281: War of Independence 6

Osborne gazed at the yellow-haired youth before him, a never-before-felt battle intent surging in his heart.

Although Lechter's report had warned him that this youth's strength might surpass the Sword Saint of Wind, facing him in person now, Osborne truly felt the suffocating pressure.

The air between them seemed to solidify, a great battle on the verge of breaking out.

Osborne launched the first attack; he controlled the Divine Knight to charge forward, its right arm's heavy weapon aimed at Yanqing, an dazzling beam of energy, like a roaring dragon, shot towards the youth.

Yanqing's eyes sharpened; he flickered, leaping aside like a bolt of lightning.

The energy beam struck where he had just stood, blasting a huge crater in the ground, sending debris flying.

Yanqing flipped in the air, landing steadily, then swung his sword towards the Divine Knight.

"Swift Wind!" Yanqing shouted, a faint blue sword qi condensing on his longsword, rushing towards the Divine Knight like a gust of wind.

Where the sword qi passed, the air was cut with a clear trace, and the surrounding trees, swept by the sword qi, were instantly cut in half.

Osborne sneered, controlling the Divine Knight to block the blow with its shield.

Although a crack appeared on the shield, the Divine Knight itself was not too heavily damaged.

He immediately counterattacked, the Divine Knight's dual arm weapon systems firing simultaneously, countless energy projectiles raining down on Yanqing.

Yanqing's expression remained unchanged, his figure like lightning, skillfully weaving through the gaps in the energy projectiles.

His longsword spun lightly, the faint blue sword qi flowing along its blade.

"Three-Foot Water!"

He let out a soft cry, his figure like lightning as he moved towards the Divine Knight.

The sword light rippled like water, precisely striking the Divine Knight's joint areas.

"Clang!" The metallic collision was deafening.

To Osborne's shock, Yanqing's sword had left a deep gash on the Divine Knight's armor.

He hastily controlled the Divine Knight to retreat, while its shoulder weapon bays opened, launching dozens of missiles.

Yanqing's lips curled into a slight smile, his longsword tracing several graceful arcs in the air.

"Swallow's Return!"

The sword light flowed like a song, forming an impenetrable net of swords.

The missiles exploded one after another before the sword net, none able to come close to him.

"How is this possible!" Osborne watched in disbelief.

He gritted his teeth, the Divine Knight's arms suddenly transforming to reveal two massive energy cannons.

"Take this!" The energy cannons began to charge, emitting a heart-pounding hum.

Yanqing's eyes narrowed, his longsword pointing to the sky: "Heavenly River's Descent!"

Immediately, it was as if a rift opened in the sky, countless sword lights pouring down like a waterfall, clashing violently with the beams shot from the energy cannons.

"Boom!"

A massive explosion shockwave spread outwards, uprooting trees within a hundred-meter radius, and pulverizing rocks.

Amidst the swirling dust, two figures rapidly retreated.

"Damn it!" Osborne roared.

He now realized that under Yanqing's attacks, the Divine Knight's armor was battered and uneven, with ice crystals even appearing in some areas.

The mobility of its joints also felt considerably stiff.

He began to attack recklessly, the Divine Knight's various weapon systems deployed in rotation, even mixed with a good number of magical attacks.

In addition to various gunfire, there were fireballs appearing out of thin air, rock pillars rising from the ground, and wind blades transforming into scythes...

All sorts of attacks poured down on Yanqing like a torrential storm.

Yanqing moved through the dense attacks like a ghost, sometimes parrying with his sword, sometimes unleashing sword techniques to counterattack, still maintaining his calm and elegance.

The battle continued for several tens of minutes, the valley filled with traces of explosions and destroyed trees.

Although the Divine Knight held a firepower advantage, Yanqing's agility and precision prevented Osborne from achieving a decisive victory.

On the contrary, as the battle continued, Osborne found that his attacks seemed to pose less and less threat to Yanqing.

Osborne panted heavily, the Divine Knight starting to feel somewhat unusual to him.

Even more terrifying was that Yanqing was completely unharmed, with only a slight tear in the corner of his clothes.

"This guy... who exactly is he?" Osborne gritted his teeth, the rage in his heart growing stronger.

He felt as if the Divine Knight's power was being suppressed by some invisible force, and each of Yanqing's attacks made him feel more strained.

In fact, Osborne already knew where this suppression came from.

The Divine Knight, Ishmael the Black, inherently carried an ancient curse.

It was the product of the fusion of the Fire and Earth Treasures, the Empire's nightmare.

Under the influence of the curse, Imperial Society was gradually eroded, and the populace fell into uncontrolled, aimless, and baseless fanaticism and violence.

He had plotted for many years, using the entire continent as a chessboard, even treating the Society and himself as pawns, only to draw the entire continent into war, igniting the largest-scale war in the history of the Zemurian continent.

Using war, he aimed to achieve the complete form of the Seven Divine Knights' "Seven Artifacts' Mutual Inhibition," then forge the complete version of the "Great Steel," and offer himself as a sacrifice to remove this curse from the continent, thereby achieving his true goal of salvation.

He knew that using the Divine Knight would deepen the curse on him.

However, short-term contact would not cause a noticeable impact.

He had originally thought that with the power of the Treasures, it would not take so long.

But clearly, events had once again deviated from his expectations.

As the battle raged fiercely and Osborne's emotions spiraled out of control, the curse began to gradually affect Osborne's mind.

He felt dizzy and irritable, the Yanqing before him seemed to become increasingly blurry, while the anger in his heart grew stronger and stronger.

"I... must... defeat you!" Osborne's voice became hoarse, he was almost roaring his commands.

The Divine Knight's eyes gleamed with a mad light, all its weapon systems firing simultaneously, forming a dense net of firepower that completely enveloped Yanqing.

"It's time to end this." Yanqing sighed softly, slowly raising his longsword, a hint of regret in his eyes.

Then, he took a deep breath, the longsword in his hand glowing brightly, the surrounding air seeming to freeze, becoming heavy.

"Wind and Clouds Return, Heavenly River's Dream Descent!"

A heart-pounding energy began to condense on the sword blade, and the surrounding air began to twist.

At this moment, heaven and earth changed color for it.

Countless sword lights appeared like a dream, then converged, transforming into a giant blade, carrying a surging river of sword qi, sweeping towards the Divine Knight.

Osborne desperately tried to resist, but in the face of this power, the Divine Knight's defenses were as fragile as paper.

"No—!" Amidst Osborne's desperate cry, the Divine Knight was completely swallowed by the river of sword qi.

The massive mech disintegrated in the sword light, Osborne was ejected from the cockpit by a soft yet irresistible force, falling heavily to the ground.

When he struggled to look up, he saw Yanqing standing with his sword sheathed, a hint of regret in his eyes.

"Powerful, but a pity he doesn't know how to use a sword."