Chapter 203: A Sword That Cannot Miss

Origin Divine Fist was a physical skill. Physique supplied its power; Aether was the fuel.

Cassian activated Godslayer, feeding it the premium Aether Crystals he had kept supplied through the hunt. His Physique rose past twenty thousand.

This time, he struck in fury. The spectacle seemed ten times greater than his punch on Glory Battlefield.

Normally, an Epic skill at Transcendence would surpass even a top Legendary skill at Practiced. But the gap between the two Lords’ attributes was far too large.

Orion’s Moonlit Dominion had been magnificent. Beside the power now gathering around Cassian, it suddenly seemed small.

Everyone stared, friend and foe alike.

Heat rose in Orion’s face. He had just looked down on this man’s Physique.

Where had such a monster come from?

He had heard the stories about Cassian holding out against a Province’s worth of Black Banner Lords almost single-handedly. He had taken them for the usual exaggerations people spread to build each other’s reputations.

Now he believed them. Unless Lords descended from older Sectors, who among the newcomers could stop this man?

And someone had called him a Leisure Lord?

This was a Warbound Lord at the very top.

Orion’s gaze sharpened.

Could Cassian be another old power starting over? Someone even older than himself?

That would explain how he had created an Epic troop line so quickly.

Origin Divine Fist... Yes, he remembered now. The signature art of the Nine Heavens Sanctum, a human sect in another world.

Perhaps Cassian had every right to call him young Valcrest.

Orion had never seen Cassian when a few million Aether was enough to make his eyes light up. The longer he considered his theory, the more convincing it became.

Julian, that junior, had shown remarkable will by waiting a century in Sword Embryo form. Unfortunately, his ambitions had brought him face-to-face with two old powers at once.

What terrible luck.

Julian was thinking of nothing so elaborate.

"What skill is that?"

The force bearing down on him left no time to consider an answer. He fled backward at full speed, screaming as he went.

A golden fist a hundred meters across followed him.

Cassian had made it that large deliberately. A ten-meter fist might let an agile opponent slip aside just before it struck, the way a flying troop could dodge a projectile. A hundred meters of crushing force was much harder to escape.

Julian had to meet it head-on.

He had lost his body and weakened through a century of waiting, but he was still a Sword Saint. His techniques came in a torrent.

"Intercepting Sword!"

"Cloud Sword!"

"Twinflow Sword!"

Layer upon layer of sword energy formed before the golden fist. Most of the skills were only Grades E through C, but every one had reached at least Lesser Perfection.

They shattered in succession. There were so many of them, cast with such mastery, that the fist still had not reached the Sword Embryo itself.

All the while, Julian kept retreating. He was almost out of its reach.

Laughter burst from the little sword.

"You’re a Warbound Lord, aren’t you, boy? That blow must have emptied your Aether. Now it’s your turn to take a strike from me."

His voice turned eager again.

"Don’t worry. I won’t use my strongest sword art. I’ve taken a liking to that body of yours."

Disgust twisted Cassian’s face. The old bastard wanted to wear him like a suit.

Already furious, he gave the order.

Three Faerie Dragons struck from their hiding places in Phase Wander.

"Void Entanglement!"

"Crescent Mark!"

"Aether Vacuum!"

At Level 65 and Legendary Nine-Star, with Cassian’s bonuses behind them, their strength stood only a little below Lethria’s former peak as a Level-89 wild Dragon.

Countless chains erupted from the void and wrapped around the Sword Embryo.

"What is this?"

Julian struggled against the crushing restraint. Then a strange force tore through his remaining skills, breaking them apart one after another.

He tried to gather Aether for another defense. It had become several times harder.

At last, he understood.

"Faerie Dragons! You subdued those Faerie Dragons from the east? Impossible! Even I had to be wary of them!"

The golden fist closed in.

"If I were inside the city, I could activate the Sword Array! You wouldn’t dare—why did I leave the city?"

His voice rose into a final, furious cry.

"I hate Faerie Dragons!"

The fist struck.

The Sword Embryo shattered into a storm of energy that scattered through the air.

A Sword Embryo held a Sword Saint’s entire Spirit. It could wield terrifying killing power, but without a powerful body to support it, it was fragile. It lacked the Aether reserves for a prolonged fight, too.

Julian Lind was dead.

[You have killed Sword Embryo — Julian Lind.]

[Battle Essence +15,000,000.]

[Skill Book: Sword of Space ×1.]

[Skill Book: Twinflow Sword ×1.]

"Sword of Space? That sounds familiar..."

Cassian checked the book and sucked in a breath.

"Damn. It really is the Grade-A skill!"

The old man had been carrying something this dangerous?

[Sword of Space — Grade A]

[Release a blade of sword energy that ignores spatial distance. Within the user’s line of sight, the strike lands the instant it is made.]

[Note: The power of the sword energy is inversely proportional to distance.]

Cassian read it again.

Within sight. Strike, and hit.

Its greatest value was that strange property, rather than sheer destructive power. Even so, a surprise strike from Julian would have been nasty.

He was glad he had never given the old man the chance.

"Can’t keep relying on other people to protect me. Once I’m back, I’m putting more time into Warbody. Let’s see what sword can cut me when my body is strong enough."

Then delight overtook his unease. It even eased some of his anger at being trapped in Swordheart.

Sword of Space was a rare find. Cassian had never seen it among the Skill Books offered on the Exchange.

He had wanted a Legendary attacking sword art for the Eclipse Hall for some time. The Ninefold Blade Art suited his troops, but he wanted something stronger that suited them just as well. Forcing an ill-matched art on them would only spread their practice too thin.

Sword of Space was exactly what he had been looking for.

"First the Faerie Dragon nest, now Sword of Space. This trip just keeps giving."

Julian was dead, but matters here were not settled. Orion Valcrest was still standing nearby, and Cassian still knew far too little about him.

Cassian put the Skill Books away for now.