There was a bottleneck at Sovereign(II) that no one had ever broken... except for one man. Rune would be the second. That's why it was called the Sovereign's Curse.

The Sword King had been trapped at Sovereign(II) for centuries.

Just then, the demons, now with no one to command them, turned rogue. They had no directional sense, no borrowed consciousness. All hell broke loose as they found humans with flesh and blood.

Rune stepped forward on the frozen ground.

In the next instant, ribbons of crimson aura crackled across the frost, through out their length and width. The ice burst out of existence, shattering into tiny pieces that instantly melted in the crimson shade.

The demons stumbled as the frozen ground beneath them vanished. Their claws stuck in the wet earth, causing them to tumble over each other. But nonetheless, they marched forward.

Then they fell, pinned to the ground by invisible weight.

The crimson shade darkened, completely enveloping the sun. Ravens filled the sky, dancing through the air as if declaring it their domain.

Kael, Ilya, and Selka struggled to breathe against the oppressive crimson shade.

Cassandra's body blocked their view of the crimson orb in the sky. She hugged all three of them.

"Just breathe. Don't think about anything other than breathing. Close all your other senses."

She pressed them into her and inhaled and exhaled in slow rhythm, guiding them.

Her Sovereign-tier aura pushed against the crimson pressure, shielding the three beneath her.

The pressure... she felt it for the first time in her life.

"Emperor's aura."

The three beneath her froze listening to her words, they looked up at Cassandra's sweating face. Despite the strain, she wore a smirk.

The Sword King rose to his feet, eyes locked on his target. The demons slowly stood as Yeujian's Sovereign aura resisted against the crimson shade.

Rune smirked, watching the ancient warrior's relentlessness.

In the next instant, hundreds... no, thousands, of conjured swords crackling with thunderous blue aura formed across the sky, creating a dome shape over the enclave.

Rune's sword released a black fog of aura, that danced around the long sharp edge of the katana as he whispered, "Deadman's Decay."

Responding to his call, a window appeared before him with two options.

[2 B-rank souls and 1 B-minus rank soul]

'Wait, what happened to all those souls I collected after Tugnier's battle?'

Rune looked bewildered. All he found were three souls: two B-rank: Tormund and Oken and one B-minus: Fiona.

[Oh! I used them up in your resurrection.]

'Damn it! I spent more than a day stabbing corpses' skulls...'

'Oken's an old man, so he can't fight forever. Tormund's an archer. Fiona's a single-leg kickboxer of sorts...'

All he could do was let Fiona lead the charge since she had the highest stamina, with Oken and Tormund fighting from behind.

In the next instant, three forms materialized before him.

One woman with sharp features wearing a Chinese martial arts dress that revealed her dominant leg through its knee-length slit. One man with wrinkled skin but a sword stance that spoke of expertise. One young man with a bow and grim expression.

All dressed in black. Their pale skin radiated black fog-like aura.

Gasp.

It came from Merin in the corner. She couldn't control her reaction seeing her former companions.

'Oh right, I almost forgot about her.'

Rune thought of another plan. Why use Fiona to lead the charge when he can simply ask Merin to do so?

"Merin."

The collar activated. She walked forward against her will, face tense with fear.

"Go fight the demons. You can use your aura and mana as you wish, as long as you target demons."

Just like that, Merin and her former team moved to engage. The demons moved fast but were significantly slower than before, pressed down by the crimson shade. Still, there were simply too many.

Rune shifted focus back to the Sword King. His hands still held Sera and Lydia, who'd forgotten the world existed, content just to lay in his embrace.

He doubted they'd ever let go after the stunt he'd pulled.

He sighed as thousands of conjured swords aimed toward him. The Sword King's signature attack: Sword Adobe. Even Cassandra could perform it as a Sword Saint, but nowhere near this scale.

The swords launched toward the boy holding two girls.

"Seed of Dystrophy."

A raven conjured itself from Blood Raven, revolving in a perfect circle before shrinking into a small seed. Rune tossed it into a black hole he'd conjured.

"Um... can you both hold the sword?" he asked the women.

They didn't move. Just sank deeper into his embrace.

He sighed, resigning himself...

Then a hand held his.

He turned to see Cassandra, her grip firm despite her exhaustion. She gave a small nod.

Rune nodded back.

Multiple black holes formed around them and around Kael, Ilya, and Selka.

Just as he threw the seed through the portal, the Sword King finished conjuring his spell. The avalanche of swords poured down like deadly rain.

But in the next instant, grey mana-sucking tentacles rose from the black holes, forming shields of wooden tendrils around them all.

As soon as swords struck the tendrils, the mana within was sucked into the tentacles, then into Blood Raven, then into Rune.

Cassandra's legs buckled as the sword used her remaining mana to open multiple dark holes. In her weakened state, she couldn't hold herself up.

Rune caught her, supporting her weight.

Cassandra immediately stiffened inside the wooden dome. "I... I'm fine!"

"Yeah. Thanks for the mana," Rune said, wondering how she knew about Blood Raven's Essence Absorption skill.

The wooden tentacles writhed as they absorbed thousands of conjured swords, each one feeding more power back into Rune's circuits.

The Sword King's eyes widened as his ultimate attack was completely negated and worse, turned against him.

And the boy holding three women in various states of embrace simply smiled.

A smile that promised the ancient warrior's three-century reign was about to end.

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