The Reincarnated Assassin Is a Genius Swordsman

Chapter 1537 Raon's swordsmanship no longer cut merely the phenomenon before his eyes. The willpower of Ten Thousand Flames cleaved not the exploding death aura, but the very authority that erased life itself. Hwaaaaaaaaa! Derus Robert's death aura, which had been ceaselessly amplifying and swelling as if to swallow the entire world, split in half. Jjijijijik! The death aura, carrying Derus Robert's will to self-destruct, tried to fuse the gap that Raon's sword strike had split open back together. But... Between the sword marks split open by Heavenly Drive, flowers of flame as vivid as blood blazed up, blocking the regeneration. A hundred, a thousand, ten thousand. In an instant, ten thousand blazing flowers bloomed and swallowed the death aura spreading into the world. The death aura, which had swollen so vast it spilled beyond the holy ground, was devoured by the flames blooming from Heavenly Drive and faded away like foam. Above the dim sky where the death aura had vanished, flowers blooming in red flame bloomed. As if sprouting life rather than death, the flowers of flame delivered warm heat to the people on the ground before falling and sinking petal by petal. "Ah…." Derus Robert parted his trembling lips and let out a heavy groan. Even though he had hidden behind his death aura, he had been cut by the sword strike and was spewing pitch-black blood from his chest. "W-what…." Even after seeing it with his own eyes and being wounded, Derus Robert couldn't understand it, his violently twisted eyes rolling ceaselessly. "For a god, your tricks are far too predictable." Raon twisted his lips as he cut through the last of the death aura scattered in the air with Heavenly Drive's blade. "You're no different from the humans I've fought so far." He scoffed, saying that every opponent he had fought until now had also tried to self-destruct in their final moment. "Just…." Derus Robert swallowed hard, recalling the massive flower of flame that had bloomed while devouring his death aura. "What trick did you use…." Even mobilizing all the knowledge of martial arts, magic, and Magic he knew, he had no confidence he could reproduce the result Raon had just created. He could only feel that the current situation was like a nightmare. "I already told you." Raon rested Heavenly Drive on his shoulder as he looked into Derus Robert's trembling eyes. "That I'm simply stronger than you." He shrugged, saying he hadn't done anything special — he had simply cut down death with swordsmanship of a higher order. "…No." Derus Robert forced his parched lips to move. "I can't hear you. Speak with some confidence, self-proclaimed god of death." Raon mocked Derus Robert, who had called himself a god, once more with a grinning smile. "It's impossible! I, who overcame death and embraced destruction to become a god — why would I be weaker than a worm like you!" Derus Robert screamed, demanding how he could possibly be weaker than Raon when he had fused the power of the Demonic Dragon of Destruction with his death aura and obtained power capable of encompassing every dimension. "That's not all!" Derus Robert exhaled a murky breath and continued. "Wielding the Blood Realm of the Leader of the White Blood Religion, I even took in as my own the blood of ten thousand people spilled upon this land. This is the greatest power of all time!" He swung his fist through the air, insisting it was absolutely impossible for anyone to surpass his aura. "If you could actually wield that power properly, as you say, you might indeed be able to rule over every dimension." Raon nodded calmly. "But that's only the aura." He lightly twirled Heavenly Drive in his hand. "You're sorely lacking the skill and spirit needed to wield that enormous aura." Raon sneered, saying that even though Derus Robert had mastered the death aura, absorbed the aura of destruction, and merged the two auras with bloody energy, his own realm hadn't risen by much at all. "I'll personally give you a lesson." Raon chuckled and moved his fingertips. "Body, energy, spirit. The body is the flesh that receives and endures the aura of nature; energy is the aura that moves life and hones the spirit sharp; and spirit is the mind and willpower capable of wielding that aura." He raised Heavenly Drive as he explained the basic theory that Zieghart trainees learned before properly mastering martial arts. "Only by maintaining the balance of body, energy, and spirit can a martial artist fully unleash the martial prowess they possess. Your energy has clearly surpassed mine by a wide margin, but…." Raon tilted his chin as he aimed Heavenly Drive at Derus Robert. "Your body and spirit fall short of mine. In other words, it means you can't even properly