Chapter 454 – Fragment
Interis.
At the tip of the staff, which overall bore a dark ashen hue, were three pillars, perfectly identical in form without the slightest margin of error.
Their angles widened apart and then narrowed inward, their sharp ends all pointing skyward in unison.
Within them floated a sphere of nearly flawless blue.
Though it had no physical medium of connection, the orb was assimilated with the staff, fixed at the very center of space itself, emitting a faint glow.
It was different from the golden crystal that made up Orient, yet… this too was an Orb.
Unlike Alpha, Verden had not observed the interior of the facility from outside, and so did not know the exact process by which the staff had been completed.
Even so, it came to him naturally.
The moment he gripped Interis, with the heat of the forge still lingering upon it, everything about it was conveyed to him.
There was no need to use
The accumulated knowledge of magical items that had been instilled into him for so long at the Bohemirn magic tower would not be enough to interpret it all.
A strong intuition struck him.
Created by Gharun with the aid of the facility and its workers, Interis could be compared to [Ainber], which had blocked Verden's
Whoooong—
He lightly swung the staff.
The instant he infused it with magic power, not a trace was lost, every bit transferred directly into Interis.
One hundred percent absorption and conductivity of magic power.
It surpassed even the artificial artifact [Second Circuit], stolen from the Bohemirn magic tower's treasury and used as expendable fuel for Defying the Heavens.
Not only could it wholly withstand the might of a Transcendent, it could even bear the destructive Mado forged from ruinous magic power.
'So this staff exists only for me.'
The robe of the Demon King had acknowledged Verden as its master through engraving, but Interis became his the moment it was born.
This was because Gharun had crafted it solely for Verden, and because Verden's own magic power resided within the Orb itself.
Verden was sincerely in awe.
"Magnificent."
"Well of course. How could it not be? Not only my skill, but the material was superb, and though it was worn and aged, only after completely wrecking the facilities of the Black Volcano could it be forged. Do you have any idea how valuable that is? But anyway…"
Gharun plopped down on a small rock, squinting against the sunlight pouring over the Black Volcano.
Then he turned his gaze upon the Grand Duke of Rivandale, studying him.
"Shibal, another Transcendent here too. Judging from your attire, you must be from the Empire. Let's see… they called you the Sword of Arnak, was it?"
"I am the Grand Duke of Rivandale. Hammer of Integrity, Gharun. Or perhaps, it would be more fitting to call you the failed assassin of the Second Prince."
"Hmph. Assassination attempt, my ass. I only smashed a carriage, and those little brats make such a fuss."
"M, Master…!!"
At such an insolent tongue, Linus trembled violently, but Gharun lost no spirit at all, even with the Empire's Transcendent before him.
"So, you two Transcendents mean to fight to the death here? Then everyone nearby will surely perish."
"That will not happen. We have just agreed to a wager."
The Grand Duke lifted his left arm.
Without any forewarning, suddenly his hand held a sword.
A long, slender blade.
It lacked a guard, with only a small hole bored between hilt and blade… in short, a weapon of peculiar design that was nothing more than handle and edge.
"This sword's name is Ethes. As you can see, compared to the staff Interis in your hands, it is neither ornate nor complex—if anything, it is plain. It has but a single function. Yet, for that very reason, it is the sword most fitting for me."
Light gleamed off the blade.
"So long as I do not fall, this sword shall not break."
Unlike Interis, cloaked in overwhelming magic power, Ethes emitted nothing at all.
And precisely for that reason, it was threatening.
"..."
Verden readied his stance.
This was the first transcendent being he had faced since surpassing the wall of transcendence himself.
His rational mind told him to seize everything he could from this opportunity… but truthfully, Verden's heart desired only one thing.
'The Sword of Arnak. As a test for Interis, nothing could be better.'
Each Transcendent might differ in degree, but they all shared one common denominator: none of them lost their emotions.
As Ignacia had said, Transcendents were in a sense lunatics—madmen.
Not only her, but Verden, Balrog, Dahit, Elder Sheorn of the Ark, Ryndel of DarkWarton, the Grand Duke of Rivandale—all of them were possessed by something.
The Demon King too, surely.
Only after becoming a Transcendent could one truly understand such things.
Thus Transcendents often appeared detached, but depending on the situation, they could also be swept by even fiercer emotions than before.
