Chapter 253: Arrogance, but with strength to back it up

"ENOUGH!" he bellowed, his voice echoing across the arena. The flames around him exploded outward, forcing Lucavion to back away momentarily. Joel's aura surged, his greatsword glowing with an intense, fiery light as he poured every ounce of his strength into his next move.

"This ends NOW!" Joel roared, his mana surging as he activated his most powerful technique. The air around him shimmered with heat as he combined his flame manipulation with a devastating spell—

Infernal Cataclysm

.

The ground beneath Joel cracked and blackened as the flames coalesced into a massive, swirling inferno around his greatsword. He raised the weapon high above his head, the mana within him surging to its peak as he prepared to unleash the devastating attack.

'Heh….you are finally using that move now.'

Though he heard the name from the novel, seeing it with his own eyes, it looked really cool.

Lucavion watched as the flames swirled around Joel, the sheer magnitude of the

Infernal Cataclysm

taking shape. The arena itself seemed to tremble under the pressure of the heat, cracks spreading across the ground, the air shimmering with the oppressive energy. Joel stood in the center of it all, his greatsword blazing like a second sun as he poured every ounce of his strength into the attack.

'Heh… so this is the

Infernal Cataclysm

,' Lucavion thought, his smirk deepening. He had read about this moment in the novel—the lone highlight of Joel Rythan's character. It was the only time Joel's name had any real weight in the story, and seeing it unfold now, Lucavion couldn't help but admire it.

'It looks even cooler in real life,' he mused. The sheer scale of the flames, the intensity of the mana—it was a spectacle, to say the least. Joel's mastery over the technique wasn't perfect, of course. The flames wavered at the edges, the balance of mana slightly uneven, but the sheer power of the move compensated for its flaws.

Lucavion shook his head, his smirk turning into an amused grin. "Finally," he said aloud, his voice calm but carrying across the arena. "Finally, someone who can get me serious. I was starting to get bored."

Joel's eyes narrowed, his frustration bubbling over as he gripped his blazing greatsword tighter. "Shut up with the bluff!" he roared, his voice cracking with exertion. "Let's see you laugh when you're ash!"

With that, Joel pushed the flames forward, the

Infernal Cataclysm

erupting in a massive wave of fire and destruction. The flames surged across the battlefield like an unstoppable tide, consuming everything in their path as they barreled toward Lucavion.

But Lucavion remained calm, his body steady as he closed his eyes, the smirk still lingering on his lips. The crowd gasped as the inferno bore down on him, the sheer force of it leaving no doubt in their minds that this was the end.

Joel grinned, victory already blossoming in his chest. "Burn, you arrogant—"

Lucavion shook his head, interrupting Joel's triumph with a quiet, almost playful tone. "Watch."

The flames surged closer, the heat now oppressive, but Lucavion didn't move. Instead, he opened his eyes, their calm, shadowy depths locking onto Joel's fiery gaze.

"You'll never see anything like this again," Lucavion said softly, his voice cutting through the roar of the flames.

And then he whispered, the words carrying an undeniable weight.

「

Annihilation Sword. Null Space. Sёarch* The ηovёlFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

」

And then…

It happened.

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The moment the words left his lips, the circle around him flared to life. A shadowy, black-gray hue expanded outward, forming a perfect ring that pulsed with power. The flames, roaring and searing in their destructive force, met the edge of the circle—and then stopped.

For a moment, the flames seemed to hesitate, as if an invisible force had stolen their momentum. Then came the sound:

CLANK! CLANK! CLANK!

The fiery mana was sliced apart, disintegrating the instant it crossed into the circle. The inferno that had threatened to consume the arena was reduced to nothingness, its energy utterly obliterated as it entered the

Null Space

.

The crowd gasped, stunned into silence as they watched the impossible unfold. The massive wave of fire, Joel's strongest attack, was being erased before their very eyes.

But Lucavion wasn't motionless. Within the circle, he moved with incredible speed and precision, his estoc a blur as it cut through the flames with surgical accuracy.

To the untrained eye, it looked as though the

Null Space

was absorbing the fire on its own, but those who watched closely could see the faint glimmers of his blade moving, guiding the destruction with every calculated strike.

