Chapter 122

Chapter 122 The Seven Star Sword was a weapon that represented the Big Dipper, the center of the cosmos. Xuanwu’s martial abilities were also granted by the divine powers of the constellation. Channeling the very forces of the universe, a swing of the Seven Star Sword meant death.

The blade killed everything it touched. That included the fire that destroyed causality.

———Shing.

Xuanwu’s sword cut through the flames. But that wasn’t all.

“When frost falls, ice comes shortly after,” Leonard stated. Just as he said, the Deep Frost Shroud’s rebound force and its ability to block the opponent’s attacks were only a leadup to consecutive counterattacks.

Crack...! Crackle...!

The Asura statue froze over.

There was no way that a manifestation born out of a master martial artist’s mind and augmented energy would freeze, but the jet-black statue became an ice sculpture, plainly refuting the impossibility.

The heart devil, which was inside the statue, was no exception.

“What?! You froze me?!”

“A dead creature cannot move, which is why stasis and death are inevitably related. You ignorantly stepped on the frost, and the price you paid was being frozen. It’s over.”

Leonard’s sword took aim at the statue’s heart, where the heart devil was.

“Blast.”

It had won 105 times only to perish with a single defeat. The heart devil scorned itself as the Seven Star Sword pierced through it.

It looked like Xuanwu was stabbing Vritrasura through the heart.

The fight ended as the legends were reenacted.

* * *

“—Hm?”

When Leonard returned to reality from his Mindscape, he was met with a fist that was about to crush his face.

Of course, it was Pablo swinging his fist with all his strength.

The deep green augmented energy condensed around his fists like crystal, infusing them with an immense amount of destructive force on par with an Augmented Qi Sphere.

If Leonard hadn’t defeated the heart devil, he wouldn’t be able to block the attack even if he made the strongest augmented energy shield he could. The most he would be able to do was absorb some of the force and survive by the skin of his teeth.

One Origin Five Elements Cultivation Method

Five-Star Creation Sutra: Reflect

In less than a second, an augmented energy shield formed and covered Leonard’s face. Pablo’s fist hit a moment later.

Boom——!!

Though Pablo was the one who attacked, his arm shattered, spraying blood and flesh everywhere.

It was the rebound from the augmented energy.

The shield, instead of passively taking the enemy’s attack, actively reflected it back. If a person’s attack couldn’t break through the augmented energy shield, it would send back a force several times stronger.

Since Pablo already couldn’t handle his powers without assistance from the Outer God, he had essentially given himself a self-inflicted wound that hit him faster than he could heal.

“Guh? G-Gahhh!”

His right arm was now mangled from the elbow down, and he retreated several meters back, thrashing in pain.

“Oh dear. My apologies. I didn’t do that on purpose.” Leonard’s blood-red eyes widened in mock surprise, his long pupils making his gaze resemble that of a dragon’s.

They were the eyes of a mystical being that reigned over all creations.

As Pablo looked into them, he unconsciously froze in his tracks. Sёarch* The NôvelFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

One Origin Five Elements Sword Art

Five Elements Style

Azure Dragon’s Slash

In an instant, a five-colored lightning bolt shot out from Leonard’s sword and cut off Pablo’s remaining arm, leaving the stump charred.

“Ahhhhhhh!”

And so, the boy finished the battle with one block and one attack, critically injuring his opponent as if the tens of minutes of him being overwhelmed had never occurred. In the world of fist arts, losing both arms meant the death of a martial artist.

Being beheaded was a kinder fate.

The onlookers couldn’t help but gulp at the sight, but Leonard was watching for something else. His dragon eyes were fixed on Pablo, who was twitching from the pain.

With his healing abilities, he should be able to regenerate both arms. But unlike during their high-speed battle, if he healed himself right now, people would grow suspicious.

Even trolls, which were renowned for their healing abilities, couldn’t regrow limbs if the point where they were amputated was burned. In addition, his other arm was mangled to the point of being unrecognizable. Someone who could regenerate them to their original form couldn’t be called human. And even if he could fool the oblivious citizens, if he healed himself, he would be confirming his otherworldly ties for Gordon and Russell.

If he figures out that I’m testing him and simply dies without revealing his identity, the aftermath will be tiresome.

Even if Leonard killed Pablo here, if he was unable to catch his puppetmaster, his victory would only be a quarter as helpful as it originally would have been.

“It’s—It’s not over yet!”

Fortunately, unlike what the boy expected, Pablo’s eyes blazed as his arms began to regenerate.

The healing process was completely different than the one that would be brought on by potions or magic. Gordon’s and Russell’s eyes widened as they watched.

“Th-That’s...!”

“He did more than cut a deal with the beings of the Rifts! He was granted power by an entity directly!”

Ugly tentacles shot out from the stumps at his shoulders and from his damaged organs. Hundreds, no, thousands of fleshy tendrils condensed and tangled together to create the shape of an arm. In an instant, the massive amounts of pain and bleeding stopped. Pablo made a gleeful sound.

It appeared he had no intention of hiding his true self.

“Indeed! I have shed my mortal restraints by the grace of my liege to become a supreme being!” he cried, madness raging in his eyes. “I am the Chosen One! The apostle selected by the ruler of the outer seas, Scylla herself! Bow down, you lowly humans! If you choose to be a slave of your own volition, your life will be spared!”

As soon as he said the name of the Outer God, the Tattering One, he started undergoing his true transformation.

Crack! Crack! Craaaack!

Slimy scales covered his flesh, and as his frame and his muscles swelled, he grew to over four meters from his already impressive height of two meters.

And it wasn’t just his physical form that evolved.

The personal aura that stretched all across his Domain expanded, making him five, six, maybe even more times powerful than what was afforded by the Transcendence Tier. But the power that had been hiding inside him wasn’t his own. Some foreign entity from another world was making him stronger.

