Ch.861I Won’t Call You a Coward.

A thrust that pierced through the clouds to reveal the sky.

It was something like both evidence and a warning.

‘Yes, that’s what I need to master…’

Like when I cut off the evil god’s arm, if I add the power to cut through space to the time compression of ‘Defying Fate,’ I could create a transcendent strike that extends all the way to the sky.

‘…and that’s while keeping Defying Fate sealed.’

And a warning that if I were to unleash Defying Fate against Rotholandus, I would only be helping him.

Using Defying Fate while crossing swords with Rotholandus would transform the ‘Sword of Severance’—which would normally only cut his surroundings at best—into an ultimate slash that could reach the heavens.

So I had no choice but to seal Defying Fate.

Even if I consumed my Karma like water to create a world of compressed time, Rotholandus could match my movements when I manifested Defying Fate, giving me little advantage…

Moreover, if the Sword of Severance with its limited range transformed into a sky-cutting blade, I would have no way to counter it in my current state.

– Kaaaang!

That’s why I had to abandon the one-sided offensive using Defying Fate and engage in close-quarters combat, matching blade against blade to test our respective capabilities and skills.

—-

“Gyaaaaah-!”

“Kyaaaaat!”

A storm of blue light, golden radiance, and black arcs intertwined in violent collision.

– Kagagagagang!

Sword strikes at such high speeds that those who couldn’t cross the wall couldn’t even see their trajectories. The true silver and dragon scales collided and canceled each other out, creating endless explosive sounds.

Sparks flew and debris swirled like leaves in a typhoon.

“Kaaaaat!”

“Ha, fierce! So fierce!”

Missed slashes carved wounds in the air, and the aftermath of their clashes became invisible claws that mercilessly tore apart the ground in all directions.

A direct confrontation between the successor of the Great’s Twelve Knights and the monster wearing the soul of one of the Twelve Knights.

It was such a dangerous battle that even mediocre warriors would perish just by standing nearby.

“At least I can block them, so that’s fortunate, ha!”

I shouted as I swung my longsword wide to deflect Rotholandus’s black sword.

Durandal. The unbreakable sword of oath withstood even the space-cutting ability, transforming “unstoppable slashes” into merely “dangerous slashes.”

Then I thrust out my right foot. Muscles filled with the power of good Karma exerted superhuman strength, creating a fierce sound like a whip cutting through air.

– Hwooong!

The corpse general also swung his leg to counter. His posture was remarkably similar to mine. So much so that our shins would have collided and canceled each other out.

…Of course, considering the severance power in his leg, if we collided, only my leg would be one-sidedly sliced off.

Unlike Durandal, which wouldn’t be scratched even by the power of severance, my body had no ability to withstand the heroic tale of space cutting.

This meant that even if our swordsmanship was equal, I was at an overwhelming disadvantage in hand-to-hand combat.

Therefore.

“Tch!”

I hurriedly leaned my body backward to avoid the corpse general’s leg, then jumped backward like doing a flip to create distance.

“Kaaaaat—!”

“Get away, scram!”

I deflected Rotholandus’s black sword with my true silver longsword glowing with golden seals as he immediately pursued me.

– Kaaaang!

Once again, sword met sword, mercilessly throwing both our bodies backward.

“Kuk…!”

My body flew back like a ball. I spun in midair to correct my posture, then thrust Durandal into the ground to brake, holding it in reverse grip.

– Kwadududuk!

The sharp blade split through soil and stone fragments, carving a long furrow in the earth.

In that brief moment of respite, I took a deep breath as if regulating my breathing, and as I pulled the sword from the ground, I muttered quietly.

“Haah…. From appearance to behavior. I’d believe it if someone said you were my sibling.”

Rotholandus at full power resembled me so much that such words naturally came out.

Not just the kick technique from earlier, but the entire trajectory of her sword.

Just as I was using a modified version of Imperial swordsmanship, she too was using a sword style remarkably similar to Imperial swordsmanship.

The sword style was too rough and crude to be considered a modification of Imperial swordsmanship. It was probably something like the original version of Imperial swordsmanship.

Just as contraceptives were only invented after the concept of birth control emerged, the name “Imperial” swordsmanship could only have been conceived after the Empire was established.

Rotholandus had been fighting as a knight since before the Empire was founded, so during his heyday, the concept of Imperial swordsmanship wouldn’t even have existed.

So the swordsmanship that the corpse general was using now wasn’t a modification of Imperial swordsmanship…

‘On the contrary, Imperial swordsmanship must be the result of modifying that style.’

