The Reincarnated Assassin is a Genius Swordsman 1215

 Chapter 1215

 

‘I kept failing.’

Raon slowly closed his eyes as he recalled the countless times he had failed to form the tenth ring.

‘I made it past the halfway point, but I never even got close to completion.’

Even with Glenn’s support back at Zieghart, every attempt to form the ring had ended in failure.

If I had continued refining the ring in Zieghart, I might have been on the verge of completion by now.

‘But…’

Ever since I set this plan in motion, I hadn’t attempted to form the ring even once.

Even while sleeping, I kept the Ring of Fire spinning, yet I never dared challenge the creation of the tenth ring.

Out of fear that a needless failure might cause trouble, I had forbidden myself from attempting it at all.

To be honest, my actual amount of practice was insufficient. The probability of failure was too high, and the certainty that Derus Robert would discover my identity the moment I failed caused shivers to run down my spine.

‘It’s dangerous. No doubt about that.’

Raon slowly steadied his breathing and opened his eyes. He looked at the hand Derus held out, infusing his blue "Jilpen" eyes with desire and anticipation.

‘But if I don’t take that hand, I die right here.’

If I didn’t take Derus’s hand, the man’s suspicion would turn into certainty, and my head would be blown apart.

The only option left was to break past the wall and complete all ten rings.

‘Still… this doesn’t feel bad.’

One misstep would mean death, yet oddly enough, my heart was calm. I couldn’t explain why, but I felt certain, almost instinctively, that it would work. Before I realized it, a faint, natural smile had formed on my lips.

Hah! You’re smiling in a situation like this?

Wrath scoffed in disbelief.

You truly are a deranged thrill-seeker! You always insist on doing everything only when it’s the real thing, when your life’s on the line!

Grumbling that his own heart was pounding itself to death just watching, he grabbed Raon by the shoulders and shook him.

‘It’s fine.’

Raon waved his hand lightly, still smiling.

‘For some reason, I feel like it’ll work. And besides…’

He extended his hand toward Derus Robert and gave a small nod.

‘I may not have formed the tenth ring, but ever since I came here, I’ve never stopped the rotation of the nine rings even once.’

Because I had resonated the Ring of Fire to form the false soul called Jilpen, I had kept the rings spinning constantly, ever since the Land of Clouds, even before arriving in Heaven.

This was the first time I had ever kept the rings from stopping for so long, and now they felt as familiar as if they were a part of my own body.

“Now then, take my hand and make your wish, to become a Transcender.”

Derus Robert wore a gentle smile, but his eyes made it clear he would tolerate no further delay.

“Of course! If it’s for revenge!”

Resonating the nine rings, Raon grasped Derus Robert’s pure white hand.

Sssssss—

Unlike his warm smile, Derus’s hand was ice-cold. But the real problem wasn’t the cold, it was the soul that surged into him the moment they made contact.

‘So he’s really not holding back, he’s pushing straight in, like he assumes I’m completely beneath him.’

Derus Robert clearly had no intention of wasting time. He immediately drove his own soul forward, forcing his way in to inspect Raon’s.

‘I’ll block it. No, completely conceal everything.’

The instant Derus’s soul began to burrow into his body, Raon forced the nine rings into full resonance.

Wooooooong!

The rings, now as familiar as his own limbs, began spinning with magma-like heat, and the flow of time itself slowed to a crawl.

Sssss—

Even Derus Robert’s soul, which was forcing its way inward to examine me, began to slow. As expected, the Ring of Fire was an ancient martial art without equal, nothing could truly keep pace with it.

‘This is it. And I only get one chance.’

Fitting for a monster chasing closely behind Glenn, Derus Robert was still moving at an astonishing speed, even within this extreme, time-slowed world created by the Ring of Fire.

From the way Derus’s soul was already seeping into him, Raon knew this wasn’t something he could retry, he would have exactly one chance to form the tenth ring.

‘Let’s begin.’

Raon ignited a brilliant light, drawing forth a new flame in the narrow gap between the nine rotating rings.

The heat was as thin as a candle flame, slow, yet unwavering as it rose straight upward, gradually carving out a space of its own.

‘The rings… feel slower.’

Sensing a change in their motion, Raon let out a quiet breath of surprise.

‘No. That’s not it. The rings haven’t slowed, I have changed.’

Focusing more carefully, he realized the truth. The nine rings had not slowed down even slightly. If anything, they were spinning faster than before.

The difference was not in the rings themselves, but in him.

Because he had never stopped their rotation, not even for a single moment, he had become far more accustomed to their movement. What once felt overwhelmingly fast now felt readable, almost natural, as though the rings’ rotation had finally synchronized with his perception.

