Descent of the Martial God 2

The title of sword saint is given to those who had reached the pinnacle of swordsmanship and as the strongest sword saint in history, Biban could even cut dragon breath with his strength. Needless to say, he could cut the Martial God despite the multiple defensive techniques supporting his strong, durable body.

After a short clash, the gigantic sword cut the willpower-based flail attack of Zeratul. He responded by defending himself against the incoming sword by hardening his arm. The hardness was comparable to the scales of a mid-ranked dragon on the weaker side as a result of losing a significant amount of power after descending. Biban's attack that cut Greed like butter struggled for 280 milliseconds before finally reaching the other side of Zeratul's arm and cutting it from the elbow.

The other factor that slowed down the cutting speed was the absorption technique. For Biban, cutting Zeratul's body was more difficult than cutting the sturdy scales of Gujel, a high-ranked dragon specializing in defense. In addition, Zeratul seemed to have slightly increased resistance against his sword energy this time compared to when Biban used his initial attack.

Zeratul's right forearm fell to the ground. Silver particles overflowed from Zeratul's cut area. The particles started floating to Biban and he closed the distance with them.

'The reason he isn't using absolute evasion is most likely due to his personality. He wants to display the greatness of his techniques as much as possible. As a result, he's not even afraid of taking damage. I should use a stronger attack, or he'll just endure it.'

After expressing his disgust on his face, Biban immediately linked the attack he used to cut Gujel's wing without a time difference. The speed of his mental processes was transcendent and it was much faster than his movement speed.

Matchless Swordsmanship 6th style, Sword Vortex, creates a vortex made of sword energy that prevents evasion and defensive techniques from stopping the skill and cuts the limb of his enemy with high attack power. It could still be slowed down to an extent with defensive skills. The skill that had a very high chance of cutting limbs even used simultaneous attacks reminiscent of the attacks of dragons. It was the same multi-hit damage mechanism Pounding Mortar utilized in cases it inflicted critical damage.

Even Zeratul realized the attack would cost him too much if he let it hit him. Thus, he opted to neutralize the skill. His face showed a rare frown because he had to use one of his stronger skills and utilize his weakened body to the limit, further wasting the time he has left.

While his right arm was cut off, a vortex made of sword energy turning in the opposite direction left his remaining left hand and collided with the incoming attack. It was a secret technique which utilized the same type of energy and principles as the incoming attack to create an opposing attack that would offset the attack he defended against.

Strictly speaking, it wasn't good enough to be called an ultimate skill since it merely neutralized the attacks of a single person. One of the limitations of this skill was the user would become vulnerable to attacks coming from other people. It was unlike Madra's 200,000 Army Crushing Sword which cut all the techniques equally using willpower. However, as the mechanism was different, the backlash was less severe, and the technique made it easier to follow with a strong counterattack.

After sensing his arm recovered slower than usual due to blood magic imprinted in Biban's sword, Zeratul immediately manifested his divine energy in the shape of an arm and made his right hand use a secret technique that created a well-targeted explosive force directed upon the target.

The gigantic sword in Biban's mental world was still at the stage of recovering from the strong downward strike that cut off Zeratul's hand which meant he had to use matchless swordsmanship to cut both the attack and the resulting secondary, extremely loud, explosion sound. In the best-case scenario, the explosion would have ruptured his ear drums and make him lose his balance. Zeratul was indeed clever for trying to take advantage of the heightened senses of a sword saint.

The fact that his attack got cut didn't matter to Zeratul since he used this time to regrow an arm. He used the regeneration technique he had given to Kyle back in the day. As the Martial God, the speed of his recovery was much higher than Kyle's. Even the smaller flesh wounds Biban had inflicted at the beginning of the fight were gone.

Biban still wasn't clear on why Zeratul didn't use absolute evasion. The Martial God could have dodged the blow from the gigantic sword and protected his hand.

'My earlier guess seems to be true. He is truly a nutjob. Well, it seems to benefit me since he's wasting his precious limited time with higher level skills.'

"You sure have a great body."

"The power of the Martial God is naturally beyond human comprehension. Isn't that why you accepted my techniques from my followers when you were the supreme person in your era?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You must have gone senile over time. Do you really think a human could donate my divine footwork skill to you without my permission?"

"Don't tell me!.. The one who sent me that ice footwork technique…"

"That was only the tip of the iceberg. The path of martial arts is everlasting. With my guidance, you won't even have to back down from even those fierce dragons. I am still willing to accept you as my follower if you beg."

"To think you'd even send shortcut techniques to help me reach Jessica's tower on time… But why didn't you send a teleportation scroll instead? Surely that would have saved me more time."

