The Reincarnated Assassin Is a Genius Swordsman

Chapter 1496 Wooooong! The transparent fragment of soul spilling from the Silent Serpent Swordsman's chest rose up on its own and clung to Natsu, who had his back against the wall, like a magnet. "Ah…." Natsu let out an anxious groan, but as if he had regained his strength upon recovering his soul fragment, a faint light bloomed in his once-dulled eyes. "Kuaaaaargh!" In contrast, the Silent Serpent Swordsman clutched the needle wound in his chest and screamed at the top of his lungs. "Y-You bastard!" He immediately drew his sword and lunged at the Bear Fire Demon behind him. "Hup!" As if he had anticipated that the Silent Serpent Swordsman would swing his sword immediately, the Bear Fire Demon swiftly stepped back, escaping the reach of the blade. "Grrrr…." The Silent Serpent Swordsman ground his teeth as he looked at the chest wound leaking blood and soul. 'Th-This hurts more than it would in reality.' He was a monster who had reached the Absolute realm, while the Bear Fire Demon was nothing more than a half-baked Shaman. Even having been ambushed and pierced through the chest, he should have shrugged it off easily, yet the pain was so intense he could barely think of anything else. 'That needle….' The Silent Serpent Swordsman narrowed his eyes at the needle in the Bear Fire Demon's hand. 'It's no ordinary object.' The Bear Fire Demon's needle was densely inscribed with bizarre characters he couldn't read, and the way those letters glowed faintly made it clear that some special Magic had been used. "How did you get here?" The Silent Serpent Swordsman asked why the Bear Fire Demon had come here, all while healing the wound in his chest. 'He was definitely downstairs.' Before entering this room in search of Natsu, he had confirmed the Bear Fire Demon's location. He had no idea how the man, who had clearly been on the floor below, had appeared without a trace of presence. "In this place, I can tell wherever you go." The Bear Fire Demon raised the needle dripping with the Silent Serpent Swordsman's blood, revealing a fierce glare. "Natsu!" He beckoned to the child trembling against the wall. "D-Dad…." As if recognizing the Bear Fire Demon's voice, Natsu called out to him with trembling lips. "You've held on so well!" The Bear Fire Demon bit his lip, forcibly holding back the urge to rush to his son right away. "I'll save you soon, so just hold on a little longer! He said he was sorry, but asked his son to wait just a little longer, and gave him a warm smile. "Close your eyes and count to exactly 100 seconds!" "O-Okay!" As if determined to wait for the Bear Fire Demon, Natsu clasped his hands together and shut his eyes tight. "One, two…." The child began slowly counting the numbers, following his father's words. "Tch." The Silent Serpent Swordsman clicked his tongue briefly, glancing back and forth between the Bear Fire Demon and Natsu. 'I was planning to cut him down the moment he came to save his son.' He had planned to strike the instant the Bear Fire Demon, unable to contain his impatience, tried to rush to the child, but it seemed the man wasn't quite that foolish. 'If that's how he's going to play it….' The Silent Serpent Swordsman looked back and smacked his lips. 'Then I'll just have to target that side.' To the Bear Fire Demon, that child was more precious than his own life. If he targeted the child, the man would have no choice but to come running. "I'll kill the child you cherish so much first!" The Silent Serpent Swordsman spun on the tip of his foot. Using the momentum from twisting his ankle, he charged straight at Natsu against the wall. "I'll just turn his neck— huh?" The Silent Serpent Swordsman curled his lips upward as Natsu drew rapidly closer, then froze in place. 