"...What?"

The First Prince stared at the arena with a half-dazed expression. Dozens of incredibly ominous-looking black spears were floating in the air. It wasn't difficult to deduce their identity.

'Black magic!'

And it wasn't difficult to deduce the identity of the master of that black magic either. The First Prince's gaze was fixed on the man with blood-red eyes standing in the center of the floating black spears.

'...The Red-Eyed Devil!'

Until Sir Riley had majestically ascended the stage, the First Prince had been gazing at his back with a profound look, lost in his own thoughts. A sense of emptiness and relief that the decisive battle was finally coming to an end. A sense of emptiness that he had ended up borrowing his father's hand, and a sense of relief that the decisive battle was, nevertheless, ending in his victory without any major problems.

He had even sneered when the dazed blind swordsman had lost his way while walking to the center of the arena and headed in the wrong direction. The same when he tripped over his own feet and fell.

But the moment he was about to hit the ground from his fall, a crimson flash suddenly erupted and cut across the arena.

"...Huh?"

The First Prince couldn't believe his eyes. It felt like he was dreaming. Why was Sir Riley suddenly lying there with his arm cut off? Why was that lowly blind man grinning at him? He couldn't understand.

Even as the Silent Victor passed him without a word and went up on stage, and the two began to fight, the First Prince denied the reality before him.

No, right? I'm seeing things, right?

A blind swordsman who could take down Sir Riley in a single blow and fight on equal terms with a Royal Knight? Was that even possible?

Then, when Victor's hand axe spewed fire and flew, striking down as if to split the arena in half. When a huge cloud of dust rose with a deafening roar, and a moment later, when it cleared. When he saw the dozens of black spears aimed at Victor and the man in their midst, grinning with flashing blood-red eyes.

The First Prince finally realized. Everything was understood. That man was the real Red-Eyed Devil. The one who had come out before was just a fake. The decisive battle was not over yet.

"...!"

A shock like being hit on the back of the head with a hammer washed over him. His head spun.

"...Aah."

As he slumped down, the knights beside him hurriedly supported him.

"My lord!"

The audience also grew restless.

"Wh-what is that?"

"It's black magic!"

"More importantly, he wasn't blind?"

"His eyes are red!"

"...Wait a minute. I feel like I've seen that somewhere before."

"Could it be... the Red-Eyed Devil?"

Confused words were also exchanged in the nobles' section.

"No, wasn't the Red-Eyed Devil the one who came out earlier?"

"He was definitely holding a reddish sword."

"What on earth is going on?"

Unlike the anxiously murmuring right side of the audience, the nobles sitting on the left, who had been wallowing in the pit of despair, regained a glimmer of hope.

"...So that man was the Red-Eyed Devil?"

"Of course! There's no way the Red-Eyed Devil would leave the stage so anticlimactically!"

"The decisive battle is not over yet!"

If you looked up from the nobles' gallery, where reactions were split in two, you could find the King, cheerfully tapping the armrest of his chair and laughing heartily.

"Yes, this is it!"

"...."

Frost Knight stared blankly at the armrest being beaten by the King, then turned his gaze to the arena. As the devil lowered his hand, the black spears floating in the air were flying towards Victor all at once.

***

Its name was Night Sky Spear. An ultimate skill created by mixing the Night Sky of the Night Sky Star Moon Art and the wind of the Floating Step.

It started with Sir Ashley's Golden Flash. Her mana had an explosive nature. Therefore, by gathering and exploding mana, she could achieve tremendous instantaneous acceleration. That was the secret of the Golden Flash.

But I couldn't steal it. My internal energy was surprisingly docile, and even if I packed it tightly, it would just unravel. After much deliberation to devise an ultimate skill... a thought suddenly occurred to me.

If it doesn't explode on its own, then I can just make two things collide to make them explode, right?

I immediately tested it.

What I had was: The Night Sky, Starlight, and Moonlight of the Night Sky Star Moon Art. And the wind of the Floating Step.

When I mixed the Night Sky and the wind, a rather plausible result came out. It didn't explode with a bang like the Golden Flash, but they mixed well together, like water and sand. Also, by mixing the Night Sky and the wind, I could move it as I pleased. Originally, the Night Sky could only be scattered, spread, or condensed on a stone to make it explode; fine control was difficult, so this could be called an unexpected discovery. To the point where I wondered why I hadn't thought of this sooner.

And so, I continued my experiments, gathering and shaping the mixture of Night Sky and wind. Then, as I gathered and condensed the Night Sky to increase its density... it became something solid. After experimenting by clashing it with a sword, I confirmed that the strength changed depending on how much Night Sky was condensed.

Continuing the experiments, I succeeded in creating a strength roughly similar to iron. Of course, it consumed a fair amount of internal energy, but compared to Starlight or Moonlight, it wasn't that much. Inspired by this, I refined the end to create a sharp blade, and what do you know. A usable weapon was completed in a jiffy.

Since it was a mixture of wind and smoke, it was extremely light and quite sturdy. Enough to be floated in the air. Also, since it was mixed with the wind of the Floating Step, I could control it as I pleased.

I immediately created several Night Sky Spears. After making them a few times, I found that making them itself wasn't that difficult. However, I didn't like the shape, so I proceeded with modifications. Sharper. Enough to tear flesh and pierce bone. Simpler. Enough to create several in an instant.

