The Reincarnated Assassin is a Genius Swordsman - Chapter 1018

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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Chapter 1018

“Hmm….”

I rotated my wrist as I examined Heekyuk Je’s Training Ground.

‘Not bad at all.’

The floor was well-packed, and the equipment was maintained so meticulously it looked unused.

Unlike Heekyuk Je’s Castle, which was shabby compared to an ordinary noble’s mansion, the Training Ground was maintained to the highest standard—rivaling even Zigheart’s.

Heekyuk Je hadn’t forgotten the crucial aspects for maintaining the image of the Divine Continent Five Regions, managing every detail with meticulous care.

‘All of it done out of concern for others’ perceptions and rumors. But….’

I frowned as I watched Heekyuk Je nervously gnawing at her fingernails.

‘The person herself has become strange.’

The Heekyuk Je I knew was a loach-like woman who maintained cold rationality in any moment and seized advantages.

But she could no longer read the heavenly signs, and she’d even forgotten her greatest strength.

Now she seemed unable to properly judge what she could do and what she should do.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say her soul had been consumed by the ability to read heavenly signs.

-That’s right.

Wrath nodded as he observed Heekyuk Je.

-The ability to know the future is tremendous power and authority. It’s not strange that she’s crumbling. In the Demon Realm, there are demons who collapsed from overconfidence in their ability to read heavenly signs.

He snorted, mentioning that such demons existed in the Demon Realm.

—But to be satisfied with a future already predetermined? How utterly frustrating these beings are. Destiny holds meaning only when one carves it with their own hands!

Wrath clicked his tongue in exasperation at such weakness.

‘Hmm….’

I narrowed my eyes as I watched Wrath rage against Heekyuk Je’s powerlessness.

‘Is my immunity to heavenly fortune because of this creature?’

In my previous life, I possessed no ability to alter destiny.

The creation of the title 【One Who Turns the Wheel of Fate】 suggested that either the Ring of Fire or Wrath had granted me the power to reshape the future.

—Like the True Demon King, who shattered destiny through his own strength and ascended to the sovereign’s throne, such an exalted being would….

As I passed the time listening to Wrath’s self-aggrandizing speech, the Training Ground door opened and Bridget entered.

Her eyes blazed with irritation, as though something displeased her.

‘Now that I think about it, she seems a bit strange too.’

She wouldn’t normally display her emotions so openly.

Whether influenced by Heekyuk Je’s fractured mind or not, Bridget appeared different from her usual self.

—What nonsense! You’re the strangest one of all!

Wrath waved his hand, telling me to reflect on myself.

—More arrogant and impatient than usual, I’d say!
‘That was intentional.’

I brushed Wrath’s hand away with a thin smile.

—Intentional, you say?
‘I wanted to draw out the hidden strength Bridget conceals.’

The Bridget I’d observed before was taciturn and despised those lacking manners. To provoke her, I deliberately adopted an arrogant tone and cornered her with my words.

-For someone like that, you speak in formal language unlike before?
‘Speaking in formal language from the start makes them angrier anyway.’
-Ha, you calculated all of that?

Wrath exhaled in disbelief, shaking his head.

-You never let anything slide, do you?

He shook his head vigorously, tired of my scheming.

“You seem ready. Let us begin.”

Akgeomhu placed her hand on the sword hilt at her waist, signaling the start of the duel.

Shing.

I drew the Heavenly Sword from its sheath, my eyes narrowing to slits.

‘Nothing seems different?’

Even in combat stance, Akgeomhu appeared no different from when I saw her in the Conference Hall. She still seemed at roughly the same level as Guisalchang.

‘Well, I’ll know once we fight.’

There was no way to understand more without crossing blades directly with Akgeomhu, so I raised the Heavenly Sword into position.

“Come.”

I invited her forward, my fingers twitching against the Heavenly Sword’s grip.

Boom!

Akgeomhu needed no further words and charged forward, shattering the Training Ground beneath her feet. Her fingertips flashed like lightning, and a silver blade was already upon me. A supreme draw—it felt as though a sword was rising from within a fractured dimension itself.

‘Fast and sharp. A master’s single strike. But…’

I can see it.

Akgeomhu unleashed swordsmanship imbued with transcendent power, yet it did not exceed the level I had anticipated.

Whoooooosh!

I resonated nine rings of fire. Time seemed to freeze as the flow of air and mana slowed, and I could feel Bridget’s blade strike approaching with such clarity that it seemed to brush against my skin.

