The Reincarnated Assassin Is a Genius Swordsman

Chapter 1536 "Those words—!" Derus Robert gritted his teeth and channeled his death aura. "I'll make you regret that!" He perfectly regenerated his arm, as though Raon's sword had never cut him at all, then summoned Thanatos once more. "I won't let my guard down again!" Thinking that he had been struck because he'd let his guard down, Derus Robert focused his senses on Raon's sword and readied himself to swing Thanatos. Peeoeoeok! But before Derus Robert could swing Thanatos, a pale blue blade burst out through his chest. It was the Wooden Ring Sword. The leaf-shaped blade Raon had fired off with Sword Control pierced through Derus Robert's absolute senses and tore through his chest. "Kuaaaaargh!" As if he hadn't even sensed the Wooden Ring Sword moving, Derus Robert screamed, yanked the blade that had pierced through his chest, and hurled it away. "Kkeuoooo…." Derus Robert clutched his blood-gushing chest and let out a pained groan. "I-I definitely had my Aura Perception spread out…." His own Aura Perception was an absolute sense that transcended humans — no, even Archangels or demon kings. He could not understand how anyone had slipped past senses keen enough to grasp even the flow of nature itself. 'And on top of that….' I can't bear the pain of being pierced by a blade. He was the god of death who ruled over the world's death. Even if his neck were severed or his heart torn out, he shouldn't have been able to feel pain at all — yet whenever Raon's sword cut him, an unbearable agony surged through him as though he had become an ordinary human. "Curious why? Want me to tell you?" Raon tilted his chin as if mocking Derus Robert. "The answer's simple. Because I'm stronger than you." He smiled brightly, saying it wasn't even worth pondering. "You know it too. If I'm stronger, it doesn't matter what my opponent does." Saying he was simply stronger than Derus Robert, Raon sheathed the Wooden Ring Sword that had returned to him. "You're saying you're stronger than me?" Derus Robert chewed on his lips. "Bullshit! A mere human cannot be stronger than a god!" He screamed that nothing could be stronger than him, who had transcended death. "I am the god of death!" Declaring himself a god, Derus Robert regenerated the wound on his chest that the Wooden Ring Sword had pierced. The wound, once deep enough to expose bone and heart, instantly healed back to normal. "Wow!" Raon let out a small exclamation of admiration at Derus Robert's regenerative ability, which erased the very existence of the wound. "Your regeneration alone is godlike, I'll give you that. Instead of the god of death, why not be the god of taking a beating?" He chuckled, calling Derus Robert a god who could only regenerate. -Ha…. Wrath let out a hollow laugh as he looked back and forth between the grinning Raon and the grimacing Derus Robert. -Even I feel my flesh trembling, yet this madman keeps mocking him even in a situation like this. I'm genuinely impressed! He clapped, saying he would acknowledge Raon as the demon king of mockery. "Shut that mouth of yours…." Derus Robert glared at Raon and gritted his teeth. "From now on, I'll show you exactly why I am the god of death!" He shouted that he would show a side of himself different from before, and unleashed his death aura. Kuwaaaaaang! Derus Robert's entire body was dyed in a pitch-black light that swallowed even light itself, and a Void so deep and thick it sent chills down the spine swirled within his eyes. Gooooooo! Ten horns sprouted from Derus Robert's forehead like the Demonic Dragon of Destruction, and the dark crimson wings unfurling from his back spread into ten wings of a rank higher than an Archangel's, as if proving he had become a god, spreading wide enough to blot out the world. Kugugugugugu! The flow of the world died away at Derus Robert's mere presence. The clouds in the sky stopped moving and vanished like dust, the seas dried up instantly to reveal their beds, and the earth burned pitch black until no life could survive upon it any longer. Humans could not escape the effect either — the Five Demons' captives who were touched by the death Derus Robert exuded had their blood and flesh melt away like mummies as they disappeared. Specter. It was the moment a true god of death, one who brought death not only to life but to this world itself, descended upon the mortal realm. "Aaaah!" "T-this world is dying!" "It's a god. That's a demon god…." "Humans can never defeat that monster!" Having watched the captives erased from the world, the Martial Artists of the Continental Alliance regarded Derus Robert as a natural disaster beyond human ability to withstand, and knelt, bowing their heads to the ground. Countless people bent at the waist in despair before Derus Robert's power, but there were still Martial Artists who