Chapter 258
“Damn it, he's a real monster.”
Gritting his teeth, Russ forced himself up again, steadying his stance. Tassid also raised his Dakar, once more. Taking a deep breath, the two exchanged glances, silently communicating their intent.
‘Close combat is absolutely hopeless!’
‘But for some reason, his Aura manipulation is simple. In that case...’
Russ and Tassid simultaneously leaped backward. Putting more than dozens of meters between them, they swung their sword and blade through the air.
“Seven Stars!”
“Wolf Fang!”
Since fighting up close was out of the question, their plan was to seize the advantage by attacking from mid-to-long range with Aura. Seven blue stars shimmered, turning into seven streaking meteors, while a menacing turquoise Aura took the shape of fangs, tearing through the air.
Watching the streaking light of the incoming long-range Aura, Banatel smirked.
‘They sure have a knack for this.’
He, for one, couldn’t pull off something like that. Of course, given his overwhelming Aura reserves, he could at least separate and condense Aura in midair. But to keep the detached Aura under complete control and maximize its destructive power? Honestly, from his perspective, he had no idea how they even managed such a feat.
‘Not that it matters.’
Banatel let out a relaxed chuckle and extended his sword. A crimson Blade Aura surged forward.
Couldn’t launch Aura beyond 100 meters?
Then the solution was simple, just extend Blade Aura to 100 meters!
Woooom!
The crimson Blade Aura shot outward, effortlessly shattering Russ’s Seven Stars and Tassid’s Wolf Fang, all while still reaching the two men far in the distance. Shocked, they frantically dodged the oncoming blade.
Tassid clenched his buckteeth hard.
“This is absolute bullshit!”
With just a flick of Banatel’s wrist, destruction erupted dozens of meters away. The term “100 meters” was meaningless at this point, this was already on the scale of a natural disaster. Wherever Banatel’s extreme-range Blade Aura swept through, the air split apart, storms churned, and the very ground peeled away and rose into the air.
It was often said that a true master could stir the winds and clouds with a single sword. But Banatel wasn’t just causing wind and clouds to stir, his sheer destructive power was so overwhelming that the turbulence came as a side effect.
Russ gritted his teeth.
“Ah, fuck! If you’re a Sword Star, then fight like one and use some mystical techniques, damn it!”
If they could at least copy his techniques, they might have found a way to counterattack... But he was simply overwhelming them with sheer, absolute Aura. There was no answer to that.
Russ and Tassid moved their feet as swiftly as possible, narrowly dodging the relentless attacks. Fortunately, since the attacks themselves were straightforward, they could just barely find openings despite their devastating range. Both of them were hailed as prodigies among their respective races, not only in offense but also in their evasive footwork and keen perception.
“This isn’t working! Tassid! Close combat is actually better!”
“So be it, Russ!”
Dodging another attack, the two once again attempted to close the distance. They flanked Banatel from both sides, unleashing long arcs of Blade Aura. Russ’s Blade Aura curved like a whip, striking toward Banatel’s left flank, while Tassid’s Dakar slashed through the air, surging toward his right thigh.
However, this time, Banatel wasn’t going to let their attacks land so easily.
“Hmph!”
A crimson blaze erupted from his entire body, he had deployed an Aura Guard. Normally, an Aura Guard was concentrated at a single point to block an incoming attack. However, with how erratic and intricate Russ and Tassid’s assaults were, there was no way to predict where they would strike. So Banatel simply covered his entire body in Aura Guard.
It was still a simple and inefficient method, but the sheer amount of Aura he possessed made up for everything. With pure overwhelming force, every single attack was neutralized.
Russ and Tassid continued stepping around him in constant motion. The moment they stopped, they knew Banatel’s monstrous attacks would strike down on them, leaving them no choice but to keep moving.
Watching them dart around him, Banatel scowled.
“Stop scurrying around like that! Are you mosquitoes?”
He bellowed and clenched his fist in midair. He was using the power of Aura to impose his will upon objects, a technique known as Spiritual Psychokinesis
It was a basic skill any Aura User could employ, usually for retrieving distant weapons or manipulating small objects. However...
Gooooo!
The air itself trembled as a massive, translucent hand loomed over Russ and Tassid. Normally, Spiritual Psychokinesis was invisible, but the sheer amount of force within it distorted the air, making its presence physically visible, like how light reveals swirling dust in a sunbeam.
“Ugh!”
“Damn it! My body...!”
Caught in Banatel’s Spiritual Psychokinesis, their movements were momentarily restricted. Suspended midair, both of them struggled in alarm.
Banatel casually flicked his fingers toward them.
