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A blinding light instantly illuminated roughly a hundred meters of the corridor ahead of them.

Since everyone was keeping an eye on Shiloah with their enhanced vision, they could not help but squint reflexively to block off the blinding light.

Durance showed no emotions on his face.

The moment he drew his rapier, golden glint flashed across the sky like lightning. Without missing a beat, the tip of the blade made a beeline for Shiloah!

Rosdell was secretly amazed.

It had only been two months, but Durance’s attack speed was way faster than what he had seen in the last interacademy competition.

Shiloah seemed to have expected that. His razor-like sharp claws vibrated powerfully and Choobchoob was sent flying a few meters, before colliding into a wall nearby. A pained groan escaped her lips before she sat slumped against the wall. She panted heavily, feeling as though her internal organs had just sustained a few direct hits.

Shiloah’s gaze fell on Durance instead of his dazzling rapier that shone like piercing sunlight. His other claws clashed against Durance’s Golden Stella, which was inscribed with ancient patterns and covered by specks of light that resembled shiny stars.

The sharp claws rattled as they were constantly scorched by the holy power flowing through the rapier. In the end, the saint-level potential of his rapier was still suppressed by the law in this dimension. The raw power of his rapier alone could hardly do anything to Shiloah.

Since the sword’s potential was suppressed, its light naturally dulled.

“Ohoho, such an impressive skill. Your sword skill is so much more powerful than my most favorite Princess Lesiah who was adept at escaping. At the very least it’s flashy and practical, outshining her fancy sword skill by a long shot.” Shiloah jerked his head back like he was in pure bliss.

“Ugh…”

Lesiah’s pride instantly took a deep hit, and her groan could be heard from the spectrum stone pinned at Durance’s waist.

A split second later, Diana’s roar and the sounds of objects smashing came through. “Princess, can’t you concentrate on running away? That white porcupine behind us is catching up… F̲u̲c̲k̲, my magical stone! How long did that damn porcupine train? Her hairy spikes are too scary! At this rate, I’ll burn through the money I extorted from Rosdell! S̲h̲i̲t̲! Is she not worried about going bald?”

“…I remember Cornelia saying her hair grows infinitely…”
“I’ll be damned! Is that Cornelia a f̲u̲c̲k̲i̲n̲g *****?!”

Diana’s curses turned into static noises. Something seemed to be interfering with the spectrum stones, causing them to malfunction.

Durance’s face sank.

He finally understood the terror Choobchoob felt when her longsword got caught. Raw strength alone, this strange man named Shiloah was already far stronger than all the other martial warriors he knew below saint-level.

His grip on the rapier hilt began to tremble slightly, but his enemy continued to smile calmly.

He had really underestimated the slyness of his enemy.

Shiloah caught Durance’s rapier firmly, then reached out his free hand to pluck the crystal from Durance’s waist. He waved it before Durance’s eyes, so that the latter could see that it was his spectrum stone, before crushing it between his claws.

“Ohoho, are you starting to despair? That little Princess Lesiah, who has been guiding you off-field, is in hot water herself. How do you intend to deal with me, now that your knowledge is inadequate, Golden Flash of the Holy Dragon Empire, Aneva Durance?

“……”

Durance’s expression remained unchanging as he maintained his silence.

However, he could feel his heart pounding wildly against his ribcage.

If Shiloah could reach for the spectrum stone at his waist and crush it, he could easily leave a bowl-sized hole in his abdomen.

Yet he did not do that. Perhaps to Shiloah, he was really nothing more than a bug trapped in a bottle. Rather than killing him, it was more entertaining to scare him out of his wits first before slowly ripping him apart, limb by limb.

Durance closed his eyes.

“Ohoho, did I scare the living daylights out of you?”

Shiloah feigned a disinterested shrug. He gathered his free claws together then plunged them into Durance’s chest.

“If you’ve already given up, then I shall do you the favor of ending your life.”
“……”
“…..”
“Dream on.”

Durance had reopened his eyes at some point. His pale golden pupils, which were distinctive to the nobles of the Holy Dragon Empire, were peaceful. It was a clear sign that he had regained control over the swirling emotions in his heart.

He let go of his rapier and stepped back, successfully dodging the otherwise fatal blow from Shiloah. There was a strange look on his face.

Ever since he received the ancient holy rapier passed down through his family, he never parted with it.

The elders in his family said that taking care of a sword was the first step in becoming a swordsman. Because of this, he and the Golden Stella were inseparable.

It was his shadow, his secret lover.

It was no exaggeration to call it fondness bred from familiarity. Instead of a woman, his spouse was a weapon. To be more precise, a sword spirit.

Her white clothes flowed and her smile was radiant.

When this little world suppressed her in Golden Stella, Durance was affected emotionally.

With a void in his heart, he had a hard time keeping up his refined image. He was irritable and was constantly reacting to Rosdell’s mocking.

This was actually the very first time he was truly separated from her.

Both mentally and physically.

An old expert with a high level mastery of sword skill back home once said that Durance would not become anyone amazing if he could not part with this rapier.

Durance never believed him. He was going to prove it to everyone back home that he would one day achieve great things with this rapier by his side!

So how could he die before he had done that?

A fire was reignited in his eyes.

He raised his right hand, looking like he was going to catch Shiloah’s sharp claws with bare hand. In the next second however, something darted out from his sleeve at a speed so high that it appeared to be a blur. A tear was instantly made in Shiloah’s black shroud.

A sword hidden in the sleeve, the very same skill that he defeated Rosdell with back then. It seemed to have again worked a miracle on Shiloah… well not really…

“Ohohoho…”

Shiloah doubled up with laughter, even squeezing out a few tears from his eyes.

“What a cunning man you are.”

The silver sword, as tiny as a snake’s tongue, did not bother Shiloah in the slightest as he continued gripping onto the sacred rapier.

Durance had already devised a comprehensive strategy. He was going to step forward to seize Golden Stella’s hilt before performing the next move. Unfortunately, this turn in events left him standing still and frozen in place.

His face ashened.

“What a pity… It’s not of much use.”

Shiloah shook his head, looking like he genuinely found this situation extremely unfortunate.

However, his body suddenly twisted into a huge ‘C’ like he grew a pair of eyes on his back. And with that, he managed to dodge a surprise attack from Rosdell who had snuck up behind him.

Rosdell’s eyes widened angrily, unable to figure out how his ambush got detected.

“Ohoho, you wanted to use that hidden sword as a ruse to recover your rapier when I was forced back. Then you were going to use your strongest sword skill to distract me so that your little friend, Rosdell, could ambush me. Such well-thought-out, well-timed and precise moves. If your opponent had been someone else, they’d probably be dead by now.”

Shiloah smoothed out the tear in his black robe. There was not any liquid oozing out, an indication that he was unhurt by the attack earlier.

“It’s too bad that your opponent is me…”