The Reincarnated Assassin is a Genius Swordsman 1126

 Chapter 1126

 

Crackle!

Rector took a deep breath as he watched the archangel Ramiel fall, wrapped in lightning.

‘His body moves as if it’s become one with the lightning.’

Ever since Ramiel cloaked himself in lightning, his movements had become so fast that they could no longer be followed with the naked eye.

Because he pursued the versatile sword, he was also skilled in the swift sword, yet even with his fast strikes, it was difficult to track Ramiel.

‘The right side?’

He sensed Ramiel’s killing intent near his right collarbone. In haste, he swung his sword, blocking the lightning-charged fist that came crashing in.

Claaang!

The moment his sword met the lightning-wrapped fist, an impact struck him so strong it felt as though his shoulder and forearm would shatter.

‘Khuh!’

Rector bit his lip, suppressing the scream erupting from his soul.

‘This is dangerous….’

An unbearable pain radiated from my right arm, the one that had already been wounded before while saving Mustan from Ramiel. The strength nearly drained from my hand, and I almost dropped my sword.

Crackle!

Looking down at his arm, now blackened like an overripe banana, Rector bit his lip hard.

‘My arm won’t move properly.’

Ramiel’s lightning remained embedded in my arm like thorns. When I tried to force it out with aura, it only dug in deeper, intensifying the pain.

‘Still, no matter what….’

Just as Rector braced himself for serious aftereffects and tried to erase the lightning lodged in his arm—

Bzzzzzt!

Ramiel appeared behind him at a speed too fast to react to.

‘Where is he aiming?’

The bastard’s speed was so overwhelming, and he had hidden his presence so completely, that I couldn’t tell where the strike was coming from. With no time to spare, I had to choose one spot to defend.

‘His pride must’ve been wounded when I blocked his first attack. That means….’

He’s trying to kill me with this one.

Rector lowered his sword and positioned it in front of his heart. Fortunately, his prediction was correct, Ramiel’s lightning-coated fist came thrusting straight toward the blade.

Boom!

The instant Rector blocked the blow, a massive shock sent his body staggering backward like a sheet of paper caught in a storm.

His arm seemed to have lost all sensation, he could only feel that he was forcibly gripping the sword.

‘Is this the end.’

The lightning outside and inside his body clashed, leaving his right arm immobile. It really felt like the final moment.

“Master!”

As Rector clenched his teeth, Mustan shouted, as if trying to push away the lightning with his voice. His trembling hands reached toward Rector, begging him to survive and come back alive.

“Old man! Get a grip!”

Even Lawrence, who usually wore an expression of boredom, raised his fist, his eyes burning.

‘Right. It’s not over yet.’

Rector lifted his trembling head, blood-stained lips curling into a faint smile.

‘I have to keep those two alive.’

Even if I were to die here, my disciple Mustan and Lawrence, whom I treated like a younger brother, had to survive and escape this land no matter what.

‘Besides, I can’t die yet. It’s been so long since I’ve seen my precious grandchildren’s faces!’

I had attacked Derus’ forces and gathered countless pieces of information about the celestials. I couldn’t fall before delivering that information to Raon, and before seeing that boy’s smile again.

‘But holding out like this is impossible.’

Realistically, the difference between me, barely holding my ground, and Ramiel, whose power kept surging, was overwhelming. Even at my best, he outmatched me. I had to make a cold, clear decision now.

‘I’ll give up my right arm.’

He resolved to throw away his right arm, which could no longer move properly and would never recover, and vowed to tear apart Ramiel’s heart. Turning his body, he gripped his sword with his left hand.

Crackle!

Just as expected, Ramiel appeared in midair and brought his hand blade down toward Rector’s right arm.

The attack was so fast it was impossible to block even knowing it was coming, yet Rector didn’t retreat, he simply offered his arm.

Kuwaaaaa!

