Chapter 840
“A makeshift bridge, huh…”
Sif brushed back his red hair and nodded.
“Yeah. I guess that’s the only way you could see it.”
He gave a thin smile, saying he understood completely.
“Not that it’s the only way to see it—it’s just the truth, isn’t it?”
Rimmer tapped his shoulder with the leaf sword.
“I’ve lived quite a while, but I’ve never seen anyone ascend like this.”
There had never been a case in continental history where someone ascended by stealing another’s power.
Sif was undeniably exuding the aura of a Transcendent, but there had to be a weakness.
“Then feel it for yourself. Whether I’m hiding a flaw or not!”
Sif stomped his foot with a twisted smile. A mighty wave of aura surged around him. It was the absolute aura that only a Transcendent could emit.
Rumble!
Sif charged forward as if to end it in one blow. His razor-sharp sword strike came crashing in like it was about to pierce Rimmer’s eyeballs.
‘There has to be a weakness.’
Rimmer bent his left knee and imbued the leaf sword with a blue wind. As a refreshing aura that wiped out the stench of blood surged forth, he unleashed the true form of the Wind Reaping Sword.
Boom!
Neither Rimmer nor Sif avoided each other’s blades. Their sword strikes clashed head-on, shaking the entire cavern.
“Ugh…”
Rimmer let out a murky groan as he was flung backward. He forced strength into his trembling grip and furrowed his brows.
“How was it?”
In contrast, Sif didn’t retreat even a single step and wore a sly grin.
“Do you see a flaw?”
“Not from that alone.”
Rimmer shook his head as he shook off Sif’s lingering energy from his palm.
‘This is no joke.’
It was just one clash, yet his insides were churning. While it wasn’t an internal injury, the shock had been significant. He was utterly outclassed in physical ability and aura.
‘I’d better avoid a direct confrontation.’
Sif’s physical prowess and aura level were beyond that of a typical warrior who had reached transcendence long ago.
If he fought head-on, he wouldn’t last more than a few moves before getting his limbs severed.
“You don’t know, huh…”
Sif nodded calmly.
“Then I’ll just show you more.”
He twisted his wrist forward and raised the black sword. The moment he turned the sword into a single point like a thrust, a flash of blue light erupted in front of Rimmer.
‘Spatial Sword!’
Rimmer hastily lowered his posture and summoned the Wind of Garunoa.
Crash!
A sharp slash tore through space and sliced apart the Wind of Garunoa. It was executed so skillfully it could’ve been mistaken for Aris’s Spatial Sword.
“……”
Rimmer wiped the blood trickling from his cheek and swallowed dryly.
‘What is this?’
Sif’s Spatial Sword was the real deal. It was enough to make him question if his judgment about Sif revealing a flaw had been wrong.
‘No. I have to keep going.’
Once the fight had begun, doubting his own judgment was not an option. He had to trust himself and press forward.
Whoosh.
Rimmer, cloaked in the Light Wind Style’s current, reached Sif’s left side. He stomped with his left foot and slashed upward with the leaf sword strapped to his thigh.
The condensed Wind of Garunoa exploded as it was released.
“You’re fast.”
Sif let out a small exclamation and angled the black sword diagonally. It wasn’t a defense—it was an attack. Instead of blocking, he launched a Spatial Sword to bite into Rimmer’s neck.
‘I can’t dodge.’
The moment he retreated, Spatial Swords would pour in from every direction. Trusting his sword, he charged in recklessly.
Boom!
The leaf sword and black sword crossed, and the blue wind collided with the slashes of space.
A deafening roar, like thousands of glass panes shattering, erupted as a pitch-black fissure split open at the center of the cavern.
Ssshhhh!
Rimmer and Sif were pushed back five steps each, facing one another.
But unlike the composed Sif, Rimmer’s complexion had gone pale.
Drip.
Rimmer trembled as he looked at the blood dripping from his shoulder.
“How could this be…”
Paras had said that Sif never learned the Spatial Sword before leaving Aris.
And yet, he had now executed a flawless Spatial Sword even at close range. Contrary to expectations, there wasn’t even a hint of a flaw.
“Seems like you’re starting to believe it now.”
Sif nodded like he knew this would happen.
“Just as you felt—I’ve reached transcendence.”
“…That’s nonsense.”
Rimmer glared at Sif and bit his lip.