endured, vomiting blood, refusing to ever submit. Raon's bonds. Those who had built ties with him through fighting alongside him did not crumble even in the face of Derus Robert's absolute divine authority. "This is the true power of death." Derus Robert extended his hand with a noble bearing, as though he had truly become a god. "Humans. Your god has arrived, so fear me." He twisted his lips as if mocking the humans who had submitted to death. "Though there are still bugs left who don't know their place…." Derus Robert looked at the Zieghart swordsmen who, even while vomiting blood, refused to bow their heads, then raised his gaze. "In the end, they'll die along with you." Declaring he would bestow death upon Raon and the Zieghart Martial Artists, he raised Thanatos, which flickered as though death itself were about to erupt from it. "I'm scared…." Raon bit down on his lips as he watched Derus Robert raise his sword. "That's right." Derus Robert scoffed at what seemed to be a terrified Raon. "In the end, before death, you too are nothing but a mere creature…." "No, I'm scared of the way you talk. 'Fear me?' What kind of theater are you putting on?" Raon burst out laughing, saying he couldn't hold it in anymore. The once-quiet holy ground filled with his hearty laughter. "That's beyond childish." Raon waved his hand, saying it was too embarrassing to even deal with. "Fine. I'll tear that mouth apart so it can never run again!" Thick veins bulged on Derus Robert's forehead. Seeming genuinely enraged, he raised Thanatos, his Void-filled eyes wrapped in blue fury. Hwaaaaaang! Derus Robert brought Thanatos down resolutely, as if intending to erase not just Raon but the Zieghart swordsmen who trusted him as well. The blade condensed with death emitted a light like the sun, as though it would take every life that existed between heaven and earth. "How foolish." Raon shook his head at Derus Robert's smile, one that was certain of victory. "Just because your strength grew doesn't mean your sword got any sharper." Without the slightest wavering even at the sight of Derus Robert's absolute aura, he thrust out Heavenly Drive. Sky-Piercing Thunder, secret technique. Falling Flower Thunder. The blade of Heavenly Drive flashed like a thunder dragon piercing through storm clouds, boring straight through the death aura. Jjeoeoeoeoeok! Thanatos's pitch-black blade, said to summon death upon the world, snapped, and Derus Robert's chest split diagonally and burst open. "Kuaaaargh!" Derus Robert screamed, clutching his chest as flesh and blood sprayed out of it. "Y-you… hup!" He tried to let out a shriek toward Raon but ended up with his mouth gaping open. No, he had no choice but to gape — his jaw had been torn off by Heavenly Drive. "Aaaaah…." Derus Robert let out a broken groan through his torn mouth. Even submerged in pain, he stared at Raon with wavering eyes, as if unable to comprehend the current situation. "Quack, quack, you're noisy." Raon flicked his hand, tossing away Derus Robert's severed jawbone. "The only thing you can say with that mouth is a confession of your sins. This god of mockery will personally hear it out." He drew a faint smile, saying he would receive Derus Robert's confession as a god himself. "Of course, I won't grant forgiveness, though." Raon twisted his lips, as though determined to insult Derus Robert to the very end. "I said shut that mouth!" Derus Robert, his mouth already regenerated, thrust Thanatos toward Raon's neck. "Hmph." As if he had predicted Derus Robert would attack again, Raon moved Heavenly Drive to cut through Thanatos's formless blade, then fired the Wooden Ring Sword with Sword Control to slice open the bastard's neck. "Ugghhh…." Derus Robert felt his neck being cut and tried to regenerate again, but Heavenly Drive was faster. Jjeojeojeojeojeok! Heavenly Drive, falling in accordance with Raon's fingertips, cut off all four of Derus Robert's limbs at once. "Aaah…." Derus Robert's eyes trembled as he felt not just his neck, but his arms and legs severed all at once. 'T-this is dangerous.' It wasn't just his arms, and it wasn't just his legs — his neck had been cut as well. Even for someone who had reached the domain of a god, the neck was close to a weak point, so he had to think of a way to escape his current situation. "…." But Raon simply stood still and watched him, seemingly satisfied with having cut off his limbs and neck alone. "What are you doing!" Derus Robert gritted his teeth as he quickly reattached his severed limbs and neck. "Why aren't you following up your attack…." "Because I can kill you anytime I want." Raon waved his hand lightly, saying he could kill Derus Robert whenever he pleased. "Ha…." Blood vessels, freed from the Void, bulged over Derus Robert's eyes. "You damned bug!" As if he could no longer hold back, he let out a roar and unleashed an