### Chapter 350
Talk with the Swordmaster.
For this moment, Kraush had been honing the secrets of the God of Creation Weapons.
And now, he felt the time had come to unleash all the power he had amassed.
‘Can I do this?’
With the Swordmaster right in front of him, Kraush couldn’t be certain.
He had felt pretty cocky on the way up, but now that he faced the Swordmaster, his training seemed to waver.
‘It feels like standing before the Heaven’s Sword.’
Kraush took a deep breath.
The quiet air was unnaturally calm.
But calmness can’t last forever.
Smack!
It was Kraush who broke the silence first.
He dashed at the Swordmaster with determination.
Power from the World Erosion surged within him, transformed into an aura nurtured by the Seasons, igniting into white flames.
White scales and horns sprouted from Kraush.
He was going all out right from the start.
Whing!
Kraush’s blade, infused with strength, met the Swordmaster’s wooden sword effortlessly.
The Swordmaster wielded a wooden sword.
Yet it didn’t catch fire from Kraush’s white flames at all.
In fact, it absorbed the flames directly.
‘The Swordmaster’s sword turns anything into the world’s finest blade.’
As if to prove that, his wooden sword showed no inferiority to Thunder Prime.
But Kraush didn’t despair.
He twisted his body and launched into a fierce sword dance.
Clang, clang, clang, clang!
Kraush’s successive strikes continuously hit against the Swordmaster.
Just like in the beginning, each sword met the Swordmaster’s defense.
Kraush felt it was akin to swinging his sword at a giant rock.
Facing such a powerhouse was a first for Kraush.
Perhaps that sparked a stubborn determination within him.
His fierce ambition ignited fiercely in Kraush.
Whirrr!
Kraush’s white flames grew even stronger.
To prevent an all-out war with the World Erosionists, he needed to prove himself to the Swordmaster.
So Kraush opened the seal deep within him.
The moment the seal unlocked, purified aura flooded through Kraush’s entire body.
White hot steam billowed from his mouth.
Kraush was engulfed by white flames.
It felt hot, as though his insides were ablaze.
But Kraush gritted his teeth and persisted.
The God of Creation Weapons he learned from Durandal.
The God of Creation Weapons created armors using massive amounts of aura.
Durandal had aimed to encase his entire body in an aura armor.
Yet even he ended up only creating gauntlets and boots.
Therefore, he regarded the God of Creation Weapons as incomplete.
An unfinished secret technique.
But to Kraush, the God of Creation Weapons wasn’t merely an incomplete technique.
‘No matter how much I soar and crawl, a vessel has limits.’
Kraush, who had replaced the vessel of World Erosion with aura.
Yet he didn’t think he could use the God of Creation Weapons in the way Durandal desired.
‘So.’
Kraush shifted his train of thought.
He decided to turn the God of Creation Weapons inward instead of outward.
In Kraush’s body, the aura was endlessly supplied through the seal.
Moreover, his body—a shell—could firmly contain the aura.
‘I’ll become the vessel itself.’
He used his whole body as a vessel for the aura.
Then based on that, he would apply the intricacies of the God of Creation Weapons to his own body.
Thud!
The technique of the God of Creation spread throughout Kraush’s entire body.
In that moment, Kraush felt his body transforming into a different form.
Inside his dragon-royal body.
Armor of white flames, harder than steel, began to form.
Simultaneously, with the activation of the God of Creation, the white flames could no longer escape from within Kraush.
The moment he realized this, Kraush’s resolve shifted.
‘The Sword Demon’s cutting technique.’
Until now, Kraush had only applied the Sword Demon’s technique to Thunder Prime.
He created a sword sheath using his skill, Lyroner, trapping the white flames inside and unleashing them with the Sword Demon’s technique.
But now, Kraush applied the Sword Demon’s technique directly to his body.
Within his solidified body, reinforced by the God of Creation, the white flames pouring out through the seal mixed with Kraush’s own flames, thrashing about wildly.
The impact was enough to momentarily daze him.
