The Reincarnated Assassin is a Genius Swordsman 1277

 Chapter 1277

 

The chilly wind born from the night came to a halt, and the brilliant starlight and moonlight pouring down from the heavens dimmed away.

Within the hollow silence of a world that seemed frozen solid, an immense pressure rose up, heavy enough to crush heaven and earth themselves.

The Heavenly Demon.

The absolute warrior upon whom the heavens themselves had bestowed the name “demon” strode forward with the overwhelming presence of a towering mountain, as though he alone existed upon this continent.

“Ghk!”

“Haaah…!”

Burren gasped for breath as he dropped to one knee, while Martha’s legs, which she had stubbornly forced to endure through sheer willpower, finally gave out beneath her.

“S-So this is the Heavenly Demon….”

"Ha! I-I can't believe it, but he's gotten even stronger."

Runaan raised the Snow Flower Sword with trembling hands, and Evelyn bent at the waist, biting her lip as though unable to comprehend what she was witnessing.

This was not a confrontation between human beings.

It was the difference in their very existence.

Even if the Heavenly Demon wore nothing but filthy rags while the swordsmen of Zieghart stood clad in luxurious silk uniforms, the gap between them could never be bridged. It was an absolute law of nature, as impossible to defy as the heavens pressing down upon the earth or the sea swallowing the land whole.

Like black ink spreading across white paper, the moment the Heavenly Demon revealed his true presence, darkness and unbearable heaviness spread through the world as though the gates of the abyss had opened.

The Heavenly Demon took another step forward.

There was no flashy entrance, no chaotic eruption of power, yet his existence alone overwhelmed everyone present, as though he had always stood at the center of this place from the very beginning.

Fwaaaaaaah!

The foul-smelling rags draped over the Heavenly Demon melted away into crimson combative energy, revealing a flawless body sculpted as though a martial god himself had crafted it with painstaking precision.

Ssssshhh—

A man wearing a lion mask and a woman clad in a tiger-shaped helmet appeared behind him, draping a coat dark as the night sky and a belt across the Heavenly Demon’s shoulders.

Chak!

Even with the swordsmen of Zieghart, his mortal enemies, standing before him, the Heavenly Demon leisurely adjusted his coat and fastened the belt around his waist with calm elegance, as though they were beneath even the slightest notice.

Everything fell silent, as if that very space existed solely for the sake of the Heavenly Demon.

After smoothing the pitch-black coat without leaving even a single wrinkle, the Heavenly Demon adjusted the crimson-black dragon helmet resting upon his head. The quiet gaze shining from within the helmet did not seem fixed on the present, but on some distant future, gleaming with a mysterious and almost sinister light.

His indifferent eyes, as though tempered through eternal ages and endless slaughter, made it feel undeniable that the entire world lay beneath his feet.

‘So this….’

Raon swallowed dryly as the pressure squeezing his heart tightened further.

‘…is the Heavenly Demon.’

This was completely different from standing beside Pride.

Now that the Heavenly Demon was directing his presence solely at me, a wave of pressure greater even than that of a Demon King crushed down upon my body.

‘He’s not even letting me open my mouth.’

The Heavenly Demon unleashed a terrifying combative energy, crushing both body and soul as though he had no intention of letting Raon speak at all. “Hngh!”

“Ugh….”

“Haa….”

Not only Burren and Martha, but even Runaan could do nothing except gasp for breath beneath the Heavenly Demon’s pressure.

‘What’s even scarier is….’

No one else was being affected.

This place was a slum where low-class laborers lived in shacks.

Countless people should have been sleeping nearby, yet not a single one woke up. If anything, they slept on peacefully, snoring away.

Which meant the Heavenly Demon was directing that absolute pressure at us, and only us.

‘So he’s testing whether we’re worthy.’

Finding him had merely been the beginning of the trial. As though to say the real test started here, the Heavenly Demon steadily increased the pressure bearing down upon them.

Insolent bastard!