BOOM!
The shockwave blasted through the air, erupting into two explosions in the sky. Bloodied and battered, Russ and Tassid plummeted to the ground. As the two staggered, Banatel smiled leisurely.
“You sure scurried around well enough, but it was pointless in the end. Heretics.”
Then, it happened.
As Russ was falling, he suddenly twisted midair, landing smoothly. Taking a stance for a horizontal slash, he muttered coldly and swung his sword.
“Void Sword, Horizon!”
A flash of blue Blade Aura flickered and disappeared from sight. At the same time, a streak of light burst from Banatel’s nape.
Banatel’s body jerked violently. For the first time, a groan escaped his lips. A crimson spray of blood followed.
“Kh…?”
The ten Aura Users watching the fight widened their eyes in horror.
“What the hell was that?”
“Huh?”
“What did that bastard just do?”
They were too stunned to form coherent sentences. That young man had not only cut across a distance of dozens of meters, but he had also ignored Banatel’s monstrous Aura Guard and injured the body of a Sword Star!
Even Banatel himself was dumbfounded.
“Huh…?”
Still dazed, he instinctively raised his hand to cover the wound on his neck. Even though he pressed down on it, blood continued to seep through his fingers.
For the first time in ten years, he was seeing his own blood.
And the wound was by no means shallow. The strike had cleanly sliced through his carotid artery.
A dumbfounded voice escaped the old man’s lips.
“This… What in the world…?”
His Aura Guard had been up.
His body had been fortified to an impenetrable degree.
And yet… The attack hadn’t shattered the Aura Guard, it had simply ignored it and cut him directly? It wasn’t a matter of redirecting Aura to exploit an opening. His entire body had been sealed airtight in defense.
“…Hmm.”
With a hardened expression, Banatel controlled his Aura to staunch the bleeding. If he hadn’t been an Aura User, that single strike would have sent him straight to the afterlife.
“…What did he do?”
Russ collapsed to one knee, letting out a sigh of frustration.
“Damn it… It landed perfectly…”
His ultimate move, Void Sword, which transcended space itself, had struck true. Honestly, Russ wasn’t even sure if he could pull it off again, it had been executed flawlessly.
Under normal circumstances, Banatel’s head should have been severed in a single strike.
The problem was that Void Sword wasn’t powerful enough to penetrate Banatel’s Passive Aura.
“Blocked… by mere Passive Aura, not even an Aura Guard…?”
Russ let out a sigh of disbelief.
Banatel’s expression darkened. A furious roar burst from his lips.
“You bastard! I cannot allow you to live!”
* * *
Seeing his own blood, Banatel erupted in fury, slamming his foot into the ground. The earth trembled as his Sword Star-exclusive Aura Wave surged, a monstrous tidal wave of Aura that engulfed Russ and Tassid.
Bloodied and battered, the two were swept away by the devastating wave.
“Ugh…”
“Damn it…”
Collapsing onto the shattered ground, both men groaned in agony. Tassid barely managed to lift his head, but that was all he could do. His body refused to move.
It felt like every bone in his body had been crushed. Strength left him entirely, and his vision blurred.
Banatel slowly stepped toward them.
Holding his Blade Aura, he gazed down at Russ, his face tense with caution.
‘A young brat like this… using such a technique…’
For decades, he had reigned as the continent’s strongest under the title of Sword Star, but that technique was truly terrifying. His heart was still pounding from the shock.
To ignore distance and space… to bypass Aura Guard and strike directly at the body? It was a technique that could neither be dodged nor blocked.
Right now, the only reason he had survived was that Russ’s skill was still too low. The attack lacked power, and Banatel’s Passive Aura had barely managed to withstand it. That was why he had only suffered a cut to his carotid artery.
But if Russ had been just a little stronger, if his Aura reserves were merely twice what they were now, then it would have been Banatel’s head rolling on the ground.
‘Meeting him here was a blessing. If we had crossed paths later, I might have been the one to die.’
His killing intent solidified as he raised his sword. A needle-like pressure stabbed into Russ and Tassid, suffocating them.
Tassid shut his eyes and muttered bitterly.
“Damn it… so this is the end…”
Russ also let out a hollow laugh, accepting his impending death.
‘In the end, we couldn’t hold out until reinforcements arrived. No… maybe this is actually for the best.’
Now that it had come to this, he felt almost relieved that their allies hadn’t arrived yet. Even if Repenhardt himself had been here, the outcome wouldn’t have been much different.
