The Demi-Human Swordmaster Onze crawled out of the rubble in a miserable state, then immediately rolled across the ground without hesitation.
His movements were smooth and natural, making full use of the demi-human's small and nimble frame.
The instant he left his original position, an invisible wind blade warped the air itself as it passed, slicing open the stone behind him in a single stroke.
Empowered by two aspects of the Divine Beast Dancing Lion, Lucian's storm-forged slashes had become far sharper than any ordinary weapon.
He had used that very force moments ago to shatter Onze's Line of Stars technique head-on.
Watching Onze evade his attacks with such agility, the heaviness in Lucian's heart finally lifted a little, replaced by rising excitement.
This elderly demi-human truly had skill.
A swordsman like this deserved to be called a Sword Saint anywhere in the Lands Between.
In terms of pure sharpness and technique, he was no weaker than the old master swordsman Lucian had once met from the Land of Reeds.
And because of that, Lucian wanted to test him properly, with blades against blades.
Onze's earlier assault had been extremely swift, and he also possessed that strange technique that let him close distance like teleportation.
Moves like that were rare.
Among all the enemies Lucian had faced so far, he had only seen a handful with similar abilities.
Every one of them had been among the strongest.
This old demi-human had already displayed overwhelming offense, nimble movement, and physical prowess far beyond normal demi-humans.
Unfortunately, compared to other races, such a body was still frail.
Onze knew that himself.
Because of it, he had trained an exceptionally refined technique of force redirection and impact mitigation.
That was the only reason Lucian had not crushed him instantly.
—
Onze continued weaving past Lucian's rapid slashes.
As his body heated through movement, his mind only became calmer.
The wind blades Lucian launched were faster than any cutting attack he had ever witnessed.
Unlike flashing steel, these blades were completely invisible, discernible only through instinct and slight distortions in the air.
For a time, Lucian's attacks failed to wound the demi-human at all.
But chasing him around like swatting flies began to annoy Lucian.
The next instant, countless dense wind blades surged toward Onze at once, sealing every avenue of retreat.
Feeling the swarm of invisible blades before him, Onze tightened his grip on the Star-Lined Sword.
He stopped dodging.
Standing still, he steadied his breathing and closed his eyes.
The moment he became motionless, he entered a strange state.
Within several meters of him, everything seemed to slow dramatically.
Falling frost crystals and drifting dust hung nearly motionless in the air.
Yet the terrifying invisible blades did not slow much at all.
That alone showed how fearsome they were.
In that heightened state, Onze could finally perceive them clearly.
Then, in the next moment, his figure vanished once more into starlight, slipping through a narrow gap between the wind blades.
He reappeared directly before Lucian.
Another brilliant slash descended from the Star-Lined Sword.
—
Lucian watched him repeat the same tactic and smiled.
He reached out with one hand to seize the incoming curved blade.
Just as he was about to perform the classic barehanded blade catch, blue starlight gathered in Onze's free hand.
A burst of that light suddenly enveloped Lucian's arm, restraining it for a split second.
The sword chopped straight into Lucian's palm, biting into bone before stopping there.
Lucian raised an eyebrow as he looked at the embedded blade.
He clenched his fist.
The blue light shattered instantly.
His hand then closed around the sword itself.
Onze withdrew at once and leapt back to widen the distance.
Lucian glanced at the wound in his hand thoughtfully.
Warm sunlight blossomed from his palm, and the injury healed completely within moments.
A wound like that meant nothing to him now.
But the technique itself interested him.
He recalled how the demi-human had immobilized part of his body through empty space.
Only briefly, only partially—
but it was unlike anything he had ever seen.
What was that?
The Force?
Did this demi-human wander in from the set of Star Wars to make a guest appearance as a Jedi Master?
—
Seeing the Swordmaster gather blue starlight in his hand once more, Lucian's smile widened.
He decided to fight properly now and see the old warrior's true ability.
From his storage disk, he drew Moonveil and Shadow of the Stars, holding one katana in each hand and crossing them before him in stance.