'What is this…?' The distance between himself and Natsu wasn't even the height of two grown men, yet no matter how he moved his feet, he couldn't reach him. "Kruuugh!" Even stretching his arm out with all his strength, even thrusting his sword, he fell short by the width of a finger joint and couldn't kill the child. "What did you— Guhk!" As the Silent Serpent Swordsman ground his teeth and unleashed a sword strike, the Bear Fire Demon approached silently and severed his shoulder. "Aaaaagh!" The Silent Serpent Swordsman let out a piercing scream and clutched his arm, but he couldn't stop the blood and fragments of soul from pouring out. Wooong! The soul fragment that had separated from the Silent Serpent Swordsman flew once again toward its original owner, Natsu. "I was aiming for the neck…." The Bear Fire Demon clicked his tongue, as if disappointed that the Silent Serpent Swordsman had twisted his body in that urgent moment, leaving him with only a severed shoulder. "Bear Fire Demon. You…." The Silent Serpent Swordsman ground his teeth, hand pressed against his severed shoulder. "What did you do to me!" He shrieked, demanding to know why he couldn't reach Natsu. "I didn't do anything to you." The Bear Fire Demon shook his head, breathing hard. "Natsu is simply 'rejecting' you." He emphasized the word "rejection." "Rejection…." The Silent Serpent Swordsman narrowed his eyes as he looked back at Natsu. 'That's exactly what it felt like.' No matter how he executed his footwork, he couldn't close the distance. The sensation of the other's soul pushing his own away could only be explained by the concept of rejection. "Because this space is a place made for Natsu." The Bear Fire Demon scoffed, saying that Natsu, the master of this space, was rejecting the Silent Serpent Swordsman. "Hah…." The Silent Serpent Swordsman pressed his lips together as he watched Natsu, who was still counting numbers. 'This isn't good.' If this were reality, he could turn the Bear Fire Demon or Natsu into a handful of blood with his Martial Prowess, but right now this place was a mental world where the power of souls competed. Moreover, this wasn't a naturally formed place but a mental world artificially crafted by the Bear Fire Demon, so no matter how strong his own soul was, he couldn't afford to act rashly. 'Especially….' The Silent Serpent Swordsman frowned as he looked at the Bear Fire Demon. 'The fact that I can't sense anything from him is ominous.' The needle in the Bear Fire Demon's hand radiated a chilling killing intent and Curse, but from the Bear Fire Demon himself, he felt nothing at all. His Aura was even lower than that of an ordinary human, which made it all the more ominous. 'A creature like the Bear Fire Demon wouldn't have come here without a plan.' The Bear Fire Demon neither fled nor employed even the smallest defensive Magic, as if daring him to attack freely. If he attacked the man, he would surely fall under a Curse far worse than the one on that needle. 'As expected….' The Silent Serpent Swordsman turned back to look at Natsu again and smacked his lips. 'I have no choice but to go after that child.' If he attacked Natsu, the Bear Fire Demon would move on his own, so striking at the child was the right answer for now. 'There must be a reason he told him to count to 100.' Could it be the activation time of some Magic? A creature like the Bear Fire Demon wouldn't have told the child to count numbers without any reason. If Natsu counted all the way to 100, something bad would surely happen to him. 'Then this might be dangerous….' Now that he had even considered the significance of the number 100, he found himself growing more impatient. The urgency to somehow finish things before Natsu finished counting felt like it was strangling his own throat. "Natsu?" The Silent Serpent Swordsman called Natsu's name in a gentle tone. "Natsu. You've endured so well." He spoke to Natsu, changing his voice and manner of speech to sound gentle, as if he himself had become the Bear Fire Demon. "How did you endure such a difficult time?" Since children love being praised, he deliberately praised him and posed the question. "Fifty-three… ah!" Hearing the Silent Serpent Swordsman's voice, Natsu stopped counting. "I-I hid inside a hole. There was a really tiny hole, so…." Since his eyes were closed, he answered without realizing it was the Silent Serpent Swordsman who had asked the question. "A hole? Where was this hole?" The Silent Serpent Swordsman, sensing Natsu's 'rejection' ability weakening, brought up a deeper question. "Natsu! Don't answer!" The Bear Fire Demon shouted at Natsu, but the Silent Serpent Swordsman erected a wall of soul, blocking the sound from reaching him. "I-I'm not really sure. The sky split into five, and when my brothers were being devoured by the monster, a small crack opened up and my foot got caught inside it, and when I came to, I was inside the hole…." Natsu's fingertips, clutching his head, trembled as he said he himself didn't know why he had ended up inside the hole. "Ahh." The Silent Serpent Swordsman snapped his fingers, letting out a sound of realization. 