Chapter 652
The Elemental Sword.
A unique swordsmanship that only the Hero King, Kaishir, could master.
As a human, the only one capable of wielding the Elemental Sword was Zeke, the successor to the Hero King’s legacy.
“How is it possible to master the Elemental Sword?”
Even Zemens Apollyon, the Hero King’s adopted son, couldn’t inherit the Elemental Sword.
That’s why Kaishir had arranged for the ruins to find someone worthy of continuing his legacy.
The idea that someone other than Zeke could wield the Elemental Sword was simply unbelievable.
Zeke recalled the only other beings who could use the Elemental Sword.
“The Hero King’s homunculi.”
Created by the Great Sage to stop Zemens Apollyon, who had become a demon king, these were the Hero King’s replicas.
Arthur Draker had awakened them from their seals and used them as his pawns.
Watching Libane conjure pure flames, Zeke formed a hypothesis.
“What if they were granted the power of the Hero King’s homunculi?”
With demonic martial arts, bloodline abilities, regenerative powers, and the Hero King’s strength, they could wield unimaginable power.
“What on earth have you done, Arthur Draker?”
Zeke frowned at the sight of the experimental subjects that had gone beyond Arthur Draker’s intentions.
At that moment, Libane charged at Zeke.
Whoosh!
White flames conjured by Libane surged toward Zeke.
Boom!
Zeke swung his sword, Levatein, creating a wall of flames to block the attack.
Whoosh!
The clash of the same Elemental Sword power resulted in a massive pillar of white flames.
Whoosh!
Flames scattered in all directions, engulfing the entire chamber.
Rumble!
Zeke pushed through the flames, glaring at Libane as he advanced.
He unleashed a field of force and swung his sword at Libane.
Whoosh!
The force field imbued Zeke’s sword with the strength of ten thousand pounds.
Libane didn’t dodge; instead, he raised his sword from below to meet the attack.
Clang!
The clash of force-imbued swords created a powerful shockwave.
Zeke didn’t stop there; he continued to press Libane with relentless sword strikes.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The fierce sword strikes, like a giant wielding a sword, rained down on Libane.
Yet Libane held his ground, blocking Zeke’s powerful attacks head-on.
Crash!
The impact of their sword strikes caused the altar to crack and crumble.
As Zeke faced Libane’s Elemental Sword, he noticed something peculiar.
“He’s wielding the Elemental Sword, but the elemental power isn’t fully there.”
The core of the Elemental Sword was elemental power.
The Hero King couldn’t pass on his legacy because only he, a half-blood of fairy and human, could wield elemental power.
“Without mastering elemental power, the true strength of the Elemental Sword can’t be unleashed.”
Arthur Draker might have discovered a way to mimic the Elemental Sword through the Hero King’s homunculi and taught it to his knights.
The inherent power of the Elemental Sword was so overwhelming that it could easily dominate most knights.
But it wasn’t a technique that could defeat Zeke.
“Arthur Draker must know this. What is his purpose in sending these creatures against me?”
Zeke sought to understand Arthur Draker’s intentions through Libane, raising his sword provocatively.
“Is this swordsmanship just a shell? Did Arthur Draker not even bother to explain what it truly is?”
Mentioning Arthur Draker again made Libane scowl.
“What would a wretch like you know of the divine will?”
Zeke observed the other Apollyon knights behind Libane, their expressions twisted with anger, like a cult of fanatics.
“I’ll have to provoke them further.”
Zeke addressed Libane and the knights.
“Have you ever considered that Arthur Draker is just using you? Just like all the other experiments he discarded.”
Libane’s face contorted with rage at Zeke’s words.
“Die!”
Whoosh!
This time, an aura blade erupted from Libane’s sword.
The aura blade, sharp and clear, flew toward Zeke.
Boom!
Zeke blocked the crescent-shaped aura blade with his sword, retreating slightly.
“Martial arts and aura blades. Quite the repertoire.”
If all Apollyon knights possessed such abilities, the Apollyon family would surpass the Draker family as the continent’s strongest.
But that was merely a human standard.
Even with their exceptional abilities, they were still just that.
Two black knights of the highest caliber could easily handle them all.
Such was the greatness of a black knight who had transcended to the realm of superhumans.
Then, suddenly—
A strange energy rippled from Libane’s body.
It was similar to the energy Zeke had sensed from the sword that attacked him when he first entered this space.
“Was that energy connected to Arthur Draker after all?”
Simultaneously, Libane activated the Elemental Sword’s fire field.
Zeke was taken aback by the white flames enveloping Libane’s sword.
“Is that…?”
To his surprise, the flames now carried the true power of elemental energy.
“How did he master elemental power?”
Just moments ago, Libane’s Elemental Sword lacked the proper use of elemental power, yet now it had transformed.
The surprises didn’t end there.
Libane’s eyes rolled back, revealing white, pupil-less eyes.
The other knights behind him also transformed, their eyes turning white.
Whoosh!
A resonance occurred between Libane and the other knights.
When the resonance ended, Libane and the knights returned to their original state.
“Transmission complete.”
With those words, the other knights raised their swords, and white flames erupted.
It was the true Elemental Sword, powered by genuine elemental energy.
Zeke’s eyes widened at the sight.
