The Amber Sword

v3c288

Nine Luminaries Sword Art

Caike maneuvered through the remains of the windows, and following him were seven other men who walked past the glass riddled floor of the hall, pulling out their swords at the same time. The entire place was currently a mess: the blood from the bodies could form streams of crimson, and everywhere you look, there would be Evil Cultists. However, there were a few bodyguards who managed to keep their footings, especially Princess Gryphine and her men. Brendel was wielding his large sword as well, bashing away at enemies whenever they came too close.

Caike’s eyes locked onto that young man. He squinted his remaining eye, and his face twitched. He had long made a name for himself as a mercenary that instilled fear amongst people. His other seven comrades were the same, no matter if it was strength or background, they could potentially become anyone’s worst fears.

Caike looked back at them, and they all nodded silently. Since they were here already, there was only one path forward. That is victory. Defeat is intolerable.

The eight Gold-ranked warriors stepped forward, and everyone was stunned at their arrival. The bodyguards next to the nobles palpitated. Although it can be said that each powerhouse in Aouine would have at least twenty Gold rankers, they fought solo and rarely as a group as the region these people would have to protect were large and required a lot of manpower.

Precisely at this moment, Gryphine seemed to have realized something. She turned back to see a smiling Duke Seifer ordering his men to stand down, while Duke Arreck was expressionless as he placed his hand habitually on his sword.

The other nobles were scared shitless. Baron Balta was slightly nervous, and when he locked gazes with Princess Gryphine, he looked away. Princess Gryphine thought, Duke Viero, Duke Karsuk, Count Cordo, Count Vitokin are not here. Don’t tell me…

She gritted her teeth and lowered her head.

When she looked up, she could only see two clergymen from the Holy Cathedral. Seems like they did not send any of their powerhouses this time.

Caike twitched his eyebrows. There’s no time to lose now. Bloodthirst flashed in his eyes, and he pointed at Fleetwood, “That old man is a Wizard, don’t let him complete his preparations.” His men nodded and rushed to attack the people of the Royal Faction. This time, the nobles seem to realize that the target of these evildoers was Princess Gryphine, and they did not care about the Royal family’s influence as they just moved aside.

The pride of the Royal Faction seemed to be meeting its end at that moment, and the color of Aouine’s flag gradually losing its shade.

The eight mercenaries moved into an offensive stance, and the entire mood changed, and everyone’s faces fell.

The princess did not say anything, neither did she move backward. She just looked at the entire thing that was going to happen fearlessly, and there was this innate power that seemed to radiate from within her, giving the people around her strength.

All of a sudden, the pride of Aouine’s flag seemed to gain a sliver of hope.

Brendel felt it, and breathed out in relief. That’s the power of her belief in Aouine, to the Kingdom and the people in it. It seems like we’re at the step where it comes into play once more.

Like it was back in the game, they were at the point of no return.

Brendel raised his sword above his head.

“Haha! The genius!” Caike’s eyes lit up. He noticed how Brendel was about to overcome the barrier of becoming an Elemental Awakener. That genius… I really like to hunt arrogant people like this!

He laughed. Although Brendel may be strong, he was still slightly weaker than him. Plus he believed he had the combat experience Brendel did not, so he thought that the boy was no match for him.

Geniuses take time to nurture. Unfortunately, this young boy will not have that sort of time!

He licked his lips, as if he had already tasted the fresh and tasty blood of victory he had been craving for. That same taste flowed down his throat, the blissful feeling excited every hair on his skin, causing him to tremble feverishly. That excitement was also the reason why he could execute every attack flawlessly.

He struck down.

It was a perfect attack. One that not even the greatest swordsmen could find a flaw in it.

Princess Gryphine saw the blade and paled. She was a famous swordsman of the Royal Family, but she had not seen a real fight on the battlefield. It was then she realized just how naive she was. She may have had a perfect mastery of her swordsmanship, but she was enlightened about the fact that she had to gain experience to actually master the art of combat that her master told her about.

And that moment was here. The opportunity for her to break free of her protected shell she was living in.

Gryphine’s lips moved, but no words came out. It was her distrust in Brendel.

“Look out, Brendel!” it was Count Yanbao. Princess Gryphine turned to look at her ex-roomie and felt a little sad. As royalty, she did not have the freedom to do as she wanted.

It can be said that it was her responsibility.

Caike’s sword was already in front of Brendel’s eyes, its shining flash emanated a cold air of death.

But Brendel was still unfazed. He just raised his sword, and put out the textbook sword stance.

So dull–?!

The sound of swords clashing reverberated in the ears of everyone there. But everyone had the same thought. After all, they were seeing the same thing-

That Brendel was using the most basic style in Aouine’s Military Swordsmanship.

Halran Gaia was placed horizontally, forming the first move every soldier was trained to protect their lives with. Precisely because it was the most basic move, everyone thought that it was a bad idea to execute that move. There were some people who even thought that it was not worth receiving the attack! But to the others who knew slightly about swordplay, they would think that using that move would spell their deaths.

And it did not end there.

Stunned, an alert flashed across Caike’s mind. There was a reason these people were known as geniuses. Caike knew that for a fact and was never careless. He did learn that lesson after losing his eye after all. Seeing Brendel rush at him with his crude attack made him anxiously wanting to move back.

But he was too late.

An arc formed across his throat, and then blood burst out of the line, spraying out like a geyser shooting out wine. Halran Gaia broke his spinal cord, its momentum causing his head to spin and letting everyone see the unwillingness in his eyes that was probably the last thought in his life.

“That fast?!”