'So that's how he escaped.' The five heads of the Hydra, himself included, had devoured the souls of the five quintuplets simultaneously. The backlash at the time had been so strong that a crack formed in the mental world, and it seemed a portion of Natsu's soul had gotten caught in the gap and escaped. "That's amazing. That's not something just anyone could do." The Silent Serpent Swordsman smiled brightly and praised Natsu. "Sixty-four… r-really?" Natsu's eyelids fluttered slightly, as if pleased by the Silent Serpent Swordsman's praise. "I told you it's true." The Silent Serpent Swordsman nodded and took one more step closer to Natsu. "Natsu. It's something only you could do." He felt with his whole body that Natsu's rejection had weakened further, and his lips curled upward. "Your mother and father must be so proud of you too." The Silent Serpent Swordsman spoke words that children couldn't help but love, drawing even closer to Natsu. With the rejection ability weakened, moving his feet was no longer difficult. "Dad and Mom…." As if wanting to open his eyes, Natsu loosened the hands clutching his head. "Natsu! Don't open your eyes!" The Bear Fire Demon pierced through the wall of soul the Silent Serpent Swordsman had created with his Magic-inscribed needle and shouted. "Eep! S-Sixty-five." Natsu's shoulders trembled as if startled, and he began counting the numbers again. "You shouldn't shout at a child like that." The Silent Serpent Swordsman waved his hand at the Bear Fire Demon. "Of course, even if you shout, it's already too late." He stood right beside Natsu, his lips twisting upward. "What a good child. Having hidden alone for decades, you couldn't help but miss not just your father, but people themselves." The Silent Serpent Swordsman looked down at Natsu with warm eyes and nodded. "Seventy-seven, seventy-eight…." Even while listening to the Silent Serpent Swordsman's words, Natsu kept his eyes closed and focused on counting. "Of course, it's that very kindness that's going to get you killed here, in the end." The Silent Serpent Swordsman, as if it were all over now, held his sword reversed and brought it down toward Natsu's head. Wooooong! The Silent Serpent Swordsman's sword descended very slowly toward Natsu's neck. It seemed the blade could finally close in because Natsu's heart of rejection toward him had vanished. "In a way, isn't this for the best?" The Silent Serpent Swordsman brought the blade right up to Natsu's neck, his lips twisting upward. "Because by me surviving, your youngest son gets to live too. Though I suppose I don't know if that counts as being alive." It was the moment he mocked the Bear Fire Demon and thrust his sword into Natsu's neck. Wooooong! A single drop of blood leaking from Natsu's neck shot up along the silver blade like lightning and wrapped around the Silent Serpent Swordsman's entire body. "Wh-What is this…." The Silent Serpent Swordsman's eyes went wide in shock as his body stiffened, leaving him unable to move even a single finger. "It's the Shirasumun—a Magic that paralyzes the soul of whoever attacks." The Bear Fire Demon approached the Silent Serpent Swordsman, holding the Magic-inscribed needle upright. "Sh-Shirasumun…?" The Silent Serpent Swordsman's voice trembled as he looked at the Bear Fire Demon with only his eyes. "That's right. The ability itself is absolute, but it's a half-baked Magic that only lasts 100 seconds once cast." He waved his hand, explaining it was a defensive Magic that lasted only 100 seconds. "A-A hundred seconds?