"Your childish provocations are unfitting of someone with your..."

Zeratul had to stop mid-sentence after seeing the genuinely puzzled face of Biban.

'Did he view my frictionless movement footwork technique as a convenient way to save time by running on the glacier instead of going around it?'

"Why are you saying that now? How could I know you were the creator of that time-saving technique when you haven't told me?"

The taunt (?) had worked. Despite the state of calmness being one of the most basic requirements of a human martial artist, Zeratul was someone who had the innate strength and talent to achieve his goals. Of course, he hadn't fought with Chiyou, the gods of the beginning or the old dragons yet but he had beaten every other opponent he faced. Thus, he had never worked to fix this unproductive habit of his.

In addition, the worth of his secret techniques was a sore spot for him. It was easy to get on his nerves by denying him the respect he felt he deserved. The attitude of seeing his meaningful martial arts as a means to not be late and avoid scolding from a magician of all people angered him to no ends. Zeratul's face got distorted and reddened. In fact, his face was almost as red as the color of his fighting energy.

As a result, he started wasting the time available to him even further by what could only be described as a barrage of attacks. First, he made his right foot send an aura shockwave in the ground. Part of the energy caused Biban to lose his balance. It was a basic, but nonetheless, effective crowd control skill.

Then, he unleashed a flurry of attacks that the sword saint barely escaped with his nimbleness. After using the shockwave strategy two more times, Biban was almost caught. He was agile as a transcendent and attacks that aimed at his vital spot had grazed him instead.

Biban had even used absolute evasion a couple of times while escaping and consumed sword curtain. He got a decent chance to strike Zeratul but he withheld his attack. His goal was to stall after all. He'd only start truly attacking, instead of harassing, if defending and evading stopped working like the time he had to neutralize the willpower flail skill. Unlike him, Zeratul had transcendent recovery capabilities and the ability to make use of any gaps he created while attacking. He had revised his strategy after seeing the Martial God recover from all the wounds Biban inflicted on him.

However, Biban couldn't latch onto that logic for long. The Martial God's offensive was too fierce. His ability to link lower rated techniques simultaneously and immediately one after another was top notch. Supersonic attacks kept creating sonic booms. The strategy of only defending was untenable. He even had to use his sword's ability to nullify 3 incoming attacks after inflicting a certain amount of damage, twice. He could only block one more attack.

The sword Grid gave him was inspired by the meteor sword Limit had used. Grid temporarily lent it to him before he can create a new dragon sword for him. The sword's rating was Legendary (Transcendent) and it had the option to increase all speeds. Moreover, it had bloodsucking, and defensive capabilities.

Grid had even asked the direct descendants to add a blood spell that prevents natural regeneration and healing. Of course, it wasn't enough to prevent Zeratul's high level techniques, but it did slow him down since it was a technique passed by Beriache even if it was present in a weakened form in the sword.

While the options were great, Grid didn't covet it owing to its low attack power which is why he gave it to Biban. Plus, the heart sword unity of a sword saint would let him avoid the downside of items made with the blood of blood king. In other words, the small risk of being disarmed during a fight would not affect a sword saint.

Despite all his actions, Biban had still lost one third of his maximum health. This was impressive since he dodged or evaded most of the Martial God's attacks and blocked or nullified the few remaining ones. Unlike in his spar with Grid, Biban was making use of all his assets including his items, stats, skills, and strategy. This was a life-or-death fight after all.

Naturally, a sword saint had multiple strong techniques and matchless heart swordsmanship was seen as pinnacle of the swordsmanship sword saints possessed. After determining harassment and evasion weren't enough, he began using techniques that prioritized attack power and speed over the cutting ability to inflict considerable damage. He had to use this style to adapt to the current combat strategy of the Martial God.

'I need to push back.'

Biban used diverse but strong swordsmanship skills. His thrusting technique that could unconditionally knockback a target created distance between himself and Zeratul. It also gave him enough time to complete poem praising the sword. Unlike Kraugel's poem, his poem had a weaker effect, but it lasted for a minute rather than just one attack. It made him stronger while increasing his defense-based tanking ability.

'The swordsmanship would have been more effective if his skin's resistance stayed the same. He must have an ability that lets him perform better the more a fight goes on. I can't drag this much further.'

