The Reincarnated Assassin is a Genius Swordsman 937

 Chapter 937

 

Paaang!

It was the light created by the angel that first forced a choice. The light that bloomed above his palm didn’t fire off like a flash, but instead exploded right in front of the chest of the fallen king Lecross.

Chwaaaaak!

Without hesitation, Glenn stepped forward with his left foot. In a single instant, he moved to king Lecross’s side and sliced the exploding light in half.

“I knew it.”

Derus Robert moved his hazy, fog-like hand downward with a casual flick, as if he had predicted Glenn’s choice.

“So Glenn Zieghart of now is no longer the cold-blooded man once called the Destructive King of the North.”

He curled his lips mockingly, as if ridiculing him.

“My voice telling you that Raon and Karoon are dead is still echoing in your head, isn’t it? Their deaths were just the first signal, the starting flare of the great war.”

Derus raised his chin, his black-glinting eyes gleaming.

“Now that the two have descended… there really isn’t much time left.”

He smacked his lips as he turned toward the angel standing to his right with closed eyes.

“The next time we meet, I’ll take your head…”

“That won’t happen.”

Glenn pointed his sword at the fading Derus Robert, whose body had begun to blur as if about to vanish.

“You’re going to stab me? Do you have the confidence to stab me while leaving the Silent Sword Sovereign to die?”

Derus tilted his chin slightly, relaxed as if he could read the entire situation.

“You underestimated the King of Owen far too much.”

Even before Glenn could finish his sentence, the Silent Sword Sovereign Lecross rose to his feet, kneeling on one knee. Despite the gaping wound torn open across his chest, he formed a sword stance and brought down a heavy strike that felt like it could crush the earth.

Kugugugugugu!

A Transcender strike that suppressed the enemy’s movement. Lecross must have been preparing this sword technique from the moment he was restrained by the angel, because with just a gesture, he unleashed a crushing pressure capable of bursting flesh and bone.

Kuuuuung!

Derus and the angel, whose bodies had been fading as if they were about to vanish, regained their form and were forcefully pulled back into this world. It seemed that Lecross’ sword, which had generated immense gravity, had shattered their teleportation magic.

“Urgh…”

As if having fulfilled his role, Lecross vomited blood and collapsed backward.

Sssssss…

Glenn raised Heavenly Tremor once more toward Derus Robert and the angel who had fallen back to the ground. The red lightning that had coated the blade subsided, and the old swordsman's mental world bloomed with the elegant fragrance of the Hundred-League Flower.

“Khmm…”

Derus Robert swallowed dryly as he observed the sword aimed at him.

‘This is dangerous.’

Glenn had tempered his own soul to manifest an absolute sword capable of cleaving the soul of his enemy.

A realm of swordsmanship so unprecedented that not even he himself had fully reached it. The noble killing intent emanating from the Heart Sword made Derus feel as though his own heart were being crushed.

‘Is he really going to cut me down?’

Derus had believed that Glenn would never use the perfected Heart Sword until Raon’s safety was confirmed, because using it meant Glenn himself would leave this world.

But now, it felt like Glenn truly intended to cut his soul.

“Raguel!”

Derus grabbed the angel beside him and shouted that they had to escape.

“Though it violates the rules….”

The angel called Raguel lifted his closed eyes. As his blue eyes, which seemed to contain the ocean, flickered, his and Derus’ bodies began to disappear, covered in white light.

“I won’t let you leave so easily.”

With his eyes lowered, Glenn swung down Heavenly Tremor. The slow slash, so silent it didn’t even cut the wind, brushed past Derus and Raguel, who were wrapped in white light.

The blade hadn’t reached them, it was far too distant. But what Heavenly Tremor cut wasn’t flesh or blood.

It cuts something far deeper—the soul, the spirit, and the very essence that allows a person to exist as a person.

“Urgh…!”

The moment Glenn’s sword fell, Derus bent over and vomited black, dead blood.

“This is…”

His eyes bloodshot, his lips trembled.

“How can a human wield such a sword…?!”

Raguel, too, dropped one knee to the ground, his white wings hanging low. Shock toward the old swordsman was clearly visible in his deep blue eyes.

Ssssss…

Glenn, as if it weren’t over yet, raised Heavenly Tremor once more and thrust it toward the necks of Derus and Raguel.

“Scales of Judgment!”

Raguel bit his lip and stretched out his hand. From the sky descended a beautiful scale, as if made from angelic feathers.

The scales trembled as if struck by waves, and then Derus and Raguel vanished from the world, as if erased.

“Hmm…”

Unable to complete the thrust, Glenn lowered his hand.

Even though he had only swung his sword once, he was drenched in cold sweat, as if mentally exhausted.

“Uh…. What happened?”

King Lecross, unable to support his own body, barely lifted his head to ask about the situation.

