The lead assassin giggled and pulled the sword close to himself as he dashed towards Asher.
"But that's all it amounts to in the end. No matter how good you are at exploiting gaps with simple tricks, those will only go so far. You are nothing when compared under the guise of a talented swordsman."
The assassin sped up and accelerated his movement. A shadow devoured the man's sword and blocked Asher's view at the same time. The pitch black sword aimed directly for Asher's neck, drawing a thin line in the air.
Crnnng!
The sword from Asher and the lead assassin collide and the sound of iron rang out in the surroundings. Asher twisted his body, parrying the slash and released his tight grip on his sword to stab the sword rapidly at the chest of the lead assassin. The man flipped his back to avoid the stab and swung himself roughly, bringing the sword back. At that moment, the man's sword shook and a dark haze covered the sword's appearance as the blade disappeared.
"Tch-"
Asher lightly clicked his tongue and stepped back.
"Ha ha! Even if you're an untalented brat, you must be able to tell that this is great swordplay!"
The lead assassin bursts into a haughty laughter. The hidden sword, re-appeared and suddenly scraped against the wall.
Asher put the sword back inside his spatial pocket without further delay, and took out a spear. Twirling the spear in a circle around him, he focused on defending himself from all angles and looking for an opening to stab with the spear. Finding it, Asher's muscles exploded and tore the air apart.
The dark sword of the assassin shook, and the air trembled at the fierce incoming attack from Asher.
A sword appeared behind Asher's neck like a snake twisting and writhing in the air. Asher ducked and avoided the strike as the assassin twisted the trajectory to follow Asher's forehead. Asher raised the iron wrist brace and blocked the strike.
Bingggg!
Asher widened the gap again. The man grinned and shook the sword with his hand. Again, the shadow wrapped around the sword and disappeared.
"Oh, do you know how to respond to this? Of course, that Swordmaster must have been really interested in you. If I kill you, I wonder how he will react?"
Asher touched the wrist brace while looking at the amused expression on the face of the lead assassin. There seemed to be no abnormalities on the surface. Asher took the stance symbolizing the raw defensive prowess within his imperial swordsmanship
"You learned a troublesome swordsmanship, indeed."
Asher responded. It was a swordsmanship that moved like a shadow, unpredictable and untraceable.
Asher knew that swordsmanship and he knew he had a hard time dealing with it. Thanks to its finicky nature, it was swordsmanship that almost everyone knew to be dastardly to deal with.
"Haha! My sword is the swordsmanship of our Great God!"
The man shouted loudly.
"This is the swordsmanship of our founder of Motorola! Would you truly dare to confront me!"
***
'I never thought I'd see this swordsmanship again.'
Asher clicked his tongue lightly.
Motorola's swordsmanship.
If Lepenia's swordsmanship was known to move like a snake, Motorola's swordsmanship was a sword embodying the shadows.
The sword disappears, and travels in the darkness to aim for the opponent's vital points. Distance and form were meaningless in front of it. As one became proficient with the swordsmanship, the range of the swordsmanship increased, and the shape of the sword could also be freely transformed.
Thanks to its characteristics, it was very difficult to deal with in terms of how many angles there were to attack with it, so it was the natural enemy to imperial swordsmanship. If the Imperial Swordsmanship represented balance, Motorala's swordsmanship embodied stealth and complete offensive maneuver ability.
But it was just a meager advantage if one was only comparing the styles of swordsmanship. It didn't apply any further than that. And for that reason alone, Asher grinned.
"It must be tricky to learn, but you must be quite talented if you were able to learn it."
"Hahah Yes! I am one of the 13 Great Dark Stars under the Motorola Name."
"The Dark Stars? Are you still calling yourself that? What a childish name."
Asher muttered. The man heard Asher's muttering and disrespect in his voice as he closed the sword into the shadows once more and moved.
"Then die. It shouldn't be such a terrible death seeing how you'll be dying to the natural enemy of your own swordsmanship. You only have yourself to blame for this as a swordsman."
"As a swordsman?"
Asher twisted the corners of her mouth grimly.
The lead assassin sped up and then disappeared, only to reappear behind Asher on the wall behind him and stabbing at Asher's back. Asher hurriedly blocked it, but his front side was defenseless thanks to it. The lead assassin didn't miss this as he disappeared and then re-appeared in front of Asher's front side exploding forward with strength in his sword.
Boom!
Asher bounced the blade of the assassin quickly off the iron wrist brace on his right arm. The assassin clicked his tongue and shook the sword again. The shadows surrounded Asher once more.
" I'd rather die than lose to some crummy and untalented swordsman with the imperial swordsmanship."
"…why is Motorola here in the Halvark Estate?"
Asher, who staggered up, asked suddenly. He snorted at the ridiculous taunt from the assassin.
"How crazy, what assassin would I be to tell you the motive?"
"I'm going to die anyway. Can't you grant the dying child his last wish? What brings you here to this little estate in the countryside?"
"Well, it doesn't matter."
The man made a distorted smile.
"It's polite I guess to honor your wish. In the first place, we came to this country estate just to kill you."
"…kill me?"
"Yes, the order has come down from above."
"From above…"
Asher muttered. The man said proudly.
"At first, it didn't seem like I needed to come, but… It must have been a hard request seeing how well you've been standing up till now. Congratulations. I do recognize your strength now, and that I was needed to come, aren't you happy to be recognized by one of the 13 Great Dark Stars? Hahaha! However, you will pay the price with death for this. "
"Ah yes, you did step up to come after me personally didn't you."
Asher straightened up. His trembling body was already finding stability in it's balance. The assassin grinned.
"Yeah. Did you get enough information for your dying wish?"
"I did."
"Congratulations. It truly is like a dying gift, isn't it?"