Wrath furrowed his brow deeply as he glared at the Heavenly Demon.

He's nothing but Pride's toy, yet he delusionally acts as if he's the real deal!

Just being connected to Pride seemed enough to disgust him.

‘Hoo….’

Raon steadied his breathing internally and activated the Ring of Fire.

Wooooooong!

The moment all ten rings resonated together, the Heavenly Demon’s combative energy that had been squeezing both his body and soul began to loosen.

“Leader of Eden. Heavenly Demon.”

After firmly pushing back against the Heavenly Demon’s pressure that weighed upon him like the sky itself, Raon slowly opened his mouth.

“I came because there’s something I intend to settle with you.”

At this moment, he stood as Zieghart’s acting head of house. Without yielding even an inch before the Heavenly Demon, he straightened his back proudly.

His red eyes flashed with a spirit that refused to bow to anyone, not even the Heavenly Demon himself.

“……”

The Heavenly Demon raised one eyebrow, seemingly surprised that Raon had managed to force back his combative energy.

It felt as though the Heavenly Demon, who had shown little interest beyond hearing his name, was finally looking at him properly for the first time.

“Because you failed to control your subordinates, the Evil Goat Demon, Syria Sullion, and the Bear Alteration Demon moved against Zieghart and inflicted tremendous damage upon us. We came here to collect the blood debt they left behind.”

Despite the monstrous pressure bearing down on him, Raon calmly explained exactly why they had come to Eden.

“You were the one who said your duel to the death with the head of house would mark the beginning of the war. Yet your side broke that promise first. So now, you’ll answer for it.”

It was not merely property that had been destroyed.

Birdnew village had been massacred.

Raon lowered his head heavily as he declared they had come to claim payment in blood for the lives that had been lost.

“You speak the truth. A promise was made, and we were the first to break it. The fault lies with us.”

Honestly, it caught Raon off guard. Since the Heavenly Demon had once warned Glenn himself beforehand, Raon never expected him to admit fault this easily.

“However….”

The Heavenly Demon stopped nodding and lifted his cold gaze toward Raon.

“Only those with power have the right to speak such words.”

As if he were prepared to fight on the spot, he released an overwhelming surge of combative energy and took another step toward Raon.

Kugugugugugu!

Just that single step made it feel as though a bottomless abyss had opened before them. His absolute energy wave swallowed everything in its path, making it seem as though the sky, the earth, and even the sea were all sinking into an endless ocean of black ink

“Hmmggh.”

Raon swallowed dryly and placed a hand on Heavenly Drive.

‘He’s attacking already?’

Raon had expected the Heavenly Demon to make a move eventually, but he never imagined he would start fighting immediately. The unexpected development sent cold sweat running down his back.

“Killing you here would not be difficult.”

The Heavenly Demon halted the hand he had been about to extend toward Raon and lowered his chin slightly.

“But since you managed to find me, I should reward that much. Just one move.”

He raised a long, thick finger.

“If you can withstand a single punch from me, then I’ll hear what you have to say.”

The Heavenly Demon nodded calmly, declaring that if Raon could block his punch, he would acknowledge him and listen to his demands.

“What a joke.”

Raon let out a cold sneer.

“We came here to collect the debt for the disaster your side caused, and now you’re talking about testing me?”

He stomped down harshly in disbelief. The crimson-black combative energy spreading beneath the Heavenly Demon’s feet was instantly forced back by blazing golden flames.

“I know it’s complete bullshit, but fine.”

Biting his lip deeply, Raon drew Heavenly Drive and Wooden Ring Sword.

“I’ll shatter that arrogance of yours and collect the blood price for Birdnew village.”

He wanted to call the Heavenly Demon out for spouting nonsense, but words meant nothing to someone like him. The only way to even begin a conversation was to withstand his might.

“Come.”

Raon raised Heavenly Drive above his head and lowered Wooden Ring Sword beneath him. Taking the stance of heaven and earth, a posture capable of receiving any attack, he tilted his chin upward defiantly.