Yet Kraush stubbornly weathered it.
‘More.’
Kraush granted acceleration to the raging white flames.
‘More!’
Each time he endured, the flames grew even mightier and bolder.
Following the techniques of the Sword Demon, Kraush’s white flames kept intensifying.
The color of Kraush’s hair began to change.
His dark blue hair shone bright white.
The blue horns on his head transformed white as well.
In that moment, Kraush realized.
His white flames had begun to reach a completely new realm.
Kraush’s eyes widened.
Something he had never touched before was illuminating above him.
‘This is…’
As the radiant flames enveloped his entire body, Kraush comprehended.
‘A divine transformation.’
With the realm of the half-god reached by the Heaven’s Sword.
Through the mysteries of the God of Creation Weapons, Kraush had finally stepped into the realm of a demigod.
It was merely a single step.
Yet this one step completely altered Kraush’s understanding.
But the ambition flooding Kraush’s eyes didn’t stop there.
‘Heavenly Destruction!’
Kraush shouted the name of his technique.
At that moment, Heavenly Destruction revealed its power from within Kraush.
The Celestial Spirit Blavi claimed that the Heavenly Destruction made the divine body the strongest it could be.
So when Kraush invoked it, a vibrant red energy from the Heavenly Destruction swiftly consumed him.
The power of the Heavenly Destruction greedily spread across Kraush’s entire body.
Realizing his white flames reached the divine realm, Kraush allowed the Heavenly Destruction’s power to saturate this very divine state.
In that instant, Kraush’s mind was nearly swept away by the Heavenly Destruction’s greed.
Having swallowed the divine energy, the Heavenly Destruction was unleashing an incredibly potent force as promised by Blavi.
But.
‘I am your master.’
Kraush’s will forcibly subdued the Heavenly Destruction.
In the pitch-black night.
A red star shone brightly.
Kraush clenched that star tightly.
‘Follow me.’
A biting pet would only die.
Kraush’s venom was consuming the Heavenly Destruction, even greater than the Heavenly Destruction itself.
The Heavenly Destruction had tried to lash out with murderous intent, but Kraush absorbed it.
Heck, Kraush understood a world beyond the bloodlust of the Heavenly Destruction.
Whoosh!
Ultimately, the Heavenly Destruction surrendered.
It couldn’t release its murderous intent anymore.
Instead, its power was entirely granted to Kraush’s body.
Kraush’s eyes widened.
At that moment, he realized he had reached an entirely new realm.
The God of Destruction.
The realm beyond dragons.
The moment he reached that place, Kraush released the God of Creation Weapons from his hand holding Thunder Prime.
Whirrr!
At that moment, the white flames contained within Kraush exploded onto his Thunder Prime.
Kraush’s sword was unleashing the most intense power it ever had.
The Swordmaster fixed his gaze upon Kraush.
Even without sight, he sensed how fierce Kraush’s white flames were.
The Swordmaster’s wooden sword aimed at Kraush.
Upon reaching the God of Destruction, the true essence of the Swordmaster finally registered in Kraush’s perception.
The Swordmaster was a monster.
Every time Kraush faced him, he felt as if he were up against a tremendously high mountain.
A massive black leopard looming over him.
But Kraush didn’t flinch.
He confidently pointed his sword.
Dragon versus tiger.
Someday, he would fulfill the meaning behind those words.
As the dragon soared towards the tiger, Kraush poured all his might into the sword, which wailed.
The power was more formidable than anything Kraush had wielded before.
Destruction of Fire.
Ten Styles.
Extinguish Fire.
The imminent demise approaching the world ignited within the white flames atop the peak of Enmaia.
Fierce white flames blazed, vividly coloring the heavens for an instant.
The brightly shining night sky almost reminded those below of a white night phenomenon.
Flames flicked and spread here and there.
Kraush was panting, pushing out breaths filled to the brim.
“Ha, ha.”
He was dizzy.
The God of Destruction was truly the first domain he had reached.
That’s probably why the output wasn’t stabilized.
