Shaaack!

Faced with the terrifying sight of hana’s figure cloaked in a deadly aura charging toward him, Hosil chose to evade rather than block.

As he dodged, Hosil saw the devastating trail left in the wake of hana’s blade—the ground splitting apart as if sliced by a force of nature. Cold sweat dripped down his back.

no way I can block that.’

Every swing of hana’s sword sent shivers down Hosil’s spine, accompanied by a chilling sound of air being torn apart. The destruction around him made it clear: hana’s attacks were catastrophic. Steeling himself, Hosil reassessed the situation.

‘He can’t sustain that for long.’

If hana could maintain such absurd sword energy indefinitely, he would have unleashed it from the start. Furthermore, for all its destructive power, hana’s own defense seemed weak.

Wearing only light armor instead of heavy plate and lacking even an aura-based defensive shield, hana recklessly charged forward.

If Hosil could evade the sword aura and strike his blade into hana’s neck, it would end the fight. Conversely, if he Faeled to dodge even once, it would be his defeat.

Determined, Hosil cautiously kept his distance, fully aware that a single mistake would spell his end.

Noticing this, hana

Tap.

adjusted his stance, preparing for another attack.

As Hosil stepped back to brace himself

“What the…!”

hana abruptly abandoned him and charged toward Hein, the Platinum Knight.

The Platinum Knight, Ella, was in a state of utter disarray.

As a master-level swordsman, she had leapt into the fray of lesser swordsmen like a lion among sheep, mowing down enemies with ease. That was how things should have been.

But this… this was far from what she’d expected.

“Don’t face her head-on! Strike once and retreat!”

“Hold out until the Lord arrives! Delay her as much as possible!”

Despite the battle raging for some time now, Ella had only managed to fell seven enemies.

Meanwhile, the coordinated assault of the enemy swordsmen left her accumulating injuries. Though the wounds were minor and superficial, the mere fact that she—a knight of Edelvine had been scratched by those detestable Imperial soldiers was infuriating.

Boom!

As she deflected a sword rushing at her, another strike came immediately after.

From the front, the sides, the rear—and even above—blades rained down. Ella released her aura in a blast, forcing back the oncoming Fael family swordsmen, before charging at the nearest one.

Her agitation and impatience led her to ch_annel an excessive amount of aura into her strike, cleaving the swordsman before her cleanly in two.

But as she regained her composure, she found herself surrounded again by the Fael family’s warriors.

‘Hah…’

Including the one she had just slain, that made eight.

Eight out of two hundred swordsmen.

Ella glanced toward Bern, who stood drenched in blood, laughing maniacally, while Sylvia  unleashed bolts of lightning from behind him.

‘Thirty or so, maybe.’

Estimating the bodies piled around Bern and Sylvia, Ella reaffirmed her thoughts as she stood her ground against the Fael swordsmen.

‘No need to rush. As long as the King arrives, this will all be over. We just need to hold out.’

She steadied her breath and readied herself for the next attack. But then—

A terrifying figure clad in an ominous black aura dashed toward her. The Fael family’s master-level swordsman.

As Hein drew upon her platinum aura to meet the attack—

Ziiiiiing!

Rather than the usual deafening clash of auras, a strange slicing sound echoed as the two forces collided.

Ella, the master swordsman of Edelvine, was cleaved apart alongside her aura.

“Ella!”

Sylvia, witnessing the scene, immediately pulled out three gemstones from her pouch and crushed them.

A storm of lightning far greater  anything seen before erupted, incinerating the Fael family swordsmen surrounding Hein.

But—

“Such straightforward attacks don’t work on me.”

hana, now devoid of his aura, had already moved away.

The Edelvine forces had lost one of their masters, while the Fael family had sacrificed a third of their elite soldiers.

“Pin, Doyle , Jerry…”

As the battle momentarily quieted, hana began calling out names from among the strongest ten surviving swordsmen.

“You’ll face the master with the greatsword and the mage alongside me.

The rest of you,  handle the traitors of Giore.”

The moment he finished, hana dashed toward Bern, the ten swordsmen following close behind.

Hosil, the Giore master, tried to join Bern but was blocked by the Fael swordsmen.

And so, the battlefield shifted into a new phase.

“Where… am I?”

“This is a space prepared just for you, Fael. Do you like it?”