And so, I continued to forge the Night Sky Spears. Through several trials and errors, I improved the Night Sky Spear. As I worked, I kept them floating in the air as I made them... and before I knew it, dozens of Night Sky Spears were floating around me.

From then on, I focused on controlling the Night Sky Spears. Creating dozens of Night Sky Spears and controlling them simultaneously consumed a fair amount of internal energy, but... with great power comes great internal energy. If my internal energy wasn't deep, I wouldn't have dared to try, but I was no longer the man who would struggle just to shoot out a single sword ki.

When was that? It feels so long ago just thinking about it. The only thing that's the same between the me then and the me now is my mindset. After consuming various elixirs and consistently practicing energy circulation, the internal energy in my dantian has deepened to the point of forming a small lake. When it gets deeper, it gets wider. My method of operating internal energy was also incomparable to back then.

And so, with the help of the Heavenly Demon, who would occasionally throw out blunt advice, I practiced and practiced, and in the end, I was able to complete my own ultimate skill.

The sight of dozens of Night Sky Spears filling the sky and pouring down like rain. Its name was Black Rain.

"How is it?"

The Heavenly Demon asked in a sullen tone.

[What does that mean?]

"It means a shitload of black rain is pouring down."

The Heavenly Demon let out a deep sigh.

[How is your naming sense so terrible? The concept is quite good, but the finishing touch is so...]

"What's wrong with Black Rain?"

[Just call it Ten Thousand Skies Black Rain instead.]

I confidently showcased the Ten Thousand Skies Black Rain that I had practiced all night. This confidence came from dozens, hundreds of practices.

I took advantage of the dust cloud obscuring the view to instantly forge dozens of Night Sky Spears. Then, I struck a pose at the clearly surprised Victor and sneered.

"Who did you say I was?"

"...!"

"The god of the wind."

Swoosh!

As I threw my hand towards him, dozens of Night Sky Spears rushed at Victor. Normally, one would retreat to dodge, but surprisingly, Victor stomped the ground and charged forward instead.

Kwagak! Kwang!

He dodged the flying Night Sky Spears with an agility that didn't match his size, then suddenly rolled on the ground.

Kwang!

And so, he dodged another Night Sky Spear that was plunging down. When he stood up again, he had an axe in each hand. He had retrieved the axe he had thrown earlier while rolling on the ground.

Kang!

He charged without slowing down at all and clashed his axes together.

Fwoosh!

The sparks caught, and the thrown axe caught fire again. The flames burned more fiercely than before. He charged at me, parrying the Night Sky Spears with his dual axes burning with an orange light.

I commanded the Night Sky Spears and admired Victor's form. His appearance, charging while swinging his blazing dual axes, was like watching a fire-engulfed Yaksha. A tremendous momentum. Just watching him made me feel a suffocating pressure. The flames clinging to each axe drew long tails along the path Victor charged. Now I saw that his eyes, hidden inside the helmet, were also flashing with the same light as the flames burning on his axes. I had the illusion of a charging bull with blazing horns.

The path for Victor the flaming bull to reach me was a path where black spears poured down like rain.

Kwakwang! Kwang!

Victor parried the pouring Night Sky Spears without slowing down at all. A few Night Sky Spears grazed Victor's shoulder, back, and thigh as they plunged down. Victor ignored them and charged on. He was truly a mad bull.

"...."

I corrected my thoughts. To be honest, I had been conserving my strength. Because the next match was scheduled. How foolish. This was not the time for that. To think I was being arrogant against such a man. He was a man whose victory was not certain even if I went all out.

I infused my sword with a full measure of starlight.

Woooong!

The sword cried mournfully, and its entire blade began to sparkle with starlight. I aimed the starlight-enveloped sword and declared.

"The usurper from the stars. That is me."

Then, I swung the starlight sword with all my might at the scarred mad bull that had reached me, cutting through the black rain.

The axe, overflowing with flames, and the brilliant starlight sword met.

KWAAAANG!!

A shockwave erupted. We were pushed back for a moment by the shockwave, then immediately rushed at each other again. From here on, it was the realm of instinct, where only cold blades and intense gazes overflowed.

I threw my body completely into the unknown territory. I swung my sword like a madman, as the Heavenly Demon's incomprehensible senses dictated, and became one with him.

Dodge, parry, thrust, slash, slash, spin and dodge, reverse grip and thrust, kick the side and spit.

Sword and axe clashed, and with each clash, sparks of fire and starlight flew.

"Hehe."

The smile on my lips grew wider.

"...."

I couldn't see his face, but I was sure Victor was smiling too. Since we were both fighting with only offense, having thrown away defense, the number of wounds gradually increased. But I carved the mindset that offense is the best defense and pushed forward even more boldly.

Ch-chaeng! Clang! Kakagak! Kang!

At some point, I saw an opening in his chest and thrust my palm at it.

Thwack!

The moment the palm, filled with starlight, hit his chest and exploded, he staggered back. I rode the wind and soared into the air, then instantly created a Night Sky Spear and threw it at him. As soon as the blazing axe split the Night Sky Spear in two, the Night Sky Spear immediately became a Night Sky Bomb, spreading a thick Night Sky and obscuring his vision.

I became a single ray of starlight cutting through the night sky and plunged down at Victor.

KWAAAAAAAANG!!

(End of Chapter)

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