“Excellent spirit. You truly are Glenn Zieghart’s grandson.”

The Heavenly Demon nodded calmly, as though Raon genuinely resembled Glenn. The crimson-black combative energy gathered in his hand subsided slightly, as if he had genuinely intended to kill Raon immediately had he refused.

“First Form.”

The Heavenly Demon extended his left hand forward and drew his right fist back to his waist. The belt wrapped around him grew red-hot from the violent heat of his combative energy, releasing trails of gray smoke.

“Heavenly Hegemon.”

He spoke the name of the form and unleashed the fist he had drawn back.

‘Hup!’

Raon’s breath stopped.

The instant the Heavenly Demon threw his punch, sound and light vanished once more, leaving only his fist to consume the entire world.

The crimson-black energy pouring from it looked as though all the malice and combative energy in existence had been gathered and compressed into a single pillar proclaiming the existence of a demon god.

The fist strike surged toward Raon like a living creature. It was neither too fast nor too slow.

Yet within it existed an absolute power that annihilated everything before it, beside it, and behind it.

KUUUUUUUUNG!

The sky screamed.

From the once-dark sky, crimson lightning poured down like tears of blood, violently raking across the earth. The ground split apart with a shriek, and from the cracks burst flames overflowing with arrogance.

Raon’s fingertips trembled as he felt the world itself splitting apart from the aftershock of the punch alone.

‘If I make even the slightest mistake….’

I die.

The Heavenly Demon’s fist was real.

He truly intended to kill me.

‘There’s only one way….’

Raon pushed both the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation and Glacier to their utmost limits as he raised Heavenly Drive. He consciously relaxed his involuntarily tensed wrists, summoned every ounce of his willpower, and stepped forward with his left foot.

Fwoooosh!

Advancing straight toward the Heavenly Demon’s fist strike, the attack capable of shattering not only flesh and bone, but even the soul itself, he opened the world within his mind.

Inside that vast mental world, as expansive as the continent itself, countless swords rose all at once.

From the basic swordsmanship he had trained every single day since childhood, to the blazing sword techniques imbued with the flames of Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation, the freedom-filled Fangs of Insanity and Blizzard Sword Art, Heavenly Lightning of the Azure Sky that reflected Glenn’s life itself, and even the sword techniques he had forged on his own while crossing the boundary between life and death.

Every sword from both his previous life and his current one rose from the depths of his soul and overlapped with Heavenly Drive.

Wooooooooong!

The sword techniques that had lived alongside him flowed into Heavenly Drive, causing the silver blade to blaze with brilliant golden light.

“Sword Field Creation.”

Raon hurled himself directly into the Heavenly Demon’s fist strike and swung down Heavenly Drive, now burning with radiant golden brilliance.

“Genesis.”

Like the majestic moment when a new sky opened, endless waves of light erupted from the edge of Heavenly Drive.

KWAAAAAAAAAAANG!

Sword and fist.

Combative energy and aura.

Soul against soul.

The dark crimson combative energy and golden aura refused to merge, burning against each other like water and oil as they formed a massive vortex.

Tzzzzzzzzzz!

In the end, the earth could no longer withstand the sheer force of the clash. The ground collapsed beneath it, and pitch-black cracks spread across the sky itself.

“Khgh!”

Raon bent over and coughed up pitch-black blood.

He had confronted the Heavenly Demon’s fist strike with everything he had, but defeat was inevitable from the very beginning.

He had been overwhelmed in might, in willpower, and even in the authority of Demon King.

Step.

The Heavenly Demon approached, maintaining the same calm gaze as before, as though this outcome had been obvious from the start. The sound of his quiet footsteps resembled a grim reaper dragging chains behind him.

“In my world, there is only one person who can stand before me with his head held high.”

The Heavenly Demon arrogantly tilted his chin, as though anyone besides Glenn could only ever lose to him.

“However….”

For the first time, the corners of his rigid lips curved faintly upward.

“You, too, have earned the right to stand before him.”

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