The Chorus of Blades and Swords (Part One)

"Damn it!"

Amid the cries of slaughter filling the night, sudden bursts of wild laughter kept ringing out.

On the blood-red street, Morris, one of the Brotherhood's titans, leaned against the door of a grocery store, panting heavily as he painfully pulled a hiltless dagger from his shoulder.

Beside him, a Brotherhood elite had already fallen, an identical hiltless dagger embedded in the back of his head.

Morris, the Brotherhood's human trafficking titan, waved while gasping for breath, stopping the assassin Layok as he prepared to leap onto the rooftops.

"Don't chase him! Kex wants to run us ragged."

In the distance, Kex, the Blood Bottle Gang's Knife Jester, darted across the rooftops, leaving a trail of manic laughter behind him.

"But if this keeps up, he'll harass us to death—the Jester is a Psychic Warrior, far stronger than ordinary Psions."

Layok jumped down onto the street. Looking at the only five elites left at his side, every one of them wounded, he frowned.

Morris took a deep breath and analyzed the situation with a clear head. "Kex, and Rolf the Wind Ghost too, were carefully selected. They're using their unique abilities to tie us down and prevent us from joining the others, making it easier for their Transcendent Rank experts to butcher our elites. And besides—even if the Jester toys us to death with his throwing knives—"

"It's still better than being led straight to the Air Elementalist." Morris rose with a grim expression and waved his hand.

Magic Users—those people, those untouchable calamities.

"The retreat order should already have gone out. Qinzha will probably give the same command. How many of our people survive now depends on their luck."

Layok frowned.

Morris beckoned to the elites, and the group continued onward.

The assassin followed behind Morris and cautiously offered his advice.

"Because of these Air Walls, we've been taking detours the whole time. The others are probably facing the same thing..."

"If we could just find the Magic User himself, then—"

Layok was cut off halfway through by Morris.

"Impossible!"

"Don't even think about finding that bastard!" Facing Layok's puzzled gaze, Morris flatly rejected his subordinate's suggestion. His tone was absolute. "Remember this: unless he comes to kill you himself—never go looking for trouble with a Magic User!"

Seeing Morris's uncertain expression, Layok fell silent and frowned inwardly.

Are Magic Users really that terrifying?

"This is the Royal Capital. The Magic User won't dare reveal himself and act openly. He has to rely on his lapdogs to hunt us down, and that is our only chance to survive."

Morris gritted his teeth, his face twisting viciously.

"Let those self-righteous hypocrites see the strength of the Brotherhood, the strength of us 'lowborn'!"

"We fought our way out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood. We're nothing like those pampered lords of the Blood Bottle Gang!"

"Even if none of us makes it out, Black Sword will avenge us!"

"Even if the enemy is a Magic User!"

Inside a pitch-black house, only an old-fashioned candle burned.

"You're saying all of our people are trapped inside Red Quarter? And so far, apart from a few thugs, not a single person capable of taking charge has made it out?"

Nasri nodded. Kneeling on one knee, he reported respectfully yet fearfully to his superior, Cobion Lancer, the Sleepless Eye.

"I had only just taken over the hidden sentries' shift when the first group of escapees arrived. According to them, after Lord Morris ordered a retreat, the first several groups that tried to break out were ambushed and slaughtered by Baldy Spin and Dorno's ambush teams. Only after Baldy Spin and Dorno died at the entrance to Red Quarter did they manage to escape safely."

No one knew exactly how old Cobion Lancer, the Sleepless Eye, was. They only knew that from the day the Black Street Brotherhood had been founded, he had been its titan in charge of gathering intelligence. Mysterious and bizarre, he was darkness within darkness, secret within secret.

He always concealed himself beneath a dark-red cloak, revealing only his withered, gaunt chin. Yet anyone watched by him felt a deep chill.

Lancer pondered for a moment before slowly asking,

"Spin and Dorno were both among the Twelve Supremes. Spin had extraordinary resilience, while Dorno excelled at disguise and surprise attacks. To kill the two of them would require at least someone at the level of the Thirteen Great Generals. Was it Layok? Moria? Or Edelionza, or the Taren Brothers? Or perhaps the two titans, Qinzha and Morris, themselves? Did no one capable of taking charge appear?"

Lancer's voice was hollow and ethereal, as if it came from another room.

Nasri shook his head, struggling to suppress the fear in his heart.

What a blunder. Morris will probably be very dissatisfied with me. Lancer thought silently, his expression unchanged.

It was time to clear out the rats within the Brotherhood.

After all, the Brotherhood was no longer the same as the little team formed by a group of old men twelve years ago.

Lancer gave an eerie smile and waved for Nasri to relay his orders.

