Raon raised his Divine Sword and Demonic Sword as he watched the Demonblade chewing on his lips.
'His aura quantity is superior.'
Because he had sacrificed half of the Dark Black Lotus as living sacrifices, the amount of death energy the Demonblade wielded far surpassed Raon's own aura. A head-on battle of strength against strength wasn't a good choice.
'What I have over him is...'
Swordsmanship, probably. The Ten Thousand Swords he had built up since childhood had blossomed even more brilliantly upon reaching Transcendence. Although the Demonblade's swordsmanship was difficult even among Transcendents, if he focused solely on his own sword, he could fight advantageously.
'My physical body and stamina are also superior.'
Even if the Demonblade had become younger, he couldn't match Raon's physical body and stamina that had stolen Wrath's power. He just needed to be careful of that newly grown purple arm.
'And there's one more thing.'
If he used the elements he had learned through his recent sparring with Glenn, he would certainly be able to defeat the Demonblade. Of course, it would be exhausting to the point of death.
"Buying time..."
The Demonblade burst into deflated laughter while covering his eyes with his palm.
"I'll tell you this. From the first time I met you, I didn't like that composure of yours."
He lowered his purple-stained hand and flashed a smile glinting with killing intent.
"I wonder if that composure will remain when I strip your flesh from your bones."
The Demonblade bared his yellowed teeth and stomped his foot. With a roar as if the earth's axis was twisting, an enormous amount of death energy spewed out from beneath his feet.
The Demonblade's death energy, which had been spreading in concentric circles, shaped itself into blades and shot towards Raon. It was a fierce offensive, like thousands of archers simultaneously firing poisoned arrows.
Hoo. Raon exhaled a pained breath as he watched the approaching blades of death energy.
'I can't afford to get wounded.'
The wound on his waist, which had been hit by the death energy, was slowly rotting and festering. If he took any more damage, the battle itself might become impossible, so he had to minimize the damage as much as possible.
'Full power from the start.'
Raon advanced towards the oncoming blades of death energy, raising the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation and Glacier to their extreme. The flames of the Divine Sword rose in a spiral, causing a red tidal wave, while the frost of the Demonic Sword painted a garden made of ice flowers.
The harmony of the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation's Flame and Ice Unification and Fire Spirit. The petals of cold energy rising from within the waves of flame collided with the blades of death energy surging from all directions.
The death energy that rushed in from the right turned to black ash and sank before the flames of Flame and Ice Unification, while the wave of death energy pouring from the left froze and crumbled under the cold energy of the Fire Spirit.
Not satisfied with defense, Raon charged at the Demonblade while trampling the frozen death energy. He circled to the Demonblade's right, slashing down with the Crimson Slash using his Divine Sword, and unleashing Frost Snap with his Demonic Sword.
The two swift and precise strikes aimed at the Demonblade's neck and chest. The Demonblade, as if seeing all, snorted and twisted his sword to block both the Crimson Slash and Frost Snap at once.
"You're slow."
He launched a sword strike while clashing with the Divine Sword and Demonic Sword. A huge semicircle drawn along the purple-tinged blade. The scale of the death energy was so overwhelming that it seemed like a purple crescent moon had risen before their eyes.
'Is he trying to overpower me with sheer force?'
The Demonblade had clearly realized that his advantage lay in the quantity of aura, and was obviously trying to break Raon with sheer power.
'Then I'll endure with swordsmanship.'
Raon took a stance forming a perfect symmetry left and right, like a sword dancer performing a solemn sword dance. He swung down the Divine Sword, wrapping it in the grain of the Dance of the Golden Flame, and raised the Demonic Sword, imbuing it with the breath of the White Shadow Slash.
A silk made of flame threads elegantly unfolded, trapping the oncoming waves of death energy, while clusters of white light erased the fragments of death energy that escaped the silk.
Raon advanced using the Supreme Harmony Step. Aiming for the Demonblade's shoulder with the counter-attack of White Shadow Slash, he unleashed Silver Sword Dream with his Divine Sword. The Demonblade erected a thick wall of death energy to block the White Shadow Slash, and directly raised his sword to deflect the Silver Sword Dream striking at his neck.
