The second Briana’s blade surged forward with renewed haste, Raon arched his spine backward. The edge sheared cleanly through the air, shearing a few stray strands of his fringe.
“Ha!”
Predicting his evasive retreat, Briana reversed her grip on the hilt, driving the point downward toward his breastplate. A metallic whine sliced through the stillness. As the falling blade plummeted toward his upper body, Raon executed the Fangs of Insanity, bringing forth the interwoven nuances of the bewitching sword and the fluid sword, suffused with fluctuating vibrations.
‘The true counter to absolute precision is unpredictable variance.’
The precision sword represents the discipline of striking an exact coordinate, whereas the bewitching sword introduces chaotic misdirection by causing the weapon to vibrate and deceive. Because intercepting Briana’s pin-point accuracy from a compromised posture was nearly impossible, he synchronized the principles of fluid redirection and deceptive oscillation to unravel her structure. Air howled around them.
Briana’s descending path wavered erratically like a vessel battered by tempestuous swells, completely missing his torso and carving deep into the stones of the sparring ring instead.
With a smooth rustle, Raon seized upon the momentary void. Straightening his posture in a single motion, he rested the tip of the Heavenly Drive against the hollow of Briana’s throat.
“Did you not claim that a duel of blades mirrors a contest of chess or the assault on a fortress?”
Raon let out a soft chuckle, tilting Briana’s chin slightly with the flat of the Heavenly Drive.
“I find myself in agreement. Tearing through the outer barriers to claim the monarch’s head carries quite a satisfying flavor.”
Raon gave an approving nod, remarking that he had picked up a genuinely valuable lesson.
“Hmph…”
Briana’s expression darkened as she stared at the cold steel resting at her windpipe, clearly stunned that a fatal counter had emerged from what should have been her ideal offensive opening.
“H-He pulled it off! A clean win!”
Krein let out a long-held breath and clapped his hands together with wild enthusiasm.
“Palace Master! My faith never wavered!”
“Stop running your mouth!”
Martha clicked her tongue and brought her hand down hard across the back of Krein’s skull.
“You were trembling like a soaked whelp that needed to relieve itself, whining that the Palace Master was about to be bested!”
“I witnessed it as well. You were muttering about the utter disgrace we would suffer if he went down.”
Burren folded his arms with a knowing smirk, promising to report every single word to Raon once the bout finished.
“Raon does not fall…”
Runaan affirmed quietly with a firm nod, her trust in Raon unshakable.
“He appears to have grasped another grand truth!”
Dorian wrung his hands with a beaming face, noting that Raon remained true to his nature as always. The warriors of the Light Wind division watched their commander with composed smiles, their thoughts perfectly aligned with the officers. Raon drew the Heavenly Drive away from Briana’s throat as the cheers and banter of his Light Wind Palace comrades reached his ears.
“What is the meaning of this?”
Briana scowled deeply, demanding an explanation for his mercy.
“It appeared your concentration slipped for an instant, so I am granting you an opportunity to reset.”
Raon gestured lightly with two fingers, inviting her to stand back up.
“You will rue this arrogance.”
Briana gripped the hilt with white knuckles, veins bulging across her temples.
“Such a stroke of fortune will not present itself a second time.”
Biting down on her inner cheek, she insisted that she had merely been caught unawares by an irregular maneuver.
“On the contrary. You will find yourself staring up from that exact position shortly.”
Raon gave the Heavenly Drive a measured flourish, urging her to waste no further time.
“Very well. From this moment onward, I shall treat you with full recognition and dismantle you without holding back.”
Briana drew her steel far behind her shoulder like a warrior setting a heavy spear, then unleashed a lunging thrust in a single, unbroken exhalation. A sonic boom tore through the court. A magnificent array of blinding light, resembling constellations etched across an ink-black sky, surged forward in unified formation. It was the same manifestation of Supreme Swordsmanship demonstrated previously by the Queen of Swords, yet its absolute momentum, velocity, and the depth of principles infused within it belonged to an entirely different dimension.
Raon drew in a sharp breath as he witnessed the descending technique that seemed to pull down the celestial sphere itself.
‘Magnificent.’
This represented an art elevated to the highest realm, one that could only take form after an individual honed every fundamental movement to the absolute peak and thoroughly synthesized every microscopic nuance within. His chest tightened in genuine reverence for the staggering discipline and brilliance Briana possessed.
-Do you honestly have the luxury to admire the view!
Wrath slammed a fist against his back, screeching for him to regain his senses.
-You are going to be obliterated if you fail to meet this properly!
The demon screamed that Briana had woven her very soul into this offensive, warning that even a successful interception would inflict catastrophic trauma.
-Cease this posturing and deploy a technique capable of tearing through it!
‘There is no necessity for an overpowering art. I shall employ an equivalent measure of aura, nothing more.’
-What did you say?
