Chapter 259: 259 "Godspeed
"That blade..."
Rom was stunned.
He watched as the knife suddenly appeared in Reiger’s hand, feeling the intermittent and scorching high temperature emanating from it and became instantly alert.
Reiger had always used knives made with construct series magic in battle, discarding them after use, as if he didn’t have a proper weapon at his disposal.
But now, the knife he had taken out was definitely no disposable, ordinary weapon; it was a bona fide magical weapon.
"I see, so this is his real weapon?"
It wasn’t that Reiger lacked a weapon to hand; rather, he hadn’t encountered an opponent worthy of using it against.
What did this imply?
"Could it be, he has been concealing his true strength all this time?"
Rom felt it was almost beyond belief.
Yet, it seemed to be the truth.
The evidence was when Reiger gripped that knife and positioned it at his side, assuming a familiar stance ready to draw and slash, the aura he exuded was now threatening enough to stimulate Rom’s sense of danger.
Lightning burst forth from his body, transforming into thick bolts that flickered and gradually swelled in size.
"Danger!"
Rom sensed a crisis at this very moment from Reiger.
The swordsmanship that Rom had practiced could be summed up as an extremely high-end assassination technique.
Practitioners of this sword skill not only possess great prowess in stealth but can also manipulate shadows.
Having mastered this swordsmanship, Rom could hide himself within shadows, not only concealing his appearance completely to the point where others could only see a flickering dark silhouette but could also blend into the environment with the shadows, eluding most detection magic and infiltration into any place.
This is the special-class sword skill primarily practiced by Shadow Sword Saint Rom— the Shadow Strike Sword Skill.
The Shadow Assault Sword Skill used by the royal family’s assassination unit "Shadow," which could enhance one’s speed and silence all noise made by their actions, was a simplified version of Rom’s Shadow Strike Sword Skill.
As a high-grade sword technique, the simplified Shadow Assault Sword Skill was already formidable, so the original Shadow Strike Sword Skill that it was derived from was considered rare and precious even among the many special-class sword techniques.
Although not as widely known as the War King Sword Skill, it was regarded in the royal family as a precious sword skill second only to the War King Sword Skill, bestowed by the King for training only to the most loyal, not to ordinary people.
Rom was the only swordsman who had honed this sword skill to the pinnacle and stepped into the realm of Sword Saint. Thus, his use of the skill was beyond what laypersons could comprehend.
For instance, Rom could not only hide himself in the shadows, but he could also hide his weapon there, letting it disappear completely before the enemy’s eyes, and silently execute the strike.
For instance, Rom could manipulate the shadow of his weapon, indirectly controlling the weapon itself, allowing it to strike and sweep as if of its own accord, even when not in his grip.
Rom could also accelerate the movement of shadows, vastly increasing the speed of himself and his controlled weapon.
Therefore, even when faced with Reiger’s fearsome slash imbued with lightning, as long as Rom could react in time, he could quickly evade.
Thus, Rom’s Shadow Sword could appear and disappear like a phantom, moving instantaneously without obstruction. This was actually the result of hiding within the shadows, accelerated to near teleportation speed.
Hidden within shadows, Rom could even avoid most attacks, untouched by regular physical assaults in his shadowy form.
It was for this reason that Rom had dared to directly wield his Shadow Sword and slash at his own position, because he knew he would not be harmed.
The Shadow Sword, a weapon that could convert magic power directly into destructive force, possessed straightforward physical strength. As long as he hid in shadows and dodged in time, Rom would remain unscathed.
But the surging, intensifying lightning on Reiger’s body was imparting a fatal sense of crisis to Rom.
Thanks to this sense of crisis, Rom almost reflexively understood.
"The next slice will definitely cleave through my shadow."
And the force of this slice would surpass any of Reiger’s previous attacks.
"No way!"
A cold light burst forth within Rom’s eyes, narrowed to pinpoints.
"I cannot sit still and wait for death!"
The moment this thought emerged, Rom moved.
"Whoosh!"
With a sharp whooshing sound, Rom had completely merged into the Shadow Sword’s shadow and, along with it, lunged toward Reiger.
In that instant, not only did Rom push the power of the Shadow Sword to its limit, causing the black light shimmering on the blade to become exceptionally brilliant, boosting its power, but he also exerted his full strength, wildly accelerating the shadow, driving the speed of the Shadow Sword to an astonishing extent.
This was Rom’s trump card, with a name as brutally simple as its intention, called "One-Hit Kill."
Once executed, the Shadow Sword seemed to become a beam of light, piercing through space, piercing through time, as if in the blink of an eye, it could leave this world behind and enter the domain of light speed.