“It’s impossible for someone to reach transcendence through someone else’s strength—not through magic, nor sorcery, nor martial arts!”
Sif had indeed stood closer to transcendence than even Raon.
But to achieve transcendence not through one’s own awakening, but by stabbing Aris, would be a distortion of the world’s balance.
“What if it wasn’t human power?”
Sif planted the black sword into the ground and shook his head.
“What…?”
“Rimmer. Since you’ve spent your life with the old man, I suppose I can tell you.”
He curled his lips like he was enjoying himself.
“The blood of the Angels flows in the humans of Zieghart.”
“An…gels?”
Rimmer’s pupils shook as if struck by a storm.
“As you said, with human abilities alone, it’s impossible to steal someone’s strength and reach transcendence. But with the power of the Angels, it’s a different story.”
“Then what you did to Aris…”
Rimmer swallowed dryly and looked toward Aris, who was slumped on Dorian’s back.
“That’s right.”
Sif followed his gaze to Aris, smiling coldly.
“I accepted the power contained in my mother’s blood using the vessel of the Angels. So just like you said—it’s a result impossible for humans to achieve.”
He shrugged like it was obvious.
“No, I still don’t get it.”
Rimmer shook his head at Sif.
“How did you know that the blood of Zieghart had Angel blood in it? And what even is the method of stealing that power?!”
“Because I studied both the Angels and my own body.”
Sif pointed to his head with his finger and said he had opened up his own skull.
“You studied the Angels… and your body…”
Rimmer’s fingers trembled as he gripped his sword. Research on the Angels—there was only one person capable of that now.
“You don’t mean…”
“That’s right.”
Sif nodded with both arms spread wide.
“Derus Robert. He is my god.”
He spoke Derus’s name with a solemn gaze.
It was as if his very humanity had been broken—his personality was shifting erratically.
“Did Derus kidnap you and experiment on you…?”
“No, I offered myself. As a sign of my reverence for Lord Derus.”
Sif said it had been of his own volition and smiled.
“Thanks to that, I became the youngest person on the continent to reach transcendence. All of this was his design.”
He folded his hands together, genuinely treating Derus as a god.
“After fully drawing out the power of my mother, our goal is Raon Zieghart, and then the grandfather.”
Sif lowered his chin heavily, saying he would become the blade to kill Glenn.
“Hah!”
Rimmer scoffed at Sif.
“You… just said the names of two people who should never be provoked.”
“Why do you think I told you?”
Sif raised his head with a chilling gleam in his eyes.
“Because all of you are going to be buried here.”
Then, as if his demeanor had flipped again, he let out a giggle and lifted his head.
“Alright. Let’s do this.”
Rimmer suppressed his heaving chest and straightened his back.
“My disciple killed a Transcendent. There’s no reason I can’t.”
He closed his eyes and raised his sword while lowering his free hand. As he called forth the wind and lightning embedded in his Mental World, he slowly opened his eyes.
“Sword Field Creation: Song of Wind and Thunder.”
When Rimmer opened his Sword Field, green wind and red lightning raged across the entire cavern, sending out a massive surge of aura.
The torrents of wind and lightning crashing down were no different from a divine punishment.
“A fake, huh.”
Sif called Rimmer’s Sword Field a fake and tilted his chin.
“This time, I’ll destroy your false field myself.”
As he swung down the black sword, dozens of sword projections materialized in the air, splitting apart the raging wind and lightning.
“That’s all it takes?”
Rimmer scoffed and swung his sword downward. The streams of wind and lightning that had gone still surged back to life.
“Hmph.”
Sif surged forward, pressing against the ground. Like he had infused Spatial Sword techniques into his footwork, he suddenly appeared from the right and thrust his black sword.
A faint, flickering slash—he was deploying Spatial Swords even in close combat.
‘Blocking it would be a mistake.’
Spatial Swords ignored the opponent’s defenses. Defending meant losing momentum. Attacking was the better option.
Whooom!
Rimmer raised his sword, enveloped in wind and lightning, and struck down the incoming blade.
Clang!
Though Sif’s aura was still superior, the power of wind and lightning allowed Rimmer to barely endure.
“Not bad for a fake.”
Sif sneered and twisted the black sword to the left. The rising, spiraling blade carried the destructive force of rupture.
Boom!
Even with the leaf sword reinforced by wind and lightning, Rimmer’s insides churned.