"Coming closer to me isn't a good choice, is it?"
The Demonblade sneered, asking if Raon could withstand the death energy emanating from the surroundings.
"That's not for you to worry about."
Ignoring the Demonblade's words, Raon approached him and brought down his Demonic Sword. The Demonblade endured the weight of the Demonic Sword and curled his lips upward.
"Then die right there."
He twisted the sword that had blocked the Demonic Sword. The death energy swirling on the blade condensed at the sword's tip and caused a tremendous explosion. It was a projectile of death energy, fired forward like a Heavy Sky Cannon.
However, because the Demonblade's death energy was so powerful, the time it took to concentrate the force was incredibly short. By the time Raon came to his senses, the death energy fired by the Demonblade was already rushing towards him.
'No matter how fast and strong a sword is...'
Raon stepped back using the Supreme Harmony's Third Step and raised his Divine Sword.
'It can't reach the sky.'
He divided the moment into fractions and unleashed the Azure Sky Sword's Formless Flow. Nothing can reach the ever-changing sky. The projectile of death energy fired by the Demonblade failed to penetrate the flames of the Divine Sword and was deflected, striking the riverbed instead.
An enormous, seemingly bottomless pit appeared where the death energy had exploded on the ground. It looked like if one went in there, they might never come out again.
Raon stepped on a bouncing rock and approached the Demonblade, unleashing the Thirty-Six Crimson Flash Techniques. Blades of flame striking thirty-six directions in a single stroke swept across the Demonblade's entire body.
The Demonblade drew a circle with his sword, blocking all directions of the Thirty-Six Crimson Flash Techniques. Purple death energy melted the flames of the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation, emitting a sticky stench.
Raon used the Supreme Harmony Steps to aim for the Demonblade's blind spot. Though the Demonblade's counterattack was fierce, Raon stuck close to him until the end, deflecting the death energy with the subtleties of the Fluid Sword.
"Your swordsmanship is cruder than I thought?"
Raon muttered that this level wouldn't be enough as he drew the Revolving Sky.
"That muttering of yours ends here too."
The Demonblade erased the rotating flames and stomped his foot. The dried-up riverbed cracked in a spider web pattern, spewing out an enormous amount of death energy.
The moment death energy surged from the ground, Raon used the Supreme Harmony Steps to rise into the air. As he was about to swing his Divine Sword to erase the pursuing death energy, the Demonblade flashed a long smile.
"I knew you'd do that."
The Demonblade raised his purple-stained hand as if he had been aiming for the moment Raon was in the air from the start. A purple flash of light burst from his palm, shooting towards Raon's heart.
While suspended in the air, Raon swung his Divine Sword to cut through the death energy surging from the ground, and brought down his Demonic Sword to block the purple flash shot by the Demonblade.
Although he succeeded in blocking the death energy, being in mid-air inevitably pushed him backward. As he was about to step on a seemingly intact rock to withstand it with his physical ability, death energy shaped like a sword surged from the wall behind him.
A situation where flashes of death energy came from the front while blades of death energy rushed from below and behind. Still suspended in the air, he couldn't block all of it.
'I have no choice.'
Raon furrowed his brows and summoned the wind of Garunua. The Wooden Ring, riding on green wind, surged forth emitting dense killing intent, shattering the blades of death energy that had rushed up behind him.
"Sword Control, is it?"
The Demonblade nodded calmly, as if he had expected this to some extent.
"I suppose this is your full power from now on."
"Maybe."
Raon calmly shook his head.
'If he hadn't known about the Sword Control, I would have hidden it until the end, but since he probably knew anyway.'
The fact that he used Sword Control was already known throughout the continent, so there was no need to forcibly hide it. It was much better to use it at the right time and gain an advantage.
"Then I'll show you what true death energy is."
The Demonblade plunged his sword, gleaming with death energy, into the ground. Purple flames erupted from the dry riverbed, engulfing his entire body and unleashing a terrifying aura that seemed to crush everything. Just by his existence, the earth split and rose, and space itself tore apart. It was a manifestation of martial prowess on a different level.
'It was to this extent?'
