I Admit It, You're Stronger Now!

"Whoosh—!!"

The instant Fang Zheng swung his sword, the wind pressure around him seemed to be swept up all at once. The Skycleaver Sword in his hand flashed, a streak of golden light gleaming along its blade before becoming a golden edge that shot straight toward Stone.

"Oh?"

Seeing this attack, Stone's carefree expression immediately grew more serious. He raised an eyebrow, then gripped his two-handed sword with both hands and lifted it sharply before bringing it down with force. The plain-looking two-handed sword struck the incoming blade of light dead-on. Then Stone's body suddenly trembled.

"Boom!!"

The sword edge condensed from Holy Light shattered instantly, and the massive explosion made the surrounding ground shake.

Damn it, what a monster!

Watching Stone block his attack with a single strike, Fang Zheng cursed inwardly. What he had used was Royal Cross Swordsmanship, evolved from Crusader Strike after Frostmourne had raised its proficiency by two levels. Fang Zheng's opening move had actually been Judgment, the move most commonly used by Retribution Paladins, though under the enhancement of the Royal Limited Collector's Edition, both its power and appearance had changed. Even so, Fang Zheng had never expected his opponent to react so quickly to such an unexpected attack and block it.

But Fang Zheng had no time to marvel at the strength of this world. His body continued moving according to his combat experience. The moment Stone blocked Judgment, Fang Zheng stepped forward again and pointed his sword at Stone from afar.

Sword of Justice!

"Rumble!!"

A huge crimson Lightsaber shining with sacred radiance suddenly burst from the ground, stabbing straight up at Stone.

This attack caught Stone off guard, but the Grand Knight was clearly battle-hardened. He almost instantly drew back his two-handed sword and held it diagonally before himself, colliding with the massive sword erupting from the ground. He forcibly blocked this nearly impossible-to-defend attack.

At the same time, Fang Zheng successfully closed the distance between them. Stone was now within his attack range!

Fang Zheng raised his sword high and slashed down at Stone with all his strength. The Skycleaver Sword let out a shrieking whistle as it cut through the air, splitting even the dust before it in two as it crashed toward Stone like a bolt of lightning.

"Interesting!"

A smile appeared on Stone's face. Facing Fang Zheng's powerful strike, he even had the leisure to whistle.

"Come on! Let me see your strength!"

Before his words had even faded, Stone gripped his two-handed sword again and thrust it upward.

At that moment, Fang Zheng thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. He had clearly seen the other man holding his two-handed sword horizontally in front of himself, but in the blink of an eye, it was as though the sword had undergone Spatial Transfer. It suddenly appeared before Fang Zheng, stabbing straight at his chest.

Where the hell did that come from!?

Fang Zheng was startled, but his battles in the Dark World had not been for nothing. Without hesitation, he altered his sword's trajectory, abandoning his attack on Stone and meeting the suddenly appearing two-handed sword head-on.

"Clang!!"

The two swords crossed, and the enormous recoil sent Fang Zheng flying backward. He rolled and landed on the ground, his right hand nearly numb from the violent impact. However, Fang Zheng did not panic. Crusader Strike was merely a basic attack skill used to build energy. In fact, he could already feel sacred power surging and boiling within his body.

It was about to burst forth.

"Whoosh—!!"

The two-handed sword appeared before Fang Zheng once more. It moved so fast that it was nearly impossible to see, with Stone's massive body following behind it. The corners of his mouth curled upward as he smugly watched Fang Zheng. But in the next moment, Stone's expression abruptly changed.

Because he saw the young man crouching on the ground grip his sword tightly and swing it forward.

Just a light swing.

The moment Skycleaver was swung, that sword light transformed into a raging, towering wave, surging toward Stone from all directions.

"Oh?"

Seeing the wave of light crashing toward him, Stone's expression changed slightly again. He abruptly stopped, swept his Greatsword upward, and then an invisible gale exploded outward, colliding fiercely with the wave of light.

"Stormwind Sword!!"