‘Still can’t shake off that glass cannon status.’
As he escaped being a glass cannon, he awakened to a new form of cannon.
At this point, wondering if being a glass cannon was his fate.
But again, he had crossed another realm.
This would fuel him to proceed onwards again.
Someday, when he completely mastered the God of Destruction.
He would take another step forward.
The white flames began to subside.
Kraush calmly awaited the result.
After all, he had no strength left in his body.
Just as the smoke completely cleared.
The form of the Swordmaster appeared.
Some of his fur had been singed by the white flames.
That meant Kraush’s last attack had landed.
But the Swordmaster remained standing in the same spot.
This meant he had taken Kraush’s full power head-on and remained unscathed.
With wide eyes, Kraush stared at the Swordmaster.
Then, the Swordmaster slanted his wooden sword.
Kraush suddenly noticed the cracks forming in the wooden sword.
His eyes widened.
He had just struck with enough force to crack the wooden sword the Swordmaster gripped.
This was an extraordinary achievement.
Few had been able to even score a crack on the Swordmaster’s weapon even in the previous rounds.
The Swordmaster returned his wooden sword to his waist.
“You’re still a kid, but I understand your intent.”
Then the Swordmaster spoke.
Kraush stiffened, straightening his posture.
The weight of the Swordmaster’s voice carried power.
“I’ll leave Ixion to you.”
The moment he heard those words, Kraush clenched his fist tightly.
The Swordmaster had declared he wouldn’t participate in the war against the World Erosionists.
This was a monumental success for Kraush.
“You might just create a world where even the World Erosionists can live.”
But the unexpected part was the possibility recognized by the Swordmaster.
Just how much had he read into their exchange?
Kraush couldn’t fathom that either.
“Thank you.”
Simply put, he was grateful that the Swordmaster understood his heartfelt intentions.
With this, preparations for the war against Ixion were complete.
Now all that remained was the all-out battle.
“Well, kiddo.”
Just as Kraush thought their talk was over and turned to leave.
“I don’t know who taught you, but your sword skills are pathetic compared to your output.”
[What the hell is that black leopard saying?]
The Crimson Garden seemed to erupt in irritation.
After all, Kraush’s swordsmanship teacher was Crimson Garden herself.
“Picking up weird habits means you won’t master your own strength.”
The Swordmaster said that, raising the cracked wooden sword.
“As a reward for climbing this high, I’ll show you once. Remember it well.”
The Swordmaster’s sword began to move slowly through the air.
His swordplay was beginning.
The moment the Swordmaster’s swordplay started, Kraush’s eyes began to widen.
There were no separate powers within the Swordmaster’s swordplay, such as the powers of World Erosion or aura.
He was simply drawing his sword.
Yet, the world moved with that sword.
The wind began to blow.
Grass sprouted on the icy ground.
Life blossomed.
This was surely a trick, an illusion.
Yet at this moment, all five senses and intuition convinced him this was reality.
The sword seemed to draw life’s essence to its utmost limit.
Gradually, as the leaves began to wither, they turned to ash-gray.
The wind died down, leading to a silence of death.
The Swordmaster’s wooden sword had transformed into a tree sprouting buds.
But even such a tree had exhausted its lifespan, ultimately crumbling and collapsing.
Thud!
With that, the Swordmaster finished his swordplay.
Kraush saw some who had battled the Swordmaster.
All of them appeared like the elderly at the end of their lives, crumbling to dust.
The Swordmaster’s blade contained both the beginning and the end of life.
“Kid, remember this day. There will come a moment in your life when today’s memory will be of help.”
With that, the Swordmaster turned away.
[Hmph, stinking black leopard.]
Just like that, Crimson Garden seemed to sulk, showing she couldn’t bring herself to criticize the Swordmaster.
Snapping back to reality at her voice, Kraush bowed his head to the Swordmaster again.
“Thank you.”
Today’s lesson would indeed come in handy.
Kraush etched today in his memory as the Swordmaster had said.
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