‘If it’s now…’

As though he were glimpsing the future itself, Raon precisely read every subtle movement of the nine violently rotating rings and began refining the tenth ring without a single misstep.

Fwoooooosh!

In an instant, the tenth ring surged past the halfway point. The nine rings spun even faster, as if trying to interfere, but Raon anticipated every shift in their motion and drew forth denser, deeper golden flames to complete the remaining half.

‘Now the final... Hmm?’

The progress was far faster than when he trained in Zieghart.

He was confident of success, having only a quarter left to complete in the time it usually took to make half a ring.

Chiiiiiiik!

Derus Robert’s cold yet colossal soul suddenly burst forward, passing through Raon’s body in an instant and closing in directly on his soul.

‘He’s this fast?’

The refinement of the tenth ring was progressing far more smoothly than expected, but Derus Robert’s soul was also far stronger than Raon had anticipated. It seemed that, in this short span of time, Derus himself had grown once more.

‘What do I do?’

If I were given even a brief moment more, I was confident I could complete the tenth ring.

But before that could happen, Derus Robert’s soul would undoubtedly see through the false soul formed by the nine rings.

‘Damn it! If I just had a little more time…’

The overwhelming pressure of Derus Robert’s massive soul shook even Raon’s focus. For the first time, the movement of the tenth ring faltered and stiffened.

‘The timing might be off, but I’ll have to force it through here—'

Haa…

Just as Raon clenched his fist and tried to pour every last shred of focus into the refinement, Wrath’s sigh echoed out.

Honestly… you really can’t do anything without the King of Essence.

Shaking his head as if Raon were hopeless, he continued.

The King of Essence was planning to stay out of this, but that bastard truly disgusts him.

He wrinkled the bridge of his nose, glaring down at Derus Robert.

Very well. He’ll help you, this will be the last time!

The moment he said that, time slowed even further, and the speed at which Derus’s soul advanced was cut in half.

N-now!

Even for the Monarch of Wrath, affecting another’s soul while in a spiritual state was no easy feat. Sweat poured down Wrath’s forehead in streams.

‘Thank you.’

Raon expressed his gratitude and refocused on the movement of the Rings.

Using the fleeting moment his friend had bought him, he steadied the wavering flames and devoted himself fully to the final refinement.

Chiaaaaaa!

The nine rings spun sharply like blades, drawing a final line of defense as if they would absolutely not accept the new ring.

‘Even so, I’m going.’

There was no room to waste the time Wrath had carved out for him.

He found a single opening, narrower than a needle’s eye, thinner than a strand of hair, and fired the spiral of flame straight into it.

Paaaaaang!

The time bought by Wrath’s soul ended, and Derus Robert’s soul reached out toward Raon’s soul.

Shraaaaaash!

At the same time, the nine rings flared with crimson light, spinning violently as if in outright rebellion, blocking the final connection of the tenth ring.

‘The path was already visible.’

With a level of focus he had never reached before, Raon connected the beginning and the end of the tenth ring, what he had always failed to bridge until now.

Wooooooong!

The instant the tenth ring was completed, an overwhelming explosion erupted within him, not in his body, but deep inside his soul, as vast and violent as the birth of a universe itself.

*   *   *

“Hm…”

Derus Robert narrowed his eyes as he examined Jilpen’s soul.

‘Envy and a thirst for revenge, an intense craving for power, and fear of being looked down on?’

Just as he appeared, and just as Srude had reported, the human named Jilpen was a boar who, after being bullied and scorned since childhood, had come to pursue nothing but strength.

‘Still… something feels off.’

There had been nothing particularly odd in Srude’s report, yet the unease I felt was unmistakably familiar, the same subtle, hard-to-define sensation I had felt when I faced Raon Zieghart.

Just in case, I had come all the way here to inspect him personally, yet there was still nothing unusual.

‘I did feel something odd for a brief moment, like time itself twisted slightly…’

As I moved my soul to examine Jilpen’s, there had been an instant where time seemed to stutter, as if it were briefly severed.

But that was hardly strange. I was using an avatar body at the moment, so something like that could easily happen.

‘Shall I check again?’

Just to be sure, he examined Jilpen’s soul from beginning to end once more. Even then, he found nothing unusual. No, there was one notable point.

‘His craving for power is far too strong.’

Among all the humans who had come to Heaven so far, Jilpen’s craving for power and revenge was unmatched.

Even now, his soul was crying out for strength, demanding power so that he could carry out his revenge. With emotions this extreme, it was easy to understand how he had been able to grow at such speed, and even managed to crush a celestial.

‘This might be usable.’

If I make use of his obsession with power, his desire for revenge against humanity, and his greed… I could create a new Transcender for my force.

‘Of course, he won’t last long.’