“This can’t be…”
It meant they had realized the elemental power through their battle with him and transmitted it to the other Apollyon knights.
“Arthur Draker didn’t just send them here without a plan.”
These beings were evolving, discovering new powers through their clash with Zeke.
If they truly mastered elemental power and wielded the true Elemental Sword, they would become another calamity in the world.
Libane silently glared at Zeke, this time activating the Elemental Sword’s wind field.
Whoosh!
A powerful storm erupted from Libane’s body.
Zeke decided to face the Apollyon knights with his Infinite Sword Technique instead of the Elemental Sword.
Whoosh!
The swords Levatein and Ascalon emitted sword light, swiftly flying toward Libane.
Screech—
The sword of the mind, which severed the source, tore through the storm Libane had created and pierced inward.
The sword light, shining brightly, flew toward Libane’s body with deadly speed.
The other knights behind Libane leaped up, wielding the Elemental Sword’s wind field.
Though their storm swords were crude and weak in elemental power, the combined force of dozens of sword strikes resonated, amplifying their power.
Boom!
The massive storm created by the Apollyon knights slightly altered the trajectory of the two swords flying toward Libane.
In that moment, Libane quickly used spatial movement to evade the attack.
Slash!
Even with spatial movement, the mind-severing sword left a wound on Libane.
Blood from the gash on his shoulder stained his white uniform.
Libane gritted his teeth, clutching his shoulder.
Even with their regenerative abilities, the wound from Zeke’s mind-severing sword didn’t heal easily.
With a gesture, Zeke directed the two swords, their sword light flashing, at Libane and the Apollyon knights.
“Whatever tricks you used, I’ll kill you all here.”
Whoosh!
The swords emitted an even more powerful sword light.
Libane’s expression hardened as he watched.
Zeke consumed karma points to activate Overclock once more.
Divine power surged, and Zeke fully unleashed the power of the constellations.
Rumble!
The oppressive force emanating from Zeke’s body was enough to make anyone in the same space feel crushed.
Libane and the Apollyon knights felt an instinctive fear as they faced Zeke, who had unleashed his divine power.
Zeke directed his divine power at them, invoking the Abyssal Flame, one of the arrogant savior’s powers.
A different kind of flame from the Elemental Sword’s fire field erupted from his body.
“I’ll burn you all to ashes.”
Whoosh!
A ring of flame formed above Zeke’s head.
From the ring of Abyssal Flame, spears of fire shot toward the Apollyon knights.
Boom!
The Apollyon knights swung their swords at the incoming spears of fire.
Whoosh!
But their crude Elemental Swords couldn’t withstand the Abyssal Flame.
The flame spread from their swords, consuming their white uniforms and bodies.
“Aaaah!”
Several knights, engulfed in the abyssal flames, screamed in agony.
They tried to regenerate the parts of their bodies that were on fire, but it was futile.
The abyssal flames were not ordinary; they consumed not just flesh, but soul and shadow, burning from the deepest depths.
The regenerative powers borrowed from external sources were no match for such a fire.
The knights at the forefront were reduced to ashes, their bodies disintegrating in the inferno.
Witnessing this, Rivaine raised his sword and shouted to the other knights.
“Summon the White Flame! Harmonize your powers to stop it!”
At his command, the knights conjured the White Flame, attempting to counter the abyssal fire.
Whoosh!
A wall of white flames rose, trying to hold back the encroaching abyssal fire, but the abyssal flames lunged forward, threatening to consume even the White Flame.
Had the White Flame been crafted from perfect elemental power, it might have withstood the abyssal fire. However, the flames created by Apollyon’s knights lacked such purity, and the wall quickly crumbled.
As chaos ensued, two swords imbued with the power of the mind flew swiftly toward Rivaine.
Boom!
Rivaine, already wounded on the shoulder, knew that even a glancing blow from Zeke’s swords could be fatal.
Judging it impossible to block, he attempted to evade the attack through spatial movement.
But then, a massive wave reverberated throughout the cavern.
Vroom!
Zeke had unleashed the power of amplification, reversing the flow of magic and causing a resonance that destabilized the energy needed for spatial movement.
With his escape route cut off, Rivaine could only watch as the swords hurtled toward him.
Just as Levatein and Ascalon were about to pierce Rivaine, something astonishing happened.
Clang!
Rivaine’s own sword intercepted the two mind-imbued blades.
Zeke furrowed his brow, surprised that Rivaine had managed to block his attack.
A familiar aura emanated from Rivaine’s body.
Crack!
The wound on Rivaine’s shoulder vanished, and a strange energy enveloped him.
The sword he held was now infused with a dark aura, its appearance transformed.
Sizzle―
Zeke’s eyes narrowed at the sight of the ashen sword in Rivaine’s hand.
He recognized it.
“Caliburn.”
The personal weapon of Arthur Draker.
Not the sword from the Draker family’s treasury, but the one Arthur had reportedly discovered in a dungeon during his youth.
Zeke addressed Rivaine, who wielded Caliburn.
“Arthur Draker, is that you?”
At his words, Rivaine’s eyes glowed with a gray light as he looked at Zeke.
“Zeke, my son. It’s been a long time.”
Arthur Draker, possessing Rivaine’s body, spread his arms wide toward Zeke.
“End your wandering and return to your father’s embrace.”