Inheriting the Novel

Chapter 146 : Return (2)

Return (2)

The Sacred Arms and Heaven-Slaying Arms are techniques that use angel's blood as a base to amplify the sensitivity to magic power, thereby boosting holy power within the body.

In my case, what replaces angel's blood is the Divine Blood.

Divine Blood itself possessed incredible holy power.

Heaven-Slaying Arms pushed the divinity within that Divine Blood to the limit, spreading it throughout the body and breaking through several limits of the physical body.

'On top of that, if I can use Deltode as well...'

Deltode's ability activated the body to the extreme, never getting tired.

If that combined with the power of Heaven-Slaying Arms, which far surpassed the body's limits...

'Even something like this is absolutely possible.'

Kuuuuung!

As I stepped forward, the entire Magic Tower, protected by magic, shook violently. Cracks spread like a spiderweb across the floor as I charged at Shagal, the demonkin, whose face showed utter dismay.

"What in the world did you do! How can a human have such power...!"

Shagal, flustered, brandished his greatsword to block my punch.

Perhaps before, that would have been enough to defend.

But not now.

Kwa-ja-ja-jak!

In an instant, my silver-tinged fist accelerated rapidly and shattered the greatsword like glass.

By weaving the techniques of the Hidden Star Sword with those of the Heaven's Holy Ultimate Art, I created a new technique.

Just as I had done with Silver Star Step, I was recreating it anew.

'Now, I get it.'

After surpassing several levels of the body's limits, I understood things I couldn't before. With my brain hyper-activated, and my insight heightened, I could do anything.

'I can see the path—even the wall I previously could not reach.'

The paths that had been hidden like mist opened up in an instant.

At the end of the path was a wall taller and sturdier than any I had seen before.

It was so daunting that merely challenging it felt frightening, but I had no intention of overcoming that wall just now.

To cross the wall, I had to first master the way to do so.

"Krrrk! What are you all doing! Kill this monster now!"

At Shagal's cry, the other demonkin, and Georg, a viscount-ranked demonkin, belatedly launched a joint attack.

Had I been an ordinary human, any one of their attacks would have reduced me to a pulp.

But I broke through them.

I swung the white blazing light gathered in my hand, crushing them.

The method was simple.

If I swung faster and stronger than the opponent, I would win.

"Aaargh! My hand is melting!"

"Be-careful! Don't touch the light coming from his body!"

I kicked the chest of the demonkin who charged at me, and the upper half of his body disappeared.

Dodging the attack of a demonkin from behind by tilting my head, I grabbed his neck and hurled him at the demonkin rushing at me from the right.

'Heavenly Lord.'

As the hurled demonkin blocked the others' sight, I stomped forward with stomping step and activated Heavenly Lord.

Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwang!

A pure white shockwave swept out, literally grinding down the enemies.

It was not the same power of Heavenly Lord that I had been using until now.

"T-that technique? No, it can't be. Surely not..."

Georg, seemingly recognizing the technique I had used, was visibly shaken.

In contrast, shagal seemed completely ignorant of Heaven's Holy Ultimate Art.

'Well, that doesn't matter, does it?'

Whether they knew or not, their fate was the same—death.

With Grancesia's insight eye, the ability to see the flow of all things, I wove those flows together in this world.

I gathered the magic and holy power flowing from my body, and recreated the incomplete paths anew.

Hidden Star Sword, dao Inscribed Sword, moon Severing Divine Sword, sunwheel Ascendant Heaven Sword.

And Heaven's Holy Ultimate Art.

I wove them all together and transformed them into something new.

Fwoooosh!

Flames burst from my arm.

In that state, I opened my palm and slowly lowered my raised hand toward the ground.

"D-damn it! Everyone get out of the way!"

Though Georg shouted urgently, it was already too late.

Heaven's Holy Ultimate Art, third Movement—Air Fang.

Modified for myself, I unleashed it toward the ground.

White flames spread in a circle—

KWA-AAAAANG!

With a massive explosion, the ground collapsed.

* * *

When I lifted my head, none of the demonkin were left alive. The flames of Air Fang, imbued with the mystery of the Sunwheel Ascendant Heaven Sword, instantly turned the demonkin to ash.

The only ones who could withstand the force were Shagal and Georg, both viscount-ranked demons, but even then, they were only barely holding their forms.

"T-this is impossible..."

Watching the two demonkin die, sputtering their last words, I slowly released Heaven-Slaying Arms.

"Keugh!"

At that moment, a shock like my insides being torn apart and a wave of dizziness crashed over me.

'So the duration is about five minutes, give or take?'

That's about as long as I could run Heaven-Slaying Arms and Deltode at the same time; if I used them separately, I could likely hold out a bit longer.

With the exhilaration of using Heaven-Slaying Arms gone, I could assess the situation more calmly.

"There is definitely a heavy burden on the body afterward, but..."

[Even so, this is plenty usable. And it'll be great when used for training.]

"Are you crazy? I'd end up dead if I used this for training."

The exhaustion I felt afterward was overwhelming, and my physical condition was far from good.

