The Emperor Has Returned

Chapter 161 – Horn and Fire (4)

Barth Baltic grinned and disappeared from Juan’s sight.

Barth quickly threw his left fist directly toward Juan.

At the same time, instead of facing his fast but weak fist, Juan decided to dodge the attack under the assumption that Barth would use his right fist for an even stronger attack the moment Juan took on his left fist.

As expected, Barth pushed himself close to Juan as soon as he dodged the attack.

Juan clicked his tongue, since Barth’s movements were unbelievably fast for his huge size.

Barth’s fist, which was the size of Juan’s chest, passed by with the sound of air being torn apart. The mere wind caused by Barth’s attack passing by someone would be enough to destroy any ordinary person's upper body.

It was not easy for Juan to attack or counterattack, since his movements were bound to be bigger than Barth’s given the fact that he was holding a sword.

The moment Juan tried to widen the distance between them to search for a gap in Barth’s defenses, Barth’s stride changed and started following a strange pattern.

Despite Juan widening his distance from him, Barth reached out his hand in a calm manner. His arm moved so fast that it seemed to have disappeared for a second.

Juan tried to twist the direction he was falling toward as soon as he realized his mistake, but his feet had not yet touched the ground.

A loud roar rang out.

Upon hearing the sudden loud sound, the people who were watching the fight covered their ears without even realizing it. Some of those who were standing closest to the fight collapsed to the floor, with the sound still ringing their ears.

The shockwave from the collision also penetrated Barth’s body, leaving behind many torn wounds on his arms.

The same was also true for Juan, since he also received the shock from the very front. He hadn’t suffered any major injuries, but that was not the problem.

‘I can’t hear anything.’

Juan’s sense of balance became distorted and he felt extremely nauseous. While he recovered from the shock quite quickly, he was inevitably exposed to Barth’s attack in the short second he took to reposition himself.

And just as he had expected, Juan could see Barth quickly running toward him through blurry vision. He figured that he was left with no other choice.

‘He’s not an opponent I can fight without becoming serious.’

Juan placed Sutra on his shoulder and waited for the right interval as Barth approached him.

Then, it happened.

It was only a short moment, but it felt terribly long. All of Juan’s muscles spasmed and his heart thumped, pumping blood throughout his body.

Juan blocked out all his senses that had been destroyed by the battle—his sight, hearing, and sense of smell were gone.

Juan was in an extremely dangerous state—thus his remaining senses were more sensitive than ever. His extremely sensitive senses allowed him to even feel the rain clouds in the sky that seemed ready to start pouring rain at any moment.

The hot air then condensed into the clouds and gathered them into one, then finally the first droplet of water began to form. At the same time, Juan could also feel Barth’s muscles beginning to tighten up.

‘Now.’

Juan immediately performed Fleeting Moment, the fifth stage of Baltic Sword, while dealing with the shock that could almost break all his bones. He kept his eyes closed, since he felt that it would be better for him to picture Barth’s movements in his head when none of his senses could be trusted.

At that moment, Barth’s fist was right in front of Juan’s nose, but was stopped without being able to touch Juan in the world of Fleeting Moment.

Juan quickly swung Sutra in a way that almost looked like he was dragging it. He could hear all his muscles being torn apart and felt his heart spasming as it demanded oxygen.

He could also hear the sound of Barth’s laughter.

Barth had already expected Juan to use Fleeting Moment. In fact, he had lured Juan into doing so.

Barth’s fist began to slowly move in a world that had gone still—in a world where even the shadows were paused.

At that moment, Juan realized that Barth’s fist would land his sword. Hornsluine’s Magic Formations, their magic resistance, and their martial arts were breaking the strange magical effect of the Baltic Sword.

The thousands of years of Hornsluine’s history was about to crash upon Juan, who had only lived for decades.

Barth’s fist then struck Juan’s head.

***

Neither Juan nor Barth could pay any attention to the surrounding situation.

As soon as Barth tore up time and space that Juan had stopped with the help of Fleeting Moment, the ground moved along with the movements of Barth’s fist. An earthquake that shook the entire plain caused the Imperial Army’s tents to collapse.

Heavy rain began to pour down at the same time as screams broke out everywhere. Pavan quickly gave out an order to take care of the situation, but his voice was drowned in the sound of rain and his order could not be properly delivered to the troops.

The emperor’s army standing by the Magic Tower were also perplexed at the situation unfolding in front of them.

Juan and Barth could not be seen properly due to the sudden rain. On the extremely chaotic battlefield, they both stood facing each other.

Juan looked at Barth with bloodshot eyes while bleeding from both ears.

The flames released by Sutra had been extinguished before anyone knew it.