Boom!

Operating Manhwagong at its peak, I drew two circles with the Heavenly Sword. Flames rising along the blade took the shape of a curved wave, blocking Bridget’s strike.

Manhwagong Heavenly Fire Flame Sea Unbroken.

The swordsmanship of Manhwagong, which perfectly harmonized offense and defense, shattered Bridget’s blade strike without hesitation.

Screeeech!

Bridget retreated ten steps back along with her gracefully extended sword. The deep footprints she left on the Training Ground floor revealed that she hadn’t properly absorbed the impact of Flame Sea Unbroken. It was a clear difference in power.

‘Her power is not much different from what appears.’

Bridget was a transcendent who had mastered numerous sword techniques to their limits, but she was hardly a difficult opponent for someone who had learned ten thousand swords.

Rather, Heekyuk Je was far more dangerous. Her offensive with sorcery woven around her would surely be effective against me.

“Will you continue?”
“Of course!!”

Bridget, as if provoked, cried out that she hadn’t even started yet and unleashed a blade strike from where she stood.

Ting!

A tiny circle extending from the sword’s edge. Within a dot thinner than a single strand of hair lay all the extremity she had accumulated as a swordmaster.

‘It’s a sword technique of a different caliber. However….’

I can feel it.

The sword technique Bridget unfolded struck toward my chest faster than sound, but its flow had already not escaped my sixth sense.

Clang!

Raon extended his wrist forward, unleashing the same piercing thrust as Bridget.

The thrust, repeated countless times since childhood, traced a crimson line through the air without the slightest tremor, like the brushstroke of a master painter who dominated an era.

Heavenly Thunder Technique, Crimson Sun Strike.

As point collided with line, a scarlet fissure tore through space itself.

Yet the clash was brief. The Crimson Sun Strike, born late but connected to a single thread of lightning, shattered Bridget’s sword strike and sliced cleanly past her waist.

“Mm….”

Bridget bit her lip thinly in surprise, observing the waist where her clothes and skin had been scorched.

“Didn’t you say I could die?”

Raon laughed, gazing at the ground beneath his feet where not a single mark had appeared.

“This is tedious. Why don’t you show me your true power?”
“Don’t rush me. I haven’t warmed up yet.”

Bridget twisted her lips and gripped the end of her sword. Like a cavalry charge with a lance, she drew her arm far back and rushed toward him.

Whoooooosh!

Black radiance bloomed above Bridget’s blade as if containing the universe itself. It was the technique of the Spatial Sword—expressing the cosmos through the blade.

“Hssss.”

Raon steadied his breath and intensely ignited the flames of Manhwagong. The fire rising from the blade burned in a deep golden hue, drawing the mysterious form of a sword.

Raon Zigheart’s sword technique.

The seventh type of emptiness star.

The golden flame brilliantly incinerated Akgeomhu’s sword strike, which was attempting to construct the universe, like a star’s explosion, then fell toward her neck.

Kyaaaang!

Akgeomhu, befitting a high-tier transcendent, read the movements of the Void Slash even amidst the exchange and attempted to retreat while defending.

But my eyes and hands were already reading her movements.

Ching!

With the fluidity of Taewhasa Sambo, I clung to Akgeomhu before shattering her defense with the sharpness of Gwang-ah Sword.

“Kugh!”

Akgeomhu bent her knees and waist slightly, deflecting the thrust of Gwang-ah Sword aimed at her chest, then used that rebound to unleash an extreme thrust toward my chest.
This sword technique also appeared to be a Superior Sword, as a beautiful black radiance rippled across the blade.

Clang!

I extended my left foot forward. At a distance close enough to feel Akgeomhu’s breath, I unfolded Frost Chain with full power.

Boom!

The two blades imbued with Demon King’s frost struck through the cosmos and came to rest quietly before Akgeomhu’s neck.

Five moves. That was the number of sword techniques I had used to suppress Bridget.

“Huh…?”

Even Heekyuk Je widened his eyes, apparently not expecting Akgeomhu to be suppressed in five moves.

“Ah, Akgeomhu…?”
“Impossible! Just five moves!”
“T-the difference is far greater than we thought…”
“No!”

The swordsmen of Mugeomgak and the warriors of Baekgyeong trembled with their jaws quivering in shock at the result of the duel.

“Akgeomhu in five moves?”
“F-five moves is being generous. If that monster had decided to, it would have ended in a single strike.”
“A handsome monster…”

Burren, Martha, and Lunan swallowed hard, unable to believe the duel with Akgeomhu had ended in just five moves.