… Ah!" The Silent Serpent Swordsman's eyes trembled, as if he had only just now realized. "That's right. The number I told Natsu to count was the duration of the Shirasumun. Growing impatient with the rising number, you walked right into the trap yourself." The Bear Fire Demon said he had deliberately provoked the Silent Serpent Swordsman, running his fingers over the needle imbued with profound Magic. "Th-This can't be…." The Silent Serpent Swordsman ground his teeth as he felt the presence of the Bear Fire Demon standing behind him. "How is it possible to create a mental world like this, cast that damned Magic on a child, and even put a defensive Magic on yourself!" He shouted that this was something even a Shaman who had reached the Absolute realm couldn't accomplish. "You're gravely mistaken." The Bear Fire Demon shook his head firmly. "I never used a defensive Magic at all." He gave a short laugh, saying he hadn't used even the smallest power to protect himself. "Just as you said—creating this world and using the Shirasumun on Natsu took everything, right down to grinding up my own soul." The Bear Fire Demon said he was grateful the Silent Serpent Swordsman had been mistaken, and raised the needle. "Th-Then if I had attacked you even just once…." "I would have died." He nodded, saying he would have died for certain. "H-How could you! Aren't you afraid of death!" "Lord Raon told me something." The Bear Fire Demon stamped his foot as he poured every last bit of remaining Magic power into the needle. "This is a father's strength!" He spat out the hatred of having his once-happy family torn away in an instant, and drove the needle into the Silent Serpent Swordsman's heart. "Kuaaaaaaargh!" The Silent Serpent Swordsman's chest crushed like a biscuit, and the remaining transparent fragments of Natsu's soul sprayed out like a fountain. "100!" The soul fragments drifted toward Natsu, who had counted to 100 and opened his eyes, and melted into him slowly and warmly, as if comforting him. "Natsu!" The Bear Fire Demon restrained the Silent Serpent Swordsman's soul so it wouldn't be completely destroyed, then ran to Natsu. "D-Dad!" Natsu burst into tears and fell into the Bear Fire Demon's arms. As if celebrating the long-awaited reunion of father and son, the mental world began to crumble. "Uh, the world is… again…." Natsu's lips trembled as he watched the world collapse, seemingly afraid that the Bear Fire Demon would leave him again. "You don't have to be afraid anymore." The Bear Fire Demon embraced Natsu, giving him a gentle smile. "Because from now on, we'll always be together." The moment he said they'd see each other outside, the mental world split apart completely, and a brilliant light burst forth. * * * "Hoo!" The Bear Fire Demon dropped to his knees, his head hitting the ground. Thanks to the faint scent of blood, he could tell he had returned to the real world, but having used up all his strength, he couldn't get up. "N-Natsu…." As the Bear Fire Demon, hands trembling, searched for Natsu, the sound of something collapsing reached his ears. Forcing his head up, he saw the Silent Serpent Swordsman collapsed, coughing up blood. From within him, the rank stench of the monster could no longer be felt. The scent of his long-missed son was rising instead. "Natsu. Thank you for waiting for me." The Bear Fire Demon, sensing that Natsu had returned, raised his fist above his head. "Now!" At his signal, the Light Wind Palace forces waiting behind moved. "Light Wind Palace! Charge!" The Swordsmen of the Light Wind Palace, led by Burren, didn't miss the opening created by the Silent Serpent Swordsman's fall. Before Derus Robert could deploy new defensive forces, they cut down the body of the Effigy Ghost that was spewing out countless monsters. Kraaaaack! The Effigy Ghost, larger than a castle gate, split in half, and the endless tidal wave of monsters pouring out abruptly stopped. "Annihilate the monsters!" Burren and the Swordsmen of the Light Wind Palace unleashed the storm-like Aura wave of the Light Wind Palace, sweeping away the monsters around them. "Th-Thank you." The Bear Fire Demon looked at Raon's back through the field of view opened up as the monsters fell. "Great Sword Sage." Even though his Aura was completely spent, he expressed heartfelt gratitude toward Raon, who had trusted him and created this chance. "I told you not to call me that." Even with his back turned, Raon gave a short chuckle as if he had received the Bear Fire Demon's greeting. "Hmm…." Derus Robert, as if witnessing a result he hadn't even imagined, frowned at the fallen Silent Serpent Swordsman. "I told you. Fathers are strong. Now then, with this…." Raon raised a single finger toward Derus Robert, whose face had twisted in dismay. "It's 1 to 0."