"A knight who never lost a battle. A man whose loyalty to Lunaris was so absolute that even the king regarded him as his right hand".
Having said all that, Reinhardt tilted his head.
"So tell sothing. Why would a man like that accept a demon heart? Why would he betray his own country and kill its king and his family so cold-bloodedly?"
Even though all the windows were closed, a cold breeze still passed by them, ruffling the drapes and the flag of Lunaris.
For a mont, Giacomo said nothing. Then all of a sudden, he started laughing loudly.
"Ha... HAHAHAHA!"
Although it was rude and even disrespectful to laugh at your opponent like that, Reinhardt could tell that the laughter wasn’t directed at him.
In fact, there was nothing joyful in it. Giacomo’s laughter was filled with mockery, regret, bitterness, and bone-deep self-ridicule.
After the laughter stopped, Giacomo slowly stood up. From his ssy strands of black hair that frad his face peeked his piercing crimson eyes.
"You really want to know?"
There was a strange emotion within those words.
Then, in front of Reinhardt, the fallen knight raised one hand and extended two fingers in a simple gesture.
A sign of duel, a tradition that had been carried on since ti immorial.
"If you want answers, then defeat ."
Giacomo’s crimson eyes glead with challenge. His ssage was clear: if Reinhardt wanted the truth, then he would have to earn it.
Reinhardt looked at the knight deeply. Then, after a while, he nodded his head.
Though before the battle started, he glanced at Cecilia beside him.
After considering sothing in his head, he took out an item from his [Dinsional Storage] that he had never used, or rather felt no need to, up until now.
From within the spatial circle erged a glowing halo.
It had sharp edges and a unique design that gave it an aura of both divinity and danger, like a divine ring that could just as easily beco a weapon.
This was one of the three items he got from Dioanax.
The other two are the Divine Sword- Solar Edge and Divine Armor- Celestial Vanguard.
Reinhardt gently released the halo in the air, and it gently settled above Cecilia’s head.
Then, before she could react, he turned around and walked towards Giacomo.
After stopping at an appropriate distance, he once again extended his hand and pulled out sothing from the [Dinsional Storage].
A brilliant radiant sword with an exquisite design and stellar trails following its long blade appeared in the hall.
The sword was none other than the Divine Sword- Solar Edge.
Then Reinhardt made the sa duel sign as Giacomo.
.
The air grew heavy as the two figures stood facing each other.
For several long seconds after the duel began, neither of them moved.
Reinhardt stood in his place, Solar Edge in his hands. Across from him, Giacomo stared at him intently, one hand resting on the hilt of his blade.
To an outsider, it might seem like nothing was going on. However, in reality, the duel had already begun.
Knights like them who had reached the level of heroes, could wage a battle even without moving from their place.
Breathing, muscle tension, the faint shift of weight in their stance, the sword grip. By reading the opponent’s various habits and motions, their next move could easily be predicted.
For knights like them, reading each other was as simple as breathing.
For a mont, the atmosphere grew suffocating. Even the air seed unwilling to move between them.
It was then... The first to move was Giacomo. He vanished from his spot. The marble floor beneath him shattered from his breakneck speed.
Almost the next instant, a sound of slicing wind ca from Reinhardt’s left.
CLANG...
Steel collided with steel in a burst of sparks so bright it lit the chamber.
Solar Edge intercepted Giacomo’s blade the instant it appeared before his throat.
Swish...
Giacomo changed his grip, and the balance of the swords shifted. The blade changed direction and charged towards Reinhardt’s chest.
However, before the blade could co anywhere near, Solar Edge was already upon Giacomo.
With heroic reflexes, he sidestepped the attack and vanished from his spot. Then once again, he appeared on another spot.
This ti, Reinhardt was prepared and kicked right where his figure erged.
Though in that split mont, Giacomo shifted his center of gravity and spun once, barely dodging the kick by a hair’s breadth.
From there, in the sa fluid motion, he stabbed towards Reinhardt.
CLANG...
The sword was parried.
But the attack did not stop there.
