"I can't do this anymore. I'm done. He's too strong, he's a damn monster!" A samurai from the Land of Reeds, clad in full armor, clutched his slashed-open stomach as he tried to stuff his spilling intestines back inside. Staring at the imposing general, he let out a despairing cry of defeat.
"You charged in too fast, kid. That's no way to fight. Go let that Finger Maiden patch you up." A burly man in heavy armor laughed beside him, hoisted his enormous hammer, and blocked the blade Radahn swung toward them.
Boom!
It was like a god striking red-hot iron on an anvil, sparks exploded in every direction.
"Urgh!" The burly warrior grunted as the blow sent him tumbling away like a tackling dummy. The wounded samurai hurriedly gathered up his intestines and retreated from the battle.
Radahn's bestial eyes resembled two gray stone orbs embedded with blood-red pupils. Anyone who met that gaze felt terror crawl through their bones.
Whoosh!
His broad black-iron blades ripped through the air with the howl of a winter gale sweeping across an open plain.
Dense magical power wrapped around Radahn's weapons. His exquisite control over gravity sorcery made the twin blades feel light as feathers in his own hands, yet when they struck an enemy, they carried the crushing weight of mountains.
The first wave of warriors to confront the general was scattered after only a few exchanges. Only the female Tarnished wielding an enormous greatsword managed to hold Radahn back. Despite her seemingly delicate build, she swung a weapon heavier than most people as swiftly as a dagger, enough to make anyone wonder whether her muscles were actually a hydraulic crane built from steel.
When the other warriors temporarily withdrew from Radahn's assault, she seized the opportunity and leaped. She flipped forward in midair, carrying the greatsword through a complete circle before bringing it crashing down. The ferocity of the strike resembled a pouncing lion, and the blow actually forced Radahn's enormous body three steps backward. Had he not instinctively raised one of his blades to block, the strike would undoubtedly have split open the general's armor.
"That woman's insane!"
The warriors nearby couldn't help giving her a thumbs-up.
Among the Silver Network players, aside from Millicent, everyone else only dared remain on the outskirts and provide support with spells.
A seemingly endless crowd surrounded Radahn, attacking him with swords, spears, halberds, glintstone projectiles, meteors, and every other weapon or spell imaginable. The battlefield looked utterly chaotic, yet the momentum between the two sides was anything but equal.
It somehow felt as though Radahn was the one surrounding all of them.
The main reason was Radahn's absurd mobility. He might have been riding a skinny horse barely taller than a person, but because Radahn himself floated above the ground, the little horse was free to gallop at full speed without bearing his weight. In the blink of an eye, it could burst straight through the encirclement. Then the general would twist around and slash backward, his counterattack vicious and lightning-fast. Very few could withstand it, and with the enormous reach of his blades, he truly seemed capable of mowing down an entire army by himself.
Everyone knew the obvious answer was to target the horse first, but its small size actually worked to its advantage. Radahn merely had to lower one of those door-sized black-iron blades a little, and the horse would disappear completely behind it, leaving his enemies no opening whatsoever.
Even after losing his sanity, Radahn's instinct to protect his skinny horse remained.
After so long without a true battle, the sensation of fighting once more drew a mindless roar of delight from Starscourge Radahn.
"ROOOOAR!!!"
Alexander, Warrior Jar, bellowed and launched himself toward Radahn's left leg, only to be struck by a single slash that cracked his jar body and nearly shattered him completely.
Castellan Jerren desperately barrel-rolled across the sand, narrowly avoiding a blade that smashed down beside him. The resulting eruption of sand shot upward like a geyser.
Blaidd the Half-Wolf howled as he leaped into the air, frost gathering around the greatsword in his hands. Before the weapon could even reach Radahn's chest, the general slammed an elbow into him in midair and sent him crashing back to the ground like a helicopter falling out of the sky.
Fight! Fight! Fight!
Kill! Kill! Kill!
Radahn possessed no reason. The general had become a beast, driven by nothing but pure murderous intent and ravenous hunger. Without a rational mind interfering with him, his mastery of martial arts and sorcery had somehow become even more terrifying.
