The Reincarnated Assassin Is a Genius Swordsman

Chapter 1522 -What…. Wrath looked at Raon, his jaw trembling. -What in the world happened? He blinked, as if he couldn't understand the current situation. 'I told you.' Raon lowered his head calmly. 'That I still had room to grow.' What he'd naturally gained upon awakening from death was only the recovery of body and mind. Since the realization etched into his soul from facing death still remained intact, he was certain he could grow and become stronger still. -Then that…. Wrath gulped, staring at the flame that had deepened in color around Raon. -Is that the realization you gained? 'That's right.' Raon nodded, watching the deep flame burning on the Heavenly Drive. -How strange. Wrath looked at Raon's sword. -The death aura has merged in, yet I don't sense even a hint of corruption. He narrowed his eyes, saying it was different from what he'd expected. 'Because I gained this realization not as a swordsman, but as a person.' Raon wore a bitter smile, saying that facing death had made him realize just how ignorantly he'd been swinging his sword. 'I realized that good and evil, death and life—none of it can simply be divided into black and white.' He nodded, saying that death and life, too, couldn't be judged by simple dichotomy. 'Come to think of it, I was quite the fool myself.' He looked at Wrath, calling himself a fool. 'You were the proof of that more than anything—what a late realization.' Wrath was the monarch of Devildom, called the demon king of wrath. In the past, he would have been someone Raon had to hunt down without question, but now he had become an irreplaceable friend. In fact, it wasn't just Wrath. Those who had helped him weren't the Angels that humans had praised so highly—they were demon kings. Conversely, Derus Robert was known as the Sky Sword Saint, famed as the greatest good man on the continent, but behind the scenes he was the worst of villains, kidnapping children and raising them as assassins, while the Archangels were mass murderers who had plotted to erase the Human World. 'And….' Raon lowered his gaze, quickly sweeping over the forces of Zieghart and the Five Kings. 'I also realized what mattered most to me.' He smiled faintly, saying that was what had woken him from death. -What a bond of fate. Wrath nodded gravely, as if he knew what the important thing Raon spoke of was. 'That's right.' Raon lowered his chin as he spun the Heavenly Drive. 'Because the strength of that bond is also part of what let me wake from death.' Had it not been for the bonds he'd formed while living as Raon Zieghart, he never would have been able to escape the Swamp of Death. Bonds between people are something that can't be built from one side alone. Others said they'd received much help from him, but he too had been able to live as a person thanks to them. Swordsmanship was the same. Facing death itself had made him realize just how ignorant he'd been while swinging his sword. He'd performed the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation without holding flame within him, poured out Glacier without grasping frost in his hand, and declared he would cut the sky without ever containing the sky within himself. He'd been no different from Derus Robert, who chased only flashy, powerful strength. 'Now there's no need for that anymore.' Raon resolved that he would swing his sword to live as a human being, not to become a god like Derus Robert, and slowly closed his eyes before opening them again. Gooooooo! As the realizations he'd gained from escaping the Swamp of Death seeped into Raon's body, an even deeper flame seeped into the Heavenly Drive. Death and life could not be separated. Because realizing death had also taught him about life, a vitality that seemed ready to burst forth was surging up from his body and soul. Paaaaaang! The moment Raon embodied the realization he had accepted from death, the Demonic Dragon of Destruction spread wings grand enough to blot out the sky. Kugugugugugugu! Simply by spreading its wings fully, the Demonic Dragon of Destruction sent out a terrifying shockwave that shattered mountains and shook the earth. But not a single person died or was injured by that mighty shockwave. Chwaaaaaa! That was because the Wooden Ring Sword, surging forth in accordance with Raon's Willpower, sliced apart every last bit of the shockwave that had spread from the dragon's wings. Kwaaaaaaaaaa! As if its seal had broken and its power surged endlessly, the dragon regenerated the wound cut by the Heavenly Drive and spewed out a whirling flame of destruction. The stream of fire, which had originally been large enough to cover half the sky, surged forward now grown massive enough to engulf the entirety of the Holy Sword Alliance's Holy Ground. It seemed unable to contain the power bursting forth explosively as its barrier came undone. "I-It feels like the whole world is burning…." "How are we supposed to stop that!" "G-God…." "It's not a god we need to call now, it's that man!" "Head of House!" "My lord!" "Lord Raon!" "Sword Sage!" The Zieghart swordsmen and the martial artists of the Five Kings' coalition, despairing that they could never survive the flames the dragon had unleashed, cried out Raon's name. Sseueueueueueu! Unlike the terrified people on the ground, Raon raised the Heavenly Drive with a calm expression. He set the blade steady, as if to meet the dragon's flame head-on, taking aim at the massive fire bearing down on him. Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation: Heavenly Drive. Flame Dragon Strike. A magnificent dragon's head surged up from the tip of the Heavenly Drive. The flame dragon let out an aura no less fierce than the Demonic Dragon's, breathing out flame of the same color as the Crimson Peak. Grrrrr! The corners of the dragon's mouth curled upward. An expression certain of its own victory. In that moment, it was mocking Raon for daring to counter the flames of destruction with flame of his own. "Keep laughing." Raon lowered his chin without his expression changing in the slightest. "Because that laugh is going to be your last." As he moved the Heavenly Drive with a calm murmur, the flame dragon caught at its tip began to move. Kugugugugugugu! The flame dragon writhed with an almost living, mysterious grace, stretching out to meet the dragon's firestorm that surged forward, blanketing all of heaven and earth. Jjeojeojeojeojeojeojeok! The flame of the Flame Dragon Strike was incomparably small next to the dragon's flame. But the moment the two flames collided, a result utterly mismatched with their size unfolded. Kwaddeuddeuddeuk! The flame of the Flame Dragon Strike tore straight through the flame of destruction in an instant. The dragon's flame, so massive it was hard to take in with the eyes, exploded, and an untimely fireworks display burst across the ink-black sky. Chiiiiiik! As if it still had strength left even after piercing the flame of destruction, the Flame Dragon Strike surged forward even faster toward the dragon. Geureureuk! The Demonic Dragon of Destruction spread its wings to create a shockwave and even mustered telekinetic force strong enough to lift a mountain, trying to hold back the onrushing Flame Dragon Strike, but it didn't work. Whooooosh! As if it had some property that nullified all force, the Flame Dragon Strike tore through the fierce resistance and struck straight for the Demonic Dragon of Destruction's throat. Wooooong! Sensing it couldn't block the Flame Dragon Strike, the dragon used its Authority of Destruction to teleport west. In the space where its massive body had vanished, the Flame Dragon Strike exploded, carving a shape like a red hole punched into the Day of Black Darkness that had plunged the world into darkness. Grrr. It was just as the Demonic Dragon of Destruction tore open a rift in the western sky and appeared, letting out a ragged breath. Chwaaaaaak! One of the dragon's right wings split in two and fell to the ground. Sseueueueu. It was Raon. He raised the Heavenly Drive that had severed the dragon's wing, his mouth twisting. Kuoooooo! Blood burst from the dragon's severed wing joint and chest. It let out a scream tinged with shock and agony, as if it hadn't even imagined its wing could be cut off. Kuwaaaaang! As the dragon's wing slammed into the ground, the Revenants beneath it, in contrast, burst apart without even managing a scream. "Where do you think you're going to hide with that huge body." Raon smirked and waved his hand. "Running won't do you any good." He looked at the dragon with cold eyes, as if he would never let it get away. Geureureureu. The Demonic Dragon of Destruction gritted its teeth, trying to use its Authority of Destruction to regenerate its severed wing. But unlike its previous wounds, this time the wound wouldn't heal even with the Authority of Destruction running at full power. The sword mark was ignoring the dragon's flame entirely. Geureureureu…? The Demonic Dragon of Destruction's jaw trembled as it looked at Raon, seemingly unable to understand why. "Not anymore." Raon gave a light wave of his finger. "I'm sick of regeneration, sick of resurrection." Before, there would have been no way to stop the dragon from regenerating, but now it was different. The Crimson Peak, now one with the death aura, could leave wounds on an enemy that could never be healed, according to his will. Kuaaaaaa! The Demonic Dragon of Destruction, seeing Raon's calm eyes, trembled its massive head in terror. Its eyes twisted, and it vanished into space once more. Wooooooong! The place the Demonic Dragon of Destruction reappeared was above the sea, far from the Holy Sword Alliance's Holy Ground. There, it gathered every aura that existed around it, baring a throat blacker even than the Day of Black Darkness. From the dragon's maw, dark as an abyss, a chillingly dark red flame surged and rippled up. The breath of destruction. It was the moment the strongest weapon the dragon could currently wield was unleashed at full power. Kuwaaaaaaaaaaa! The sea evaporated, the land collapsed, and the air melted away. As if proving that the myth of a dragon existing to destroy the world was reality, everything before it was returning to nothingness. Kugugugugugugu! As if intending not merely to kill Raon but to erase everything that stood with him, the Demonic Dragon of Destruction poured out an endless breath of destruction so intense its own neck and chest seemed ready to burst. Gooooooo. Raon raised the Heavenly Drive as he watched the dragon's breath approach, erasing the world as it came. He gripped the sword hilt tight with both hands and drew in a breath that grew hotter by the second. Sseueueueu. Raon advanced toward the breath of destruction that melted even space itself, and swept the Heavenly Drive downward, its calm flame burning steady. Sword Domain: Heaven's Rift. The faintly burning flame on the Heavenly Drive's blade deepened, and a golden dawn broke over the world that had seemed submerged in ink. A light more brilliant than the moment the heavens themselves opened swept over the entire world and collided with the onrushing breath of destruction. No, that wasn't a collision, nor a clash. Hwaaaaaaaa! The breath of destruction, unleashed to erase the world, was instead being consumed and erased by the light of Heaven's Rift. Geureureureu…. The dragon's massive eyes shook violently, as if struck by a wave. The being born to bring despair upon the continent was, for the first time, in despair itself. "I was dreading having to deal with the corpse…." Raon curled his lips upward, watching the light of Heaven's Rift, which hadn't lost any strength even after devouring the breath of destruction. "Thanks for coming all the way out there." The moment he wore a faint smile, the blade of Heaven's Rift enveloped the Demonic Dragon of Destruction. Hwaaaaaaa! The brilliant golden light of Heaven's Rift spread across the whole world and then settled, and behind it, the dragon's head fell away cleanly, as if it were a lie. Paaaaaang! The sound of the dragon's massive head falling into the sea rang out all the way to the Holy Ground, like a report of victory heralding the end of the war.