Chapter 181: The Battle Between the Strongest (2)

Aldrich was surprised that Asterion had somehow realized it was him speaking rather than the Golden Dawn Knight, despite the Night Lord's servant literally using the knight's body and voice.

Asterion, meanwhile, looked furious in a way rarely seen from him.

Every trace of his earlier excitement had disappeared.

"I came here prepared to fight the great Golden Dawn Knight…"

His grip tightened around his sword.

"Only to find some damned creature so cowardly that it hides behind a human hunter while defiling his body."

"Your words mean nothing here, human hunter."

The Golden Dawn Knight descended the steps of the throne with imposing strides until he reached the same level as Asterion and stood directly before him.

"You will still die at the hands of the creature you call a coward."

His crimson gaze remained fixed on the Uncrowned Emperor.

"And don't worry…"

"I won't be the one fighting you."

"This body will move on its own, drawing upon the Golden Dawn Knight's experience. Experience accumulated over countless years of constant battle…"

Aldrich's voice carried unmistakable satisfaction.

"A shame that it now belongs to me."

The creature laughed with the knight's voice, mocking the humiliating fate that had befallen one of the Heart Clan's legends.

Asterion's eyes gradually narrowed as his grip tightened around his sword. In the blink of an eye, every trace of emotion vanished from his face, leaving behind nothing but cold killing intent directed at the monster standing before him.

"Talking time is over."

His crimson eyes sharpened.

"I have no intention of exchanging another word with a filthy monster."

The air grew heavier the instant Asterion finished speaking.

Then the creature fell silent.

Everything around it had turned gray.

The world had lost its colors.

Everything except Asterion.

The Uncrowned Emperor remained standing before him, his entire body suddenly enveloped in crimson aura.

"King's Step."

Asterion whispered the words so quietly they were barely audible.

The ground beneath him exploded.

He disappeared completely.

Then reappeared directly in front of the Golden Dawn Knight as though he had teleported.

The long katana trembled in Asterion's hand as he raised it high above his head before swinging downward at the speed of light.

The amount of aura concentrated along the edge of the blade was anything but ordinary.

Particles of battle aura seemed to dance violently over one another, compressed into a single point and granting the sword a terrifying amount of destructive power.

When the Uncrowned Emperor cut through the air…

There was no whistle.

There was an explosion.

BOOOOOOOOM!!!!

The sound came late.

It couldn't keep pace with the insane speed of King's Step.

Asterion's sword had already struck its target before the Golden Dawn Knight's ears could register a thing.

And yet…

The result wasn't what the Uncrowned Emperor had expected.

His eyes narrowed slightly as golden aura erupted before him.

An enormous shield had appeared from nowhere between him and the Golden Dawn Knight, intercepting the devastating sword strike he had just unleashed.

The shield resembled a floating disc, hovering entirely on its own.

It was translucent and tinted yellow rather than gray, while the Golden Dawn Knight stood behind it with one hand extended toward Asterion's sword, as though controlling the shield through telekinesis.

That was when Asterion realized the creature hadn't lied.

The Golden Dawn Knight's body truly was moving on its own, guided by the vast combat experience it had accumulated throughout its life.

The old man barely had a second to process that realization before his opponent counterattacked.

The space behind the Golden Dawn Knight lit up.

Golden swords and spears began forming in great numbers, all of them hovering on their own.

The knight thrust one hand forward.

Every weapon shot toward Asterion at horrifying speed.

The Uncrowned Emperor immediately vanished from before him, evading the barrage and reappearing several meters away through King's Step.

But more weapons continued forming from nothing.

All of them aimed at him.

They emerged from empty space.

From the ground.

From the walls.

Wherever Asterion went, more appeared to hunt him down.

He avoided most through sheer speed while deflecting many others with his long sword.

Throughout it all, his crimson eyes remained completely focused on his opponent.

'Every one of these weapons carries a tremendous amount of his aura. Taking them directly with my Aura Armor alone wouldn't be a good idea.'