Because Sif’s strike contained the essence of Spatial Sword, even a slight delay in response would result in devastating loss.
“Looking worn out already? I’m still going strong.”
Every time Sif swung his black sword, the air quaked and tore away the wind and lightning.
As Spatial Sword fused more and more seamlessly into his swordsmanship, he became harder to handle by the second.
‘I need to close in. If I stay at range, I’m at a disadvantage.’
Even if Sif could use close-range Spatial Swords, they were less effective than from a distance.
A life-or-death fight at ultra-close range would favor him more.
Thud!
Trusting in his enhanced body and aura through the Sword Field, Rimmer closed the gap with Sif.
Clang!
At a distance too tight to even swing fully, he twisted his wrist and drove the blade of wind and lightning at Sif.
“Being close doesn’t make it your advantage.”
As a Transcendent, Sif twisted his waist and dodged the thunderous strike, though his expression contorted in irritation.
“But I can at least suppress your strengths a little.”
Rimmer fought at a range where he could hear Sif’s breathing. He didn’t just rely on swordsmanship or footwork but used finely tuned movements to strike at his vitals.
“Fine. I’ll fight you the way you want.”
Sif, seemingly too proud to retreat, remained at the same distance and slashed with a close-range Spatial Sword.
Even with lightning and wind raining down in countless strikes, his blade didn’t waver.
“Tch.”
Sif curled his lips as he looked at Rimmer.
‘He certainly deserves to be called the Sword of Madness.’
An ethereal flow like riding the wind, a sharp edge wrapped in lightning, and unshaken composure even while standing atop the blade.
A warrior anyone would have to acknowledge.
But the longer the fight continued, the more Sif became accustomed to Rimmer’s movements.
“So it’s here.”
Sif clicked his tongue and swung his sword—splitting the wind and carving a shallow cut into Rimmer’s thigh.
“Try moving faster. I can see everything.”
He mocked Rimmer as he unleashed a barrage of spatial slashes.
A chain of strikes, where the second Spatial Sword launched before the first even reached.
Swish!
Rimmer deflected five attacks, but the sixth Spatial Sword struck his waist. It wasn’t a fatal wound, but it was a clear sign that he was starting to fall behind.
“…So what.”
Rimmer panted harshly and stepped even closer to Sif.
Power, speed, physical strength, aura—he was outmatched in every way, but not in will.
Sssshhhh!
He felt a chilling sense of stepping into a pit of death, where a single misstep could cost him his limbs.
‘Still, I have no choice but to move forward.’
Raon couldn’t fight in his place. The head of the house wouldn’t appear.
The only one who could protect Dorian and Aris was himself.
‘How long has it been since I had a fight like this?’
An overwhelming disadvantage. A brutal battle where one wrong move could get your head sliced off. It had been a long time.
And yet, strangely, he didn’t feel afraid or burdened.
Rather, he felt joy at being able to draw out everything within himself. Maybe it was, as Aris once said, because he believed in Raon.
‘This feels comfortable.’
As his mind relaxed, the heaviness in his body lifted as if wings had sprouted.
His lower, middle, and upper dantians connected as one, and he felt as though his consciousness was linked to the heavens.
Sssshhhh!
Sif’s strikes, which had been nearly impossible to dodge even at full power, were now becoming readable. No—he could now perceive the flow of mana across the entire cavern.
Whoooom!
Rimmer drove in from Sif’s left side, summoning wind and lightning. Crimson lightning and azure wind gathered in one hand, generating an overwhelming shockwave.
Boooom!
Sif was pushed back for the first time and slammed into the wall.
“What is this…?”
His eyes widened in disbelief at the situation.
“Haha.”
Rimmer laughed. Pure natural mana surged through the mana circuits of his entire body.
His body and soul were growing as if ascending toward the heavens.
Thud! Thud!
He felt that the barrier of transcendence, which had blocked his path and been built up over a lifetime, was now breaking apart.
Sssshhh!
He dodged Sif’s slash and pierced his sword toward the man’s shoulder.
Previously, he wouldn’t have had the speed or power to cut through, but now, with wind and lightning flowing through him, his blade tore into Sif’s shoulder.
“What did you do to yourself…?”
Sif furrowed his brow and unleashed a flurry of slashes.
Each one was sharp enough to kill with a single cut, no matter where it landed, yet the wind still favored him.