As one of Zeratul's leg bended and twisted in unnatural ways similar to Obora's spine, Biban's sword shined with a silver light. It was a technique he developed to pierce even the heart scale of a dragon which boasted the highest thickness and greatest defense among all its scales. Zeratul's feet was on fire due to his use of friction, but he got stabbed by Biban who was still far away due to the knocking attack. His stabbing technique was one he developed in the last 200 years, and it let him stab a target ignoring the concept of 'distance'. Hence, Biban's sword pierced a hole the size of a melon in Zeratul's stomach.

However, no matter what he did, the Martial God's momentum couldn't be stopped. The hole was ignored. More accurately, Zeratul had to slow down for an instance but, accelerated again right after.

The Martial God's tactic of predominantly using techniques that are unique rated and below decreased the effectiveness of his mental world and cutting skills. Cutting three or four techniques were not sufficient to keep Biban out of harm's way. He had to endure the relentless attacks and occasionally use counterattacks until he hurt Zeratul to the point of making him resort to use his ultimate attacks. He could then counter it with his ultimate skill which can cut everything including skills. Just as he was alert about Zeratul using stronger techniques, what he expected became reality.

After sending a strong energy attack that twisted the direction of the gigantic sword in his foe's mental world, Zeratul then used a crushing technique which summons a gigantic and fast acting palm that covered half of the fighting area and penetrated defensive skills that nullify or neutralize attacks including the skills like sword curtain and the option of Grid's sword.

Biban responded to this by maximizing the cutting power of matchless swordsmanship and sent and energy that cut the palm with the mountain-sized sword by using 'remote swordsmanship'.

As his cutting motion was ending, three aura spears emerged from the ground without a prior sign and stabbed him. They shared the color with the aura Zeratul sent underground to create a shockwave earlier in the fight. The Martial God used a second technique that collected the earth attribute aura he sent below in a stealthy manner and created a variable.

His right foot was bloodied. The damage was considerable but not fatal by any means. Instead, the main problem was that his right foot was pierced, greatly reducing the effectiveness of his footwork, and preventing him from using absolute evasion and footwork techniques for a minute. The spears which had the ability to deceive the senses of a transcendent sword saint until the last second were reminiscent of the secret technique of Legendary Lantier. Zeratul was smiling.

'It'll be over soon regardless of whatever trump cards he may have.'

Zeratul had already begun his dash by this point and completely ignored the incoming sword sized energy blades. He put his left arm in front of him to create a spinning lance that resembled a drill. If it penetrated Biban, he'd die then and there after consuming the legendary immortality.

Biban decided that this was the correct time to use his hidden trump card and decided to gamble on it. The swirling energy blades that couldn't catch Zeratul's speed created a circular area in the mental world.

Just as Zeratul's drill started going through his skin, Biban used the opportunity to swap places with one of the blades and instantly used heart sword. Zeratul's eyes had widened.

It was an accomplishment that denied Zeratul's spatial barrier. Unlike Hayate, Biban who fought as the vanguard of the Tower couldn't resist the binding force of dragon words. Hence, he worked to create a smaller core area in his mental world where he could escape its binding effect and use spatial techniques despite the restrictions.

The downside was that the radius was small at 5 meters and the mana consumption resembled a bottomless pit, but this was enough for Biban to appear behind Zeratul and cut his heart with his fastest attack. The attack inflicted massive internal damage. Zeratul spat blood from his mouth.

Attacking the heart with a strong technique usually had the effect of disrupting the cardiovascular system. Hence, the targets would usually stumble and not be able to move in their fastest speed, even if they are gods or dragons. Zeratul slowed down after spitting blood. He fell to his knees.

Biban followed with a vibrating sword attack. This technique was unfinished and had the downside of causing the durability of a sword to plummet rapidly, but it was efficient in inflicting internal injuries. His purpose was to keep Zeratul in a crowd-controlled state and making it hard for him to rapidly link one secret skill after another. Biban was more confident on his ability to respond to stronger and slower skills.

Zeratul groaned after getting his with the vibration sword. His speed had definitely slowed. His face couldn't be further from the smiling face he was wearing not long ago. It had an annoyed look as if asking why he had to deal with this.

Not letting go of the infinite cc opportunity, Biban launched a tornado made from silver sword energy. However, Zeratul suddenly regained his previous momentum as if he wasn't injured in the first place. It was the result of his refreshment technique which removed all status conditions. It was a technique with long cooldown given the speed of fight among transcendents let alone absolutes, but it can change the tide of a battle depending on how and where it is utilized.

'Truly the Martial God.'

Then, using the ability of mythical beings to temporarily escape the laws of physics, he ignored inertia and used his flexible body to launch an unpredictable move. He turned the form of his fighting energy like a snake to restrict the places Biban could move and used shunpo against him. Biban was aware that this area nullified all bindings which naturally included the restriction on Zeratul as well.

