The Star of Annihilation - Chapter 83 – Surpass (5)

Chapter 83 – Surpass (5)
Written by : eleven

* * *

Looking at one’s own wrongdoings was never easy.

There were a lot of times where people would think back to a time where they had felt self-righteous, or realized something only to monopolize information, deceive enemies, or justify their actions.

A strong sense of remorse or guilt typically came when someone regretted their actions in these moments of time.

Amongst the population of the Northern Continent, the last continent that had yet to be conquered by the Dragons on Roy’s home planet… there was a certain individual who was feeling the regret of the decisions he had made in the past.

South of the Empire, was the Demon’s Territory.

Although the Demon Territory was ruled by 7 Great Families that were each led by one of the notorious Demon Kings or Queens, the Demons were not always united towards a single front.

Amongst them, Alar of the Serpentine Family was a great example of a Demon King that acted purely out of self-interest without thinking or rather avoided thinking about the repercussions his actions would have on the entirety of the Demon Territory.

Almost a decade ago, before the Dragons had become active in the Northern Continent, there was a war between the Demons and the Ismenian Empire.

That was one of the few times that the 7 Great Families of Demons had come together in the history of the Demon territory.

However, amongst the 7 Great Families…. one of the Kings more powerful in terms of militaristic might, Hendras, was facing his regret.

In terms of strength, he was one of the continent’s strongest beings along with the Sword Saint of the Empire, Trent Freeman.

It had all happened on the trip to send his heir to the Central Plains for the Tournament of Young Lions.

In a tournament format where 7 individuals were chosen to represent each of the powers that resided in the continent, Hendras and the other 7 Great Families liked this number as each of them could send their strongest heir within the age requirements as a proxy to both flaunt their influence, strength and might to both humans and the other families. There was little to no strife about having to choose which Demons would take these spots as there were 7 Great Families and 7 spots for the entirety of the Territory, leaving little conflict about the process of choosing rights.

Hendras was on the carriage with the envoys of his family from the Demon Territory.

Sure, he was not oblivious to the politics of the Continent and knew there had been some uproar as of recent about a new power coming into play, but he didn’t feel too threatened by it.

In that sense, ignorance was bliss for Hendras.

But as he was coming with his son to the Tournament of Young Lions from the Demon Territory, he sensed something truly frightening for the first time in a very long time.

As a strong being that had few rivals, he never felt too threatened by another’s presence. Even if he felt Trent Freeman’s aura nearby within a few kilometers, he wouldn’t feel threatened because he knew Trent and his strength.

But as their carriage arrived at Ezrest….

‘This is… this isn’t possible.’

Hendras felt it clearly.

Just how wrong he had been in staying aloof these past few years after the war with the Empire.

The petty little competitions that the other Demons had amongst the 7 Great Families were trivial to him.

Even this tournament was nothing but a show to others. At least that was what Hendras had thought going into this as it had been the case for the past tournaments as well.

But the power that Hendras felt at that moment in time, was something he could not believe.

‘Three… no there’s one more.’

There were three presences that were all much stronger than his own.

Even to take down one of these beings would require the assistance of the other 6 Demon Kings, Hendras felt.

But there was one more he almost had missed.

To be exact, he had not missed it, but rather it was so powerful that he couldn’t even measure the limits of its power.

“What in the….”

“What is it father?”

Hendras was staring blankly at the insides of the carriage, but his sensory skills were scoping much farther than that.

His son, Durandal, looked at Hendras in confusion since Hendras had seemingly just blurted something out of nowhere.

His father was not the kind of person to speak unnecessary words, so Durandal could not help but be confused.

Belatedly realizing that there were others inside the carriage that would not be able to feel the ominous presences of the beings within the city of Ezrest.

It wasn’t that the beings were hiding their power, it was just that weaker beings would not be able to sense or even measure the power contained within their bodies.

“It’s nothing. Just continue to focus on circulating your demonic energy.”

Durandal nodded at his father’s words and continued to circulate his demonic energy while he closed his eyes.

He was confident that nobody would be able to best him in this tournament if he gave it his all, but Durandal also knew he had to be smart about how he used his power in each fight. After all, these were geniuses from all over the Northern Continent. Even if he felt that he was stronger than the rest, they probably naturally felt the same and had also grown up with great circumstances and were able to practice in advance for the tournament.

But one last time…

“Huh..?”

Durandal opened his eyes at his father’s confused voice blurting out once more.

Not once, but twice it seemed that there was something going on that Durandal had not noticed.

Instead of prodding further and possibly angering his father, Durandal feigned ignorance.

Hendras didn’t even bother to hide his surprise this time.

That was because other than the presences that were powerful, there was a rather weak one that had confused him.

Lately, he had known that the King of the Serpentine Family, Alar, had been causing a bit of a ruckus and Hendras had investigated.

His informants told Hendras that Alar had found a human that was able to accumulate Demonic Energy within their bodies.

Although it was shocking, Hendras finally realized why Alar had caused such a ruckus that all of the Demon Kings were wondering what the hell he was up to.

Although a human accumulating Demonic Energy was surely something that was a first, Hendras felt incredibly confused as he noticed the purity of the Demonic Energy within the weak human who was only a few hours away by foot.

‘How does a human have purer Demonic Energy than that of a Demon King?!’