Joel's confidence faltered as the last of his flames vanished, leaving him standing alone in the aftermath. His greatsword, still glowing faintly, seemed to dim in his grip as the weight of his failure sank in.

Lucavion, his blade still surrounded by the dark, shadowy aura of his

Flame of Equinox

, began to move. With a fluid motion, he swept his estoc in a wide circle, the energy surrounding him condensing into a focused ring. The black-gray hue shimmered, absorbing the lingering embers and fragments of Joel's attack as if consuming the flames themselves.

"Impossible…" Joel muttered, his voice barely audible over the murmurs of the crowd. His eyes were wide with disbelief, his body trembling as he tried to comprehend what had just happened.

Lucavion finally lowered his blade, his shadowy aura fading into stillness. He turned his calm, unyielding gaze toward Joel, tilting his head slightly.

"I told you to watch," Lucavion said, his tone laced with both amusement and finality. "You'll never see anything like that again."

The crowd erupted into chaos, some cheering wildly, others too stunned to react. Joel, his greatsword trembling in his hands, took a step back, his confidence shattered. The gap between their skill, their control, and their very presence was now undeniable.

Lucavion sheathed his estoc with deliberate slowness, his movements a silent declaration of victory. Joel could only stare, his flames extinguished, his strongest move reduced to ash and memory.

The fight was over.

Joel's trembling hands tightened around the hilt of his greatsword as he stared at Lucavion, who now stood with an almost casual calmness, his estoc sheathed and his shadowy aura dissipating like a fading storm. The arena buzzed with chaos—cheers, gasps, and murmurs—but Joel could only hear the deafening silence of his own realization.

"I… I yield…" he said finally, his voice heavy with defeat. The words tasted bitter on his tongue, but what else could he do? Against an opponent like this, resistance was futile.

'I was wrong…

' he thought, his mind racing as fragments of the fight replayed themselves. He had underestimated Lucavion from the start, thinking his victories were nothing more than mind games and exploiting weaknesses in his opponents' composure. He had believed Lucavion thrived on manipulation alone.

But that assumption had been shattered. Joel now understood that this man wasn't just a strategist, nor was he merely opportunistic. He was something far more terrifying.

Joel's breaths came shallow and uneven as he struggled to process what he had just experienced. Lucavion's movements—the ease with which he evaded every attack, the way he danced along the edge of the blade, taking risks no sane fighter would take—all of it defied reason.

He fought like someone who didn't care about his life at all, someone who thrived on pushing himself to the absolute limit, balancing on a razor's edge with an almost reckless grace.

Joel had never encountered anything like it.

"That's why…" Joel muttered under his breath, his gaze fixed on Lucavion. "That's why they fear you…"

The words spilled from his lips before he could stop them, his voice trembling with a mix of awe and horror. "You're… you're a demon."

Lucavion's calm, piercing eyes flicked toward him, and Joel felt a chill run down his spine. He wasn't sure if Lucavion had heard him, but it didn't matter. He now understood why people were so afraid of this man.

"...A Sword Demon," Joel whispered, the realization settling in like a heavyweight.

It wasn't something the audience could grasp, nor was it something that could be explained to someone who hadn't faced Lucavion directly.

Only those who stood against him on the battlefield could feel the full extent of his presence—the fearless, unrelenting force that made him seem less like a man and more like a devil wielding a blade.

"Sword Demon…."

And that was the starting point of this nickname.

Joel staggered backward, the weight of his defeat pressing down on him. He had given everything, and still, it hadn't been enough. He had been utterly outclassed by a fighter who played with danger as if it were a game, who wielded his blade with a precision that bordered on inhuman.

And he understood.

'I can never become someone like him.'

He didn't have what it took.

The crowd roared, the announcer's voice booming over the noise as Lucavion's victory was declared. But Joel barely heard it. He turned, his steps heavy as he made his way out of the arena, one thought repeating in his mind.

'This man… he's not a phantom. He's a demon in the guise of a swordsman.'

--------------A/N-------------

I have a French exam tomorrow, so the chapters might be late. Wish me luck!