Chapter 1125
"Hmph..."
Raon chewed his lip, his gaze fixed on Evelyn as she meticulously inscribed her Magic Circle across the expansive training grounds of the Unyielding Blade.
'Time is slipping away.'
While Evelyn’s preparation speed had reached new heights, the interval since Rector’s lifeblood had stained that parchment was growing too long. His fingers began to shiver with an irrepressible anxiety.
'And there's more...'
He required a window to track his grandfather. Even with a grievous wound, Rector wouldn't have simply fallen where he stood. He would have transitioned into a fighting retreat, a process that would likely scatter the trail and demand an extensive search.
'Faster. This spell needs to be ready now...'
Raon’s impatience manifested as a restless tapping against the guard of Heavenly Drive.
-Get a grip on yourself.
Wrath reached out, placing a steadying hand upon Raon’s shoulder.
-Not even a winged messenger of the heavens can easily pin down that old fox.
The demon urged him to cast aside his rash impulses, punctuating the advice with a slow, deep inhalation.
'You're right. I know.'
Raon mirrored the breath, centering himself with a nod.
'Grandfather stands on equal footing with the Five Kings. In a direct confrontation, an Archangel would find him a nightmare to subdue. But...'
His brow knit together, his knuckles whitening as he gripped Heavenly Drive.
'If he is stretched thin trying to shield the other disciples of the Holy Sword Alliance, the scales shift.'
Rector possessed a heart far softer than Darkan, his predecessor. He was the type of man to throw his own life into the breach to ensure his subordinates survived, a nobility that only amplified Raon’s dread.
-Mmmmm...
Wrath let out a low, troubled rumble, unable to find a counter-argument for that specific worry.
'Still, your warning against haste is sound.'
Raon nodded again, forcing out a heavy breath that felt like it was clearing stones from his chest.
'The moment we land, we might be in the thick of it.'
Because he would need to begin the hunt the second Evelyn finished the array, it was vital to shed this tension and prepare his spirit for the coming violence.
"I-I'm certain he's holding his own."
Dorian offered a nod, his own hands white-knuckled around his hilt.
"The Master won't go down that easily."
He pressed his lips into a thin line, likely thinking of Zalek, the warrior from the Holy Sword Alliance who had initiated him into the secrets of the Mind's Eye.
"For once, you're making sense. Believing in a positive outcome is the only way to move forward."
Martha interjected with a nod, her unexpected optimism providing a strange sort of fuel. It was jarring to hear such encouragement from her, yet it worked.
"Phew."
Raon began a series of quick stretches, rolling his joints as the runes of Evelyn’s Magic Circle ignited with a soft, pulsing radiance.
'If there are survivors of the enemy, I’ll cut a path through them instantly.'
Since his plan was to follow the swallow's path to Rector's side without delay, he synchronized with the Ring of Fire. He began circulating the dual energies of the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation and the Glacier through his meridians, turning his body into a primed engine of destruction.
'I'll need your strength too.'
Raon sent a mental call to the hovering Wrath.
'If we pull this off, I’ll bury you in enough bead ice cream to make your stomach pop...'
-It is a pact!
Wrath slammed his small fist down through the air.
-What do you take the King of Essence for? I do not haggle with family—only with friends!
He nodded with fierce determination, signaling his absolute commitment to locating Rector.
'...I appreciate it.'
A ghost of a smile touched Raon’s face. Seeing the demon’s indignant expression actually lent him a sense of peace.
'Because of you, I can breathe a little easier...'
Just as Raon prepared to reply further.
"Raon!"
Evelyn’s voice sliced through his thoughts. She stood amidst the circle, which was now drenching the courtyard in a profound, sapphire light.
"I’m sending you ahead of the pack!"
She triggered the primary sequence, explaining that moving a group would be too sluggish; sending him solo was the fastest tactical move. The mana surged upward like the gnarled roots of an ancient titan, painting the firmament and the soil in shades of electric blue.
"Just me?"
Raon stepped toward her, clarifying the plan.
"Yes. A mass transport would cost us too many precious seconds. You need to be there first."
She gave a sharp nod, having clearly read the desperation etched into his features.
'She’s been watching me this closely.'
Evelyn had perceived his internal storm and pivoted the magic to prioritize his arrival. Though she usually tested his patience with her antics, in a crisis, there was no ally he trusted more.
