Water Magician-Chapter 635: Collision

Editor: Tseirp

Clank!

Clank, clank, clank…

The fight between the magician and the sorcerer began as a sword fight.

The Phantom King — who had taken over Duke Helb’s body — lunged in with a downward slash.

Ryo met it carefully.

The Phantom King’s flurry.

Ryo’s defense.

It looked like a duel between swordsmen, but it didn’t stop there.

Clink, clink, clink…

A reverberating sound of light masses striking something.

Four talismans shot out from the Phantom King and, from every direction, rained stones down on Ryo.

“An all-range attack… talismans are handy, aren’t they?”

Ryo murmured.

All of the talisman attacks, however, were deflected by moving ice shields.

The rarely-used .

Shields about the size of tennis rackets made of ice flew around Ryo, knocking away the talisman attacks.

Normally, he would have blocked with , but this time he was taking an all-range assault in the middle of swordplay… it was more convenient to protect only the spots being attacked with shields.

“Annoying!”

The Phantom King shouted, and the flying talismans increased to eight.

“Shut up!”

Ryo shot back; in response the number of

around him increased.

“You… are you really human?”

“From every angle, I look human, right? Or do I look like a sardine to you?”

Ryo cracked that joke naturally, but, of course, no one played along.

In moments like that, he thought, once again, about how wonderful Abel was.

“If it were Abel, he’d jump in and roast any punchline.”

Of course, Abel did not exist merely to respond to Ryo’s jokes…

Ryo kept joking and perfectly deflected the Phantom King’s talismans with ice shields, but he was at a disadvantage in the swordplay.

The Phantom King’s strikes were astonishingly fast and astonishingly strong.

“I once saw someone who, after a star-shaped magic circle was drawn on his chest, gained inhuman strength and speed… this feels like that.”

Ryo muttered to himself; apparently the Phantom King heard it from across the line of blades.

“Do you perhaps even know of ?”

“Puppet? A marionette? I don’t know that name, but it’s probably similar. Sorcery gives that sort of impression. It makes you imagine pure, upright magicians and decadent, depraved sorcerers. I feel sorry for the earnest sorcerers.”

“Nonsense!”

At Ryo’s flippant remark, the Phantom King increased the speed of his blade.

It wasn’t just force and speed.

His technique was also quite high.

But more than that, Ryo had been bothered by something for a while.

It was the sword the Phantom King wielded.

It didn’t glow red like a magic sword.

It didn’t glow green like the sword of the Akuma Argenta.

Yet Ryo felt something close to that kind of presence.

“Could it be a Holy Sword?”

That was a total guess.

Ryo had only seen two Holy Swords… probably.

He remembered seeing a few in the Western countries, but only two clearly.

The sword of Grandmaster Hugh McGrath and the sword of the hero Roman.

Both looked like ordinary swords.

Still, they gave off a certain presence… something you couldn’t quite explain.

Ryo couldn’t put it into words either.

He felt that same presence from the sword in front of him.

“I felt it the moment I grabbed it, so that feeling was right.”

The Phantom King said with a smirk, continuing,

“It seems to be Duke Atinjo’s sword… when it comes from that region, it must be the Holy Sword Tatien.”

“Duke Atinjo brought troublesome things again…”

“A Holy Sword is something you always keep at your side, right?”

“Speaking of which… I heard if someone other than the master holds it, it could get sulky and kill them…”

Ryo remembered a story he’d heard from Hugh McGrath.

“Hmph, you understand, do you?”

“Just because it’s a Holy Sword doesn’t mean it has special skills!”

“How confident are you on that?”

“Huh?”

The Phantom King replied as if to smash that confidence to pieces.

Hearing that, even Ryo was surprised. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

“Someone who even knows about the Demon Lord’s factor and Stellar magic circle does not know ‘Holy Sword Sublimation’?”

“Holy Sword Sublimation?”

Ryo repeated the phrase.

It was the first time he’d heard it.

“Kukuku, you don’t know? How delightful.”

The Phantom King said with a wicked, ominous grin.

Ryo felt his temper flare, but let it slide.

Honestly, there was no room for carelessness in that duel.

And yet, even while he was pressed for concentration, information that nagged at him was dangled in front of him.

That was very bad.