Seeing this, the old man standing by the door could not help but pale. Of course he knew that this Grand Knight was one of the strongest warriors in the region, and his Storm Swordsmanship was unmatched. Wind represented freedom and acting as one pleased, but it also represented fearlessness and wildness. Yet now, Stone had actually used one of the strongest techniques of Storm Swordsmanship. Had that young man truly put him under such immense pressure?

"Bang!!!"

The gale and raging wave slammed into each other. This time, both figures swayed. Fang Zheng staggered back three steps, while Stone retreated only one. As a battle-hardened Grand Knight, he had clearly seized that fleeting opportunity. Before Fang Zheng could recover from the dizziness of the clash, he saw a massive two-handed sword whistling toward his neck.

Feeling the icy sword aura, Fang Zheng's body trembled. He immediately gripped his sword with both hands and assumed a blocking stance, trying to deflect the attack from the side. But to Fang Zheng's surprise, at the instant their swords collided, he discovered that the strength transmitted through the two-handed sword was not as great as he had expected. On the contrary, that force vanished from the blade in an instant, like putting all his strength into chopping at a willow branch.

Not good!!

That thought suddenly surfaced in Fang Zheng's mind. He did not know why it was bad, but he knew something was wrong. Yet at that moment, all his strength had been committed to resisting the attack he had expected, and there was no time to pull back. At the same time, Fang Zheng saw a flash of silver light to his left as the huge two-handed sword silently stabbed toward his body again.

I can't dodge this one!!

Staring at the blade stabbing toward him, Fang Zheng gritted his teeth. His first instinct was to use the Paladin's Blessing to enter an invincible state. But after only a tenth of a second, Fang Zheng abandoned that idea. That sword might pierce his body, but it would not inflict a fatal wound. There was no need to expose his ultimate survival trump card over this. A ten-second Invincible Hearthstone return was the supreme technique of Paladins, not a weapon for cheating in a sparring match like this.

But at that moment, an unexpected change occurred—one that neither Fang Zheng nor Stone had anticipated.

A glowing longsword suddenly appeared in front of the two-handed sword, barely managing to block the strike. At the same time, both of them heard the Old Bishop's terrified cry from nearby.

"Goddess above!"

"What?"

Stone looked to the side in surprise, wanting to see who had tried to interfere with this interesting trial. But what shocked him was that he did find the culprit, only it was not a human.

An Angel appeared behind Fang Zheng. She had a beautiful, sacred face, and the wings of Light Feathers spread out behind her, reflecting off her holy white armor and making her seem as though she were enveloped in Holy Light. She raised her head and stared coldly at Stone, the Lightsaber in her hand radiating dazzling, pure brilliance.

Skybreaker (One-handed Sword): Holy damage increased by 100%, Holy skill damage increased by 15%, with a certain chance to summon an Angel to fight for you in battle (the Angel Legion swept through everything, demons fell one after another, and the battlefield of Eternal War was drenched in blood)

At that moment, the Skybreaker in Fang Zheng's hand also shone with dazzling light. Fang Zheng had not activated its true power before, so in the eyes of the Old Bishop and Stone, the young nobleman had merely been holding a strangely shaped, rather ornate hollow longsword.

And the truth proved that, many times, special effects were the best way to improve appearances.

Bright, dazzling radiance emerged from the hollow grooves in Skybreaker's hilt. Fang Zheng raised his sword without hesitation, sacred power gathering around him and transforming into several enormous cross-shaped swords that spun as they blasted toward the Grand Knight before him.

Holy Storm!

"Boom—!!"

The attack was so earth-shaking that even the Holy Temple Warriors guarding the outside turned in surprise to look toward the hall. If they had not known that Grand Knight Stone was inside, they might have thought Cultists were attacking the Holy Temple!

Uh... taken literally, that was actually not wrong?

Stone leaped backward. The two-handed sword in his hand had completely shattered, broken into several pieces. At the same time, Stone raised his hand and shouted loudly.

"Stop, that's enough! I admit it, you're stronger now!"

"..."

Hearing Stone's words, Fang Zheng's eye twitched, but he still lowered his weapon.

Great Knight, couldn't you say something that didn't sound so much like a death flag?