Jin became one with the shadows. His body turned black, becoming dark and hazy. It was as if a faint shadow was standing there, resembling a ghost. It seemed as though your hand could pass right through him.
Thud!
The guardian halted in her tracks.
It was because of the reverse sky's power.
If it had been a typical magic spell, Jin would never have been able to induce mana backflow even if the guardian only had 5-star mana instead of 8-star.
The reverse sky was a grand magic spell that shook the common knowledge of mages regarding mana backflow even in the present era.
The guardian couldn't help but find it even more bizarre as a figure from a thousand years ago.
"...Is this Zipfelil's secret technique? It is quite impressive you are using such powerful magic at a young age."
The guardian's burning eyebrows twitched. She seemed quite annoyed, and momentarily couldn't take her eyes off from the reverse sky.
A part of mana that composed the flame of hell collapsed and formed a ring shape. The mana ring began to slowly absorb into the reverse sky's sphere.
Now that another spell pressed her on top of the authority of time, leaving the guardian unable to move freely.
Meanwhile, her struggle against Murakan continued.
The shadow force and fire seeking control over subspace relentlessly pushed each other from all directions.
However, contrary to the situation, it was not Sarah but Jin and his companions who were being overwhelmed. They couldn't even approach the guardian who was standing still.
It didn't make sense. It was a mystery to be able to produce this much power with 8- or 9-star mana and aura even taking into account the unique power of the ancient Runcandel.
It was clear that Jin and his companions possessed greater power than Sarah. However, she was a pure-blood Runcandel before the pact was made. Sarah's existence was an anomaly in itself.
On top of that, she was closest to being the strongest among those anomalies.
'Please, I hope you will regain your senses before the battle ends, Dame Sarah. Even for a moment.'
Jin's grip on the sword tightened.
Soon after, shadows began to emanate from Jin's body and darkened the ground.
It was a single, massive shadow. They branched out into multiple strands and moved rapidly towards the guardian.
In the blink of an eye, the split shadows surrounded the guardian.
Swish, boom!
Instinctively, the guardian fired a burst of fire at the shadows.
It was impossible to attack shadows with physical striking. The shadows surrounding the guardian only shimmered momentarily, and continued to darken the ground.
Shadow sword 7th technique, Shadow Assault.
As the name suggests, 7th technique was a unique move designed to assault opponents.
A sword that can't be mimicked even by the most exceptional swordsman unless you couldn't use shadows.
Jin's blurry form lunged forward.
To those who had not reached a higher level of mastery, facing Jin charging forward with his half-transparent and darkened body would have been bewildering.
His speed was so fast that it appeared as if it was not his body but a dark sword energy that had been fired.
Even so, the guardian attempted to fend off Jin's charge nonchalantly.
By the time Jin began to move, the guardian had already calculated the trajectory of the sword swing.
The distance between them narrowed to almost nothing, and the two swords created a trajectory.
The guardian's sword was faster. Regardless of the total amount of aura they possessed and the injuries they sustained, her lifelong mastery of swordsmanship still reached a transcendent level.
The swords made of fire and shadows clashed.
Or, it appeared as if they clashed. The guardian's sword cut through empty space, and Jin completely vanished from her sight.
Instead, the guardian unexpectedly had to face Sigmund, who was coming from behind. Sigmund's darkened blade was descending onto the guardian's back.
Jin's comrades were astounded at the sight.
'Did Lord Jin... use teleportation?'
Teleportation.
That was the only explanation they could come up with. Jin, who had charged head-on, suddenly swung his sword from behind the guardian.
It was not entirely wrong.
Jin's sudden disappearance from empty space was due to the five shadows that surrounded the guardian.
Those shadows acted as a kind of "portal." In the Shadow Sword 7th technique, Shadow Assault, Jin could freely move through these portals.
Jin concealed his body within the shadow right in front of the guardian during the clash, and then he emerged from the shadow behind her and swung his sword.
"Assault," an unexpectedly powerful attack.
It was a tactic that only someone who could become the shadow itself could deploy.
Ssss-!
Jin's sword grazed the guardian's lower back.
More precisely, it grazed the surface of fire that covered her like a leather garment.
She was one of ten great knights.
Even if fire is bound by the authority of time, and she is struggling against Murakan, and her mana is fluctuating against her will due to the reverse sky.
Jin had never expected to defeat her with just one strike.
[Yeah, the Shadow Sword has this kind of move. It's unpleasant to see you using the patriarch's moves.]
Jin didn't respond any further to the guardian's remark about not being Zipfel anymore.
The situation had reached a point where communication had to happen through their swords, given the shattered state of the old heroine's mind.
'Unlike when I was with Sir Sylderay, there might be some issues here. But Dame Sarah is also part of Solderet's arrangement. If I fulfill the conditions of succession, the same thing that happened in the first tomb will occur.'
And all the trails left by Solderet shared the same solution.
