Sword Saint versus Sword Saint!
It was, without a doubt, a breathtaking sight to behold.
Riezel and Rohm stood apart from each other, yet at the same moment, both released their auras, creating invisible forces that clashed in the space between them—forming a heavy, suffocating atmosphere that seemed to crush the air itself.
Nonetheless, it was clear to anyone watching that this invisible clash of might would ultimately lean in Riezel's favor.
Back then, when Riezel had just reached Level 6, he had already been able to defeat Rohm. Now that Riezel was Level 7, with his status nearly reaching its limits, their difference in power was incomparable—the result had already been determined the moment Rohm released his aura.
In the next instant, Riezel's overwhelming aura tore through, shattered, and crushed Rohm's aura, leaving the latter's shadow-covered face twisting in shock.
'How can this brat become this strong in such a short time?!'
No one could blame Rohm for his disbelief.
On the Akasha Continent, the last time he had crossed swords with Riezel outside the royal capital had only been about two months ago.
And yet, in just two months, the Riezel standing before him now felt like an entirely different person.
Even Florent, who stood to the side, could feel the crushing pressure radiating from Riezel—and on Rohm's end, that oppressive force translated into an overwhelming sense of danger.
At this very moment, he could feel a lethal threat emanating from Riezel's body.
'Why did it have to be someone like him who ended up as my opponent?'
A bitter thought stirred in Rohm's heart.
Riezel was only seventeen!
And him?
He was nearly fifty!
He had lived thirty years longer than Riezel, and now those thirty extra years suddenly felt utterly meaningless.
To become enemies with someone whose future seemed limitless—even for a Sword Saint like Rohm, the weight of that realization pressed heavily on his heart.
Still, though he thought this inwardly, his expression showed no hesitation.
To attack the king himself—such a treacherous act demanded a price paid in blood, even if the one committing it was a Sword Saint.
"Attack!"
*Swish!* *Swish!* *Swish!* *Swish!*
As Rohm's cold order rang out, the Shadow Knights surrounding Riezel leapt forth all at once, tearing through the air with shrill speed as they lunged toward him.
From their astonishing swiftness alone, Riezel could tell that each Shadow Knight possessed at least the strength of a Sword Master, which made sense.
Back then, when he was still an unknown nobody, that Mad Dog Prince had sent a Sword Master Shadow Knight just to deal with him.
Now that he was openly challenging the king himself—the greatest man in the entire kingdom—it was only natural that the enemy would mobilize forces of such scale and power.
'Shadow' as an organization might not rival the Royal Knightly Order in overall prestige, but compared to Sinielle's Oasis Knights, they were certainly no weaker—perhaps even stronger.
Unfortunately for them...
'Sending cannon fodder to die?'
Riezel, not even bothering to draw his sword, weaved effortlessly between the thrusts of the attacking Shadow Knights with a flash as his body blurred and the transparent light flickering in his eyes intensified.
In just 0.1 seconds, he had already grasped the precise positions, movements, and attack trajectories of every Shadow Knight around him, as well as their next steps.
*BOOM!*
As his breathing rhythm shifted, lightning erupted across Riezel's body, and with a thunderous crack, he launched himself forward like a living bolt of lightning.
"Thunderclap and Flash!"
A 360-degree slash without a single blind spot—lightning arcs carved perfect circles through the air as his sword swept toward every Shadow Knight surrounding him.
However, just as Riezel's Thunderclap and Flash was about to strike them, Rohm burst forth.
"Don't even think about it!"
Rohm joined his subordinates in battle, and as Riezel unleashed his killing move, Rohm's form blurred into shadow before a surge of magical energy flared from the Shadow Sword in his hand as he swung down with immense force.
*BOOM!*
It could be said that the attack power of Rohm's Shadow Sword remained devastating.
A seemingly effortless slash unleashed a blinding sword light that tore from sky to earth—like a giant blade of radiance descending from the sky to strike the lightning bolt head-on, resulting in an explosion that shook the air.
Waves of force rippled through the throne room, blasting outward in circular shockwaves that made the atmosphere hum and the royal palace tremble.
*BANG!*
Just then, the lightning bolt and the descending sword light collided and rebounded—one figure reappeared in human form, while the other was flung into the ceiling with a thunderous crash.
*Swish!* *Swish!* *Swish!* *Swish!*
Taking advantage of the chaos, the remaining Shadow Knights turned into blurs of darkness, masking their movements beneath the roaring echoes as they closed in on the retreating Riezel with their swords thrust mercilessly—some toward his throat, others his chest, heart, or head—each strike meant to kill without hesitation.
*Clang!*
Riezel's retreat did not slow as his sword intercepted the first strike aimed at his throat, and then, with a swift motion, he swung his sword, deflecting each oncoming thrust one by one.
