"Come on, Primordial Demon Lukhiel. Show me your power as one of the eight strongest demons!"
Lukhiel accepted the king's challenge. He darted straight ahead, not bothering to use any silly tricks. Meanwhile, Arthur bent his knees and launched himself forward. The king's Excalibur glowed golden, then he swung it with full force.
"Golden Radiance!"
Even though Lukhiel was in his strongest form, he didn't attempt anything reckless like blocking the energy of Excalibur's slash.
He would need to master the skin hardening technique (Hardening Skin) commonly used by fighters from the Northern Continent if he wanted to try and withstand the slash.
Even then, it wouldn't be enough with just the basic level of skin hardening; he would need the highest level of skin hardening. Or, he would need a Devil Curse similar to Celinee's. Without either of them, blocking Excalibur's power without a holy weapon was impossible.
Lukhiel arched his body backward, narrowly avoiding the energy slash of Excalibur that sped through the air, splitting it apart.
The slash was stronger than the previous one. The barrier that had been slightly torn before was now completely destroyed. But Lukhiel didn't have time to see if Athrecia fixed it immediately; Arthur was already in position to strike him.
The demon, who had strayed onto the path of good, reacted quickly. He deflected the sharp blade of Excalibur with one of his glowing wind swords. Then, while still leaning backward, he spun his body and swung the other wind sword.
Lukhiel's move surprised Arthur. The demon was in a difficult position. Dodging was already hard enough, let alone counterattacking. But Lukhiel managed to do it—his battle experience was unquestionable. Arthur couldn't avoid the slash.
Unfortunately for Lukhiel, his wind sword slash only managed to cut through the thin steel armor the king wore under his clothes. His wind sword didn't manage to strike the king's skin directly. Not because his body was invulnerable, but because Arthur had already moved away before the wind sword could land a blow.
"Your reflexes and body control are incredible," Arthur praised as he removed his clothes and tossed them onto the still glowing ground, causing his firm body to be immediately licked by blue flames. "I've decided, you deserve to receive my sword technique."
Lukhiel wasn't interested in hearing such meaningless words. He immediately surged forward, creating and firing dozens of wind bullets.
Arthur didn't move from his floating position, but he had created dozens of blue fire bullets to counter the demon's wind bullets.
Each time a wind bullet collided with a fire bullet, a loud explosion rang out, and Lukhiel shot straight through the blasts. Both of his glowing wind swords were more than ready to slash at his opponent's neck.
"First Technique," Arthur took a stance with his body slightly bent—sparks of lightning began to appear between his blue fire cloak and his skin. "Lightning Drive."
Lukhiel widened his eyes in shock. The king had vanished from his vision before he could land his attack.
It wasn't teleportation; Arthur darted forward at the speed of lightning. That was also the reason why, despite his shock, Lukhiel had still managed to move one of his wind swords to parry the king's super-speed slash.
"Your reactive speed and reflexes are truly troublesome," Arthur muttered, floating with his back to Lukhiel from several meters away. "I thought I would be able to cut you down, but only your wind sword broke."
Hearing those words, Lukhiel instinctively looked at the wind sword he had used to block Arthur's previous slash. And indeed, the wind sword was deeply cracked in the middle before it broke. Lukhiel watched as the broken piece of the sword began to dissipate and vanish.
The demon gathered his prana, causing the broken wind sword to reform to its original state. Then he turned to face Arthur, who had also turned to face him.
"Your original element is lightning," Lukhiel said. "Fire is the element of your spirit power. You deliberately make people think fire is your element."
"Exactly," Arthur didn't deny it. "But there's nothing you can do with the information I've revealed. I have ten sword techniques; let's see if you can survive until the tenth. If you survive that long, I'll show you the peak of my spirit power."
Arthur's words implied that he could use the final stage of his spirit power. That was dangerous. Lukhiel had never fought someone who could use the final stage of spirit power. Moreover, the fire power of Arthur's spirit made Lukhiel's Devil Curse ineffective. He didn't even seem to be struggling despite being near it several times.
If it were anyone else, their body would have been burned just from being near Lukhiel. But Arthur was different. He now seemed immune to Lukhiel's Devil Curse. And that was only the second stage—Union Stage. What if he used the Origin Stage? Lukhiel admitted it would be impossible for him to win.
Realizing this made the image of Nessthanovla's power even clearer in Lukhiel's mind.
That strongest demon had defeated Emperor Gilgamesh at full strength, and Gilgamesh was the strongest human in history. He was even called a demigod for being the first human to use the Origin Stage of spirit mastery. More than that, he wielded the holy weapon Ishtar Gate, a weapon superior to Excalibur. And Nessthanovla had truly defeated Gilgamesh.
For Arthur IV Pendragon to declare his ambition to defeat Nessthanovla, it was certain that he had fully mastered the Origin Stage. In the Basic Stage, he could easily use fire. In the Union Stage, his fire became hotter and changed color; he also gained resistance to heat. What about the Origin Stage?