Duke Fael , who had been charging toward Roderon Edelvine,

stopped to take in his surroundings, now completely transformed.

“A barrier, huh? You’ve really gone all out.”

Duke Fael muttered dismissively, casually swinging his sword through the air.

Swaaaash!

Instead of shattering into pieces, the barrier merely wavered for a moment before returning to its pristine state as if nothing had happened. Observing this, Duke Fael let out a short sound of admiration.

“Impressive. But I told you—this was crafted specifically for you. You won’t break it so easily.”

“Is that so? Then, why didn’t you just trap me here and run away? What confidence gave you the courage to step inside with me?”

With those words, Duke Fael swung his sword again.

His unique swordsmanship, which could cut through space itself, ignored physical barriers and struck whatever lay behind them. Renowned for this ability, he found it curious that his opponent—clearly a mage—would dare to face him directly.

But questions could wait until after the kill. Without hesitation, he swung his sword.

Thunk.

Roderon’s neck was severed cleanly, his head falling to the ground without resistance.

“What’s this? That’s it?”

Duke Fael, taken aback by how easily Roderon was decapitated, found himself puzzled. After all that posturing, was it all just empty bravado?

Though unanswered questions lingered, he didn’t have the luxury of time to dwell on them—his subordinates were still fighting outside against other masters. Just as he began to channel aura into his sword to break the barrier, he heard a voice.

“So impatient.”

“What…?”

The same Roderon, whose head had just been severed, approached him, completely intact. Reflexively, Duke Fael swung his sword again.

BOOOOM!

This time, with an immense amount of aura channeled, the blow obliterated Roderon, leaving not even a trace of his body behind.

“It’s futile.”

Before long, Roderon appeared once more, completely unscathed, calmly walking toward him.

‘An illusion?’

Duke Fael’s thoughts churned.

‘The sensation of cutting him was too real.’

This wasn’t some shadow clone or doppelgänger. But if it wasn’t, could it be a hallucination?

‘Me? Falling prey to an illusion?’

No, that was impossible. Not even the Tower Master could trap him in a hallucination so quickly. That left only one possibility—he had indeed struck the real Roderon twice, yet Roderon had revived both times.

“An undead, perhaps? Or maybe you’re like those myths with nine lives?”

“Is that really the best you can come up with? How disappointing.”

Undead or not, whether he had nine lives or a hundred, all Duke Fael needed to do was kill him until he stayed dead.

With renewed determination, he swung his sword at Roderon once more.

“Hah…”

How many times had he swung his sword now?

Each time, Roderon would die, only to reappear moments later, unscathed. Throughout this, Roderon neither resisted nor attacked, and the eerie passivity gnawed at Duke Fael’s nerves.

“Are you trying to wear me out?”

At this question, Roderon shook his head.

“Don’t be absurd. Ron Fael doesn’t tire after swinging his sword a few times.”

And he was right. Even if the battle dragged on for days, Duke Fael had no doubt he could keep fighting.

“Then what’s your goal?”

“I’ve been conducting a test. This is my first time using a barrier against a master.”

‘So the barrier is the issue after all.’

Duke Fael had attempted to break the barrier several times while slashing at Roderon, but he had yet to succeed.

“Well, this is sufficient. You’ve served your purpose.”

With those words, Roderon’s demeanor shifted. He reached into his robes and produced a gem.

It was a diamond—radiant and luminous, shining brilliantly even without external light.

“Hah. Of all things to see in my twilight years…”

For the first time in ages, Duke Fael felt a genuine sense of crisis. He gripped his sword tightly.

‘Damn it, what’s the mechanism here?’

It wasn’t an illusion. It wasn’t an undead resurrection. The enemy truly died and revived repeatedly.

But this revival must have its limits. If Roderon could resurrect infinitely without consequence, he wouldn’t have wasted time scheming and manipulating events—he would’ve marched straight into the Imperial Palace and taken it by force.

Duke Fael concluded that this resurrection required some form of energy or resource that would eventually deplete. His strategy was to continue killing Roderon until that resource was

exhausted. But—

‘That gem is dangerous.’

There was no time to waste.

Resolving to finish this quickly, Duke Fael prepared to unleash his full strength. However

“Stop.”

Roderon’s voice rang out as he crushed the gem in his hand.

At that moment, Duke Fael found himself unable to move.