'Damn…' Azel blinked as his vision adjusted to the sunlight.

He had already left the entire underground section of the tower, and the strangest part was that he didn't even have to be careful.

There was no movement in the building.

In fact, there wasn't a single living thing anywhere near the tower grounds.

It was like the entire place had been evacuated or abandoned overnight.

"Elarielle wasn't kidding," Azel muttered under his breath. "They're not even around the castle anymore. They could be anywhere on the island… except the main Academy grounds."

But that wasn't the thing that shocked him most… What caught his eye was something even more absurd.

He had already left the grounds and was now roaming a small forest nearby and he found someone meditating… right in the open.

Velkin sat cross-legged at the base of a tall tree with her head slightly bowed as if this island wasn't currently crawling with death and nightmares.

'Are these people insane?' Azel thought. 'Who meditates in the middle of a cursed island like this is safe? Doesn't anyone know how to keep their guard up?'

He narrowed his eyes as he sensed her corrupted mana.

It was familiar… almost identical to the corruption he felt from Nari before dying.

'So she's one of Nari's warriors… or at least something tied to her.' He sighed softly. 'Whatever. I'll get the first strike in.'

He lifted his bone sword that was still slick with his own blood from before and circulated divinity throughout his body.

The sensation was intoxicating.

His body felt far lighter and every breath carried warmth through his veins.

"What the hell…" he murmured under his breath. "This shit is addictive."

The divinity flowed through him like a second heartbeat, but unlike mana or aura, it felt far more potent though it was equally as limited.

He could sense the cap on how much he could release. If he tried pushing too much at once, his body felt like it would shatter.

But it didn't matter.

He only needed enough to kill one curse.

He shot forward instantly, leaving a crater behind him as he closed the distance in a single breath.

Velkin didn't even have time to open her eyes.

Azel thrust the bone sword straight through her chest. The blade pierced cleanly through her torso, spraying blackened blood and corrupted essence behind her.

Velkin's eyes bulged open in shock as she was launched backward. Her body smashed into the thick trunk behind her, cracking the bark and sinking half-way into it.

Her hands trembled as she clutched at the hole in her chest, corrupted mana bubbling like tar around the wound.

"…How…?" she hissed, staring at Azel with disbelief.

Her voice trembled as her flesh slowly began stitching itself back together. "How are you alive? Do you have any idea what you've done?! Two of my clones are on Import—"

"Aren't you Vera?" Azel interrupted casually, tilting his head.

Velkin froze.

Azel sighed and flicked the blood off his sword. He recognized her after all Reinhardt was supposed to meet her later.

Since she had lost her hands and legs, she had gotten them replaced by mechanical parts and was hired to kill the leaders of the great clans…

Velkin's eyes widened further. "How do you know my human name?"

"I was a fan," Azel replied simply as he rested the bone sword on his shoulder. "It's sad seeing the strongest swordswoman in the Aegis Empire reduced to… well, this."

For a brief moment, Velkin's expression twisted from shock into amusement.

Then she threw her head back and laughed, a harsh and corrupted sound that echoed across the forest as her cursed blade materialized over her hand.

"Fuck my past life," she snarled, lifting the sword onto her shoulder. "I feel so much better now. I feel alive. And any wound that can stop me from lifting this sword will heal immediately."

Her wicked smile widened as she pointed at him. "All my clones have seen since I got here are mages… and more mages… and more mages. Mages all over the damn place. Where are the swordsmen?! Where is the passion?! Where is the drive?! You wield a sword. So I'll give you the honor of a duel to the death."

"Not interested," Azel said flatly.

He waved his hand dismissively and even yawned, stretching his free arm behind his head.

"Sure, if you were still a swordswoman. But now you're a curse killing people left and right. You don't get to set the rules of anything."

Before he finished, he stepped aside effortlessly.

A violent slash of cursed mana ripped through where his body had been, continuing far and colliding with the building too.

A clean vertical line split through everything in its path…

Azel glanced at the destruction.

"Were you hurt?" he taunted.

For the first time, he understood why so many noble prodigies walked around dripping with arrogance.

Being this strong made it very, very easy to look down on others and the feeling of strength was very intoxicating.

Velkin licked her lips slowly before she spoke again. "I wonder how your body would taste in my mouth."

"How perverted."

She vanished.

Azel looked up and saw her descending with a massive overhead strike. He infused divinity into his blade and raised it.

When the two weapons met, her cursed sword shattered instantly, the fragments bursting into black particles.

Azel didn't wait.

He slashed in one smooth counter. Velkin threw her arms up out of pure instinct to protect her head.

He sliced clean through both hands, severing them instantly. She used the force of the impact to propel herself backward and crashed into another tree.

"You're a lot stronger than my boss described," Velkin admitted, shaking her head. "And you're using some strange kind of energy… it's clear you're out of my league."

Despite that, she regenerated her hands quickly, another sword forming in her grasp.

She settled into a stance again. "But my honor won't let me back down."

Azel didn't bother responding.

They both launched forward.

Their blades collided in a thunderous shockwave that sent several nearby trees flying out of the ground like uprooted weeds.

The ground split under the pressure as they both staggered back from the force.

Velkin lunged again, her sword glowing as she slashed at him.

She didn't commit fully to the slash so when Azel parried effortlessly, her blade didn't shatter this time but cracks formed on her it.

She sealed them up with cursed mana.

'First Style… Multi-Strike,' Velkin thought as her arms blurred.

Dozens of slashes rained down on Azel in less than a second, each one carrying enough force to shatter stone.

But Azel parried every single one with a smile on his face.

Velkin's eyes widened. 'What the fuck? How is he blocking all of them?!'

She leapt back, her bare feet digging into the dirt and then she split her form, separating into two identical bodies.

The two Velkins spread out and charged Azel from both sides.

Azel blinked once.

"Nice trick," he said.

He raised his sword toward the clone.

'What happens if I use divinity with my sword styles…?'

He pushed divinity into the technique.

'Third Style… Dragon Claw.'

A blazing white arc shot forward… it was not green but pure divinity compressed into a tearing slash.

It annihilated the clone instantly and continued straight through several trees in the distance, carving a trench deep into the earth.

Azel turned.

The real Velkin was already behind him, grinning wildly.

'Second Style… Complete Cut.'

Her body flickered like a phantom.

She sliced through Azel cleanly, bisecting him in a blur of motion.

She landed gracefully and stood with satisfaction.

In her mind, she had already won. Her technique had split him in half after all.

She turned to look at his body… and got kicked in the face.

Azel's foot collided with her cheek with a force that sounded like a small explosion, sending her flying through the air like a launched cannonball.

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