“Your Majesty,” Barth muttered as he looked down at Juan. “Did you know this would happen?”

Juan barely managed to make a voice after puffing his lips.

“I just guessed. But, I got lucky.”

Barth looked down at his right hand, which had been split from between his middle finger and ring finger all the way up to his wrist. His fingers were broken here and there as if they had been smashed with a hammer.

While Juan’s condition was terrible as well, Barth’s right hand was much worse.

Barth reflected on what had just happened a moment ago, since he couldn’t easily understand it. Barth had clearly foreseen his victory when he managed to punch through Juan’s Fleeting Moment.

However, absurdly, what he failed to take into account of were the raindrops.

Barth could also use Fleeting Moment if he used the Baltic Sword. Swinging a sword while in the state of Fleeting Moment caused the body of the one swinging the sword to burst into flames due to atmospheric friction. If the performer’s body is unable to resist the flames and fails to hold out, they are bound to get full-body burns as soon as they swing their sword.

Barth had swung his fist just as fast as the sword, and thus received a devastating shock when his fist hit one of the raindrops that were fixed in time. Of course, his fist hadn’t been stopped by that small raindrop. However, his fist had been terribly damaged when he penetrated the raindrop to hit Juan’s head.

Nevertheless, Barth was confident that he had broken Juan’s neck.

“I know that your sword did not touch my body. But, then how… when did you cut me?” Barth asked.

“I knew that I wouldn’t be able to beat you by simply using Fleeting Moment,” Juan murmured, while examining Sutra which was now black and no longer usable. “So I had to try performing the sixth stage… no, the seventh stage of the Baltic Sword. Actually, my plan had been to cut off your arm. But I failed to perform the seventh stage, since I still can’t handle Sutra to the required level.”

The Baltic Sword became more and more dangerous as the stages went up, and high-quality equipment was necessary to use them properly. Juan’s failure to use the seventh stage of the Baltic Sword was natural to some extent, and so he was satisfied enough with the fact that he was still alive.

Juan’s current condition was also terrible. He might have a chance to achieve victory if he brought out the power of the flame crown again, but he would just feel like he had lost if he relied on its power.

“The sixth stage, huh?” Barth Baltic muttered briefly.

Barth was certain that Sutra was still far away from his body right when his fist touched Juan’s head. However, then he suddenly saw his fist, which had been completely intact other than a few small cuts even after being slashed by Sutra, split apart by just passing through space where there was nothing.

“It’s the sixth stage of the Baltic Sword, Negating Causality,” Juan replied with a pale face.

“It seems like you need to train more.”

Barth tore his top with his teeth and began to wrap it around his right hand. The temporary bandage made with his clothes quickly turned blood red under the pouring rain and blood, but he didn’t seem to mind at all.

Seeing this, Juan looked at Barth as if he was dumbfounded.

“You still want to keep going?”

“Neither of us is dead yet. We can still fight.”

“You won’t be able to fight properly with your fist looking like that. While I can’t use Sutra anymore, you should know that I’m still in decent condition.”

“That just means that I am at an advantage. Hurry up and get into the position. I can’t wait to use some of my new skills.”

Barth acted as if he was ready to fight again at any moment.

This caused Juan to smile, dumbfounded. However, his smile soon turned fierce and cold.

“Fine. Then let’s fight again, using what we learned from each other.”

Juan stabbed Sutra into the ground and clenched his fist. Then, instead of facing Barth’s fist using his own left fist, Juan slammed his forehead against Barth’s fist.

Boom!

The collision instantly caused Barth’s middle finger to be bent in the wrong direction.

The shock from the collision pushed Juan back as well, but Barth suddenly reached out his hand to grab Juan’s head. Then Barth put strength into his hand with all his might, as if he wanted to crush Juan’s head.

Barth didn’t stop there—he also slammed Juan’s face with his right hand. The temporary bandage that was made with his top in order to prevent further bleeding was of no use. Despite the fact that his right hand had been split in half, Barth continued to slam Juan as hard as he could. The bones in Barth’s hand ruthlessly slashed Juan’s skin.

Juan held back a scream, clinging to Barth’s arm and trying to bend his hand in the wrong direction with all his might.

In just an instant, Barth’s left arm was twisted in the wrong direction along with a terrible cracking sound.

Thus, Barth had no choice but to let go of Juan’s head.

As soon as he fell to the ground, Juan quickly rolled away to widen the distance between him and Barth.

Barth chased after Juan and stomped on the ground, but Juan, who was swiftly rolling around on the ground, was not caught easily.

Juan curled up and then quickly bounced back, kicking Barth’s shinbone.

