Chapter 21: The great battle of illusion(11)
Everyone in the arena couldn’t believe the sight before their eyes.
Shin Sungmin had been slammed into the edge of the barrier.
Not just anyone—Shin Sungmin.
He was hailed as the strongest among Korea’s young awakeners.
Yet, that very same man had been brought to such a state by a few punches from a guardian who had only recently come to light.
It wasn’t as if Shin Sungmin had gone easy on him. Even after achieving spirit fusion, he was consistently overwhelmed by Eclipse throughout the match.
In that first clash, some sharp-eyed spectators realized Shin Sungmin had effectively lost by judgment.
If Yoo Soha’s mana hadn’t been of the iron attribute, the match would have ended right there.
Knowing his sword would break and trusting his contractor was a good choice.
The way he countered Shin Sungmin’s sharp tactics, turning them against him and sending him flying far away, was nothing short of exhilarating.
“Could it be… Shin Sungmin lost?”
“No way.”
Such murmurs began to ripple through the crowd.
But the murmurs didn’t last long.
When Eclipse turned his gaze toward Yoo Soha, the audience witnessed it.
The brilliant flames blazing above Shin Sungmin.
How should one describe the scene unfolding before them?
A conflagration was raging?
That description would be fitting.
The inferno blazing over Shin Sungmin’s fallen body was growing larger by the moment.
[“Idiot. I told you to go all out from the start, and you still had to be so stubborn?”]
Within the inferno, Adein was grumbling incessantly.
The fact that she could speak in such a tone despite the recent impact suggested the blow hadn’t been too severe.
“…Ugh, haha. Still, I couldn’t help it. They say you trained Yoo Soha like that, so I thought I’d at least get a glimpse of your swordsmanship. Well, the gap was so wide I barely saw anything…”
[“Get up, you fool. Are you planning to advertise to the whole world that an S-rank awakener got thrashed by an A-rank awakener’s guardian?”]
“Alright, alright. Let’s get started.”
In an instant, Shin Sungmin’s demeanor changed.
His playful attitude vanished, replaced by a serious gaze fixed on Eclipse.
“This time will be different. I embarrassed myself by clinging to swordsmanship.”
With those words, Shin Sungmin leaped straight into the surging inferno in the air.
Eclipse watched the spectacle with some interest, but Yoo Soha’s expression was the opposite.
Cold sweat began to trickle down her back.
She recalled the full power he had unleashed when stopping the gate invasion before.
“…”
She stared at the mass of flames with hardened eyes, saying nothing.
The inferno grew in size, transforming in real-time.
In a fleeting moment, the flames took a shape everyone recognized.
A massive dragon.
Eclipse began to ponder something as he observed the form achieved through Shin Sungmin and Adein’s fusion.
While Eclipse was lost in thought, Yoo Soha felt her mind go blank, unsure of what to do.
When Eclipse had asked her about Shin Sungmin, she had believed he could defeat him.
But that was a grave miscalculation.
There’s a limit to strength—how was she supposed to fight a natural disaster like this?
[“Now we’re going all out. You dare slam me into the ground? You’re dead!”]
Adein’s enraged voice echoed through the arena as intense mana began to gather in her mouth.
She wasn’t a true dragon, but a high-ranking spirit from a world with dragons.
Naturally, she had once formed a contract with a dragon.
Having spent ages alongside dragons, Adein could mimic them to some extent—and she had chosen to do so now.
The mana, shimmering with flames and carrying the will of Shin Sungmin and Adein, shot toward Eclipse.
Yoo Soha’s face turned pale.
She hurriedly poured all her mana into summoning a shield in front of Eclipse, but it melted away in moments, unable to withstand the heat.
The inferno reached Eclipse’s face.
“Eclipse!”
Yoo Soha cried out instinctively, but Eclipse, as if just snapping out of his reverie, turned his head slightly to look at her and said,
“This should be enough to bring it out.”
“…What?”
Her stunned response came at his sudden words, but Eclipse silently placed his hand on the greatsword at his back.
The seemingly shoddy, broken greatsword was drawn.
In that moment, Yoo Soha couldn’t help but shudder at the chilling sensation.
It was as if an overwhelming fear coursed through her entire body.
Shoddy? That?
Nonsense.
It was something far beyond human comprehension.
Yoo Soha, with her acute sensitivity to mana, could tell.
As she suspected, Eclipse’s greatsword was imbued with immense power, transcending worlds.
Eclipse was the adversary of fear, the one who had slain countless legions of terror.
The sole human who had stood against an entity that destroyed a world.
The moment his feats were etched into that sword, it became a weapon capable of striking fear itself.
Unlike the fake relics Earth’s people revered as divine artifacts, a true divine artifact had finally revealed itself on Earth.
