Episode 225: The Pinnacle (2)
Salik stared at the ethereal swords conjured by Damian with trembling eyes.
If his own swords were a dull gray, Damian’s shone with a blinding blue light.
Yet, Salik recognized them. They were forged from the same mastery he had achieved.
Impossible.
Still, Salik tried to deny it. He desperately wanted to reject the idea that Damian had reached his level of mastery.
Damian Haxen was clearly using the same pinnacle of swordsmanship as a Sword Saint.
No master-class warrior could possess more than one pinnacle. It was beyond common sense—it was an absolute truth.
This had to be a trick.
Somehow, Damian was playing a cruel joke, trying to break his fighting spirit…
“I can see what you’re struggling with,” Damian’s voice cut through his thoughts. Salik looked at him, bewildered.
“Don’t bother denying it. You’re right about what you think.”
Salik gaped at Damian, incredulous.
“What… this is absurd…”
“I have a knack for something,” Damian continued. “Once I’ve seen a technique or mastery with my own eyes, I can make it mine.”
Salik struggled to comprehend Damian’s words, and then anger surged within him.
“Are you trying to deceive me with such blatant lies?”
There was no need to ponder. Such a person couldn’t exist.
“I’ll kill you right now so you can’t spout any more nonsense!”
Salik reached out toward Damian, sending his ethereal swords flying at him.
Nine streaks of swords pierced through Damian in an instant.
But just before they struck, Damian’s own ethereal swords moved.
The blue light blocked the black. The two sets of ethereal swords clashed repeatedly.
Finally, with a deafening crash, the ethereal swords shattered. Fragments of the aura blades fell to the ground and evaporated.
”…”
Even after witnessing this, Salik couldn’t continue to deny it.
Damian Haxen was using his mastery. At the same level as him.
A profound sense of loss overwhelmed Salik. Despair was etched on his face.
“This can’t be… you stole… my mastery…?”
To a knight, mastery was akin to pride.
It was the culmination of a lifetime of honing one’s skills.
And now, that precious treasure had been stolen right before his eyes.
“There’s no way… no way that’s possible!”
Salik’s face twisted like a ghost’s, his eyes filled with deep despair.
“That’s a familiar expression,” Damian remarked, watching Salik.
Back when Damian was a Death Knight, the knights who fought him and lost their mastery all wore that same expression.
The problem was, back then, Damian’s enemies were knights fighting for humanity.
Those noble souls were shocked and despaired because of Damian. He was plagued with guilt every time he saw them.
But now, he was thrilled to return that despair to the scum of Pandemonium.
“Are you just going to stand there in shock?”
Damian charged at Salik, snapping him back to reality.
“How dare you use my mastery against me!”
Damian and Salik clashed, their weapons meeting in a deadly dance.
“Die!”
They hurled their ethereal swords at each other, the blades colliding in mid-air.
Just like the ethereal swords, Salik and Damian clashed, swinging their weapons at each other.
The two men and their ethereal swords tangled in a complex web. In the blink of an eye, thousands of strikes were exchanged.
”…!”
With each exchange, the shock Salik felt grew.
Ethereal swords were not easily wielded. Even as the original master, it took him time to handle them skillfully.
To wield them while fighting directly? That was an exponentially more difficult task.
Yet Damian Haxen was doing it with ease.
As if he had always possessed the mastery of ‘Skyless Form.’
“Don’t mess with me!”
That realization fueled Salik’s rage. In his anger, he left an opening in his control of the ethereal swords.
Damian seized the opportunity. He commanded his ethereal swords immediately.
Salik’s ethereal swords were all shattered. His face showed utter disbelief.
“W-wait…!”
Salik hurried to create more ethereal swords. But before he could, Damian’s blade, Dawn, was poised to slice his neck.
At that moment, someone charged at Damian Haxen.
“Don’t forget about me!”
Barche intervened, aiming a punch at Damian Haxen’s face.
Damian withdrew his attack and stepped back, causing Barche’s punch to miss.
“Damn it! He dodged again!”
Barche shouted, pressing his attack on Damian Haxen.
Thanks to the combination of his armor and his mastery, Barche’s movements were extraordinary.
