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Chapter 302

In the suffocating silence, everyone’s gaze was fixed in one place, unable to move.

The sky was splitting apart, and from it descended strange streams of power that pierced into Guhwan.

Yet no one else could see it.

It wasn’t simply a matter of being outside their field of vision—it was that their eyes could not perceive the phenomenon at all.

Though they looked human, could think, and feel emotions, they were nothing more than fragments of memory belonging to this place.

This space was merely a fragmentary projection of the past.

Of course, once the condition of “non-interference” was broken, interactions occurred, producing excess dummy data.

But since this wasn’t just some ordinary medium but rather the world’s records and memories themselves, it wasn’t surprising.

The only thing they could do was blankly watch Leon and Guhwan clash, without taking any action.

* +* *

“Don’t be ridiculous!!”

Like a fit, Guhwan hurled his sword and charged at Leon with tremendous speed.

Adding the level of Mind Intent to the martial arts of the Muyeol Clan made Guhwan’s movements, which had only been of a late-expert level, unnaturally sharp and deadly.

The sword strikes, each laced with lethal sword-qi, shredded the air as they flew at Leon.

Yet Leon casually flung the broken swords lying about the ground, intercepting and shattering them all.

“This is impossible!!”

In such an unstable state, it should have been difficult to contain sword-qi, let alone mind-intent.

To see broken weapons completely dominate left him bewildered.

“I don’t know what kind of sorcery you’ve pulled, but in the end, you and I are still the same—”

“That’s exactly why it won’t work.”

“What?!”

“If just tossing around swords counts as the realm of mind-intent, then who couldn’t do it? Even a Swordmaster could pull that off.”

Leon flicked a sword lying at his feet, and the blade, wrapped in sword-qi, shot out like a bullet, leaving a deep gash on Guhwan’s cheek.

Even though he tried to block, the defense was pierced instantly.

“Khk?!”

“See? You’re just a balloon stuffed with muscles.”

“You were clearly someone who practiced only fist and body techniques—how can you now be wielding sword transcendence…?”

At that, Leon smirked.

He reached out to a plain iron sword lying on the ground.

Whirrr! Boom!

The weapon was sucked into Leon’s hand.

With just a casual twist, a massive shockwave erupted, carving a gigantic sword-mark into the ground.

The onlookers’ eyes widened until it seemed they might tear apart.

A mere swing, yet the density of martial mastery within it was beyond their imagination.

Even if Leon had lacked talent, once he had reached the pinnacle of the sword, his adaptation to this phenomenon was something incomprehensible to those at merely an Expert—or at best, a beginner Master—level.

Enraged to the extreme, Guhwan raised his sword high, screaming.

“You dare, worm!!”

At the same time, the heavy sword-qi floating around him converged into one point, compressing into a single, terrifying strike.

His body tore apart under the strain.

But the torn flesh was instantly covered in grotesque tissue, making him bigger and stronger.

At first, he had only been brushing the threshold of Mindmaster, but now he had gone far beyond.

“Heh… heheheh… HAHAHAH! This omnipotence! This overwhelming power!!”

“Guhwan! What trick did you use to gain such strength?!”

“Could it be sorcery?!”

“No… but if sorcery could give such power, then what in the world…?”

Ignoring the voices around him, Guhwan’s crazed eyes locked on Leon, lips curling in a chilling smile.

“To wield that much power is impressive, I’ll admit. But now—what will you do?”

For a man in his twenties to have reached Mindmaster was abnormal enough.

To push beyond that toward the level of Grandmaster?

Surely impossible.

Clang!!

Guhwan’s flying swords clashed with the ones Leon had set in motion, and this time, instead of being shattered, they held firm, perfectly canceling Leon’s blades.

Newfound confidence surged through him, and he pressed Leon with wild ferocity.

But Leon simply stepped back lightly, slipping past the strikes. Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on novèlfire.net

“Your hardware keeps upgrading, so performance rises. Interesting approach—I’ll give you that.”

His utterly relaxed tone made Guhwan’s face twist in rage.

“You bastard!! Still so smug?! Fine—let’s see you stop this!!”

Like lightning, his blade unleashed Muyeol clan’s sword art, one of the ultimate techniques of his clan, a sharp presence that cut the very air.

Leon now stood right before So Wuryeong.

If he dodged, she would be struck instead.

“D-dodge it, please!!”

