The Reincarnated Assassin Is a Genius Swordsman

Chapter 1513 -P-Pride? Wrath looked at Pride, the Monarch of Pride, standing off against Archangel Michael, before hurriedly turning his gaze to Raon. -How did you know that Pride would come here? His eyes went wide, as though he had never expected Pride to show up. 'That's…' Raon drew out his words before tilting his chin. 'I didn't know either…?' He shrugged, saying that even he had never expected Pride, the Monarch of Pride, to appear. -Huh? Wh-whaaat? Wrath's mouth fell open at the words. -R-really? Then why did that thing show up when no one even called it! He clutched his head, saying he couldn't make any sense of it at all. 'The people I'd accounted for were three in total. No, two people and one demon king.' Raon folded down two fingers as he looked at the Heavenly Demon and Darkan. 'The Heavenly Demon and Darkan were caught off guard by Derus Robert's ambush, so I figured they'd definitely show up. The life-and-death duel they'd looked forward to their whole lives was ruined, and they'd never be able to have that fight again.' The Heavenly Demon and Darkan had honed their martial prowess while waiting for a life-and-death duel with Glenn Zieghart, the number one of the continent. After an endlessly long wait finally came to an end, a battle overflowing with exhilaration began—but Derus Robert's intervention forced the fight to a close before it could be settled. With Glenn Zieghart's Ascension, they could never have that kind of fight again, so Raon had assumed the Heavenly Demon and Darkan would definitely join this war to kill Derus Robert. -Then the last one is… Wrath smacked his lips, urging him to go on. 'The Monarch of Envy, Envy.' Raon spat out the blood pooling in his mouth, his brow narrowing slightly. 'In the First Continental War, Envy vanished without using his power.' In the First Continental War, Michael had not appeared, and Rector had captured one archangel, so Envy had only watched before vanishing. Raon had thought he would keep the promise he hadn't been able to fulfill back then—but the one who actually showed up wasn't Envy, but Pride, the Monarch of Pride. "Are you looking for Envy?" Pride glanced back slightly, as though he'd sensed the question in Raon's gaze. "He won't come. I took Envy's Law of Causality." He tilted his chin, as though he'd taken on the responsibility Envy was supposed to fulfill. "Why?" Raon narrowed his eyes at Pride. "It shouldn't have anything to do with you." It might be unpleasant, but the continental war held no meaning for Pride, which was why the question arose. "First, to trample that vermin underfoot." Pride folded down one finger, pointing at Archangel Michael. "Second, because someone touched what belongs to me." Pride slowly lowered his gaze. Caught in his proud eyes was a swordswoman wearing a goddess's helmet, looking this way. The Death Sword Spirit. The only being Pride ever loved had come to this place. "And the last reason is that I don't like that man." Pride twisted his lips as he looked down at Derus Robert. "As you said yourself, it's an eyesore watching some ghost who used to wipe the Demonic Dragon's ass strut around trying to devour the world." He snorted at Derus Robert, whose face had twisted up. "I see." Raon nodded, only now realizing the reason Pride had come. "But…" Pride narrowed his eyes slightly as he turned, not toward Archangel Michael before him, but toward Raon. "You've gotten interesting too." The corner of his mouth curled up thinly. "Interesting?" Raon tilted his head. "I never imagined that someone with no arrogance in him would come to understand true pride in so short a time." Pride let out a short laugh and nodded his chin. "You're far better than the fool inside you." He smiled, as if saying Raon had grown better than Wrath, then turned back to look at Archangel Michael. -Th-that, that bastard! Wrath screamed the moment he heard Pride's words. -How could I possibly be worse than this greenhorn! He shrieked, saying not to compare him to a human, but no one was listening. "Are the greetings all over now?" Derus Robert nodded, taking a short breath. "Setting everything else aside…" He smacked his lips as he looked at Pride. "So it means you came because of the Death Sword Spirit, in the end." Derus Robert let out a short laugh, as though he now understood the reason for Pride's intervention. "What a shame. I should have made it look like that woman died by Glenn Zieghart's sword." He clicked his tongue, regretting that he hadn't managed to falsify the information. "Meaningless." Pride shook his head firmly. "Because I watched the entirety of that day's war." His brow furrowed as he said that though he hadn't intervened, he had known every detail of the situation. "Indeed, that would be so. The Monarch of Pride wouldn't be a blind man with open eyes." Derus Robert nodded, as if conceding the point. "Thanks to that, things have become quite interesting." He swept his gaze in turn over Pride, the Heavenly Demon, and Darkan, who had newly appeared. "I expected the Heavenly Demon and that trash to jump in, but I never expected you to interfere." Derus Robert rubbed his fingers together, as though even he found Pride's intervention unexpected. "Truly amusing." He repeated the word "amusing" as a twisted smile spread across his face. He seemed flustered, yet he also seemed to be genuinely enjoying himself. "Enjoy it while you can." Pride shook his chin calmly. "Because that will be the last pleasure you feel while still alive." He clenched and unclenched his fist, as though intending to erase not only Archangel Michael but Derus Robert too, right here. "If the Monarch of Pride says so, I suppose I should be on my guard." Derus Robert tilted his chin lightly. "Come at me however you like." He raised the Sword of Beloved Death, saying it was time to begin. "Where do you think you're pointing that sword?" The Heavenly Demon raised his one remaining hand toward Derus Robert. "Your opponent isn't the demon king, it's me. Derus Robert." He raised a killing intent so thick it sent chills down the spine, as though he meant to kill Derus Robert with his own hands. "Ah, right." Derus Robert let out a short laugh as he looked at the Heavenly Demon. "My apologies. I don't have much interest in a martial artist who's