"Wake them. Activate every Sleepless in the Lower City District! Whether their Vigilance Period has arrived or not."

"Send everyone from the second watch and third watch to the entrance of Red Quarter! From the rooftops to the sewers—even how many hairs there are on the legs of every black fly that passes through, I want to know it all clearly!"

"Yes!"

"Make those who escaped recall every detail of the streets. Select capable men from the first watch and have them infiltrate Red Quarter one by one, establishing watch posts regardless of casualties. Carrier pigeons, signal flares, torches—I don't care what you use, but you must at least establish contact with Qinzha and Morris! I want an unobstructed channel for passing information from Black Street to Red Quarter!"

"Yes!"

"Send the fourth watch to the other territories. From Black Street to the Ruined House, from the stinking ditches to the drainage channels, from the grand market to West Gate—maintain full alert! At a time like this, we must be even more vigilant in guarding our headquarters!"

"Yes!"

"Divide the fifth watch into two teams! One team will notify the other titans in the Brotherhood. The other will head immediately for the Ekster Kingdom and drag that old man Ramon back! If he refuses, tell him this is Black Sword's will!"

"Yes!"

Qinzha and Morris were both among the Six Titans. They were no pushovers. It was impossible for the Blood Bottle Gang to trap them inside without paying some price! Lancer lowered his head and stroked the ruby ring on his hand.

That dead fat man had once been someone capable of covering Black Sword's retreat! As for that tall fellow Qinzha, hmph, the only thing harder than his fists was probably his temperament.

And there was also, Lancer thought silently, that dead cook Edmund.

The outcome had yet to be decided.

Lancer's expression shifted beneath his cloak as he noticed something unusual about his subordinate.

"What else haven't you said?"

"Yes!" Nasri collapsed to the floor in a cold sweat and gritted his teeth.

"The patrolling brothers just discovered that the beggar children from the Ruined House have all run away!"

"We only caught some of them. They're being held in the Water Dungeon now, waiting to be tortured for answers."

Lancer's chin moved slightly.

The Sleepless Eye asked calmly, "Answers to what?"

Nasri clenched his fists, abruptly lowered his head, and painfully forced out even worse news.

"Quade Roda died in the Ruined House!"

"His deputy, Nal Rick, is outside right now, requesting an audience with you!"

"Get down. Hide." Yala's voice turned cold again.

"We can't avoid this fight."

Tales quickly slid down and flattened himself beside a concealed stone bollard, pulling out a piece of black cloth to cover his nose.

Though the air around them was already thick with the stench of blood.

Tales had only taken two breaths when Yala suddenly darted away and leaped onto a rooftop.

The Barmaid performed a backward flip, arching her upper body back and planting her hands against the ground, as if evading a hidden weapon.

"Whoosh!"

As Yala flipped upright, Tales heard a burst of sharp wind sweep through the street!

Then Yala dropped from the rooftop to the ground, the twin blades from her legs already in her hands.

Her Wolf Leg Knives slashed out in rapid succession!

Several gusts of wind fled hurriedly away.

Amid the directionless winds, Tales only heard two flapping sounds of cloth. He had no idea whether Yala had hit anything.

Then a thin gray figure appeared in the street.

"Well, well, well. Isn't this the Barmaid from Sunset Tavern? Wearing goggles—are you planning to go swimming?"

"Don't look so surprised. I once hid my face and came to Black Street for a drink, after all."

"You're wearing gray today too? What a pity the weather's so poor, or we'd be dressed like a couple."

A soft, strange voice, with a frivolous and insolent tone.

Yala never wasted words in battle. She slowly crouched on one knee, and Tales knew this was the sign that she was about to exert force.

The gray-clad man took several steps forward. In the faint moonlight, the tattoo on his face was barely visible.

"Perhaps I should introduce myself. I am Midira Rolf. You may also call me—the Wind Ghost."

Tales's heart tightened—another of the Twelve Supremes.

"By the way, little Barmaid, were you the one who took out Dorno and Spin?"

"Don't misunderstand. I hated those two nuisances too, but I have orders from above—"

Without warning, Yala accelerated!

In the next instant, the silent Yala had already raced before him.

Her twin blades cut out at bizarre angles, changing direction at the same time.

Chain Kill Style!

Tales cried out excitedly in his heart.

After watching Yala fight so many times, charging in and out among crowds, it would have been a lie to say he had not kindled a hope of growing stronger and a yearning for power.

But Rolf vanished into thin air!

The twin blades struck nothing.

It didn't work? Tales's heart tightened.

Yala did not pause in the slightest. She spun sharply, and the Wolf Leg Knife in her right hand slashed urgently toward the air!

"Clang!"

A crisp metallic collision rang out.

