Eternal Master: Path to Godlike Status-Chapter 19: Master Anywhere Part 3

"Heavenly Slash!"

Rain was launched. His boots tore through the cobblestones for a split second before his entire body followed. He flew backward, covering twenty meters in a heartbeat.

Then, he slammed into the thick oak-and-stone walls of the tavern. The structure groaned as his body shattered the main support beams, collapsing a portion of the second floor onto him.

"Master Rain!" Elisa’s scream was nearly drowned out by the sound of settling debris.

Alexandra stood in the middle of the street, her claymore still humming with that jagged golden light.

Her chest heaved, her "incandescent white" eyes flickering.

That single strike had cost her a significant portion of her reserve.

Behind her, the priests began to rally, feeling proud to have such a strong ally on their side.

Suddenly, a heavy thud came from within the wreckage. Then the sound of a massive stone being tossed aside like a pebble.

From the hole in the wall, a hand emerged—not charred, not broken, but perfectly intact. He stepped out from the debris, shaking a layer of grey dust from his shoulders.

He looked back at the tavern, then at the furrow his body had carved into the street.

"What a powerful attack," he mused, wiping a streak of blood from his chin. "But you’ll have a better chance of killing me if you don’t rely on slicing."

"My bones are pretty tough. So—do you have an ability that can destroy this entire town in one strike?"

His words weren’t meant to brag; he was genuinely giving her sound advice.

Hearing such a blatant challenge, Alfonso trembled, beginning to doubt his decision to provoke such an unknown entity.

Yet there was no denying that Rain was dangerous—no normal being could regenerate like that; only devils and demons could.

And even by comparison, his regeneration was so overpowered that everyone began to wonder if he could be killed at all.

"Priest Alfonso. Use Holy Formation on me!" Alexandra commanded.

The priests looked unsure, but in battle, her authority surpassed everyone.

They followed her lead, beginning to chant. Light crawled from their feet across the ground, connecting to hers, until her whole body began to glow.

Elisa chanted in the corner, weaving a swift wind spell that carried her voice across the air.

"Master Rain, they’re using a holy formation! It can temporarily push a Master Rank to the next level—please, run if you can. The gap between ranks is massive!"

The air vibrated.

With the Priests fueling her, she lunged. Her claymore, much denser than before, descended in a vertical arc designed to split him in two.

Rain didn’t brace himself. He didn’t tighten his muscles for an impact. Instead, he did something that made Elisa’s heart stop:

He smiled. It wasn’t a hero’s grin or a villain’s sneer. It was the expression of a grandmaster finally seeing a move worth countering.

As the golden blade reached his head, he evaded.

The blade of light missed his ear by a fraction of an inch, the sheer heat of it cauterizing the air, but he was already moving inside the guard.

Her speed was extraordinary, but his perception was second to none when he focused.

He stepped into her personal space, his hand flashing out. His fingers locked onto the pressure points beneath her silver bracers.

"Too many wasted movements," he whispered. "You’ve sacrificed technique for spectacle."

Alexandra’s eyes widened. She tried to pivot, but he was faster. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Using a fluid, circular motion from an ancient martial art, he redirected her forward momentum.

With a terrifying display of technique over brute force, he twisted her arm at an angle that forced her fingers to splay.

The heavy, glowing claymore slipped from her grasp. He caught the hilt mid-air.

In the same instance, he swept his leg across her ankles.

CRACK-THOOM.

Alexandra slammed into the cobblestones face-first.

He stood over her, casually resting the now-normal claymore on his shoulder as if it were a wooden stick.

The Priests stopped chanting, their voices dying in their throats.

They watched in horror as their champion lay face-down in the dirt, disarmed and defeated by her own power.

Rain looked down at the fallen woman, then at the stolen sword in his hand.

"You have the speed of a superhuman," he mused, testing the weight of the blade. "But you still fall like a human."

"Would you like to try again? Or should I show you how this sword is actually meant to be swung?"