Chapter 1041: Act 213 – Flame of Dawn XIV
Brendel stepped back, and before he could steady himself, a cold glint flashed within the swirling dust created by the collapsed wall ahead, and two long swords pierced through the air toward him.
Before the sword tips reached him, a wave of scorching heat surged forward; within the depths of Brendel’s pupils, a flicker of golden flame reflected back, and he saw a firebird flapping its wings and soaring out from behind the smoke, darting straight toward him.
At the same time, the floor beside him erupted with a roar, the bricks beneath breaking through the earth, stacking atop one another, and in an instant forming a concave wall that surrounded him.
Life’s fire, element of earth.
This was the legacy of the Azure Knight Carmen and the Earth Knight Defrela.
However, to force himself to clash hard with them, Brendel thought, they were overestimating themselves; they probably believed they’d kill their colleague using ambush tactics. Since that was the case, it was just right to give them a painful lesson.
He was about to strike with his sword when a flash of inspiration hit him, and he forcefully reined in his attack. The crystal embedded in his right arm clattered, almost shattering from the backlash of the power.
At that moment, a new thought emerged in Brendel’s mind; these combat instincts were like instincts, etched deeply within his bones.
He raised his sword; with two clangs, he forced the swords of the two knights back. Each time he engaged a sword, a phantom stepped forth, following the trajectory of Brendel’s strike to pursue the fire knight before him, while Brendel’s form flickered, and he appeared directly outside the earthen wall, rolling on the ground just in time to evade the screeching firebird.
“Queen Wind’s Nine Suns?” A booming voice cried out amidst the swirling fog.
They recognized him, and Brendel was slightly startled, but he quickly calmed down. After all, the fire knights were not ordinary; they inherited the ancient memories and martial legacies, being able to recognize the swordplay from the era of the Saints’ War was not particularly surprising.
At that moment, the fire knights also noticed that Brendel wielded the element of space. Space elements were among the best abilities for ambushes, not to mention that he held the uncanny sword technique of Queen Wind’s Nine Suns, he rolled back, indicating that he was just blustering and lacked the power to take on two opponents.
“Block him, don’t let him escape!”
No sooner had the knight spoken than Brendel heard footsteps behind him. He turned his head and indeed found two fire knights emerging from the door— encirclement was as he had expected. This was the very reason he chose to act this way: visible foes were always easier to deal with than hidden ones.
If he had appeared too strong from the outset, these two fire knights probably wouldn’t have shown themselves so easily. They wouldn’t care about knightly honor; they would surely hide in the shadows waiting for an opportunity to ambush.
Yet, the fire knights present did not know that the power he had wielded in those previous two sword strikes had barely exceeded thirty percent. Although Brendel was only at the pinnacle level of the side of Truth, he had not crossed into a different realm compared to these fire knights, but because of his equipment, skills, and element enhancements, his explosive power consistently far exceeded that of ordinary combatants.
Not to mention, at this moment, Brendel was cunningly suppressing his power to the middle range of the side of Truth. This level of strength was profoundly deceptive; it was just above these fire knights but not enough to instill a sense of threat in them.
The key was, it was even more misleading.
This would sow the seeds for the knights’ subsequent misfortune.
Feigning desperation, Brendel swung the Earth Blade toward the two knights encircling him, leading them to believe he was trying to carve out a path for survival. The two fire knights, thinking he was attempting to escape, worked together without uttering a word to counterattack.
Silver lines of the Rule appeared layer upon layer around the two fire knights, one of them had bloodlight radiating from his blade while the other summoned a domain resembling the Extreme Plains.
This domain seemed like a completely lightless space, a boundless blackness—pitch black, an element of illusion, the legacy of the Dark Knight.
Brendel found himself within this domain and couldn’t help but feel relieved; fortunately, he had lured these two out. One with bloodlight, the other in pitch blackness—two elements of illusion—if they had attacked him suddenly from within the darkness, it would have been difficult to deal with.
But now, it was different.
The Earth Blade in Brendel’s hand suddenly revealed a ferocious aspect, the surging power amplified by the crystal, and the spatial rules concentrated around the sword erupted in an instant.