‘When facing genuine earnestness, it is only proper to return the same sincerity.’
Raon set the Ring of Fire into full resonance. Within that heightened realm of perception where the passage of time appeared to freeze like a stalled clock, he dissected every intricate thread of Briana’s advancing technique.
‘The underlying principles woven into the blade have scarcely shifted. Save for a solitary alteration.’
The core attributes driving this display of Supreme Swordsmanship remained rooted in the strong sword, the quick sword, the precision sword, and the observing sword. Tucked tightly between them, however, lurked the volatile nature of the explosive sword—compressing energy to detonate at the point of contact.
‘I must disrupt the form before that concentrated aura finds its release. To achieve that…’
Raon let out an exhilarated chuckle as he raised the Heavenly Drive aloft.
‘I merely have to bring forth an array of blades that outnumbers the celestial stars.’
A towering World Tree of radiant flame ignited across the searing steel. Gorgeous, regal petals detached and rode the ascending gale, standing defiantly against the descending void of Supreme Swordsmanship. Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation, Heavenly Drive, Fire Spirit. Yet this display bore little resemblance to the standard manifestation of Fire Spirit he usually called upon. Scattered throughout the infinite embers were entirely different sword principles operating in flawless synchronicity.
Light yet blisteringly swift, profound and patient, unyielding in power, bound with wind, crackling with lightning, erratic in path, and surgically keen. The myriad fiery petals unfurled like a garden in full bloom, colliding head-on with the cosmic barrage. A thunderous roar shook the training grounds.
The descending onslaught of Supreme Swordsmanship surged downward as though attempting to swallow the Fire Spirit whole. Yet the drifting sparks spread outward like luminescent fireflies puncturing the darkness, consuming the starry constellation from within.
Whoosh! Behaving like minute embers sparking a catastrophic inferno, each independent fragment of the Fire Spirit charted its own path, wholly immolating the totality of Briana’s supreme effort until not a single trace of her hostile aura endured. The air cooled.
Having fulfilled their purpose, the incandescent embers wilted into pale, drifting ash before vanishing into nothingness.
“What…?”
Briana’s lower jaw hung loose as she stared down at the fading cinders on the flagstones, thoroughly unable to process how an all-out culmination of Supreme Swordsmanship had been systematically dissolved.
“T-This cannot be. How could something like this…”
She lifted bewildered eyes toward Raon, desperately searching for comprehension.
“Should you desire the rationale, rise and present your blade once more.”
Raon leveled the still-radiant steel of the Heavenly Drive directly at her.
“Overcome me, and the answer shall be yours.”
His lips curved into an amused line, returning the very words she had once directed at him.
A deafening crash echoed. Failing to withstand the momentum of Raon’s blade, Briana was driven backward, her boots carving ragged trenches into the pavement of the grounds.
“Ugh…”
Forcing her stiffened neck upward, she found Raon stationed on the identical patch of ground, completely undisturbed by the clash.
‘How can a human achieve this?’
Raon had originally presented himself as an individual reliant primarily upon vast reserves of aura and the devastating force of high-tier arts rather than an innate master of forms. Yet, as if an internal dam had burst during their exchanges, he was now flawlessly manifesting movements governed strictly by the precise principles each clash demanded. She could not fathom how someone could undergo such immense transformation within such an absurdly narrow window.
-What are you doing! Why do you keep standing there absorbing his strikes!
Brigitte’s frantic scream tore through her consciousness, demanding that she engage properly.
-Are you genuinely intending to suffer defeat at the hands of this brat!
‘Be silent.’
Her fingers trembled against the grip as she willed Brigitte’s nagging voice into obscurity.
‘I shall not yield. Bear witness.’
She had lost track of how many lethal strokes Raon had delivered to her throughout this continuous trial. Even as fatigue sapped her limbs and vertigo gripped her skull, surrender remained an impossibility.
“Hah!”
Gathering every scrap of breath within her lungs, Briana thrust the absolute distillation of Supreme Swordsmanship straight toward Raon. Metal collided with metal. Yet Raon, appearing to have fully deciphered the architecture of Supreme Swordsmanship, absorbed the incoming assault without so much as a tremor and launched an immediate retort. Wind whipped violently. Briana managed to pull her torso clear by a fraction of an inch, her teeth digging hard into her lip.
‘Curse it all…’
Unlike her opponent, who had clearly unraveled the mechanics of her sword, she remained completely blind to the true essence of his weapon. Yet such an outcome was unavoidable.
‘No living being can hope to encompass every single sword art under the heavens.’
Raon perpetually rotated through varied nuances in his execution. With every pass, he introduced entirely fresh subtleties into techniques he had demonstrated moments prior. Thus, regardless of how much pride she took in her analytical vision, her deductions fell completely flat. It was as though the infinite centuries she had surrendered to the study of the blade had been stripped of their worth.