Her face pale, So Wuryeong screamed.

Leon simply glanced at her and gave a small nod.

“Looks like the goddess’s power really is something.”

He said it casually, then stepped forward.

At that very moment, Guhwan’s fiery blade was already at Leon’s throat.

Too late to evade.

So Wuryeong’s eyes went wide as she bore witness.

Time itself seemed to freeze.

She almost closed her eyes in despair.

If only she had fled further, this wouldn’t have happened.

If not for her, Leon would not be at risk.

Guilt bit into her lips.

But then—

Something happened that shocked everyone into stillness.

Leon’s figure blurred for an instant, and from him spread dozens of thin blue lines, rippling outward like waves of silk around Guhwan.

Slash!! Splurt!!

Suddenly, Guhwan’s sword—about to cut Leon’s neck—jerked unnaturally, veering off course as though defying physics.

His arm, still holding the sword, was severed clean off.

Eyes bulging, Guhwan shrieked like a demon, snatching his blade with the other hand and swinging again.

Slice!!

But the sword itself was cut clean in half—and his other arm severed as well.

With both arms gone, his life as a martial artist was finished.

Dazed, Guhwan stared blankly at his vanished limbs.

“Impossible! This can’t be happening!!”

Whether he felt pain or not, he howled in denial.

But with no arms, all he could do was use mind-intent to float and fling swords.

He had not perfected his world, and all he could do was forcibly elevate his level.

Leon, who had barely spared him a glance, lowered his eyes from the sky.

He spun his sword once, stepped forward.

“Don’t look at me with those eyes!!!”

A dozen blades flew at him, but Leon’s sword was already at Guhwan’s neck.

Shhhk!!

A soft glow spread as his head sailed into the air.

The late-expert tournament had become an absolute mess.

Had Eve’s power not interfered, Guhwan might have at least survived.

With his death, the strange forces that had wrapped around the arena vanished, restoring their freedom of movement.

Yet none dared move.

All they could do was stare at Leon and Guhwan, faces filled with confusion.

“…So what happens now?”

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“What do you mean…?”

“The tournament. The martial tournament, I mean.”

A weary sigh escaped those nearby.

They wanted to shout, ‘Who cares about the tournament right now?! Can’t you see what just happened?!’ But no one dared, for Leon was beyond their ability to confront.

At least he wasn’t an enemy—that was something to be grateful for.

“Since all the participants are in such a state, I suppose the victory goes to the last remaining Young Master.”

At that moment, the patriarch of the Four Heavens Clan, who had been quietly watching, stepped forward and supported So Wuryeong.

“Wuryeong, what happened to your face?”

“They… healed me.”

“I see… even being surprised is exhausting now…”

Though confused, he quietly nodded.

Then he ordered a warrior nearby to bring over a small wooden box.

“This is the item you desired, Young Lord.”

“You’re giving it to me just like that?”

“When you’ve received grace, it’s only proper to repay it. However, to resolve the aftermath…”

At that very moment.

The head of the Sichuan Clan staggered and collapsed.

And he wasn’t the only one.

Everyone nearby suddenly dropped like puppets whose strings had been cut.

Of course, they hadn’t lost consciousness, but they all wore the exact same expression.

Their bodies, crushed by the overwhelming presence, refused to move.

Even they themselves couldn’t understand it—but a bone-deep terror made their hands tremble uncontrollably.

“Wh-what is this…?”

“Ah… ahhh…”

“We’re screwed!”

Just then, Lispa—who had been blocking the descent of the goddess Eve with her melody—rushed to Leon’s side.

“That crazy bitch is forcing her way in!”

The moment she spoke, the sky split open and the pure-white goddess slowly descended as though from heaven.

Behind her, something moved—something that looked like a colossal body of white blood cells, far beyond any they had seen before.

The pressure radiating from it was on an entirely different level.

“Is that… also a white blood cell?”

“Seems like it, yeah?”

“No, what do you mean ‘seems like it’!”

“It must be Eve’s Authority of Life… that power is what gave birth to that thing.”

Judging from Lispa’s shaken demeanor, it was clear: something warped by Eve herself.

“Lord Leon… what is that being…?”

The head of the Sichuan Clan, collapsed on the ground and unable to rise, asked Leon.

But what answer could he give?

A goddess?

Even if he said that, would they accept it?

Leon pondered, but no answer came.

“If you can move, run as far away as you can.”