“This is….”

I lifted Akgeomhu’s chin slightly with the blade of the Heavenly Sword, my brow furrowing.

“Is this truly all you possess?”
“Of course not!”

Akgeomhu shook her head, biting her lip.

“To be honest, in your current state, there is nothing you could do to defeat me.”

I shook my head firmly. Akgeomhu likely possessed additional sword techniques and secret arts, but at her present level, she could never overcome me.

“For someone who warned that I could die, you’re showing remarkably little.”

It wasn’t mockery. I genuinely wanted to understand what she meant by those words.

‘Did Grandfather misjudge?’

Though I trusted Glen above all others in matters of martial prowess, this time I could only think he had gravely underestimated Akgeomhu.

“I want to show you properly, but right now I can’t….”

Akgeomhu muttered incomprehensible words and lowered her head.

“This is my full strength at present.”

She ground her teeth audibly, as if furious with herself.

“Hmm….”

I widened my eyes, observing Akgeomhu’s unconcealed frustration.

‘What on earth….’
“That will suffice.”

Heekyuk Je sighed and stepped forward.

“Bridget, step back. When you think about it deeply, that isn’t your true power, is it?”

She shook her head, saying it was time to stop now.

“Hmm….”

Bridget lifted her head with a low groan. The furrow between her brows suggested she was withdrawing because of Heekyuk Je, but she didn’t seem satisfied with this outcome.

“Master of the Gwangpung Corps. I acknowledge it. We of the New Rising Powers will walk the path of the Five Emperors together….”

Heekyuk Je nodded, saying she would follow the Five Emperors’ path.

“No.”

Raon cut off Heekyuk Je’s words and raised the Heavenly Sword.

“Now it’s your turn to fight.”
“What do you mean….”
“Are you going to stamp your seal without even confirming what kind of person your ally is, or how much strength they possess, when you’ll be fighting together for a long time to come?”

He lowered his brows, questioning whether such a decision wasn’t far too passive.

“…I never intended to test you from the beginning.”

Heekyuk Je hesitated for a long moment before parting her lips.

“I should have made my decision when Sageomma died and the Black Tower collapsed.”

She shook her head, saying she had lost the ability to read fate and missed that crucial moment.

“I have no right to test someone like you….”
“How long have you been in this Training Ground?”

Raon pointed his finger down at the floor of the Training Ground.

“Pardon?”
“Have you ever fought another opponent or sparred?”
“….”

Heekyuk Je’s lips trembled as she looked at the well-packed floor of the Training Ground.

“Haven’t you trained—let alone sparred—in quite some time?”
“Hmm….”

She couldn’t answer, as if my suspicion had struck true.

“You’re both a sorcerer and a warrior. Sitting at a desk, grinding away with nothing but your mind—that’s how you deteriorate.”

I let out a scoff and shook my head.

“Don’t speak carelessly about her!”
Bridget gnashed her teeth, as if forbidding me from mocking Heekyuk Je. There was clearly something special between the two of them.

“Come at me.”

I ignored Bridget and beckoned Heekyuk Je with a flick of my finger.

“I’ll shatter the boulder crushing your soul.”
“Are you serious?”
“I’m always serious.”

I tilted my chin arrogantly, declaring this was her last chance to overcome the heart demon.

-Why do you intend to fight this woman?

Wrath narrowed his eyes, questioning my reasoning.

‘We need a clever fox, not a broken hound.’

There was no point in obtaining Heekyuk Je in such a shattered state. Right now, she held no value as either a warrior or a strategist.
Now that the New Rising Powers had fallen into the Five Emperors’ embrace, I needed to awaken her fractured spirit so she could return to her true self.

“Very well. Truth be told, I….”

Heekyuk Je bit her lip until blood flowed.

“I wanted to release this frustration.”

She scraped her foot roughly against the ground, as if ready to begin.

“I won’t concede the first strike.”

I told Heegyukje to come at me with full power, aiming the Heavenly Sword at her throat.

“Haaaaah….”

As Heegyukje wove her incantations with both hands, her entire body was engulfed in colorless light.

Boom!

As she kicked off the ground and charged forward, I felt a massive mass of mana bearing down as if to swallow me whole.

Crack, crack, crack, crack!

She unleashed a fist wreathed in colorless mana with brutal force. It was a stark contrast to her usual composed demeanor—crude and savage in its execution.