In a situation that required focus, his attention was being chipped away.

Perhaps that was the point?

Was there really such a thing as ‘Holy Sword Sublimation’?

‘A bluff? Just trying to shake me mentally?’

It was possible.

If your heart wavers, your sword wavers.

After all, Ryo often said,

‘Robbing the enemy of composure is the most basic of interpersonal combat.’

The moment he thought that, the atmosphere around Ryo changed.

“Ohh…”

The Phantom King, sensing it too, smirked.

Ryo himself understood.

From the start, he had to enter a stance that wouldn’t waver.

If you only steady yourself once you’re pushed into a corner… your foot might slip someday.

But he couldn’t help it now.

Ryo unfolded an impenetrable sword defense.

It repelled even the Phantom King’s blade—overwhelming him with strength and speed, and matching him in technique.

“You’re human, and yet you trained this much.”

The Phantom King murmured; there was not an ounce of mockery in that voice.

Genuine praise, from the depths of his heart.

Even an enemy should be given credit where it’s due.

Ryo parried a thrust.

He dodged a slash.

He met a downward strike… with an ice shield.

“What?”

It was an unexpected block for the Phantom King.

Because Ryo didn’t take the blow with his sword, he freed himself.

He stepped in hard and, like a sword draw technique, slashed his blade across with only his right hand.

Swoosh.

Duke Helb’s formal attire was sliced.

But Ryo felt the blade rebound off something hard under the clothing.

“Huh?”

In that instant, Ryo saw it.

“Has he stuck talismans to his body?”

Yes — talismans adhered to the body had repelled the Murasame slash.

“Is that allowed?”

Ryo blurted out honestly.

“What? Have you never fought a sorcerer who’s good at close combat?”

“Saying a sorcerer is good at close combat is strange!”

“You’re a magician, and yet you can fight close up, too. There are such ones even among sorcerers.”

“Oh, I see.”

Ryo found himself involuntarily convinced.

“Then shouldn’t all sorcerers just stick talismans to their bodies…”

“You’d run out of magic and die.”

“Ah — that makes sense. That’s reasonable. Duke Helb can do that because…”

“Because he’s a Phantomkin.”

“Racial traits are terrifying.”

Indeed, something that always stood in Ryo’s way.

Racial traits.

Whether Akumas, djinns, Ruri’s two…or Phantomkins!

“Differences in racial traits are really troublesome.”

“Humans are especially fragile.”

The Phantom King shrugged at Ryo’s mutter.

Not mocking, he truly believed it.

Ryo could not argue.

Without listing the obvious examples, in the land of ‘Phi’ with dragons and vampires, humans were truly…

“Hey, you — why bother resisting when you’re such a fragile human?”

“Excuse me? Are you saying I should stop resisting and die?”

“I don’t care whether you live or die. I only want to kill the state leaders. You don’t belong to that group, do you?”

“Why do you think I’m different? I was formally invited by the Duchy of Atinjo and sat at the round table, too.”

“Really? I’ve never seen you…”

At that point, the Phantom King realised.

His slip of the tongue.

Ryo grinned.

“You can see the courts of each country, can you?”

He hadn’t seen today’s round table; he had seen the courts and royal castles of various countries earlier by some means.

And had memorized the faces of their leaders.

To slaughter them all at this place.

“Talking to you reveals many things I don’t want known.”

“What then? Earlier, you said you didn’t intend to kill me?”

“…You’re at fault.”

With that single line, the Phantom King stepped in at godspeed and brought his blade down.

Swoosh.

Ryo didn’t take it head-on; with Murasame, he angled and deflected.

At that moment, Ryo saw the corner of the Phantom King’s mouth twitch up.

He didn’t know why, but a bad feeling ran through him.

“”

“Holy Sword Sublimation ‘Thrust’.”

The Holy Sword Tatien, as if piercing paper, passed through Ryo’s hardest ice wall with almost no resistance.

“Ugghh!”

The blade drove deep into Ryo’s left flank.

The Phantom King forced a horizontal slash to bisect Ryo’s body.

Ryo was blown backward.

He opened his

at full and flew back.

Full-throttle flight.

He couldn’t modulate his speed.

He slammed into the rear wall.

Pain seared through his whole body.

But what Ryo felt more than the pain was relief.