Forcibly transforming a human into a Transcender would inevitably consume both lifespan and soul at a terrifying pace. Still, as long as he lasted until the war, that would be enough. In that sense, he would be useful.

"You possess a clean and upright soul."

Derus Robert nodded gently, wearing a fresh, pleasant smile as he looked at Jilpen.

“Your wish has ascended the Tower of Babel and reached the divine land.”

He brought his hands together, speaking as though Jilpen’s wish had already climbed the Tower of Babel and been delivered to the divine land beyond Heaven.

"So, when is this archangel bastard coming down?"

Jilpen irritably chewed on his lips, demanding to know why the archangel still hadn’t appeared. When Derus saw him plainly revealing the same stupidity and impatience as the soul he had directly examined, the little suspicion that remained vanished as if washed away.

“The god has heard your wish and will soon send down an archangel. Please, just wait a little longer.”

Derus Robert told him to endure just a little longer and smiled softly.

“Why is there so much waiting here!”

Jilpen scowled in frustration, stomping his foot like a street thug throwing a tantrum.

“Believer.”

Derus Robert filled in the ground Jilpen had damaged and wore a benevolent smile.

“There is a proposal I would like to make to you.”

*   *   *

“A proposal?”

Raon frowned as he looked at Derus Robert.

“What kind of proposal?”

He answered while gazing up at the sky that his tower had pierced, as if he had little interest. In truth, his heart was pounding so violently it felt as though it might burst.

‘It really was a paper-thin margin.’

Raon clenched his fist, sensing the Ring of Fire spinning silently within him.

Chiaaaaaang!

Ten rings. The ten rings of fire he had long desired spun together at once, forming a small sun above his heart.

That intense heat flickered and poured forth golden light as if it would engulf not only his soul, but this entire world.

“Even Derus’s soul couldn’t get through.”

Even the insidious and massive soul of Derus Robert, the same soul that had once shocked Darkan, failed to pierce the Ring of Fire, merely sweeping across the outer, fabricated soul Raon had created.

As expected, the ten-star Ring of Fire possessed power so extraordinary that even Derus Robert could not perceive it.

‘Power is overflowing.’

Raon twisted his lips upward as he felt strength erupt throughout his entire body.

‘It feels like I could do anything.’

The physical strength, aura, and soul,  things he had possessed from the beginning, felt more vivid than ever. At this moment, it seemed he could unfold every martial art he had only ever envisioned in his mind.

Hngh…

Wrath appeared with cheeks sunken as if he had gone hungry for a week.

G-give thanks to the King of Essence! If it weren’t for him, you’d have been dead long ago!

He scowled, insisting that Raon was only alive because of his help.

‘That’s true.’

Raon nodded with a faint smile.

‘Thank you. My friend.’

The time Wrath had bought him was so brief it could barely be called a moment.

But the situation had been so dire that without even that brief help, he would not have made it in time.

He offered sincere thanks to the friend who always helped him without demanding anything in return.

Cough, cough!

Wrath let out a dry cough, looking utterly exhausted.

Hmph! He has already repaid the debt for all the food you let him eat here.

He snorted, saying that by helping just now, he had paid back the favor of being allowed to eat whatever he wanted in the Clouded Land and in Heaven.

‘Is that so?’

Raon let out a short chuckle. It seemed Wrath didn’t want his help to feel like a burden to the one who had called him a friend. Once this was over, Raon felt he should buy him everything he wanted to eat.

“How would you like to work in Heaven after you’ve finished your revenge?”

Derus Robert tilted his chin slightly, suggesting that Raon work in Heaven.

“Everything you desire will be placed in your arms.”

He smiled refreshingly, implying he could grant any wish.

“Hmm.”

Raon narrowed his eyes slightly, as though giving it some thought

‘So this is how he plans to use me.’

Derus Robert wasn’t intending to turn Jilpen into a one-time, disposable Transcender. He was planning to make him into a semi-permanent monster and deploy him in the war that would take place within a year. Of course, he would be discarded after that.

“Everything I desire, huh…”

Raon smacked his lips on purpose, carefully acting the part of Jilpen, who was drunk on desire.

“I’ll think about it after I meet the archangel! That’s what matters most to me right now!”

He spouted the kind of answer Jilpen would give without hesitation and lifted his gaze back to the sky.

"As you wish."

Derus Robert nodded calmly, as though he could wait as long as needed.

Whoooooosh!

As though his nod were a signal, multicolored light burst forth from the split sky above.

‘From here on…’

Raon tightened his fingers and let a sharp smile flicker across his face. Though his expression brimmed with anticipation, the thoughts behind it were utterly different from what anyone else imagined.

‘This is where it truly begins.’

 

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