The Reincarnated Assassin Is a Genius Swordsman

Chapter 1530 Rather than immediately forming the twelfth Ring of Fire, Raon calmly looked around his mental world. 'It's really changed a lot.' The land, once divided by different auras including the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation and Glacier, was now dyed in a single red light. Crimson Peak. An absolute aura, created by weaving together all the auras he had accumulated and perfectly accepting even the death aura, was supporting this world. 'It's not just the aura, either.' Raon raised his gaze with a faint smile. Hwooooook! Originally, his mental world had held thousands, no, over ten thousand swords. Swordsmanship still in training sprouted from the earth like seedlings to form blades, swordsmanship polished enough for real combat traced forms in the air, and swordsmanship mastered to perfection roamed freely through the sky as though alive and breathing, unfurling its own unique path. But now, all those countless swords had vanished from his mental image. What existed here were only four swords: the Heavenly Drive, the Wooden Ring Sword, the Divine Sword, and the Demonic Sword. The swords that had existed before varied in shape according to their swordsmanship, but none had ever taken the forms of the Heavenly Drive, the Wooden Ring Sword, the Divine Sword, or the Demonic Sword. Those four swords had clearly taken shape through this war. It was something even he hadn't foreseen, but what the swords meant was crystal clear. The Heavenly Drive was the first sword that was truly his own. In other words, it was the embodiment of the swordsmanship that Raon Zieghart himself had originated. The Wooden Ring Sword, by contrast, belonged to another—Rimmer. It was the first sword of connection he had ever gained, signifying the martial arts he had received from others while living as Raon Zieghart. The Divine Sword had not lost its brilliant golden light even after he had achieved the Crimson Peak. That was clearly because it was a sword formed on the foundation of the swordsmanship of the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation created by the First Patriarch of the Zieghart family. The last remaining sword, the Demonic Sword, was formed from the arts of his closest friend, Wrath, the Monarch of Wrath, and so it radiated a pure silver light like an untouched snowfield no one had ever stepped on. Through war and cultivation, over ten thousand swordsmanships had been refined until only those four forms remained, moving this mental world. 'If even those four swords were to become one....' Raon gave a faint smile as he watched the four swords clash against each other as if fighting. 'It wouldn't be strange to actually be called a Sword God then.' It was embarrassing to call himself a Sword God, but there seemed to be no other way to describe that level. 'Of course, I can't achieve that right now, and that's not why I came here anyway.' Raon turned his eyes again to watch the Authorities of the seven demon kings crawling across the ground where the Crimson Peak bloomed. Despite clashing fiercely with each other, the Authorities were moving in the same direction toward a single goal. 'Controlling this won't be easy.' The demon kings' Authorities repelled each other so violently that merely touching would annihilate each other's aura, so merging them into one to form a Ring of Fire seemed very difficult. 'Still, I'll have to try.' Raon slowly steadied his breath and reached out his hand. He raised his Willpower to control the demon kings' Authorities, which moved as they pleased. Uuuuuung! Raon's will was clear. A single-minded resolve to form a Ring of Fire from the demon kings' Authorities. Following his unwavering Willpower, the four swords floating in the sky fell to the ground at the same time. Hwaaaaaaaa! The Heavenly Drive, the Wooden Ring Sword, the Divine Sword, and the Demonic Sword flew freely like Sword Control, beginning to weave together the seven demon kings' Authorities, which fought fiercely like ropes. The auras dwelling within each sword seeped between the demon kings' Authorities, even preventing the auras that vanished from colliding with one another. 'This is....' Raon's eyes widened as he watched the scene. 'Even I didn't expect this.' He had thought the demon kings' Authorities would be greatly consumed even as they merged into one, but he hadn't known the swords would follow his will on their own. Thanks to that, he was able to bind the Authorities together without a great loss of aura. 