Chapter 186

Red Fox Castle, city wall.

Swish!

When that voice arrived, a tall figure arrived on the city wall from hundreds of meters away in an instant with the extreme speed of a white horse passing a gap.

Under normal circumstances, such rapid speed would surely tear through the air and make a piercing sound, but when that figure arrived, he made almost no sound at all, as if the wind had voluntarily cleared a path for him.

"Such fast speed!"

Xia Mingyu watched the tall young man who had appeared before him as if by teleportation with vigilance. He was certain that if the other party had wanted to kill him just now, he would have been decapitated before he could even release the Exchange Magic.

This young man looked to be in his early twenties, about one meter ninety tall, with a slender and upright build, and carried a longsword at his waist.

A head of lake-green long hair was casually tied into a high ponytail, with a few strands of hair fluttering in the night wind.

He had a pair of sharp, pale-blue eyes; when looked at directly by them, one would have a phantom pain as if a sword tip were pressed against their throat.

His facial features were well-defined but not rugged, instead revealing a bit of handsomeness and free-spiritedness.

At this moment, the young man completely ignored Xia Mingyu behind him, only staring intensely with burning eyes at the assassin holding the pitch-black longsword.

"Are you his guard?" Qing Yi asked with a grave expression.

He felt a strong sense of threat from this young man of little age, and combined with the thought of Qing Er, who had failed the assassination and died, his vigilance reached its limit instantly.

"No, I don't know the person behind me at all, and I don't care about his life or death in the slightest," Osirion shook his head quite simply.

"Since that is the case, can you move aside and let me finish my mission first?" Qing Yi probed.

From the perspective of an assassin, he naturally had to avoid unnecessary fighting.

"If you want to fight me, you can wait until I kill the person behind you first, and then we can change places to fight," Qing Yi added, having inferred from that initial sentence that the other party was a sword fanatic.

Once he killed the sage, he would run away immediately; he wouldn't fight this troublesome character.

As everyone knows, assassins never keep their promises.

Just when Xia Mingyu thought the young man in front was going to move aside, Osirion instead slowly drew the longsword at his waist, which was engraved with spiral wind patterns.

"In that case, the value of the battle would be greatly discounted," the young man grinned, the corners of his mouth lifting in an uninhibited arc.

"Let's fight, let's kill! Before you have completely killed me, I will not let you hurt a single hair on the person behind me!"

He spread his arms and shouted with a fanatical expression.

Xia Mingyu: "???"

This person's brain is so strange... but what I thought was a desperate situation with no way out now seems to have a turning point.

Hearing this, Qing Yi's facial muscles stiffened. Even in his past hundreds of assassination experiences, he had never encountered such an outrageous thing.

Just when the assassination was about to succeed, a crazy sword fanatic had to pop up, as if the world were intentionally targeting him.

If I had known, I wouldn't have wasted words and just killed the sage with one sword strike!

Qing Yi felt deep regret in his heart. He decided to make one last attempt at persuasion; if it didn't work, he would immediately launch a sneak attack.

"Young man, your life ahead is still long, and a genius like you will surely have a brilliant future. Is it really necessary to risk your life for a battle with no grievances or conflicts of interest?" Qing Yi coaxed.

"Uncle, you are so long-winded!" A trace of impatience flashed across Osirion's face.

"Only a battle that seeks a glimmer of survival between life and death can temper the purest sword technique."

"And to me, sword technique is something that is equal in weight to life, and even higher than life."

"A drowning person climbs a blade of grass to survive; sword technique is the straw in my hand. Without it, I would only become a shell without a soul," he frankly stated his worldview, which seemed absurd to ordinary people.

Clang!

Osirion pointed the tip of the longsword in his hand firmly at the assassin's head, and a shocking sword intent erupted from his body.

Even Xia Mingyu, standing behind him, felt his back go cold and his hair stand on end from this sword intent.

And Qing Yi, facing the sword intent directly, finally realized that this life-and-death battle could no longer be avoided.

He silently gripped the sword in his hand, and looking at the man full of fighting spirit in front of him, a surge of anger arose spontaneously.

He grew up in the cold underground where the sun could not reach, experienced countless cruel trainings, and was often tortured to the point of wishing he could draw his sword and commit suicide.

But even so, for the sake of the wish in his heart, he stubbornly survived, and after experiencing hundreds of missions walking between life and death, he finally successfully obtained a face and... a family.

Yet this young man of extraordinary strength before him, who clearly possessed everything he had only gained after countless hardships, did not cherish it at all, and was willing to stake his life and engage in a life-and-death duel with him just for the sake of so-called sword technique.

Thinking of this, the anger in the assassin's chest grew more intense, finally turning into a question.

"What do you... treat life as!"

Qing Yi squeezed these words out from between his teeth.

Hearing this, both Osirion and Xia Mingyu were stunned; neither of them expected to hear such words from the mouth of an assassin.

Could an assassin stained with the blood of innocent people still know how to cherish life?