use half of the energy you've obtained." He sneered, saying that the only thing that had grown stronger in Derus Robert was his aura. "Ah…." Only then did Derus Robert realize why he hadn't been able to break through Raon's sword, and he bowed his head with a violent groan. "I-I forgot such a trivial detail…?" As if struck in the head by a hammer, he clutched his head and trembled all over. "Since I've given you one lesson." Raon slowly raised Heavenly Drive. "I'll carve it into you just as surely as you did to us." He swung his sword lightly, as if wielding a switch. Paaaaaang! But the result was anything but light. Raon's downward sword strike bent like a whip and tore a long gash across Derus Robert's cheek. "Keuuugh!" Derus Robert clutched his own face and screamed. "You remember, don't you?" Raon smirked as he looked into Derus Robert's twisted eyes. "It's what you did to us." Derus Robert had always carved deep scars into the assassins' bodies under the name of teaching. He had claimed it meant to carve it into their bodies so they'd never forget, but to Raon it had felt like nothing more than a cruel prank, and he had wanted to return the favor without fail. "Hnngh…." Derus Robert bit his lip, clutching his cheek as blood gushed out. Having what he himself had done returned to him in kind, he felt, oddly, that his head was starting to clear. 'It was all my own fault. I should have refined my body with bloody energy at the very least….' Derus Robert bit his lip as he looked at his cracked hand. 'The design was flawed from the very beginning.' He didn't want to admit it, but it was probably because of an inferiority complex. As the confusion settled, he could feel resentment burning in his chest. Having been defeated in succession by Raon Zieghart and Glenn Zieghart, it seemed an inferiority complex toward the two of them had remained deep in his heart. 'Late as it is, I finally understand my mistake.' Wanting to clearly show that he could overwhelm Raon, the humans' hope, he had poured all his power into his death aura, and that was how this situation had come about. Late as it was, he could now clearly see what his mistake had been. 'Then there's still a way.' Derus Robert swallowed hard, his eyes darting about. 'If I can just escape this place, I can surpass him.' If he drew out the auras fused by his death aura to evolve his body, and raised his mental strength to strengthen his willpower, he was certain he could beat even Raon's sword the next time. "I can hear the gears turning in your head from all the way over here." Raon smirked as he watched Derus Robert. "Why do you think I gave you that realization?" He tilted his chin, asking why he thought Raon would help an enemy. "Here…." Derus Robert bit his lip as he watched Raon smiling. "It's because you're confident you can kill me, isn't it." He narrowed his eyes deeply, feeling the killing intent lodged in Raon's gaze. "That's right." Raon nodded calmly. "I planned to give you pain, humiliation, and despair before killing you." He drew a bright smile, saying he had given Derus Robert pain, humiliation, and despair in turn, exactly as planned. "Ah, and lastly…." Raon curled up the corner of his mouth as he watched the new light blooming in Derus Robert's eyes. "Hope, too." His eyes flashed with a cold, sharp light, as if he had predicted that Derus Robert was thinking of fleeing. "Is that so." Derus Robert felt a chill run down his spine at Raon's smile, but he forced out a scoff anyway. 'There is a way to escape.' Perhaps thanks to having attained death, the death aura he had expended for the self-destruction moments ago was rapidly refilling. Fighting Raon was impossible, but he felt he could at least manage to escape. 'I'll blow apart my body and aura, splitting them into tens of thousands of pieces.' Since he had attained death, as long as even a tiny fragment of his body and aura remained, he could revive at any time. As long as he wasn't completely annihilated, he could sufficiently resurrect through a new death. 'With all my strength….' Derus Robert steadied his breath and drew up the rapidly refilling death aura. "I'll gratefully accept your advice!" He unleashed the death aura drawn up from his soul, baring his fighting spirit and wrath as if he intended to keep fighting right there. 