* * *
The sky seemed to collapse at any moment from the clash of the two giants' power, resonating with an immense roar.
Truly absurd explosions and shocks were making the territory of Hairan no longer inhabitable.
Beasts and small creatures howled as they fled from the aftermath of the flames and shattered sword energies that spread far, almost to the horizon. Buildings melted away, forests turned to ash, and water veins boiled and evaporated.
Who can believe that this was a fight between one knight and the world's best mage.
In the meantime, the sword emperor castle is still there.
The tall and sturdy castle walls hadn't completely lost their function, and even upon seeing the broken gates, the enemies dared not venture inside.
Even the castle was almost the same as when Ron first regained consciousness and climbed onto the walls.
He has to save the place.
The place where his grandson was struggling with the white stone alone can never be destroyed. The first thing the child sees after overcoming the stone shouldn't be the broken sword emperor castle.
Ron was defending his castle with such will.
His lips were stained with dry blood, his hair scattered like that of a vagrant.
His thin upper body was full of new wounds along with numerous scars that he get over his life, and his breathing was rough.
Even so, the two eyes staring at the enemy gleamed without trembling, and his beloved sword, Rashid, constantly emitted brilliance, causing vibrations throughout the sky.
The guardian deity of Hairan.
That was the sword emperor.
"Hey, Kelliark Zipfel. You are losing, but...… It seems you have a way since you're not negotiating or fleeing. Wouldn't it be better to reveal it soon?"
Even though it was a low voice, everyone on the battlefield could hear it.
The walls of the sword emperor castle were lower, but the voices of the mages and dragons of Zipfel seemed to be coming from higher up in the sky.
As Ron took a step forward and swung his sword horizontally, a formless sword wind spread and scattered Kelliark's great magic.
In the meantime, the Sword emperor's secret technique, Heavenly flash, was executed. A deep blue sword slashed through the center of the fleet, and Kelliark swung his Hroti to offset most of it.
But it was a heavy blow. He coughed up blood, and the hand holding the staff trembled.
Still like the first time, no. Even though he uses a greater mana than that.
Ron showed no sign of crumbling under Kelliark's and fleet's attacks. As time went by, the fleet and dragons were falling one by one on Zipfel's side.
'It's not an unexpected result...… It feels quite bitter.'
Such a big gap…..?
Kelliark thought, swallowing the bitter lump that rose up in his throat. Ron's level was not a domain he had directly touched, so the outcome could only be bitter.
Just as Ron fought while protecting the sword emperor castle, Kelliark was also not showing his full ability in fighting as he was protecting the Demon God's orb from getting shocks.
But even taking that into account, Kelliark had no choice but to admit his complete defeat.
The Demon God's orb has not yet been fully unlocked.
It was because of a lack of mana. Kelliark had no energy to spare while dealing with Ron, who had become stronger, and Octavia and the Spectres infiltrated the Sword Emperor Castle to secure the white stone, so the only remaining mages and dragons were being used to open the Demon God's orb.
From beginning to end, everything was beyond his calculations.
Fortunately, the opening of the Demon God's orb was now nearing its end.
And Ron was sensing that fact.
'The fleet's attack is not as strong as expected. The Demon God's orb, perhaps he couldn't focus on the battle in order to use the item that Jin said.'
Although he said it as if he was relaxed, Ron was actually concerned about the power of the Demon God's orb.
Kelliark and Zipfel didn't notice, but Ron was getting tired too.
The long struggle with the disease and the fight that continued inside had undoubtedly taken a toll on his body. The transcendental martial arts and difference in class were the only thing that hid this fact from the enemies.
Ron himself was keenly aware of it.
'If I had just one more month, or even just 15 more days...….'
He could have fought in his prime condition.
In his current state, If Kelliark pulls out his trump card, will he be able to handle it?
If not, how much longer could he endure?
Ron was unable to answer that frustrating question. Just as Kelliark had never reached Ron's level, the Demon God's orb was completely unknown to him.
Ron only thought of his grandson.
'After fighting with a body like this, I now keenly understand how much pain you must have endured all this time….. Grandson, this grandfather finally understands the path you've walked.'
He has to fight just as the grandson did. All he had to do was silently continue the fight.
Rumble...!
Kozec's main cannon was dyed golden. The cannon was fired following the trajectory left by Heavenly flash .
Ron slashed with Rashid and cut through the center of the cannon fire. The fragments of the cannon fire and the blade did not hit the ground and disintegrated in the air.
They don't know how many times such enormous and powerful forces have already collided.