The death energy emanating from the Demonblade was so strong that even the flames of the Divine Sword and the frost of the Demonic Sword seemed to waver. Raon's heart tightened, and a dull trembling ran through his arms and legs.
"Let's begin. No, let's end this."
The Demonblade twisted his smile and slashed his sword like a whip. Though the slash was light, the sky split with a purple hue, and a torrent of Death Energy monsters poured down, enveloping the heavens and earth. The strike was more than twice as strong as before.
Raon gritted his teeth and unleashed Sheryl's dual sword technique. With the harmonious swordsmanship that drew ten circles in the air, he cut down the demon beasts of death energy that were aiming for his throat.
But there were too many death energy beasts, and their regeneration speed was too fast. Even while using Sword Control, he couldn't block everything. Flesh was torn from his shoulder and thigh, and pus-filled blood flowed out. He tried to stop the wounds with his aura, but the death energy that had seeped into the wounds prevented the bleeding from stopping.
'Still, I have to keep going.'
If he retreated because of his injuries, he would be overwhelmed by the Demonblade's power. The only way he could win was to charge forward. Raon trampled on the surging death energy and moved to the Demonblade's left side. Enduring the pain from his shoulder, waist, and thigh, he unleashed the Azure Sky Sword.
"Charging in mindlessly..."
The Demonblade easily blocked the Azure Sky Sword technique and raised his chin.
"You're like a moth that doesn't realize its wings are burning."
Muttering that Raon was pitiful like an insect, he swung his evil sword to push him away.
"Who the moth is will be known only after this is over."
Raon deflected the incoming death energy and pressed on towards the Demonblade. He unleashed the Fangs of Insanity and Blizzard Sword Art, stealing the Demonblade's space and time.
"Hmph."
As the Demonblade snorted and twisted his sword, a blade made of death energy sprang from thin air, breaking the flow of the Fangs of Insanity and Blizzard Sword Art. He even deflected the Wooden Ring that was aimed at his weak spot, demonstrating what perfect defense looked like.
'Has his reaction speed increased too?'
Since enveloping himself in the flames of death energy, the Demonblade had been deflecting Raon's sword instinctively. It seemed that not only his strength and physical abilities had been enhanced, but his senses had also been heightened.
'A little faster...'
As Raon tried to increase the speed of linking the Fangs of Insanity and Blizzard Sword Art, he suddenly stopped. His arms and legs were shaking so much it was hard to hold the sword, and black blood started flowing from his mouth and nose.
"This is..."
"Looks like it's finally here."
The Demonblade lowered his sword while straightening his back, as if he had expected this.
"You have been poisoned by my death energy."
* * *
"Still, you held out for a long time. I'll give you that much praise."
The Demonblade flashed a long smile as he looked at Raon, who had stopped moving his sword.
'Yes. It's remarkable that you've fought this long.'
Because right now, I'm no different from a source of death energy. Not only the martial artists of the Dark Black Lotus, but also hundreds of ordinary people were sacrificed, so it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the area around him was now boiling with lava made of resentment and death energy.
No matter how much Raon Zieghart had ascended to Transcendence, if he fought and got injured in this area, he couldn't help but be poisoned by this terrible death energy.
"Did you say you would surpass the Five Divine Orders?"
The Demonblade shook his head with a sinister smile.
"It's impossible for you. Unless the Five Kings and Five Demons and the Five Divine Orders fight each other, this balance will never be broken. A new era? That's just nonsense."
If that guy had attacked after more time had passed, there might have been a possibility of surpassing them, but now it's all over. This will be the end of his journey.
"That's not for you to decide."
Despite being poisoned by the death energy, Raon charged forward with his trembling hands gripping both swords, as if determined to fight to the end. Even though he was being consumed by the death energy and must have been feeling excruciating pain from his wounds, Raon's swords were sharp and unpredictable.
'This guy is really...'
The Demonblade lowered his eyebrows as he watched Raon, who was challenging him with a readiness to die.
'Even now, his swordsmanship is superior to mine.'
Unlike himself, who used irregular and evil swordsmanship, Raon drew a mysterious sword path that seemed to combine all the swordsmanship in the world. If he hadn't increased the amount of death energy by using living sacrifices, it would have been truly dangerous.
