Episode 204: Duel (3)

The blade of aura sent by Liam Bluegreen severed Joshua’s neck.

Joshua’s head hit the ground, and his body collapsed beside it.

Liam sank to the floor, utterly spent.

His energy and magic were completely drained from the fierce battle. He could taste the metallic tang of exhaustion in his mouth.

”…I was lucky. Really lucky.”

If Joshua hadn’t twisted his ankle at the last moment, the outcome might have been different.

Liam glanced around at the other knights.

Most of the knights from the Kingdom of Duflin were either dead or subdued, thanks to Michael and Veronica.

“Both of them are incredible.”

He had known Michael was a genius, but Veronica’s prowess was unexpected.

Damian Haxen hadn’t recommended them as participants for nothing. Geniuses like them were rare.

“My past self seems so insignificant now.”

Liam wore a bitter expression.

“Sir Liam! You did well!”

Michael ran towards him, his armor stained with blood, though thankfully not his own.

“You did well too, Sir Michael.”

“It was nothing. But we should hurry to help—”

Michael’s steps slowed, and his eyes began to tremble.

“Sir Liam, what is that?”

Liam instinctively turned around.

Joshua was rising to his feet, despite having no head.

The crossguard of the sword Joshua held split open, revealing teeth and a tongue.

-What is this? The host is dead?

A strange voice emanated from within.

The sudden bizarre phenomenon left Liam and the other knights frozen in shock.

-How odd. With Javier here, how could the host die? What happened?

Joshua’s body bent down, picked up the head, and reattached it to his neck.

A sickening crunch followed as muscles and skin began to fuse, the seam a grotesque mess like a botched welding job.

Joshua’s hair turned stark white, and a third eye emerged on his forehead.

-Do I really have to move myself to find such a pathetic creature? How annoying.

Something spread out from the entity that was once Joshua.

In that moment, Liam felt as if he were swallowed by darkness.

There was no sky, no ground. Just a void without a speck of light.

The mental pressure was immense, a chilling fear that threatened to drive him mad if he lingered any longer.

Liam resisted with all his might, and the hallucination faded, revealing the world as it was.

“Hah, hah!”

Liam gasped for air, his heart pounding as if it would burst.

-What is this?

The ‘something’ before him seemed utterly uninterested in Liam, its third eye rolling as it muttered.

-Dead? How did this happen? Could it be that guy next to him did it? A mere high-class knight? Impossible.

Whatever it was, it seemed deeply confused, which was a stroke of luck for Liam. While it was distracted, he checked on the other knights.

As expected, all the knights were unconscious, foaming at the mouth.

But not everyone was down. Michael and Veronica were still holding on.

“Ugh…”

“Ah…”

Yet they were still trapped in the hallucination. Gritting his teeth, Liam shouted.

“Michael! Veronica!”

His voice, infused with magic, snapped them back to reality.

Liam gathered all his remaining magic, converting it into aura.

“I’ll hold it off here! You two must escape!”

He unleashed his aura towards the entity, a massive slash flying at it.

It was reckless to exert himself so much from the start, but Liam had no choice.

He couldn’t afford to think about the consequences with such a dangerous being before him…

-Why so agitated?

The aura blade split in two, the sword shattered, and blood erupted from Liam’s torso.

He was cut? When? How?

With those questions, Liam’s body crumpled to the ground.

“Sir Liam!”

Michael rushed forward, but before he could take more than a few steps, blood spurted from his body as well.

Not just Michael, but Veronica too was wounded, collapsing as they bled.

In that moment, Liam realized what kind of technique had struck them.

He had heard of it before. Among the master class, there were those so powerful they could wound with mere intent.

Then, the identity of this being was…

“A… master…”

All hope drained from Liam’s face.

-If you stay still, I won’t kill you. You’re valuable bait, after all.

Bait?

As Liam pondered the word, something fell from the sky.

-Oh?

A voice of admiration escaped the entity.

-Damian Haxen! The man who humiliated Slahan! To see such a famous figure here!

---

Damian silently faced the Weapon Master.

The great evil of Pandemonium, the ruler of cursed swords. And the man who desecrated his father’s soul.

The reason the Weapon Master had defiled his father’s soul was because of Damian.

The Weapon Master had the ability to control any cursed sword.

But there was one exception.

Erebus resisted the Weapon Master, inflicting severe injuries whenever he tried to touch it.

In the end, the Weapon Master’s pride was so wounded that he had to abandon Erebus.

When Erebus chose Damian, the Weapon Master flew into a rage.

-All cursed swords are mine! Do you think I’d let a mindless fool like you have it?

He even defied Dorgo’s orders to attack Damian.

But at that time, Damian was beyond the Weapon Master’s reach.

The Weapon Master was nearly killed by Damian’s self-defense mechanism.

If Dorgo hadn’t intervened, the Weapon Master would have died on the spot.

-You… you wretched… how dare you… to my body…

And not long after, the Weapon Master returned to Damian.

This time, with a rotting undead dog.

-See this? This is your father.

The Weapon Master had forcibly trapped his father’s soul in the dog’s corpse.

His father suffered in that decaying body, maggots eating away at his flesh.

Gritting his teeth, Damian recalled the incident, his anger rising.

But anger was useless. The thing before him wasn’t real.

It was merely controlling Joshua’s body through a cursed sword.

-I should have seen that wretched woman’s face myself! Missing that is my life’s regret.

Unlike the seething Damian, the Weapon Master spoke with excitement.