Whooom!
Rather than relying on his usual footwork, Rimmer moved with the green wind and thrust his lightning-wrapped blade toward Sif’s heart.
Boom!
Sif’s black sword and the leaf sword clashed head-on, sending greenish sparks surging throughout the cavern.
Sssshhhh!
Rimmer wrapped himself in the wind of the Light Wind Style and pressed forward.
Though he’d sustained internal injuries, his body was growing faster than the damage. It felt as if he was evolving into an invincible body.
‘Transcendence.’
He felt certain he was reaching the very realm he had longed for.
But more than that—
‘I’m enjoying this.’
Instructor of the Fifth Training Ground, Leader of the Light Wind Squad, Head of the Light Wind Division—he felt as if he’d shed all those titles and reclaimed the freedom of simply being Rimmer.
As if he had become the wind and lightning themselves, he felt he could go anywhere.
Boom!
Rimmer clashed with Sif once again.
He was still inferior in strength and speed, but it was no longer an overwhelming disadvantage.
With strength rising from all three dantians, it was enough to drive his sword into the man’s body.
Crash!
The stronger Rimmer’s strikes became, the more veins bulged across Sif’s forehead.
“You think you’re ascending? Someone like you?”
Sif’s entire body was drenched in black energy. A massive wave of aura surged out, infused with the essence of the Spatial Sword—like the rising darkness of the earth itself. It seemed he too was now going all out.
‘I can’t block this.’
Rimmer bit his lip and twisted the leaf sword diagonally.
Crack-crack-crack!
He tried to divert Sif’s strike to the ceiling and floor, but the power contained in it was too strong to fully deflect.
Ruuuumble!
The slash that tore through space escaped the leaf sword’s edge and flew past him.
‘Wait! That direction!’
Rimmer quickly turned around. The redirected Spatial Sword was flying straight toward Dorian and Aris.
‘Ah…’
He could block it now. But it was too close—doing so would undoubtedly cause a shock great enough to impact the entire battle.
Of course, his body moved before he could even think of such dilemmas—dashing straight toward Dorian.
Crackle!
Rimmer shattered the ground beneath him as he hurled himself toward the incoming Spatial Sword.
Boooom!
Even with all his might focused on defense using the leaf sword, the impact that struck him was the most powerful yet.
“Guh!”
Rimmer doubled over, coughing up darkened blood.
“V-Vice Leader!”
Dorian screamed and caught him.
“Unbelievable.”
Sif looked at Rimmer and let out a hollow laugh.
“You could’ve reached transcendence if you had just kept fighting. And you threw yourself away for those worms?”
He frowned as if he couldn’t comprehend it.
“Our leader…”
Rimmer wiped the blood from his lips and shook his head.
“Made a promise to this brat. That I’d watch his back.”
He smiled gently, showing no regret.
“As his subordinate, I can’t let our leader break his promise.”
Rimmer said that was all, then slowly straightened his back.
“You’re a fool.”
“Of course someone who stabbed their own parent wouldn’t understand. I’m talking about human decency.”
He had come close to transcendence while feeling the freedom of wind and lightning, but in the end, the path he chose was the burden of responsibility. It seemed he had truly become human.
‘This isn’t good.’
His body felt heavy. The freedom of becoming wind and lightning had already vanished.
But that didn’t mean he could speak of defeat. This was exactly when he had to keep fighting.
“Fine. Die as a human. I’ll live on as one of the Angels.”
Sif pointed his sword at Rimmer. A massive force began to stir from his blade, strong enough to collapse the entire dungeon.
“R-Run…”
Aris opened her dry lips to urge them to escape, even if it was just her alone.
“My power… it’s still leaking away…”
She shed tears, saying Sif was getting stronger by the moment.
“I told you.”
Rimmer gently wiped Aris’s tears and shook his head.
“Raon thinks of you as family. I can’t let that disciple, who only just realized the value of family, be hurt with grief.”
He smiled warmly and stepped forward.
“Die.”
A black and blue beam of light extended from Sif’s hand. A transcendent slash, etched in darkness, surged across space.
Ruuuumble!
With trembling hands wrapped around his sword, Rimmer stepped into the pitch-black void. Lightning and wind that erased the darkness—his strike, infused with his very soul, became a colossal light that tore through the void.
“I am the Light Sword of Zieghart!”