And right now, Verden was highly exhilarated.
Fwooooshhh.
He activated his mana circuits at full power.
An overwhelming presence pressed down and surged outward in waves, and in response the Empire's Transcendent likewise began to reveal his own magnitude.
Wild and destructive, yet orderly and still.
If Verden was a tidal wave in a storm, the Grand Duke of Rivandale was a ripple across the boundless sea.
Their realms collided and canceled out, and those nearby were freed from the bindings of transcendent aura.
The Grand Duke spoke.
"Nameless Transcendent. You must have spent much magic power in battling the Empire's fleet and Lords. If you wish, you may add terms to make this wager more favorable to you."
"I told you already."
From Verden's heart burst forth infinite magic power, bearing down on the Grand Duke.
"There's no need for consideration."
"Indeed."
The Grand Duke nodded, then snapped his thumbs with interlaced fingers. A coin of one hundred Elk floated onto the tip of his blade.
"When this coin falls precisely beneath your sightline, that shall signal the start of the wager. Do you agree?"
"I do."
"Good. Then… I cast it."
With a slight flick of his sword, the coin spun high into the air.
It twirled as it fell, gravity pulling it faster and faster.
The instant the coin dropped fully below Verden's eye level—
The Grand Duke stepped forward, and Verden completed the spell computation in his mind.
Verden crossed space.
At the same time, the Grand Duke of Rivandale vanished.
Before it touched the ground, the coin split cleanly in two.
The two Transcendents had moved.
***
The wager was but a pretense.
If he recklessly seized the Sword Saint's blade and won at the cost of grave injury, there would be no escape from the Empire's encirclement.
Of course, as a Transcendent, the Grand Duke of Rivandale would likely honor the rules he himself had declared.
Even so, Verden had not the slightest intention of entrusting his fate to another's whim.
Clench.
Fixing his gaze on the Grand Duke, who was steadily closing the distance, Verden tightened his grip.
Every function Orient once possessed, Interis had inherited.
The same went for the Ruler of Elements.
Already, all of Verden's elemental magic as its master had been enhanced.
'The magic the Empire knows I wield are gravity, spatial, flame, earth, and ruinous Mado.'
Though he had also used the infinite Mado midway, naturally there was no chance his true identity would be revealed.
Just like Defying the Heavens, which restructured the six elements, the fact that one Magus had pioneered two different Mado was unprecedented.
'At most, they will assume these are unique spells I learned from someone else.'
Verden planned to combine multiple options while giving away nothing of his true nature.
Space quaked.
Yet the Grand Duke, without slowing in the slightest, casually brought his sword down in a vertical cut.
The spatial shockwave split without resistance, scattering to either side and striking the earth.
'As expected, ordinary spatial magic will hardly reach him.'
Just as Verden adjusted his strategy, gripping the staff with both hands—
Jindo 震道
Thud.
The Grand Duke's figure vanished.
His footsteps spread like seismic waves. In the midst of belatedly chasing after those countless echoes, a presence was caught behind his back.
Verden immediately spun around, thrusting Interis forward and cloaking himself in a formless barrier.
The Grand Duke drew his arm.
"To see and react to spatial magic is mostly impossible. But if you can read its grain, its texture, then dismantling it is simpler than any other magic."
Two slashes.
In the blink of an eye, the spatial barrier was quartered, lost its form, and vanished.
It was nearly identical to when Adrian had cleaved through Verden's magic, but the Grand Duke's precision and power were incomparable.
Then came a third slash, striking Interis.
Jjeoooong!
Verden did not resist, retreating as he activated
At once, a sword aura flew from the front.
"...!"
Again, he shifted through space to evade the sword aura, repeating
Yet even so, he could not shake off the Grand Duke, who pursued by cleaving through the void.
'This is not an artifact.'
The Empire's Transcendent was perceiving the very fabric of space in his own way, pinpointing Verden's position while moving three-dimensionally.
It was beyond the category of technique.
'As expected of a Transcendent.'
Abandoning the attempt to forcibly lose him, Verden maneuvered in the opposite direction, opening his second Mado and imbuing it into Interis.
Three high-grade runes ignited.
The ruinous magic concentrated at a single point, released as a shockwave, and the Grand Duke, not avoiding it, instead met it with rippling sword energy.
Kwaaaaang!
The crimson-black wave flickered.
