V2 Chapter 53
As if appearing out of the thin fog, Cian’s body slowly materializes out of thin air; “…I commend those fighting fairly and upright—however, whenever possible, I prefer not to use brute force like them, love. There’s no fairness in this world, it’s an only justification of one’s ego. Trickery is smarter and works better.”
“You…coward!” Ezra gritted her teeth in anger as she glared at Cian towering her, hatefully. But Cian was still unperturbed as he looked down on her, with an icy cold gaze.
“Right, I’m a coward,” Cian responded softly, “…but that’s because I have a goal that I need to achieve no matter what happens. Unlike you knights, who proclaimed justice and fairness every damn fucking time, declaring about your own uprightness and righteous indignation—you have completely ignored and overlook the fact that in a fight, there are many factors that can change the outcome. Even if you fight fairly, it doesn’t mean you are going to win… All that honor and... stuff. Me, I’ll take intelligent cowardice over foolhardy bravery any day."
“…?!!”
“…that’s because, I don’t want to lose…easy and simple as that,” Cian’s eyes narrowed and Baaang! He slashed the black slender sword towards Ezra without any hesitation—however, at the right moment before Cian’s sword hit her, Ezra gritted her teeth and propelled herself away from Cian, barely evading the sharp obsidian colored blade by hair’s breadth.
The sword plunged into the ground, creating a long fissure—looking at it, Ezra who was standing not far away from him, felt her blood run cold. If she didn’t manage to avoid in the right moment, just what kind of fate would she end up with…?
This bastard…is so merciless?!
Cian turned at her and then, his lips curled into a savage grin, “Your way of the knights is admirable but, don’t you dare force that unto me…!”
Ezra gnashed her teeth in anger. Never she had met someone, especially a man up until now that would cleave her into two without any hesitation!
She was still a rare beauty for fuck's sake! And this is what they call a womanizing scum?! A trash that would salivate the moment he saw a beauty…?
Don't fucking play with me...!!!
Cian smirked as he pulled back the sword. He looks at the girl standing warily before him. Her emotions were not easily hidden on her beautiful, yet slightly dirtied face.
Her pain was evident in the crease of her lovely brow and the down-curve of her full lips. But her eyes, her eyes showed her soul. They were a deep pool of restless gold, an ocean of endless pain and hopeless trepidation. She was indeed beautiful; pretty enough to move his heart—but sadly,
…Even if she is the most beautiful woman in the world when she stands in front of him and asks for his life, she would be nothing but a pile of white bleached bones.
Cian would never give mercy to an enemy—unless she could be still alive when he finished playing with her…!
So don’t die—
Cian grinned. Then, suddenly his body once again started to fade. Ezra’s eyes widened, she grits her teeth and clenched the hold on her sword—
“Bastard Demon, I admit I’ve underestimated you, but if you want to beat me with these small tricks, I’m afraid that won’t be possible.” Ezra’s angry voice growled out before a golden colored ray of light shot towards Cian’s position rapidly.
Feeling the energy leak away from the golden streak of light, Cian slightly frowned. Cian snorted, his voice traveling from every direction, full of disdain.
“Whether or not I have the ability to, come and see!”
Claaang!
Cian materializes the moment Ezra’s sword clashed against Cian’s black sword.
Clang! Cleng! Clang!
Relying on her intuition, speed, reflexes, and experience, Ezra was able to contend against Cian in an almost equal ground, even though he was able to appear in many unexpected places. Ezra was like a wild cheetah, relying on her instinct and intuition to fight him—causing Cian to once again raise his impression of her.
Cian immediately rushed forward his wrist perfectly controlled the [Imagis Realis] and escaped the deadlock with Ezra’s own sword by slapping the side of her sword fiercely.
Clang!
As the sounds of metal rang in the air, Ezra’s sword was forced off to the sides by the [Imagis Realis]. Cian had struck out with his sword with such force that Ezra’s sword arm had become numb with pain.
At the same time, Cian was in the air, stabbing his sword like a streak of black light towards Ezra’s chest. The black streak of light traveled quickly through the air. In a flash, it had already reached Ezra. At that moment, Ezra’s face hardened, as she immediately focused her body to the extreme and leaped to the side to dodge it.