"I've already dispatched word to your grandfather at the estate. I’ll bring the rest of the unit right behind you."
She flashed a confident grin, signaling that he could leave the logistics to her.
"Thank you."
Raon stepped into the heart of the glowing runes.
"I won't forget this favor."
"Forget the favor. Just pay me back with a date once you’ve brought your grandfather home."
As those words left her lips, the azure radiance flared into a blinding pyre, and Raon's world plunged into a momentary void. He felt the weightless sensation of transit, and when his vision snapped back, he was staring at the ruins of a white fortress that had been sheared in two.
'This is it...'
The cleavage of the stone was unmistakable—it was the signature of Rector’s blade. The castle had been bifurcated by a single, titanic strike. It seemed the ambush had been sprung just after he had finished this destruction.
'The one responsible...'
Raon gritted his teeth, noting the lingering traces of lightning-infused Holy Power that saturated the air and scorched the masonry.
'No, analyzing the enemy comes later.'
First, he had to find the man. He expanded his Aura Perception to its absolute limit, but the atmosphere was so thick with the clashing residues of divine energy and sword intent that it acted like a fog against his senses.
'In that case...'
Raon reached into his tunic and retrieved the small swallow.
"Please. Take me to my grandfather."
He infused the bird with a surge of warm fire energy and tossed it skyward. The swallow caught the air, circled once, and darted toward the south with unwavering purpose.
-It is indeed an Archangel, just as suspected!
Wrath tilted his head back, his expression sour.
-The power woven into your Old Man’s scent is the refined divinity of the heavens. There is only one among them who wields thunder with such malice. Archangel Ramiel!
He scowled, confirming that this specific brand of lightning was the calling card of Ramiel.
'Ramiel? Is his power truly that formidable?'
-His arrogance is a mountain, and his ego a sea. For an inhabitant of the upper realms, his moral compass is remarkably muddy. He poses little threat to the King of Essence, but...
Wrath’s eyes grew dark and serious.
-To a mortal, his mastery of lightning is a catastrophic mismatch.
He shook his head, implying that the speed and nature of lightning acted as a natural predator to human warriors.
'It doesn't matter.'
Raon matched his pace to the swallow’s flight, his feet flickering in the Supreme Harmony Steps.
'If it's him, he’s still standing. He has to be.'
Visualizing Rector’s face, Raon threw every ounce of his will into his stride, tearing through the landscape.
Bolts of celestial lightning cascaded from the heavens like the spears of a vengeful deity, making the very foundations of the world shudder. The terrain that had once been a lush woodland was now a graveyard of ash and charred timber.
Yet, at the epicenter of this storm, the earth held firm. A lean, elderly warrior stood his ground, a blade wreathed in blue fire dancing in his hands as he parried the massive electrical discharges.
Sword Demon Rector, the reigning sovereign of the Holy Sword Alliance and a man whispered of as a ghost among blades, refused to yield to Ramiel’s onslaught. Even with his right arm mangled and bleeding, he remained a pillar of defiance. Utilizing the profound depths of the Ten Thousand Swords, he sliced through the blinding flashes, his counter-strikes whistling toward the throat of the Archangel hovering in the clouds.
"Tch!"
Ramiel gestured casually, manifesting a shimmering barrier of electricity that drank the force of Rector’s upward slash.
"It seems Archangels are flesh and blood after all."
Rector leveled his sword at his foe, seemingly oblivious to the mixture of blood and ichor weeping from his shoulder.
"That old man... he’s completely lost his mind..."
Lawrence muttered, his jaw slack as he witnessed Rector’s impossible tenacity.
"Master..."
Mustan bit his lip hard enough to draw blood, his eyes fixed on the slight tremor in Rector’s legs.
'He’s pushing past the limit. If I hadn't been a burden...'
When Rector had been cleaning up the remnants of Derus’s forces within the fallen castle, the fabric of reality had torn open to release a torrent of lightning. Mustan, unable to even perceive the attack, had braced for the end. But Rector had abandoned his correspondence to Raon mid-sentence, lunging forward to intercept the strike.
It had been a calculated lure by Ramiel.
The Archangel had never intended to kill the apprentice; he had used him to bait the master into an opening. Though Rector stood tall now, the lightning had burrowed into his marrow, causing an agony that would have paralyzed a lesser man.