Such a streak of black light was now shooting straight toward Reiger.
And at that very same moment, Reiger also made his move.
"Lightning Breath·First Form..."
The lightning surged, turning Reiger into something akin to a streak of light himself, leaping through space with the sound of thunder.
"Thunderclap Flash·God Speed!"
The ultimate, fastest flash that brought "Thunderclap Flash" to its peak finally manifested in this world.
In that instant, Reiger’s speed and explosive power both reached a level that would be difficult to attain under normal circumstances.
Only in that moment, in that split second, the slash Reiger was about to unleash possessed the power that could rival a full-force strike of his own when in both battle modes.
Although it was only for an instant, a split second, a single slash, it was enough.
The raging thunder light and the sweeping black light collided fiercely on the desolate wilderness where no one was present.
"Boom!!!"
A thunderous roar instantly resonated, transforming into an immensely terrifying shockwave that spread in all directions.
The shockwave, like a nuclear bomb exploding, formed a semi-circular pattern that extended outwards, crushing everything in its vicinity.
And so, the ground shattered.
And so, the wilderness collapsed.
The thick thunder and the pitch-black sword light flew out from the explosion-like shockwave, slamming into the surroundings, breaking rocks, crushing the stone plateau, ripping open the ground, and pulverizing the rubble, making the area seem as if it had suffered a natural disaster.
At the epicenter of the shockwave, thunder, and sword light, the slash of thunder and the stab of black fiercely collided with each other until at a certain moment, the scales of victory began to tip towards one side.
The thunder gradually overpowered the black light, and finally, as if creating a world anew, it cleaved the black light apart.
"Puchi!"
In the sound of tearing, the swift slash cut through the black light, cut through the shadows, causing the assassin merged with the Shadow Sword to be expelled from within.
The thunder swallowed it, soaring out from the shockwave and the thunder and sword light, passing through the numerous scenes of devastation, and sweeping over to the other side of the wilderness.
......
Time went by, second by second.
No one knows how long it took before the catastrophic force raging in the wilderness finally subsided.
The thunder disappeared.
The sword light vanished.
The shockwave was also as if it had never existed, like a breeze that had randomly brushed past this place, leaving no trace behind.
All that remained was a wasteland, a scene of desolate ruin.
"Cough cough..."
On the other side of the wilderness, a figure pushed away the rubble that buried him, covering his bleeding chest, coughing while struggling to rise.
This person was naturally Rom.
At this moment, Rom was no longer a flickering black shadow but had revealed his true face.
He had an average appearance, moderate build, and except for his rather unusual black clothing, everything else about him seemed extremely ordinary. He appeared to be in his 40s. If he changed his clothes and was thrown into a crowd, absolutely no one would recognize him as the renowned Shadow Sword Saint of the Kingdom of Ginas, but rather as an insignificant passerby.
At this moment, not only was Rom’s chest bleeding, but there were also traces of blood at the corners of his mouth, clearly indicating he was wounded.
Fortunately, the injuries weren’t severe.
The reason was simple.
"I deliberately avoided your vitals, so it shouldn’t prevent you from standing up, should it?" said Reiger, his body flickering with thunder light, standing before Rom.
In his hand, a high-temperature knife was unsheathed, marked with red patterns that formed a divine image, exuding an impressive sense of might.
"Click..."
Reiger slowly sheathed the knife, the blade temperature high enough to distort the air around it, into its scabbard.
Watching Reiger, Rom remained silent for a very long time before finally speaking with a hoarse voice.
"Lightning flashes, defeat follows; I thought it was just an exaggeration, but this is how it is?"
"Mortals see the lightning as merely a distraction, unaware that there is an even more deadly flash of lightning above it," Reiger replied indifferently.
"Is that your real killing move?"
Rom’s words were met with Reiger’s impassive response.
"Above this move, there’s another, but I just haven’t completed its development."
Upon hearing this, Rom fell completely silent.
It was then that Reiger spoke again.
"Consider this us settling our previous score," Reiger said, squinting his eyes. "Your ’Shadow’ attacked me twice and even sneaked into the Fransel household to strike at me. Although it was not your will, you are the leader of ’Shadow,’ somewhat an accomplice. You certainly knew about it and chose to condone it. This is your consequence."
"As for the matter with Princess Liz, I can accept it, but it depends on your royal family’s choices."
"I’m not fond of restraints. It’s up to you whether you take this seriously or not."
Having said that, Reiger turned around, flickered, and, along with the lightning, disappeared from the place.
Leaving Rom alone, staring blankly at the departing flash of lightning, he finally sighed.
"It seems that this matter needs to be urgently decided by His Majesty," he muttered.