Chapter 190

Chapter 190

Windmill dragged himself across the ground while groaning.

“Aiture... M-Master Hasegi...” He bit his cracked lips as he examined their supine bodies. Their breathing was weak, and Windmill himself was barely conscious. They wouldn't be in this state if it weren't for Joshua Sanders.

“Damn it all...!” Windmill cursed and turned around to observe the battle. Joshua and Arie had obliterated everything around them, and it seemed as if they weren’t worried about the consequences of their actions as they exchanged move after move.

“I have to tell everyone about this as soon as possible...!” Arie’s abilities were justifiable, and it was incredible how the snake-like man could defeat all three of them at once, but Joshua’s skills were unprecedented.

Windmill was sure that he would never forget this sight until the day he died.

“Avalon Empire... Emperor Marcus...” Windmill finally remembered the injuries he sustained, and he proceeded to remove a splinter from his collarbone. “Ugh!”

He groaned as blood poured out of the wound. He propped himself up with one hand while the other was busy trying to remove the splinter. While on his knees, he looked up and was immediately startled.

“Hahaha.” The snake-like Arie bron Sten was looking at him. Windmill met Arie’s gaze in a daze. He had no idea what to do. Fortunately, Arie lost interest in him and turned to look at the man lying next to him.

“You better grit your teeth...!” Arie lifted his rapier and rolled over Hasegi with his foot.

“Ugh...!” Hasegi groaned beneath Arie’s foot.

“Stop...!” Windmill weakly groaned while panting. “He’s a marquis! You can’t just kill him!”

Arie stared at Windmill for a while. Eventually, he grinned and raised his rapier before asking, “Says the people who tried to assassinate a Master of Avalon.”

“Well, that’s—no, I mean...!” Windmill stammered.

“Well, well...” Arie's smile widened as he said, “You lot are going to die anyway, so it might as well be sooner rather than later, right? Yes, that’s right!” n0VElusB.C0M

Windmill was dumbfounded. He couldn’t quite grasp what Arie was talking about, but he soon understood Arie’s words, and he stared at Arie with gradually widening eyes.

“Soon, there will be rivers of blood throughout the continent, and the three nations where you lot are from will be the first targets. The Ice Kingdom of Draia, the Kingdom of Fordran, and the Allied Powers of Palentine...”

“They will all be reduced to ashes and erased from history. Of course, you lot will join your people as well. After all, you lot are their leaders, right?”

“...!” Windmill’s wide eyes started quivering. “Don’t tell me... Avalon, and the Continental War...”

“Hmm, I’m not even sure if it’s only going to be our Avalon.”

“...!” Windmill was astonished.

“Anyway, you’re here.” Arie had been smiling for quite a while now, but his eyes suddenly lit up as he said, “And criminals always have to be punished.”

Windmill vainly wished for Arie to disappear as Arie’s thin hands wrapped around his neck.

“Ugh...!”

“Stop bothering me. Just go to sleep,” Arie muttered.

Windmill felt himself flying through the air before falling to the ground head first.

Thud!

“Ah!” Windmill felt dizzy.

“Time to sleep.” These were the last words Windmill heard before his mind turned hazy.

Windmill’s mind descended into an indistinct haze.

However, Windmill’s mind seemed to be screaming at him. His mind was saying that he had to warn the other nations of an impending war. The continent of Igrant had enjoyed peace for such a long time that a Continental War would be a massive curveball for everyone, and there was no way they would be able to react in time.

And that was why he had to tell them—they had to know so they could unite.

“Ah!” Windmill’s eyes popped open. Once his trembling subsided, he looked down and saw a rapier lodged in his heart. “No, no, no! I can’t die just yet—ugh!”

“Arie bron Ste—”

Arie flickered like a ghost. His rapier disappeared from Windmill’s chest, and the ground cracked as Arie appeared in front of Hasegi and Aiture. Arie stabbed them as well, and it didn’t take long for them to stop thrashing.

It ended in the blink of an eye. Joshua was so surprised by the turn of events that he didn’t even manage to make a move.

Arie stared as the light faded from Windmill’s eyes.

“The nuisances are gone. Let’s keep having fun.”

“What the hell?” Joshua stared at him coldly. “Killing Masters from other countries?”

“I don’t think the Emperor will mind it.” Arie laughed. “I don’t know about you, but I really like obedient dogs the most.”

“...!” Joshua's eyes widened. He finally realized that his worst fear had come true.

There was something wrong here. He thought about it and realized that it was still too early for it to happen.

