THE LAST BLOOD SOVEREIGN

CHAPTER 4: THE CRIMSON BLADE

 

The twelve assassins moved as one.

Their black cloaks fluttered through the air like shadows, each carrying enough killing intent to make the forest shiver.

Kael had never seen such speed.

To him, they were nothing more than blurred figures racing toward Arkan.

The leader was the first to strike.

His crimson sword sliced downward, aiming for Arkan's neck.

Clang!

A deafening explosion echoed across the forest.

Arkan blocked the attack with a single hand resting casually on the hilt of his crimson blade.

The shockwave blasted leaves from every tree within a hundred meters.

"So..." Arkan said calmly, "the Imperial Shadow Corps has become weaker over the centuries."

The assassin's eyes widened behind his silver mask.

"You dare mock us?"

"I merely state a fact."

Before the assassin could react, Arkan disappeared.

Kael blinked.

He had vanished.

A heartbeat later—

BOOM!

The leader was launched through three massive trees before crashing into a boulder.

The rock exploded into thousands of fragments.

The remaining assassins hesitated.

One blow.

Their captain had been defeated with one blow.

"Spread out!" one of them shouted.

"Attack together!"

The eleven assassins surrounded Arkan from every direction.

Magic circles appeared beneath their feet.

"Shadow Prison!"

Black chains erupted from the ground, racing toward Arkan like living serpents.

Kael gasped.

There were hundreds of them.

Yet Arkan simply sighed.

"You still rely on borrowed power."

He raised two fingers.

The crimson runes engraved on his armor began to glow.

A wave of scarlet energy burst from his body.

Every chain shattered into dust before reaching him.

"No!" an assassin screamed.

"Impossible!"

Arkan finally drew his sword completely.

The weapon was unlike any Kael had ever seen.

Its crimson blade seemed to be forged from liquid fire, while ancient golden symbols flowed across its surface.

The moment it was unsheathed...

The sky darkened.

Thunder rolled across the heavens.

Even the Crimson Fang Wolf whimpered and lowered itself further to the ground.

"The Sovereign Blade..." whispered one assassin in horror.

"It still exists..."

Arkan looked at them without emotion.

"You recognize it."

"Good."

"Then you understand why none of you will leave this forest alive."

He swung the blade once.

Only once.

A crimson arc of light flashed across the battlefield.

Silence followed.

For several seconds, nothing happened.

Then...

One by one, the assassins' weapons cracked.

Their armor split apart.

The ground beneath them opened in a perfectly straight line stretching far into the forest.

Ten assassins collapsed simultaneously.

Defeated before they even realized they had been struck.

Only the captain remained standing.

Blood dripped from beneath his silver mask.

He stared at Arkan with disbelief.

"You..."

"You were supposed to have died a thousand years ago."

Arkan's expression remained unchanged.

"I did."

The captain froze.

"But duty is stronger than death."

Those words sent fear through the surviving assassin.

Without warning, he turned and fled.

"We must inform His Majesty!"

"The heir has awakened!"

He shot into the sky using a pair of wind sigils.

Kael instinctively took a step forward.

"He's escaping!"

Arkan made no attempt to chase him.

Instead, he closed his eyes.

"The arrogant always believe distance will save them."

He raised the Sovereign Blade toward the heavens.

The crimson symbols along its edge blazed like tiny suns.

"First Sovereign Art..."

His voice echoed through the mountains.

"Heaven's Judgment."

A single crimson beam erupted from the tip of the sword.

It pierced the clouds in an instant.

Hundreds of meters away...

The fleeing captain looked back.

His face turned pale.

"Impossible..."

The beam reached him before he could finish speaking.

There was no explosion.

No scream.

The assassin simply vanished, leaving not even ashes behind.

The crimson light slowly faded.

Silence returned to the forest.

Kael stood motionless.

He could scarcely breathe.

Arkan had defeated twelve elite imperial assassins without suffering a single wound.

The guardian sheathed the Sovereign Blade and turned toward Kael.

"This is only the beginning."

"The Emperor will send stronger enemies."

He looked toward the distant horizon, where dark storm clouds gathered over the mountains.

"They have waited eighteen years."

"They will not wait another day."

Before Kael could reply, the ground trembled once more.

From the depths of the shattered seal came a deep, ancient roar—far more terrifying than the Crimson Fang Wolf.

Arkan's calm expression disappeared for the first time.

His eyes narrowed.

"No..."

"It cannot be..."

A gigantic claw, covered in black scales and burning crimson veins, slowly emerged from the abyss beneath the forest.

Even Arkan tightened his grip on the Sovereign Blade.

"The Abyssal Dragon..."

"It has awakened far too soon."