Chapter 336: Desperate Situation and Reversal!
Crack—!
Along with the sound of breaking, the platinum sword snapped.
The night sky, the fine rain, the miserable battlefield, and the broken Device.
All of it seemed like a reenactment of the result from their last battle.
The platinum sword in Edelweiss's left hand vanished the moment it broke, and Luke had no intention of letting this chance go.
On Ser-Veresta, which had just exploded with full power, the black flames had already quietly faded, leaving only the pure-white blade.
However, without anything blocking it, the sharpness of an Orga Lux was enough to break through Edelweiss's mana armor under the enhancement of Luke's remaining mana.
The blade closed in at extreme speed.
Edelweiss, whose soul had been struck by the shattering of her Device, stood before him.
It looked like Luke's strike was about to land.
And once it landed, the second battle between them would end in exactly the same way as the first.
However…
Slash—!
Sword light flashed, and blood scattered.
A massive wound appeared on a body.
The one injured was actually Luke!
"You… thought… I would lose… to the same method… again?"
Edelweiss's broken words reached Luke's ears.
The platinum sword in her left hand had been broken, but she had used the platinum sword in her right hand to complete an attack one step ahead of Luke.
Her words were fragmented, and the sword she swung was more than a level slower than before.
Even Edelweiss herself was swaying slightly, as though she could barely stand.
Even so, she still did not fall.
Edelweiss had forcibly endured the violent soul impact and counterattacked Luke.
"Don't… think… I prepared… nothing…"
"This time… I won't… be careless…!"
The soul-nurturing she had done during this period had been for this very moment.
From beginning to end, Edelweiss had never looked down on Luke.
On the contrary, in her expectations, she had even evaluated Luke several levels higher than normal.
Regarding countermeasures against the ability "cutting," Edelweiss had already prepared for the worst case.
Although she had not expected Luke to destroy her Device through another method, that did not affect her preparations.
The breaking of the platinum sword caused Edelweiss's condition to decline rapidly, but in the end, she still retained just enough strength to fight.
Her mind could not focus.
Her soul continued to tremble.
Her mana became difficult to mobilize.
Edelweiss's combat power had indeed been weakened to the limit, and even her Desperado power temporarily showed signs of stagnation.
However, even this Edelweiss was still far stronger than Luke, who had reached the end of his rope.
His Sword Domain was broken.
His energy had been exhausted.
And unlike Edelweiss, who had not been injured during the previous battle, Luke had been wounded repeatedly, so even his physical strength had declined.
Compared to Edelweiss, Luke's current condition was even worse.
Because of that, in this final moment, Edelweiss was the one who injured Luke first.
One strike.
Only enough strength for this one strike.
Even Edelweiss temporarily no longer had the ability to release a second sword strike.
The effect of her Device shattering was far more serious than imagined.
Being able to release this final strike was already an astonishing miracle.
Feeling the intense pain from his chest, Luke, who was gradually falling toward the ground, felt a trace of helplessness rise in his heart.
Edelweiss had suffered a soul impact, but was he any different?
One had a broken Device, while the other had a broken Sword Domain.
They were half a catty against eight ounces.
There seemed to be a little mana left.
Prana… there were still traces remaining in the Sword Sheath of Tranquility.
Physical strength… the monstrous body of a First Class Adventurer could still barely move.
However—
He could not move.
This near-paralyzing exhaustion coming from his spirit was something Luke felt for the first time.
Until now, it had always been either energy depletion or his body being unable to move.
But this time, facing Edelweiss at full power, the pressure had been far too immense.
During the battle, his mind had been tense and focused, so he had not noticed it.
But now, at the final moment, after his offensive was completely shattered, an irresistible feeling of exhaustion suddenly surged out.
Under the absolute gap between them, as vast as heaven and abyss, it was difficult to imagine how much pressure Luke had endured while fighting.
Now, with his spirit withered, he simply had no mental strength left to resist the soul impact while driving his body to continue fighting.
Falling down seemed to have become the natural outcome.
This ending was actually not bad.
Like a revolving lantern, everything around Luke seemed to become so slow.
He could not defeat Edelweiss.
This battle would end in defeat.
Luke had actually known that ending long ago.
Victory or defeat was not the goal.
Becoming stronger was.
In this battle, he had poured out everything he had, and he had no regrets.
Edelweiss was truly strong.
Even after giving everything he had, he had ultimately failed to injure her in the slightest.
Even after cutting apart her Device and relying on that trick again, he had not even achieved the same result as their last battle.
This really was…
Next time.
Once he became a little stronger and challenged her again…
But…
What about this time?
Had he really "given everything"?
Perhaps it was his thoughts scattering, or perhaps it was the so-called final flash before death.
A strange thought suddenly flashed through Luke's mind.
If he had given everything, if he had already squeezed out every last bit…
Then why…
Did he still have consciousness?
I'm still…
Awake, aren't I?
Heh.
Haha.
Hahaha!
That's right…
I'm still awake!
At the same time, a certain line of text hidden on Luke's back, invisible to anyone, silently lit up.
…
Thud—!
The platinum longsword stabbed into the ground.
Edelweiss used the weapon as a cane, breathing heavily while barely recovering her spirit and physical strength.
Unlike their first battle, because she had not been wounded, her physical strength was still relatively abundant.
However, forcibly driving her body while enduring the soul impact had still affected her.
Looking at Luke as he fell toward the ground, she could not help revealing a faint smile.
This time, she had won!
Before that fact, her current state of extreme weakness no longer seemed so important.
However, just as Edelweiss was about to collapse and sit down to rest, she suddenly noticed that something was wrong.
"Why… hasn't he fallen yet?!"
Water silently supported Luke's body from behind.
Before anyone realized it, the continuous rain had formed puddles of various sizes across the battlefield that had been destroyed by the aftermath of their battle.
And those streams of water, including the rain still falling from the sky, slowly gathered around Luke.
In the next instant, Luke suddenly opened his eyes.
"Desperate Reversal"
When facing a desperate situation, it becomes easier to gain command authority and easier to gain the trust of others.
When facing a desperate situation, mental strength is enhanced.
When reversing a desperate situation, success rate receives a luck bonus.
On his Falna, this skill, which had never activated even once since he obtained it…
Took effect!
…
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