-It’s a waste to leave someone like you alone! Join me! I’ll grant you all the power in the world!

The Weapon Master extended his hand. Damian looked at it briefly before speaking.

“That’s not going to happen.”

-What? Why not? Is it because you’re not a dark knight? Don’t worry. Pandemonium has many ordinary knights and mages who joined to destroy the Empire.

“How could a person associate with a dog? I can’t stoop to such a low.”

The Weapon Master frowned slightly at Damian’s rejection.

-Oh, right. You’re a pawn of the Order. Consider the offer withdrawn.

The Weapon Master retracted his proposal without fuss.

-Instead, I’ll take your head and spine. There are plenty of dark mages who would covet you. You’ll be a very expensive commodity.

Dark energy flowed from the cursed sword, amplifying the Weapon Master’s presence.

“Brother…”

Michael, struggling on the ground, lifted his head with difficulty.

“You must… escape…”

Michael was right. The situation was dire.

After fighting Javier, Damian had exhausted all his dark energy. He had no means to use dark magic or recall his past prowess.

Damian had no way to confront the Weapon Master now.

“Every time, I feel like you guys are just like cockroaches.”

Yet Damian didn’t seem panicked.

“When you actively search, they’re nowhere to be found. But that doesn’t mean they’re gone. They’re just hiding in filthy places like sewers or trash bins, laying eggs.”

He continued speaking with a weary expression.

“So I always prepare for the worst. You never know when, where, or how you’ll encounter them.”

Damian reached into the air, murmuring.

“Erebus.”

A long staff appeared, with Erebus bound to its end by wires.

-…

The moment Erebus appeared, the Weapon Master’s body froze.

-…What is that?

Damian removed Erebus from the staff.

The blade was short, as he hadn’t gathered many pieces.

-I’ve never seen such a cursed sword… What is it?

The Weapon Master couldn’t tear his eyes away from Erebus.

His expertise in weapons allowed him to quickly recognize Erebus’s value.

-Give it to me… Hand it over…

“Enough with the noise.”

Damian opened a pocket of subspace and retrieved two items from within.

In that instant, the temperature fluctuated wildly, soaring as if they had entered a lava field, then plummeting to winter’s chill.

“Mithra’s Elixir and the Firestone Essence?”

The Weapon Master’s eyes widened in disbelief. Even with his mind preoccupied with Erebus, he couldn’t help but react. Those two elixirs were incredibly rare treasures.

“You’re carrying something so extravagant? Are you planning to offer them to me and beg for your life?”

Damian’s knowledge and experience surpassed that of a master class, yet he hadn’t reached that level himself. His physical abilities and magical power hadn’t caught up.

It had been less than a year since his return. The rapid increase in strength left him lacking in those areas.

“I had planned to reach the master class safely,” he mused.

Thanks to Mithra’s Elixir and the Firestone Essence, the issue of magical power was resolved. All that remained was to train his body and consume the two elixirs.

Then Damian could finally ascend to the master class he so desired.

“Given the circumstances, I have no choice.”

Even if it was risky, he had to force his advancement.

Damian swallowed the two elixirs. The contrasting energies slid down his throat.

“What madness is this?” the Weapon Master exclaimed, his face a mask of shock.

“Swallowing elixirs with opposing energies at once? If you want to die, you might as well cut your own throat…”

The elixirs dissolved in his stomach, transforming into pure energy. The energies clashed violently, causing an explosion within.

A massive surge of power shook his entire body, as if it were being torn apart. No, it wasn’t just “as if”—his body was truly breaking down. Cracks spread through his bones, and his muscles swelled to the brink of bursting.

Endless pain and the terror of death engulfed him. But Damian suppressed it all, simultaneously employing three mana cultivation techniques.

With the first, he absorbed all the energy; the second fortified his meridians; and the third accelerated muscle growth. Muscles that seemed ready to explode instead absorbed the magic, growing rapidly.

His body, on the verge of rupture, stabilized in an instant. But he couldn’t relax yet. Left unchecked, the expanding magic would eventually cause his body to burst.

To reach the master class, he had to push the third technique to its limits. It required a life-or-death struggle, as it was a combat-enhancing mana technique.

Damian locked eyes with the Weapon Master, who stared back, his face rigid with disbelief.

“This lunatic… what is he doing?”

“Tri-Ring.”

Damian activated a fourth mana technique: the Unified Resonance Art.

Three rings spun simultaneously, sending a resonant hum through the world.

He pushed off the ground with both feet. His physical abilities, boosted by the third technique, combined with the enhanced magic output from the Unified Resonance Art.

Damian’s body elongated, breaking through the air barrier with a series of sonic booms.

He appeared right in front of the Weapon Master, whose face twisted in astonishment.

“Did I just lose track of his movement?”

Without hesitation, Damian swung Erebus, aiming to cleave through the Weapon Master.

“A mere high-class dares…”

The Weapon Master concentrated dark magic into his sword, enveloping it in a black and purple aura blade.

“To charge at me head-on!”

No weapon could withstand the aura blade. Damian’s choice to engage in close combat seemed like the worst possible decision.

“I’ll cut you in half!”

The Weapon Master swung his sword at Damian.

The aura blade traced a dark purple arc, colliding with Erebus.

And in the next moment, Erebus pushed the aura blade aside.

“What?”

The magic sword was knocked upward, and Damian twisted his body, delivering a second strike.

Erebus sliced through the Weapon Master’s torso.