"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 Jas’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 chanical fingers.
"Co on. Attack ."
"Or would you prefer that I take the first step?"
Jas ground his teeth.
"That cursed Blessing of yours won’t help you..."
"...against true power!"
With a violent kick against the ground, Jas 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 perford a move that stunned everyone watching.
He threw it.
Like a spear.
A massive tal spear.
The Executioner Sword shot straight toward Jas, catching him completely off guard.
But Jas’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?!"
Jas shouted furiously.
"Is that your plan?!"
"You’re a disgrace to knights!"
"A knight never abandons his weapon!"
Jas 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.
Jas 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.
anwhile, the sword returned to Ethan’s hand on its own.
"Telekinesis..." Jas 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 Jas.
"You look worried."
"You know what would have happened just now if it weren’t for your Aura Armor..."
"...don’t you?"
Jas’s face darkened.
He knew exactly what Ethan ant.
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 once," Jas said, regaining his composure as he stood upright again.
"I’m aware of your annoying ability now."
"That sa trick won’t work twice."
"Oh really?" Ethan replied with a sharp smile.
His eyes were cold.
"Jas... 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 imdiately hurled the sword again.
The blade shot toward Jas like a projectile.
Jas knocked it aside instantly with his own weapon, sending it spinning upward.
"Don’t underestimate !"
he roared.
Then he froze.
Ethan was already flying toward him.
The mont 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 Jas with terrifying speed.
Jas raised his blade imdiately to et the attack.
Steel clashed.
The entire arena echoed with the violent collision of tal.
Jas’s feet sank into the ground beneath the force of the blow.
A trendous 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.
Jas didn’t know the truth.
Ethan’s body was not that of a human.
It was the body of a demon.
Still, Jas endured.
Imdiately after blocking, he launched a counterattack.
Ethan had just descended from above.
For a brief second, he was suspended in the air.
And that mont left him completely exposed.
"You foolishly gave up your distance advantage!"
Jas 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 sothing behind.
A gift.
The Executioner Sword.
Still flying alone in the air.
SLASH!!
The blade struck Jas 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.
anwhile...
Jas had literally eaten dirt.
He rose again.
His ornate armor now covered in dust.
Rage burned in his eyes.
Ethan, however, had maintained the sa 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, Jas...’
’PvP wasn’t very common in Ordeal.’
’But when I was a player... I fought plenty of them.’
Ethan rembered those days.
The tis when frustration from failing to beat the ga drove him to hunt down other players instead.
He crushed them.
Every ti.
They were the ones who had given him confidence.
Because he had never lost.
"Let teach you how duels are won, Jas Heart."
Ethan spoke calmly.
Then he released the sword before him.
The Executioner Sword began to spin.
Faster.
And faster.
Like a gigantic tallic 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.
Jas 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 Jas’s blade ...
and shattered it before their eyes.
The destructive force was overwhelming.
Jas’s sword exploded into fragnts.
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.
Jas couldn’t even catch his breath.
Because at that very mont ...
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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