Zipfels used less than half of its normal firepower while opening the Demon God's orb, but the attacks of other mages and dragons except for Kelliark were barely visible.
Only Ron's sword and Kelliark's magic were covering the sky and the ground.
Suddenly, a new power emerged in the center of the battlefield.
As if a great vortex was unfolding in the middle of the sea, another power cut through the space between the giants.
'Is this power that started from the ground?'
'This, no way.'
Kelliark and Ron also had no choice but to be distracted by the power for an instant.
Even while Octavia and the Spectres were constantly using great magic, their power never reached the sky.
In addition, the power visible to the giants was not of light or natural elemental magic but consisted of a unique blue flame and black energy.
The flames of Jin and Misha.
It was the magic sword that surprised the giants.
"Haha."
Ron unconsciously let out a dry laugh. Even he, who had reached the verge of genesis knight, did not expect that such a formidable power would rise from the ground.
On the other hand, Kelliark couldn't find amusement in the situation.
He didn't have the slightest amount of time while dealing with Ron, but Jin and Misha's flames that reached the sky were spreading its energy even to Zipfel's fleet.
Sarah's runes, which were rewritten with shadow force, began to leave black light like tumors throughout the fleet's formation.
"Avoid it!"
Kelliark gave orders to avoid rather than block it. Even before the order was given, those who felt an ominous intuition immediately maneuvered to evade. However, those with no energy left to spare for Ron's attack couldn't properly discern those small runes.
Kelliark hastily deployed shields towards them, but the fire of the black and blue flames were already gushing like mad.
It was a type of fire that everyone had never seen before.
Nor did anyone know that the name of the flames was a condemnation to punish Zipfel's work. All they could know was this. This fire, which would by no means be easily extinguished or disappear, originated directly from the Runcandel 12th flagbearer on the ground.
It was a long time ago that the shadow force and the real blue flames became the symbol of Jin.
Each of the mages in the fleet was the best of Zipfel. Instead of panicking, they seemed to be struggling to push the flames out somehow, so the progress of the fire wasn't very fast.
'Most of the power should have been directed at Octavia and the Spectres, but is this the aftermath alone causing this extent?'
It's true that Kelliark held Jin in high esteem, but Jin could never release this power on his own.
'Murakan, or Misha, one of them must have fully released their energy to assist Jin. Jin Runcandel must have used most of his strength.'
It was as if the battle on the ground had already ended.
If Octavia and the Spectres block it, the result would be Zipfel's victory, and if not, the sword emperor's side would win.
Kelliark wasn't sure which one would win. The peculiarity of the power called shadow force could not be accurately measured even by a mage like him.
Besides, Kelliark had other issues to deal with first.
[This... Sarah... Runcandel's...…!]
Wind Dragon Salion.
He was a dragon who proved that the power of the story was weakening by unconsciously mentioning the 'ten great knights' when the second battle started.
Now, he was feeling the nightmares of that time vividly. He vividly remembered how many of his kin and mages were killed by this dreadful flame of hell.
The monstrous appearance of the Flame Empress, Sarah Runcandel.
As Salion became agitated, the other dragons also began to show signs of seizures.
The aftermath of the battle, the instinctive fear of the Demon God's orb suppressed by the necklace, and the voice of Salion—all these factors were awakening forgotten stories in them.
[Run, we must run! Aagh!]
Kelliak hit Hroti in Salion's back. It was better to stun him, lest he accelerate the undermining of the power of the story.
The lack of power will be further reduced, but it was nothing compared to the aftermath when the power of the story was further damaged.
'Anyway, if I hold on a little longer, the Demon God's orb will be unlocked.'
Within the next 30 minutes.
Kelliark raised his mana once more. The front was full of Ron's sword.
* * *
Piiing-!
Octavia was hearing a sharp ringing in her ears. It felt like someone was tearing and messing with her mind.
'What in the world happened...'
She couldn't feel her limbs.
It wasn't paralysis. It was just that her body wouldn't respond due to the extreme shock of the flame of hell, and for a moment Octavia recalled the instant when the black-blue flames covered her.
'Did I manage to block it? What happened to those bastards? Damn it, I can't remember.'
She couldn't remember very well.
Soon, when she barely moved her hand and reflexively touched her face, Octavia realized that her own left eye had disappeared.
That was an area she could not recover with light magic.
'Did I... lose?'
Without a chance to be shocked, someone flew in beside her and fall down. He was one of the Gray Robes and a Spectre, and he had already passed away.
Only then did Octavia realize that they were fighting to protect her from the enemies.
She also knew that she would have died on the spot without them, and never even opened her one remaining eye.