Chapter 1127
"Ra... Raon..."
Rector lifted his mangled left arm, reaching out toward Raon. His gaze was a chaotic mix of relief at a hopeless reunion and deep, bitter apprehension.
"Lord Raon?"
"It's really you... but how did you arrive..."
Mustan and Lawrence stood paralyzed, blood dripping from their open mouths. The sight of Raon appearing in this desolate place was something they hadn't dared to imagine.
"I have reliable companions to thank for that."
Raon closed his eyes for a brief second, offering a silent thanks to Evelyn, whose teleportation magic responded to a single letter, and the swallow that had served as his guide.
"The burden is mine now. The three of you need to focus on recovering."
After directing Rector and the others to retreat, Raon shifted his attention toward Ramiel. The Archangel was currently pressing his severed head back onto his gory neck. Blue sparks of electricity crackled around the seam as the flesh began to knit together—the terrifying regenerative power granted to Angels through divine grace.
'Just as I thought...'
Raon narrowed his vision, observing the macabre sight of Ramiel reattaching his own skull.
'Decapitation isn't enough to end him?'
In his desperate bid to rescue Rector, Raon had unleashed a high-speed flame strike to take the Angel's head, even detonating the point of impact. Yet, the creature was reforming its physical vessel as if the injury were a mere inconvenience. The reality of his opponent’s non-human nature finally settled heavily in his mind.
"So, you are the one."
Ramiel slowly rotated his neck, his lips curling into a sharp, cruel grin.
"One of the mortals he cautioned us about. Raon Zieghart."
He gave a sharp nod, recognizing the young man instantly.
"And yet, I find your presence underwhelming. The old man was a more formidable challenge, even if he did end up crawling in the dirt like the wretch he is."
Ramiel pointed a mocking finger at the fallen Rector. He let out a high-pitched, infantile laugh, noting that the desperate flailing of such insects had provided decent entertainment.
"Step forward. I shall incinerate your very soul."
As Ramiel slammed his foot down, amber lightning erupted from the shattered soil, snaking out in every direction. With a deafening boom, each bolt carried the weight of a transcendent-level strike. A single touch looked capable of liquefying bone.
-That repulsive face...
Wrath's features contorted in disgust as he glared at Ramiel.
-It really is you, Ramiel. That arrogant brat who thinks the world revolves around him!
The Demon King gnashed his teeth, his fury spiking just by witnessing the Angel's presence. With a sharp whistle of air, Raon swung Heavenly Drive, intercepting the lightning bolts arcing toward his wounded allies. Even as he defended, his thoughts drifted back.
'Is Grandfather going to make it?'
Despite channeling every drop of his Divinity Born from Darkness into the healing process, the damage was too extensive. The holy energy embedded in Rector’s flesh was stubborn; even Raon’s unique power couldn't fully erase the corruption of the wounds. Furthermore, the loss of Rector’s right arm—the very heart of his swordsmanship—sent a pang of sharp concern through Raon.
-Stop fretting.
Wrath glanced at Rector's state and gave a small, reassuring shake of his head.
-Your restoration abilities are unique; they bypass the standard rules of holy and demonic interference. A man of his caliber won't stay down for long.
He gestured with his chin toward the Archangel, signaling Raon to stop looking backward. The Demon King’s rare display of confidence helped settle Raon’s nerves.
'Fine. I'll give this damn Archangel my full attention.'
Raon tightened his white-knuckled grip on Heavenly Drive.
'Victory seems like a distant hope, but I have to buy as much time as possible.'
The sheer pressure from Ramiel's lightning surpassed anything Rector had unleashed. Raon wondered how someone who hadn't yet reached the pinnacle of the Five Kings could hope to stall such a monstrosity.
-Don't talk about enduring. Go for his heart.
Wrath scowled, annoyed by Raon's defensive mindset.
-That peacock might look pristine, but he's a hollow shell right now.
'Explain.'
Raon shifted his gaze toward the small blue phantom.
-Your strike did damage, but more importantly, your grandfather came incredibly close to obliterating that bastard's core.
Wrath squinted at Ramiel, noting that while Rector had fallen, the Angel had only survived by the thinnest of margins.
-His heart was shredded. He’s currently burning through his reserves just to stitch it back together, which means his true strength is locked away. To put it simply...
He pointed at Ramiel’s chest, where the skin was visibly pulsating with forced regeneration.
-Ramiel is incapable of using his full power at this moment!
Wrath punched the air, urging Raon to seize the opening.
'So this is all a facade?'
Raon bit his lip, watching Ramiel stand amidst his swirling lightning with feigned composure.
'He's just trying to stabilize himself?'