The force of this kick was enough to break the bones of any ordinary person, but it only caused Barth to stumble for a short moment.

After regaining his balance, Barth threw himself at Juan, intending to press down on Juan with his right hand. Then Barth began to crush Juan’s thin neck with his thumb.

While Juan couldn’t breathe, his body didn’t need to breathe in the first place. Then, Juan grabbed Barth’s thumb and bent it completely in the wrong direction. Even though Barth had tremendous power and was unbelievably strong, the power of his thumb alone was not comparable to the power of Juan’s whole body.

Barth had no choice but to step back, since both of his hands were injured.

At the same time, Juan started gasping due to his poor physical condition.

‘I feel dizzy.’

Juan realized that he had gotten a concussion due to Barth’s fist attack. Not only was Juan’s neck bone damaged, it might have ended up being completely crushed if Juan had not bent Barth’s thumb just in time.

However, the most severe wound was on Juan’s face, which had been grabbed and slammed down by Barth numerous times. His right eye was blurry, almost looking like it was completely crushed, while his left eye was filled with blood.

Above all, his failed attempt at using the seventh stage of the Baltic Sword, which was immediately followed by the use of Fleeting Moment and Negating Causality caused him to suffer from massive internal injuries.

“It seems like your eyes have been damaged pretty badly,” Barth murmured in a low voice.

“Speak for yourself. Can you even fight with your hands looking like that?” Juan snapped at Barth, deriding him.

Their fight was getting more and more intense. Both Barth and Juan were walking on a tightrope.

Although Juan’s stature was small, his strength and speed resembled a sharp blade. Barth’s body was now full of cuts, muscles that had become necrosed, as well as scorched wounds. Furthermore, his hands that had been broken and split apart made fighting normally almost impossible for him.

Both Barth and Juan looked chaotic as they were covered in mud and rainwater.

Barth quietly assessed the condition of his broken left arm and then put as much strength into it as he could. Then, with a grotesque cracking sound, his bones were forced back into place.

“Hah, what the hell is that nonsense… how is that even possible…” Juan murmured as if he was dumbfounded.

“I’m sure you would also be able to do it once you learn to freely control the muscles of your entire body. Bones being broken is no big deal.”

Even though Barth was being cocky, Juan knew that he must be suffering from unbearable pain.

Barth strode toward Juan as if he didn’t care about pain.

At the same time, Juan quickly entered a fighting posture while still covering his right eye that was bleeding.

However, Barth didn’t seem to care to aim for Juan’s weakness at all. At the same time that Barth threw himself to slam against Juan, he aimed for the blindspot created by Juan’s right eye to fire a fatal attack.

However, as soon as Juan took his hand off his right eye, Barth could see that Juan’s eye was perfectly normal. Only then did he realize that he had made a mistake.

Juan blocked Barth’s attack and then jumped close to his face, taking advantage of the gap that had just been created.

He grabbed Barth’s beard, and then started punching his face non-stop. His fist was so strong compared to his small size that from Barth’s point of view, it was no different than a sharp awl stabbing against his face.

Flesh and blood splattered everywhere as Barth’s cheeks were ripped apart and his teeth were exposed.

On the other hand, Barth didn’t mind getting his beard being ripped off, and grabbed Juan and threw him to the floor.

This caused Juan to back away while coughing blood.

“You’re the one doing nonsensical things here,” Barth snarled at Juan.

‘How the hell did his crushed eyes recover in such a short time?’

Barth felt that Juan’s ability to recover so quickly was quite unfair.

“You should already know that I am built like this,” Juan shrugged.

Barth laughed furiously. Then he leaned his arm back and swung it at Juan’s head as hard as he could.

Juan faced Barth’s fist just like that, and then kicked Barth in the stomach with all his might.

The two repeatedly exchanged attacks several times and fell back.

Juan felt like his skull had already been crushed at multiple places. However, he didn’t feel too bad when he saw Barth, who was vomiting blood.

Juan and Barth gasped for air as they widened the distance between each other. The mud around them had already turned red due to their blood.

“We might really end up staying up all night at this rate… there are a lot of people watching us too,” Barth muttered with a sigh.

Juan nodded as he agreed with Barth. Their battle had been going on for hours. It would be no exaggeration that both of them might end up dying if the battle continued at this rate.

Juan would have an advantage if the battle turned into a long-term battle of attrition, since he had the ability to recover his body.

However, Juan’s goal was to get an answer out of Barth rather than killing him.

‘It wouldn’t be too late to kill him after I hear his answer.’

Both Juan and Barth’s breathing began to slow down.

Barth murmured in a quiet voice.

“Let’s finish this at once.”