Eclipse raised the broken greatsword.
And then.
He swung it downward.
Fancy swordsmanship? No need for that.
All he needed was the fundamentals he had honed over a lifetime.
Though far weaker than in his original world, he could still wield the power within the greatsword for a single swing.
When Adein unleashed her breath, she was certain of victory.
She believed she could sear that arrogant tin can and send him back to his summoning.
But that confidence didn’t last long. The moment the breath reached Eclipse’s face.
When Eclipse drew his broken greatsword, Adein was forced to confront a fear that coursed through her entire being.
[“Ugh…!”]
With Adein currently holding control over their shared body, Shin Sungmin had no choice but to feel the same terror she did.
“What… is this?”
It was as if an abyss loomed before them.
As if an entity from the depths of the void was calling to them.
In the overwhelming pressure that sparked such illusions, Shin Sungmin and Adein struggled to regain their composure.
By the time they did, Eclipse had his greatsword raised.
That thing was dangerous.
Even as they unleashed their breath, the thought came unbidden, and they poured every ounce of their inner mana into intensifying its power.
But their efforts were in vain—the breath never reached Eclipse.
The downward slash of his greatsword tore it apart.
The sight of the inferno-laden breath being split in half by a single strike sent shivers through everyone watching.
The slash didn’t stop there—it reached Shin Sungmin and Adein.
Slash.
The sound of something being cleanly cut rang out, and the dragon’s body, engulfed in flames, dissipated into the air.
[“…Huh?”]
“…Huh?”
Shin Sungmin and Adein, unaware they had been cut, could only let out dazed sounds.
Then, excruciating pain began to tear through their entire bodies.
[“Ah, aaargh!”]
“…Ugh, ugh…”
The massive dragon lost its form entirely, and Adein had no choice but to be unsummoned, vanishing from sight.
Shin Sungmin, wracked with pain from Eclipse’s greatsword and the shock of Adein’s unsummoning, nearly lost consciousness but barely held on.
He couldn’t collapse so pathetically like this.
Eclipse approached the struggling Shin Sungmin.
“Good fight. I might’ve had trouble if I hadn’t drawn this greatsword.”
“Ha, don’t make me laugh…”
Shin Sungmin was incredulous at Eclipse’s words. A good fight?
He had lost when he swung his sword, and he lost even when he went all out.
It wasn’t even a close contest. Could something like this be called a fight?
“Hey, you…”
“What is it?”
“That wasn’t your full power, was it?”
“That single slash was the extent of my current power. Anything more is impossible for me now.”
“Ha, haha. Soha really summoned something ridiculous…”
If he couldn’t do more now, didn’t that mean he could surpass this power in the future?
Shin Sungmin finally realized.
The difference in their caliber.
When he first summoned Adein, she was a feeble fire spirit.
Not the high-ranking spirit she was now, but a weak entity on the verge of fading away.
Yet, she had grown to the point where she could mimic the power of dragons from her previous world.
If that was the case, how far could this guardian grow if he became stronger here?
Shin Sungmin laughed in disbelief, only to finally succumb to the overwhelming pain and pass out.
The stands were shrouded in silence.
Shin Sungmin had lost.
And he had lost even after giving his all.
It was a result no one present had anticipated.
When the massive dragon form appeared and immense mana gathered in Adein’s mouth, the crowd thought Yoo Soha and Eclipse would lose.
Some had even noticed Yoo Soha’s face turn pale.
But… when Eclipse drew the broken greatsword from his back, the crowd fell silent.
An inexplicable fear ran down their spines.
The thought that facing that sword might mean death gripped them.
No one could call that broken greatsword shoddy.
Awakeners and civilians alike.
Overwhelmed by the intimidation and fear emanating from it, many even fainted on the spot.
Those who didn’t lose consciousness were left gaping at the mythical scene that followed.
The unidentified sword, wielded by a seemingly unremarkable knight, unleashed a slash that split the fiery breath in half, silencing the massive inferno dragon.
Faced with this unreal spectacle, the crowd could only stare in a dreamlike daze.
But a voice snapped them out of it.
“This year’s Hwanryeong Grand Tournament champion is… Team 2 Leader, Yoo Soha!”
The announcer, quickly regaining composure, shouted.
Even Yoo Soha seemed unable to believe it, wearing a stunned expression before realizing it was real and rushing to embrace Eclipse.
“You did great!”
Caught off guard by Yoo Soha’s sudden hug, Eclipse gently pushed her away and asked,
“How was it?”
“Amazing!”
As Eclipse pushed her back, Yoo Soha repeated herself, holding out her fist.
When Eclipse met her fist with his gauntlet, a thunderous cheer erupted.
The Hwanryeong Grand Tournament, filled with all sorts of surprises, had finally come to a close.