“I commend you for reaching the Transcendence Tier at your age, boy. But!” His now-hideous face twisted into a sneer as he raised his fists. “You have committed the sin of meddling with my grand plans and displaying undeserved arrogance for your talents! Repent with your life!”

Leonard, who had been waiting quietly the whole time, finally spoke. “Is that all?”

“...What?”

“You sold your soul to a foreign entity or something just for enhanced physical abilities and Aura capacity? That’s it? Why are you being so cocky and acting like you’ve become a god when you haven’t even reached the next Tier?”

Leonard couldn’t help but be genuinely baffled. In his eyes, Pablo had sold his future away for a measly sum. He’d given up the potential to become stronger and the martial arts and visualization skills he’d built up as a human merely to become the pawn of an Outer God.

Leonard had appreciated Pablo’s fighting skills as a fellow martial artist but had never thought he’d see him reduced to such a state. Pablo blasphemed martial arts itself.

“It’s unseemly. Just die.” Leonard raised his sword, which was imbued with his rage.

Five Elements Style

White Tiger Thirty-Sixth Form: Mount Tai Crushing Strike

He raised the blade over his head as an immense amount of power formed around it. It was a technique that restricted the opponent’s movements before he even struck.

And Pablo was no exception.

Somehow, his knees dug into the ground, and he struggled to take a single breath, let alone a step, under the pressure. He couldn’t move, as if he were a criminal lying under a guillotine.

The heaviest, most ruthless White Tiger Form came down upon him with the power of an avalanche.

Fwooooom——!!

Pablo frantically tried to block the attack, but his arms were pulverized once more, spraying blood everywhere, and he was gruesomely crushed from his head to his collarbone.

Leonard’s attack was nearly in the Demigod Tier, and the monster born out of the Outer God’s power couldn’t handle the destructive power. It wasn’t a level that someone in the Transcendence Tier could deal with.

Craaaack—!

Just like that, the four-meter-tall giant was crushed flat. As his flesh, bones, and organs were trampled, the lump of flesh left on the sand made for a hideous sight.

And so, the Rank A captain, one of the three most powerful councilors and the apostle who had been hiding his identity, died a miserable death.

The sense of reality didn’t immediately set in among the audience, and all they could do was look around at each other, jaws dropped.

“Huh? He’s dead? For real?”

A single onlooker’s comment shattered the silence, causing an uproar of responses.

“A monster was impersonating Pablo?”

“No, it’s the other way around! Pablo was a monster all along!”

“You’re telling me that the Council and Bermuda gave power to someone masquerading as a human? Those bastards!”

“Well, regardless of Pablo’s identity, we just witnessed the birth of a new Transcendence Tier martial artist! Aquamarine really has returned!”

Leonard paid no attention to the bustling crowd as Frances approached him.

Her eyes narrowed at the mass of flesh, which was no longer recognizable. It felt anticlimactic. She’d never imagined that the eight years she’d spent boiling with rage and hatred planning for vengeance would end like this.

Of course, there were still living councilors and explorers who had a hand in her father’s death, but Pablo and Moby Dick undoubtedly played the biggest role.

“What a disgraceful end,” she said spitefully.

Leonard lowered his sword and nodded in agreement. “He was only a pawn, Fran. I believe you should focus your vengeance on the ones in the shadows, not Pablo.”

“You’re talking about the Outer God worshippers. The ones who sold out our seas,” she muttered, quickly regaining her composure. “The chaos caused by Pablo’s sudden death will be our best opportunity to strike. We must find the ones hiding among Bermuda and the Council and pull them out by the roots.”

Gordon approached the two and smiled. “You may put your mind at ease, Captain Frances. I, Gordon Haywood, shall take charge of punishing these Outer God worshippers.”

“You’re going to take care of this personally?”

“When else will I find the opportunity to use my skills as a Class 8 Archmage if not now? Ah, excuse me. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am Gordon Haywood of the Council.” He held out his hand.

Leonard took it. “I’ve heard a lot about you, Councilor.”

“To think that you have attained the Transcendence Tier at your age and even cut down Pablo! Give it ten years, and you will be one of the most powerful men in Atlantis.”

It sounded like a generic compliment, but Leonard understood what he was implying and cut it off there. Gordon’s line of thought could cause him trouble later. “You’re too generous. I only intend to stay as long as it takes this incident to conclude, let alone ten years. I plan to return inland afterward.”

At that, the look in the councilor’s eyes softened. That was the answer he’d wanted. He had been wary of gaining a formidable rival, but as long as that didn’t happen, there was no reason he couldn’t be friendly with the boy.

“You’re so superficial. Is that all you have to say in this situation?” Russell said menacingly as he caught up to them. “You should be reporting Pablo’s betrayal to Bermuda and the Council and looking into how many Outer God worshippers are left in Moby Dick and everywhere else!”

As usual, Gordon took it in stride. “There’s no need to make such a ruckus. Teleportation takes no time at all, so I can make time to have a conversation with this heroic young man.”

“You do this every time, Gordon! This is why I always—”

Everyone had their guard down.

They thought that Pablo was the biggest threat that had infiltrated Atlantis, so it was only natural that they would relax after he died.

Knowing this, ■■■ made a move.

No one saw it coming.

“What?! Fran!”

Of course, Leonard was the first to notice. His eyes, which were almost like a real dragon’s, made him more sensitive to foreign threats.

As ■■■’s power flooded out, ripping through the dimensional fabric, Leonard covered Frances and himself with a five-colored shield.

“■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■.”

The cloudless sky melted into jet-black, and a blood-red moon and countless stars appeared, staring down the face of the earth.

These forces should not exist in their world.