Unable to withstand the sheer impact, the Grand Duke was hurled downward.
Verden asked.
"Can you see the grain in this too?"
"No."
Landing with a breakfall, the Grand Duke slowed his momentum by lowering his center of gravity.
Glancing at his tingling hand, he swung his sword to suppress it.
"I saw it when you overwhelmed the Lords as well, but this magic is truly grotesque. Not only does it erase martial arts, it destroys the very essence of Qi itself. Of all the Mado I've seen, it is the most vicious."
The Grand Duke's aura sharpened.
"Let us raise the level."
***
──!
The Grand Duke stamped the ground.
Riding the vibrations that filled the world, undetectable without specialized senses, he moved and swung Ethes.
Verden did not evade, instead basing himself on ruinous magic and unleashing every combat technique he had mastered thus far.
Already, with enchantment magic, Verden had pushed all his physical abilities to their utmost limit.
Even so, it was insufficient to keep pace with the Grand Duke's movements, and he filled that inevitable gap with Mado.
Kwaaaaaang!
Their blows crossed, but unlike before, the Grand Duke endured in place.
As the ruin-devouring Qi vanished, he forcefully drew out even more Qi, sustaining his sword aura and imposing martial techniques by sheer will.
Each man's stream of consciousness predicted and judged the other's moves.
They added instinct to it and acted.
A clash beyond the perception of ordinary cognition unfolded.
Then, the Grand Duke murmured coldly.
"Arrogant."
Hyunryeon 弦連
A fierce wave pulsed.
Verden endured a dozen rapid strikes in an instant, yet the overlapping shocks transmitted through Interis stiffened him.
The Grand Duke threw a punch off-beat.
Though the distance was impossible, a refined shock pierced Verden's abdomen.
The blade of Ethes came sweeping from the side.
Thud.
Recovering his hardened body, Verden crossed Interis and deflected the sword's trajectory to the side.
Thus the Grand Duke's strike grazed only his arm.
'Now.'
The excessive closeness was a golden opportunity for Verden as well.
At once, he unleashed the techniques of
"?!"
At that instant, strength drained from the arm that had barely brushed against Ethes, leaving it limp.
Jjeoooong!
It was impossible to block the Grand Duke's heavy sword with Interis in one hand.
A small breath escaped him.
Flung back, Verden twisted midair and regained control with
Braking at the extreme, he skimmed just above the ground, sliding smoothly to shed speed.
In that moment, strength returned to his right arm.
'The Sword Saint's sword, yet on another level.'
A defense-piercing sword aura that ignored the resistance of a Transcendent's body and even [Ainber].
Even a mere graze had this effect—if struck directly, even the robe might be cleaved apart.
A tension greater than when he faced the Bone Dragon as a half-Transcendent seized him.
The Grand Duke walked forward slowly.
"As a Magus, your ability to respond to close combat as a Transcendent is indeed superb. But even so, do you truly think you can face me at this range?"
"I acknowledge it."
The Orb of Interis flickered.
"From here on, I will act as a Magus should."
Kwaaang!
Suddenly, chains of gravity bound Ethes tightly.
The Grand Duke reacted too late.
At present, Verden's outward appearance was concealed by
Chwarurururururuk!
One after another, umbral chains surged from the ground, binding the Grand Duke's entire body. Their immense physical force suppressed his movements.
Boom!
Verden slammed Interis into the ground.
Quintuple Casting.
From the skies fell five colossal flaming meteors, each shattering apart into hundreds of fireballs.
It was like a torrential downpour.
The sight rivaled the bombardment of the Imperial fleet. The Grand Duke let out a dry laugh.
"So much for the wager."
"The same for you."
Kwagwagwagwagwagwagwang!
Hell itself descended from the heavens, ravaging the earth into ruin.
Bursting through the crimson calamity, the Grand Duke rode the ripples of space, meeting Verden in the blue sky.
Magic and Qi focused to their utmost.
Verden aimed Interis, and the Grand Duke thrust his sword.
Secret Art, Chong-a 叢牙
The ray of ruin and the fangs of ripples collided at their center.
A deafening explosion.
For an instant, hearing went numb, and even sight was drowned in black.
Shadows quivered.
Then, as darkness ebbed away like a receding tide, light began to flood in… and in that very moment, Verden's unconscious grasp seized upon it.
A fragment of High Magic.
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