And the pinnacle power of the side of Truth was unmistakably revealed at that moment—
Both fire knights displayed shock on their faces simultaneously, realizing they had been deceived and instinctively wanting to retreat.
Brendel launched a piercing strike that created a visible, invisible ripple in front of him. The two fire knights raised their swords, attempting to block, but the aggregated explosive force that multiplied to several times shattered their swords like fragile glass.
They could even see the magical rules confined within the swords twisting under the pressure of space, then collapsing into countless lines of rules that dissipated into the air.
Then, the force cascaded onto them, the luminous armor of praise emitted a bright brilliance, also lamenting as it cracked; but before that could happen, the two fire knights had already been blasted away like cannonballs, crashing into who knows how many walls with a thundering sound.
The destructive power of this strike was so great that one corner of the villa completely collapsed, the swirling dust thickened, reaching the point where one could hardly see their own hand.
But Brendel knew that these two had not perished; there had been no kill notification in his combat log. The armor of praise, boosted by the Temple, was indeed as formidable as rumored. A typical strike at the full power of a lower level on the side of Truth had no chance of surviving.
His strength thoroughly rattled the remaining two fire knights; this was no mere pinnacle of the side of Truth— even the peak of the Rule was not this terrifying. They couldn’t help but recall a scene from decades ago when facing another man.
That man was Mephistopheles—
Confronted with the dreadful power that Brendel unleashed, the two fire knights hesitated for a moment. But Brendel did not have time to spare them; the two fire knights he had dispatched were not dead but should have lost their fighting power. With nothing to worry about, he unhesitatingly activated his spatial element, flashed, and teleported outside the corridor.
“Damn it!” The two fire knights finally reacted, glowing runes appeared on their armors, augmenting their speed with the spell ‘Angelic Speed’ and the power of ‘Heaven’, as they pursued him one after the other.
In Vaunte, every element was subdivided into many levels, and the space element was no exception. From the lowest level of transmission ability to the highest level of temporal and spatial ability, the degrees of freedom possessed by each level of rules varied immensely.
For Brendel, who wielded the highest level of spatial power, teleporting outside the manor was no trouble at all, but he still strictly controlled the distance to avoid being caught up by the two behind him.
In fact, even so, he often did not even utilize his elements most of the time, occasionally pretending to be blocked by the stone walls formed by the earth element under the opponent’s control, creating opportunities to stop and engage in brief skirmishes with them.
By drawing the attention of these two, while fighting, Brendel approached the outer areas of the villa. The battle occurring inside had already drawn outside attention; the maids had long since fled, leaving the corridors empty, allowing both sides of the conflict to fight without hesitation.
The two fire knights, shedding their disdain, coordinated with each other while avoiding a direct confrontation with Brendel, and fought their way with ease. Brendel understood they were stalling for time, but this was exactly what he wanted; thus, their both genuine and feigned efforts led them outside the villa.
Here, the elite guards alerted by the disturbance within had already taken their positions, surrounding the mansion in layers.
But when Brendel saw these people, he couldn’t help but shake his head.
He suddenly raised his sword high, drawing a crimson sword light from the blade to the tip, the light slicing through the ground, cleaving the corridor’s wooden floor and half a wall in half.
As the wooden splinters flew, the two fire knights dared not confront directly, retreating again, their hearts trembling with dread—what kind of power was this?
At that moment, Brendel sheathed his sword and turned to face the oncoming Imperial elite guards.
With the Earth Blade slanting down, he leaned slightly forward, channeling immense power through his right foot into the ground, propelling himself forward like an arrow shot from a bow, shooting toward the elite guards.
The two fire knights had no time to react.
In fact, they didn’t want to react at all.
They stood rooted in place, watching as Brendel manifested into a fleeting silver light, piercing through the formation of the elite guards, then flashing once more to the front.
A spray of blood erupted.
The two fire knights were left with only one thought reverberating in their heads:
The sword technique of the Flame King—
The Flash Sword.
Wherever Brendel’s sword passed, it cleaved a vacuum through the elite guards’ formation, leaving bloody trails glimmering on the white stone floor, with a soothing sound.