*Clang!* *Cling!* *Clang!* *Cling!*
*Clang!* *Cling!* *Clang!* *Cling!*
Sparks scattered through the air, and metallic clashes rang out in rapid succession—one following another like a storm of steel—as Riezel's black sword, Hermit, its surface veined with fiery red patterns, traced afterimages in its wake and deflected every attack in an instant.
Even though the ambush of the Shadow Knights had been neutralized, they refused to retreat, continuing their assault in Riezel's direction.
Rohm followed close behind them, moving like a blurred, ghostly shadow—drifting silently, one moment near, the next far away—with the Shadow Sword floating at his side, suddenly shooting forth without warning to strike at Riezel.
Each time, the Shadow Sword came precisely when Riezel had just swung his sword and had no time to recover from the brief stiffness between movements—an attack so cunning and venomous it was terrifying.
Had Riezel not possessed the Transparent World and Fast Attack, which granted him superhuman reflexes, he would have already found Rohm's ambush troublesome.
"No wonder you're ranked near the bottom among the Sword Saints of Jinas—your ambush technique is way too practiced."
In a flash, Riezel, speaking with a calm tone, sidestepped the oncoming sword light, its power strong enough to blast apart the wall behind him.
Rohm, however, paid no heed—his gaze remained cold and sharp as he silently analyzed every inch of Riezel's body, searching for a weakness, a flaw.
In his ears, Riezel's taunt was laughably immature.
Who was he?
He was the leader of Shadow.
And what was Shadow?
An assassination unit—an organization that handled Jinas's dirtiest work.
For this reason, Rohm was not only a Sword Saint but also an assassin—a killer through and through.
Ambushes?
It was his specialty, for his greatest strengths lay in stealth and assassination.
Lurking in the dark, striking from the shadows—that was where his true power resided.
Truthfully, a head-on clash like the last time he fought Riezel had been a rare mistake for him.
In open combat, he was far from formidable, as among the Sword Saints of Jinas, he ranked just above the lowest. Even within Level 7, Riezel had judged his power as merely middle-upper Level 7—far below opponents like Raven, Sigmund, or Ice Maiden, who wielded an unknown national artifact.
However, he was never meant to fight in the open, because he was a creature of the dark—a master of surprise.
In that domain, he was the strongest in Jinas, unmatched by anyone, so his previous frontal battle with Riezel had been nothing but a grave miscalculation.
Now, fully aware of Riezel's strength, he had abandoned his weaknesses and focused entirely on exploiting his greatest weapon.
"A fair fight, I'd never beat you."
Rohm spoke, his voice calm and composed.
"But right now, you can't use magic, and the power of the Light of Heaven is suppressing you."
"Strong as you are, you're not invincible, so let me teach you a lesson—let me show you that even a Sword Saint can't act with impunity."
"When facing the true foundation of a great country, a mere Sword Saint like you can't even stir a ripple."
Rohm's voice came from every direction, his form vanishing completely—hidden even more flawlessly than the eerie magic dolls Riezel had fought before.
*BOOM!*
Rohm's Shadow Sword darted among the Shadow Knights, striking at intervals and unleashing bursts of sword light that forced Riezel to halt his counterattacks, each attempt to retaliate against the Shadow Knights interrupted by Rohm's relentless interference.
For a time, Riezel truly found himself hindered by enemies he could normally dispatch with ease.
"Heh, even a Sword Saint like you shouldn't be underestimated, huh?"
As these words fell, Riezel's figure flashed like a bolt of lightning as he shot into the air above the throne room, evading a barrage of sword light with a faint smirk at the corner of his lips.
Seeing this, the Shadow Knights advanced again, combining their assaults with Rohm's ghostly ambushes and the unpredictable strikes of the Shadow Sword, plunging into a fierce melee with Riezel.
Their movements resembled meteors—appearing in midair, vanishing to the ground, flashing to the left, then darting to the right—colliding again and again in a storm of explosions and shockwaves.
In spectators' eyes, the sheer intensity of their battle was overwhelming.
If not for the Light of Heaven reinforcing the throne room, the place would have collapsed long ago.
"Riezel..."
Yuri, realizing she had been pulled aside at some point, away from the center of the battlefield, couldn't help but whisper with a trace of worry in her voice as she watched the storm-like clash unfold before her eyes.
It was, after all, her first time witnessing a battle between Riezel and a Sword Saint.
Having never seen Riezel fight on this level, the sheltered young lady felt both awe and fear at the sight.
Seeing Yuri's worry, Ferras—the one who had pulled her aside—smiled kindly, then spoke up.
"Don't worry. He won't be taken down that easily."
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[A bonus chapter for every 500 Power Stones.]
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