Both weapons were tied to moonlight and stars.
And the demi-human before him wielded techniques of the stars as well.
Onze leapt high, his body spinning lightly in the air as he dove toward Lucian.
Azure sorcery spread from the Star-Lined Sword, extending the blade outward.
Curling midair, Onze flipped repeatedly and sent the rotating blade carving down toward Lucian.
Lucian met it instantly.
Moonveil rose and blocked the strike.
At the same time, Shadow of the Stars slashed toward the Swordmaster's exposed body.
Just as the blade was about to land, starlight burst from Onze's hand again.
But this time he cast it on himself.
Driven by that Force-like power, his body twisted in an impossible motion, narrowly evading Lucian's counter.
The moment he landed, Onze reversed into an upward slash, then unleashed a storm of relentless follow-up strikes.
Lucian wielded both katanas, alternating blocks against the barrage.
Steel rang again and again, sparks flying with every collision.
After defending every strike, Lucian seized the brief opening after Onze's combo ended.
Moonveil flashed.
A brilliant arc of moonlight erupted from the blade, Transient Moonlight.
At such close range, Onze had no time to evade.
The cold lunar slash struck him directly in the chest.
"It's not only you who can fire sword beams."
Onze was blasted backward.
A deep wound, wide enough to expose bone, split open across his chest.
But no blood fell.
Instead, countless tiny fragments of glintstone spilled from the injury.
—
Lucian stared at the wound in surprise.
The flesh inside the old demi-human's body had already begun to take on the properties of glintstone.
His flesh glowed faintly.
His bones had become jade-like and hard as crystal.
That truly exceeded Lucian's expectations.
A body like this was clearly undergoing progressive glintstone transformation.
This was the effect of touching the unique primal current hidden within the stars.
Could it be...
Had this demi-human reached deep into the cosmos and found the Primeval Current?
As far as Lucian knew, only Masters Azur and Lusat had touched that origin, their bodies gradually turning into glintstone.
The demi-human before Lucian, however, was not like Masters Azur and Lusat.
His body was still mostly intact, still recognizably flesh and blood.
And those two masters had stood at the pinnacle of sorcery. Their intellect must have been immeasurably high to glimpse the Primeval Current hidden among the stars.
Lucian was not looking down on demi-humans, but as a race, even their queens were not exactly known for brilliance. Most could do little more than throw stones.
Yet by swordsmanship alone, this one had achieved something like this?
—
While Lucian was still stunned, Onze summoned blue starlight into his hand and wiped it across the wound on his chest.
At once, the split flesh drew together, forcibly rejoined by the power of the stars.
Since his flesh had already begun crystallizing and no blood remained to spill, an injury like that likely meant little to him.
As long as it could be pressed back together, he could keep fighting.
Lucian sheathed Moonveil.
He stepped sideways into stance and raised Shadow of the Stars over his head.
The hilt pointed toward Onze while the fingers of his left hand firmly pinched the back of the blade.
This was the technique he had once seen from the old swordsman, Okina, of the Land of Reeds.
It had nothing to do with magic or raw power.
It was purely a sword form.
—
The moment Onze saw Lucian assume the posture, his understanding of swordsmanship let him grasp it instantly.
This was not a style of the Lands Between.
And Lucian had barely mastered it at all, he was simply copying what he had seen.
But if Lucian was the one delivering the strike, no matter how crude the imitation, it would not be something Onze could receive lightly.
Techniques were tools of the weak.
Methods meant to overcome differences in body and strength.
Ways for the lesser to defeat the greater.
But the truly strong had no need to obey forms rigidly.
Every casual movement they made surpassed the "ultimate techniques" weaker men spent their lives inventing.
—
Onze chose not to approach.
Instead, he swung the Star-Lined Sword from afar, releasing wave after wave of starry slashes toward Lucian.
Lucian knew full well that Onze would never foolishly close in.
He simply wanted to try the move himself.
Lucian tightened both hands.
Terrifying force built within his body.
The moment his left fingers released the blade spine, the sword whipped downward with explosive speed.
