As Kaskara’s sword descended upon Kasi, the old man waved his brush in the air bubble within the energy force field writing several words: swift, shield, block, deflect, and overturn. Immediately the words seemed to take life before expanding to several tens of meters.

Kaskara’s sword momentum was reduced by over half and his sword strike, ‘The Step of Devotion’, was halted in its tracks. The clash vaporized a large volume of water and an even higher amount of water was raised out of the lake and shot out into the sky like a vertical river at the point of impact.

This was the might of a brush.

As the battle continued, Kasi wrote many words to block or parry his opponent’s blows: sword, shield, parry, block, swift, absorb, deflect, rage, overturn, etcetera. His brush could actually match the might of a sword!

Kaskara had always believed in the supremacy of physical might. He had always seen sayings like “The pen is mightier than the sword” as a joke but tonight, his worldview changed. However, this kind of battle frustrated him the most as he felt that he could not move forward. Finally, he decided to stop his attacks.

“You have many tricks. If we continue like this, this will never end. Old man, be prepared. I will use everything I have.”

After saying those words, a long white candle that was almost half a meter long materialized out of thin air in front of Kaskara. The aura coming from the candle had an otherworldly feeling. It did not feel too powerful but Kasi immediately knew he was in danger.

“Holy Aura!”Kasi exclaimed loudly once he realized this candle had holy aura emanating from it. Kaskara did not waste any time and he proceeded to light the candle.

“Wrath of the Fire God!” With a shout, the candle was tipped towards Kasi and a golden river of fire flowed out from it covering the skies, waters, and the earth.

Suddenly, the entire region for several kilometers turned into daytime! Even the spectators did not have comments to make in response to this. Everyone was flabbergasted.

At this point, Kasi knew he would be risking his life if he did not use his full strength. His right hand dug into thin air and disappeared as if it had entered a separated dimension. It seemed as if a small opening to a pocket of space had formed. The old man then pulled a sword out of thin air!

“It's been a long time, sigh.” He had finally been forced to use his weapon.

This was a weapon he had not drawn for over a century. This was because this sword required a sacrifice of blood every time it was drawn.

Although it only had a simple look with an ordinary silver color, this sword had a notorious reputation. It had been forged over 1,000 years ago and passed down through numerous generations. Both righteous and evil warriors had wielded this weapon. It was a blade that had drunk the blood of countless people. This was the [Sword of Sacrifice].

Immediately after it was drawn, the sword emitted a sword cry that was so loud that the rain in the entirety of Sese Island paused momentarily. It was if the sword was celebrating its freedom. The ears of many of the spectators who were nearby started bleeding and even those who were off fighting in the distance still heard it. The entire Sese town was awoken by the commotion brought by this sword cry.

Kaskara exclaimed in shock as the sword draw alone not only split the golden flame river attack in half but also cut deep into his chest drawing blood. The momentary brightness from the [Wrath of the Fire God] technique dimmed and was snuffed out like a candle as the night and rain returned fiercely.

A blood red light seemed to remain in the air as Kaskara’s blood was instantly turned into vapor by the clash of both powers. However, the expression on Kaskara’s face was not shock or fear but pure glee.

“Elder, you are finally willing to be serious.” This was the first time Kaskara referred to Kasi as ‘elder’ showing his respect to him for finally putting his full strength into the battle.

“You said I wouldn’t be able to ‘see’ your blade in my previous state. Young man, can you ‘see’ my blade in your current state?”

Kaskara did not answer him but proceeded to laugh before exclaiming, “ Hahahaha, I can feel that my Kingship Aura will rise after beating such a high level opponent. Kasi the Invisible Blade, you are my doorway. Rejoice for your sacrifice today shall lead to the rise of a new King!”

Kasi did not reply to this. He disdained to reply. He did not think Kaskara could bear the weight of these arrogant words.

However, Kaskara did not give him time to doubt him further before explaining further, “I know you think I am arrogant, but what if I told you I could use the momentum from this victory to directly break past the next realm!”

“To all swordsmen you are a legend so I am naturally happy to face you, but that is not enough reason for me to risk my life. You kept asking me why I did not retreat. Well this is the answer. This is my true intention, my Martial Path.”

With these words, Kasi immediately understood his opponent’s stubbornness. It was related to his martial path. Once Crystal Warriors reached the Fusion Core realm, they would have to decide on their own unique martial path in order to advance further. No two paths were exactly alike but some of the more famous paths were: Indomitable Will, Sovereign Ruler, Paragon Ascension, Destruction, Just Payments, Illusory Obsession, Fate Reversal and Dream Desire.

Kasi could tell that Kaskara’s path was one that involved ruling, kingship, and trampling over others in order to ascend higher. By defeating stronger opponents, his vigor would rise and in turn increase his martial strength!

“I have decided, I will stake everything on this!” With that declaration, Kaskara decided to use his two secret techniques. One of them used the very same item he had used to conjure the golden flame river. It was a candle referred to as the [Sacrificial Candle].

The second technique was named [Hundred Night Sacrifice] and was used to raise the vigor of a peak Void Core warrior to possibly beyond the Lord Level. Kaskara knew that if he failed to defeat Kasi, these techniques would probably end his martial path for good. However, this was a risk he was more than willing to take on the road toward power.

Immediately after he activated these 2 techniques, a vast inhuman aura erupted from his body flowing across Sese all the way to the opposite end of the island. Even lake waters dozens of kilometers away were affected. It was like everything was boiling.

“A Human Divine Seal! So that was why the candle was emanating holy aura.” Faced with this power, old man Kasi did not falter but he was still shocked by his opponent’s means. His opponent always seemed to have a trump-card waiting to be revealed.

