Chapter 9 As It Came to an End

The next time their sword collided, Rion raised his sword and felt the brimming of spirit energy flowing smoothly throughout his body before it settled and he channeled it onto his sword.

When the metal and ice sword met in the air, the demonic energy and spirit energy also smashed against each other. Its huge impact created a big explosion between those two different species of individuals.

Valienne gritted her teeth and tried to stand on her feet when that blast of mixed energies hit her twice stronger than the energy she let out. But no matter how much she tried to stay, the impact still threw her balance off and blew her several meters away.

The blast of their mixed energies not only affected both of them but also the surrounding area. Rion didn't have the time to dodge or jump away before the blast, so he settled in forming a protective barrier around himself to prevent the impact from those energies from hurling him away like a puppet with its string cut.

When the wind stopped and the dust subsided, Rion could see how the entire area, with a range at least a hundred meters from where he was standing, was completely demolished. As if there were at least three giant typhoons combined and ravaging the place.

He flexed his hand with a slight furrow on his brows. This was the reason Rion was always careful to rein in his power. But if he didn't meet Valienne's blow with equal power, he would've gotten quite an injury.

He wouldn't be surprised if the blast of their energies just now was strong enough to be felt by all the sword masters and demons in the entire area.

Rion glanced in the direction where he kept Ruby in a protective barrier. He hoped the collision of their energies just now was enough to mask Ruby's uncontrollable, strong waves of demonic energy.

He needed to settle everything before anyone else could see Ruby's condition. It wouldn't do anything good for her if there was another sword master saw a human, an apprentice of a righteous swordsmanship academy, actually had the blood of a demon they considered the enemy.

The frown deepened on his face when the possibilities of what would happen passed in his mind.

They wouldn't let Ruby go. They would lock her up at a place with the highest level of security they could find in the human realm. They would never let his apprentice see the sunlight ever again. And Rion wouldn't be allowed to come to see her. They would do an observation on her. An experiment even. They would torture her, try to pry some truth she didn't have. They would feed her all kinds of poisons and medicines. Just to see what would be the most potent thing that could harm the great celestial demons.

They wouldn't let her die. Instead, they would drag out her life in miserable, painful, endless torture.

Rion felt a breath stutter in his chest as the awful image was pictured in his mind. He couldn't let such a thing happen. He wouldn't allow it.

He needed to take Ruby away from this place as soon as possible.

Rion waved his hand to remove the barrier around him. His brows set in a grim determination. He might not be certain about Valienne's grey position in this attack, but he needed to end this fight.

He was about to step forward when Valienne busted out of the rubble, where she was buried after the blast and lunged again at him. There was blood, darker and much thicker than human's, trickled down slowly on the side of her temple. Rion narrowed his eyes when he saw the cold glint in her eyes before her ice sword slashed at him with a heavy force of demonic energy.

Rion met the attack dead on. Using his own blade to stop Valienne's and countered her demonic energy with his spirit energy. The explosion between them was smaller this time as each of their attacks was more focused, but it was no less severe if only it met its target.

Rion flicked his wrist and dislodged Valienne's sword from his, then thrust it forward. His move was a beat faster this time than Valienne. The ice demon bent her upper body back. Rion's sword met nothing other than empty air.

Valienne flicked her wrist. A giant spike of ice formed on Rion's head, but when it fell down with a speed that intended to crush his head, he blasted it with his spirit energy. Valienne didn't give him any time to even breathe, but Rion didn't need to. He let his instinct take over and he raised his hand without much thinking to block her sword.

They exchanged blow after blow, blasting demonic and spirit energy against each other. Their fight was much more intense, much stronger than in the beginning, because Rion stopped dodging every attack and just met them all dead on with his own power.

Valienne managed to strike the left side of his stomach. Rion grunted shortly, but he didn't even glance at his wound as he returned the attack and slashed a long gash on Valienne's left arm.

They didn't stop even for a second.

If anyone saw their fight from the side, they would think it was more like a sword dance than a fight because of how wonderfully precise their moves were. With Valienne's graceful moves and Rion's strong advances, also the flash of light and occasional explosion from the blast of demonic energy and spirit energy gave an even more mystifying effect.

It might be the most dangerous and deadly sword dance if only they were both doing a performance. If there were anyone else in that place right now, they would've been stunned in their place before they could do anything else.

But, whether it was a performance or a fight, both would eventually come to an end. Eventually, one person would make a small mistake and the other wouldn't waste the time to take it as an opportunity.

Valienne threw a giant ice boulder at him again, and instead of slicing it with his sword, he simply blasted it with his spirit energy. Unfortunately for Valienne, her position was too close that the blow of that energy hurled pieces of broken ice at her. Valienne was about to dodge, but the tiredness of their fight had started to get a hold of her. Her foot slipped on a stump and the blast of spirit energy mixed with ice crashed into her mercilessly.

She fell back with a pained gasp that turned into a punched-out noise when Rion pressed his knee hard on her upper stomach. One of his hands gripped down Valienne's wrist until she let go of her blade, and the other wielding his own sword. Its sharp tip reflected the sun before Rion drove it down quickly toward her heart.

Rion's face, back-lighted by the sun above, was colder than any ice Valienne could summon.