There were two Brendels in the hall. And one of them disappeared soon after Caike’s death.

The remaining one raised his sword. The black sheen of the blade, the color of obsidian reflected the light at its tip. The entire hall was silent once again, as if the world became silent. It was all like a dream that just ended, and then the whispers begun once more.

Devard widened his eyes. He could never forget that swordsmanship that took away his arm.

“Ah!”

“What was that swordsmanship?”

Brendel sheathed his sword and looked back. Not a soul dared look at him in the eye. Nine Luminaries Sword Art, one of the three greatest sword arts in Vaunte, revived in the human realm after thousands of years of being lost. Just one look of it was able to remember its greatness.

Seven more people. This type of scene where Gold rankers die was supposed to only happen in the great war that happened tens of years ago, and the ones centuries or even thousands of years ago. Each one of it shook people’s mental state, the terrible bloodthirst of the Gold rankers directly attacked the hearts of people after all.

It was fear.

The seven Gold rankers felt a chill down their spine. It was a feeling they had long forgotten. In their eyes, Brendel was like an ancient wild beast that opened its wide jaws of death. With their years of experience, they raised their swords and rushed forward, “Kill him!”

There were no more bystanders in the hall. They had understood that this was a fight between life and death. Victory and defeat both sides of the same coin.

No matter how strong one side was, the outcome of each fight was never predictable. Three of the people went beside him, two on both of his sides, forming a circle with him in the center. Brendel could not see the person behind him, and Dilferi, who was surprisingly nervous for her captor, shouted, “Look out for your backside!”

But Brendel did not care. After all, he did not come to fight alone.

A light gate opened.

A slender pale hand grabbed at the sword blade, and the sword of the random Gold ranker began to shriek like a wailing person.

Morpheus’s eyes lit up with blinking lights. He was hyped to fight. “You can’t be rude towards My Lord,” he scolded. His usual meek side was gone, and in its place a hungry beast out for blood.

The assassin’s face paled as he looked at the scrap metal that was once his sword.

What Strength…

On the other side, Andrea did not say a word as she battled. She immediately pulled out her swords when she appeared. Blood spilled and corpses began to fall onto the ground. She clapped her hand, and like a rainbow ard, the blood droplets coagulated to form a blade on both her hands. From the pool of blood, two pairs of wings emerged, and with a roar, two blood dragons emerged from it.

They looked down with their mighty head, at the three insects before them – the three assassins.

“Dang!”

Brendel knocked away an assassin’s sword to see that sight. I do pity the enemies that are fighting Andrea. She’s a masterer in blood arts. In this place where blood could form streams, this would be her best fighting stage. I doubt I could even beat her here, and not to mention those three people. Count of it as punishment for invading this place I guess?

But he still turned around, “What are you guys doing? Do you really think I can fight seven of them myself?”

“Ah?”

Oberwei, Makarov, and Niya came to their senses. They were overwhelmed by Brendel’s ‘performance’ just now and for a second forgot that they were on a battlefield. With the addition of five Gold rankers, plus Brendel himself, the entire situation changed.

Morpheus quickly finished off his opponent. He was fighting a Strength type Swordsman, but unfortunately, his Strength stat was still lower than the Vampire. There would be no chance in ten thousand that he could have beaten Morpheus. After analyzing his opponent’s pattern, he got close and jabbed- right into his heart.

Brendel moved out of the scene. He had initially wanted to prolong the fight with Caike just now to see their background. However, he did not get that opportunity as he one-shotted the poor man with his Nine Luminaries Sword Art.

The easiest battle was won by Andrea. She did not need to fight in the first place. Her dragons that were formed from the essence of tens of people, including several Silver rankers, easily suppress the two assassins. And after casting some Black Witchcraft on them, they met their painful end.

Among the remaining three people, the Wolf Baron was the fastest at ending his battle. Oberwei was a true Swordsman. Although his opponent was weaker compared to the other assassins, his flawless swordsmanship showed just how worthy he was to be called a lone wolf. Its speed, accuracy, cruelty was on point. That explained why his opponents always met a painful, bloody end whenever he fought with a sword.

After his fight ended, Niya and Makarov’s battled marked their end as well. Brendel was surprised that Niya was a Holy Knight like him as well when he saw just how good of a Warrior she was. Heavily armored, she used ‘Colliding Halo’ to restrict her opponent. When Morpheus came to help her out, the opponent could only admit defeat.

I can see why she was chosen to be the guard of Count Yanbao. She is the strongest meat shield they have after all, Brendel thought.

Amongst them, Makarov was the weakest. While he may be skillful, he was a strategist and was not good at combat. He even came close to taking damage at a point. Brendel had sprung to his rescue, locking his enemy and preventing from attacking. It was then the assassin realized just how deep of a shithole he was in when he saw his comrades fallen to the ground. He cursed silently and attempted to retreat.

It was then Makarov yelled, “You’re not going anywhere!”

Ripples appeared in the air, and the assassin was stuck in his place. It was now that the strengths of a Wizard could be fully utilized against a warrior. Although he may be of a lower rank, once a Wizard completes his spell, the enemy was bound to face death.

A fight between a Wizard and Warrior was fundamentally different from one between two Warriors. Those battles were never of attrition and would usually end in the blink of an eye.

It was not the first time Brendel cooperated with a Wizard, and he perfectly coordinated with a leap that penetrated his enemy’s heart.

Brendel landed on his feet. When he got up, he was looking at Arreck who was not far away.

The Duke shifted in hesitation, and widened his normally squinted eyes, revealing a cold hard glare.