If he hadn’t flown back, the horizontal slash from the Holy Sword that had pierced his stomach would have cleaved him in two.

“You pierced through

so casually?”

As expected, that was a first.

He had experienced being broken by magic before, but even then,

had resisted.

This time it was different.

As if nothing were there…

“You flew backward yourself? What mechanism is that? A Flight Ring or something? Still, it’s too fast.”

The Phantom King muttered, tilting his head while manipulating Tatien with one hand.

Tatien now shone with white light.

It had not emitted that light earlier; it changed after he shouted the Holy Sword Sublimation.

“So that was the ‘Holy Sword Sublimation’ just now.”

Ryo said as he got to his feet.

With a large hole in his belly, his legs wavered.

He froze his internal organs to staunch the bleeding, but he wasn’t sure how much effect it would have.

“Yeah. That’s a trait of the Holy Sword Tatien. Holy Swords each have outstanding characteristics; this one’s specialty is that it ‘ignores’ all magic.”

“I thought so.”

“That ice wall you set up just before was something, but its compatibility with Tatien is the worst. And you even put an ice film on your body, right? Don’t blame me for sticking talismans to myself.”

“That’s that, and this is this.”

Of course, Ryo had

on, but it had no effect against Tatien’s Holy Sword Sublimation.

Worse, it even pierced the fairy-king’s robe draped over him.

The robe that repels all magic and deflects attribute-imbued sword attacks.

“You get it? You can’t win.”

“So you want me to just give up and die?”

“I’ll hand you the information you took as-is. Take it and go.”

“Pardon?”

“I said, walk away now.”

“…What about the leaders of the nations?”

“I’ll kill them.”

“Figures.”

Ryo shrugged.

That was the whole reason the Phantom King had possessed Duke Helb’s body.

Among those leaders to be killed were many of Ryo’s acquaintances.

Leave them and simply walk away?

Impossible!

Besides…

“I made a promise. If Duke Helb went berserk, I’d stop him.”

“Stop him?”

“Cut off his head and pierce his heart.”

“That’s the right way to kill a Phantom, but if you do that, this man will die, you know?”

“He asked to be killed. I’ll keep my promise.”

Ryo’s eyes were full of resolve.

No hesitation at all.

He might not be able to exert everything with a gaping hole in his abdomen.

But that didn’t matter.

He would keep his promise.

That was all.

Ryo quietly assumed a focused stance.

“Hmph, fine. It seems I must kill you after all.”

The Phantom King also raised the white-glowing Holy Sword Tatien.

()

“I see it! !”

The Phantom King chanted.

Of course, a sorcerer can cast spells, too.

A sorcerer of the Phantom King’s caliber—or the Duke Helb he possessed—could throw out attack magic more powerful than many mediocre magicians.

What was unleashed was countless flames.

The Phantom King must have realized that Ryo had turned the water vapor in the air into a mass of mines.

As if to counter number with number, innumerable flames flew toward Ryo.

They struck the steam mines.

Countless mutual annihilation flashes filled the air.

Naturally, that was meant as a blinding tactic for close combat.

Ryo plunged in.

Of course, the Phantom King understood.

That Ryo would dive in.

It had all been calculated.

“I anticipated that!”

The Holy Sword Tatien’s Holy Sword Sublimation ‘ignores’ all magic.

No matter what magic Ryo used to protect himself.

Tatien could cut through it.

It was a single, flawless stroke, bisecting without resistance.

Yes… with no resistance at all.

No resistance even to cutting flesh.

“A clone! How clever!”

The Phantom King noticed immediately and caught the later-arriving Ryo.

Then he sliced him in two again.

At that moment, he realized.

There had been two decoys.

The cut decoys changed from ice to water and were scattered around.

Like a sudden squall.

They swirled, clinging to the Phantom King’s body…

“!”

The water Ryo had wrapped around Duke Helb’s body was instantly turned into an ice coffin, and without pause, the right arm wielding the Holy Sword Tatien was cut off at the wrist.

“A sword that ignores magic can’t be put in an ice coffin, after all.”

Blood began to flow again from Ryo’s reopened wound; seeing Duke Helb frozen, Ryo murmured.

“Better than killing him outright, right?”

Then he lost consciousness.

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