Despite not achieving his purpose, Biban had gotten used to Zeratul's strategy of hitting quickly by using lower rated techniques. He decided to use a counterattack skill that lasted for 1 second and worked similar to revolve. Unlike revolve, it could even send multi-hit attacks back at his enemy. The power was even multiplied several times.

Biban did not get away scot-free. Zeratul's reflected punch wasn't a bother since he used his automatic counterattack technique to hit Biban, consuming the final damage nullification defense from Grid's sword. He then used an additional secret technique that utilized a hand made of aura to grapple and throw Biban near him.

Biban's health dropped to 20% while Zeratul had 52% of his HP remaining. The latter had lost more than half of his vitality during the fight. Nonetheless, his regeneration ability made him recover rapidly. The counterattack technique returned the damage he had received. The attack had consumed one fourth of his health.

'It can't go on like this. If I don't end it soon, I will die soon.'

Realizing he was facing a crisis and being sent away from the circle would mean his doom, Biban used his space swapping technique to appear at the other side of Zeratul. The latter predicted Biban's movement and responded with extending his right arm towards Biban to use a heart grabbing skill.

The skill would take away the heart of his enemy and make them die in 1 minute unless they get their heart back and place it inside their body. It was a legendary (transcendent) skill that could even work on a dragon theoretically, but the defensive ability, scales and power made it infeasible against dragons in practice. Nonetheless, it worked against transcendents and demigods perfectly fine.

'I'm cornered. The space swapping ability is the only choice I've left. I'm low on mana and this can't continue. If I can get a good hit with matchless swordsmanship beheading, I can change the situation. He already used his status recovery skill earlier.'

He concluded that the skill which can remove even internal damage abnormal status has a long cooldown.

Biban knew he couldn't escape this time and Zeratul appeared right in front of him straight after Biban changed places. Unlike his expectations, Zeratul was smiling and unphased by the matchless swordsmanship's beheading attack. It was an attack which utilized reverse grip to create variables. The Martial God didn't miss the weak defense associated with the reverse grip technique and immediately pursued to opportunity.

"I've finally caught you, silly rat."

Zeratul caught Biban's sword with a single hand and broke his sword.

Biban was completely baffled. More importantly, he felt fear. As a Tower member, he was ready to die to protect humanity from crisis, but he did not expect all the effort he has put in to be dismissed so easily.

In all the centuries he had lived through, he had never encountered someone who could remain uncut and unphased by his sword energy and this fact applied equally to the fearsome dragons. Yet, the hand of Martial God which caught his sharp sword didn't even bleed. It was as if he was denying the ability of a sword saint to cut.

'Fuck, I finally understand his plan!'

It was too late. Zeratul who stabbed Biban with the broken sword finally smiled.

"Why do you think I let you hit me. After finally absorbing your sword energy, I've practically become immune to your conceptual ability to cut anything for an hour. Right now, you're nothing more than one of the countless frail and insignificant human swordsmen in front of me. And now, I'll kill you for your heresy."

Zeratul hit Biban. Then he pummeled him again, and again until Biban's body was in a horrible shape, and his crushed bones protruded from his torn muscles. There was a red puddle on the ground. It was clearly done in an intentional way to make him suffer.

The blurry vision Biban was experiencing after all the blows he had endured had finally given way to darkness. He couldn't even see the Martial God who was holding his neck at an arm's length. In a world where all the light was gone, he was hit by a fist. The pain and sound came accompanying the blow came afterwards. He was inflicted with multiple abnormal states. He heard one last phrase before fainting. His immortality was triggered.

"Black Death Light"

It was Zeratul's preferred execution method for those who desecrated his creator. People who are about to die occasionally see light before their demise. It was said that this was the final mercy by the Goddess of Light before the people ascended to heaven and began their new lives.

Zeratul believed those who commit sacrilege don't deserve to see the light. This is why he invented this technique which absorbed all the surrounding light. In its mastered form, it even absorbed light from a person's 'image'. This meant that Biban couldn't even imagine light even if he wanted to until the skill ended.

Then, something unexpected happened. As Zeratul was about to go for the killing blow, a ferocious sword energy came from outside the mental world with an unbelievable speed and cut him.

Braham once said the true worth of the Undefeated King's swordsmanship starts with 500,000 Army Swordsmanship. The advanced techniques of the greatest talent in history were not weak enough that they could be overlooked by the proud Martial God. Zeratul's hard and currently uncuttable body was cut into two pieces. He felt an unknown confusion bordering on fear for the first time in his life.