“So this is what an authentic anomaly looks like…”
Overwhelmed by bitter frustration, the words tumbled past her lips unbidden.
“A brilliance that renders the very passage of time utterly irrelevant.”
“I have already informed you.”
Raon tilted his head, regarding the unsteady light in Briana’s eyes.
“I too have committed millions upon millions of hours to the discipline of the sword. Look upon my blade with sincerity, and you will recognize it.”
He pushed his sword point toward her space, bidding her to truly witness it.
‘With sincerity?’
Briana swallowed hard, fixing her focus upon Raon’s straight edge extending forward like a distant horizon.
‘Hold. That weapon…’
It was not the product of raw, unearned genius. Within what appeared on the surface to be a single, straightforward stroke, she could perceive countless interwoven layers. This was not a technique conjured on a whim, but a sacred monument built through endless eras of unyielding labor—just like her own path.
‘He walks the exact same road.’
This youth was likewise a swordsman who had spent lifetimes refining his craft within the depths of a mental world. The realization that an individual sharing her unique existence stood right before her washed away the suffocating fatigue, replacing it with an intoxicating rush that flooded her entire being. A resonant ring burst forth. Briana parried the incoming blade with a sharp snap and allowed her lips to curve upward.
‘This is exhilarating.’
I want this exchange to never end! Unlike those desolate stretches where she swung her edge in total isolation within the mental world, an overwhelming surge of joy and raw vigor cascaded through her flesh and soul. Finding a true equal transformed the routine act of exchanging strikes into something profoundly magnificent. The wind whistled softly.
Briana allowed herself to fall deeper into the boundless abyss of the sword, fully immersed alongside Raon.
“Wait, what?”
Raon blinked several times, his gaze landing on Briana, who had grown entirely motionless with her weapon raised, lost deep within an internal trance.
‘Once more?’
Precisely like the phenomenon that had overtaken the Thespian Emperor, Briana and Brigitte had simultaneously entered an elevated state of sudden enlightenment.
‘This defies belief.’
His sole objective in journeying here was to forge a mutual pact with the Five Divine Orders, yet he had somehow managed to plunge two of their commanding figures into deep spiritual trances. It was an outcome he had never remotely envisioned, drawing a bemused sigh from his lips.
-Pwahahaha!
Wrath abruptly erupted into booming mockery, extending a shadowy finger directly at him.
-You truly possess a knack for bestowing charity upon everyone else!
The little demon chortled, boasting that he had finally peered into Raon’s true nature.
‘This was hardly an act of selfless charity.’
Raon gently shook his head, lowering the Heavenly Drive toward his hip.
‘I have recovered an essential truth that had slipped from my grasp.’
Through this extended clash against Briana, he had reconnected with the raw thrill of swordsmanship, igniting a fierce ambition to forge an even greater martial path. Thanks to resurrecting this fundamental realization—something he had intellectually comprehended yet failed to honor—a fresh, invigorating vitality filled his consciousness.
‘This realization holds vastly more worth than any superficial breakthrough.’
He had long known that one should avoid carelessly stuffing unnecessary principles into a technique, understanding that only the essential components ought to be retained. Yet amidst the heat of genuine bloodshed, he had neglected that philosophy in favor of overwhelming brute force. While such pragmatism was not inherently flawed, it inevitably would have materialized as an insurmountable barrier down the line.
Having recognized this flaw before slamming into that impenetrable wall, he stood confident that his future ascension would prove far swifter and reach infinitely higher heights.
‘The Ten Thousand Swords have advanced another boundary as well.’
Although no outward transformation manifested across his physical vessel or aura reserve, he could distinctly sense that his mastery over the Ten Thousand Swords had deepened profoundly through deploying the entire spectrum of arts and nuances he had tested against Briana.
-Hah!
Wrath twisted his features into a sneer and made a dismissive gesture with his tiny limb.
-Claiming the Ten Thousand Swords advanced is pure nonsense! At the end of the day, you are nothing more than a convenient stepping stone who pushed another mortal into enlightenment!
‘I am no stepping stone, I assure you.’
-Stepping stone! A pathetic STEPPING STONE! Pwahahaha!
Wrath stuck his blue tongue out in mocking triumph. He seemed thoroughly determined to label him as such.
‘Believe whatever brings you peace…’
Just as Raon let out a soft snort at the demon’s juvenile taunts, a sudden ripple stirred.
[You have manifested the grace of the Sword God toward those who tread the identical path.]
[Your attainment in the Ten Thousand Swords has broadened.]
[All individual parameters…]
[Inherent Trait…]
[…]
Luminescent notifications materialized right across Wrath’s face, catching him mid-taunt with his tongue extended.
-Guh…
Wrath’s wide eyes trembled in place, his features entirely paralyzed in that comical posture.
‘It appears…’
Raon allowed a broad grin to spread across his face as he watched Wrath struggle to draw breath.
‘It appears the only stepping stone here is you.’
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