The Reincarnated Assassin Is a Genius Swordsman

Chapter 1527 -The Ring of Fire has stopped? Wrath's eyes widened as if asking what that meant. -You mean that broken power that circles your heart? He smacked his lips, urging Raon to hurry up and explain. 'That's right.' Raon nodded, placing a hand on his chest. -The Ring can stop sometimes, can't it. Why make such a fuss over that! Wrath snorted, saying it was only natural that the Ring could stop. 'Normally you'd be right. But....' Raon shook his head as he steadied his breathing. 'The Ring of Fire has never once stopped until now. It moved on its own even when I was training in swordsmanship, resting, sleeping, or even when I was unconscious.' He could control the speed of his Ring of Fire, but he could never completely stop its rotation. The very reason he repeated countless failures every time he tried to create a new Ring was that he couldn't stop the existing one. But now, that Ring was frozen still, as if it had solidified. -A Ring that doesn't even stop when you're sleeping or unconscious has stopped—that's certainly.... Wrath let out a small groan, as if he'd realized the seriousness of his own words. -Hm? It doesn't even stop when you're sleeping or unconscious? It really is a ridiculous, broken power, isn't it! He gritted his teeth, saying he'd never seen such a nonsensical ability before. 'Anyway, that ridiculous, broken Ring has stopped now.' Raon looked down at his own chest with eyes full of incomprehension. 'Let me check... hm?' He tried to properly examine the Ring of Fire, then frowned slightly. -What! Is the Ring moving again? Wrath thrust his chin forward, apparently thinking the Ring's movement had returned. 'No. It's not that the Ring of Fire's movement has returned......' Raon shook his head, his brows lowering. 'The demon kings' Authorities are moving.' The Ring of Fire remained still, and instead, the demon kings' Authorities that had been resting deep within his soul began to move on their own. -Huh...? Wrath's mouth fell open in a round shape. -Just as you said. This King's Authority is moving on its own as well! He too felt what was happening inside his own body and swallowed hard. 'Why?' Raon chewed on his lip, his brow furrowed. 'Why has it come to this?' He had definitely reached a higher realm after cutting down Derus Robert and the Demonic Dragon of Destruction one after another. He had even perfectly absorbed Derus Robert's death aura—so he couldn't understand why the Ring of Fire had stopped. -Hurry and check your body! Wrath nodded as he closely examined his own body as well. 'Before that, I need to check the battlefield first.' To properly examine the Ring of Fire and the demon kings' Authorities, he would need to enter the mental world. He desperately wanted to properly grasp what was happening with the Ring of Fire and the Authorities, but since the war wasn't over yet, he had to check that first. 'Hmm....' Raon steadied his breathing and turned his gaze to survey the entire battlefield. 'I suppose it's safe to say all the enemy's leaders have been taken down.' Derus Robert and the Demonic Dragon of Destruction were dead, Light Wind Palace had cut down Six-Headed Scourge, and the revived leader of the Five Demons and its remnants had also been wiped out—so it wasn't strange to think the enemy's leadership had all been dealt with. 'Of course....' Raon narrowed his eyes as he watched the standoff between Pride, the Monarch of Pride, and Archangel Michael. 'Though that side is still left.' Though he trusted Pride's martial prowess, Archangel Michael's swordsmanship was also terrifying, so he couldn't completely set his mind at ease. -Don't tell me you're worried about Pride? Wrath let out a hollow laugh, as if at a loss for words. -That would be a waste of brain cells. If that guy doesn't want to lose.... He tilted his chin, as if he couldn't help but acknowledge Pride's martial prowess, even though he didn't like it. -He will never lose! * * * "It's over." Pride, the Monarch of Pride, turned his back without hesitation even with Archangel Michael right before him, and looked at Raon. "To think that a brat who didn't even have a small hint of pride would become such a monster. It's truly astonishing." He gave a big nod, saying he couldn't help but acknowledge not only Raon's martial prowess and talent, but also the arrogance Raon had cultivated on his own. "How does it feel." Pride tilted his chin toward Michael again. "A human has appeared who cut down both Derus Robert and the Demonic Dragon of Destruction, the ones you were relying on." He smacked his lips as he asked what she thought of Raon, who had single-handedly cut down both Derus Robert and the Demonic Dragon of Destruction. "...." Archangel Michael gave no answer to Pride's question. She merely stood with her sword raised, looking at Pride. "This King's blood is boiling." Pride raised his right hand and clenched it into a fist, so slowly it was almost tedious. "I'm sick of the battles that have repeated for thousands of years. I lay still as if dead, but now I want to fight so badly that I begrudge the time I spent lying there." Having watched Raon's battle, he said he wanted to fight other powerful beings again, and aimed a fist radiating pride and Fighting Spirit at Michael. "With you, with Wrath, and with Raon Zieghart too." Pride curled the corner of his mouth, saying he wanted to fight all three powerful beings present here. It was a smile that went beyond confidence into sheer arrogance—a smile that suited the name "Monarch of Pride" all too well. "Come." Pride straightened his upper body, exhaling a breath sharp as a blade. "Archangel Michael." He beckoned to Michael with an arrogant gesture of his finger, saying let's have a fight that draws blood from each other. "This King will accept everything you throw at me." Pride threw his chest wide