"How did you get that sword?"
After retreating to a distance, Azazel stopped and asked.
"You mean this sword? It's obviously mine."
Don't ask Rod how he got it. If you must ask, the answer was that he forgot to turn off auto-loot.
"That sword is called Arondight, the Unfading Light of the Lake. It's a demonic sword that belonged to us fallen angels, obtained during one of the wars in the past, and it was kept in our armory ever since. A few years ago, one of our traitors took it."
Azazel remembered that traitor very clearly.
His name was Satanael. Like Azazel, he had been a fallen angel cadre responsible for managing and researching Sacred Gears.
At the same time, he had also been one of the instructors of the Downfall Dragon faction within Grigori, responsible for teaching other Sacred Gear holders how to use their Sacred Gears.
Unfortunately, he had later betrayed the organization and even brainwashed and took away some of the students.
Azazel had no idea how the demonic sword had ended up in Rod's hands, but one thing was obvious, Satanael's fate could not have been a good one.
And considering that Kokabiel had also died at this human's hands, Satanael was probably in even worse shape.
"That is property belonging to us fallen angels."
"This is obviously my sword."
Rod flatly refused to admit otherwise.
"Hmph! That demonic sword should still bear the mark of our Grigori on it. It's right on the hilt."
Rod lowered his head and looked, only to find that there really was a tiny mark on Arondight's hilt, so small it was almost invisible.
But almost immediately, his expression changed, and he said angrily, "You actually carved your organization's mark onto my sword. That's downright bandit behavior! No, worse than bandits!"
Azazel: "..."
How could this kid lie like this, as if he's the victim?
Azazel knew the sword was not coming back.
Satanael was a traitor. Since Rod, as a mercenary, had taken it as spoils from a traitor, there was naturally no reason for him to return it to its original owner.
If Azazel wanted it back, he would probably have to pay an even greater price.
That only made Azazel feel more stifled inside. He was the mighty Governor-General of the Fallen Angels, yet he had already stumbled in front of this kidagain and again.
The next moment, Azazel's figure burst forward. Holding a Spear of Light in his right hand, he charged straight at Rod.
He was angry now.
But accompanied by that same strange mechanical sound, Rod's figure once again vanished from Azazel's field of vision. If Azazel could not still sense an extremely faint trace of his presence, he might have thought Rod had simply run away.
"What the hell is with this brat? He can actually use a speed I can't even track over and over again?"
Azazel was not the strongest among all fallen angels, but he was still mid-tier Maou-class. His eyes also possessed extremely powerful dynamic vision. He could even follow the trajectory of a Spear of Light shot by God. Yet he could not make out Rod's movement at all.
Clang!
The demonic sword stabbed at him again from an incredibly tricky angle.
Although Azazel's body was tough, and ordinary modern weapons or supernatural cold weapons could not harm him, Arondight was a demonic sword second only to the Sword of the King. On top of that, it was being wielded by Rod. Azazel did not dare take it head-on with his body and could only use the Sword of Light in his right hand to block once more.
Clang!
The instant the demonic sword and the Sword of Light collided, dazzling sparks and flecks of light burst out.
Azazel felt his arm go numb. If the power of Light he had poured into the weapon had not been dense enough, the Sword of Light might have been smashed apart outright.
Still, there was a chance of winning.
After all, according to the rules, only actually landing a hit on the opponent counted as success.
As long as Azazel made up his mind to focus purely on defense, then unless Rod used his full strength, it would be very hard for him to truly land a blow.
Even if Azazel was only using one hand, he was still Maou-class. And there was only a minute to begin with, no, not even that. Counting the time they had spent talking earlier, there were less than thirty seconds left now.
If Rod had not entered his super-accelerated state, the minute would have been long over already.
On the surface, the rules seemed to restrict Azazel, but in reality they restricted Rod as well.
Azazel also knew there was no way he was going to hit Rod, so with a sweep of his right hand, he directly formed several Swords of Light around himself, letting them circle his body.
He might not be using ranged attacks, but nothing in the rules said he could not defend himself.
Sure, it was a little shameless, and it did damage the dignity of the Governor-General of the Fallen Angels somewhat, but that was still better than losing. Besides, he was the leader of the fallen angels. Shameless was shameless, he was used to it.
In truth, Rod had already noticed what Azazel was about to do while in his super-accelerated state, and had launched another attack before the Swords of Light fully formed. But Azazel was even more alert now, and his defense was airtight.
By the time the Swords of Light had fully taken shape and Rod saw what was floating around Azazel's body, he could not help thinking, So this is basically Sword Barrier, huh?
If this kept up, the match would most likely end in a draw.
And while a draw against the Governor-General of the Fallen Angels would still be enough to make others take Rod's strength seriously once word got out, what he would gain was fame while what he would lose was a very real reward.
Rod had originally wanted to use this match to gauge, without relying on his skills, just how wide the gap between himself and the current top tiers of this world really was. But now, even if he wanted to keep some cards hidden, that was no longer possible.
In the next moment, Rod lowered Arondight to his waist in an iai stance. Before the slash was even unleashed, the blade had already taken on a dim black matte sheen. And in the instant it was swung, the dense air split like a thin sheet cut apart by scissors, the edges of the white shockwave breaking with clean, even tears.
The moment he released the strike, Rod also canceled his super-accelerated state.
As normal time flow returned to his eyes, the air let out a groan under unbearable strain. Countless black-and-white sword lights tore through the atmosphere, and the overwhelming slash descended with crushing force onto Azazel, who had wrapped himself up like a turtle.
The next second, the Swords of Light protecting his body were covered in countless visible cracks, then shattered with a thunderous crash, their Light power rapidly dissipating into the air.
At the same time, when the slash struck the ground, it blasted up broken stones and dust, leaving countless deep cuts carved into the earth.
The shockwaves rolled wildly. Azazel's kimono whipped violently in the turbulent air, and his heart was filled with shock.
What kind of ability was this?
Was this swordsmanship?
Was there really someone in this world who could use swordsmanship like this?
There was no Sacred Gear involved, no magic either. If this had truly been achieved through training alone, then he had already reached the peak of what a human could be, had he not?!
But there were less than twenty seconds left now.
Azazel had not expected the spar to end in a draw between them.
"Lavinia, get everyone out of the barrier! Don't look over here!"
Rod suddenly called out to Lavinia, who was watching the fight from afar.
Lavinia did not ask why. She immediately used teleportation magic to send all the girls far away, making them turn their backs to the direction of the barrier.
"Pay attention, Azazel. I'm about to use my trump card!"
"Hm?"
Hearing that, Azazel's heart jumped.
There was still a trump card?
With that thought, Azazel immediately widened his eyes and stared fixedly at Rod, his expression incomparably wary, afraid of missing even the slightest detail.
Then he saw Rod raise one hand to his temple.
"Hundredfold Solar Flare!"
"?!!"
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