‘Could it be that my regression changed the timeline?’?Joshua muttered to himself.

“Is the Emperor really considering a Continental War?”

“Ahhh, Joshua...” Arie revealed a grim look. He let out a long breath and said, “Please don’t worry about that right now. Just pay attention to me.”

“...”

Arie’s eyes, which looked like they would forever remain as slits, slowly opened for the first time in a while.

Arie’s eyes were gray, just like his hair.

Arie’s actions so far were strange, considering how he usually acted. Right now, he was practically drooling, but he couldn’t really be blamed. After all, he had been waiting for this feast for over five years.

Arie wanted to take his time savoring and enjoying the fruit of his patience, but he couldn’t stand it for much longer. With this much power, it was obvious why he was in Reinhardt.

“This might be a bit too dangerous for you....” A strange light flashed in Arie’s eyes, and a powerful energy manifested. The energy was too strong that it instantly consumed everything it encompassed.

“...”

Joshua shrugged his thoughts aside about Arie and hoisted Lugia.

In response, Arie’s figure vanished like a wisp of smoke once again. Arie was stronger and faster than any opponent Joshua had ever met in this regression.

Arie’s rapier rapidly flickered here and then as if Arie was showing Joshua how a rapier should be used in battle. The rapier stabbed at Joshua's heart, forcing him to be on the defensive.

Earlier, one could still distinctively hear every collision, and the sound of metal violently clashing against metal could still be heard. Right now, those noises couldn’t be heard anymore as the rapid attacks made noises reminiscent of a firecracker.

Joshua couldn’t even take advantage of his spear’s reach. Arie’s rapier had encompassed him, and it could strike from anywhere at any time.

Joshua’s feet kicked up plumes of dust as he was constantly being pushed back.

No... Joshua wasn’t just on the defensive. He was actively doing something to protect his vital spots, which were his upper torso, nape, and his head. He lowered his posture as much as he could against Arie’s thrusts at his vital spots.

Of course, there was a chance that Arie wasn’t serious about targeting Joshua’s vital spots because he didn’t want to end the battle right away.

However, Joshua didn’t really care about that. All he had in mind was if Arie could become one with his rapier, how could he not become one with his spear as well?

Joshua decided to become one with the spear and slaughter everything in his way.

“...!” Arie’s eyes widened in shock. Arie had become one with his rapier, so he noticed it as well.

Joshua was becoming one with his spear. He felt like he had been transported into a white space. There wasn’t anything else in the white space. He stood there with a spear in hand and became one with the spear.

The spear was him, and he was the spear—Man and Spear as One.

“Hahaha!” Arie laughed at the sense of foreboding that inundated him. With a scowl, he stomped and kicked off the ground, launching himself into the sky.

Jumping high up in the air wasn’t a good thing to do in the middle of a battle because it was extremely difficult to avoid an attack in mid-air.

However, Arie seemed to have defied the laws of nature as he rose higher and higher, looking like he was using the air itself as a foothold to jump even higher.

Finally, he stopped. Arie looked like he was standing on top of the sun as he stared down at Joshua. Then, he fell—he fall as fast as lightning toward Joshua.

A loud boom assaulted Joshua’s ears, and he remembered how one of the most beautiful sword skills on the continent came from the Sten Family. It was a sword skill that could change everything.

Arie’s swordsmanship demanded him to be like a fluttering petal and a bloodthirsty monster at the same time.

Joshua stabbed Lugia into the ground as Arie was still flying toward him like a silver meteor. Lugia’s tip was pointing toward the sky as he mustered the power of destruction slumbering inside the spear’s shaft.

Brings out the power of destruction that has been sleeping deep in the spear’s body.

The fight with Ulabis had taught him that nothing was impossible.

Ulabis’ secret skill involved the flames of annihilation soaring so high up in the sky that it looked like it could rend the sky. Joshua knew a spear skill similar to Ulabis’ secret skill, and if Magma’s power of annihilation was mixed into it...

Joshua roused an immense amount of mana that started to affect the atmosphere itself.

A blaze burst into life with Joshua standing in the middle of it.

Arie’s petals were an inescapable net, so Joshua simply decided to burn them away.

He decided to manifest a dragon that would consume everything in its path, and a fire dragon made from the unquenchable flames of annihilation flew into the sky.

Arie’s eyes widened as the fire dragon flew toward him with its mouth wide open.

Boom!

The fire dragon was quick to swallow the falling petals before bursting into a massive explosion that shook the world.