It carved a vast arc through the air.
The strange bone-white blade reflected no light at all, as if it swallowed brightness itself.
The sword split the atmosphere.
Without even needing storm magic, a slash of pure force flew from the blade.
It shattered every attack Onze had launched, then struck him as well.
Onze dodged with desperate speed, yet still failed to escape fully.
His lower leg was severed.
The severed limb was instantly annihilated, leaving nothing behind and no chance to reattach it with that Force-like starlight.
Having lost one leg, Onze could no longer evade with his former speed.
So instead, he limped forward toward Lucian.
—
Onze drew the Star-Lined Sword to his waist.
He lowered his body and slowly advanced.
The moment Lucian saw the stance, he understood.
As expected—
'Iaijutsu.'
Lucian neither dodged nor retreated.
He walked straight toward the approaching swordsman.
The instant Lucian entered striking distance, Onze vanished.
He reappeared beside him in a flash.
Sorcerous light flowed along the sword from hilt to tip.
When it reached the tip, Onze's aura peaked.
Then he struck.
This slash was unlike any he had used before.
What erupted from the blade was not light, but freezing frost.
Cold spread everywhere, forming countless blades of ice.
Frigid sword energy whirled around him, filling a spherical space surrounding his body.
Lucian raised his own blade and blocked the true strike hidden within the technique.
Then he simply let the phantom sword energies slash across his body.
They landed harmlessly.
They almost hurt.
—
As the sword aura gradually faded, Onze had reached the end of the road.
Lucian had carefully watched every movement of the technique.
He now copied it, drawing Moonveil back into its sheath.
He lowered his stance, adjusting every detail until it felt perfect, eyes locked on Onze's position.
Onze tried to vanish once more.
But Lucian's sword had already moved.
A brilliant crescent of moonlight swept through the frozen cavern, adding yet another layer of chill.
The rock wall behind Onze was sliced completely apart.
The lunar arc continued deep into the mountain itself.
A thin line of blood slowly appeared across Onze's neck.
Then his head rolled from his shoulders.
—
Lucian sheathed Moonveil and looked toward Asimi.
That battle had also reached its end.
Asimi wielded the twinblade Euporia, dancing through the battlefield with fluid movements.
She had already carved countless wounds into the other demi-human, and Euporia now shone so brightly it was almost impossible to look at.
Feeling the time was right, Asimi unleashed its stored power.
Euporia spun before her at high speed, gathering a vortex of primordial force.
A radiant golden beam fired straight toward Yoshi.
He dodged desperately, but the beam tracked his movements relentlessly.
Moments later, it caught him and swallowed him whole.
When Euporia's power was finally spent, the demi-human swordsman had vanished completely.
Where he had stood, the thick stone wall behind him had been bored through, leaving a tunnel of unknown depth.
Asimi dismissed her weapon, clapped her hands, and let out a satisfied breath.
Her lord had acquired such an interesting new weapon.
Naturally, she had wanted a turn with it.
"My lord, call me out again whenever you need me."
With the enemies defeated, Asimi returned to Lucian's body once more.
Lucian blinked.
Asimi felt more and more human lately.
Smarter than before.
No longer obsessed only with the Tear Chalice.
Now she had other emotions. Other desires.
That was a good thing.
Lucian bent down and picked up the strange weapon used by the demi-human swordmaster.
Before his eyes, its name appeared:
[Star-Lined Sword]
His fingers traced the line of tiny glintstones embedded along the blade, feeling the unique stellar power within.
What exactly did "Star-Lined" mean?
Did it refer to stars aligned in a line?
Or was there some deeper meaning?
That demi-human swordmaster had been strong.
Yet he had not spoken a single word.
Even after killing him, Lucian still did not know who he was, or why he had been imprisoned in the Hornsent prison.
Still, he had attacked first.
And refused to answer.
So killing him was killing him.
Lucian stored the Star-Lined Sword away and turned toward the prison entrance.
Melina was already standing outside.
She gave him a nod.
She had found all the survivors below.
There should be no one left alive in this prison anymore.