Chapter 424: Let’s Test Your New Arms, Bastard

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Solder and his workers stepped back in awe of the Divine Lord’s power. Vladimir glared back at Riven, looking annoyed.

"Bastard, it was just getting fun." Vladimir clicked his tongue.

"You’ll get all the stuff you want to blow up once we assault another place. Until then, control yourself," Riven said. "Anyway, test the other arms. Let’s see what they can do. Come on."

"And what am I supposed to hit in here?" Vladimir asked, raising his red arm. "You’ve already taken away everything worth breaking."

Riven stepped into the bubble with him.

Solder started to speak, but stopped when Riven turned to face Vladimir. The workers moved farther back, giving them as much room as they could.

Vladimir watched him approach. He had expected another warning, perhaps another order to behave. Instead, Riven stopped within reach of the blades and stood there without drawing a weapon.

Riven spread his arms.

"Come at me. Attack me," Riven said with a confident smile.

Vladimir’s eyes widened for a moment. This was the first time Riven had let him attack, lifting the order that forbade him from hurting Riven at all.

"You mean that?" Vladimir asked.

"For this test," Riven replied. "And only against me."

Vladimir flexed the metal fingers. He waited for the familiar restriction to stop him as he aimed at Riven, but nothing happened. He could actually do it.

"Don’t complain when I hit you."

"Then hit me," Riven said.

That smile annoyed Vladimir more than the bubble had. Riven was standing right in front of him, giving him permission, and still acting as if there was nothing to worry about.

"Heh...!" Vladimir gave him a vicious smile, raising his red arm and pointing it at him. "If you fucking insist... HERE I COME, RIVEN CLAYMORE!"

Vladimir laughed like a maniac and leaped forward with all his power, his red arm gleaming with flames and... psychic power.

"This power... is finally mine too!" he said with a laugh. Flames erupted from his punch, transforming into dozens of enormous, coiling dragons that surrounded Riven within a split second before detonating in a massive, almost atomic explosion.

BOOOOOMMMM!!!

Vladimir braced himself as the blast spread, keeping his red arm raised in front of him. He had put everything into that punch, and the result was even better than he had expected.

"How’s that?!" he shouted.

He tried to spot Riven through the flames, but couldn’t see him anywhere. For a moment, Vladimir just stood there, grinning as smoke rolled past him. He flexed the metal fingers, already wanting to try it again. If one punch could do that, what would happen when he followed it with his own techniques?

However...

Riven emerged from the smoke, his skin burned black like charcoal. But new skin was already growing beneath it, and the charred layer crumbled away into ash.

"Not bad. You really hurt me there... You’ve gotten stronger!" Riven said with a smile. "Like the arm?"

"Hah...! You damn immortal bastard!" Vladimir smiled defiantly. "I ain’t done yet!"

Vladimir watched the last of the burns disappear. He had known Riven would recover, but seeing him smile after taking that punch still annoyed him. He wanted more than a compliment. He wanted to make Riven work for it.

"Do your worst," Riven said.

Vladimir lowered his stance and drew his arms back. The new arm had worked well enough on its own. Now he wanted to see whether it could keep up with the way he usually fought.

He pushed off before Riven could say anything else.

RUMBLE!

Vladimir leaped toward Riven without even transforming yet, swinging his arms at him. His Kobold King Arm, imbued with dragon power, unleashed blazing slashes and explosions that cut through Riven’s Spirit Aura and Pressure, worsening his wounds.

Riven raised his arm to meet the next strike, but Vladimir changed the angle and attacked from the other side. He didn’t pause to check the damage. Each time Riven recovered, Vladimir was already swinging again.

"I’m going to wipe out that stupid smile off your face!" he snapped.

The metal arm followed his movements without slowing him down. That was all he needed. Vladimir stepped closer, giving Riven less room to block, and brought both arms into position. He knew this next attack well enough that he didn’t have to think about it.

Vladimir followed with a deadly Blazing Cross, his favorite technique with either his twin axes or his claws. Combining his assassination technique with the greater physical power he had gained through his many transformations, he slashed through Riven’s barriers and body over and over!

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

However, Riven smiled confidently and brought both bare hands together, tapping into Abyssal Assault Arts Internalization. He combined its power with his spell, Abyssal Guillotine Garden, compressing them into his hands.

Vladimir kept attacking, refusing to give him time to finish whatever he was doing. He aimed another Blazing Cross at Riven, then immediately followed it with another strike from the opposite side.

But Riven was watching his arms, not the flames. He had already seen how Vladimir moved into each attack, and this time, he was ready to meet it.

"What are you smiling at?!" Vladimir snapped.

Riven separated his hands and raised them in front of him. Vladimir expected another barrier, but none appeared. Instead, the power gathered along Riven’s fingers, leaving his palms free. He wasn’t going to take the next attack and recover from it. He was going to stop it.

The result? He channeled the spell directly into his hands and combined it with the martial prowess of his Abyssal Assault Arts. Then he added the power of his Divine Axe Art, bringing everything together into a single attacking technique as blade energy gleamed along his fingertips.

Abyssal Assault Arts Internalization – Umbral Sword Hand.

CLAAASH! CLAAASH!

"Ngh?!"

Vladimir’s barrage of Blazing Crosses was abruptly interrupted. His arms were stopped, and he lost all momentum. Before he could recover, Riven followed with a powerful kick, using a modified version of the same technique.

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