The attack had brushed against her shoulder before slamming into the ground with a loud “Bang!”, leaving behind a huge hole.
Ezra immediately retreated 15 meters away from Cian, before stopping to take a look at the hole in the ground, then lifting her head back up. Ezra’s expression fell down as she felt once again, Cian’s power and abilities. This had already greatly diverted common sense—this illusion-like ability is too far apart from the one she knows. Is this even an illusion…?
Not waiting for Cian to open his mouth, Ezra raised her sword and pointed towards Cian. Then a powerful pressure that covered the sky pressured our anti-hero protagonist. Cian’s brows furrowed. She’s finally serious…!
This pressure was so powerful that it was utterly strenuous to resist even with his current aura, this was something that had never happened before. Merely with this aura, Cian knew that this person before him was definitely Sword Saint level top expert.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Sword Saint… in the Human World, such status and power stand at the very summit of all Swordsmen.
They are one of the most powerful trump cards humanity possesses. But for one to be in front of him now… Sword Saint ah, never thought that today I’ll finally meet one. Cian wasn’t frightened, instead was delighted, and had a high fighting spirit, even to the extent that his blood was boiling due to the excitement.
“You’re the worst… you don’t hold back on a female fighter?” Ezra sneered in contempt.
“Don’t be so naïve. In combat, men or female doesn’t matter. If you can stand, stand, if you can fight…fight! Gender doesn’t matter! The one who won't lose is the winner, the one who is defeated…is the loser!”
“…what hooligan logic!” Ezra snorted.
“Well, I was nurtured to be a hooligan,” Cian grinned.
Ezra took a step forward before fiercely rushing towards Cian. The boundless and majestic energy field of a Sword Saint instantly expanded outwards, causing squalls to spring up in the surrounding area like a tornado of wind.
“…too bad, you’re indeed strong but it is yet to be enough!”
As she shouted those furious words, her slender thin sword was no more than three feet away from Cian’s head.
Cian did not move an inch. His eyes were tranquil and his expression was cold and indifferent, not wavering in the slightest. He only blandly murmured in his heart: Not indeed strong…? Indeed, but based on abilities alone…I’m hundred years beyond your times, little girl!
RIIIIP!!!
Ezra’s rapier pierced through Cian’s head, causing two women’s panicking cries behind them to appear but in the instant that her magic energy expanded outwards, she suddenly discovered that her sword had stabbed an empty air and the magical energy that she released had only torn a long black gash in the air.
Wha… What!?
Where was he… Where was he!?
Ezra felt an unexpected shock bloom in her heart; she could barely believe his own eyes. She thought she had already broken through Cian’s illusion after exploding her magical power. And if not, it should still be enough to cause some disturbance on the magical field that was created when using illusions… but how…?
However, before she could recover from her shocked daze, an extremely dull and heavy sound suddenly rang out behind her.
Zzng!! This sound was not particularly resonant. It also could not be described as intense, but it was so dull and heavy that it caused extreme discomfort to everyone’s eardrums and body. It was as if something had suddenly exploded against their heart.
The Cian who had “disappeared” had materialized in front of Ezra like a ghost. His right elbow struck Ezra’s chest…
At that moment, Ezra’s expression was still dark and heavy and she did not even have time to be startled before this happened. However, Ezra’s eyes widened in shock as when she was about to vomit blood, her eyes caught a black flash of light coming at her waist—
I’m going to get cut! She thought as she saw Cian rotating just after he struck her with his elbow, swinging the black slender sword towards her chest.
Baaang!! Cian’s eyes narrowed slightly as he saw his sword being blocked by Ezra’s hand, a magic barrier was broken, turning into shards of light the moment [Imagis Realis] hit the barrier but what caused Cian to feel slightly shocked was that…
Ezra decisively used her arm to stop Cian’s sword. It seems like she had already predicted that her two layered barriers would be broken through and so she raised her left arm and stop Cians sword with it. Because of the barrier, Cian’s power was already diminished a lot but even still, [Imagis Realis] is not just any kind of sword—it’s sharpness makes it even greater than any sword in the world.
