CHAPTER 185
Lieutenant General Meiran.
His sword blitzed toward Aranseol from all directions.

A curtain of blades filled her vision.
Even though it was clearly a single swing, it felt as if hundreds of swords were striking at once.

Aranseol recognized this sword curtain.
The 4th Sword Lord.
Paezaryong.

The man who could cut down a thousand enemies with a single swing.
He was a master who had reached the pinnacle of unifying offense and defense.
Now, that very Sword Lord, Paezaryong, had met the body of Lieutenant General Meiran.

Facing the pouring curtain of blades, Aranseol gripped Danmyung tightly.

Bzzzt—

Red electrical currents scattered along Aranseol's sword.
As the sparks spread, Aranseol's blade began to accelerate.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

Amidst the downpour of strikes.
Aranseol's sword thrust forward without a single inch of error.
Her blade continued to accelerate, growing faster and faster. Before long, the space around her was so completely filled with her sword dance that she couldn't see an inch ahead.

Kaaang!

The moment she finally deflected the last strike, Aranseol's right leg stomped heavily onto the ground.
Red sparks flew into the air.
Through the spreading currents, Aranseol's sword surged toward Meiran.

Her target was his neck.
Just before Aranseol's blade could reach Paezaryong's throat...

Crrrack-crack-crack!

Her sword failed to pierce his neck and froze solid.
Meiran's Ability.
Freezing.

He was utilizing the Ability of Meiran, a No-Named Transferee.
Combining Meiran's Freezing Ability with the swordsmanship of the 4th Sword Lord, Paezaryong.
It was safe to say this was the strongest enemy Aranseol had ever faced.

However, Aranseol wasn't intimidated in the slightest.
She shattered the ice frozen to her blade with a burst of electricity and gripped Danmyung even tighter.

Paezaryong's sword and Aranseol's sword clashed once again.
The atmosphere shook, and a massive shockwave ripped through the air.

Paezaryong unleashed his sword curtain once more.
Aranseol had to perform her sword dance within that deadly barrage yet again.

Her breathing grew heavy.
No matter how many life-or-death lines she had crossed through Danmyung, the physical toll of executing the swordsmanship was entirely hers to bear.
Naturally, that burden weighed heavily on Aranseol's body.

Danmyung reacted, scattering red energy.
It was as if the sword was telling her that if she lost here, it would unhesitatingly return to Paezaryong's hands.

Aranseol paid no mind to Danmyung's reaction.
Instead, she forcefully gripped the hilt with her torn, bleeding hands and swung the sword like a madwoman.

Kaaang!

Aranseol pierced through the sword curtain once again, closing the distance to Paezaryong.
Once again, she aimed for his neck.

But Paezaryong wasn't going to fall for such an obvious attack.
The sword that had just unleashed the curtain swung back to guard his neck.

The moment she saw this, the look in Aranseol's eyes changed.
Like a beast that had been waiting for this exact moment, her eyes flashed.

Red sparks simultaneously flared across Danmyung.
With a subtle twist of her wrist, Aranseol accelerated her blade.

Kaaaaaaaang!

With the sudden burst of acceleration, red sparks spread out.
But the place where the sparks spread was none other than the sword Paezaryong was holding.

Crack!

Paezaryong's eyelids shot up.
His eyes, dyed black from the specter's possession, belatedly grasped the situation.

A crack had formed on Paezaryong's sword.
The red lightning dug into that fissure and instantly spread throughout the interior of the blade.

Kzzzzzt!

And finally.

Shatter!

The sword's lifespan met its end.

The sword Meiran carried around was just an ordinary blade.
The reason was simple. Meiran usually created and wielded swords using his Freezing Ability. Therefore, he had no great attachment to physical swords, and the one he carried was nothing more than a spare.

Paezaryong, having taken over Meiran's body, naturally didn't know this fact.
The sword curtain he deployed was a technique that put an immense strain on the weapon. There was no way an ordinary sword could withstand it. Intoxicated by the feeling of holding a sword after so long, he had failed to see the reality of his weapon.

Though he could wield Meiran's Ability, Paezaryong didn't know Meiran's actual fighting style.

He belatedly realized he could create a sword out of ice, but it was too late.
At the exact moment she shattered Paezaryong's sword, Aranseol granted another burst of acceleration to her arm.

It was a calculated, two-stage attack from the very beginning.
Amidst the spreading red lightning, Aranseol's Danmyung bared its fangs.
Even if the opponent was its former master, Danmyung did its job.
It was a sword that only the victor could hold.

A delayed wave of ice wrapped around Paezaryong's neck.
Her sword had already been blocked by the freezing ice once before. Aranseol was well aware of this fact.

So, Aranseol poured in the ultimate conclusion of swordsmanship from the greatest master she knew.

The wind blew.
A breeze from somewhere imbued Danmyung with a sharpness entirely different from before.
Danmyung erupted with a red aura, as if trembling with excitement. It expressed sheer joy at the swordsmanship deployed by its original master.

The master of the 1st Sword.
The man who had reached the absolute pinnacle of the sword, attaining the realm of a quasi-Transcendent.
The 1st Sword Lord.
Baek Dohyun.

The sky-cleaving sword he had created.
The ultimate culmination of his desire to one day reach the heavens.

Heavenly Sword (일식·천상).

A blade that could cut even the sky.
That sword reached Paezaryong's neck.

