As Raon's Sword Domain and Matirus's Sacred Light Breath collided, a golden pillar seemed to connect heaven and earth. Sparks flew in all directions from the tremendous clash of powers, and pitch-black cracks appeared.
'As expected...'
Raon bit his lip as he watched the Sacred Light Breath pouring down as if to destroy the world.
'Am I being pushed back?'
With gravity added to the Sacred Light Breath, even Heaven's Rift couldn't completely break through. Even as he slashed with his Sword Domain, the breath of light kept pushing forward.
-Raon!
Wrath looked at him with worried eyes.
'It's okay.'
Raon calmly shook his head.
'I knew from the start it wouldn't be easy.'
Even in peak condition, the chances of losing in a one-on-one fight with Matirus were high. It was only natural to be pushed back in his current exhausted state.
[Foolish creature!]
Matirus, seemingly thinking he had gained the upper hand, sneered and poured out an even denser Sacred Light Breath. The increased pressure felt like it was crushing every bone in Raon's body.
"Hmm..."
Green Serpent, perhaps due to his previous experience, remained tense and licked his lips.
'I'm sorry, but...'
Raon pushed forward with the Heavenly Drive and Rimmer's sword, putting strength into his toes.
'I haven't drawn out my full power yet.'
Facing the terrifying pressure of the Sacred Light Breath, he drew out the emotions sunk deep in his soul.
The Demon Kings' Authorities are powers typically manifested through negative emotions, but I'm different.
Just as a sword can make one a savior or a murderer depending on who wields it, the Demon King's Authority blooming in his hands became a darkness to save people, infusing Heaven's Rift. The brilliant golden radiance of Heaven's Rift began to change color. (E/N: Sloth - Motivation. Envy - Admiration. Gluttony - Savoring. Lust - Affection. Wrath - Righteous Anger)
Not the dawn of a rising sun, but a setting dusk. The true intention of a swordsman who had experienced the passage of time and understood the world spread across the two swords.
The twilight that endures the night. A dusky golden sword that embraces both light and darkness slices through the Sacred Light Breath. No matter how much mana Matirus condensed, it was useless. The Sword Domain, imbued with new value, advanced, cutting even through the concept of gravity that had been pushing the Sacred Light Breath.
[W-What is this!]
For the first time, a confused voice burst from Matirus's huge maw. The eyes of the creature who had been certain of victory widened as if they would split.
"As expected, he's not going down without a fight."
Green Serpent nodded, saying he knew this would happen.
"This is what we'd expect from Raon Zieghart."
[Don't just stand there! Finish him off!]
Matirus, seemingly feeling a sense of foreboding from the continuous advancing sword strikes, shouted at Green Serpent to help.
"Are you sure? A dragon's pride..."
[Shut up and go!]
"...Understood."
Green Serpent nodded lightly and entrusted his body to the wind. He appeared on Raon's right side with a thin gust of wind.
"Don't take it personally. You killed us three times, after all."
Green Serpent revealed a calm gaze as he thrust his wind-infused sword towards Raon's chest. Just as his sword was about to pierce Raon's heart, a blue-tinged arrow flew in, and a red magic circle appeared.
The red magic circle blocked Green Serpent's sword strike, and the blue arrow pushed his body back relentlessly.
"Ugh..."
As Green Serpent let out a low groan and lifted his head, he saw a woman wearing an old lady's mask standing in front of Raon.
"Don't interfere with my man's fight."
Merlin's red eyes flashed as if to say she'd kill anyone who approached.
"I'll protect this child even if it kills me."
Sterin raised his bow while spitting black blood from his mouth. A desperate determination could be felt from the arrow flickering with blue light.
"It's not easy even with one Guardian..."
Green Serpent raised his hands as if to retreat and stepped back. Raon focused solely on his battle with Matirus, paying no attention to Green Serpent. He drew out an even sharper Sword Domain, harmonizing the Demon King's Authority with the joys and sorrows he had gained upon reaching Transcendence.
In the end, the Sacred Light Breath that Matirus had poured out with all his might reached its limit first, and the flow of mana he had forcibly gathered also ceased.
But Raon's sword hadn't stopped yet. Wrapped in a sharp aura that seemed capable of cutting through the world, it soared high into the sky.
[Kugh!]
Matirus swallowed dryly as he watched Raon's chilling Sword Domain.
'This is dangerous.'
This sword strike was filled with more killing intent than raw power. Dodging it could lead to a fatal mistake, so blocking seemed the better option. Matirus cast a series of high-level defensive spells named "Absolute".