The pain didn’t vanish, it multiplied, spreading through his mind like a storm. The agony was so great that it was hard to stay conscious.

‘Endure it!’

But it wasn’t enough to break his will.

“Khrrr!”

Grinding his teeth until they nearly cracked, Rector thrust his left-hand sword toward the sneering Ramiel.

‘What matters to a swordsman isn’t the hand.’

For those who had reached Transcendence, the most important thing was an unyielding will and the intent built upon their sword. Losing one arm was nowhere near enough to make me fall.

Rumbleeeee!

Rector unleashed all the aura and will he had built up over his lifetime, breaking through the lightning shield and driving his sword into Ramiel’s left chest.

Crraaaack!

Ramiel’s flesh and bones crumbled beneath the blade, and blood shimmering faintly with light gushed out.

“Aaaargh!”

He screamed like a man feeling pain for the first time since birth, lightning exploding outward from his body.

‘Damn it….’

Rector bit his swollen lips hard.

‘It didn’t go in deep enough.’

I’d managed to drive my sword into Ramiel’s chest, but because of the massive lightning he unleashed, I couldn’t fully split or shatter his heart. It was only half a success.

“This vermin!”

Ramiel grabbed the blade stuck in his chest, wrapping his hand in lightning to pull it out.

However, because the aura-wreathed sword was embedded in his heart, Ramiel seemed unable to use his full power, the streams of lightning were noticeably thinner than before.

“Don’t you dare!”

Rector shouted, refusing to let go, and stepped forward. He pushed off the ground and thrust his left arm, and the sword, deeper forward.

Squelch!

The bluely gleaming blade went deeper into Ramiel's chest, and bright red blood spewed from his mouth.

“Kkeueueuk!”

Ramiel let out a deep groan and bent forward. Whether from the pain or exhaustion, the strength in his hand gripping the blade began to weaken.

‘Now. I have to kill him now!’

Rector twisted his body, about to slice through Ramiel entirely with the sword lodged in his chest—

Crack!

But Ramiel seemed to regain his senses and tightened his grip on the blade again. Brilliant yellow lightning flared across the back of his hand, and a terrifying power surged through it.

‘He still has this much strength left?’

Even with his chest split open, he was producing this level of power. If he had been uninjured, I’d already be dead.

“You wretched insect!”

Ramiel glared at Rector, grinding his teeth, declaring he’d tear that pitiful body apart as he gripped the blade buried in his chest so tightly it was about to snap.

“Ugh….”

Rector gasped, horrified by the monstrous strength surging through his left arm from Ramiel.

‘Is his physical ability itself different from a human's?’

I had thrust the sword in with all the strength I could muster, yet he, despite his ruined heart, was resisting it. It felt less like stabbing a man and more like trying to pierce a mountain.

‘Still, I can’t let go!’

I had already poured an enormous amount of aura and will into breaking through his defenses.

If I lost him now, both Mustan and Lawrence would die without a doubt. Ironically, to survive, I had to hold on with everything I had, even if it killed me.

“Haaaaaah!”

Rector roared, bending his knees and using the rebound of his whole body, not just his arm, to drive the sword half a finger deeper into Ramiel’s chest.

‘I have to finish him while he’s weakened.’

His heart was already half destroyed.

If he were an ordinary human, he would have been dead long ago. But he was an archangel. The most I had achieved was preventing him from using his true power.

“Just get lost already! You damn leech!”

Ramiel swung his fist and smashed it into Rector’s face.

Thud!

The sound was like a rock exploding, but Rector didn’t let go. Instead, he smiled.

“You’ve grown weaker. If it were your full strength, my head would’ve been gone.”

Rector twisted his lips into a sneer and poured more aura into his blade. The energy surrounding it spread wider, splitting Ramiel’s flesh and bones as blood and pus burst out.

“Gaaaahhh!”

Ramiel screamed in pain once more as the agony surged back, pounding Rector’s waist with his fist.