Ting—

Paezaryong's frozen neck shifted out of alignment.
His eyes were wide open, capturing the sight before him.
It made sense—even he, who had once wielded Danmyung, had never managed to reach the swordsmanship of the 1st Sword Lord.

Normally, this was a technique Aranseol would never have been able to grasp either.
But she had a man who allowed her to challenge it endlessly.
Harua.
Through his Resurrection magic, Aranseol had pushed her mind to its absolute limits against Danmyung, challenging it over and over again.

And at the end of that road, she reached a swordsmanship that no past Sword Lord had ever attained.
The Sword of the Heavens.
The technique founded by the 1st Sword Lord.

Paezaryong's severed head tilted before bouncing up into the air.
Soon after, Paezaryong's body collapsed to the floor, its functions ceasing.

Aranseol stood before him, gasping for breath.
Her arm holding Danmyung hung limply by her side.
It was a technique that pushed her physical body to its absolute maximum limit. Just executing it once left Aranseol completely immobilized.

"...The Paezaryong inside Danmyung was a swordsman who never let his guard down, no matter the situation."

She quietly spoke while looking at Paezaryong's dissipating form.
At that moment, the specter of Paezaryong that had slipped out of Meiran's body lunged forward.
It intended to steal Aranseol's body in this moment of vulnerability.

"I know how much you want to hold a sword, even as a specter."

But in front of it...
Danmyung's red aura violently surged upward.
As if roaring, How dare a loser bare its fangs?, Danmyung mercilessly devoured the lunging Paezaryong.

The wailing of the specter, unheard by Aranseol, echoed in the air.
If he had possessed just one proper sword, Paezaryong wouldn't have been defeated so easily. But the Danmyung that Paezaryong once wielded was now firmly in Aranseol's grasp.

Someone's era ends, and someone else's era begins.
Paezaryong's era had set.
Those who refused to accept that reality would simply be swallowed by the flow of the times and disappear.

"...Harua."

Leaving the vanished Paezaryong behind, Aranseol turned her body.
She desperately tried to hold onto her consciousness to help the man she loved most.
As she did, Aranseol's eyes slowly widened.

Beyond a broken wall.
A familiar figure was standing there.

The moment she saw him, Aranseol opened her lips to shout.

"...!"

But before she could, three swords flew toward her simultaneously.
Aimed at her neck, heart, and spleen, the swords flew as if they had a will of their own.

Aranseol's body was completely wrecked from executing the Heavenly Sword just moments ago. There was no way she could block them.

"Friend Shield!"

In that split second, someone shot up in front of her.
The moment she saw that black hair, Aranseol gasped in horror, but he had already pushed her out of the way.

Thwack! Squelch! Clang!

The man, who only managed to deflect the sword aimed at her neck, rolled across the floor with the other two swords buried deep in his body.

"Harua!"

Harua was now in the spot where Aranseol had cried out.
He had barely blocked the strike to the neck, but the blades had pierced deeply into his heart and spleen.
It was a gruesome sight that almost made her scream involuntarily.

Aranseol rushed over and caught his body.
Her eyes shook violently.
Why did this man always do this?
He was the man she loved, but in times like this, it was enough to make her lose her mind.

But even in that state, he didn't die.
Since he didn't have a physical heart anyway, he wouldn't die as long as his head wasn't blown off.
However, he still had to endure the agonizing pain, and a groan leaked from Harua's lips.

"So...han, you son of a bitch."

At the same time, a fierce, murderous intent boiled in Harua's eyes.

The owner of the flying swords.
It was none other than Sohan, Aranseol's fellow disciple.

✶ ✶ ✶

The possibility that Sohan was hiding in the Sky Castle.
That possibility had been raised from the beginning, and I had always kept it in mind.
I wanted to call Soun to deal with him, but Soun had disappeared somewhere without a word. So, we had come to the Sky Castle keeping the possibility of Sohan's presence in mind.

"I was wondering where you were hiding so thoroughly."

Desperately ignoring the pain flaring up from my body, I ground my teeth.

Beyond the wall.
Sohan, wearing a robe pulled over his head, was staring at us blankly.
A sharply handsome face.
But now, it was a face so utterly disgusting I could barely stand to look at it.

Despite my words, Sohan just stared at me expressionlessly. It was a face so devoid of emotion that he felt like a completely different person.

Meanwhile, supported by Aranseol, I activated my Holy Magic. This would heal Aranseol's exhausted body.

"What are you... doing all this bullshit... for."

Why did Sohan join hands with Black Dawn?

"What, do you want to... go back to Earth too?"
"..."

No answer returned to my question. Yeah, I didn't expect you to answer anyway.

At that moment, Sohan flicked his finger upward.
Instantly, my body was yanked toward him.
The swords buried in my flesh were dragging my entire body along with them.

Was this his plan from the moment he threw them?

"Sohan!"

The moment I saw Aranseol try to force her exhausted body forward, I raised a hand to stop her.

"Hey, Sohan."

A pure white aura was already spreading across my body.
It was a Holy Magic I had triggered the moment the swords pierced me, designed to let me escape.

If moving is hard, just erase the body parts making it hard.
It was a simple logic, and I had already put the magic into motion.

"Just wait. I'll personally beat the shit out of you soon."

With that, I unhesitatingly fired the Holy Bullet gathered at my fingertips.

KABOOOOOOOOOM!

The ceiling above where Sohan was standing shattered and collapsed.
At the exact same time, my flesh—with the swords still buried inside—burst into light and exploded.

(Author's Note: Happy New Year, everyone!)