'To fool him, I need to genuinely intend to fight.' Derus Robert swelled up his body along with his death aura. Uniting his body, death aura, and once-shaken spirit into one, he even summoned back Thanatos, which had been broken. "And just as your advice said, I'll kill you! Raon Zieghart!" Derus Robert let out a roar, as though refusing to retreat and intending only to attack, and charged straight at Raon. "……." Raon gripped Heavenly Drive tightly, watching Derus Robert with cold eyes, as if ready to take on any attack whatsoever. Gooooooo! It was the moment Derus Robert lunged at Raon swinging Thanatos, and Raon was about to thrust his sword at Derus Robert. "You took the bait!" A smile flickered across Derus Robert's twisted face. "I'll withdraw for today!" Leaving those words behind, he blew his own body apart into hundreds of thousands of pieces and sent them flying in every direction. "……." Raon stared blankly at the rapidly vanishing pieces of flesh, as if he hadn't even imagined Derus Robert would flee in such an unsightly way. 'Kuhahahahaha!' Derus Robert burst out laughing as he fled the Holy Sword Alliance's holy ground. 'No matter how much of a monster that bastard is, he can't cut down hundreds of thousands of pieces right in front of his nose.' Even if Raon was a swordsman beyond the Absolute realm, it was impossible to simultaneously cut down tens of thousands of pieces bursting outward in every direction right before his eyes. Even if he had lost the fight, when it came to fleeing, this was his victory. 'First, I'll flee to some corner of the continent… no. If it's Raon, he might come after me. Right. Let's go to the sea. If I build up my strength beneath the sea. No, wait, Alice Zieghart might come there.' Derus Robert turned his senses back toward where Raon stood as he thought about where to flee. 'What is this?' Raon was still standing in his original spot without having swung his sword even once. No matter how flustered he might be, he wasn't the type to just stand still like that, and it filled Derus Robert with a sense of foreboding. 'C-could it be… ah!' Derus Robert slowed his fleeing movements and turned to look back at Raon, then drew in a sharp breath. Raon was gazing this way with calm eyes, as if he had predicted this very situation would unfold. 'D-danger!' Derus Robert screamed inwardly. The moment he saw the look in Raon's eyes, a vicious terror washed over him, as if his very soul were already resting atop that bastard's sword. 'A-as much as possible! As fast as possible!' Derus Robert gave the command for his hundreds of thousands of scattered pieces of flesh to flee as far away as possible by any means, then turned his gaze back to Raon. And then he saw it. The majestic presence of a Sword God, something he himself could never attain. * * * [You have achieved an unprecedented Achievement.] [All Ability Scores….] [New trait <Sword God's….] [New title <Sword God>….] Raon dismissed the golden messages rising before him and calmly lifted his gaze. 'No need to look.' It's about feeling it. There was no need to pay any attention to the tens of thousands of pieces of flesh scattering in every direction, or to the messages acknowledging him as Sword God. Because in that instant, his senses were reflecting only Derus Robert's soul — the one thing he truly needed to cut. Gooooooo. Raon lowered his eyes shut. Body, energy, spirit. Just as he had taught Derus Robert, he raised his sword while uniting his body, spirit, and energy into one. Heavenly Drive, which cut the body, and the Soul Sword, which cut the soul. Two swords that could never originally become one achieved true unity in his hand, passing through the twelve Rings of Fire. 'I can cut it.' Raon drew a breath and swept down the sword imbued with the radiance of the sun. Raon Zieghart Style swordsmanship. 11th Form: Holy Flame. Like the Holy Flame that had once given the first light, the sword shone softly yet warmly, cleaving through the malice that stood before it. "N-no!" Derus Robert's scream rang out. As if sensing a death from which there was no return, he sent his scattered flesh flying even faster with a shriek, but it was utterly useless. Because the light of life that Raon was drawing forth was already shining upon the entire world like the sun. "Kuaaaaaaaaaagh! I-I…." Along with Derus Robert's tearing scream, the tens of thousands of pieces of flesh he had scattered melted away. The sword of Holy Flame stirred up a radiance that would burn away even death itself, as if refusing to allow any malice to exist in this world. Hwaaaaaaaaa! The light of the Holy Flame that had covered the entire world slowly subsided, and a sun even warmer and more radiant than it rose in its place. Raon opened his eyes, feeling the sun's heat pushing away the dawn's cold energy. Nothing remained. The faint traces of Derus Robert's presence had vanished completely from this world. A true end. He could finally declare the end to everyone. "Now…." Raon looked at the people of Zieghart who had believed in him until the very end, even as he coughed up blood. "It's all over." He said the war was over, drawing the brightest smile of his two lifetimes. "Let's go home. Together."