“That alone won’t be enough to bring me down.”

Rector twisted his blood-soaked lips into a faint smile as he kept twisting the sword.

“Grrraaagh!”

Ramiel’s whole body trembled as his regenerating flesh and bones burst open once more. His once-glorious wings, soaked in blood, began to sag and sink.

“A mere human…”

He glared at Rector with eyes blazing red-hot.

“A mere human dares to defy a celestial?!”

Grinding his teeth, Ramiel raised his free hand toward the sky.

“I’ll deliver true divine punishment upon you!”

The moment he brought his hand down, crimson lightning rained from the sky.

Kwooooom!

The crimson lightning poured down like a storm, engulfing not only Rector but also Ramiel himself in a massive explosion.

“Khuhhh!”

Rector coughed up blood and dropped to one knee. Having taken the lightning directly, his skin had charred black.

“Heh…”

Ramiel, too, seemed unable to completely avoid the blast, blood dripped from his mouth. But seeing Rector writhing in greater pain, he smirked.

“No mere human could possibly withstand heaven’s punishment.”

He nodded, as if satisfied by the outcome he had expected.

“Y-You're taking damage too, aren't you?”

Rector drew a ragged breath, staring at Ramiel’s scorched skin.

“Of course. I can’t completely avoid my own lightning either. But…”

Ramiel tilted his chin upward and let out a mocking laugh.

“I have strong resistance to divine power. The one who dies first will be you!”

He raised his hand again, declaring that this level of lightning was nothing for him to endure.

Rumble…!

At his gesture, an even greater bolt of lightning tore through the clouds above.

“Grrraaahhh!”

Rector gritted his teeth and drove his sword deeper into Ramiel’s heart.

But his grip on the blade was too strong, once again, Rector couldn’t push it all the way through.

“Khuhuhu…”

Ramiel let out a sinister laugh, as if he’d grown accustomed to the pain, and called down another lightning strike.

Kuwaaaaaaang!

As the lightning fell like a thrown spear, Rector clenched his jaw tight.

‘Damn it…’

There’s no way to dodge or block that!

To block it, I’d have to release the aura that was holding Ramiel down. But if I did, he’d immediately heal the wound in his chest, gain distance, and kill me easily.

Even if I died being struck by that lightning, I couldn’t back down.

‘Endure it! That bastard’s close to his limit too!’

Just as he braced himself to withstand the bolt—

Chiiiiiing!

Two shadows rose above his head.

Kwooooom!

It was Mustan and Lawrence. The two of them had raised their sword and fists toward the sky, unleashing their own ultimate techniques against Ramiel’s descending lightning.

Kuwaaaaaang!

Mustan and Lawrence's aura clashed with Ramiel's lightning, and a pitch-black fissure opened up, as if connecting sky and earth.

But unlike with Rector, the lightning began swallowing their auras and pushing downward toward the ground.

“Urrgh!”

Mustan’s arms trembled violently as he struggled to hold his sword against the crushing pressure of the lightning.

“Hold it!”

Lawrence tried to redirect Ramiel’s lightning using the Tide Reversal, but since the attack was divine power rather than the bloody energy he’d studied, it clearly wasn’t working well.

“Ah…”

Rector widened his eyes in shock. He never imagined those two would throw themselves into this fight.

“G-get back! You can’t stop that!”

He shook his head urgently, telling them to retreat.

“Master, would you have stepped back?”

“Yeah! You’d have done the same thing, old man!”

Mustan and Lawrence stood their ground, teeth clenched, refusing to move as they faced the lightning head-on.

Whoooosh!

Perhaps because their desperate will resonated, the lightning finally lost its strength and faded away right before Rector’s eyes.

“Even when insects gather, they’re still just insects!”

Ramiel bared his white teeth, genuinely enraged that Mustan and Lawrence,whom he’d considered insects, had interfered.

“I’ll burn you all to ashes!”

