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A stunned, disbelieving silence hung heavy in the massive arena. It felt like the world itself had stopped spinning.
"H-h-h-how is this possible?!"
"It's... it's broken!"
"Arthur's Judgment of Light was actually cut down!!!"
"What in the hell is happening?!!!" The commentator stammered, his voice choked with shock, his trained mind failing to process the impossible image.
Arthur's 'Judgment of Light' wasn't just a move; it was his ultimate expression of power. Its destructive force was legendary. No one in the Sobeya Kingdom had ever witnessed a soul capable of withstanding it, let alone cutting it in half.
Even Erza, watching from the side, was utterly bewildered. She knew the terror of that blade firsthand. She had thrown her strongest defenses, her shield, her most resilient armor, and still failed to block it. This man, Tsugikuni Yoriichi (Qi Yan), had done it with a single, simple sword.
"This monster..." Clay stared, his eyes wide with renewed horror. Outsiders thought he had been defeated easily. He knew better. He had probed a bottomless abyss. Qi Yan was a true, genuine, super monster.
But even Clay was startled by the sheer ease with which Qi Yan had dismantled the kingdom's strongest attack.
An instant in the real world.
An hour in the mind.
Qi Yan slowly returned to awareness. He knew that rush of insightâit had to be an epiphany.
He, the genius of the Transparent World and the ultimate swordsman, had touched the essence of Magic for the first time. His previous use of it, though potent, was indeed child's play. Now, he felt the true currents.
This heavenly talent allowed him to absorb and master the underlying principles of this new power in a single, vital moment. He realized that by perfectly rearranging and concentrating magic onto the sharpest point of his blade, he could achieve destructive power that defied all physical laws.
Qi Yan looked at Arthur, raised his sword in one hand, and then performed a single, casual downward swing.
Swish----!
A barely perceptible slash of pure energy shot from his blade.
It swept past the still-frozen Arthur.
Crack----!!
The massive, reinforced stone wall of the arena was instantly scored with a single, perfectly uniform incision. It looked as if a deity had sliced the colossal structure like soft tofu.
"!!!"
Silence. Absolute, terrifying silence. The commentator's microphone clattered to the floor, forgotten.
They all stared at the gigantic, uniform cut. Many swordsmen could damage that wall. But to cut it with such surgical precision, without a shockwave or excessive debrisâit defied explanation.
Arthur stared blankly at the impossible cut. His shock turned to utter despair. He hadn't been slightly inferior. It wasn't a gap; it was a chasm between worlds.
Qi Yan calmly sheathed his sword.
"You do not know swordsmanship," he stated, his voice ringing with absolute, unchallenged authority. "You see me as a frog in a well gazing at the moon in the sky. When you are lucky enough to become a Nine-Star Swordsman, you will see me as a mayfly sees the azure sky!"
Boomâ!!
The arena erupted. His words were the most overwhelmingly arrogant statement imaginable, yet among the assembled mastersâthe strongest swordsmen in the entire Sobeya Kingdomânot a single voice spoke up in refutation.
Acceptance.
Arthur's body sagged. His knees buckled, and he fell to the shredded ground.
"I lost!"
"The victor has been decided!!!" The announcer finally recovered, his voice raw with disbelief and elation.
"Winner: Tsugikuni Yoriichi!!!"
"Too strong! Truly too strong!!"
"The World's Strongest Swordsman Tournamentâthe champion is: Tsugikuni Yoriichi!"
"The strongest swordsman on the Ishgar continent!!! Tsugikuni Yoriichi, truly deserving!"
The audience in the stands chanted, "Sword God! Sword God! Sword God!" For the common folk, they only knew their strongest champion had been humiliated by a transcendent power.
But for the Seven-Star, Eight-Star, and Nine-Star Swordsmen, the terrifying swordsmanship Qi Yan displayed planted a single, inescapable question in their minds:
Was this man really a Sword God?
They could not conceive of a non-divine being possessing such absolute, terrifying skill.
Royal Palace: The Tide Turns
Bang!!!
In the Royal Palace, the Kingâa former Nine-Star Swordsman himselfâslammed his hand down on the table, shattering the wood into splinters. He had watched the feed in shock. He understood what Qi Yan's final strike represented, and the disparity he described was no exaggeration. It was an insurmountable chasm.
This was a realm he could never have reached.
If he were younger, he would have begged this man to take him as a disciple. It was truly regrettable. But there was a more immediate, urgent task. With Qi Yan's help, the subjugation of the Demon Dragon was guaranteed.
Suddenly, the doors flew open.
"Report!!! URGENT!!!" A soldier burst in, face pale with panic.
"What's with the panic?!" the King demanded.
"R-reporting, Your Majesty! According to scout reports! There is unusual activity in the Demon Beast Great Forest! At least a hundred thousand demon beasts are surging towards the city!!!"
"What?!" The King's face went white. "At this very moment?!"
A horde of one hundred thousand monsters was an apocalyptic number. The entire city was now in mortal peril.
The King's training kicked in. He instantly calmed himself and barked orders: "Minister! Immediately gather all soldiers to First-Level Alert!"
"Arrange for the city's populace to take refuge in the arena! And simultaneously, recruit all available swordsmen in the city to participate in the battle!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!!"
The celebration was over. The true fight had just begun.