He also summoned four Orbs of Light simultaneously to create a thick wall of mana.
[This should be enough... Huh?]
He thought he could easily block Raon's weakened sword strike, but Raon's blade shattered the wall of orbs and defensive magic like glass and struck at his neck.
He barely managed to turn his neck in reaction, but couldn't prevent a chunk of flesh from being torn away. A piece of flesh as large as a human house burst, and red blood poured down like rain.
[Kueeeeeogh!]
Matirus let out a monstrous cry that seemed to shake the entire Great Forest as he flapped his enormous wings.
'Such pain!'
This was pain he had never felt since birth. He had fought many battles with humans, but had never been wounded like this before.
'But...'
Matirus shook his head, letting out a low groan.
'I'm alive.'
Just before Raon's sword strike hit, he had moved the Dragon Heart from his throat downwards. Thanks to that, while the wound itself was severe, he had avoided death.
'Now it's my turn.'
His mana and stamina still had some reserves, but that human's physical and mental strength had already reached their limits. If he healed this wound and counterattacked now, he could easily kill them all. Matirus healed the wound on his neck while simultaneously creating another powerful gravity field towards Raon.
It was an ability that consumed a lot of mental energy, but now was not the time to be conservative. While crushing Raon with gravity, he summoned a massive spear of light capable of erasing all life below.
Raon swung his two swords as if in a frenzy. Hundreds of flower petals bloomed on the blade, scattering thousands of flames.
[Such petty tricks won't work!]
Matirus manipulated gravity to burst the scattered flames in mid-air. He didn't want even the tiniest spark to touch him. Thousands of flame fragments exploded, filling the air with thick gray smoke.
Matirus took advantage of the obscured vision to simultaneously strike down ten spears of light he had summoned in the sky.
It was a high-level chain magic that caused powerful explosions from where the spears struck, the Wrath of God. As the Wrath of God poured down towards the World Tree, a single sword rose through the gray smoke. A silver blade imbued with powerful mana. It was the highest level of martial arts that humans called Sword Control.
The Sword Control shot by Raon Zieghart shattered the Wrath of God in an instant and rushed towards him. Matirus tried to suppress the Heavenly Drive by concentrating gravity, but it was ineffective against the intense willpower contained in the sword.
[Stop! Stop!]
He had no choice but to use not only gravity but also the mentally taxing Dragon Words to stop the Heavenly Drive. The Heavenly Drive trembled as if wanting to continue forward, but blocked by gravity and Dragon Words, it slowly lost power and began to fall.
[Struggling to the end... Huh?]
It was when Matirus was about to summon the Wrath of God again. From behind the falling Heavenly Drive, a leaf-shaped sword imbued with wind shot out.
[St-Sto...]
The moment he tried to utter Dragon Words, the leaf sword vanished and instantly appeared in front of his neck. Rimmer's sword sliced through Matirus's neck at a speed he couldn't react to. Just below the Adam's apple. It was exactly where he had hidden the Dragon Heart.
[Ah...]
Matirus spewed dark red blood from his mouth and wound, his neck broken. His wings folded and his massive body began to fall slowly. Matirus plummeted as fast as the gravity he had unleashed, crashing head-first in front of the World Tree he had intended to burn.
* * *
"Huh..."
Raon coughed up black, dead blood as he fell to his knees. He clenched his fist weakly as he watched the life fade from Matirus.
'It's, it's done.'
Although he had wounded Matirus with his Sword Domain, it wasn't fatal, so the beast still had the strength to fight. To not miss the last chance before Matirus could heal his injuries, he shot the Sword Control with the Heavenly Drive, and immediately after, he hid Rimmer's sword behind it and launched them together.
The moment Matirus struck down the Heavenly Drive with all his might, he used Rimmer's sword to unleash the Gentle Breeze, piercing the vital point of the unsuspecting beast.
It was a method no different from a gamble, but fortunately, it worked perfectly.
[I, I to a mere human...]
Matirus's huge eyes trembled as if he still couldn't believe it.
"You lizards always say that when you're dying. It's getting tiresome."
Raon twisted his lips as he stabbed Matirus's eye, which he had disliked from the beginning.
[Kuaaaaaah!]
Matirus let out a piercing scream, uncharacteristic for a dragon with such a massive body.
"Now I feel a bit better."
Raon exhaled heavily as he caught Rimmer's sword slowly descending.
[W-Wait! Let's make a deal. If you spare me, I'll give you information that could be useful! No, I can even give you gold and jewels...]
