Chapter 304: You’re It!
"..."
Aurel lay on the ground, staring towards the gray blanket of a sky, and felt like there was something poking at her back.
’I must’ve fallen on top of a sword or something.’
Fang Raon thought.
Aurel looked under her and saw a small sword poking at her back, and she quickly tossed it away like trash.
’He sure is strong.’
Fang Raon thought.
’This was my first war. I was just an up-and-coming warrior, and my encounter with Johan was something I never forgot.’
Aurel said inside the mind.
’You mean this is your weakest state?’
Fang Raon asked in surprise.
She was already much stronger than he was even at level 3, but to Aurel, it was just a beginning of her journey.
’You haven’t seen anything yet... My strength at my prime was much... much greater than this. You still have three minutes left. Try to survive.’
Aurel said.
With a soft groan, Fang Raon controlled her body and stood up, mud dripping from her clothes and hair.
"Neigh~!"
In that moment, she heard the neigh of a horse and saw the black horse galloping towards her, carrying Johan on its back.
’No rest, huh? That’s fine!’
She lifted her swords, and then she suddenly vanished, leaving behind just a couple of wet footmarks on the ground.
Out of nowhere, she appeared in front of Johan, gliding through the air like a bird with wings.
"Beautiful Death Dance!"
She swung the blades for his head, but Johan effortlessly bent his body in a way that allowed him to dodge the attack.
The blades flew over his head.
He then jumped off the black horse, landed on the muddy ground, and dashed after Aurel rapidly.
SPLASH~! SPLASH~! SPLASH~!
His boots sank into the wet ground with each running step, but it didn’t seem to slow down him at all.
"Rebel March!"
Johan brought his sword down at her, and she suddenly did a few dancing steps and waved her sword at him.
"Dance Parry!"
The rapier sword grazed at Johan’s sword and redirected it just enough to miss her body completely.
"Black Edge Pressure!"
Aurel pushed forward and hammered her swords at him, forcing Johan backward with each strike.
He had to focus on defense in order to avoid getting seriously injured.
’...’
Aurel stayed quiet inside the mind as she watched as Fang Raon controlled her body, fighting quite well, actually.
She also realized Fang Raon’s plan.
He realized that Johan, when attacking, was force to be reckoned with, and he couldn’t defend forever against his might.
Therefore.
He decided to force Johan on defense instead, even if his attacks wouldn’t land, as all he had to do was buy time.
"Phantom Blade Ballet!"
In that moment, Aurel’s blades turned invisible, and the sword slash attacks came flying at Johan like buzzing mosquitoes.
"..."
Johan didn’t panic.
Instead, he used Read and read the trajectory of the invisible sword attacks perfectly by looking at Aurel’s hands.
While the swords were invisible, Aurel was still grabbing on to those invisible sword hilts, and from seeing how her hands moved, he could predict the direction and timing of her attacks.
He waved his sword and parried each attack with expert precision.
Sparks flew as their swords clashed in the gritty-looking day.
’Interesting...’
Aurel narrowed her eyes, and at that moment, her swords turned visible again, but then she started walking circles around Johan.
Out of nowhere.
Afterimages of identical-looking beautiful women appeared all around Johan—dozens and dozens of them.
"Phantom Step!"
"That won’t work."
Johan said coldly, and out of nowhere, he stabbed his sword behind him and into the waist of Aurel.
The blood spilled, and all the afterimages poofed out of existence.
"Argh!"
Aurel’s face turned ugly as the sword pierced her waist, and she quickly backed off with a bloody waist.
’That was a little mistake... He used Read to tell which afterimage was real... If I only knew Read as well, that move could be much more powerful.’
Fang Raon thought.
’Two minutes.’
Aurel said inside the mind.
Each minute felt like an eternity.
"Time for me to end this."
Johan said coldly, and at that moment, he jumped high in the air and pointed his sword down at Aurel.
’Why did he jump...’
Fang Raon frowned.
In that moment, Aurel’s body started trembling, but it wasn’t Fang Raon that was afraid, but Aurel herself.
It was like she could feel what was about to come and was truly afraid of it.
’Maybe this trial was too hard... Good luck.’
Aurel said, and then she turned quiet all of a sudden, and Fang Raon was completely confused about why she said that just now.
"Rebellious Rain of the New Dawn!"
Johan screamed, and at that moment, he stabbed his sword through the air, but not just once, but hundreds of times in a span of a few seconds.