‘Even big brother wouldn’t be able to fight this monster…’
It wasn’t just Repenhardt, Russ had also fought alongside Kalken, Iniya, Attila, and other warriors of the Duchy of Antares. That was why he could be certain. No matter who came, none of them could stand against that monster, Sword Star Banatel.
‘Yeah… This is better than being wiped out here.’
Russ closed his eyes.
Banatel’s face remained rigid as he prepared to bring down his crimson Blade Aura in a decisive strike.
At that moment, a thunderous voice rang out from the spire located south of White King Castle.
“Hoh-hoh! Look who we have here!”
Simultaneously, a fearsome presence spread through the air. The spire blazed with golden light, as if a second sun had risen. A powerful shout followed.
“Chain Strike Blast!”
A golden Aura Bullet tore through the sky with a deafening roar.
Gooooo!
Russ’s eyes shot open in shock. He knew this technique well, it was the signature move of Gym Unbreakable.
‘No way… Big Brother already? How?!’
It was impossible. Repenhardt was currently on an inspection in Aranan Grad. Even if he had rushed back at full speed upon hearing the news, it would still take at least another three to four hours for him to arrive.
His heart pounded with urgency.
‘No, no! Big Brother can’t handle that monster yet!’
If Repenhardt stepped in now, he would only end up just like them. Russ frantically turned his head.
And then…
“Huh?”
The tension in Russ’s eyes flickered into dumbfounded disbelief.
“…What the hell is that?”
Tassid, equally stunned, muttered in a daze.
The incoming Chain Strike Blast
It was way too big.
Calling it a “bullet” was absurd. “A shrine” or even “a building” would have been more accurate.
Normally, Repenhardt’s Chain Strike Blast was about the size of a human torso. But this one? No matter how they looked at it, it was at least the size of a two-story house!
That colossal golden mass, whether it was truly Chain Strike Blast or something else entirely, hurtled straight for Banatel.
Its sheer power was terrifying. Any ordinary Aura User would have coughed up two bowls of blood from just witnessing it.
But Banatel wasn’t called a Sword Star for nothing. He swung his crimson Blade Aura without hesitation, cleaving the golden projectile cleanly in two.
BOOOOM!
The deflected Chain Strike Blast crashed into the ground, triggering a massive explosion. A towering pillar of fire, more than ten meters high, erupted behind Banatel.
Wind whipped through his hair as he turned toward the direction of the attack.
A voice filled with excitement burst from the Sword Star’s lips.
“What?! Why are you here?”
Atop the spire of White King Castle, a massive old man stood, his body honed to an almost terrifying degree. Calling him an "old man" was hardly fitting, there wasn’t a single trace of frailty in that monstrous physique. His bronzed skin, broader than a bronze statue’s, and his massive shoulders radiated nothing but overwhelming strength. Only the flowing silver beard marked him as elderly.
Tassid muttered blankly,
“He looks like our savior… but way bigger?”
The resemblance to Repenhardt was uncanny, but it was clear this wasn’t him. This man was so immense that even Repenhardt, who was already a giant, would look like a mere child beside him.
Russ blinked in confusion.
“Who the hell…?”
Suddenly, the old man burst into booming laughter.
“KHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
His laughter shook the heavens and the earth. Not just Russ and Tassid, but even the other Aura Users present clutched their ears in alarm. The sheer force of his voice sent their internal Aura into disarray, causing their blood and energy to churn violently.
Tassid trembled and shouted,
“What the hell is that monster now?! Just how many monsters are in this world?!”
Still chuckling, the colossal old man bellowed toward Banatel,
“It’s been a while, Banatel!”
Banatel ground his teeth before responding.
“What the hell is this, attacking without a word of warning?!”
Puffing up his chest, the old man replied triumphantly,
“When reuniting with an old friend, how could I not express my joy?!”
“You call that expressing joy? You just fired a damn cannon, you crazy bastard!”
Even across a distance of over a hundred meters, the two spoke naturally, as if they were standing right next to each other. Well, it was natural for them, the people of White King Castle, on the other hand, were covering their ears and trembling at the relentless, man-made thunder these two generated.
Every Aura User present fixated on the figure atop the spire.
“That man… he couldn’t be…”
“No way… it’s…”
A body like unyielding steel, a golden Aura blazing around him like a rising sun, a physique that seemed to be compressed destruction itself.
There wasn’t a single martial artist on the continent who wouldn’t recognize this legendary Aura User.
Even before Repenhardt made a name for himself, his renown had shaken the entire continent.
A warrior who stood alongside Sword Star Banatel, the one who shared the title of the strongest.
The greatest, largest, and mightiest Fist Emperor of this era!
Someone gasped in terror and shouted,
“Fist Emperor Gerard!”