### Chapter: 419
That day, after asking the Swordmaster not to help Ixion.
Kraush found himself facing him again after a long time.
Maybe that’s why.
Kraush felt a pure curiosity.
Just how much had his swordsmanship grown since that day?
“Honestly.”
The term ‘growth’ felt a bit empty.
Kraush had ultimately defeated Abella by piling on power until the very end.
For him, it was merely a means to unleash his dark energy.
He rarely took down his opponent with sheer sword skill.
“So what do I need to do now?”
To defeat the Great Anomaly, what must he accomplish?
“I need to expand my swordsmanship.”
To receive the strike of the Great Anomaly, he needed to be able to break through its sword techniques.
Otherwise, he’d just end up with the same result as before.
So, Kraush stood with his sword aimed at the Swordmaster.
“It’s been a while.”
Even though he was blind and deaf, he seemed to know it was Kraush just from the presence.
“Did you gain some enlightenment from the sword I showed you then?”
Sadly, he hadn’t.
“This time, I’ll succeed.”
With those words, Kraush kicked off the ground and dashed across the summit of Enmaia Mountain.
The cold air enveloped his body.
The thin oxygen and gravity made him feel lighter than usual.
Within that atmosphere, Kraush’s ash flame flared up fiercely.
As the blazing ash flame split the air, Kraush’s sword clashed with the Swordmaster’s.
A resounding clash echoed as Kraush’s sword met the Swordmaster’s.
Thud—
In contrast to the tremendous power Kraush wielded, a rather small sound echoed.
It was as if a pebble had been thrown into a tranquil lake.
The tiny ripples spread out from around the Swordmaster and quickly faded away.
This sensation.
It felt similar to when he had clashed swords with the Great Anomaly.
It was a peculiar sensation, as if they stood not in the same world, but in entirely different realms.
Kraush’s face hardened.
“What on earth…”
What world were the Great Anomaly and the Swordmaster perceiving?
Having not seen the world they were looking at, Kraush gripped his sword tighter.
And then he continued the sword techniques he had trained himself in.
Kraush’s sword derived from two forms.
One was the dull blade he cultivated through instinct and the secrets he found in the Balheim library, utilizing his sixth sense.
This blunt blade, confining the opponent’s space and cornering them, suited Kraush very well indeed.
The second was a technique derived from that blunt blade.
Originally a means to counter the opponent’s sword, it instead focused on seizing the opponent’s space first.
The “Striking Blade.”
Kraush’s Striking Blade, swinging powerfully, overwhelmed his opponent like a storm.
Combined with the Sword King’s techniques, the “Sword Light,” this propelled Kraush’s strength even further.
From here, the final technique drawn from the Sword Light, “Annihilation Erosion,” became Kraush’s combat style.
However, this method was completely ineffective against the Great Anomaly.
Its sword was invisible even to his sixth sense, and Kraush had to slash at his chest in the blink of an eye.
No matter how careful he was, it felt like he was seeing a different realm altogether.
“You haven’t stepped into this world yet.”
In that instant, the voice of the Swordmaster echoed through the air between their blades.
This world.
What could it be?
“There are various lights in this realm.”
“Lights, you say?”
“The gap between the seen and unseen can never be bridged, no matter what you do.”
In that moment, the Swordmaster’s sword twisted.
Before Kraush’s sixth sense could react, the Swordmaster’s sword had already struck him in the side.
“Cough!”
Kraush exhaled harshly as he rolled across the ground.
But seeming accustomed to pain, Kraush immediately straightened up and charged at the Swordmaster again.
Just moments earlier, the Swordmaster’s sword had been oddly invisible.
Kraush couldn’t decipher what had happened.
“What do you mean by ‘light’?”
“The harmony of battle.”
What a nonsensical statement.
More than that, how could a being who couldn’t hear respond like that?
“Do you know what a trance state is?”
“I’ve heard of it many times. It feels a bit like something I’ve experienced a few times.”
“A moment grasped while in a trance can be an opportunity to see the light.”
But how could he claim to have seen something he had never seen?
Yet, he understood the gist.
“So, you’re saying that swinging my sword until I reach a trance state will show me something.”
“Swing until you drop!”
Very straightforward indeed.
If Kraush felt like he could improve his skills by pushing himself to the limit, he was motivated.
“You might already have seen a similar world.”
Kraush partly understood what that meant.
On the day he struck down Abella, the world he had seen then was definitely in a completely different realm.
Countless stars in the sky, gods, and the ancient magic that enveloped the world.
What had Kraush seen in that world?
He needed to dive back into that realm to find out.
“Just one piece of advice.”
The Swordmaster’s wooden sword suddenly thrust itself right before Kraush’s neck.
As cold sweat broke out on Kraush’s forehead, the Swordmaster pulled his sword back.
“You must prove that you are a star.”
Was he supposed to shine on his own?
“While I might not be able to shine, going crazy isn’t off the table.”
Kraush took a breath.
He began to increase his sword-swinging speed while simultaneously pushing his dark energy higher.
The Swordmaster had said that you could see it in a trance.
To see that, Kraush started to pour his body and mind into it.
Kraush had no exceptional talent with the sword.
He had just practiced harder than anyone else in his life, achieving a slightly better level.
That was his extent of talent.
Except for one thing.
He was confident in his relentless determination to work hard, aiming for life or death.