It looked like his arm and sword were moving so quickly that he had hundreds of arms and swords.
At that moment.
Shining beams of light shot out of the blades and started raining down on Aurel, like a storm of shooting stars.
’That’s Reach... I am in trouble!’
Fang Raon, using Aurel’s body, paled significantly, and he knew that just running out of the way of the attack was too late now.
’I have to defend!’
She raised her swords and screamed, "Dance Parry," from the top of her lungs like her life depended on it.
In that moment.
The rain came down in sheets, and she screamed and started swinging the sword as quickly as possible.
"Ahhhhhh!"
CLANG~! CLANG~! CLANG~!
The swords clashed in a wild flurry of metal, smashing through the sword rain that was made of metal and light.
Thousands... maybe tens of thousands... maybe even hundreds of thousands of those sword-rain droplets were falling simultaneously, creating a deafening sound that echoed through the battlefield.
And yet...
Aurel—or more so Fang Raon—was parrying each and every single one of them with the grace and precision of a master swordsman.
She was screaming, but those sounds were drowned by the sound of the falling rain.
A couple of them slipped past her defenses and grazed her body, leaving shallow cuts that immediately started bleeding.
"Argh!"
Aurel’s eyes had turned bloodshot, and her movements became even more erratic.
Fang Raon forgot about everything. About the trial. About the battlefield. About the fight. He even forgot who he was.
His whole being was all about the rain, and the swords—nothing else mattered.
In that moment.
Something strange started to happen as he could swear that the speed of the falling rain was slowing down.
And also.
He felt like he was in a trance and could tell where those drops would land before they hit the ground.
’What is this...’
He could even tell which of those rain droplets would miss him, and instinctively, he didn’t even try to parry them.
Instead.
He just let them miss him.
And he only focused on parrying the ones that would hit him, and that made his defense much more effective.
None of the rain was able to get through his defenses any more, and soon enough, the rain had stopped.
"..."
Johan’s eyes were round in shock, and as he landed back on the ground, he looked at Aurel like she was some kind of monster.
’How the hell was she able to survive that?’
"..."
Aurel was quiet, her hands bleeding slightly as she happened to grip the swords a little bit too hard.
’That just now... was Read. I used it.’
Fang Raon thought.
She then looked towards Johan, reading his body language, and she could tell that he was about to attack.
’A quick sword thrust to my heart.’
Fang Raon thought.
And just like that, Johan suddenly stabbed his sword forward without any warning beforehand.
Nonchalantly, Aurel smacked his sword away, and while he was in a state of shock, she suddenly swung for his head.
He pulled his head back to dodge, but Aurel knew that he was going to do that and immediately followed up with a downward slash.
The blade sliced through Johan’s left arm, leaving a deep gash that began to bleed profusely.
"Ngh?!"
Johan panicked and quickly backed off, cold sweat trickling down his back, as he realized that he might’ve woken up a monster.
’Is this the moment when you awakened Read, Aurel?’
Fang Raon asked.
’No... I didn’t learn Read until a few years later... This is all you...’
Aurel said.
Even she sounded incredibly impressed.
’Ah... I feel like... I can win.’
Fang Raon thought and took a step forward, but before he could make another move, a voice said inside his mind:
’No need. The time is over. You passed the second trial. You don’t need to do anything anymore.’
Aurel said.
’Huh?’
Fang Raon frowned.
In that moment, he heard the loud sound of galloping horses, and as he turned around, he saw dozens of horses racing towards them.
And at the front of the horses, there was a beautiful silver horse, and riding it was a handsome-looking man in battle armor.
’King Julius...’
Aurel whispered inside his mind.
’That’s King Julius?’
Fang Raon thought in surprise.
In that moment, everything around him poofed to nothingness. The battlefield disappeared. The incoming horses vanished.
And then, he was suddenly back inside the dark and cramped mausoleum.
"What happened after that?"
Fang Raon asked.
"King Julius killed Johan. That’s what happened. They dueled one-on-one, and King Julius won. He was the greatest warrior of the kingdom, after all.
"Johan didn’t stand a chance.
"After that, the war ended and the Dark Rebels were no more."
Aurel, the statue, said.
"Ah..."
Fang Raon exclaimed.
"You passed the second trial with flying colors. There is only the last trial left, but I have a feeling that it won’t be a problem for you...
"I have decided to skip the third trial. You’re it. A suitable legacy carrier. I believe by handing the legacy to you, it will be in good hands."
Aurel said with a soft voice.
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