As he lowered his hand again, dozens of lightning bolts poured down from the sky.

“Block only the right flank! I’ll handle the center and left somehow!”

Lawrence shouted his command to Mustan, spreading his arms wide to block the rain of lightning with his body.

Kuwaaaaaang!

His long hair burned, his skin scorched, yet he did not retreat before the storming bolts.

“Old man…”

Lawrence turned his eyes toward Rector, curling his lip into a faint smile.

“Don’t worry about us, just fight to the end!”

He nodded, urging me to press forward.

“Uaaaahhhh!”

Mustan, with no strength left for words, roared as if to cheer Rector on.

“Thank you…”

Rector nodded and focused his aura into his sword.

‘If I lose here… I’m nothing but trash.’

Watching Mustan and Lawrence hold back the lightning with such desperate conviction, something within me stirred. My versatile sword, long stagnant, suddenly trembled with a shock unlike anything I had felt before.

A new understanding of the sword. My mind, no, my entire being, sharpened, as though my whole body had become one with the sword. And the path of the sword that allowed my left hand to move as skillfully as my right became clear.

Woooong!

As Rector focused on his current enlightenment, the aura in his sword pierced the blazing divine power and began to dig into Ramiel's heart.

“Huh…?”

Ramiel’s jaw quivered as he felt the cold sensation of steel cutting deep into his heart.

“Y-you bastard!”

Sensing death creeping upon him, Ramiel unleashed his vitality, the source of his life. Eight wings burst open behind his back, and golden lightning exploded outward in all directions.

Kuwaaaaaaaaaang!

The largest lightning bolt yet exploded, violently throwing Mustan and Lawrence, who were blocking the lightning, into the cracked ground.

Peo-eoeoeok!

Rector, too, received a great shock while internalizing his enlightenment, vomited black blood, and doubled over.

But even as the lightning burned through his body, he refused to release the sword buried in Ramiel’s chest.

“A mere human… I never thought you’d force out my true power.”

Ramiel gnashed his teeth, looking at the eight fully spread wings behind him.

“As payment, I’ll kill you in the most miserable way possible!”

He muttered that he wouldn’t grant an easy death, and stretched out the hand crackling with lightning.

Paaah!

Rector’s chest was split open, and blood burst out. He finally let go of the hand gripping the sword and collapsed on the spot.

“Khugh…”

The skin of his left palm had torn away, exposing red flesh, marks of his will that refused to let go of the sword to the very end.

“You stubborn bastard.”

Ramiel frowned deeply as he saw the imprint of his grip on the sword’s hilt.

“First I should let you taste my pain. I’ll tear out your ribs one by one.”

Ramiel reached out, grabbing Rector by the collar to lift him—

Piiiiing!

A small swallow appeared in the pitch-black sky where the lightning swirled.

“A swallow?”

Ramiel frowned and fixed his gaze on the bird.

Ssssht—

A red line was drawn across his neck, right above the hand gripping Rector’s collar.

Paaaargh!

The red line drawn on Ramiel's neck exploded with bright red heat, and his body, split in half, was thrown backward.

“Y-you...”

Rector looked at the swordsman's face in front of him, the one who had cut Ramiel's neck, and his jaw trembled.

“Why are you here...?”

“Please rest for a moment.”

The swordsman lowered his hand, as a holy black energy rose, the wounds on Rector’s chest and shoulder slowly began to heal.

After finishing the temporary treatment, he carefully set Rector down.

“Hah...”

Rector let out a hollow breath as he felt the lightning that had been tormenting his whole body mostly erased.

“Blond hair, red eyes. You’re the one Derus mentioned...”

“Shut your mouth.”

Raon Zieghart, the master of the Light Wind Palace, the greatest talent of all time who had earned the nickname of Sword Emperor through his own ability, stomped on the golden lightning, his eyes flashing coldly.

“Because from now on, I'm going to show you just who you messed with.”

 

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