A Human Divine Seal was means that allowed humans to channel and use the power the gods. These seals were similar to the Devil Ancestor Seals utilized by the demon race. This process of invoking the power of gods and devils was referred to as Divine Invocation or Devil Invocation.

The Sacrificial Candle was an item used for Divine Invocation while the [Hundred Night Sacrifice] was a Demonic technique; the man who wielded the Demon Extermination Sword and once used to slay demons was now using their techniques! Kaskara was mixing the techniques passed down by the gods with those imparted by demons. Needless to say, both gods and devils would curse out such actions as it was the highest form of blasphemy.

The power of Divine Invocation was passed down by the gods in the earliest ages of the Zika world to allow their devotees to call upon the divine power of a particular god to descend onto them.

As for the Hundred Night Sacrifice, it was a demonic spirit technique that allowed users to absorb and seal numerous Remnant Souls into their body. This technique interfered with the cycle of life and death by trapping the souls of the dead in the world of the living. Therefore, this technique was considered a diabolical power. It was similar to the ‘Butterfly Wings’ of Soul Eater Demons that were formed purely of thousands of consumed souls.

“The spirits of my followers are forever with me.” Indeed from his words, it was not that Kaskara had wantonly massacred people to master this demonic technique. Instead, he had incorporated the souls of his fallen followers into his body after they died during his rebellion in Toro.

Kaskara’s rebellion had involved numerous people from all walks of life including the military and political arena. After-all, for him to even aim for the throne there had to be many people who supported his ambition. However, most of these followers had died during the coup attempt or after Kaskara’s capture. Kaskara had collected all the salvageable remnant souls of his dead followers which amounted to over 10,000 remnant souls.

However, the [Hundred Night Sacrifice] demonic technique was not without drawbacks. Remnant souls were usually filled with resentment and an immense grudge accumulated in their core before their death. The negative emotions held by these spirits could attack the user’s consciousness. The biggest danger was getting possessed but even if one had a strong will they were still at risk of being emotionally and mentally influenced by the spirits.

After using the 2 secret methods: the [Sacrificial Candle] and [Hundred Night Sacrifice], Kaskara’s aura had far surpassed the Lord Level! The shocking inhuman aura that had exploded from his body returned to him and condensed around his body.

This golden-red aura twisted and compressed to form a special armor. Kaskara’s royal robes disappeared as his body was now wreathed in fire. Then as if building blocks being laid on a foundation brick by brick, a black demonic armor appeared on his body plate by plate. This armor had dark purple flames on its shoulders and edges.

As for the golden flames on his body, they condensed into a long white cloak that was on fire and a golden crown. This was the figure of a King, albeit a False King. The fire emanating from him turned a large part of the lake waters at the shore into nothingness. The ground cracked as if a desert and the rain evaporated across the entire shore due to the heat which had torn apart the clouds.

These heat waves reached all the way to the spectators and the light emitted brought back the daylight situation once again only much greater than before. For the second time tonight, night turned into day.

However, the most shocking thing was that there were waves of kingly aura radiating from Kaskara’s body. Although this aura was very vague, it was enough for old man Mwenda-Kasi and the other spectators to conclude that out of all the assassins tonight, this was the greatest display of power.

“Has he entered the King Rank through those secret techniques?!”

“No he should only be at the False King Rank.”

Indeed after studying Kaskara’s aura, old man Kasi was able to tell that the latter had surpassed the Lord Rank but had not yet stepped into the True King Rank. He could only be considered a False King. However, this still put Kaskara’s power at a completely different dimension of strength from what he showcased before when he was only a Fusion Core Crystal Warrior.

As Kaskara and Kasi stood opposite each other, the atmosphere seemed to have solidified around them. In a radius of several dozen kilometers, nothing could move! Not even the spectators. The rain drops were frozen in the sky, the splashes of water, mud, dust, and uprooted trees were all strangely stuck in mid air. Whether it was due to the combatants’ aura or the extreme speed, one could not tell. Even before they moved, the two men’s perception was enhanced to the maximum and the length of a second seemed to last forever. This was a contest of speed.

The exchange that happened next was over in less than a microsecond!

There were no great changes or earth shattering movements after the clash. There was just an eerie calmness. The two opponents had only taken one step and had already passed by each other. By the time the spectators could perceive anything, the two men were already standing on the opposite ends with their backs to each other.

After a few seconds of silence, Kaskara opened his mouth and spoke, “So this was the true Invisible Sword! What a fast sword, it looks like my title as the Fastest Blade in the East was unearned.”

After those words the rain that was previously blown away by the two fighter’s aura suddenly soaked Kaskara as if someone poured a bucket of water on him.

‘Ting!’ The golden crown from his transformation hit the ground in 2 parts. It had been split cleanly in two halves. Following this, the spectators watched in shock as his body split in half with each side slowly curving and falling to the side like a peeled banana. It looked extremely eerie and horrifying.

The heavy rain that had just returned supplemented the reigning silence and only Kasi’s heavy panting could be heard.

Kaskara the ‘Fastest Sword in the East’ had been taken down in one strike! This was the “Instant Sword” technique.

Kasi, whose name translated to ‘fast’, had also once held the title of [Swift Sword] over a hundred years ago. In his prime, his sword had been known to be so fast that it would turn invisible whenever he struck at an opponent. As time passed, other warriors labeled him the [Invisible Sword]. After-all, everyone could agree that the man had far surpassed the definition of ‘swift’!

Author Note: If you read my work, please leave some reviews, comments and ratings. They really help a lot in getting my novel noticed.

Kaskara - The kaskara is a traditional Sudanese sword that is also seen in Chad and Eritrea. The kaskara blade was normally approximately a yard long, double-edged, and spatulate at the tip. The kaskara was worn across the back horizontally or between the upper arm and the thorax. For a picture representation of a kaskara, you can check out metmuseum org site in their art collection for image: 27262