“It’s dangerous. Don’t speak.”

Glenn approached him and stopped the blood flowing from the wounds on his chest and shoulder.

“…Did they die?”

“No. I couldn’t cut them down completely.”

Shaking his head, Glenn sheathed Heavenly Tremor.

‘I’m sorry, but I couldn’t leave this place yet.’

Having perfected the Heart Sword, he could kill any enemy. But the moment he used that sword fully, his soul would no longer be able to remain in this continent, it would ascend to a higher realm.

It was the ascension he had dreamed of all his life. Yet now, without knowing whether Raon and the others were alive or dead, he could not leave this continent.

More than that, there was still so much he hadn’t taught Raon and Karoon. He wanted—no, needed to remain on this land for now.

That was why he had deliberately used an incomplete Heart Sword, severing only half of Derus’ soul.

Even that alone made his own soul tremble as if it would scatter, but since it robbed Derus of time, it was not a bad result.

“I understand…”

King Lecross, seeming to grasp the meaning behind his words, nodded.

“Your Majesty!”

“Are you all right?!”

As the barrier created by Raguel disappeared, the knights of Owen rushed toward their king.

“Your Majesty?”

“H-his wounds are too severe…”

“Quickly, move His Majesty! Hurry!”

The knights groaned with worry the moment they saw the gaping hole in Lecross’s chest, and carefully lifted him.

“W-wait…”

King Lecross raised a hand to stop the knights and gestured toward Glenn.

“Go.”

With a faint smile, he told him not to worry about him and told Glenn to go where he was needed.

“Thank you.”

As Glenn nodded, Lecross, seeming at peace, closed his eyes and entrusted himself to the knights.

“Magic Tower’s master.”

At Glenn’s call, the air rippled like a spring, and the face of the Magic Towe’s master, now without her robe, appeared.

[Yes.]

Her voice, usually soft and languid, was now firm and clear as she gave a nod. It was as if she had become an entirely different person. “What about the situation in the other regions?”

[Contrary to expectations, neither we, nor Balkar, nor the Beast Union have been attacked.]

She narrowed her eyes, stating that only Owen had been attacked.

“Hmm…”

Glenn let out a low groan. He had assumed the Five Demons would strike everywhere at once, so the fact that only Owen was attacked felt deeply unnatural.

‘I can’t understand what he's thinking.’

Unable to read Derus’s intentions, his chest tightened with unease.

But there was something even more important at the moment.

He let out a short sigh and lifted his head.

“Were you able to reach Montiro?”

[We still can’t get in touch. There’s been no word from the Black Market either, and the dimensional gates are closed.]

She furrowed her brow, saying it seemed the entire communication network of the Five Kings had been cut off.

“Then send me to the place nearest to Montiro.”

Suppressing the tremors in his chest, Glenn nodded.

“I won’t be able to calm this unrest unless I see it with my own eyes.”

*   *   *

Fwaaah!

A holy light bloomed within a dimly lit study, where only a single lantern hovered in the air.

“Guhk…!”

Derus Robert burst forth from a sphere of white light and collapsed onto a luxurious carpet, coughing up black blood.

“Ugh…”

Raguel, too, unable to support himself, knocked over a bookshelf as he stumbled backward. His hand, clutching the Scale of Judgment, trembled violently.

“Sir Derus?”

Cubara, who had been waiting in the study, rushed toward Derus with wide eyes.

“What in the world happened…?”

Even in her flustered state, she took out a black pill and placed it into Derus’ mouth.

“Khk…”

Only after swallowing the pill did Derus manage to lift his upper body slightly, exhaling a breath tinged with the stench of blood.

“What happened to you? Don’t tell me… was it Glenn Zieghart?”

“Yes. It was the Heart Sword.”

Derus nodded with difficulty, placing a hand on his chest.

“My soul was nearly severed.”

He bit down on his lip, as if recalling how truly dangerous it had been.

“That kind of power… can it really belong to a human…?”

Raguel wiped the blood from his lips and let out a hollow breath.

“That power is too dangerous to be permitted to a mere human. It violates the laws and justice.”

Even in battle, he had always kept his eyes closed with composure—but now a chilling murderous intent flared in his blue eyes, as if he was genuinely angry.

“If that sword had been perfected, both you and I would be dead. It’s a power that must be eliminated.”

Raguel tightened his grip around the Scale of Judgment, declaring that the Heart Sword was not a power humanity should ever possess.

“No…”

Derus looked at Raguel and slowly shook his head.

“It’s not that it wasn’t perfected—he held it back on purpose.”

As if he had seen through Glenn’s thoughts, Derus furrowed his brow.

“You’re right, his power goes against the law of causality. If he were to use the perfected Heart Sword and cross beyond Transcendence, he wouldn't be able to remain on this continent, so he placed a limit on himself.”