Boom, boom, boom, boom!

Yet its power was anything but simple. Her fist shattered the Heavenly Sword’s defense and tore through, scraping my skin raw.

“I’ll take it.”

I bared my teeth in a grin and raised a powerful sword strike to meet her fist without yielding.

Blade and fist collided head-on, drawing a crimson line that seemed to split heaven and earth.

Crash!

* * *

Crack, crack, crack, crack!

Heegyukje gritted her teeth, unleashing relentless fists infused with both sorcerous power and aura.

‘He’s blocking all of this?’

I received her onslaught—an assault that could be called my full power—without taking a single step back. It was clear I intended to fight her strength against strength until the very end.

‘Is this man really that child from back then?’

The young swordsman who once toyed with him on his tongue had become a great swordsman standing not behind him, but beside him as an equal.

‘When I first saw him, he was already a Master.’

Not even a few years had passed since then, yet now he stood on equal footing with me.

‘A genius. No—this isn’t even a monster. This is a Demon Lord.’

Heekyuk Je’s jaw trembled as he watched Raon carve away at his spiritual power with flames and push back his aura with frigid cold.

‘What was I doing while this child ascended to transcendence?’

I had vowed to gain advantage between the Six Emperors and Five Demons, to build a great force that would not yield to either. Yet in reality, I had accomplished nothing.

I merely watched like a rat, unable to even pick up the scraps of cheese that fell.

‘And on top of that….’

Ever since I could no longer see the Heavenly Destiny, I had merely breathed and stood in place. Every single day, I brainwashed myself with the thought, ‘I am merely waiting. I am waiting in silence for a better opportunity.’ I was confined to my office like a cripple.

But the child standing before me had risked his own life, broken through countless hardships, and accumulated power and experience that did not yield to me. As I felt this difference with my own skin, I felt nausea as if I were looking at my own ugliness in a mirror.

“Krraaaaaaah!”

Heekyuk Je unleashed a scream rather than a battle cry, throwing his full power into a punch. It was an offensive move filled with emotion—something he would never normally do. It was far too easy to counter or evade, yet Raon received every single punch while blood dripped from his lips.

“Come at me harder.”

Raon grinned refreshingly as if it still wasn’t enough, tilting his chin invitingly.

‘The Heavenly Destiny….’

Looking at Raon, who was far more mature than himself, the day he read his Heavenly Destiny came to mind.

The sight of blood meant to express the future breaking free from the Lunar Eclipse Scripture of its own will was certainly terrifying.

But when he met Raon’s clear eyes, that terror began to look like conviction and will to carve out one’s own destiny.

‘Perhaps the Heavenly Destiny—no, perhaps the future itself—is not what matters.’

Heavenly Destiny was merely one path, and the thought that what mattered most was the will that person possessed clawed at my fractured mind like a revelation.

‘Yes. That was right.’

I had been too deeply consumed by the ability called Heavenly Destiny.

Until now, I had prioritized a predetermined future over my own will and convictions. That was no different from casting my soul into the abyss.

Roooaarrr!

Heekyuk Je felt the headaches that had plagued her mind wash away cleanly as she swung her fists endlessly.

The chaotic flow of her fist strikes and sorcery began to settle quietly like the waves of a vast ocean.

* * *

Thud!

Raon stopped his fierce barrage of punches and exhaled softly as he watched Heekyuk Je, who had become rigid as a statue in that spot.

‘An epiphany?’

It seemed Heekyuk Je had achieved an enlightenment while pouring her fists upon him.

‘I was just trying to lift her spirits, not grant her an epiphany….’

I had only intended to pull her out of the abyss, yet the moment Heekyuk Je grasped my hand, she immediately rushed into a clothing store and began purchasing new clothes, bags, and shoes. It was honestly absurd.

But it wasn’t bad. Heekyuk Je was someone who understood gratitude, so there would be more ways to use this favor in the future.

‘I should extract a substantial reward for this.’

As Raon quietly smiled and was about to withdraw from Heekyuk Je, his eyes met those of Bridget, who was leaning her back against the wall of the Training Ground.

“Huh…?”

Raon swallowed hard as he gazed into Bridget’s cold, sharp eyes.

‘What is that?’

The same face, the same body, the same aura—yet this woman was not the person I had crossed blades with moments ago. An entirely different essence emanated from her.

“You…”

Raon stepped forward protectively in front of the entranced Heekyuk Je, his sword leveled at Bridget.

“Who are you.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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