'Binding them together isn't everything.' Raon let out a hollow laugh as he moved the merged Authorities of the demon kings with his fingertips. 'The Authorities are moving exactly as I wish.' The demon kings' Authorities had strong personalities just like their owners. Even after becoming his own, controlling them hadn't been easy, but now they were moving exactly according to his will. 'Is this because of the swords too... No!' Raon looked at the swords, then firmly shook his head. 'This is my own will.' <Wrath>, <Sloth>, <Envy>, <Gluttony>, <Lust>, <Greed>, and <Pride> were now perfectly following his will without the slightest resistance, as if they had finally found their true master. It seemed his soul had grown and been acknowledged by the authorities. 'A good start.' Raon smiled faintly and reached out his hand. 'One difficult problem has been solved.' The hardest parts of forming a new Ring of Fire were merging the demon kings' Authorities and forging the twelfth ring while avoiding the other eleven rings. Since one of those two had been solved easily, it seemed he only needed to think about what remained. 'Though honestly, this is the real challenge....' Raon calmed his mind and refined the demon kings' aura thin and precise. Bracing for thousands, tens of thousands of failures, he pushed the demon kings' aura between the eleven rings spinning at the speed of light. 'Instant failure... Huh?' Raon gulped hard as he watched the demon kings' Authorities seep between the eleven rings. 'What is this?' The eleven rings were spinning at a speed he had never felt before, as if refusing to accept a new ring. Yet every trajectory and movement was legible to his eyes. Moreover, since the demon kings' Authorities perfectly followed even his slightest will, evading the eleven rings spinning at the speed of light wasn't all that difficult. '....' Raon smacked his lips as he moved the demon kings' Authorities to avoid the rings. 'I might be able to forge it right away.' He had prepared expecting thousands of failures, but from how things looked, he seemed able to form the new ring right away. Since he didn't know when such a chance would come again, he had to finish it now. 'Focus.' Raon steadied his breath and raised his Focus to trace out the new ring. There were many dangerous moments. The eleven rings weren't simply spinning—they pressed in sharply as if rejecting the new ring. But thanks to his eyes, which seemed to read the aura of all things, and the demon kings' Authorities moving precisely along his Willpower, he was able to dodge the rings by a hair's breadth and trace out the twelfth ring. 'Just a little more....' Raon bit his lip as he watched the wavering ring. 'Not much left now.' The twelfth ring, which had started from the ground, had already turned more than half a circle and was heading back to its starting position. The existing rings moved ever sharper and faster as if they could never allow this, but even so, they could not escape his eyes. 'To the end!' Raon bit down hard on his lip. The moment he erased the fragment of his mind occupied by the outside situation and focused solely on the twelfth ring, the tail of the Authority that had departed from the ground met the head of the Authority that had come full circle back around. Paaaaaaaang! The moment the ring's end and beginning meshed together and the twelfth ring was completed, a grand light burst forth as though the entire mental world were about to explode. "Is it done...." Raon exhaled a breath tinged with anticipation and raised his head, seeing a new ring shining brilliantly among the eleven rings. Gwooooooooo! The color of the twelfth ring was indescribable. The colors that the seven demon kings' Authorities had originally possessed flickered in turn, its light continuously changing. The twelfth ring, having achieved Great Completion, slowly rotated. The existing rings, as though they had never rejected it at all, matched its speed and welcomed the new ring. Hwiaaaaang! The sight of the twelve rings rotating together was the sun itself hanging in the sky. The Ring of Fire, having achieved Great Completion, embraced everything about him like sunlight warmly lighting up the whole world. "Hoooo...." Raon placed a hand on his chest, closed his eyes, then opened them again. He had achieved the twelfth ring, but he felt no explosive amplification of aura, nor any sense of physical ability surpassing that of a god. 'It's just....' Raon opened the hand he had been clenching into a fist, drawing a faint smile. 