open, declaring he would take on all of Archangel Michael's offense. "...." But Michael did not move even after hearing Pride's provocation. She simply stood with her sword raised, as if she could neither see nor hear him. "How boring." Pride's brow furrowed as he watched Archangel Michael standing still like a stone statue. "Derus Robert is dead, and the Demonic Dragon of Destruction is dead too. The war is almost over—just how much longer are you going to stand there like a scarecrow!" He beckoned with his finger again, telling her to stop dragging things out and come at him. "If you're bored...." Archangel Michael closed and opened her eyes, slower even than a grub crawling. "Then you attack first." She tilted her chin, as if provoking Pride right back. "Ha!" Pride let out a hollow laugh and rolled his wrist. "Do you think this King can't come at you?" He bared his white teeth, as if dumbfounded. "This King merely gave you a chance." Pride said he had only been giving Michael a chance to fight until now, and raised his hand. Over his hand, slowly curling into a fist, an Aura so intense it raised goosebumps blazed to life. KUGUGUGUGUGU! As Pride unleashed his Authority, a majestic presence so overwhelming that everything but him seemed to disappear from sight poured out, fitting of the demon king known as the Monarch of Pride. "...." Archangel Michael's expression didn't change even a bit at the sight of the terrifying Authority and energy wave Pride had unleashed. Even with a battle against a demon king ahead of her, she held her sword with a calm expression. "I'll come in, just as you wanted." Pride stepped into Archangel Michael's range. He walked forward without hesitation, chest wide open and back straight, as if ready to take on any attack Michael might unleash. Thud. With just a few steps, Pride entered the range where Archangel Michael could land her optimal attack. "...." Michael didn't budge even as Pride came within range of her sword. She didn't even give off killing intent, as if she had no will to fight at all. "Don't tell me you've given up? Ha, it won't matter either way. This King has already declared he'll fight...." It was the moment Pride stepped one pace closer, past Michael's optimal range. Sssss! Michael's sword moved, carrying a faint ashen Aura—the secret technique of Ashen Kalpa Radiance. Her transcendent martial arts, which accelerated her own time while slowing her enemy's, combined with an Archangel's absolute Aura to create a sword strike that no one could evade. Chwaaaaak! A gash so deep it sent chills down the spine was carved across Pride's chest. Flesh tore away and blood gushed out—a grave wound. It was a fatal injury that would have felled anyone, even the Monarch of Pride. Jjeojeojeojeojeok! Moreover, the gash carved into Pride wasn't the only one. Michael ran Ashen Kalpa Radiance at full power, driving hundreds—no, thousands of wounds into Pride in an instant. Peoeoeok! Countless sword marks rose across Pride's entire body, and blood and flesh burst out from the torn wounds in a terrifyingly great amount. "Kheuheuk...." Even Pride, as if unable to withstand this assault from Michael, spat blood from his mouth and dropped to one knee. "I knew it." Archangel Michael revealed an icy gaze as she watched Pride collapse, coughing up blood. "That you have no patience." She said she had prepared this attack, thinking Pride wouldn't be able to endure boredom and would come to her on his own. "Curse your pathetic patience, and die." It was the moment Michael raised her sword again, intending to surely cut off Pride's faint, thread-thin breath for good. Ppuddeuduk! Pride, who would not have been strange to see die at any moment, reached out and gripped Michael's ashen blade. "W-what!" Michael, who hadn't even been surprised when Derus Robert died, opened her eyes wide, seemingly flustered for the first time. "I did tell you, didn't I?" Pride's mouth twisted upward as he looked at the astonished Michael. "That this King's blood is boiling again!" As if the wounds tearing across his entire body meant nothing at all, he slowly rose to his feet while gripping Michael's sword. Even the knee that had seemed to touch the ground now hovered in midair. "L-let go!" Michael ran Ashen Kalpa Radiance at full power to reclaim her sword from Pride's grip, but his hand wouldn't budge at all, as if locked shut. "Seems you've forgotten." Pride let out a mocking laugh as he watched Michael use Ashen Kalpa Radiance to generate immense pressure. "How I fought during the Heavenly Demon War!" "The Heavenly Demon War... Ah!" Michael's chin trembled faintly as she heard Pride's words. 'The guy from the Heavenly Demon War era...' He took on everything his opponent threw at him. The Pride of the past took on the full might of the heavenly realm with his own body, and crushed not the bodies of the Angels, but their hearts. Of course, after crushing their hearts, he went on to grind their flesh and souls to nothing as well, but by then they were already corpses with broken, dead souls. 'Has the arrogance of that time returned?' It was clear that Pride had deliberately taken her swordsmanship, as if a bad habit from the Heavenly Demon War era had revived. 'Back then, Pride had been a nearly invincible existence. However....' Now it was different. Michael, still gripping her sword, thrust a fist charged with Ashen Kalpa Radiance at Pride as he took one more step closer. Kuwaaaang! Even as a punch flew at him with enough force to shatter heaven and earth, Pride didn't dodge, taking it straight to the chest. Even as his flesh and bone were crushed to powder by the force of the Ashen Kalpa Radiance, he never lost his arrogant smile. "If this is all you've got...." Even as blood gushed from his entire body, Pride looked down at Michael and wore a smile bursting with arrogance. "You die right here."