That made sense.

Rotholandus’s swordsmanship was admirably powerful and swift, but as a trade-off, it was an unstable style that would expose weaknesses without the superhuman physical abilities of a top-tier hero.

While Rotholandus himself had already transcended human limitations so it wasn’t an issue, if ordinary knights tried to follow it, they would have a nine out of ten chance of dying from counterattacks to their vulnerabilities.

Such swordsmanship couldn’t be used as a standard style, so the current Imperial swordsmanship must be the result of sacrificing power and speed for a more stable form.

In other words, my swordsmanship, which modified Imperial swordsmanship to be rougher and more powerful to accommodate my strength…

– Kaaaang!

“I can see through everything, since your swinging method is identical!”

“Grrrr…!”

…naturally had to resemble Rotholandus’s original style.

—-

Ten minutes passed like that.

[That was nowhere near five minutes.]

In the middle of the inner castle that had turned into a wasteland. Both the corpse general and I were stained red with blood, but they were all just grazing wounds with no fatal injuries.

This was the natural outcome.

To inflict serious injuries through the protection of the Unyielding Flesh, one would need to land a proper hit, and against an opponent with strength similar to mine, that was no easy task.

[No, can you even win like this?]

Of course, Rotholandus’s attacks could casually ignore the protection imbued in my armor and body as if they never existed…

‘It’s only because it’s me that I’m holding out. If it were you, this would have ended in three minutes.’

Knowing this well, I fought with extreme caution, and as a result, he too was only able to graze my skin without inflicting serious injuries.

The space-cutting ability was ultimately like an extraordinarily sharp sword.

If hit, one would inevitably suffer fatal wounds… but if not hit, how was it different from an ordinary iron sword?

No, it was even worse than an iron sword. After all, he was using the vast Karma needed to manifest a heroic tale just to slash at empty air.

‘From the beginning, to defeat this guy, I have to drag this out.’

Moreover, I wasn’t just mindlessly dodging without any plan. I was convinced that dragging out time like this and wasting each other’s Karma was the best strategy to defeat the opponent before me.

‘This corpse general or whatever may be strong… but his power can’t be infinite, right? There must be a limit eventually.’

Even the strongest fighters eventually run out of strength and tire after continuous fighting.

Even undead monsters, though their stamina might be infinite, had limits to the total amount of dark mana they could handle.

Unless they were the type to rely solely on physical abilities, monsters that utilized dark mana would inevitably weaken significantly once their mana was depleted.

The same would apply to the corpse general before me.

Whether his stamina was finite like a living being’s or infinite like an undead’s was unknown, but regardless of stamina, the power of his Karma surely had limits.

If not, he would have overwhelmed me from the start by pouring out his Karma like a flood.

So all I had to do was endure without sustaining major injuries and wait.

Until the corpse general’s energy was finally depleted and he could no longer wield the power of space cutting.

By that time, my own Karma would probably be depleted as well… but that wasn’t a problem.

My victory would be assured as long as both our Karma was completely depleted.

Once Karma was depleted, it would become a pure battle of specs, and I had no reason to lose such a fight.

The near-infinite vitality granted by Durandal, and physical abilities that had already reached transcendent levels even without Karma’s assistance.

Above all, unlike Rotholandus who wore only a torn skirt, I was equipped with armor forged from dragon remains and scales.

While armor’s advantage might not be so significant in a battle between superhumans, once energy was depleted to the level of an ordinary master, a good set of armor could determine victory or defeat, life or death.

‘Once both sides are weakened to the point where we can’t use Karma, I won’t even need to dodge or deflect his sword—my armor will block everything.’

The Winter Armor, a masterpiece that Asha had created with great care using materials I had gathered, was armor that Rotholandus—having lost his space-cutting power, or rather, with no Karma remaining—could never penetrate.

‘Then my victory is assured.’

So I just needed to trust my armor and push forward like a tank to beat the corpse general to death!

Even with the protection of the Unyielding Flesh, it couldn’t completely block impacts, so the nearly naked corpse general would eventually collapse after taking hit after hit.

It was literally a victory of equipment… no, of technology and resources.

[Such a method…]

Hersella let out a scoff as if dumbfounded.

She wouldn’t call it cowardly, would she?

If losing to superior equipment is frustrating, he should have prepared good armor like me from the start. Right?

Death doesn’t come to those who are prepared.

So if he lost due to the difference in armor, that would ultimately be the self-inflicted consequence of Rotholandus and Meiharin.