Emperor of Steel

Thud Thud Thud!

Luke, who passed through the opened gates, pointed his sword towards Vanden.

“Are you the one who betrayed your family and stuck yourself to Rudolf? As you wish, I will give you a chance to form a decision according to your mind.”

In response, Vanden seemed startled.

“Are you really Luke de Rakan?”

“Why? Do I have to prove myself to you?”

When Luke was done with his words, he lightly swung the giant sword of his Gigant.

When Vanden moved to prevent his Gigant from getting smashed, Luke’s Gaius’s left hand cast a spell.

“Titan Fist!”

Bang!

The powerful 7th circle magic shattered the large shield which Yeti was holding, and the heavy Gigant got pushed back.

‘I am certain! He is Luke de Rakan!’

Sword and magic.

The ability of the Rune Knight was known to the world, and only Luke de Rakan and the mercenary of the Holy Empire, Lev, were such men.

There was no reason for Lev of the Holy Empire to help Luke out, so it was definite that the one in the Gigant was Luke.

‘Huhu! The king is here?’

Vanden was glad.

In fact, he didn’t hope for Luke to accept the Gigantic Duel which he had asked for.

He thought that he would have to face with a lot of Symphonia riders in order to face their king.

But, since the King itself made his appearance, he felt like his workload had been decreased!

‘With this, I can make up for the mistake by taking down Luke’s neck! I can’t ignore those Knights of Guards who told me about the Emperor and might come to throw me out of the military any time soon!’

Thinking of creating a flowery future for himself, Vanden violently swung the Impact Aura Gigant sword.

“Die, you traitor!”

Luke, who saw Vanden’s incoming attack, used the second half of the Gold Sword to counterattack.

However, as the output of the knight class Gigant was low, and his Gold Sword wasn’t complete, he couldn’t overpower Vanden at once.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Kwang!

Both the men’s fight was very tight.

The both of them, who were in for full offense, went back a little to catch their breath.

“Rebel Luke! I guess you don’t know fear!”

“You mean I should be scared of you?”

“Huh! You must be proud because of your little fame of Rune Knight. Well, I’ll be hitting your neck!”

“Well, well, let’s see if it is my neck or yours which will fly today.”

Luke, who went along with the conversation, began to gather energy at the sword.

It was Cyclone Rage, the most powerful trick he knew in the second half of Gold Sword.

Bang!

A golden aura slash filled the air and smashed right into Yeti’s left shoulder.

Along with a huge sound, the magic alloys, the gloves broke down revealing the joints.

‘Kuek, he seems like he is better than I thought!’

Luke’s mighty blow, made Vanden clench his teeth.

However, he soon smiled and stood straight. Luke was surely stronger than he expected, however, he had no thought of losing to him.

‘I was the first knight to get merit and fame among the small group of knights. And now I am the Sword Master, does he really think that I will lose to a child?!’

Of course, Luke was known to have a frightening growth in the recent years, but what good was that?

Vanden too moved behind the back of Butler and joined with Rudolf who taught him a lot of skills, and ended up becoming Advanced Sword Master.

“Die, Luke!”

Hweeeing!

The Impact Aura which came out from Yeti’s sword was like an ice blizzard.

With the intent of killing Luke right away, Vanden began to develop ‘Blizzard Sword’.

Vanden had developed the skill by applying the Southern Continent’s martial arts of ‘Ice White Divine Palm’, the sword was notorious for how difficult dealing with it was considered, and it had the nature to freeze everything which it came in contact with. It was simply amazing.

Crrrrk!

Every place which was touched by Vanden’s sword turned frozen.

“That’s an interesting piece. You can create magic phenomena with aura.”

Luke, rushed away with the use of Blink and appeared behind Yeti to knock him down with the sword.

Crack!

Yeti’s upper body faltered with the sound of cracking ice.

Somehow, Luke decided to rush back as the sword of Gaius was turning into ice.

Vanden smiled and explained, “Kuekk. My Blizzard Sword isn’t specific to a sword. It is placed on the entire body like the aura shield.”

“It’s stronger than the ice magic itself!”

When the Gigant’s control was sending a chill to both his hands, Luke frowned.

It was at that moment,

As he pulled on the magic, Gaius’s sword swells with heat, and all the ice around began to melt away.

It was like seeing sparks of fire spread, it seemed like a magical sword was being used.

“You have an interesting swordsmanship, but that doesn’t mean that there is no way to deal with you.” Spoke Luke.

Vanden continued to attack with Blizzard Sword again and again, however, he wasn’t able to properly demonstrate the power of his sword as the flame magic was supreme when compared to his.

Maybe, with an ordinary knight who didn’t know the use of magic, Vanden would have held his victory, however, when going against Luke, who was a Rune Knight, it was a hard fight.

However, Vanden didn’t seem to have his confidence crushed as he was still going strong with the attacks of Blizzard Sword in his Hero class Gigant, Yeti.

Luke managed to unfold magic.

“Thunder Strike! Titan Fist!”

Every time, a spell came out of Luke’s mouth, different kinds of magic unfolded.

And Vanden would cancel the magic with his Blizzard Sword.

“Hahaha! Since you can’t stop my sword, you step back and only use magic on me!”

“Well, I have the freedom to use whatever suit’s possible.”

Luke spoke back to Vanden’s sarcastic words and shot Ice Blow.

As a huge cube of ice flew right at him, Vanden couldn’t help but laugh while trying to avoid it.

However, before Vanden could break the ice, Luke blasted the ice.

Pieces of shattered ice scattered all around Vanden’s Yeti.

The moment, the ice fell, the land around and the feet of Yeti too was frozen.

It was like a magnet, the power of the magic Luke used got amplified as it responded to Blizzard Sword, which had the same properties as the spell.

“Thi- what is this!?”

“It is never good to overdo anything. Now I am going to take closer steps.”

The ice could only hold the Hero class Gigant for a very short time.

However, the moment was all one would need to determine the battle.

Luke, who unleashed the Gold aura from his Gigant, rushed in.

The sprint of the Gigant was as if a phoenix had spread its wings.

Grrrrng!

“Ackkk!”

A powerful sword flew in huge gusts of wind, Yeti’s gloves shattered and limbs severed.

Vanden barely managed to scrape from the torso of the Gigant and fell to the ground.

“Cough, how did this…?!”

Luke, who saw Vanden staggering with the injuries, approached him and held him with magic.

‘I guess Sword Masters really aren’t the ones to die so easily. But, how am I supposed to handle this man?’

He didn’t want to simply kill the man.

And to send back a man who pointed the knife at him, would be too generous on Luke’s part.

Even then, it was impossible for him to act recklessly in front of a large crowd of people and use his Black Bind.

‘Ah! That can be done!’

Luke, who was in deep thoughts, smiled at the passing thought.

“Vanden, I am going to hand you over to Duke Butler.”

“Wh- what?”

“I am giving you a precious opportunity to apologize to him.”

“N-No! I surrender. No, I will do everything I can for you! I will be the dog or cat for you, please don’t hand me over to Duke Butler!”

From what Vanden knew, Duke Butler would never forgive him.

Even if he would be killed, he would be tortured to death.

Which made Vanden plead again and again, however, Luke was no longer listening to him.

“Com-commander has been captured!”

“Wooo! We need to retreat!”

At a distance, the Baroque Imperial troops, who witnessed the defeat of marquis Vanden being taken captive, were getting ready to retreat.

The Attack of North, which the Symphonia Kingdom had launched against the Baroque Empire, had ended.