Most Demons did not know that Demonic Energy was not something that could be measured by purity, but the Demon Kings knew that they were not ‘real demons’ so to speak.

History had been lost and records were erased so they did not know what creatures they originated from, but the Demon Kings did know that there were true Demons on the same level of the Gods that lurked within their world from a higher dimension.

Those Demons had pure Demonic Energy and it was something that had been secret to only the Demon Kings of the Seven Great Families.

Hendras made a mental note to remind himself when he arrived in Ezrest to look for the human who possessed this Demonic Energy.

Nothing would happen just yet, and unlike Alar, Hendras didn’t have any hostile intentions about wanting to meet Roy, but rather curiosity.

Regardless of whether it would be difficult or not to meet, Hendras felt from the mana and Demonic Energy that Roy possessed, that he was likely to be one of the competitors in the Tournament and there would be a time to eventually meet with all the competitors at the opening Gala.

Wiping away his sweat on his forehead from the surprise earlier, Hendras sat back in the carriage and observed his son while they waited patiently for their carriage to arrive in Ezrest.

* * *

Whoosh.

Drawing an arc in the air with Deletus, Roy’s sword moved unabated towards his instructor.

Clang!

Sparks flew from the moment Deletus clashed with Lucius’ sword but was swiftly retracted as Roy spaced himself and rotated his feet for an uppercut with his free hand.

“Shallow.”

Lucius muttered as he took the punch to the gut and kicked Roy’s feet, sweeping him off his balance.

Roy followed the lines in the air that were visible to his eyes through seeing the world’s flaws.

Despite following the lines, they all distorted and blurred once they neared Lucius’ figure.

Lucius was one step above ‘flaws’ and could control the flaws down to the very ‘grains’ around him.

Despite knowing that Lucius was one step ahead of flaws, that didn’t mean Roy would just give up against a stronger opponent than himself.

He also understood that there was a level of enlightenment with the sword he had not reached yet since he had yet to be able to control the flaws around him like Lucius could.

Just because he couldn’t see any flaws around Lucius, didn’t mean he couldn’t create any though.

Roy squinted his eyes and slashed with Deletus as he tried to examine the world’s lines around Lucius as he moved.

Dodging Deletus with ease as Roy attacked relentlessly, Lucius did not attack just yet.

Ruthlessly beating his disciple at every opening that Roy exposed would defeat the purpose of training.

Roy needed at least one more weapon for the Tournament of Young Lions.

Whether it would be reaching 5-stars or an enlightenment with the sword that would allow him to see grains, it didn’t matter which one he achieved.

Either one would be a major asset if he achieved it.

The fact that Roy had reached 4-stars and achieved his first enlightenment with the sword was already something incomprehensible by any human standards since they were two completely different assets of power.

If Lucius had to say which of the two Roy was closer to achieving, it would be the 5-star mark.

This was because Roy was already going through the body development process through the nightmares and pains he would feel in his sleep.

This was the beginning of reaching the first level of Transcendence with attaining 5-stars.

If anyone in the world said that a mere 13 year-old boy was reaching the 5-star realm at such an age they would probably just assume it was bullshit.

Back to the battle, Roy was watching the lines around Lucius slowly distort and reveal themselves as brief openings.

Lucius was allowing this on purpose, but Roy still had a long way to go with seeing grains.

Nevertheless, Roy was starting to be able to distinguish which lines were revealing themselves as openings and which were just revealing themselves to bait him.

Shifting his feet, Roy finally saw a line that led to a real opening.

Circulating his mana, Roy started to prepare to use a move from his own swordsmanship.

Swordsmanship of Annihilation 5th Series : Red Arrow

Red mana swirled around Deletus’ blade as tendrils of red lightning crackled around Roy’s body.

Lucius smiled as Roy charged in.

The ground shook and Lucius took his sword to block the jab-like movement of Roy’s sword.

WHA-BANG!

Shockwaves reverberated from the monstrous strength behind Roy’s blade.

Dirt and dust kicked up from the surroundings in a cloud and blocked Roy’s sight.

Roy clenched his fist tightly in frustration.

He already knew.

He had made an impactful strike, and it had made sure contact.

But what was the use of taking a hammer to a mountain wall?

The result was laid bare as the dust cleared up.

“That was a good strike just now.”

Lucius grinned and his eyes widened with surprise and a genuine compliment came out of his mouth.

‘I had to actually get a tad bit serious there to block.’

Although it was still incredibly weak compared to a swordmaster’s strike, it was a strike that required Lucius to concentrate for a brief moment to make sure he placed his sword in the right angle to negate all momentum behind the blow.

“Good, let’s continue.”

Lucius grinned as he spoke. There were only a few hours left in their journey, so this would be the last time to spar freely without any eyes peeled.

The moment they entered Ezrest, they might be able to find time to spar, but there would certainly be eyes peeled at every moment gauging their strength.

Even at that very moment, Lucius could still feel the unnerving presences of the colossus powers from across the continent gathering in the area.

And in the center of all these presences, was one that even he was getting cold sweat from.

Lucius had faced Dragons now, and each and every one was beyond his league if he fought on his own.

But there was something far more frightening and sinister about this certain presence. His instincts were screaming to get away from Ezrest, but he knew he had to go.

Swish.

With the swing of his sword, Lucius focused on Roy, the boy who would inherit everything he had to give.