I Reincarnated As A Stick-Chapter 416 - Taking The Center Stage

"Rend."

Whoosh! Whoosh!

In less than an instant, both of Aurus's arms had been cut off by what seemed to be an incredibly sharp yet intangible aura. Naturally, this aura came from the blade Zeldrion was holding, Valtyrisk. To most of the bystanders that had been watching from afar, they only saw a quick flash of light emanate from the blade Zeldrion was wielding. However, to Dalton, he could not help but look at Zeldrion with a solemn expression.

"Something has changed," Dalton muttered as he knew that the skill Zeldrion used was different than that. Although it achieved the same result as what happened to Aurus's arms, the aura formed by the attack would usually take on the form of a large dragon before compressing at the final moment. But instead, the aura was imbued with the power of a dragon, yet had the form of a blade…only to be compressed even further.

Nevertheless, after looking at Aurus, who hastily recovered his injuries within seconds from the attack, it didn't take long for Dalton to understand why King Zeldrion changed the way he used his skill. "Against an opponent that can quickly learn what you're doing, other than using the element of surprise, there's only another thing you can do."

"Quickly become stronger."

Whoosh!

Without waiting for Aurus to retaliate, Zeldrion dashed forward as the intangible aura he had been suppressing up till now was released in its full glory, sending almost all of it towards the ignited Valtyrisk. With great force, he swung his blade down, wanting to bisect Aurus into two. However, at the very last second, Aurus ducked down and grabbed his enhanced Fragarach, holding it on both ends to defend against it.

Crash!

Normally, a person's bones would have broken and turned into dust from the great force behind Zeldrion's attack. After all, such an attack at his level would have already flattened a few cities. But as Aurus was an Inanimate, and a Spiriveritas at that, he was able to endure the force of the attack and send it towards the ground he stood on…though the earth greatly rumbled for a while thanks to it.

Slightly distancing himself from Aurus, King Zeldrion then placed Valtyrisk near his right hip before emulating the movement of what a great samurai would do.

"[Cutthroat Blade Arts]."

"Flash."

Swoosh!

With great speed, a similar aura to what he had shot out before now headed towards Aurus, aiming to decapitate him, even though he knew that Aurus would be able to recover from it. Surprisingly, rather than receive the attack, Aurus raised his blade upward before swinging it down, reminding those that watched his next move of a person they didn't expect he'd emulate.

"King Zeldrion…"

"[Deca-Fragarach]," Aurus muttered, sending out a blade of dark green light that continue to compress and increase in power as it gradually met up with the aura Zeldrion sent out. To the primal instinct, it was quite surprised that Aurus was able to reach a type of peak with the sword, just like how he had reached a type of peak with the claw he usually made.

Nevertheless, even though Aurus had reached a peak for sword arts…

King Zeldrion was aiming to go even further.

Clash!

As the two sides collided against one another, the two types of blade lights radiated fierce levels of energy, seemingly giving off the feeling that they were two supreme dragons vying for territory. At first, the dark green blade light sent out by Aurus seemed to have the advantage, with those that had keen eyes noticing that it was gradually engulfing the attack sent by Zeldrion. Unfortunately for Aurus, at the very last minute, Zeldrion's attack finally bared its fangs as it overwhelmed Aurus's attack, easily dispelling it as it shaved off a large chunk of Aurus's head.

Seeing as how he was able to win against an attack Aurus had learned from him, Zeldrion could not help but feel proud, only to suppress those feelings as he knew that he needed to continue in becoming stronger, lest he wanted to be overwhelmed. Unexpectedly, once Aurus recovered the injury he had received, revealing more of the jade green energy making up his body, Zeldrion could not help but let his anger control him for a bit, shouting to Aurus, "Is that all you got, you Inanimate bastard?!"

Fsshhh!

Seemingly triggered by those words, Aurus dispelled the enhanced Fragarach he was wielding so far before using the energy making up the blade to formed a great number of blades. Although it was uncertain as to whether he did it because his pride was hurt, it was apparent to all of them that Aurus was finally going all out from this point onward.

…

While the ruler of the Seraph Kingdom and the being called The Great Calamity were duking it out to see which one would prevail, a small group of beings made up of four Pseudo-Animates and an Animate seemingly noticed that a ruckus was going on in another part of the kingdom they'd just arrived in. Of course, these five were Argentum and the others.

"It seems Aurus won against the opponent he was fighting," Argentum could not help but mutter as the five of them were still levitating above the kingdom's walls. While saying those words, he could not help but have conflicted emotions, wondering if he should be on the side of his original body or the side of the people that were just caught up in the mess.

Naturally, the others noticed the conflicting tone in Argentum's words, having a feeling of what he was feeling at the moment. However, at the moment a large barrier appeared inside the kingdom itself, all five of them looked at each other and knew that it had something to do with Aurus. After all, his goal seemed to be killing all of the people that lived in the kingdom.

With that, Felix released a bit more of his energy to propel the five of them towards where the barrier was, landing just a few dozen meters away from it on top of one of the higher buildings. Removing the energy that enveloped the five of them, Felix and the others then looked at what was happening inside the barrier, instantly turning solemn as both Felix and Eleanor were surprised as to who Aurus was fighting.

