Chapter 73: A Demon Learns to Kill (2)

“Today, your life as a hunter ends, Ethan.”

Ethan sighed.

“I already told you…”

“You don’t get to decide things like that.”

As he spoke, he raised his human hand.

A dazzling blue rune ignited within his palm.

From nothingness—

a weapon answered the call.

A massive sword materialized instantly.

Its grip wrapped in crimson thorns, its blade radiating a sinister presence.

In less than a second…

the Executioner Sword appeared in Ethan’s hand.

Ethan smiled at the stunned expression on James’s face.

“Why are you standing there so shocked?”

“Aren’t you the one who said I didn’t stand a chance against you?”

He gestured forward with his mechanical fingers.

“Come on. Attack me.”

“Or would you prefer that I take the first step?”

James ground his teeth.

“That cursed Blessing of yours won’t help you…”

“…against true power!”

With a violent kick against the ground, James launched forward.

His speed surpassed the limits of ordinary humans.

He was like a projectile wrapped in a radiant white aura.

Seeing him charge, Ethan’s smile widened.

His provocation had worked perfectly.

Gripping the Executioner Sword, Ethan suddenly performed a move that stunned everyone watching.

He threw it.

Like a spear.

A massive metal spear.

The Executioner Sword shot straight toward James, catching him completely off guard.

But James’s instincts were sharp.

Before it could pierce his chest, he struck it aside with his own blade, sending it flying away.

“Throwing your weapon?!”

James shouted furiously.

“Is that your plan?!”

“You’re a disgrace to knights!”

“A knight never abandons his weapon!”

James was about to attack again.

But he suddenly stopped.

A sinister presence approached.

His instincts flared, forcing him to glance to the left—toward where Ethan’s sword had fallen.

And there it was.

Coming straight for him again.

A dark crimson aura burned along its blade.

Too late.

James barely managed to block the strike, the impact forcing him to stumble across the ground as a faint pain spread along his left side.

Frowning, he pushed himself back to his feet.

Meanwhile, the sword returned to Ethan’s hand on its own.

“Telekinesis…” James muttered.

Around them, the spectators burst into loud exclamations without even realizing it.

They had just witnessed a weapon that carried Ashes of War within it.

Ethan nodded calmly.

“That’s right.”

Resting the sword over his shoulder, he began walking toward James.

“You look worried.”

“You know what would have happened just now if it weren’t for your Aura Armor…”

“…don’t you?”

James’s face darkened.

He knew exactly what Ethan meant.

The last strike had caught him completely off guard.

He hadn’t blocked it with skill.

It was his Aura Armor that had saved him.

Without it…

the Executioner Sword would have pierced straight through him and scattered his entrails across the ground.

“Don’t get full of yourself just because you surprised me once,” James said, regaining his composure as he stood upright again.

“I’m aware of your annoying ability now.”

“That same trick won’t work twice.”

“Oh really?” Ethan replied with a sharp smile.

His eyes were cold.

“James… right now you’re nothing more than a heavily armored animal.”

“Hiding beneath a thick shell of armor…”

“…hoping that shell will hold until the end.”

Preparing for battle, Ethan’s grip ignited with a crimson glow that flowed along the Executioner Sword.

“Let’s start by peeling off your shell.”

He immediately hurled the sword again.

The blade shot toward James like a projectile.

James knocked it aside instantly with his own weapon, sending it spinning upward.

“Don’t underestimate me!”

he roared.

Then he froze.

Ethan was already flying toward him.

The moment he threw the sword, Ethan had fired the grappling hook from his Legion arm, pulling himself forward at once.

Ethan soared through the air.

The Executioner Sword returned to his grasp mid-flight.

Then he descended toward James with terrifying speed.

James raised his blade immediately to meet the attack.

Steel clashed.

The entire arena echoed with the violent collision of metal.

James’s feet sank into the ground beneath the force of the blow.

A tremendous weight pressed against his arms as he struggled to hold the blade.

’His attack… is heavy!!’

It took every ounce of his strength—enhanced by Aura Armor—to stop the strike.

That realization unsettled him.

Ethan couldn’t even use Aura Armor.

Yet his physical strength was far from normal.

James didn’t know the truth.

Ethan’s body was not that of a human.

It was the body of a demon.

Still, James endured.

Immediately after blocking, he launched a counterattack.

Ethan had just descended from above.

For a brief second, he was suspended in the air.

And that moment left him completely exposed.

“You foolishly gave up your distance advantage!”

James shouted.

“Now you’re inside my range!”

He swung his blade horizontally, aiming straight for Ethan’s chest.

But the strike never landed.

Ethan’s body suddenly shot backward at incredible speed.

He had fired his grappling hook again, pulling himself away instantly.

The maneuver allowed him to dodge the attack.

But he left something behind.

A gift.

The Executioner Sword.

Still flying alone in the air.

SLASH!!

The blade struck James across his unprotected back, sending him crashing to the ground once again.

Yet once more, Aura Armor protected him from serious injury.

The Executioner Sword flew back into Ethan’s hand.

Meanwhile…

James had literally eaten dirt.

He rose again.

His ornate armor now covered in dust.

Rage burned in his eyes.

Ethan, however, had maintained the same rhythm since the beginning.

His crimson eyes glowed faintly as he activated the Eyes of the Wise Crow, analyzing his opponent completely.

’You don’t understand, James…’

’PvP wasn’t very common in Ordeal.’

’But when I was a player… I fought plenty of them.’

Ethan remembered those days.

The times when frustration from failing to beat the game drove him to hunt down other players instead.

He crushed them.

Every time.

They were the ones who had given him confidence.

Because he had never lost.

“Let me teach you how duels are won, James Heart.”

Ethan spoke calmly.

Then he released the sword before him.

The Executioner Sword began to spin.

Faster.

And faster.

Like a gigantic metallic bullet.

With every rotation, the air roared louder, the blade transforming into a spinning storm of steel that tore through space itself.

Everyone in the arena felt it.

The overwhelming surge of mana.

Without warning—

Ethan unleashed the ominous attack.

James couldn’t dodge.

The speed of the strike was too great.

He had no choice but to defend with his sword, relying entirely on Aura Armor.

The spectators held their breath.

The Executioner Sword collided with James’s blade …

and shattered it before their eyes.

The destructive force was overwhelming.

James’s sword exploded into fragments.

Still, it absorbed most of the impact.

That alone allowed him to survive the storm of steel through his Aura Armor—

even as the remaining force hurled him across the arena.

His body smashed violently into the distant wall.

Pain surged through him.

James couldn’t even catch his breath.

Because at that very moment …

a black iron grappling hook pierced the wall beside his head.

And Ethan was already pulling himself toward him at terrifying speed.

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