explosion of death aura. "I'll make you regret missing your chance…." Derus Robert froze in place just as he was about to unleash malice and death toward Raon. Jjeoeoeok! Derus Robert's neck split open once more and floated up into the air. "What did you say?" Raon smiled brightly at Derus Robert's contorted expression. "You're too weak, I can't hear you." * * * CRACK! An arm was cut off. CRACK! A waist was split open. RIIIP! A leg was torn off. Peoeoeoeok! A heart burst. Chwaaaaaak! A neck was severed. It hurt. Every time the blade tore through flesh, a pain fierce enough to make him shudder surged through him, and screams escaped him without his realizing it. He didn't understand why. I am a god. I overcame death and accepted the power of destruction to become the true god of death. Human martial arts should not have worked on me, and I should have felt no pain at all even when cut by a blade. But I couldn't even block Raon Zieghart's sword, let alone dodge it, and the pain it gave was agonizing enough to make me want to die. Every time the sword cut me, a spine-chilling pain came over me, as though I had turned back into an ordinary human without even a trace of aura, and I tried to flee, but Raon swung his sword endlessly, as if he had no intention of giving me that chance. Jjeoeoeok! An arm was cut off again. Jjeoeoeoeok! A waist was split open again. Bbudeudeudeuk! A leg was torn off again. Peoeoeoeok! A heart burst. Chwaaaaaak! And then a neck was severed once more. It repeated. Even knowing where Raon's sword was aiming, I couldn't block it. Absolute swordsmanship — just as I had transcended death, that bastard seemed to have transcended the very domain of swordsmanship. My regeneration was slowing. Perhaps because the same spot kept being cut by the same technique, my regeneration had noticeably slowed compared to before. No, that wasn't it. I felt it looking into Raon's eyes. His aura had grown stronger, while conversely, my death aura had grown weaker. It had been stolen. Every time Raon Zieghart cut me, he took my death aura and used it to unleash even stronger sword strikes. An urgent alarm rang through my mind. This was dangerous. At this rate, I would end up having all my power stolen by Raon and vanish without a trace. I could never let that happen. It was all or nothing. If I couldn't escape anyway, then with the will to erase everything, I unleashed all of my death aura except for the barest speck. Because as long as even a single grain of death remained, I could bring myself back to life. "All of it." Derus Robert let out a chilling laugh and detonated his own body, its limbs already severed by Raon's sword. "I'll kill every single one of you!" * * * Kuwaaaaaaaaang! As if he would rather self-destruct than die like this, Derus Robert detonated all the death aura remaining in his body and soul. The death aura Derus Robert had condensed spread across the entire sky, casting a thick shadow over the holy ground — no, over the entire continent. If that power came crashing down as it was, it would be more than enough to blow away over half the world. -T-that… Wrath's mouth gaped open as if it would tear. -Do something about that! At this rate, we'll all die! He screamed, demanding why Raon hadn't killed Derus Robert sooner. "So this is how it turns out after all." Raon showed no sign of panic even as he watched Derus Robert's death seethe and blaze, ready to explode. As if he had predicted this very situation, he raised Heavenly Drive with a calm gaze. 'Cutting it all at once is impossible. But if the four swords become two swords….' It's possible. The four swords existing within the mental world — if he forged those four into two, he felt he could cut through even that enormous power. 'Let's try it.' Raon closed his eyes, sensing that this very moment was a chance to grow once more. He raised his eyelids as he fused two of the four swords freely circling his mental image with Heavenly Drive, which he held in his right hand. 'It's not only death that needs to be cut.' Derus Robert had left behind one last bit of strength to flee after detonating his death. Only by cutting down not just the death aura, but the self-proclaimed god of death hiding behind it, could this be called a true victory. "Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation..." Raon drew a faint smile as he raised Heavenly Drive upright toward the sky. It felt natural. That the time had finally come to speak the word he had long envisioned. "...Ten Thousand Flames." Even as ten thousand flowers bloom and fall, and ten thousand suns rise and set, the crimson blade shall forever be falling in that very place. "Heaven-Slaying." Like Zieghart, unwavering through a thousand years, Raon's sword — which had never stopped under any circumstance — drew a beautiful arc like the blue sky and cleaved through death.