With a subtle shift in the sword grip and footwork, the trajectory of the sword repeatedly changed, attacking Reinhardt from tricky angles.
In the face of such a seamless chain of attacks, Reinhardt displayed his own sword mastery and techniques.
CLANG... CLANG... CLANG...
Their swords flashed again and again. Each strike landed with explosive force, sending bursts of sparks like miniature suns.
Their movents were so fast that even the afterimages struggled to keep up.
To Cecilia who was watching from a distance, the two looked like streaks of light colliding repeatedly in the middle of the throne room.
Each collision sent shockwaves through the hall. The impact was so powerful that Cecilia was thrown backward several ters by the violent pressure alone.
Seeing Giacomo attack with brutal precision, every thrust aid at arteries, joints, or the heart, her breath caught in her throat.
She had seen the knight nad Giacomo fight earlier. She had watched him slaughter the royal knights of Lunaris as if they were nothing. She knew how terrifying he was.
Yet to her astonishnt, the knight who ca to save her t such a terrible opponent head on. What’s more, he was doing it without falling into a disadvantage.
Every attack was parried, deflected, or countered with impossible smoothness.
BOOM!
Their blades collided again. The shockwave blasted apart the remaining pillars in the chamber.
Not only that, but the sheer pressure from their collision also crushed the stone floor.
Cecilia stumbled backward again, forced nearly thirty ters away.
Looking at the two knights fighting from afar, her eyes showed disbelief.
Was this really a match between two humans?
As Cecilia’s level was too low and she had never co in contact with an Extre Knight, much less a Hero, the fight normally seed incomprehensible to her.
However, if a high ranking knight were here, they would be able to see the truth imdiately.
Reinhardt wasn’t rely fighting on equal footing. He was controlling the entire tempo of the battle. Guiding and redirecting the pace to one that favored him.
Like a conductor leading an orchestra.
.
Giacomo lunged forward.
In the sa beat, Reinhardt tilted his blade slightly.
The strike slid off Solar Edge.
Then in a seamless [Transition], Reinhardt’s sword flickered forward.
CLANG...
A shallow cut opened across Giacomo’s shoulder. As blood sprayed across the air, Giacomo’s crimson eyes widened slightly.
The impact just now was not strong. Yet the sword could cut through his armor as if it were paper?
It needs to be said that the armor Giacomo wore was not ordinary. As one of the Paragons of Lunaris, he was naturally given the best resources, and the armor tailor-made for him was crafted with the best material.
Despite that, it could not mount any resistance against Reinhardt’s sword.
From this, it could be seen how sharp his opponent’s sword was.
A Holy Sword!
Giacomo ca to a realization and smiled.
"Heh..."
At this mont, he completely unleashed all his strength.
[One with the Sword], [Heart of the Sword], [Transition], [Limitless], [Embodint], [Dissonance & Convergence].
One by one, he unleashed all of his Transcendent States, reaching the pinnacle of his Sword Art [Absolute Stillness].
At this mont, he surpassed all of his limits.
Reinhardt faced the knight with the respect he deserved, and under the effects of the Divine Trait [Divine Rembrance], the insights and enlightennt of his countless battles flashed past his mind.
[One with the Sword], [Heart of the Sword], [Transition], [Limitless], [Embodint], [Dissonance & Convergence], [Void].
"[Holy Blade Arts]."
He slowly muttered under his breath.
With that, the atmosphere in the hall changed once again.
If previously a suffocating pressure had enveloped the room, now nothing remained. As if the pressure never existed in the first place.
From master swordsn, the two had suddenly beco ordinary. That was the only word Cecilia could think of.
However, ordinary did not an that they had beco weaker. No, in the state they were in, they had simply surpassed all understanding.
The pressure, the aura enveloping the room did not disappear; it simply beca a tool that was now being wielded by them.
Giacomo laughed gruffly, then spun his blade in a vicious arc aid at Reinhardt’s neck.
The latter ducked and swung his Solar Edge upwards.
CLANG... CLANG...
In the blink of an eye, they had already exchanged dozens of moves, their battle encompassing the entire hall now.
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