"ROOOOAR!!!"
Beneath an endless sea of stars and a full moon swollen grotesquely against the sky, Radahn raised his paired Starscourge Greatswords and unleashed a roar that carried for miles.
Violent waves of purple gravitational force erupted outward from beneath the general. Anyone caught by them was instantly dragged toward him. The sudden spell was like a massive net snapping shut around a school of fish, hauling everyone surrounding him into one place.
Everyone knew what would happen next.
The general's blades were going to fall.
And when they did, heaven and earth would seem to collapse with them.
Even Thops and Doniel, who had been shamelessly slinging spells from a safe distance, failed to escape. The bald Thops's expression changed drastically as he twisted around and shouted toward Melina, who was retreating with Moli on her back.
"Run!"
As the general's enormous blades came crashing down, the two players looked up with long, resigned sighs.
Then the repulsive gravitational wave exploded.
The raging torrent of gravity struck them instantly. Their bones were wrenched out of place and their internal organs pulverized. From the outside, their bodies appeared almost untouched, but inside they had been reduced to limp masses, like water balloons with nothing solid left within them.
They were dead.
Their corpses did not remain on the battlefield. Instead, they dissolved into motes of silver light and vanished.
Every Silver Network player inside the instanced plane immediately received a notification.
"Player 'Thops Conspectus Is Recruiting Apprentices' has died."
"Player 'The Lands Between's Number One Sorcery Prodigy' has died."
Moli threw one hand into the air and shouted, "Avenge 'Thops Conspectus Is Recruiting Apprentices'! Avenge 'The Lands Between's Number One Sorcery Prodigy'!"
Melina grabbed the young apprentice's arm and hurriedly continued retreating. A battle involving the mightiest demigod truly wasn't something ordinary people could interfere with.
Amid the cries of the wounded covering the battlefield, a red-haired swordswoman carrying a long blade suddenly burst from the chaos.
Her airborne sword dance resembled a waterfowl tearing across the heavens.
The magnificent flashes of her blade reflected in Radahn's pale gray eyes.
Within his shattered mind, an image suddenly surfaced.
Malenia, her wings unfurled!
"AAARGH!"
The general swung his sword directly into the sword dance.
Millicent stepped onto the very tip of his blade and launched herself upward. Razor-sharp sword energy ripped through his armor, carving fourteen deep wounds across Radahn's chest.
Millicent abandoned everything else.
Her body had never felt so perfectly coordinated. Her entire mind sank into her swordsmanship.
A swordsman trained throughout their entire life for moments like this, moments when body and mind became one in battle. It was an almost indescribable state of perfect clarity, as though the entire world itself were helping her. Even the complicated currents of wind became engines driving her blade forward. Every joint in her body moved effortlessly, while her mind remained as calm and detached as that of a god.
But just as her body and mind were about to become completely united, the dark shadow of fear lurking deep within her Shehai stirred again.
Panic suddenly seized Millicent.
Almost instinctively, she looked back toward the moonlit dunes.
Skyl, who had been standing there moments earlier, was gone.
Where did he go?!
Millicent's footing slipped, and she fell from Radahn's blade.
No!
The swordswoman's heart lurched.
Whoosh!
The enormous black-iron blade swept across her.
Distracted at the worst possible moment, Millicent was cut in half at the waist. Her body collapsed, then immediately dissolved into motes of light.
"Player 'Skyl's Feather' has died."
Watching that waterfowl disappear, the maddened Radahn stood panting heavily.
For a brief moment, he actually stopped moving.
A shattered fragment of sanity seemed to flicker within his chaotic eyes.
Dust swirled across the dunes.
As the grains of sand slowly settled back to earth, a tall woman emerged from behind the curtain of dust.
A winged helm covered her head.
The long, slender blade attached to her prosthetic arm extended beside her like the wing of an eagle.
The instant Radahn saw her, ancient rage ignited the agony buried within his memories.
Clarity returned to his eyes for a single moment.
Then his beastlike, drooling mouth curled into a horrifying smile.
"Malenia…"
"DIE!!!"
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