Boom!

The next moment, accompanied by a piercing sonic boom, Qing Yi disappeared from where he was in an instant, his whole body rushing toward the two of them with sword in hand like an arrow released from a bowstring.

And Osirion, having come to his senses, laughed out loud in excitement. He swung his sword to strike forward with absolute killing intent; it was a strike as swift as wind and thunder!

Clang, clang, clang!

The two figures crossed on the city wall at a terrifying speed like chasing wind and lightning. The clanging of the blades colliding was as intense as a symphony in an opera house, deafening to the ear.

With Xia Mingyu's current eyesight, he was completely unable to see the specific details of the battle, only seeing them leave behind flickering afterimages as if teleporting.

"These two people are both terrifyingly strong!"

Xia Mingyu exclaimed in his heart while silently retreating to the edge of the city wall.

He touched the Eye of Vigilance in his pocket, but after hesitating for a moment, he gave up the idea of injecting magic power into it.

This battle had already surpassed the level of the Crescent Rank; even if he called Kalen to come, it would only increase casualties in vain and could not change the situation of the battle.

As for secretly releasing the Exchange Magic to run away while they were fighting, Xia Mingyu weighed the pros and cons and also gave up, because with that Faceless One's terrifying speed, catching up to him would only be a matter of seconds.

It would be better to stay here; at least he would be protected by that powerful sword fanatic young man.

He knew very well that he had already committed the crime of negligence and harboring in the matter of Lise, and as a Holy Knight and the son of the Pope, Osirion could completely kill him on the spot without bearing any guilt.

Feeling his own precarious situation, Xia Mingyu made a resolution in his heart.

He realized that external power was always just a reflection in a mirror or a flower in the water; only by being strong oneself could one always stand tall.

If he had power as strong as Tamerlane's, he could easily kill any number of assassins with one sword strike.

"Hahaha, satisfying!"

Feeling the life-and-death crisis of the blade grazing his head several times, Osirion's face flushed red as if he had drunk several pots of wine, his whole person overflowing with joy that could not be expressed in words.

"Uncle, although you are long-winded, your sword technique is truly clean and neat!" Osirion looked at the assassin hidden under the black robe and mask in front of him and sighed.

In the fight just now, he deeply realized the strength of the other party's sword technique; every strike was precise and ruthless, without a trace of excess or hesitation.

He was certain that only by experiencing countless battles walking between life and death could such extreme sword technique be honed.

And this was his best whetstone, or... the ticket to the underworld to send him off.

Looking at the man who was excited beyond measure in front of him, Qing Yi deeply felt the difficulty.

In the fierce battle just now, he had already used his full strength in sword technique, but even so, he still failed to decapitate the other party.

Even though he was only in his early twenties, his sword technique level was not weaker than his own at all, and his sword moves were even more imaginative and unconventional, making it impossible for one to find a pattern to break them.

This was not a sword technique that an ordinary person like him could learn; it was a sword technique that only a true sword technique genius could perform by instinct.

If he continued to fight, there would undoubtedly be a danger to his life. Should he retreat?

If he retreated now and hid his name and ran to a neighboring country, even if Lord Ramon pursued him, he wouldn't be able to find him.

But, those family members...

"Harvey, remember to come back on time, I have prepared a surprise for you!"

"Daddy, remember to bring me a gift when you come back."

"Little brother, you shouldn't say that; you should say to Daddy, 'Have a safe journey!'"

Recalling the exhortations and blessings of his wife and children at the time of parting, Qing Yi's eyes gradually became firm.

Even if this love were fake, even if the person they truly loved had actually been killed by him, he still wanted to immerse himself in this illusory happiness until he fell into hell.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

A surging, cyan-green magic power like a tide erupted from the assassin's body, and his cyan beast-like pupils also bloomed with a ghostly light like a wolf's.

"Finally going to use your ability? Looking at your eyes, Uncle, you should be a Witcher."

"A Crescent Rank Witcher, that is someone who has undergone a full-body blood transfusion and can even use the abilities of magical beasts. I'm really looking forward to it!"

Seeing this, a flash of excitement crossed Osirion's eyes, and he injected magic power into the space ring he wore on his hand.

Swish!

A cyan light hole appeared, and Osirion reached his left hand into it, pulling out a longsword with cloud patterns carved on the blade.

Startling Wind, Shattering Clouds; these were his two swords.

The world only knew he was crazy about swords, but did not know that what he was actually good at was dual-sword style; it was just that the vast majority of opponents did not have the strength to make him take out his second sword.

"Osirion, this is my name."

The young man held two swords in his hands and set up his stance. He put away his previous laziness and spoke in a solemn voice.

He respected the sword technique of the person in front of him, which had been honed from countless battles, so even if the other party were an assassin, he would still follow the knight's etiquette before a life-and-death duel and report his name.

Qing Yi was silent. Logically speaking, he should ignore the other party's knight etiquette and attack directly, but since this might be his last time, perhaps indulging once would not be too much.