lost an arm." He twisted his lips as he looked at the Heavenly Demon's right shoulder, the arm he himself had cut off. "….." The Heavenly Demon showed no particular reaction to Derus Robert's mockery. He gathered his aura and clenched his left fist, as though ready to begin at once. "Hmm." Derus Robert let out a low groan at the sight of the Heavenly Demon's unshaken composure. Sensing that his provocation hadn't worked, he slowly raised the Sword of Beloved Death. "Hey! One-Arm!" Darkan shouted as he blocked the Demonic Dragon of Destruction. "Don't you dare kill Derus Robert first! I need to stick a blade in him too!" He shook his head even as he blocked the Demonic Dragon of Destruction's claws, saying he wanted to kill Derus Robert too. "Shut up. Blind man." The Heavenly Demon shook his head firmly. "That man's blood and flesh all belong to me." He muttered that he would kill Derus Robert alone, unleashing his Fighting Spirit. "Heh heh." Derus Robert let out a faint laugh at the sight. "It always turns my stomach, watching half-wits act up without knowing their place." He bared his white teeth, seemingly irritated at the Heavenly Demon and Darkan for competing as though he weren't even there. "Don't you agree, Raon." Derus Robert turned his gaze toward Raon, who stood back at a distance. "Don't even have the strength to answer? I suppose that makes sense, seeing as you're dying." He twisted his lips, as though he'd read the extent of the serious internal injuries Raon had suffered. "I too was staring death in the face, thanks to you." Derus Robert's brow furrowed deeply, as though recalling how close he'd come to falling to Raon today. "But I can overcome death. You, on the other hand, cannot." He spun his finger in a circle. "You opened the Sword Domain over and over until your mental image and mind were overloaded, and from taking on my strength along with Michael's and the dragon's, your body's broken down to the point you can barely move a finger." Derus Robert nodded calmly, as though he could tell Raon's entire condition just by looking at him. "That's not a wound that can heal within this war." He waved his hand, saying it was damage that wouldn't recover even with months of rest. "….." Unable to refute him, Raon only glared at Derus Robert with trembling eyes. "You're going to show me the power of trash? Do you really think the trash standing before you can protect you?" Derus Robert let out a short laugh and shrugged. "They're nothing but the losers of their era. The moment Pride showed up here, he lost his dignity too." He sneered, saying it was as good as the Monarch of Pride losing his pride the instant he meddled in someone else's business. "I'll come find you soon, so wait for me." Derus Robert drew a chilling smile toward Raon. "It seems I won't feel satisfied unless I kill you with my own hands." He raised the Sword of Beloved Death, saying he would kill everyone standing before him—the Heavenly Demon, Pride, and Darkan—as if brushing them aside, and stand before Raon. "You can rest easy." The Heavenly Demon lowered his chin calmly. "Because Derus Robert will die by my hand." He shouted that he would surely kill Derus Robert right here, and charged forward. Kuuuuuung! Derus Robert's death aura and the Heavenly Demon's Fighting Spirit collided, shaking the sky as though it would burst, and a deep red radiance burst forth between sword and fist. "I will never send him to you before I die!" Darkan gritted his teeth, as though he felt he owed Raon a debt, and split apart the flames of destruction the dragon had unleashed. "To think you'd move for the sake of a human…" Archangel Michael lowered her brow as she looked at Pride. "It seems it's time for you too to cast aside the name of Pride." She scoffed, as if mocking Pride. "Moving for the sake of a human is better." Pride let out a short laugh and waved his hand. "Aren't you the one wiping up after the Demonic Dragon's ass-wiper?" He tilted his chin, as if asking whether she was happy being Derus Robert's lackey. "….." "….." Michael no longer said anything and raised her ashen aura, while Pride, likewise falling silent, unleashed the Authority of Pride. Crack! Craaaaaaack! Simply from Michael and Pride facing off, a massive fissure warping the very dimension between heaven and earth split open. The instant the crack that began in the sky reached down to the ground, the archangel and the demon king turned into light and charged at each other. Kwaaaaaaaang! Michael's sword and Pride's fist collided, unleashing a shockwave so immense it seemed the whole world would vanish. "Kkeuh…." Raon, seemingly unable to withstand even the shockwave from the transcendents' auras colliding, coughed up blood and was flung backward. -A-are you alright! Wrath's eyes trembled as he realized Raon's condition was worse than he'd thought. 'I'm fine.' Raon calmly waved his hand, as though nothing were wrong, and pushed himself up. -What do you mean you're fine! Wrath smacked Raon hard on the head. -Just like that bastard Derus Robert said, this isn't a wound that can heal in this war! This is… ah! His lips trembled, then his eyes went wide. -That! Don't you have Divinity Born from Darkness! Wrath nodded, telling him to use his recovery trait. 'Unfortunately…' Raon smacked his lips briefly. 'I used it all up.' While fighting Derus Robert, the Demonic Dragon of Destruction, and Archangel Michael, he had used all of his Divinity Born from Darkness on himself. Had he not, his internal injuries would have already flared up and turned him into a lump of blood. -Ahh…. Wrath's mouth fell open. -Th-then there's really no way out, is there! He bit down hard on his lip, as if asking what they were going to do now. 'No, there's still a way.' Raon shook his head as he spat out the blood that kept endlessly welling up again. -There's a way? In this situation, right now? Wrath swallowed hard, utterly at a loss. 'There is. And it's a sure one, too.' Raon smiled faintly and lifted his trembling head. 'Only, it's neither my power nor yours….' He caught his breath as he watched Derus Robert fighting the Heavenly Demon. 'It's that damn bastard's power.' Raon curled up the corner of his mouth as he stirred up the death aura—the only one not yet merged with his Crimson Peak. 'Time to bring haughty death to its knees.'