"Oi, oi, oi…you've got to be kidding me, right?" Eleanor could not help but rub her eyes a few times, wondering if what she was seeing was real. As for Felix, he could not stop scratching his head, wondering if they should even be involved in something like this. "Your eyes aren't mistaking you, Eleanor. Although I also can't believe it, Aurus is fighting against the ruler of Seraph Kingdom."

Hearing Felix's words, Argentum, Horell, and Herellia could not help but have grim expressions on their faces. After all, when someone was called the ruler of the kingdom, then it was no surprise that the person commanded a lot of power, may it be individually or as authority over a large group.

Hoping that the ruler of the kingdom would be lenient on Aurus, Argentum looked at Felix, who seemed to know more about the person Aurus was fighting, and asked, "How strong is the ruler?"

"He's as strong as the one Aurus was fighting against a while ago," Felix replied. "In fact, if we got a closer view, I would've probably recognized who he was fighting against. Any being that wields a Rank 9 class and be at the peak of its power is certainly not some random person."

"In any case, Aurus is currently fighting against King Zeldrion Seraph, also a Rank 9 class holder. He also has a few more monikers other than being the ruler of the kingdom, with the moniker 'Sole Sword Emperor' being his most famous one," he continued.

"Oh. There you go. That's the reason why he's called the Sole Sword Emperor," Felix said at the very moment King Zeldrion removed both of Aurus's arms from his body. Ignoring the fear Argentum and the others felt from such an attack, he could not help but let out a sigh as he said, "At this moment, Aurus is seriously fighting at the level of a Pseudo-Transcendent. It won't be long until the two of them go beyond it and reach the—"

Just as Felix said that, the aura surrounding King Zeldrion changed as the attack he unleashed at that moment was far stronger than any Pseudo-Transcendent could unleash. With great surprise, he could not help but mutter out in shock, "I can't believe it. He's actually grasped hints of a Principle?"

Although Argentum had no clue what a Principle was, or to be more exact, he did not bother searching up what a Principle was, from how Felix worded it, it seemed that things were going out of Aurus's favor. Clenching his fists from the sheer nervousness he felt as he watched the fight continue, Argentum looked up at the heavens once more, hoping for a miracle to happen.

…

Clang!

At this moment, both Aurus and King Zeldrion seemed to be in their greatest element, going all out in all of their attacks as sword and claw fought against each other. Of course, with the claw Aurus had control over being far larger than Zeldrion's blade, it was hard for the latter to find openings where he could land a hit. Nevertheless, it was apparent that Zeldrion's control over the blade, as well as his power was improving.

"[Cutthroat Blade Arts]."

"Bisect!"

Crash!

With great fervor, Zeldrion sent out another attack with the help of his ignited Valtyrisk, sending a large wave of blade light that seemed intent of removing everything in its way. In response, Aurus opened up the claw he controlled, wanting to squeeze and crush it at the very last minute. Unexpectedly, just as he was about to close the claw, he felt like he had lost control over it for a short while, allowing Zeldrion to cut the claw in two.

Not knowing what the reason behind his loss of control was, Aurus hastily conjured another claw, even going so far as to activate [Soul Transcendence] after realizing that he was now at a great disadvantage. With renewed drive, Aurus sent out a claw made out of a hundred thousand blades, wanting to turn his opponent's body into pulp.

But of course, King Zeldrion wasn't going to give Aurus any chance of doing so, passing his blade to his left hand, wanting to meet the claw with his blade head-on. After that, he extended the blade outward, waiting for the very moment the tip of the blade collided with the claw before using all of his strength and aura to circle it around the claw.

"[Cutthroat Blade Arts]!"

"Arc!"

Amidst the attack he had done to remove the threat that was the claw, Zeldrion seemed to have understood something as his blade circled around the large claw, giving him the feeling as if his previous ways of handling his blade was wrong. With that understanding, he then continued to let the blade circle around the claw as he applied his new understanding into action.

Crash!

Unsurprisingly, the claw was cut into two, with one part of it falling to the ground as it gradually dissipated into thin air. Looking at the difference brought about by the small change he had just done, King Zeldrion could not help but be left aghast, only to become excited as he muttered to himself, "Could it be that…I'm finally transitioning from a Conjecture to a Principle?"

Slash!

Wanting to see if his doubts were not unfounded, Zeldrion hastily sent out another attack with a quick flick of his wrist, noticing that the blade light that resulted from it being sharper and more refined. Aurus, who noticed the attack, quickly set up a layer of defense around him with blades, but even with [Soul Transcendence] activated, it only lasted a few seconds before it crumpled down.

Seeing how a simple attack of his contained so much power, King Zeldrion could not help but be elated, only to suppress this feeling as he said to himself, "Don't get too complacent, Zeldrion. You've only begun to comprehend your Principle. Use this chance to improve it even further!"

And with that, he continued on with his relentless attacks against Aurus.

While that was happening, in the recesses of Aurus's mind, seemingly corrupted by the primal instinct, a faint flicker of light emanated from it out of nowhere. Although it was just a faint flicker of light, it still sensed what was happening on the outside. With that, it asked itself.

"What…am I doing here?"