Holy Knight Jerea (4)

Jerea saw the moment when Balbaza's eyes widened but he did not stop. His sword was already rushing toward Balbaza, and even if he were to parry, he was sure to wound him.

Holy Law<Execution Aura>, a one-hit killing move that coats an object with the power of death.

Upon contact, the power erodes and slowly kills the target.

'At this distance, at this speed… I will reach it!'

A purple flash of light flashes eerily. Balbaza stretches out his hand, his eyes fixed on the inevitability of death.

Grasp!

Balbaza grasped the hilt.

'Amazing reflexes.'

Jerea marvels, but it makes no difference.

Grabbing a sword covered in death aura with his bare hands, that's the end of it…

"...!"

At that moment, Jerea hurriedly pulled his body backwards to avoid the striking axe.

-Chew!

Jerea's retreat was too late, and the axe blade scratched from his left shoulder to his right chest side.

The shoulder joint, a gap in the armor, is cut, but the main body of the armor is only dented as Jerea stumbles backward.

But it doesn't matter. The shoulder blade was cut a little, but he had slashed his arm with the power of death. The eroded death power must have sunk into him—-

"A stab."

"...."

A fiery aura was emanating from Balbaza's hand that held Jerea's sword.

He wasn't dead, but rather, he was emitting a destructive energy that was crushing the Purple's holy power.

"...Helkan's power."

"Yes. I am the Great Hand of Helkan and I have the power to crush and destroy all things."

The orc god Helkan puts a part of his own flesh on his champion.

Balbaza has received the power of Helkan's great hand and its strength is divine.

"The remnants of your armor are meaningless before these arms."

Even the Holy Laws of the Holy Knights, wielders of concepts and laws, are powerless before those arms. The Knights of the Lionheart will never recognize the gods of the Orcs, but they are one and the same.

A battle of divinity against divinity is inevitably a battle of strength.

"Well, that's certainly annoying."

"You think you're the only ones who can use divine power──"

As if to mock Balbaza's confidence, there was a flash of light.

Three swords, specialized for sharp stabs, pierce through the cracks in his consciousness, performing an artful surprise but Balbaza shakes his head, dodging the fleeting assault.

A purplish aura flickers, leaving a residue in the space but that was not the end of Jerea's assault.

-Shhhhhh…!

One strike, two strikes, three strikes…Thirteen strikes in an instant.

A fierce, super-speedy stab that could pierce through space.

It was only when Balbaza raised his axe, unable to parry all the attacks that sometimes sliced through his armor.

"...!"

The moment he raised his arm, it stopped moving, as if eroded by something.

No, that's not all. His entire body was paralyzed.

Paralyzed? No, it wasn't that. This was his will.

An animalistic instinct that had warned him countless times that if he moved, he would die.

'Heavy…!'

The fighter immediately realized that this was a defensive instinct, triggered by some threat.

For what seemed like an eternity, Jerea continued to strike, the heavy mass of death at the tip of his blade surrounding him on all sides. It warned of instant death on contact.

Holy Law <Instant Death Vigilance>

His holy power maneuvering is something to behold. It overcomes the disadvantage of its physical size, making it an oversized bull's-eye.

"I hope you die with this."

Just as the cynical knight's final blow is about to be delivered, the purple masses that bind Balbaza twist.

With a flick of his arm, the deathly forces that had encircled him scattered.

"I told you, you can't defeat me with just holy power!"

The enormous power of his axe is imbued Helkan's great hand and he swings.

-Kaaaaaah!

With a resounding crash, the aftermath of the swing is revealed as Helkan's energy splits the earth, crushing it to pieces.

"...."

Jerea squinted to see the aftermath of the destruction.

'The axe crushed the earth.'

A slight misdirection would have split the canyon and buried the entrance.

Strong.

The power to crush the armor of a Holy Knight, the destructive power of Helkan divine power.

Indeed, the Champion of Helkan.

