"Bang!"
This is a punch squarely to the chest.
"Bang!"
This is a punch directly to the abdon.
"Bang!"
This is a punch slamming into the side ribs.
"Bang!"
This is a punch driving into the shoulder.
"Bang!""Bang!""Bang!""Bang!""Bang!"...
Chasing after the airborne Claude, Reiger was like a Martial God incarnate, his fists flying out in succession, pounding Claude from different angles, different trajectories, different directions, with punches like roaring winds, chaotic fist shadows, and a form that seed both demonic and illusory, causing Claude’s entire body to tremble fiercely, as if struck by Thunder Strike.
Claude wanted to resist, to retaliate, but whenever he lifted his sword-wielding hand, Reiger’s elbow strike would fall on his arm, pounding it down. Even when he tried to unleash the ghostly cold brilliance to create an ice explosion, his intentions would be seen through by Reiger, who would then backhand a punch to his chest, causing his Magic Power to go chaotic on the spot.
At that mont, Reiger was treating Claude like a training dummy, showcasing exquisite physical techniques, alternating between punches, elbow strikes, palm pushes, and backhand smashes in a relentless combo, leaving Claude utterly disoriented.
Adding to the misery, Reiger’s power was enhanced by the [Earth Mother’s Power], making each punch and palm strike so powerful that Claude only wanted to cough up blood, his internal organs feeling as if they were displaced.
"Bang!"
Finally, with a square fist to Claude’s face, this brutal chain of attacks ca to an end.
Claude crashed heavily onto a block of ice rock, shattering it while coughing up blood repeatedly.
His body ached everywhere.
Every piece of flesh felt as if it were not his own, as if it might fall off at any mont.
"Swish!"
Yet Reiger seed insatiable, darting down from midair.
"Aaaaaaaaaah...!"
Claude roared, mustering his remaining strength, and rolled away desperately.
"Boom!"
Reiger’s punch from the air missed, hitting the ground instead, shattering it and sending snowflakes and rock fragnts flying everywhere.
Even so, Reiger suddenly spun, his form flashing unstoppably to Claude’s side, launching a whistling kick that landed heavily on Claude’s waist.
"Pfft!"
Claude spewed a mouthful of blood, his body arcing through the air like a kite with a broken string, before crashing into the snow, rolling dozens of ters away.
"Cough cough..."
Lying in the snow, Claude coughed up blood continuously, his consciousness growing fuzzy.
As a Sword Saint, he probably never imagined he would one day be beaten like this with fists.
He could no longer stand, or even feel the pain in his body, with no trace of resentnt or anger left in his heart, only sheer terror.
Being beaten to death... This was nothing short of a nightmare!
"Shh..."
Soon after, the sound of footsteps moving in the snow was heard again.
Feeling that demon’s approach, Claude truly wanted to back away this ti.
But the intense pain across his body made it impossible, forcing him to watch helplessly as that figure appeared before him, looking down from above.
"How does it feel?"
Reiger’s tone was as relaxed as if he had just finished a warm-up.
And indeed, wasn’t that the case?
After all, this terrifying man hadn’t even drawn his sword.
"I learned this combat art from two female warriors of the sa faction, mixed with so application techniques of the Wind’s Breath, surely it should be practical in real combat."
The man said with a light laugh.
"In that case, can you calm down a bit?"
Upon hearing this, Claude nearly lost his composure.
Is it I who am not calm?
Clearly, you were the one who released the killing intent first!
"You... what exactly do you want?"
Claude could only squeeze out this question with difficulty.
But...
"Isn’t this sothing I should be asking you?" Reiger squinted his eyes and said, "What are you trying to do? Why do you keep sending people to attack Cleria?"
"Even you, as a Sword Saint of the Tistis Kingdom, have made a move. There must be so secret I don’t know about, right?"
"You can choose to tell yourself, or you can choose to let find out."
"Of course, if I find out myself, you might not be able to leave unscathed."
Hearing these words filled with a calm yet threatening tone, Claude was both shocked and angry.
Yet, he was more shocked than angry.
No choice.
"You, you don’t know about the ’puppet’?"
Claude was genuinely surprised.
"Puppet?"
Reiger seed to be pondering over Claude’s words.
Is Cleria a ’puppet’?
Co to think of it, indeed she is...
"Cleria Michelle, that woman is a vessel used to bear Yanifet?"
Reiger’s words made Claude show a look of confusion for the first ti.
"Yanifet?" Claude reflexively asked, "Who is that?"
"...You don’t know Yanifet?" Reiger frowned and said, "It’s the other consciousness within the ’puppet’ you ntioned."
Upon hearing this, Claude was even more astonished.
"Is that her true na? She actually told you her true na?" Claude, after a mont of shock, mumbled with a complex expression, "Well, if even soone like you isn’t qualified to know her true na, then no one in this world would be."
"Yanifet... huh?"
"A na that the kingdom couldn’t discover for hundreds of years was now easily known by a foreign Sword Saint..."
Claude’s expression was so complex that he ended up laughing.
"What irony."
His words, tinged with self-mockery, didn’t move Reiger.
"You all don’t know her true na?"
Reiger was sowhat surprised.
"...Perhaps only her kin in this world know her true na?" Claude, after a mont of silence, sneered and said, "Who knows how overpowering and domineering she is?"
"In her eyes, if you’re not soone she acknowledges, you have no right to know her true na."
"Not just , even the princesses and princes of the current royal family probably don’t know her true na. It’s still unknown whether the current queen knows it."
"Only soone young and strong like you might earn her recognition and learn her true na?"
Indeed, at first, Yanifet was unwilling to say even a single word to Reiger, and attacked him directly.
It wasn’t until Reiger displayed his strength and defeated her that Yanifet changed her attitude and revealed her na.
"No wonder I’ve never heard of ’Yanifet’ before. This explains it."
Reiger tilted his head and smiled at Claude.
"But you haven’t said why you keep attacking Cleria."
Upon hearing this, Claude fell silent.
This was a refusal to cooperate.
"...Do you want to die?"
The smile on Reiger’s face faded.
"I don’t." Claude said, his face sneering repeatedly, "But I am still a knight. Although not directly affiliated, just a cooperative relationship, I won’t betray others."
"Go ahead and kill if you must. You’re stronger now; I lost to you, so if I die, I die."
"Just a bit unwilling, unable to take revenge on that hateful woman."
After saying this, Claude closed his eyes and waited quietly for death.
This instead made Reiger a bit troubled.
Unlike previous attackers, the person before him was the highest combat power of the Tistis Kingdom, a bearer of the Earl title and Sword Saint dal, holding a position of high status in this country.
Killing insignificant attackers wouldn’t provoke retaliation against a Sword Saint from their backers.
But killing Claude, causing the Tistis Kingdom to lose a valuable Sword Saint, the kingdom would not let it rest.
And Reiger still had things to do in this country and couldn’t afford to turn against it for now.
So... to kill or not to kill?
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