Willpower. The most sacred value upheld by martial artists, or perhaps by all humans. Proving it would open the way forward, as it had always been.
It was the same when he first awakened the Shadow sword, in the Great Mitra Desert, and in the first tomb. There was no reason for it to be any different this time.
The swords of Jin and the guardian clashed from five different directions. Jin moved effortlessly through the five shadows without rotating his body, while the guardian had to fend off Sigmund in a frantic manner.
However, despite her hectic movements, the guardian's eyes were as steady as rock.
As the battle intensified,
The swords of the two gradually took on a simpler form. It was not a fight of fancier moves but they battled with the depth of their basic moves.
Which sword carried more depth?
It was undoubtedly the guardian's. In terms of mastery, experience, proficiency, and integration, excluding the single innate talent, Jin's swordsmanship was inferior in every aspect to hers.
[What a waste, young man. If you were born a Runcandel, you could have been a hero who would save the world.]
The five shadows surrounding the guardian were gradually moving away from her. It was a clear sign that Jin was being pushed back.
Although his companions were watching this scene with their own eyes, they could only be awestruck by the fact that they couldn't intervene in the battle.
Cuicantelle's authority of time was also slowly reaching its limits. The time she could hold the flame of hell was now at most one minute, and was starting to give away already.
Murakan's situation was no different. The restraints of time weakened, and the flame of hell grew stronger, which meant a change in the intense power struggle.
Jin silently swung his sword.
While his companions had parched throats, Jin remained calm and waited for the right moment. He observed how the rekindled mana was flowing.
'Now that restraints of time weaken, the flames start to show incredible power again... but the mana forming flame of hell doesn't have the same density as before.'
The flow of mana controlled by the guardian had changed.
It was undoubtedly due to the Reverse sky.
'If she had started in perfect condition, it might have been possible for her to control the mana backflow caused by the Reverse sky while maintaining the flame of hell.'
But it isn't possible now.
The other hadn't noticed the lowered density of flame of hell. They were too tense, unsure when Runcandel's old magic sword technique would explode again.
However, Jin's eyes couldn't be deceived.
The eyes of a mage.
'In reality, the flame of hell was already crumbling from the moment Reverse Sky began. She is forcibly holding it together, but she will soon fall into the backflow.'
Because the guardian was still fighting so valiantly, and Jin's companions couldn't fathom that she would soon fall into mana backflow.
Of course, the onset of the backflow doesn't mean that Sarah's dominance would suddenly drop. She would undoubtedly refine her mana and continue her relentless attacks before the backflow intensified.
It was just for a brief moment.
The vulnerability that arose due to the mana backflow.
'Once Dame Sarah loses her sharpness to control the backflow, I must not miss that moment. Because there's a high probability that there won't be another chance.'
Clang, creak, clang...!
The shadows derived from the 7th shadow sword technique, now forming a circle twice as big as it had originally been. That's how far Jin had been pushed back by the guardian.
The guardian was dealing with multiple opponents at once.
Likewise, Jin was observing several phenomena initiated by the guardian at the same time.
He parried her attacks, monitored the flow and density of her mana, paid attention to the path of flame of hell, and calculated the moment she would fall into backflow.
The time restraints had about 20 seconds left.
And Jin finished his calculations.
'In 5 seconds.'
The guardian's backflow would begin.
One.
Two.
Three...
Whack!
Suddenly, the guardian vomited a lump of shadow force. Jin's calculations were spot on.
Jin took his first step forward ever since they got into close range.
He approached her while concealing his trump card behind the deception of the Shadow Assault.
Swhack!
A dark blade descended upon the guardian's heart.
It was the first critical hit she faced in several hundred sword moves they exchanged.
However, even while controlling the backflow, the guardian displayed formidable power in response to Jin's sword. Her flaming sword clashed with Jin's, deflecting his attack.
Jin's plan seemed to have failed.
It would have indeed been a failure if the guardian had managed to deflect only a single strike from Jin's sword.
[Oh.]
The guardian retreated and put some distance between herself and Jin.
A dark blade was embedded in her chest, and shadow force poured out through the gap.
Sarah had anticipated that Jin would attack her when she fell into the backflow. Without that expectation, even she would not have been able to react in time to parry the final blow.
[Hehe... Seems like you got me.]
Shadow Sword 4th Technique: Scissors.
The trump card that Jin had prepared. It was one thing that Sarah failed to predict. The moment she deflected Sigmund, a blade of the scissors pierced her heart.
The guardian's vision darkened.
She had a premonition that her long and lonely duty as a guardian was coming to an end.
She now realized the mistakes she had made throughout her mission.
However, the battle with the young man before her, the descendant she and her comrades had protected so fiercely from Zipfel, was not yet over.
[What are you doing? Finish it quickly, Jin Runcandel,] the guardian said.
Jin approached her and thrust his sword.
"It's been an honor, Dame Sarah Runcandel."
Thud!
Sigmund once again pierced through her chest. She fell to one knee with a smile on her face.