Chapter 109: Victory and Defeat

As time passed, the battle intensified. The aura of fighting spirit around Sword Saint Ron grew increasingly radiant, blurring his form until only a sphere of silver-white light, wrapped in sword energy, was visible.

On the other side, the Titan Ashburn, having suppressed most of his power, was similarly obscured, his form hidden within swirling storms and thunder.

From Muria's perspective, it appeared as if a silver-white "sun" and a golden "sun" were moving erratically through the sky, clashing with each other, occasionally scattering flashes of "light."

These "lights," when they collided, would fall to the ground, revealing their terrifying destructive power.

Whole mountains were sheared in half, deep chasms appeared in the earth... Hills were flattened, plains turned into basins, the landscape was dramatically altered by the remnants of their clashes.

The power of legends, terrifying indeed.

...The silver-white "sun" fell from the sky once again, crashing into the already riddled earth with a thunderous roar. The ground collapsed rapidly downwards, and the area of collapse expanded quickly under the impact of the "sun."

Soon, the impact of the silver-white "sun" fully transferred to the ground, creating a massive crater. Around the edge of the crater, a circular mountain range formed from the impact.

While the earthquake from the impact was still subsiding, the silver-white "sun," transformed by Sword Saint Ron, rose into the sky once more to clash with the golden "sun" of Titan Ashburn. Sword energies slashed through the air, creating fine, hair-like black spatial cracks that, though fleeting, were astonishingly quick to heal.

"What a pity!" Silvester, a Celestial Offspring, murmured softly.

"What's a pity?" Mikaela, puzzled, looked at her brother.

"To fight on equal terms, or even at a disadvantage, against a Titan on the verge of embarking on the path of the epic, and to do so to such an extent, speaks volumes of his talent, which stands above millions and is on par with us."

"It boils down to talent." Muria frowned, disliking this notion. Cassio had said that Sword Saint Ron came from humble origins without any powerful backing. It wasn't just talent that had brought him this far.

"What's there to pity about such strength?" questioned a Titan, "Among human legends, he is definitely one of the strongest. Ordinary human legends wouldn't stand a chance against Lord Ashburn even if he suppressed his power."

"I pity him for being human." A stunningly beautiful, alabaster-skinned Celestial Offspring watched the Sword Saint slash a radiant sword arc that sent Ashburn flying. "If he had been born among my Celestial kin, with his talent, it's very likely he could have embarked on the epic path and stood shoulder to shoulder with the gods."

"Hmph, the epic realm isn't just about talent," a soul pinnacle Titan retorted with some displeasure.

"We are descendants of ancient gods; achieving the epic is not as difficult for us as it is for you Titans," Silvester replied coolly, glancing at the discontented Titan.

"Ch!" Another Titan scoffed but did not argue further, implicitly agreeing with Silvester.

"What is the Celestial method for achieving the epic?" Muria wondered, noting the proud expressions on some Celestial faces, though now wasn't the time to inquire further.

"It's fascinating, the human race. The strongest can ascend to godhood, immortal and divine. And yet the weakest are as insignificant as dust."

"Indeed, the disparity between the strongest and weakest is vast. Sometimes I wonder if they are really the same species?"

...As Muria listened eagerly to the Titans and Celestial Offspring discussing the human race, a soul pinnacle Titan suddenly spoke up.

"This human is about to lose!"

"How can that be?" Muria looked up, seeing in the sky that the silver-white "sun" of Sword Saint Ron was still as bright as Ashburn's golden "sun."

"Yes, he's going to lose," Silvester nodded in agreement, "Given he's human, how long can he sustain such high-intensity combat with his 'fighting spirit'?"

Muria paused. Currently, Sword Saint Ron and the legendary Titan Ashburn were evenly matched; neither could suppress the other for long. They traded brief advantages, but soon one would catch up to the other.

They were now battling endurance. Whose power would deplete first? Clearly, the human body, even refined and compressed with fighting spirit, could never match a Titan's in terms of capacity.

"Sword Saint Ron," Muria looked at the dark sky crisscrossed with sword energy, feeling inexplicably somber. It seemed to him that the radiant silver-white sun began to dim, not as brilliant as before.

"Human," after another clash, Ashburn's voice boomed like thunder, "How much longer can you keep this up?"

Silently, the Sword Saint, his aura of fighting spirit already waning, understood he could not win. Facing a near-divine race head-on, he truly felt their terrifying might.

"Pity, Ron," Ashburn sighed without receiving a reply, "To fight me to this extent as a human is indeed remarkable. Use all your remaining strength, let's settle this with one move."

"One move, then." The Sword Saint nodded, his aura of fighting spirit vanished completely, and he returned to his unremarkable initial appearance.

Unlike his ordinary look, his deep blue sword began to emit a bright and dazzling silver-white light, the man pouring all his remaining fighting spirit into the blade.

"That's right," Ashburn laughed, seeing the familiar scene. His own body, due to surging power, began to compact, revealing his muscular perfection.

Ashburn, like Ron, channeled all his power into his greatsword, the power making the chains wrapped around his arm rattle.

"Crack!" "Crack!"... Fine, slightly thicker than hair, dense black spatial cracks appeared around the swords they gripped, spreading outward like a spiderweb.

The Sword Saint slowly raised his sword, the fine gold blade of his deep blue sword pulsating with extending silver-white sword beams. Soon, a hundred-meter-tall giant light sword appeared under the gloomy sky of this ruined world, shining brilliantly.

Ashburn held his greatsword across his chest, a vast and violent power contained within it, wrapping around storms and thunder, creating a similarly immense light sword hundreds of meters long.

A profoundly oppressive atmosphere radiated from these two legendary figures, heavy and intense. Atop the black mountain, fortified and guarded by the epic Titan's power, the Titans and Celestial Offspring no longer spoke, their eyes fixed on the sky.

"This kind of power, if it weren't for this mountain under our feet, I'd be running right now," Titan youth Gerard said seriously next to Muria.

He wasn't joking; Gerard was genuinely shocked by the power unleashed above, his instincts screaming at him to flee from the two formidable beings preparing for their final strike.

"I feel the same," Muria rubbed his somewhat stiff face, sensing the terrifying power in the sky that seemed capable of annihilating everything around them. His instincts told him to run, as far as possible.

But Muria's reason told him to stay and watch this final strike, trusting in the epic beings' power to protect them from the aftermath

 of this legendary battle.

As Muria suppressed his instincts, Sword Saint Ron and Titan Ashburn swung their swords... At that moment, in Muria's eyes, the world lost its color, leaving only a silver-white and a golden sword light.

"Boom!" The two sword lights met, and then, like the sound of the world beginning, a cataclysmic explosion followed. Muria's eyes bulged, the corners threatening to burst, and his mind was violently shaken, the floating crystal-like magic model in his mental sea teetering, causing him to feel dizzy.

"Aow!" A resonant dragon roar sounded within Muria, stabilizing everything inside him and calming his turbulent mental sea.

Then, Muria opened his eyes, his golden dragon eyes gazing far, trying to discern the outcome of this last strike.

"Sword Saint!" Muria exclaimed...

In the air, a small figure in plain clothes was falling, surrounded by a burst of vivid red blood, while nearby, a deep blue sword stained with golden blood spun and "clang!" embedded itself in the barren, rugged land.

"Thud!" Muria felt a pang of discomfort watching the ordinary-born Sword Saint crash to the ground, no longer rising to battle the Titan as before.

Had the Sword Saint been defeated?

Wait for three more updates, coming soon.