Blade of the Goddess-Chapter 16 - The Assassin

"Find Professor Heather now!" Zion shouted to his companions.

"Understood!" Lidia didn't argue with her fiance's orders. She grabbed Zia and Crystal and ran to find their teacher.

"Wait! Shouldn't we help him?! This could be dangerous!" Crystal wasn't new to assassination attempts so she knew how dangerous they were. Still, she thought that they should help Zion rather than run away.

"When I'm with Zion, I always fight by his side. The only times he doesn't allow it is when the opponent he's facing is too strong for me to help. So instead of being a burden, I get out of his way."

Crystal and Zia didn't respond, understanding her words, but Crystal couldn't help but grit her teeth at her own powerlessness.

---

"Guess I'll have to kill them first." The assassin darted off in the girl's direction.

"Like hell, you will!" Zion grabbed him with his aura force, pulling him back and then striking him with his sword only for it to be blocked by the assassin.

"Zion Zagan, you interrupted our plans, and for that, you will die." Pointing his sword at Zion, dark red energy engulfed the assassin's blade which then engulfed his entire body. His mana burst forward, sending a shockwave around the area, but Zion stood firm.

"I don't know who you are or what you're talking about, but I'll get it out of you before you die." Having felt the weight of the assassin's attack previously, Zion knew that he couldn't hold back anymore. Releasing his full power, the mana around him surged, making his hair stand up.

Without any more words to be spoken, the two vanished from their spots and clashed blades with one another, destroying anything in the vicinity.

The sheer intensity of their power would make anyone weaker than them suffocate under the pressure of their energy. Each clash sent shockwaves of mana all over, cutting the ground and tearing through the air.

The sound of steel against steel was deafening as Zion and the assassin were locked in a deadly embrace, their swords crashing with brutal force. Each strike came faster, more desperate, the air thick with sweat and blood as they fought for dominance in the chaos.

'This guy is good! I won't have an easy time against him.' Zion thought as he kicked the assassin away.

With a swift twist, the assassin's blade sliced through the air, carving through Zion's mana field and into flesh, followed by a kick to his gut, knocking him away.

Zion quickly picked himself back up, his sword deep into the ground for support, and with his free hand, launched an attack crackling with lightning.

'Dammit!' [Lightning Lance] A long crackling bolt of lightning formed in Zion's hand before rocketing off at lightning speeds, and with the flick of his index and middle finger, the lightning lance split into three.

The assassin, like a shadow, moved swiftly to avoid the oncoming lightning attacks. He dodged the first one by jumping into the air, sliced the second one with his sword, and caught the last in his hands.

As the lightning crackled in his hand, his red energy corrupting it, the assassin threw it back at Zion with as much force as he could and then prepared his sword for his next attack.

Zion also caught his own lightning, but red energy made his hand go numb, however, Zion knew he couldn't afford to lose focus, so he amplified his power and clashed the lightning lance with the assassin's sword resulting in a large explosion knocking them both back.

"You wanna play like that? Then let's play!" Zion prepared for his next onslaught of attacks as the assassin got back on his feet and did the same.

---

Instructor Heather, who was gathering up mana cores from students who finished hunting monsters, saw Zia, Crystal, and Lidia running out of the fractured plain, breathing heavily as if something dangerous was chasing them.

"Instructor Heather! Zion needs your help!" Lidia shouted

"Woah, slow down. What's going on?" Heather asked

Zia recounted everything to Heather, not missing a single detail. Heather immediately called the students back and rushed to Zion's location.

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Upon arrival, she was met with a red barrier that blocked her from entering. Being a Grandmaster Stage cultivator, she was confident in her abilities and attempted to destroy the barrier.

Charging her most powerful spell, amplified by a glowing magic circle, she unleashed her magic.

[Water Dragon's Roar!]

A massive dragon, sculpted from surging water, roared to life and hurtled toward the barrier. The impact was thunderous, shaking the entire area as waves of force rippled outward, distorting the air with sheer power.

Once everything settled down, she assessed the damage she did and saw that the barrier wasn't even scratched.

"What?! What kind of barrier can withstand my most powerful spell?! I'll have to try again! No student will die on my watch."

For the next hour, Heather tried again and again to break the barrier, but each time, the result was the same.

---

Magical energy crackled in the air as the Zion and the assassin faced off, their hands weaving intricate runic symbols that sparked with deadly intent. Explosions of fire and ice collided in mid-air, the ground trembling beneath their feet as each attack tore apart the area they were in.

Zion noticed that every time the assassin used magic, the spells were blood red and would slightly overpower his own attacks. He knew that mana could overpower mana, but only if one of them was stronger than the other, which in this case, their levels weren't too far off.

'This feels like that imp! Could this guy be a demon? If so, how is he so strong? Demons shouldn't be able to send strong members into the middle world. What's going on?' Before Zion could even formulate a plan, the assassin was right in his face, barely managing to dodge as he got cut slightly in the face over his eye.

"Argh! Fuck!!!" He cried in pain. However, he didn't lose his focus and activated his body art, engulfing his entire body in lightning instead of fire.

The air crackled with raw electricity as Zion rocketed toward the assassin, his movements a blur of lightning. He unleashed a relentless flurry of strikes, each blow landing with bone-crushing force. The assassin reeled, coughing up blood as the sheer power of the assault overwhelmed them.

"Time to die motherfucker!" Zion grabbed his sword and swung it down with monstrous force, the air trembling beneath the sheer power of his swing. Lightning crackled wildly along the blade, surging with raw energy as the strike closed in on the assassin, ready to vanquish him in a blinding storm of destruction.

"This won't stop me!" The demon conjured a crimson barrier, its surface writhing with tendrils of inky black energy, pulsing with a malevolent aura.

As soon as Zion's attack was about to land, he used his trump card, something he never wanted to use until he graduated, holy power.

Through his connection to Luminera, he channeled a fraction of her divine power, the energy surging through him like a radiant storm. With his attack amplified beyond mortal limits, he swung his blade, cleaving through the barrier as if it were mere paper, slicing the assassin clean in half.