Using Heaven-Slaying Arms was honestly only viable at the last moment of a battle, or when absolutely necessary.

[When you use Heaven-Slaying Arms, your insight also activates to the extreme, right? You accomplish things you couldn't even grasp before, in an instant.]

"I could already sort of sense it... But it's true I managed to overcome things that used to trouble me right away."

I had even fused the mysteries of the Sunwheel Ascendant Heaven Sword into the Heaven's Holy Ultimate Art.

And through that process, I could see once more that Damian was truly following in the footsteps of Grancesia.

'I don't know if it's because Damian's feelings are wrapped up in it, but the techniques of the Sunwheel Ascendant Heaven Sword aren't limited just to the sword—you can even use them with your fists.'

Of course, using them with a sword is more effective and powerful, but that could be remedied by weaving it with Heaven's Holy Ultimate Art.

[So you should fix things like that while Heaven-Slaying Arms is activated.]

"Hey, how do you expect me to do this every day? I feel like I'm going to die from just doing it once. I'm starting to wonder if my lifespan's actually safe."

According to Pilla anyway, since it was my own original strength and not power implanted from an angel or from Pilla's blood, there should be no side effect like it shaving away my lifespan.

But right now, I already felt like my lifespan had been cut short by several years.

[You can use Maria's ability.]

'.......'

I hadn't thought of that.

Come to think of it, in a dream, I wouldn't feel any of this physical burden.

[Right? Then you'll get stronger even in the dream, and I'll be able to teach you even more... not that I'm just enjoying myself, of course.]

Giving a joyful explanation, Grancesia made me nod back with a complicated expression.

Didn't she just say she enjoyed the feeling of my power?

"Anyway... looks like things are settled over there, too."

When I glanced off into the distance, I could sense that things had quieted down near the domain, where explosions had been ringing out just moments ago.

The massive demonic energy vanished, and only the wild, beast-like magic power remained.

* * *

Finishing off the demonkin in Hinbert didn't take long.

Once Marvin took down the count-level demonkin, who could be considered the commander, and I defeated the two viscount-level demonkin, the rest panicked and tried to flee.

Of course, I was able to kill most of them, but a few got away since there were so many.

And since there were other demonkin hiding in the Dreistler family's domain too, Marvin had no choice but to return and conduct a large-scale search for demonkin.

"Thank you, Clay."

"No, this wasn't really much trouble."

The demonkin hiding within the Dreistler family were skilled at concealing their demonic energy, so I had to help.

No matter how well they hid their magic power, neither I nor Grancesia could be fooled.

So, while I stayed at the Dreistler family, I was able to clear out all the demonkin.

'But was this something that didn't happen in the original work? It's hard to say.'

There was no special episode set in the Dreistler family's domain.

But that could simply be because Fabian didn't come here in the original, so I couldn't be certain this was a deviation from the original.

At any rate, dreistler family's problem was now solved completely, so I thought it was done.

"I don't think there's anything left for me to teach you. I didn't expect your skills to improve this quickly."

"It was all thanks to your excellent instruction, Marvin."

I replied humbly, and Marvin snorted with a wry grin.

"No way, if you see my son, you'll realize that isn't the case. It's just that you're extremely talented. It makes sense that you could achieve that level at such a young age."

At Marvin's self-satisfied reasoning, I just shrugged.

'It was all thanks to using Heaven-Slaying Arms, though.'

The new insights I gained from using Heaven-Slaying Arms allowed me to raise my mastery of Heaven's Holy Ultimate Art so much faster.

"And Clay, it's not just you—she's also incredible. Are dragons all like that?"

"I don't think so. She's just naturally good at using her body."

We looked over to see Marvin's son, kaden, being thoroughly beaten by Mersaya.

Currently, Mersaya was fighting Kaden using only regular human abilities, all her dragon powers sealed.

Despite that, her skills had improved so much she could beat him one-sidedly.

[Teaching Heaven's Holy Ultimate Art to a dragon? Not a bad idea. I wonder if their bodies will be able to output holy power, too.]

'We'll see, won't we?'

Although she grumbled, Mersaya's skills had improved vastly during her stay with the Dreistler family.

Her punches, which looked like something only thugs would use, had finally assumed the form of proper martial arts, and her stamina grew considerably.

Perhaps of everyone at the Dreistler family, Mersaya improved the most.

'Maybe it's the influence of Heaven's Holy Ultimate Art, but her temperament seems much gentler too.'

[That's gentler? Well, there's some influence. Heaven's Holy Ultimate Art itself is focused on good, after all.]

It was natural that the technique would perform the best when using holy power.

"So, are you leaving right away?"

"No, there's still more for Mersaya to learn... and I also have one thing left to do."

"One thing?"

"Yes."

I smiled at Marvin's puzzled look.

"If I use the Eye of Shimosha's power, I think I can help you too."

Grancesia had said so.

That Marvin was right at the cusp of a breakthrough, and that if she helped just a bit, he could overcome it.

'If Marvin moves up a level with this...'

He would definitely be a huge help in battles to come, so I wanted to build up some credit in advance.

Marvin was not the sort of person to forget a favor.