When he stopped, he found himself amidst the ranks of soldiers, coolly surveying his surroundings, capturing the incoming Imperial soldiers from all sides in his gaze.
In the surrounding forests of the manor, shadows began to emerge, red capes vibrant against the greenery, white armors neat and coordinated, indicating that the battle within the villa had indeed roused the surrounding fire knight regiment lying in ambush.
It was time to enter the next phase.
Just as he was about to contact Charles and the others to prepare for withdrawal, the traveling mage’s mental connection first resonated with the other party’s voice, “My lord, we’ve made it!”
Brendel’s heart surged with joy; he waved his hand, and in the next moment, Charles appeared by his side along with Medephis and Andrigraphis.
The authority of the traveling mage was Brendel’s greatest assurance.
“How’s it going? Anyone injured?”
“Not really, we got lucky; there really was a pinnacle master down below,” Charles replied, “Willerk, you should know this person, right?”
So, it was him, Brendel realized—this man was the former commander of the elite guards, unlike the current ineffective figure from the Parut family who gained power through the queen’s favor. He had once been renowned alongside another court sword saint as the twin pillars of the Holy Contipal Palace, belonging to the extreme power grasped by the Imperial royal family.
Charles then calmly recounted the events that had unfolded, as if they were not under siege at that moment but still in the Cat and Whiskers Inn. They had dealt with the last remaining fire knight swiftly and subsequently found the room containing the Staff of Fire.
And there waiting for them was Willerk. Fortunately, Medephis’s element had played an unexpectedly pivotal role in battle; his element was called Silver Moon, akin to the Gray Domain and the Dark World; the characteristic of such an element was that it could establish its own domain under the extreme realm and pull opponents into a space similar to the Extreme Plains.
This domain was not the genuine Extreme Plains, as it wouldn’t sever the connection between man and the material world, but surprisingly deceived Willerk, preventing him from acting rashly at first.
This gave Charles the valuable time to showcase the magic reflection card; the magic reflection in the fate card not only targeted magic from the material realm but also included all extraordinary abilities and supernatural powers, where Willerk’s swordplay naturally fell within. Ultimately, this former commander of the elite guards took his own full power strike in a state of confusion.
This initial advantage decided many outcomes; seizing this opportunity, Andrigraphis decisively broke the seals guarding the Staff of Fire and acquired it, then they were summoned to Brendel’s side.
The entire process was flawless; it was likely that even by this moment, that sword saint had yet to understand what had transpired.
“Well done,” Brendel praised, “The prize is already in hand; now we can start doing the real work.”
Upon hearing this, Charles turned around and noticed the environment they were in—the fire knight regiment surged from the surrounding forests, nearly surrounding all directions. If they hadn’t approached the outer areas of the manor by this point, they would have found themselves at the very center of the ambush.
He couldn’t help but inwardly admire the lord’s foresight.
“Are we to strike, my lord?”
Brendel nodded.
The gray crystals that had been set in the manor were immediately detonated, and amidst a radiant roar, this historical and cultural relic of the Empire was utterly reduced to ashes. Brendel even witnessed the fountain at the main entrance of the manor being blown upwards by the expanding ground.
But since the Silver Queen did not care about this, Brendel had no reason to feel any sorrow for the Crusian people.
The elite guards and city guards within the manor met a terrible fate; not only were they severely casualties in the explosion, but they were also ensnared within the ensuing inferno.
The arriving fire knights were compelled to halt, causing the once complete encirclement to form a massive gap.
……
(PS: Regarding some readers mentioning Charles’s elemental ability, I will explain this later; it’s not a bug. Also, the ship game “Kantai Collection” finally opened up the 5-5 event, so I spent half an hour pushing from 5-3 to clear 5-5, ultimately with Royal Yacht Miss launching a successful attack, signaling the mission’s end.
By the way, I happened to see several articles criticizing “Kantai Collection” on 3DM and other places, heh, some people not engaging with the game thoroughly are left with nothing but their despicable tactics, thus it can be said that the vile must have their vile ways—)