Derus let out a hollow breath as he said that Glenn’s realm had already gone beyond Transcendence.

“Of course, even what he showed was already absurdly powerful…”

Wounds to the soul, unlike those of the body, cannot be healed by anyone else.

They must be endured and recovered through one’s own strength and effort, and because Glenn’s sword had gone deeper than before, it would take a considerable time to recover.

“He’s a human who defies the very laws. We can’t let him be.”

Raguel’s voice hardened, saying that the man named Glenn should be killed. This angered version of him seemed more genuine than his usual calm demeanor.

“No, it’s fine.”

Derus shook his head quietly.

“It’s true he’s become powerful enough to transcend humanity, but because of that, I’ve found a clear weakness.”

“A weakness…?”

Cubara narrowed her eyes, looking at Derus.

“That old man… He’s grown more emotionally attached to his family than we’d ever seen before. That kind of affection, it's a blade we can definitely turn against him.”

Derus chuckled as he looked at the blood trickling from the back of his hand. Licking the blood off, he curled his lips into a long, torn smile.

“Raon Zieghart… no, Raon. There really isn’t much time left now.”

* * *

“Please calm down and explain again.”

Raon raised a hand, trying to settle the flustered Jaina.

“What do you mean something’s wrong with the Five Kings? Are you saying the Five Demons launched an attack?”

“Huu…”

Jaina exhaled, organizing her thoughts.

“It’s not certain that something’s happened, but I think it’s one of two things. Either the demonic energy leaking from the Black Tower’s dimension is interfering with the communications network… or the Five Demons attacked the Five Kings and cut off communication. Or maybe both.”

She narrowed her brows, saying either way, it was clear the Five Demons were involved.

“Five Demons…”

Raon frowned as he looked up at the sky still filled with leaking demonic energy.

‘In my current state, I won’t be of much help.’

He had pushed his body and soul to their limits in the previous battle. He was barely holding on, one step from collapse.

He was holding on just to convey what he needed to say to the demon kings, fighting in another location would be impossible.

‘No… it’s not just me.’

The Light Wind Palace, Central Martial Palace, and the allied forces from Owen, Balkar, and the Holy Kingdom of Schper had all poured out every last bit of strength. No one could fight anymore.

“If communications are down, does that mean we can’t use the dimensional gates either?”

“Correct. Nothing can come or go right now. We’d have to use teleportation magic separately, but aside from someone like Lady Chamber, long-distance teleportation is nearly impossible…”

“I see…”

Raon lowered his gaze and furrowed his brow.

‘What should I do?’

Knowing Derus Robert, Raon felt it was more likely that he’d target the Five Kings than send reinforcements here.

Preparations had been made for such a case, but considering how brutal this war had been, he couldn’t help but worry about the others.

What are you hesitating for?

Wrath frowned and pointed toward Lust and Gluttony inside the ice cream shop.

You’ve got those doormats you sweet-talked into doing whatever you want right over there! Use them when you need to!

‘Looks like I have no choice but to ask them again.’

There was no other way.

“Huu.”

Raon let out a short breath and entered the ice cream shop.

“First of all, thanks for coming all the way here.”

He bowed slightly to Lust, whose eyes were glazed over, and Gluttony, who was chewing on a metal container.

“What's there to thank us for? You can ask for our help anytime!”

“It’s just for the money, really…”

Lust and Gluttony both shook their heads as if it was no big deal.

“I know it’s a bit awkward to say this now, but… can I ask you for one more favor?”

Raon tilted his head toward the two.

“Yeah! Anything!”

“As long as there’s ice cream… or money…”

Lust and Gluttony nodded without hesitation, as if it was totally fine.

“Thanks. First, we’ll need to move to another location…”

Raon gave the two Demon Kings a rough explanation of the situation.

“I’ll come back after I’m done preparing, so stay here and wait for me.”

To gather those who were still able to fight, he stepped out of the ice cream shop.

Kuwaaaang!

Just as he was about to head toward the temporary treatment center, a massive explosion rang out from the direction of the central fountain.

“What was that?”

Raon widened his eyes and rushed toward the source of the blast.

Kugugugu…

Dust rose high from the ground, kicked up by a violent impact, and at the center of it stood a face far too familiar to mistake.

“H-head of house?!”

Glenn, who should’ve remained in Zieghart to prepare for any surprise attacks elsewhere, was standing on the shattered fountain, looking straight at him.

“Raon…”

Glenn let out a deep breath, as if the pressure in his chest had finally been released. He approached Raon, eyes heavy with exhaustion.

“I knew you’d pull through. And…”

With trembling arms and a voice filled with emotion, Glenn pulled Raon into a firm embrace.

“I’m so glad… you’re safe.”

 

 

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