Blood spurted as the black sword embedded on Ezra’s arm through her golden gauntlet. Is she not scared of her arm being cut off…? Cian frowned.
“AAaaaaahhhhHHH!!” Ezra let out a craze cry as endured the pain coming from her hand and stabbed Cian with her rapier. Fast! Cian’s eyes widened in shock as he saw golden flashes coming at him in an instant. If Cian didn’t have [Night’s Eye], Cian feared that he wouldn’t be able to follow her movement at all. Sacrificing her arm just to kill him…? Is that even worth it…?
Unfortunately for Ezra, even without illusion, Cian’s body was an impregnable fortress!
Claang!!
“Wha—?!” Ezra’s eyes widened in shock and horror as she saw all her attack seemed to have been stopped by an invisible wall in front of her. What’s going on here?! Illusion…?! But that’s not possible! She was holding his arm, then it means this person before her was the real one!
But what is going on now…?!
Cian grinned and before Ezra could snap out of her daze, Cian’s free hand clenched and Baaang! punched Ezra’s stomach, sending the young woman knight away. However, this was not just mere punched due to the fact that Cian had manipulated the vector and velocity of his punch, and so hitting Ezra would be like ramming her using a large mace in point-blank range with a speed and force of a Ten-Wheeler Truck running an almost 100mph.
To prove that, Ezra who was blown away by Cian’s seemingly casual punch had her armor dented with an unbelievable deep, even creating a mark of a fist. If she wasn't a high level superhuman, this punch alone would have cost her, her life.
Crash! Bang!!! Ezra crashed and then slid on the ground, coughing and spewing blood. Clang! The golden rapier slid on the ground.
“...And here I thought my [Eye] is enough… never thought I would still need to use ‘it’. As expected, someone in your caliber is much harder to deal with—relying on intuition and instinct rather than depending on senses. Even if one understands that pulling it off till this degree of competency is quite praiseworthy…” Cian muttered with a faint smile as he walked slowly towards the collapsed Ezra. "As expected of what Martial Artists called as... the Superhuman [Mind's Eye]...! Right? Truly incredible..."
“… …” Despite the excruciating pain and agony, she was feeling, Ezra was still glaring at Cian with hatred full eyes.
“You Monster! Just, just what are you?!” Ezra was currently feeling very depressed. She was never in this kind of situation where she is the point of helplessness in front of an enemy. Although she had been defeated in the past but never in this kind of one-sided beating!
She was always confident about her strength! Although not the strongest but she was still the youngest Sword Saint in the history of humankind! Defeating Demons and Monsters was never a difficult thing for her.
In fact, she had sent many demons and monsters that were considered extremely powerful even among the Human Ranking on their way to the afterlife. And yet… in front of this young demon, she was actually this helpless…? What kind of situation is this…?
Furthermore, the one who was making her helpless was the object in various rumors, infamous for being a licentious and cowardly trash demon prince…!
Just which part of him was a coward…?
A weak waste…?
Ezra, for the very first time in her life, she was truly…very aggrieved!
“…I’m a demon, of course, milady,” Cian grinned as he stops just a meter away from Ezra. Wooosh. The black sword in his hand flashed and was then pointed towards her neck. “So…? Give up…?”
“Never!” Ezra cried out. She clenched her hand and struggle to get up but how can Cian let her? With a push, Cian stabbed the black sword towards her chest without any hesitation.
“I see… that’s too bad,” Cian indifferently said. And there was not a single wave in his expression as if a pool of stagnant water, seemingly he didn’t care about Ezra even a bit. Ezra screamed in pain as blood gushed out from her chest when Cian pulled out the sword and she once again collapsed in the ground.
“You…bastard…!” then her eyes slowly closed as her vision dimmed down and blank out.
The last thing she saw was Cian standing in front of her, with an icy cold grin, “…I wanted to be friends with you, but too bad. You and I are facing the opposite directions…we can never see eye to eye…Good Bye, Lady Ezra Redhawk, it was a memorable date…” these are the words that she had last heard before her consciousness completely cut off.
… …