Rolf reappeared to Yala's right and hurriedly retreated two steps.

"Hey, hey, why are you like Layok?" Rolf lightly flicked the sleeve blade on the back of his left hand and said helplessly, "Can all Brotherhood assassins sense where I am? And why don't you like talking either—"

Before he could finish, a Wolf Leg Knife shot toward him!

Instant Kill Style.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"

The winds around Rolf surged violently, making the airborne Wolf Leg Knife fly unsteadily.

"Clang!"

Then he knocked it flying with a single sword stroke.

But in that same instant, Yala's figure had already killed her way before the Wind Ghost, almost as fast as the thrown knife!

Before he could react, the Barmaid swung her left arm backward, her blade sweeping across Rolf's chest!

Did she hit him?

Tales watched with breathless excitement, waiting for that Instant Kill Style to succeed.

But to his disappointment, Rolf's gray clothes billowed as his body floated upward against gravity at an unbelievable speed.

He narrowly avoided that fatal strike!

Yet Tales felt that Rolf's evasion this time was rather awkward, because his figure was actually visible and blurred instead of entirely vanishing as before.

As Yala tried to continue her assault, something invisible seemed to trip her feet, preventing her from maintaining her relentless, unstoppable attack.

The power of the wind? Tales lowered his head, silently recalling knowledge from his previous life.

The Barmaid silently stepped back, flicked another Wolf Leg Knife from the ground into the air, and waited for her next opportunity.

"That was close. Even a Brotherhood Barmaid has this kind of strength?"

Rolf gently wiped a cut across his waist and abdomen, his expression displeased.

The wound was deeper than he had imagined. There was something strange about that blade's angle—the speed and force of its strike had exceeded all expectations.

A blade technique that could threaten even a Transcendent Rank expert?

It sounded familiar somehow.

Yala adjusted her goggles, held her blade in a forward grip, and crouched on one knee.

"Hey, Barmaid." Seeing his opponent prepare to charge again, Rolf suddenly spoke in a sinister voice.

"Before I came to the Star Kingdom, I traveled around the continent for a while. I once witnessed an assassination in the Serra Duchy."

"It was the most direct, most dangerous, yet hardest-to-resist assassination I had ever seen."

"The assassin used twin blades, launching from the rooftops and racing out in an unbroken, irresistible assault."

Rolf lowered his head. His soft voice was filled with gravity and solemnity.

"So, Baanette Saredon, the Locust Blade."

"What is he to you?"

Yala did not answer, but Tales instinctively sensed that something was wrong.

Baanette Saredon?

In the next instant, the Barmaid's graceful figure shot out, attacking Rolf in the blink of an eye!

Tales had the illusion that after hearing that name, the silent Barmaid's emotions had changed as well!

Then the Barmaid, silent for so long, roared like a madwoman, "Stranger!"

Yala Saredon struck in fury!

Up to this point, Tales had seen Yala make many moves. She had always been quiet, low-key, direct, and deadly.

But this time was different.

This time, for the first time ever, Tales heard Yala's blades erupt and thunder like lightning!

"Boom!"

Rolf's expression changed drastically.

"Clang!"

Two swords crashed together like colliding thunderbolts!

Flickering energy burst from both figures, one star-blue, the other faint red.

The promising noble Alert Officer, Cohen Karabiyen, gritted his teeth with difficulty as he felt the force coming from his opponent's sword. The other man was no weaker than him, at least a Transcendent Rank swordsman—how long had it been since he had encountered an opponent like this?

Ever since he had left the battlefield where he fought the Orcs?

Or since that time he had challenged Miranda?

The two forces intertwined and clashed, but Kohn knew that he had already fallen slightly behind.

Star-blue power began to flicker over his silver-white sword. Kohn knew that if this continued, he would eventually be the one to lose.

So his body suddenly shuddered, and the vibration it created knocked the two swordsmen apart.

The two figures abruptly separated, taking several steps forward with their momentum.

Kohn took six steps before he steadied himself.

His opponent, meanwhile, regained his balance in just two.

Kohn's expression darkened. He began to feel that he needed to reconsider what Director Lobik had said.

Then he turned around, looked at the troublesome enemy before him, and demanded, "One of the techniques you used came from the Tower of Ending."

His opponent did not reply.

"You are also a Terminus Swordsman. You trained at the Tower of Ending, and you could clearly have gone somewhere better."

"Why were you willing to lower yourself to the Blood Bottle Gang, becoming a thug who committed evil and bullied the weak?"

"Was the Heart of the Sword granted to you by the Tower of Ending meant to give you the resolve to serve others like a dog and prey on the weak?"

His enemy slowly turned around. Black half-armor covered his left shoulder, while red bandages were wrapped around his right arm. Beneath his red-and-black attire, strong lines of muscle could vaguely be seen.