Despite the murderous intent he projected, Ramiel hadn't actually closed the distance. Raon had mistaken it for arrogance, but Wrath’s insight suggested it was a desperate stalling tactic to heal the scars Rector had left behind.
-Exactly.
Wrath’s mouth twisted into a smirk.
-He's straining his very essence just to keep those lightning bolts active. Internally, he’s terrified that you might actually attack!
He clicked his tongue at the Angel's transparent bravado.
-If he were willing to sacrifice his life, he'd be a nightmare, but for now, we just need to push him to the brink.
Wrath’s expression turned grim. They had to strike immediately.
'Understood.'
Raon regulated his internal rhythm, pushing both the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation and Glacier to their absolute limits. He dug his heel into the dirt, swearing to settle the score for Rector regardless of the cost.
-What did I tell you?
Wrath gestured toward Rector with a proud flourish.
-Your elders are not to be underestimated!
He urged Raon not to waste the window of opportunity Rector had bled to create.
'Grandfather.'
Raon stole one last glance back. Though Rector was drowning in agony and exhaustion, he refused to lose consciousness. His trembling eyes were fixed on Raon, filled with a poignant mix of anxiety and pride.
"Just hold on a little longer."
Turning back to his foe, Raon drew the Wooden Ring Sword and thrust it into the ground alongside Heavenly Drive.
"Sword Domain."
He sank the blades into the slag-filled earth, projecting his inner world onto reality. As his iron will manifested, towering pillars of crimson and sapphire light erupted, bridging the gap between the soil and the sky.
"Divine-Demonic Harmony."
The lightning Ramiel had conjured was swallowed by a vortex of raging heat and absolute zero. A sun of gold and a moon of pale blue climbed through the murky atmosphere as Raon summoned two ethereal blades born of his own essence.
Dropping into a low stance with his left knee forward, Raon gripped the Divine Sword and Demonic Sword. The ground shivered, and stones began to hover in the charged air.
"Hmph!"
Sensing the sudden spike in Raon's pressure, Ramiel conjured a defensive lattice of lightning and recoiled. Using the Supreme Harmony Step, Raon flickered through space to appear behind the Angel, driving the sun-bright Divine Sword toward his ribs. It was a calculated probe, designed to test the limits of the Angel’s current state.
Ramiel met the attack head-on, thrusting a fist wreathed in electricity. The air groaned under the pressure of his strike before detonating. As metal met fist, a shockwave of fire and lightning tore through the clearing.
Raon didn't pause; he swept the Demonic Sword upward from its low position, aiming for the Angel's throat through the veil of sparks.
"Tch!"
Ramiel slammed his left elbow down, using the momentum of his lightning to deflect the cold blade. The impact sent the Demonic Sword veering off its path.
"Is this the extent of your skill!"
Ramiel lunged with a clawed hand glowing with lethal voltage. His movements were jagged with hatred, clearly intended to rip Raon's limb from his torso. Raon simply gave a calm nod as he parried the lightning-fast strike.
'Wrath was right.'
He wasn't fighting an Archangel at full strength. As the Demon King predicted, Ramiel's current output was something Raon could actually match. He had to end this before the Angel's heart finished regenerating.
'And besides...'
If his opponent relied on lightning, the advantage was Raon's. He lunged forward, his aura reaching a fever pitch. He moved like a needle piercing silk, aiming for a blind spot in Ramiel's guard.
"You insolent brat!"
Ramiel anticipated the move, throwing a punch heavy with divine lightning. It wasn't a wild swing; it carried the refined flow of a high-level martial art.
'A transcendent technique, yet I can read every thread of it.'
Raon flicked his wrist. The red blade of the Divine Sword snaked through the gaps in the electricity, biting deep into Ramiel's torso. It was a masterpiece of coordination, fueled by the clarity of the Ring of Fire.
He felt the blade shatter the Angel's ribs and sink into the cavity beyond.
"Gah!"
Ramiel doubled over, coughing up dark ichor. He forced a burst of lightning from his own chest to eject the sword before it could incinerate his core. The resulting explosion threw Raon back several yards.
Raon steadied himself and looked at the new gash. Ancient, blackened blood seeped from the charred wound.
'That’s where Grandfather hit him.'
It was clear now: Ramiel was struggling to hold his form together. Raon pressed the advantage, utilizing the Third Step of Supreme Harmony—the Fluid Sword. Moving with the deceptive grace of a ripple on water, he brought both swords down in a cross-cut aimed at the Angel’s waist and collarbone.
"I see you!"
Ramiel coated the backs of his hands in electricity, attempting a dual block. Seeing the Angel's superior speed, Raon deliberately bled the momentum from his strike. It was the principle of the slow blade overcoming the fast one.
"What...?"
