Volume 6, Chapter 22 – Fake?

When the swirling dust finally dispersed, the Elf girl who appeared in their sight again was completely unscathed.

“How… is that possible?”

The sight of the unharmed girl made Julius widen his eyes in shock.

After all, based on his earlier judgment, his surprise attack should have hit her.

But then what was going on here?

Could she have dodged at the last moment? No, absolutely impossible. My attack came out of nowhere and covered such a wide area that even someone Throne-tier might not have reacted in time.

No matter how unwilling he was in his heart to accept it, the fact lay plainly before his eyes. The girl in front of him was, right now, in a completely unharmed state.

“Hah… who exactly… are you?”

“Me?”

In response to Julius’s question, the Elf girl only tilted her head.

“Who am I? My name is Seles, just an ordinary Dark Elf. Oh my, what is it… you look like you’re really afraid of me. Why are you scared of me? I haven’t done anything to you.”

“Anything?”

Julius felt both confused and curious about what Seles meant by “doing anything”, but that sort of curiosity could not make him ignore the situation in front of him.

“Don’t understand? Well, it is only natural if you don’t. Because to me, other than Xiaoyin, everyone else is just trash that gets in my way. Do you get it? Do you understand?”

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As she spoke, a smile once again appeared on the Elf girl’s face, but looking at that smile, Julius felt an inexplicable chill.

“Xiaoyin… so you really are here for my lord?”

“Your lord?”

“Ah, right, Xiaoyin really is this faction’s lord, I almost forgot. In that case, that makes you Xiaoyin’s subordinate, right?”

“So since you’re her subordinate, why don’t you just obediently step aside and let me see Xiaoyin, instead of standing in my way? I have to say, you’re really not doing your job~”

The Elf girl rattled on and on, but in Julius’s ears, all of it could only be written off as nonsense.

“If you can, then step over my corpse. As long as I’m still alive, I won’t let you through.”

Although he had only just joined Dawn and did not feel any real sense of belonging yet, Julius was not the kind of scum who betrayed others. Since Tianyin had saved him before, Julius had long since been prepared to sacrifice his own life.

“You really are… Why are you doing this? I actually don’t want to kill you… Why are you forcing me to kill you? Is it all just for Xiaoyin? Are you really willing to throw away your own life for her?”

“I’m only carrying out a subject’s duty.”

Julius did not understand why Seles looked so conflicted and tormented.

However, Julius could already feel the terrifying killing intent beginning to spill out from Seles.

‘As I thought… just this killing intent alone is almost unbearable… Seles, how is it that I’ve never heard of a Dark Elf whose strength rivals the Throne-tier like you?’

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Of course, these words were only muttered to himself.

As Julius spoke under his breath, Seles finally moved.

And then, a scene that shocked Julius yet again unfolded as something appeared in Seles’ hand.

“That is…”

His voice was full of astonishment.

Behind Julius, Orgum and the few remaining soldiers could not help but cry out as well.

Because in the girl’s hands not far away, an illusory greatsword was rapidly taking form.

Faintly glowing particles swirled around the blade and, in the next moment, the illusory sword swelled at high speed. Just like Julius’s strike from before, it instantly blocked out most of their field of vision.

“My technique? Why is it my technique? Wait… are you copying my move?”

“Copying? Please don’t use such an ugly word to describe my ability.”

In almost the blink of an eye, the illusory sword had grown enormous, and just looking at that vision-filling giant blade was enough to crush a person’s will to fight.

Seles’ greatsword had clearly reached the same level as Julius’s earlier strike, yet she made no move to swing it down.

On the contrary, she continued chatting with Julius.

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“How is it? Surprised? It is fine. The last person who felt this surprised already died in my hands, so being able to feel that surprise is an honor for you.”

“An honor?”

Julius could not help but let out a cold laugh.

Then light began to coil around the greatsword in his hand and, in almost the blink of an eye, another illusory sword about the same size as the giant blade in Seles’ hand appeared in everyone’s sight.

“No matter what you say, what you copied is nothing more than a so-called fake. So what happens when a fake goes up against the genuine article?”

“This is not a fake. It is a genuine article that could not be any more genuine.”

After Seles inexplicably declared that, she swung down the illusory greatsword in her hand.

“Is that so? Then let’s find out!”

Julius shouted as well and swung his own blade down.

Rumble—!

A dull thunder rolled past their ears as the two illusory greatswords collided in midair.

Immediately, massive cracks began spreading outward at high speed from the point where the two supposedly illusory blades met.

“So I failed?”

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Seeing the greatsword begin to fracture, Julius let out a slight sigh of regret.

“As expected, even if it is a fake, as long as the one wielding it is stronger than the original, the fake will overpower the genuine…”

In his view, the illusory greatsword began to crumble inch by inch, falling apart piece by piece.

As the sword shattered, Julius’ aura started to fade and grow weaker.

“Are you alright?”

Feeling Julius’s aura decline, Orgum, standing behind him, went pale.

Ignoring the searing pain from the wounds all over his own body, he forced himself to Julius’ side and moved to support him as his strength ebbed away.

“I’m fine, but… because I forced myself to use that move just now, I’ve fallen into a state of complete weakness… I’m sorry to let you down. At this point, I can’t even manage to break out anymore…”

“Idiot… why did you insist on clashing with her head on? You knew you were not her match!”

“So what if I’m not?”

Julius gave a feeble smile.

“But… running away on my own while everyone else stays behind, I’ve never done something like that in my life.”