n

n

n

n

nRaphael and Melville were both visibly exhausted, and their breaths had weights on them after performing their divine art techniques a few seconds ago. Their garments were torn and drenched in their own blood. They had been fighting for a relatively long time, and both of them had drained the majority of their stamina. They were able to tell themselves, probably, that they could only pull off one final big move.

n“Alright, I think that our fight won’t have an outcome if we counter each other. So for the next strike, I will be going to give my all and finish the fight right away, win or lose.”

nAs he said that sentence, Raphael posed a stance and leveled his sword horizontally with his eye. Melville saw that and immediately understood that he really intended to put all his power into it. She, too, did not have much fighting spirit left in her body. Knowing that half-hearted attacks, as well as her most powerful moves, would not work on him, she took a stance and decided to take his challenge. “Hmph. As if I would lose to a lowly human like you. I don’t understand why we are even. You should be grateful that you are going to be killed by me and have the chance to witness my most powerful killing move.” “Bring it on.”

nAs if their minds resonated, they leapt back and kept their distance from one another. They were now standing around a hundred meters apart, and they began charging their final move. Within the abysmal darkness of the mental realm, the fighting spirits of Raphael and Melville illuminated their bodies with their golden essence. With some level of respect for their opponent, they did not attempt to interrupt and focused on their technique. It was true that they were inside the mental realm, and their bodies were dormant in the real world, but their souls were dragged into the realm as well. They were about to unleash their most powerful Divine Art techniques, which were capable of destroying souls. If they got hit and died on this plane, they most likely would not make it to the real world. The risk was high, and so were the rewards. One of them would fall, and one would prevail. Any mistake was unacceptable, and every movement was critically crucial. Utilizing the final bits of their fighting spirit, Raphael’s ebony sword and Melville’s blue daggers faintly shone with an aureous aura. The more seconds passed, the thicker the concentration of energy was gathered in their weapons. The amount of energy they had been currently harnessing was ridiculously much greater than they exerted when they executed Level 4 Divine Art techniques. This was probably the most energy they had used for a single technique in their whole lives. Unlike before, nothing like translucent golden objects were conjured around them, indicating that they would use their actual weapons. A few seconds later, they finally stopped exerting any more energy, and their techniques had been fully charged. “My technique is ready, and it seems yours is too.” “Don’t remind me, human. Are those your final last words?” “Hmm. Not really. Perhaps yours?” “Ha! Do you think you would win?! Your fate of losing has been sealed by the heavens. Don’t let your hubris get on you.”

n“Nah, I’ll be the victor.” “You are still arrogant even in your last moment. Azrael, is it? You might be an evolved human, yet you forced me to resort to doing this. Whatever or whoever you are, or where your powers came from, I will surely report you to my father.” “That’s mean of you. But well, whatever, let’s stop talking and attack already.”

nOnce he said those words, Raphael brandished his sword before he bent his knees. With both of them fully prepared, in a flash, the two of them moved forward and unleashed their most powerful techniques. Raphael executed Divine Sword Art Level 5: Lightspeed Slash, while Melville performed Dagger Art Level 5: Luminal Blade.

nAlong with the effects of the techniques themselves, Raphael and Melville were boosted with several martial arts and skills, allowing them to go hundreds of times faster than the speed of sound. They were so fast that they felt like the world had frozen. With that speed, their bodies would have to deal with the air resistance and the heat from the compressed air. But both of them took no heed of the toll, as both of them had Infinite Regeneration to continuously heal themselves. Actually, Raphael did not have to since he had Extra Skill: Meteor Dive to disregard air resistance. To increase her speed further, Melville activated her Extra Skill: Supersonic to boost her speed up to a thousand times faster than sonic speed. She was at her fastest, and she had absolute confidence that she would win despite being aware of her opponent’s abnormalities. The divine technique, the Luminal Blade, was an unavoidable move and dealt lethal damage to the target. Once she had activated it, her daggers were guaranteed to pierce his heart and soul. Even if she died, her demise would not be in vain, as she dragged a threat along with her to the afterlife. In a matter of less than a tenth of a millisecond, their paths crossed, and they slashed their blades at one another. However, the result was not what Melville would have expected. Raphael’s Lightspeed Slash allowed him to move his body hundreds of times faster than the sonic speed by default and up to a thousand Machs with the same enhancements Melville applied to her body. They seemed to be moving around at the same speed; however, Raphael had a card under his sleeves that gave him the high ground—the ability he copied from his Mother, the Unique Skill: Godspeed. Using Godspeed, Raphael was able to move thousands of times faster than the speed of sound and outstripped Melville. He swung his swords at the speed of a hundredth part of the speed of light, and his blade ultimately reached its target. And then…

nSplat. They passed each other, and they successfully managed to hit their opponent. “Ack! That hurts like hell!”

nSuddenly, Raphael dropped one knee to the surface, and blood started to drip on the pitch-black floor. He let go of his sword to cover his mouth, which had been spitting blood. When he tapped his chest, he found out that there were two blades embedded into his torso. The blades actually pierced his heart. Evidently, Melville successfully landed fatal blows on him. The blades were still glowing gold; his soul had definitely been damaged by her. Damaging the soul meant disrupting the skills embedded in them, so he could not use his skills properly to heal himself. He staggered as he stood up, and then he tried to remove the daggers by pulling them out manually. The damages were definitely fatal, but fortunately, his Unique Skill: Immortal, which was still effective even if the soul was destroyed, was barely keeping his soul alive. If it were not for it, he would have died immediately. Clink. Clink. The blood-drenched daggers dropped to the surface, and his soul began to heal gradually as it began to function normally. His Unique Skill: Invincible One passively activated and healed his body completely within seconds. Thud. Suddenly, he heard something had fallen or collapsed behind him. When he turned around, he saw Melville’s condition, and his eyes widened as he did not catch what really happened due to how fast things happened. Both her knees were on the floor; however, her back was lying on the surface as well. His sword actually made it to her body and landed a deadly blow on her. She was cut in half at her waist, and her upper half collapsed behind her.

n