Another golden weapon screamed past his face.

'But despite pouring so much aura into every weapon he launches at me, he keeps producing them in enormous numbers without a care…'

Asterion's eyes sharpened.

'So this is the Golden Arsenal Blessing.'

'What a ridiculous Blessing.'

The Golden Arsenal was a deadly ability regarded as one of the greatest combat Blessings in the history of the Heart Clan.

It allowed its wielder to summon virtually any weapon he knew, from swords and spears to axes, hammers, and bows, manifesting them almost instantly anywhere within his domain.

But that wasn't what made the Blessing truly deadly.

It was the terrifying amount of aura the Golden Dawn Knight poured into every single weapon he launched.

'It's true that the Aura Armor of those of us who have reached the High King Rank contains a ridiculous amount of mana…'

'But even we can be exhausted if we continuously unleash large-scale attacks.'

Asterion was sharp.

From their very first exchange, he had already realized that the Golden Dawn Knight was hiding something.

"Let's start by breaking that golden shell you're hiding behind…"

Asterion vanished again.

"And see what secrets you're keeping underneath!"

King's Step brought him directly before the Golden Dawn Knight, and he attacked without hesitation.

King's Step wasn't a Blessing.

Nor was it an ability.

It was simply a technique the Uncrowned Emperor had created by concentrating his Aura Armor into his feet and releasing it all at once, propelling himself forward at such tremendous speed that, for a brief instant, it resembled teleportation.

He applied the same principle to his weapon.

By concentrating an enormous amount of aura into his sword, Asterion made every strike tremendously heavy, each impact resembling an explosion.

And this…

Was Asterion's true Blessing.

Aura Dominion.

A dangerous ability that allowed him to compress enormous quantities of Aura Armor into a single point with a degree of control no one else could match.

Not a single particle of mana was wasted under his command.

It made Asterion the perfect manipulator of aura.

A level of control no hunter had ever reached, neither in Asterion's generation nor the one before it.

The Uncrowned Emperor's next strike split the Golden Dawn Knight's shield cleanly in two.

Asterion pressed forward.

His odachi tore through the air at tremendous speed, coming within a hair's breadth of severing the knight's neck.

Then it stopped.

There was no shield this time.

The blade had literally frozen just before reaching the Golden Dawn Knight's neck, as though something invisible were preventing it from touching him.

Asterion felt something immensely heavy pushing against him.

But he couldn't see anything.

He immediately realized his opponent possessed some kind of invisible power.

Then his enhanced senses screamed.

Danger.

The Uncrowned Emperor hurled himself backward with King's Step.

But he was a single moment too late.

And that single moment was enough for blood to burst from his chest.

The instant he widened the distance between them, Asterion looked down and found a horizontal wound bleeding across his chest.

A wound that could only have been made by a sword.

His Aura Armor had reduced the damage.

But it hadn't prevented the injury entirely.

Across from him, the Golden Dawn Knight calmly folded his arms over his chest, not even bothering to use them.

Instead, two golden arms flashed into visibility for the briefest fraction of a second.

They resembled floating gauntlets.

And each one held a long, invisible sword.

More arms formed around the knight.

More weapons rested within their hands.

And all of them were invisible.

Asterion stared at his opponent with a deep frown.

Even after reinforcing his eyes with aura…

He couldn't see them.

"His Blessing lets him do this too…?"

Asterion stared for another moment.

"That's cheating."

Then the Uncrowned Emperor started laughing again.

The odachi vanished from his hand.

In its place, an enormous spear appeared from nowhere.

Asterion rested it over his shoulder and grinned at his opponent.

"I can feel my blood boiling…"

His crimson Aura Armor erupted around him in overwhelming quantities.

"Come on, Golden Dawn Knight!"

The strongest living hunter charged forward like a madman.

"SHOW ME MORE OF WHAT YOU CAN DO!!"

The battle between the strongest was about to enter its second phase.