"Steady yourselves."
Rector offered a small shake of his head, dismissing their concern.
"I will ensure every one of you leaves this place alive. That is my word."
He managed a serene smile, the kind he always wore, promising them a tomorrow.
"No one will perish, you claim..."
Ramiel looked down with eyes full of celestial disdain as he dissolved his shield.
"I was unaware that a human of no lineage could possess such grit. You have earned the right to speak those words."
He gave a small, mocking nod of acknowledgment.
"But those words only hold weight if I am not your adversary."
The Archangel descended, his feet resting upon a carpet of crackling storm clouds.
"I have already mapped the rhythm of your soul."
Rector didn't waver, pointing his tip directly at the bridge of Ramiel’s nose.
"Your thunder is loud and your speed is great, but I have seen nothing I cannot cut!"
He pulled his lips back in a grimace of a smile, asserting his intent to strike back.
"This is the tragedy of the human condition."
Ramiel let out a frigid, mocking laugh as he appraised the battered swordsman.
"What do you mean?"
Rector’s brow furrowed in a silent demand for explanation.
"First, the lightning you have faced thus far was merely a greeting."
Ramiel extended a single finger, and the firmament literally groaned as it tore open. A pillar of lightning, wider and more violent than anything before, thundered down. It felt as though the world was being deleted, the sheer brilliance casting the surrounding lands into a deep, artificial shadow.
"Nngh!"
Rector poured every drop of his essence into his blade, swinging it against the descending mountain of white heat. When the golden lightning collided with the blue sword-light, the resulting detonation warped the very air, shredding the space between them.
Rector’s strike was a masterpiece of geometry and power, sharp enough to cleave the horizon, yet the sheer volume of Ramiel’s divinity was a tide that refused to be fully severed.
The two forces gnawed at one another in a vacuum of noise and light before finally exhausting themselves and fading into a thick mist of ozone.
"Hah... hah..."
The effort cost Rector dearly; his breath came in ragged gasps, and sweat beaded on his pale forehead. His wounded arm was beginning to darken, the flesh surrendering to necrosis.
"Second."
Ramiel unfurled a second finger, a cruel smirk tugging at his mouth.
"My true calling is not the distant storm, but the intimacy of the kill."
The moment the words faded, a cloak of brilliant yellow electricity enveloped him.
"Witness the true weight of heaven’s judgment."
As his voice echoed, his physical shape blurred into a streak of light. With a roar of thunder, a fist wreathed in gold appeared inches from Rector’s face. Rector met it with instincts that defied human limits, but the sheer momentum hurled him back twenty paces, his heels carving deep trenches into the scorched earth.
"A stroke of fortune."
Ramiel scoffed, dismissing the defense as a fluke.
"But your luck has run dry. The next one opens a hole through your ribs."
Declaring the end, he vanished and materialized instantly behind Rector’s guard. He drove a lightning-charged fist toward the left side of the old man's back, aiming directly for the heart.
Rector spun his blade behind him as if he had eyes in his shadow, catching the blow on the flat of his steel. Though the impact rattled his bones and sent him sliding, the divine strike failed to pierce his skin.
"You believe you can pin me down with such clumsy movement? You are mistaken."
Rector made a dismissive gesture, but a trickle of blood escaped his lips, and a piece of blackened flesh sloughed off his ruined arm.
"A maggot wriggling in the dirt."
Ramiel roared, vowing to strip the right arm from Rector’s body. He lunged from above, raining down a spherical explosion of lightning that converged into a singular, crushing blow. Under the weight of that celestial hammer, Rector’s right arm finally gave way, the vessels bursting under the pressure.
"This is the abyss between the mortal and the divine..."
Just as Ramiel lifted his chin to savor his triumph, he saw something that froze the blood in his veins. Rector, despite the loss of his limb, showed no fear. His eyes were cold, clear, and focused as he pivoted his entire body.
"How..."
Ramiel’s voice faltered, his composure shattering.
"You may have the arm."
Rector had transferred his sword to his left hand with a fluid grace that shouldn't have been possible. He lunged forward with a speed and an angle that bypassed every one of Ramiel’s calculations.
"But unlike your kind, I do not know how to fall."
The old master’s sword, fueled by a willpower that burned brighter than any sun, flashed like a blue star as it buried itself deep within Archangel Ramiel’s chest.