Ramiel’s defense struck nothing but air. In that instant of confusion, Raon accelerated his blades to a blur, driving them into the Angel's thigh and chest. The transition between Frost Snap and Revolving Sky was seamless, leaving deep, weeping gashes that sprayed brilliant red blood.
"How dare a piece of filth like you touch me!"
Blinded by the twin agonies of frost and fire, Ramiel’s eyes turned white as he discharged a massive wave of lightning from his fingers. Raon didn't overextend; he took a rhythmic step back, parrying the bolts as they came.
However, the lightning seemed sentient, curving through the air to hem Raon in, cutting off all avenues of escape.
"Perish!"
Ramiel poured concentrated divine power into the trap. The lightning turned a blinding white, creating a cage of pressure that felt like solid iron bars.
'This is a different level of threat.'
Even weakened, the Archangel’s elemental control was devastating. Raon realized staying at a distance was suicide; he needed to be within arm's reach.
He activated the Flame and Ice Unification, crossing his blades. The Divine Sword swept up while the Demonic Sword cut low, their combined energies carving a path through the electric prison as if Raon were reading the very blueprint of the spell.
He didn't stop at defense. Lunging forward with Supreme Harmony Steps, he carved a series of deep furrows into Ramiel's limbs. Chunks of flesh, both frozen and cauterized, fell away as blood geysered from the wounds.
"You buzzing gnat!"
Ramiel shrieked, summoning nine massive whips of lightning. Each one was the size of a skyscraper, leaving the entire battlefield a deathtrap. Raon responded with the Thirty-Six Crimson Flash Techniques through his Divine Sword while erecting a Fire Wall with the Demonic Sword.
A gargantuan shield of ice diverted the whips into the ground, while thirty-six streaks of fire converged on Ramiel from every angle.
The air filled with the sound of repeated impacts. Ramiel tried to hide behind a wall of lightning, but the Crimson Flashes curved like guided arrows, bypassing his guard to shatter bone and hide.
"AAAGH!"
The Archangel finally buckled, dropping to his knees on the scorched earth he had once stood upon so arrogantly.
"An Archangel, kneeling before a mere human..."
Raon stood over him, his chin raised in cold defiance.
"Isn't this embarrassing? Derus will likely discard you for such a pathetic showing."
He offered a mocking wave, deliberately twisting the knife in Ramiel's pride.
"You... insignificant worm!"
Ramiel's breath came in ragged, bloody gasps as he clenched his teeth.
"I will erase every trace of your existence!"
He slammed his hand against the ground and reached for the heavens. Dark clouds roiled as a colossal bolt of lightning, wide enough to swallow the horizon, began to descend.
'That's a problem.'
Raon threw himself forward with every ounce of strength, executing the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation’s Crimson Flash mid-air. A single point of red light pierced the sky, and Ramiel’s right arm—the one guiding the strike—disintegrated in an explosion of gore. Yet, the overhead lightning didn't falter; it grew even more blinding.
"Y-you idiot! My lightning is eternal. It does not die with me!"
Ramiel sneered through the pain, claiming that even if his head were gone, the sky would still fall. As he laughed, the heavens collapsed toward Raon’s head.
"Then I'll just have to cut the sky."
Raon hoisted the Divine and Demonic swords. The two energies swirled into a singular arc of red and blue. Azure Sky Sword, Azure Sky Drive. Celestial Thunder Arts, Supreme Celestial Thunder. The red blade carved open the firmament, while the blue blade summoned its own storm.
Using the Sky-Piercing Thunder technique—the essence of true heavenly lightning—Raon sheared the Archangel's ultimate attack in two.
"No... this is impossible..."
Ramiel’s jaw hung slack. He watched his unstoppable strike part like wet paper and dissolve into mist.
"It’s a lie! A mortal with your strength cannot possibly sever that power!"
He wailed like a frustrated child, refusing to accept the reality before him.
'Now.'
Raon felt the Angel's internal rhythm falter as his emotions spiraled. He closed the distance instantly with the Supreme Harmony Steps.
"What trickery is—Guh!"
Before Ramiel could react, Raon bypassed his frantic defenses and buried both the Divine and Demonic swords deep into the Angel's chest.
"You... wretched..."
Ramiel gripped the blades with hands wreathed in lightning, trying to keep them from piercing his heart.
"I was trained by the true sovereign of the storm."
Raon stared him down, envisioning the peerless strikes of Glenn, the King of Lightning, whose power made Ramiel look like a flickering candle.
"I have no reason to fear an imitation."
Raon lunged forward, putting his entire weight into the thrust as he detonated the combined auras of both blades.
Sixth Form, Divine-Demonic Harmony: Invincible Azure-Red Sword.
The twin lights of the sun and moon merged into a singular, blinding flash, completely obliterating the Archangel’s chest in a roar of absolute power.