"Harvey," Qing Yi said softly.

The next moment, he activated the ability he had gained after being promoted to the Crescent Rank several years ago.

"Shadow Assault."

The moment the magic power erupted, Qing Yi's figure began to become blurry, like moonlight reflected on the water surface being gently scattered by the wind.

Immediately afterward, his figure seemed to be divided by invisible threads and quickly reorganized in the surroundings; each fragment turned into a clone exactly like him, totaling five.

Every clone, from the attire to the hem of the clothes, and even the posture of holding the sword, was exactly the same.

"This is the unique innate ability of the magical beast Shadow Wolf!" Osirion's eyes grew hot.

Unlike the unremarkable Black Abyss Wolf, the Shadow Wolf belonged to a superior species even among all wolf-type magical beasts.

As long as they experienced normal battles until adulthood, almost all of them could receive a name from the world and become a named magical beast.

And its most powerful aspect was its innate ability, Shadow Assault—it could create shadow clones that were not much different in strength from itself to attack together. Apart from being extremely magic-power-consuming, it could completely be called a top-tier ability.

"Hehe, if I don't use my full strength now, I reckon I'll really die here."

After reaching this conclusion, Osirion also released all his magic power to be transmitted to the blades, and the two longswords were immediately covered by a dazzling cyan light.

"Merciful wind, please be with my sword!" he shouted.

Rustle, rustle, rustle.

In an instant, the air within a radius of several hundred meters around him turned into ten thousand strands of flowing wind, all gathering on the two longswords, Startling Wind and Shattering Clouds.

Xia Mingyu, located at the edge of the city wall, was already unable to breathe.

The other party had actually created a vacuum domain in the time it took to say a single sentence.

What a powerful gift this was!

Swish, swish, swish.

Seemingly having sensed the threat, the assassin, who had turned into five, all held their swords and rushed toward Osirion at extreme speed.

Their afterimages were dazzling, and the sharp sword light wove into an airtight net, attempting to put Osirion to death.

"Empty Cicada Lament," the green-haired young man said softly, and he swung the sword in his right hand.

The next moment, accompanied by a shrill scream like cicada wings shattering, the extremely compressed air turned into a huge sword qi and slashed toward the incoming enemy with the extreme speed of tearing through the gale.

Bang!

Accompanied by a crisp sound like a mirror shattering, those five figures were slashed into pieces the moment they came into contact with the sword qi, and they slowly dissipated.

And the sword qi, with its momentum undiminished, directly cut off the tall battlements on the city wall. If the height of the city wall hadn't been higher than the castle, I'm afraid the entire Red Fox Castle would have been damaged!

However, watching this scene, Osirion suddenly realized something.

He turned his head abruptly to look, and saw that the assassin had already bypassed him at some point and was rushing toward Xia Mingyu, who was standing at the edge of the city wall, with sword in hand.

The five figures from before were actually all clones, and the assassin's true body had already secretly withdrawn from the battle.

"Careful!"

Osirion shouted while swinging the sword in his left hand.

Accompanied by a shrill scream like cicada wings shattering, another terrifying sword qi whistled toward the assassin.

The moment he heard the sound, Xia Mingyu immediately activated the Exchange Magic.

Clang!

Just as that pitch-black longsword was about to decapitate him, he disappeared from where he was by a hair's breadth, leaving behind only a bouquet of romantically blooming red roses.

And Qing Yi, looking at the sage who had suddenly disappeared and the red roses that had grown on the ground, even though he was a battle-hardened assassin, could not help but be stunned for a moment.

However, the sword qi had already arrived.

Clang!

Accompanied by the sound of flesh and blood being torn, the assassin was split in two from top to bottom, and his remains fell into a pool of blood.

Feeling the excruciating pain coming from his whole body, Qing Yi finally realized that he was going to die.

Past memories came one after another like a revolving lantern, but most of them were disgusting things, except for...

"Harvey, God is above, you've finally returned!"

The wife looked at her husband who had finally returned after being missing for a long time, and she hugged him tightly, crying with joy.

And the man who was hugged was a bit at a loss. Feeling the warmth of the body and the clothes wetted on his chest, he hesitated for a moment before hugging her back.

He wanted a home too much!

He wanted to be loved too much.

Even if everything were fake.

"I'm sorry..." at the moment his consciousness was fading, Qing Yi muttered to himself.

Royal Capital, in a manor.

"Mom, look at the lavender I picked."

Two small children excitedly showed off the fruits of their labor after being busy all day to their mother.

"Good, good, good, you are all good children. When your father comes back, he will definitely praise you."

The woman gently touched their little heads, then looked at the large bunch of lavender on the table and revealed a satisfied smile.

Their whole family was going to make the lavender cake and cookies he liked most for her husband, the children's father, together; that way, when he came back, he would definitely feel surprised and happy.

"I'm really looking forward to it," the woman said to herself.

Qing Yi hated lavender the most.

(End of chapter)