Matirus showed a disgraceful side, unlike when he treated non-dragon beings like insects. He had thought of him as a lizard, but now he seemed worse than a worm.
"I don't make deals with worms."
After firmly shaking his head, Raon slit Matirus's throat.
[Kuuuugh...]
Matirus's life ended without even being able to properly scream one last time.
"Huk..."
Raon dropped both swords and collapsed. He no longer had the strength to even hold a sword.
'There's nothing to say but that it was luck.'
In truth, even if both were at full strength, Matirus would have won. There was a big gap between them. But because of that power difference and his exhaustion, Matirus had underestimated him. Thanks to continuously targeting that opening without missing it, he was able to win.
-It's not luck, but skill.
Wrath shook his head with a long smile on his face.
-I can't call you a youngster anymore!
He patted Raon's shoulder as if to say he did well and was pleased. It seemed he was rarely acknowledging him.
"Ha."
Green Serpent let out a hollow laugh.
"I didn't expect it to come to this..."
He shook his head as if he truly hadn't thought Matirus would fall.
"Three dragons. Even if one fell a bit short, the other two were ancient dragons. To think you caught them all alone, it's so unbelievable I'm at a loss for words."
Green Serpent narrowed his eyes, saying it seemed things had changed too much.
"Shut up."
Merlin unleashed a stream of lightning at Green Serpent as she put a finger to her lips.
"Don't interrupt our Raon's moment of savoring victory."
"...You've changed even more."
Green Serpent clicked his tongue briefly.
"I'll have to retreat for today. It would be troublesome if I died now."
He wiggled his finger as he said he should escape.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Merlin snorted as she surrounded Green Serpent with a magic circle. Sterin also drew his bowstring to its limit as if not to let him escape.
"Let him go..."
Raon weakly waved his hand.
'If we try to catch him, there will definitely be casualties.'
Even if Green Serpent was tired and injured, he was still a Transcendent. Raon couldn't move a finger now, and Merlin alone couldn't catch a Transcendent. Sterin was also severely injured, so fighting any further wasn't a good idea.
"Okay! Got it!"
Merlin nodded cheerfully in response. However, she didn't release the magic circle, just in case.
"Wise indeed."
Green Serpent nodded as if to say it was a good choice.
"But let me ask one thing. How did you join hands with the dragons?"
Raon jerked his chin at Green Serpent. Since he wouldn't answer anything else anyway, he asked what he was most curious about at the moment.
"It wasn't difficult. The dragons hated you all."
"You mean their hatred for humans?"
"Both humans and Ziegharts."
Green Serpent muttered something incomprehensible and then wrapped himself in wind like a cloak.
"Zieghart? What does that mean!"
"Next time, one of us will die."
He disappeared with the wind without answering the last question.
"I-Is it over?"
Dorian lay down on the spot, panting heavily.
"It seems so."
Burren also sat down next to him, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead.
"The tree survived too..."
Runaan bowed her head, praising the World Tree that remained unbroken until the end.
"We came back after killing hundreds of monsters, but to think he caught three dragons alone..."
Martha shook her head in disbelief as she looked at the corpses of the differently colored dragons.
"It's unbelievable. How on earth did you do it?"
She shook her head as if she couldn't understand.
"It's all thanks to the instructor."
Raon slowly turned his gaze to the Blade of Requiem stuck in the roots of the World Tree.
'That's right. It wasn't just me alone.'
When the World Tree was filled with intense radiance, Rimmer's wind blew from the Blade of Requiem. It seemed as if he was still worried about them and hadn't left, so Raon fought to the end to let go of any lingering attachments.
'You can rest easy and depart now.'
As Raon closed his eyes and opened them again, hoping Rimmer could leave without worry, a blue message appeared before his eyes.
[You have achieved an impossible feat.]
[All abilities increased by 40 points...]
[New trait...]
[Trait The reward messages appeared much faster than usual.
-Kueok!
Wrath screamed as he saw the messages.
-W-What! Why is it giving them so quickly! Doesn't it seem like it was just waiting for this moment!
'You're right.'
Raon smiled faintly.
-Ah, but it doesn't matter! You're not looking at them anyway, right!
Wrath breathed a sigh of relief, as if thankful.
'No, I think I can look at them now.'
After Rimmer's death, he had deliberately avoided checking the messages, but now he felt like he could look at them.
-Huh? Why, why look! Just don't look!
Wrath shook his head, telling him to leave them be forever.
'Because I'm a little satisfied now...'
Raon collapsed in the warm breeze of the World Tree, with a smile that overcame bitterness.