Chapter 120: Five Against Five

Chapter 120: Five Against Five

CLANG!

Asher’s sword collided with the black blade, the raw kinetic impact exploding across the subterranean chamber.

His golden Metal Qi surged through his arm as he leaned into his stance, trying to force the opponent back. But the black-robed swordsman didn’t budge an inch. He simply stood there, a dark statue of unyielding mass.

Then—

BOOM!

The black sword descended with crushing weight.

Asher’s pupils contracted. He scrambled, raising his sword horizontally to catch the blow.

KRAAANG!

The stone floor beneath his boots spiderwebbed instantly.

Heavy.

The swordsman’s physical strength was absurd. There were no flashy techniques, no complex hand seals, and zero wasted movement—just overwhelming, bone-crushing force concentrated into every single strike.

Asher gritted his teeth, golden Qi wrapping tightly around his blade like molten armor. He violently twisted his wrist.

SHING!

The two blades ground past each other, sending sparks flying. Asher immediately stepped forward, driving a rapid slash toward the man’s throat.

The black-robed swordsman blocked without breaking his rhythm.

CLANG!

Asher attacked again. And again.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

The exchange blurred into a frantic rhythm, yet the black swordsman remained frighteningly stable. Every parry felt like striking a mountain, shaking the marrow in Asher’s arms.

——————————

Across the chamber—

WHOOSH!

Jules barely twisted his head in time as a black blade hissed past his cheek.

A single strand of his dark hair drifted slowly to the floor. Jules’s expression hardened. Fast.

The second black-robed figure didn’t fight like the first. There was almost no sound, no heavy swings, and no telegraphing movements. The sword simply appeared out of thin air the exact microsecond it reached his blind spot.

SHING!

Jules spun his torso. The blade sliced through empty space where his chest had been a millisecond prior.

Silver lightning violently exploded from his palm. CRACKLE!

The black-robed swordsman vanished like a ghost.

Jules’s eyes widened. Where—?

A prickle of lethal intent flared behind his spine. Jules whipped around.

CLANG!

He caught the descending blade on his forearm, which was instantly reinforced by crackling silver lightning. The sheer impact shoved him skidding three meters backward.

"You’re annoying," Jules spat, wiping a speck of sweat from his forehead.

Silver lightning surged around his entire body, lighting up the dark chamber. The assassin-type swordsman flickered out of existence again.

Jules grinned, a manic, dangerous edge sharpening his eyes. "Fine. I’ll just make the entire area a hazard."

BOOOOM!

A sprawling web of high-voltage silver lightning flooded the ancient flagstones.

——————————

On the opposite side of the hall—

Arvessa faced the fourth black-robed swordsman.

The moment her boots touched the ground, the swordsman vanished.

WHOOSH!

Arvessa didn’t hesitate. She threw herself sideways as a black blade tore through the air where she had stood. Their weapons collided in midair.

CLANG!

Arvessa’s fiery sword released a sudden burst of searing heat. The black swordsman slipped past the flames with chilling grace, thrusting his blade toward her ribs.

Arvessa blocked.

CLANG!

Another slash. She dodged. Another. She retreated.

The swordsman’s speed was terrifyingly superior. Arvessa’s jaw tightened. He’s faster than me.

A sudden, sharp smile touched her lips. "Then I’ll make the battlefield faster."

Wind Qi exploded beneath her boots.

BOOM!

Her body shot forward in a blur. At the same time, a dozen razor-thin wind blades spun around her shoulders.

The black swordsman shifted his stance to intercept, but Arvessa abruptly changed direction mid-stride, weaving through the gale. Then she changed direction again. And again.

For the first time since the clash began, the speed swordsman was forced to break his rhythm and retreat a half-step.

——————————

Meanwhile, Annelle faced the third swordsman.

Unlike his companions, this one barely moved. His black sword remained planted directly in front of him in a rigid, defensive guard. Patient. Immovable.

Every time Annelle attacked—

CLANG!

Blocked.

She swept from the left. Blocked. She dropped an overhead strike. Blocked. She looped around to hit his blind spot—the swordsman pivoted on his heel instantly.

CLANG!

Blocked yet again.

Annelle backflipped, landing lightly ten meters away. Her eyes narrowed. "You’re an absolute wall."

The black swordsman uttered no sound, his face hidden behind the shadow of his hood.

Annelle smiled, her hands glowing with pale green light. "Fine. Then I’ll stop trying to break you."

Wind began gathering around her palms like a miniature hurricane.

——————————

Not far away, Ambiel’s leather whip cracked through the air like a breaking sound barrier.

PAH!

The fifth black-robed swordsman—the formation master—raised his blade lazily.

Suddenly, a strange, geometric pattern flashed beneath his feet. The moment Ambiel’s whip crossed the pattern’s threshold, the leather strap inexplicably warped, its trajectory twisting into empty air.

Ambiel’s eyes narrowed into slits. Formation Qi.

The swordsman hadn’t even touched her weapon, yet his array had rewritten its momentum.

"This one is different," Ambiel muttered.

The swordsman stepped backward, his blade tracing a complex symbol in the air. A second formation node materialized. Then a third.

Ambiel’s whip snapped toward the nearest node.

BOOM!

The array absorbed the kinetic blow entirely, glowing brighter. Ambiel’s gaze grew lethal. He’s not defending. He’s building something.

Her voice rang across the chaotic battlefield: "Everyone! Don’t let them cluster!"

Too late.

As if responding to a silent command, the five black-robed figures simultaneously ceased their individual assaults.

All five stepped backward in perfect unison.

The chamber grew abruptly, unnervingly quiet.

Asher frowned, lowering his blade a fraction. Jules looked around, his lightning crackling idly. "What are they doing?"

Ambiel’s eyes widened in horror. "They’re shifting formations."

The fifth swordsman drove his heavy black blade straight into the stone floor.

BOOM!

A sprawling, pitch-black formation spread outward beneath all five enemies. Lines of dark, viscous energy shot across the floor, binding them together in an unyielding geometric web.

One node. Two nodes. Three nodes. Four nodes. Five.

The five swordsmen moved.

SHING!

Their positions rotated instantly.

The heavy swordsman shifted to the vanguard. The silent assassin melted into his shadow. The defensive swordsman anchored the left flank. The speed swordsman hovered on the right. And the formation master stood dead center at the core.

Five distinct positions. Five lethal blades. One unified organism.

Asher’s expression turned to iron. "The Five-Sword Killing Formation."

Ambiel glanced sideways at him, her chest heaving. "You recognize it?"

"No," Asher said, his golden eyes locked onto the glowing nodes. "But I know what it’s about to do."

The formation master raised his sword. The other four followed suit.

BOOM!

Five distinct streams of dark, pressurized Sword Qi merged into a single, cohesive torrent. The entire chamber groaned, stone dust raining from the ceiling.

Jules’s arrogant smile vanished entirely. "That... looks bad."

The five swords swung downward in perfect synchronicity.

BOOOOOOM!

A towering wave of consolidated Sword Qi erupted outward!

Asher instinctively crossed his blade, pouring every ounce of Metal Qi into a barrier. CLANG! The sheer kinetic concussions shoved him back across the stone.

Jules unleashed a wall of silver lightning, but the unified Sword Qi tore straight through it like paper.

Annelle threw up a rotating shield of wind; it shattered in an instant. ​