Chapter 288 : Moonlit Ice Man

In conclusion, I became a one-armed swordsman.

Again.

It was the same when I fought the Knight of Frost, and it was the same in the decisive battle.

Why was it always my left arm that got hurt?

Did they have some kind of grudge against my left arm?

Lasol's sword of light that cut through the sky was not something that could be blocked.

So I tried to dodge it quickly, but...

Its attack range was too large, and the aftermath was not small.

I threw my body to the right and protected myself as much as possible with the Snow White Ice Curtain.

But in the end, my left arm was eaten by the light.

It wasn't even a direct hit, but I had lost strength just from the aftermath.

If I had taken it head-on, I would have already left this world.

I first gave myself emergency treatment with acupressure, and then immediately shot up into the air and rushed at Lasol.

It was after she had used a big technique.

It was a calculation that if there was an opening, it would be now.

Lasol looked at me, who had come out through the cloud of dust, with slightly surprised eyes, and then, she leisurely received my sword.

'Hmm.'

It was my mistake.

There was no opening in the Hero of Light.

Lasol in the daytime was remarkably different from Lasol at night.

Her speed was incomparably faster, and her light was dazzlingly brighter.

It was as if a small, winged sun was flying around.

The power in her swinging sword strikes was overwhelming, and she flew freely in the sky as if it were her front yard with her even larger wings of light.

Sparkling feathers suddenly fell from her wings, which were shining brilliantly under the sunlight, and they flew at me like rays of light with their own will.

'Damn it.'

Naturally, it became more difficult to deal with her.

Lasol naturally took the upper hand.

I was busy blocking her attacks.

Indeed, the child of the sun god, Hope.

Lasol in the daytime was on a different level.

It was as if the sun were giving her strength.

Was she not called the Hero of Light for nothing?

Lasol had created a miracle by bursting into a huge light and turning night into day.

How strong must her divine power be to create such an absurd miracle?

She was not called the Hero of Light for nothing, and she was not called the apostle of Hope for nothing.

The situation was not flowing in my favor.

The opponent was clearly stronger than me.

And that was even though I had monopolized Siri's blessing.

The wall of the Eight Sword Masters was high.

[Are you giving up?]

'No way.'

But, even as I was being hit by the sword of light and cut by the feathers, I did not even consider giving up.

How many times had I fought against someone stronger than me?

I had always been the weak one, the reckless challenger.

The period when I reigned as the strong one was very short, and even then, my hobby was to fight life-and-death battles with those who were stronger than me.

Even in a situation where my life was on the line, I would open my eyes wide and somehow find an opening and stab my sword.

It is not always the strong who win.

I am not trying to say the nice-sounding words that those who do not give up until the end are the winners.

The world of competition is as cold as a cold blade.

The one who wins is the strong one, and there are definitely exhilarating cases where the one who does not give up until the end overturns the situation and seizes victory.

What more can I say, since I have often been the protagonist of such cases?

I hadn't gone all out yet either.

I keep the words I spit out myself.

Now that it has come to this, I'll just tear off one wing and run.

CLANG! CLANG!

'...Just have to do something about this.'

I prepared a secret technique while receiving Lasol's solar sword, which was rushing at me without a moment's rest.

The way it sparkled even more under the sunlight was very unpleasant.

Of course, since it was a secret technique that suited the night, its power would be greatly reduced now that it was daytime, but I had no other choice.

CLANG!

I deliberately hit the sword hard and used the recoil to create a large distance.

"Not bad."

Lasol smiled at me.

"You're the first to dodge my 'Judgment of Light' and last this long, except for 'him'."

I panted and replied.

"Don't be ridiculous. I'll tear off one of your wings."

"Try it. If you can."

Lasol laughed as if it were absurd.

"As long as the midday sun is up, there is no defeat for me."

At that moment.

Suddenly, the surroundings became dark.

Had the clouds covered the sun?

I prepared my secret technique, thinking it was nothing.

But, Lasol's expression was strange.

Her eyes were wide open as if she couldn't believe it, and her mouth was half-open.

'What. What's going on?'

I could hear the holy knights chattering below.

—Hey, look over there!

—The moon is eating the sun!

—O Hope!

—The sun is being eaten!

'What?'

The moon is eating the sun?

What kind of nonsense was this?

A voice of shock came from Lasol's half-open mouth.

"...Impossible."

'It doesn't seem like a trick.'

I distanced myself further and then glanced back.

And then, I too witnessed that 'miracle'.

I was at a loss for words at the magnificent sight.

The black moon was silently eating the sun.

'What on earth...!'

Even I couldn't help but be surprised.

But I couldn't just be surprised.

This was an opportunity.

As the sun was eaten by the moon and lost its light, the light flowing from Lasol was weakening.

Her power was scattering.

Whatever it was, I couldn't miss this precious opportunity.

'Now.'

There was no better moment to attempt a counterattack.

I immediately unfolded the secret technique I had been preparing.

Trrrk!

The Snow White Ice Curtain wrapped around my whole body.

And the next moment, a lot of flower petals fell from it.

The ice curtain that had been wrapping around my body turned into hundreds and thousands of thin flower petals and fluttered in the wind.

The frozen flower petals, imbued with moonlight, began to fly around me.