“……”

“That’s all I can tell you.”

At those words, the head of the clan—and all who heard him—fell into silent despair, their eyes fixed on the calamity looming above the skies.

Then Lispa spoke quietly.

“Leon… I think we’re trapped. The gate won’t open.”

“Doesn’t seem like much help, does it?”

“You really don’t have to say it like that! At this point, the only choice is to fight…”

Lispa, stripped of her rank as Archangel.

Leon, still far from regaining the strength to fight a goddess.

And now their retreat was cut off.

In this maddening predicament, Leon showed her the box the clan head had given him.

“Can’t we use this to escape? You said it was a key too.”

“That’s just a key. You’d still need to reach the right place to use it…”

And then—

-@#%@rine?

The voice.

Again.

The same voice he had heard when Eve first attacked.

The attack had been so overwhelming he had forgotten about it—but whose voice was this?

As he wondered, the voice came again, clearer this time.

—Child. Please. Release me.

“Who are you?”

Leon frowned, scanning his surroundings.

Who calls a stranger “child”?

But the doubt didn’t last long.

“This… is this Eve’s voice?”

Lispa, hearing it as well, jolted in shock.

“But Eve’s right there! Why…”

She muttered in confusion, her face pale.

—There’s no time. Please, before it’s too late… release me. She must be banished to the outer dimension.

The voice persisted, though its source and trustworthiness were unknown.

—The key to the last part. Open the gate, and I’ll suppress her for a time.

Almost entranced by the voice, Leon pulled the sacred core from the box.

Light gathered and floated on its own, while radiance from within Leon’s body was drawn out to join it.

“How do I use it?”

“…This makes no sense. Over there, Eve. Here, also Eve. Still, let’s insert the key. I’m sick of hidden interlopers in my spaces anyway.”

Lispa raised the key high.

Clack!

At once, a massive surge of energy spiraled out from the luminous key’s tip.

And then—it felt as though something had been unsealed.

Beams of pure white light burst forth, tearing the air, wrapping around the white goddess Eve.

The streams of light flowed from the hidden space unlocked by the key.

—Good. This much should let me help a little.

The goddess Eve was visibly weakened, bound by the radiant streams.

“Help? Don’t kid me! You think binding her like that means we can actually beat her? We need to run!”

Lispa cried out angrily toward the disembodied voice.

But Leon only scowled, clearly dissatisfied.

“So we just restrain her?”

“No matter how weakened, she’s still a goddess. She’s not someone you can…”

“This thing—you gave me this so-called master key at the start. Pretty lousy performance. Can’t we push it further?”

When Leon asked calmly, Lispa’s face tensed.

“Huh? What are you talking about? There aren’t any restrictions… wait.”

She covered her mouth in shock.

“There really was a limiter?”

‘This damned woman.’

Leon’s look said it all, and Lispa grumbled defensively.

“Hey… hey, normally no living being can draw on that much power. They’d collapse instantly. And I never put in a restriction, I swear…”

“I don’t fall under ‘normally.’ Lift it. Now.”

“F-fine, I must’ve misremembered. Just… be careful. If you overdo it, your body could unravel.”

Pouting, she stepped behind him and wrapped her arms around him.

From her body, an unfamiliar power seeped into the master key within him.

The position was a bit embarrassing—but the effect was undeniable.

Wooooom!!!

A flood of light exploded outward, and within Leon, the master key began to resonate, harmonizing with the warped laws of this place.

That was its true advantage: so long as the user’s capacity was sufficient, the master key could override everything else and wield immense power here.

This space of twisted laws.

The master key.

The user’s capability.

If even one was lacking, the technique would fail.

Normally, anyone could obtain a master key.

Anyone could enter this place.

But the third condition—the user’s own capacity—was absolute.

And yet, Leon was the exception.

[External force is interfering.]

[Realm forcibly breaking through.]

[Realm being recalibrated.]

[Realm being recalibrated.]

[Realm being…]

[Current Realm: “Transcendence” temporarily fixed.]

The Hall of Swords within the Labyrinthos.

The destination of a swordsman’s journey—his pinnacle.

“Leon Cascadia… what are you?”

Lispa couldn’t hide her bewilderment.

But Leon only flexed his hand, opening and closing it as a cold smile spread across his face.

“The time of humiliation and oppression is over.”

For a short while… he had returned to [Transcendence].

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