He was a fair-skinned man, yet there was nothing refined or delicate about him. The look in his eyes was brimming with murderous intent.

The red-and-black-clad swordsman silently looked the Alert Officer up and down.

So this Green Skin rat broke through the trap laid by my lord?

This Green Skin... that stance and opening posture—he came from the Tower of Ending and has trained in the army?

The red-and-black-clad swordsman spun the azure longsword with its single-sided guard in his hand and said indifferently, without a trace of concern:

"Hey, Green Skin."

"Since when did the Vigilant Hall dare interfere in the Blood Bottle Gang's affairs?"

Kohn stepped forward, closing the distance between himself and the swordsman, and said coldly:

"I am not questioning you as an Alert Officer now. I am questioning another blade as Terminus Swordsman Kohn Karabiyen! Answer me!"

The scene fell silent for several seconds.

Until the red-and-black swordsman's expression gradually grew serious as well.

"My Heart of the Sword is an untamed will, freedom of choice, and the pursuit of power."

"As long as it fulfills what I seek, the Blood Bottle Gang, the Brotherhood, the Shadow Shield, the Kingdom Secret Bureau, the Royal Guard, or the Tower of Ending are all the same to me."

"So your question is utterly meaningless."

"And you, Green Skin—willing to be a nation's dog. What you gained from that outdated, conservative tower must be the resolve of a dog, right?"

Hearing that this Terminus Swordsman held no respect for the Tower of Ending, and even some hostility toward it, Kohn's face finally turned solemn with surprise and shock.

He remembered a story Teacher had told him while drinking during his training in the tower.

The tragedy of brothers turning against each other, of fratricidal warfare.

Kohn gritted his teeth and spoke in disbelief:

"You..."

"You inherited the Sword of Ending outside the tower!"

"You are from the line of the Calamity Sword!"

The moment his words fell, the red-and-black swordsman moved!

Faintly red Ending Power surged around him like a tide, gathering into a ferocious wave as it crashed down with his azure longsword in a terrifying slash!

The sword intent was ruthless and violent!

Kohn felt as though his entire body had fallen into a crimson vortex. The Ending Power around him shattered, impossible to command.

The swordsman's ruthlessness surged along with his sword, lunging straight for Kohn's chest!

Frost now covered his fair face, and none of his former calm remained.

The red-and-black swordsman said coldly, "The 'Calamity Sword'! Calamity? You compare us to that pack of monsters?"

"Is that what you call Lord Krasu's sword?"

Kohn clenched his teeth as their blades rapidly clashed in the air!

"Fine," the swordsman still had the breath to speak amid their fierce exchange of blades. "To you outdated, conservative, effeminate academy types, we are the calamity you are destined to face."

"One day, we will destroy the Tower of Ending and prove how absurd you are."

His tone was icy, brimming with murderous intent.

Just like the azure longsword that came surging toward Kohn the next instant.

Kohn's sword blocked the azure longsword, but in an instant, the opponent's raging, violent Ending Power swept in like an angry tide!

Kohn's entire body jolted as the other man's Ending Power invaded him without resistance!

It corroded his power like strong acid.

The Alert Officer's sword, flickering with blue Starlight, was instantly knocked aside.

Kohn gritted his teeth in shock and staggered back repeatedly, but the azure sword followed like a shadow of death. No matter which way he shifted or dodged, he seemed unable to evade it!

The young Alert Officer hardened his heart, and his own Ending Power surged forth, washing away the foreign invader within his body.

This is Glory of the Stars... Kohn sighed inwardly. Ending Power that should have shone brilliantly in a fierce battle, and I'm using it like this.

The next moment, the Alert Officer thrust his flickering silver-white sword again, this time straight at the swordsman's throat.

But his enemy remained crazed and reckless, ignoring the incoming sword entirely as he drove the azure blade within the Crimson Red Tide toward Kohn's heart!

Crimson Ending Power erupted with the sword intent, tearing apart the clothing over Kohn's chest.

Kohn struggled to maintain his own sword intent, yet watched hopelessly as the two blades crossed. Amid the friction of their Ending Power, each stabbed toward the other's heart and throat!

Damn it!

Is this the style of the Calamity Sword line?

Such mad and ruthless sword techniques, unmatched power, a will willing to sacrifice everything, the resolve to perish together.

And... that bizarre Ending Power, violent to a terrifying degree, capable even of invading the body—something I had never encountered before...

No wonder they were expelled from the tower!

Kohn met his death with a bitter smile.

One azure sword and one white sword—one drew forth an unstoppable crimson tide of madness, while the other flickered with faint, unsteady Starlight.

The victor would soon be decided.