In the meantime, as if the moon had completely eaten the sun, a black night unfolded.

In the place where the midday sun had been shining, a pale moon was floating, and the black night sky was full of stars.

The preparations were complete.

The situation was perfect.

I spoke to Lasol, who was still staring at the moon blankly.

"You said there was no defeat as long as the sun was up?"

Lasol looked at me with a startled face.

I grinned.

"Not anymore?"

"...!"

As if she had sensed a crisis, Lasol flapped her wings wide and quickly retreated.

The feathers fired from her wings flew at a furious speed.

Ting!

They hit the flower petals that were flying around me and were shot down, breaking into several pieces.

The frozen flower petals that had fallen from the Snow White Ice Curtain, which was wrapped around my whole body like an outer skin, wrapped around me.

It was a small storm.

I raised my head and looked at the sky.

The moon was floating as if it were protecting me.

"Haha."

I couldn't help but laugh at the sight of the pale moon.

Under the moon.

There is a frozen man.

Moonflower Sword, Third Form. Moonlit Ice Man.

I pointed my white, frozen sword tip at Lasol, whose eyes had widened.

"Go."

The frozen flower petals that had been flying around me all stopped at once.

And they flew towards Lasol like a shot.

* * *

A moonlit night.

Lasol flapped her wings of light and fled at a fast speed.

And the silver, sparkling flower petals chased after her.

'These are no ordinary flower petals!'

The moment she touched them, she felt a sharp edge that seemed to cut her, and a chill that seemed to freeze her.

Each one was deadly.

Her intuition told her.

That she should never touch them.

Lasol flew through the night sky, dodging the flower petals as much as possible.

But she couldn't run away forever.

Lasol blocked the flower petals with her wings and knocked them away with her sword as she flew.

But the flower petals were endless.

"Hmph!"

Fwoosh!

In the end, she burst into light and blocked the approach of the flower petals.

But, the light was not as bright as before.

It was because the sun had set.

Lasol repeatedly burst into light and blocked the flower petals that were chasing her.

But she couldn't block all the flower petals.

In the end, she allowed a few flower petals to graze her skin.

From the place where the flower petals had grazed, she felt a cold chill.

The chill did not stop there, but it dug into her body like a spreading plague.

"Keuk!"

If it were one or two places, she could have driven it out with light.

But since it was digging in from several places at once, she couldn't come to her senses.

The cold seeped in through her shoulder, cheek, ear, neck, arm, thigh, back of her hand, and back.

Fwoosh!

All she could do was to use the power of light to prevent the cold from digging in further.

Her body trembled, and her senses became dull.

"Heok... heok..."

Her breath scattered whitely in the air.

Lasol, who had somehow received all the damn flower petals, panted and quickly looked for Ashuban.

'Where did he go?'

She had lost him while dealing with the endlessly flying flower petals.

Lasol swung her sword in the air and shouted.

"Where are you!"

But the night was quiet.

It did not give her an answer.

"Heok... heok..."

Lasol's hand trembled.

Her eyes scanned the darkness.

It felt like he would pop out from somewhere in that deep darkness at any moment.

At that moment.

"Where are you looking?"

The voice came from behind.

She was startled and tried to distance herself, but his sword was faster.

"That's my afterimage."

A sword that was as white as a snow-covered tree branch.

A blue snake that was wrapped around it.

The Snow Branch Blue Flame cut through one of her wings.

Swoosh!

"Oof!"

The Hero of Light, who had lost one wing, began to fall, spinning.

She flapped her remaining wing with all her might, but it was no use, as she had lost her balance.

It was as if a white butterfly were sinking into the deep sea.

The pathetic flapping of the butterfly's wings.

The kind-hearted Ashuban did not just let the butterfly sink gracefully.

He decided to help it fall a little faster.

"Hehe."

He immediately chased after her using the Black Immortal Steps.

He created a Night Sky disk on his head, and then, kicking off it, he fell in a straight line towards the Hero of Light.

Swoosh!

Lasol shouted as she saw the apostle of the night falling towards her like a thunderbolt.

"Ashuban!"

He did not answer.

"Hehe."

He just smiled softly, as if he were having the time of his life.

Soon, the two apostles, with their swords pointed at each other, fell like shooting stars.

KWAAAAAAAAANG!!

* * *

A cloud of dust rose.

"What happened?"

"Don't tell me, the Hero lost..."

"Nonsense! Do you think the Hero would lose in a place like this!"

"Big Brother!"

The spectators rushed to the crash site where the cloud of dust was rising.

To see the result of the battle of the two apostles, which they had been watching with bated breath.

The dust slowly settled.

And soon, the scenery inside came into view.

The scenery that was seen was...

Shocking.

The holy knights' eyes widened.

Their mouths fell open, but no words came out.

Sirila, whose hair had mostly turned as black as the night sky, bloomed into a bright smile.

And Lyle, as if he couldn't believe it, let out a breath of "Huh—".

The Hero of Light and the master of the Pure White Sword.

Lasol Grace was lying on the ground, having lost her wings.

And the apostle of Ketel and the captain of the Sherwood Mercenary Corps.

Ashuban Sherwood was pointing his pure white sword at her, with his blood-red eyes flashing.

(End of Chapter)