Even if it meant carving away at his own body.
Kraush was the type who could throw himself into a raging fire without hesitation.
So now.
Kraush was diving deep into his own mind.
In the past, how many times had he thrown himself into the lake of his psyche?
Perhaps the trance state was the one thing Kraush could sink into the fastest.
As Kraush’s mind began to sink into the depths of his psyche’s lake.
The Swordmaster’s sword somehow felt distant.
However, Kraush’s sword was steadily facing the Swordmaster’s sword.
Although his mind was plunging into the lake, his body did not stop.
Despite the growing gap between his mind and body, Kraush’s form further intensified its focus.
The Swordmaster’s brow twitched.
He hadn’t expected Kraush to plunge so deep into the trance state so quickly.
“Amazing mental strength, truly.”
Certainly, to the Swordmaster, Kraush’s sword was a pathetic one.
Yet the Swordmaster had chosen Kraush to face Ixion in the past, willingly stepping back.
It had all stemmed from the possibility he saw in Kraush.
A mental fortitude honed to its limits through reincarnation and various pasts.
Swordplay.
Moreover, martial arts could only shine when one possessed a sound mind and body.
Thus, the strength of the body and mental fortitude are directly proportional.
In other words, an unbreakable mental fortitude signifies an unbreakable body.
Clang!
The ash-colored glint in Kraush’s eyes suddenly brightened.
In that moment, red light rushed through as killer intent erupted.
Kraush’s body was slowly undergoing a new change, something borne from his violent energy.
And it was being pushed along by none other than the Swordmaster.
Clang!
The Swordmaster’s sword began to trace countless trajectories.
Kraush’s sword unknowingly began to follow the Swordmaster’s path.
Kraush could not see the world the Swordmaster was perceiving.
Yet guided by the Swordmaster, his sword inevitably started to chase that very world.
Throughout Kraush’s body, the divine energy that had settled was stirring, starting to move along with the sword’s trajectory.
The divine energy was aimed towards the center of Kraush.
It was the lake of his psyche into which he was sinking.
Inside the lake of his psyche, the light of divine energy began to fill the space like fireflies.
Realizing this, Kraush instinctively began to draw in the divine energy.
Before long, the lake of his psyche was filled to the brim with divine energy.
Kraush recalled what the Swordmaster had said earlier.
To become a star.
On the day he struck down Abella, he had needed to become a god to do so.
And the water god had said.
There are as many gods above as there are stars in the sky.
Gods and stars.
As Kraush contemplated these two concepts, his eyes gradually widened.
“Oh, I see.”
Kraush drew up more of the divine energy.
As the fireflies of divine energy began to rotate gently within the lake of his psyche.
The speed increased, and it began to accelerate, surrounding Kraush with a shining light.
“The message to become a single star.”
This world existed above all creation.
If he wanted to live in the darkness above all creation, he needed to learn how to shine himself.
The divine energy within Kraush ignited, becoming a single star and began to emit a fierce light.
The moment the starlight filled Kraush, his eyes jerked open.
The Swordmaster’s sword was moving.
What had been completely unrecognizable before now appeared distinctly.
The Swordmaster’s sword was submerged in starlight.
That light was the radiance emitted by the Swordmaster-starlight.
It was so bright that it nearly obscured Kraush’s perception.
But now.
As the starlight poured out from Kraush clashed against the Swordmaster’s, he could clearly perceive the existence of the Swordmaster’s sword.
They had become their own unique stars.
This was the moment when Kraush stepped into the realm of the star domain.
Kaang!
At last, Kraush managed to directly block the Swordmaster’s blade and gasped for breath.
As starlight flowed from his body, the ash flame flickered.
“Is this the realm you were seeing?”
His head pounded.
The starlight emanating from the Swordmaster dazzled his vision.
“You too must have seen a world like this.”
As he spoke those words, Kraush knew it was true.
On the day he ascended to the realm of gods, he had perceived the gods beyond that realm.
They were all stars in their own right.
If Kraush had not touched the realm of gods that day, he surely would not have realized this now.
“Swordmaster, aside from you, who else can witness this?”
Seeing such a world, no one could have possibly defeated the Swordmaster.
After all, they would not even be able to perceive his sword.
“That’s why Charlotte managed to defeat him in the end.”
It was because she too had reached the realm of stars.
Realizing the significance of reaching the star domain through pure talent, Kraush let out a hollow laugh.
“Well…”
The Swordmaster slowly turned his head, gazing down at the base of Enmaia Mountain.
“I guess it might have been Mu-hwang.”
Upon hearing his father’s name, Kraush understood.
His father would have been more than capable of reaching that level.
And that meant there were indeed very few who could perceive such a world.
“Have you now met the minimum requirement?”
At the Swordmaster’s question, Kraush sighed heavily and nodded.
“Yes, thanks to you.”
Thanks to the Swordmaster, he had opened his eyes to the realm of stars.
Now he could face the sword of the Great Anomaly.
“Then, let’s teach you a few more things.”
Is this not where it ends?
Ignoring the sweat dripping down his forehead, Kraush tightened his grip on his sword.
Yet, a smile spread across Kraush’s face.
He had also amassed countless experiences to grow stronger.
And now, he understood better than anyone the joy of becoming stronger.
“Thank you for your guidance.”
He would learn everything even to the brink of death.
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