Balbaza's red aura pulses with ferocity as he charges. His movements were frighteningly fast and powerful for such a large being.

-Boom!

Jerea dodged the axe, but the shards of stone from the crushed earth struck his entire body.

"Thud…!"

There was no time to complain about the terrifyingly heavy blow, as a ferocious fist dug in but Jerea's three swords barely deflected it.

The next moment was a series of clashes that left the onlookers stunned.

"Crazy...."

Not only modern people like Jae-hyuk and Soo-ho… but everyone in the room was holding their breath.

This was a confrontation between transcendents.

Even if they were modern humans living in the age of the Awakened, modern weapons are not the end of the world for them.

Unable to function properly in the special environment of the Gate, modernized weapons are devastating against their human counterparts on Earth.

No matter how powerful a Hunter's skills are, they are no match for a two-thousand-pound bomb dropped by a bomber.

And in Leon's time… even if the Holy Knights are powerhouses, even if each and every one of them is a nuclear missile… they are still pre-modern wielders of cold weapons…

That should be all there is to it.

-Boom!

-Boom!

The impact of steel on steel was as fierce as ever as the wind pressure from the broken axe created a storm and the flash of a deflected stab tears a hole in the valley behind him.

Their power is different but transcendents are not just fleeting miracle workers. Their every action is a miracle, far beyond the limits of what a single creature can do.

The aftermath of the Orc Champion's clash with the Holy Knight of Dreams and Death had already formed a single ground zero, a field of destruction that dropped all who approached it.

Jae-hyuk and Soo-ho are stunned by the phenomenon before them and they are in awe.

In an era filled with such things, the Lionheart King had survived alone and become the final victor.

"Hahahahaha…! You're holding up well, old man!"

Blood splatters as axes and swords slash at each other, and even with the venomous stabs of instant death, Jerea is at a disadvantage.

'The beast… it's too strong for a Life Spirit.'

Yes, this was the problem.

Endowed with Helkan powers that specialized in combat, Balbaza was both monstrous and monstrously powerful, but he also possessed a frighteningly large Life Spirit.

Short of a divinely enforced death, Jerea can only chip away at Balbaza's life force.

However, Balbaza's life force was so immense that it was impossible to do so.

"Whoa...."

Jerea was weakened from the blood that had been drained from his perfect vitality and Balbaza sneered at him.

"What, you're tired already, you sure look your age."

For every ten strikes Jerea landed, Balbaza single blow tilted the scales of equity.

Their power was different.

"WHAAAAAAAAAA────!!!"

With a beastly roar, Balbaza lunges at Jerea, who immediately catches the blow with his sword, but the difference in power between the two is self-evident.

"Kwak…!"

The swirling red energy of the axe sent Jerea tumbling to the ground. Balbaza rushed forward with the same momentum as the beast and slammed his axe down.

-Boom!

A dizzying sound rings out as the blade shreds the ground around him.

The blade slams into Jerea, whose knees buckle under the weight of the axe. His body bounces off the ground and his stripped helm rolls in a heap.

"As expected."

Balbaza gripped Jerea's helmet in one hand and the stellar-iron helmet, imbued with stellar energy clinked in his hand.

"In the end, you are but a weak mortal."

"Ugh...."

With a groan, Jerea understood. Indeed, his history was to be defeated by this orc here.

Jerea's gaze turned to the watching king.

"...."

His glorious king watches the scene with a frown. He appears to be calm, but his grip is tight, as if he's restraining a rising anger.

What a pity.

What a disloyal thing to do, to roll on the ground and bleed to death at the hands of a beast when the glory of victory would have been enough.

Jerea was outraged that in real history he would have brought such dishonor upon Leon.

"Where are your eyes?"

Just then, Balbaza's fist dug into Jerea's breastplate. With a shattering crunch, Jerea's new armor rolled across the floor.

Balbaza jeered at Jerea who was covered in dirt and bleeding profusely.