No wonder Nessthanovla had said that humans had the potential to become stronger than demons, Lukhiel's mind recalled the wise words of the strongest demon—though he deliberately ignored the continuation of that statement. Nessthanovla was a bit narcissistic: he excluded himself from the word "demon".
"Using the Origin Stage will shorten your life. Are you sure you'll use it if I can withstand all ten of your lightning sword techniques?" Lukhiel asked, dismissing Nessthanovla's laughter from his mind.
Arthur remained silent for a moment, but then his lips curved into a smile as he praised, "Although you are a demon, I think you deserve respect. You are quite knowledgeable and do not underestimate me. And, to answer your question, great power always requires great sacrifice. But, I think you already understand that."
"I see," Lukhiel replied. "Alright, then. I just have to kill you before you use the final stage of your spirit mastery."
Arthur laughed heartily after hearing Lukhiel's declaration, but the demon ignored it and resumed his attack. He didn't have sword techniques like Arthur; Lukhiel had developed a flexible swordplay without specific techniques like Arthur's. However, that didn't mean he was helpless in the face of those techniques.
"Second Technique: ‒"
As Arthur took a different stance from before, two tornadoes formed on Lukhiel's right and left. The ground, which had previously been glowing red like lava, had slowly cooled, causing Lukhiel's two wind tornadoes to form without turning into fire tornadoes. In an instant, he launched both tornadoes toward Arthur.
"‒Lightning Cutter!"
In the blink of an eye, both of Lukhiel's wind tornadoes were cut horizontally in half. A faint arc of lightning could still be seen after the tornadoes were sliced. And, if not for his incredible reactive speed, Lukhiel would have been cut in half as well. His reactive speed allowed him to direct his two wind swords to block Arthur's lightning sword slash.
However, cracks began to appear in the middle of both wind swords. This made Lukhiel immediately take action. Before the swords could break, he unleashed a high-pressure wind wall that struck Arthur's body. The wind wall was as large as the barrier, leaving no gap for the king to escape.
Unfortunately for Lukhiel, Arthur didn't attempt to dodge. He didn't waste time on something that couldn't be avoided. Instead, along with the impact of the wind wall, he took yet another different stance—this time, his sword pointed forward. Lukhiel didn't hear what he whispered. But in an instant, a lightning bolt pierced his stomach.
Fortunately, it was only lightning that pierced his stomach, so he could regenerate. And what was even better, the wind wall had slammed Arthur into the barrier wall. The barrier wall shattered where Arthur's body hit it, sending the king flying out.
Lukhiel decided to take advantage of the situation.
However, he immediately canceled his plan when, out of nowhere, the barrier was restored, and Arthur appeared right in front of the barrier.
"I'm sorry, Athrecia shouldn't have interfered. But, she has to teleport me back here to avoid further damage."
Lukhiel didn't respond verbally; he shot forward to attack the king again.
---ooOoo---
As a spectator, Athrecia had to admit that she had some difficulty maintaining the barrier.
Both Arthur and Lukhiel were capable of breaking through the barrier in their current states. Their bodies were hot enough to make the barrier weak. This again emphasized the reality that the two combatants were individuals at the top level.
The last time Athrecia had witnessed such a high-level fight was when Rhemea battled Merlin's pupil. Back then, she and Rhemea (based on the notes left by Morgan Le Fay) had managed to reach the Tower of Babel. Even though Rhemea was thoroughly defeated once her opponent got serious, the fight prior to that had been spectacular.
And although they were forced to flee, that experience remained valuable. It was because she and Rhemea managed to escape before Merlin removed the Tower of Babel and moved it elsewhere. She didn't know where that cursed mage and her pupil were now, but Athrecia remained satisfied for having made that immortal mage angry.
Watching the fight between Arthur and Lukhiel truly reminded her of a battle that had occurred decades ago. Arthur was in the same position as Merlin's pupil, while Lukhiel was in the same position as Rhemea. The difference was that, aside from their fighting styles, Arthur needed to use the third stage of spirit mastery to defeat Lukhiel, while Merlin's pupil only used the second stage.
Arthur wasn't stronger than that girl.
Even though her eyes observed the progress of the fight from outside the barrier, Athrecia wasn't really concerned with the outcome. She was just waiting for the right opportunity to take the "Sword of Salvation" without being suspected by Arthur. The king didn't know that the sword at Lukhiel's waist was the very one he had been searching for. And she would make sure it stayed that way.
Athrecia had lied and concealed information from Arthur. It wasn't really intentional, but she had already taken the wrong path before meeting Arthur. If only the king had been born a hundred years earlier, perhaps things wouldn't have turned out this way. Especially since Arthur was genuinely serious when he said he wanted to kill Nessthanovla; it was better he didn't know.
But as long as I am by his side, I will do anything to ensure he doesn't become anyone's pawn, let alone get killed.