Each of Barche’s attacks was accompanied by a thunderous roar, black lightning flashing.
But Damian Haxen evaded them effortlessly, as if he could see the future.
“Armor and mastery combined. More troublesome than I thought.”
“Mastery? How do you know my master’s technique…?”
Damian Haxen pointed a finger downward. Instantly, ethereal swords rained from the sky.
“Argh!”
They didn’t pierce him, but the impact was unavoidable. Barche had no choice but to retreat from the ethereal swords.
But the swords were relentless, pursuing Barche with slashing strikes.
“Salik!”
Barche shouted loudly. Salik quickly sent his ethereal swords to intercept Damian’s.
Barche finally caught his breath.
“Damn it! How is this happening? Why is Damian Haxen using ethereal swords?”
“I don’t know! Don’t ask me, damn it!”
The two exchanged curses, but despite their words, they naturally coordinated their attacks.
“Enough talk, let’s go! We have to kill him here!”
“Got it!”
The two charged at Damian Haxen.
Damian’s ethereal swords were occupied with Salik’s.
With their numbers, they had the advantage.
“Looks like I need to make more.”
…or so they thought.
“Time to create a few more.”
Seven new ethereal swords materialized around Damian Haxen.
“What?”
“Huh?”
Salik and Barche were stunned.
Damian pointed at Barche. Instantly, the ethereal swords descended upon him.
“W-wait…!”
The swords struck Barche, explosions and roars echoing as he was driven deep into the ground.
The ethereal swords pierced through the dust and rose back into the sky.
Damian turned his attention to Salik. The tips of the ethereal swords aimed at him.
”…Damn.”
Salik cursed under his breath, sensing his fate.
Seven beams of light pierced Salik’s body.
“Cough.”
Blood spurted from his mouth.
Salik looked down at his body with a pale face.
Seven ethereal swords had impaled him.
They had pierced not only his limbs but also his vital organs.
Even the dark magic Slah had cast was useless. Aura blades had the property of destroying everything.
“Cough, cough…”
Despite coughing up blood, Salik glared at Damian Haxen.
“How… how could you…”
Just moments ago, Damian Haxen had created more ethereal swords.
Even though Salik, the original master, could only manage nine, Damian Haxen had conjured sixteen.
“That’s a pointless question,” Damian Haxen replied nonchalantly.
“I simply used it better than you.”
Salik let out a bitter laugh. He didn’t have the energy to be angry. His situation was too dire to be enraged by those words.
“Hah… if I’d known someone like you existed… I wouldn’t have come here…”
Slah chuckled ruefully, self-deprecatingly.
Above them, a massive surge of dark magic erupted. Both Damian and Salik looked up.
Barche, who they thought was dead, stood there, battered and bruised. The areas struck by the ethereal swords had left his armor and flesh mangled.
“Damian Haxen!”
Yet Barche was still alive. Not only that, he was gathering an immense amount of dark magic.
“Don’t let your guard down!”
Barche launched himself from the ceiling, descending straight toward Damian.
At the same time, he swung his fist at Damian. In that moment, the aura blade expanded massively.
“This is my victory!”
Barche’s ultimate move struck Damian Haxen.
Damian Haxen’s clothes were torn to shreds, revealing what lay beneath.
A suit of armor as black as the abyss covered Damian Haxen’s body.
The armor was so thin that it had gone unnoticed beneath his clothes.
In that moment, Varche found himself captivated by the armor.
As a disciple of the Weapon Master, he had a deep understanding of armaments. So he could recognize it immediately.
The armor Damian Haxen was wearing was something extraordinary.
“I was curious about what you were up to, so I let you be. Turns out, it was nothing.”
Damian had been aware of Varche’s presence from the start.
Yet he left Varche alone, confident because of Hemeira.
One of Hemeira’s main features was its ability to absorb all external impacts.
Even the techniques Varche executed with all his might were completely absorbed by Hemeira.
Of course, impact absorption wasn’t Hemeira’s only function.
Damian Haxen placed a hand on Varche’s chest. Varche, entranced by the armor, didn’t even notice.
“Hemeira, release.”
Hemeira stirred. In the next instant, Varche’s body was shattered by the magical armor.