"It's over, old man. You, Holy Knight, will crumble at my hands today."

The axe glowed with a frenzied energy.

The axe struck, and Jerea did not dodge it.

* * * *

In the silence that came with the clash. All around him is silence, like the throbbing of a dying heart.

"...."

"...."

The look on the faces of the Kingdom troops as they watch in the silence is devastating.

Balbaza's axe slashes from shoulder blade to thigh. The only reason his body isn't cut in half is because he lacked the slightest bit of strength at the last moment.

Jerea's sword, on the other hand, fell short: it pierced Balbaza's armor, but that was it. It only managed to dig a little into the flesh connected to his heart, but it wasn't enough to cause a fatal wound.

"Ugh...."

Soo-ho looked away and Jae-hyuk shook his head.

Everyone felt devastated at the defeat of the seemingly invincible Holy Knight.

"I win."

Balbaza arrogantly declared his victory and tried to pull out his axe, but....

"Huh?"

The hilt of the axe was nowhere to be found. Just as he was about to forcefully retrieve it, Balbaza locked eyes with the old knight.

"...?"

Jerea stares back at him, blood and dirt staining his face.

A moment of death, a final spark? No, it was too much for that──

"The Lady who presides over the end of all things."

-Poof.

"Hear my voice."

"Huh?"

At the three swords digging into flesh Balbaza panicked.

"Protect your knight."

'How! He doesn't have the strength to move anymore! I cut him in half. He should have died instantly....'

"Why...."

'He's still alive, isn't he? How is he still alive when his body is cut in two?'

"Death is with me."

Holy Law <Death Immunity>.

The most unlikely of miracles, the ability to resist death and keep breathing.

Jerea did not miss the moment of the great miracle that Fle bestowed upon her knight, who had defied death time and time again.

-POOF!

The three swords pierce Balbaza's heart and dig into his back and the pounding of his heart dies down.

Balbaza's life flame was finally extinguished, unable to understand why he had been defeated.

"Huh…!"

Jerea looks like he's about to collapse, but his knees don't buckle. His soldiers cheer as he declares victory over Balbaza's corpse…and the next champion approaches.

"You let your guard down, fool."

A masked orc. Maghar, champion of Gokrok approached, keeping his distance from Jerea, carrying a twisted old-wood staff.

"By the looks of you, you're about to die. What do you say, do you want to give it one last spark?"

While the aging of an orc could not be directly compared to that of a human, he was a shaman whose aging could be felt as much as Jerea's.

He stepped forward as the second duelist but Jerea hesitated.

The moment his <Death Immunity> was released, he would truly die.

Shouldn't he try to keep at least one more ally for the Lionheart King until the end?

The amount of blood spilled was already a lethal dose…Jerea's knees were about to give out from the lack of blood supply....

"A fine fight, Sir Jerea."

Grabbing his arm, a knight in brilliant gold helps Jerea to his feet.

"Your Majesty...."

"Rest now as this king will watch and bless your end."

"It...."

impossible. His life will now be shorter than a burned-out candle.

"Green beasts, I will give you your only chance at victory."

Leon drew his holy sword, deployed the holy spear and the Holy Grail floated up by his side.

"All of you come at me at once."

"Ha…!"

The corner of their mouth twitched at the misguided declaration.

"Arrogant."

So did Skira, champion of the orc hunting god Skunik. A surge of blue aura spoke of his anger.

"You think you can take on all of us alone, those of us who have been chosen by the gods?"

Dagil, the clan leader of the barbarians, also glared at Leon with a fierce gaze.

All of them felt that Leon had made a provocation that he could not withstand. It was the arrogant bluster of knights, they thought.

"Hoo-hoo-hoo...."

But only the corners of Jerea's mouth twitched ferociously.

In the face of a declaration that most would call bluster and arrogance, he saw it differently.

"Behold."

The old knight's gaze turned to the Lion King, who spread his arms wide.

"The pinnacle of human power."