'But I'm the one who's going to win.'
No matter how excellent the swordsmanship is, it's meaningless if it doesn't reach.
"Stop struggling and die!"
The Demonblade didn't confront Raon with swordsmanship, but pushed him back with the sheer quantity of death energy. Raon tried to slip away like a loach and endure somehow, but gradually his speed slowed down and his sword strikes became dull as if his strength was fading.
"Huh..."
Raon finally stopped moving, bent over, and coughed up black blood. His hands holding the swords were trembling violently.
"Now it's over."
The Demonblade nodded with a long smile.
"I'll show you a miserable end for all the trouble you've caused."
Just as he was about to tear into Raon's flesh with his sword pulsing with death energy. Thuk... The Demonblade's hand trembled like the exhausted Raon's, and he dropped his sword.
"What is this..."
As he rolled his eyes, not knowing what was happening, Raon slowly stood up.
"Let me say the same thing to you."
Raon tilted his chin, his red eyes gleaming.
"Looks like it's finally taken effect."
* * *
Hoo. Raon exhaled a murky breath as he watched the Demonblade's hands and feet trembling.
'It was a bit late, but it worked properly.'
-Don't tell me that's...
Wrath widened his eyes as he saw the Demonblade's trembling hands and feet.
-What you suffered from the old man?
'That's right. It's that lightning aura.'
Just as Glenn had paralyzed him with lightning aura during their sparring, Raon used the lightning aura of the Celestial Thunder Arts that Glenn had taught him to suppress the Demonblade's death energy.
"Li-lightning aura?"
The Demonblade's jaw trembled as if he had just noticed the change in himself.
"Since when..."
"From the beginning."
Raon shook his head as he wiped away the dead blood flowing from his mouth and nose.
"I mixed lightning aura into the heat and cold energy."
Thinking that the Demonblade would prepare if he saw the lightning aura, Raon had hidden it in the flames of the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation and the cold of Glacier, sprinkling the lightning aura of the Celestial Thunder Arts little by little. Thanks to this, the Demonblade only now realized that his body had been infiltrated by the lightning aura.
"You probably didn't notice the lightning aura seeping in because of your overflowing death energy, but the power of the Celestial Thunder Arts was very slowly eating away at your body and mana circuit. Just like how you targeted me with death energy."
Feeling the Demonblade's death energy pressing on his body, Raon had also tried to control the Demonblade's energy with lightning aura, and it seemed to have worked properly.
"So that's why you kept engaging in close combat."
The Demonblade bit his lip until it bled, as if he now understood why Raon had fought in close quarters.
"Not bad. No, it's impressive. But nothing will change."
He picked up the sword that had fallen to the ground. Flames of death energy that seemed to reach the sky burned on the purple-tinged blade.
"You, poisoned by death energy, won't be able to move a single finger now!"
The Demonblade unleashed death energy as if to erase the entire continent, seemingly intent on ending it in one breath.
"Ten Thousand Demon Death Palace!"
His death energy spread endlessly, erecting thousands of death energy blades in the sky and on the ground. The countless emerging blades of death energy connected in a circle, forming a shape like a huge palace. It seemed he intended to trap Raon inside this palace of death energy and kill him without leaving a single piece of flesh.
"No."
Raon calmly shook his head and readjusted his grip on the Divine Sword and Demonic Sword.
"I'm not at full power yet."
He drew up the tyrannical energy residing in his liver and wrapped it around his entire body. Askara's Fighting Spirit. The tyrannical energy that could draw out full power in any situation seeped into his mana circuit, pushing back the foul-smelling death energy.
Raon raised his Divine Sword and Demonic Sword towards the blades of death energy that were covering the sky and earth.
Raon Zieghart Style Swordsmanship.
Sixth Form: Invincible Azure-Red Sword.
He raised the sword strike that had always brought him victory to the level of Transcendence, and with the Wooden Ring, he unleashed the wind-infused technique of the Celestial Thunder Arts. Three swords converged before Raon's eyes, forming a joyous harmony. Flames, frost, lightning, and wind connected in golden lines.
Like the dawn rising to overcome the dark night, the radiant sword that would open a new era split the purple sea raised by the specter of the old era.