Uesugi Koeru hummed a song that no one could understand, and resolutely stepped into the endless tide of the corpse guardians.
The terrifying gravitational pull of the pitch-black solar corona twisted even the light that came near, as if it were a real black hole.
Anything within the "Schwarzschild radius" was dragged toward the center of that black corona and burned into carbon by the intense heat.
The heavy blade fell, cutting the corpse guardians that had been carbonized by the high heat into pieces.
The pouring rain couldn't extinguish the burning fire in Uesugi Koeru's heart at that moment. With a travel bag on his back and two swords in his hands, he forcefully pushed the corpse guardians that had already reached the shore back to the sea.
Uesugi Koeru stepped closer to the massive corpse guardian king, leaving a trail of bones and blood behind him.
The black sun's light grew brighter and more intense!
This Word Soul was hard to maintain for long, but Uesugi Koeru showed no signs of fatigue.
Instead, he became more and more determined, advancing with the same crushing force.
His two Tang-style swords spun in a circle, their blades cutting through the hard bones of the corpse guardians, sometimes sparking with bright flames, like welding rods cutting steel.
Whenever the blades dulled, he casually discarded them and drew new ones from his travel bag.
Each sword he drew, whether it was Izumi no Kami Kanesada, Suzu Maru Takanobu, Hizen no Kuni Tadakichi, or Mikazuki Munechika, was a priceless national treasure.
But in this moment, the only value of those national treasures was to help him slay more corpse guardians.
The discarded treasure swords were all chipped at the edge, as if their blades were like dull saw teeth, worn down to the point of being unusable.
Crushing bones and blood, the old man raised his head proudly. In his piercing golden eyes, there was an air of supreme authority: "You want my blood? Then come and take it yourself!"
The corpse guardian king that crawled onto the shore was as large as a whale. Its tough bones still had the terrifying scars from the last time Uesugi Erii's Word Soul, Judgment, pierced through it.
But for some unknown reason, this corpse guardian king, revived by alchemy, had grown back its muscles and flesh.
The dragon-shaped corpse guardian king shook its black bone wings, letting out a silent roar. It launched a fierce attack at the human who dared challenge it.
The jagged wing bones sliced through the ground like sharp blades, sending concrete flying in all directions. The sharpness was like a giant sabre, cutting through the heavy rain as if it were a cruel and violent wind, aiming straight at Uesugi Koeru.
Niten Ichi-ryu, Great Overtop Slash!
Uesugi Koeru combined his two swords into one, raised it high above his head, and with a single step forward, he executed a simple and direct downward strike.
Someone once asked this question: Can an ordinary person, with no sword skills, defeat a swordsmanship master?
The answer is: Yes.
Raise the sword above your head, wait for the moment of impact, and strike with all your might.
The Grand Slash, also known as the "Sacrificial Strike," as the name suggests, involves sacrificing defense and life, delivering a strike with all your power.
The blade, as it cuts through the air, becomes as hot as molten lava.
With a sharp, explosive sound, Uesugi Koeru cleaved through the air, the sonic boom created by his mighty physique, enhanced by dragon blood, unleashing unimaginable force.
The sword, filled with immense power, slammed into the bone wings.
When!!!
The clash of metal against bone created a shower of sparks.
The bone wings, as hard as steel, shattered alongside the two legendary swords, amidst the sparking explosion.
Pulling out two more swords from his travel bag, Uesugi Koeru exhaled hot air, then stomped his foot onto the ground. The terrifying force caused the ground around him to crack and collapse.
From the shattered earth, he shot forward like a cannonball, dragging a fierce windstorm through the torrential rain.
Under the black corona hanging in the sky, the giant dragon-shaped corpse guardian king roared as it was dragged toward the center of destruction.
The intense heat caused its newly activated cells to fall back into destruction and silence. Its blood-red muscles withered under the black sun's rays, and sensing death approaching, it spread its remaining bone wings and slammed forward with its massive body like a giant whale.
At that moment, the dragon-shaped corpse guardian and Uesugi Koeru seemed to have crossed centuries, charging toward each other in a clash!
Two Heavens, One Style—Carp's Mouth Cut!
Unlike the speed shown by Hilbert Ron Anjou, Uesugi Koeru's sword draw leaned more toward brute force.
Extreme violence, the power infused into the blade, cut through the rain. The sound was so grand that it drowned out even the roaring sea waves, resembling a fiery red meteor trailing a long tail, eventually colliding with the fierce and imposing dragon-shaped corpse guardian. It exploded with an incomparable roar.
Boom!!!
The shockwave from the impact cleared the torrential rain from the area.
The sword light collided with the bone face of the dragon-shaped corpse guardian, knocking it backward. Given their respective weights, this should have been impossible, yet Uesugi Koeru managed it.
It was like a human body smashing head-on into a high-speed train.
The visible shockwave spread out, and the terrifying impact, like a cannonball, sent the surrounding corpse guardians flying. The ghost-tooth dragon viper was torn apart by extreme violence, its remains mixing with the rain as they scattered.
The dragon-shaped corpse guardian, whose skull was shattered, howled, but was crushed by the huge black sun crown. Every inch of its skin and flesh evaporated into ashes from the intense heat. Meanwhile, Koeru, drenched in blood, discarded his broken dual blades and drew two new swords, roaring as he charged back into the sea of corpse guardians.
"Koeru."
Hilbert looked at the black sun still advancing in the sea of corpse guardians, seeming to understand his thoughts.
"Hilbert, you're a devil," Uesugi Koeru's voice came through the earpiece, mixed with heavy breathing and a hint of sadness. "Someone once told me that my fate was to be drowned by the black tide. I didn't believe it, but in the end, I couldn't escape."
"What fate? Who told you that?"
Hilbert was startled, and in his mind, he saw the image of the blonde-haired youth.
No wonder Koeru had been so unwilling from the start, as if this artificial island of Haiying was a path straight to the afterlife.
So, in Koeru's eyes, this was his fate.
Surrounded by the sea of corpse guardians, Koeru had ghost-tooth dragon vipers hanging from his muscular back.
These dragon creatures, used for executions, were desperately biting into his back, trying to burrow into his flesh, crush every bone, and swallow every piece of meat.
Not only corpse guardians, but also the crazy ghost-tooth dragon vipers pouring out from Takamagahara.
Their size was small, and they hid beneath the dark sea, making them hard to detect. Now their numbers had grown to an unbelievable level, turning large swaths of water a silvery-blue.
It was hard to imagine the kind of pain Koeru was enduring, fighting off the sea of corpse guardians.
Though the black sun was powerful, it wasn't invincible.
Its effective range was limited to the user's front, with the back being its greatest weakness. And with Koeru trapped in the middle of the encirclement, no one would come to his rescue.
Uesugi Koeru's expression remained calm as he gripped his dual swords, saying lightly, "This is where I'm destined to die."
Did that black-haired youth foresee this scene ahead of time?
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