At this moment, only Diasho Ken and Captain Katana remained.
Captain Katana's strikes were measured and comparatively slow. With the length of his blade, his attacking style was focused on making his every action count.
Diasho Ken's style was a blend. His long sword was deliberate and straight forward, but his short sword was crafty and sneaky. It seemed like a moment's mistake from Dyon could end his life.
It was clear that these two were the most powerful remaining. Just the 27th and 31st Captains were so strong even at half their strength! What about those ranked above them?!
"[Piercing Rays: Ninth Layer]!"
Dyon's sword became nine rays of shining light. However, those with sharp visions could see the underlying shadows beneath. Under his control, [Piercing Rays] power more than doubled and nine rays became nine rays and nine shadows!
Eighteen strikes of perfection, pushing Captain Katana and Diasho back.
His back stood straight as a javelin, the pride in his brows piercing through even in his emotionless selfless state. He was Dyon Sacharro, a man who would step forward no matter what odds he faced. He might not have wanted to face the reality of his chaos flames before, but now he would, all for the sake of fulfilling a promise he made long ago, a promise he had forgotten.
He refused to disappoint those two innocent girls again, he refused!
Dyon's illusory sword whistled through the air, finding cracks in the defenses of his opponents time and time again.
The three of them shot into the air, the clashes of their battle reverberating through the dark valley. The so-called danger zone didn't even have an opportunity to bare its fangs, every time it attempted to, its formations would shatter, crumbling to dust under the might of the battle.
It seemed with each passing moment that while Dyon grew fiercer, so did Captain Diasho. He sunk further and further into his own selfless state In these moments, he truly showed what it meant to be a genius.
For half sword sprites, their battle form was known as Sword God's Harmony. Ken knew very well that activating this battle form would put him into a coma for several months, if not years, after this battle. But, his pride wouldn't allow him to take this lying down.
Surprisingly, instead of weakening with each passing second, he grew stronger. His billowing black hair became filaments of thin gold, shooting straight into the air as though they wanted to connect his body to the Heavens themselves. His sword play grew swifter and more refined, the anger in his eyes faded, falling to the backdrop and crumbling to nothingness. His strikes grew stronger and more piercing.
Eventually, the change couldn't be handled by Captain Katana anymore. The so-called 2 on 1 fight became 1 on 1 the moment he became too weak to handle the reverberations of Dyon and Ken's clashing blows.
Eighteen concussive outpourings of concentrated air blasted outward, sending Captain Katana flying into the face of the valley, his life and death completely unknown.
It was a shame that the martial world couldn't be witness to this battle, it was truly one for the ages. It felt like whenever one man elevated their prowess, the other would follow suit.
The suppression on Captain Diasho was slowly being shattered. As he became a more and more formidable sword, his battle prowess grew. 50% became 60, and 60% became 70. Eventually, more than 95% of his prowess was returned to him!
He was an indominable sword, a man who would always stand tall! What bullshit Weapon's Master Will? You believe that you can treat the sword just like any weapon? It was the King, the Overlord of all weapons! How dare you try to lord over it like any other pitiful piece of metal?
The golden glow attached to Ken's body grew more resplendent, his eyes shining like stars.
Suddenly, a strike he had sent out toward Dyon disappeared into a magic circle that appeared so quickly even Dyon's divine sense almost didn't catch the energy fluctuations that created it.
The blade lengthened, causing Dyon to misjudge the strike.
The edge caught the fabric of his shirt, tearing it apart and leaving a trail of thin blood.
Diasho Ken's prowess grew. Before, he had spent much of his energy fighting against Dyon's suppression, so he couldn't use his full range of skills. But, now that his Sword God's Harmony had improved so drastically, the burden had lifted from his shoulders. He could now show the world why he had earned the title of Magic Swordsman!
The magic circles were beautiful works of art. They appeared and disappeared around Diasho, shining with all sorts of wonderful colors. Some were large, and others were small, but each carried a simple, yet devastating ability.
Unlike arrays that looked to be made up of the cogs of expertly crafted machinery, magic circles were inscribed with what seemed like an ancient language, wiggling about with a fierce life force arrays couldn't match. This made their flexibility reach the outer bounds of what was possible.
Sometimes Ken's blade would inexplicably lengthen. Sometimes it would shorten, causing Dyon's well timed blows and blocks to miss. At other times, they would disappear into a magic circle at one angle, but appear with a completely different one.
Dyon didn't take any devastating blows, but the continuous cuts and bruises his body accumulated grew larger in number. Diasho Ken's swordplay was simply too refined and too clever. He seemed to take the aspects of True Weapon's Will sword qi could never replicate, and used his magic circles to wall up those deficiencies!
The Heavens seemed to respond to his display of beauty, the grey sky above resonating with golden hues that overshadowed the accent of red Dyon's rage had given them.
"I am the Magic Swordsman, Diasho Ken!" His roar shot into the skies, his body growing more resplendent. In that moment, he no longer looked like a human, he had become a humanoid deity, shining with a blinding holy light.
"Take my strike, [World Revolves: First Revolution]!"