'I feel like I've come to know myself and this world a little better.' It was a feeling of realizing, beyond body and mind, what he himself could do in this world. 'What an enraptured feeling.' Raon smiled brightly and raised his head, and the four swords bent their blades as if celebrating his Great Completion. 'Thank you. Your help was.... Hm?' Just as he was savoring the feeling of having achieved the great success of the Ring of Fire, surpassing his past life, he felt an external sensation. 'Is it Pride?' He felt as though Pride was trying to provoke him from outside. 'How strange that this works.' Normally, once one falls into a State of Enlightenment and enters the mental world, one becomes unable to sense anything outside. That was why everyone stationed a guard before falling into it. But perhaps because he had achieved Great Completion of the Ring of Fire, he was able to sense even the outside situation while still within his mental image. 'I should go out and see.' Raon watched the Ring of Fire that had become a true sun, then closed his eyes and opened them again, and the mental world vanished, revealing the real battlefield overflowing with the scent of blood. "My excitement has faded." Pride, the Monarch of Pride, having belatedly realized that he had fallen into a State of Enlightenment, was clicking his tongue and withdrawing. [You have achieved Great Completion of the <Ring of Fire>!] [You have achieved a legendary Achievement that no one else has ever accomplished.] [All Ability Scores....] [Trait....] [<Crimson Peak>....] The moment he returned to reality, reward messages appeared. The realization that he had achieved Great Completion of the Ring of Fire hit him strongly. -Eh...? G-Great Completion of the Ring of Fire? Wrath's eyes widened as he saw the message that had suddenly appeared. -W-what! Wasn't the Ring of Fire broken? Why did it suddenly reach Great Completion! He screamed as though asking how he had come back having achieved Great Completion of the Ring of Fire. 'It just sort of happened.' Raon smiled faintly and dismissed the endlessly appearing messages. Right now, he wanted to feel his accomplishment through reality rather than the messages. "You don't have to wait until next time. I'm ready even now." Raon drew a smile tinged with arrogance toward Pride, who was withdrawing. "Pride, Monarch of Pride." He beckoned with his finger, saying he would accept the challenge. "You...." Pride's narrowed eyes trembled as he looked at him. "Huh? You're back?" Lust opened her mouth in a round shape, startled. "I-I didn't sense anything at all...?" Envy frowned, saying he hadn't detected Raon's movement at all. "He's back.... Guess I can go to sleep now...." Sloth waved a small hand, saying he'd go back to sleep. "I also... need to finish eating the rest...." Gluttony greeted him too, but bowed her head as if she were about to leave again. "As expected...." Greed smacked his lips as he scanned Raon from head to toe. "A friend worth the investment." He even applauded, sensing that Raon had fully accepted Greed's Authority. "Kuhahaha!" Pride burst into laughter as he looked at Raon. As though the excitement that had vanished had returned multiplied several times over, he blazed forth the Authority of Pride burning like flames over his eyes. "Excellent! I thought you would be the one to accept this king's fight!" Pride twisted his mouth upward, saying he had believed in Raon. "Then let's begin right away!" He said they should fight immediately, setting his whole body ablaze with the Authority of Pride, which surged as if about to explode. "Come at me!" Pride spread both arms wide as though he would take on every attack just as he had when fighting Archangel Michael, drawing a smile that burst with arrogance. "Then...." Raon nodded calmly and raised the Heavenly Drive. Feeling the Ring of Fire radiating heat like the sun, he swung the sword straight down. Hwaaaaaaaaa! Though the Heavenly Drive fell as if it would split heaven and earth, not even a scratch was cut into Pride's body. Instead, the Authority of Pride he had been burning through his entire body was erased without a trace. "Huh...?" Pride's jaw trembled as he felt the absolute Authority that had easily blocked even Michael's full power vanish. "W-what did you do to this king!" He screamed as he felt even the Authority of Pride remaining in his soul melt away. "I cut you." Raon muttered calmly. "All of you." A sword that breaks not the enemy's body, but their spirit. Raon had completed a swordsmanship that shattered even a demon king's spirit, just as Pride had broken Michael's.