"Moon Breathing - First Form - Dark Moon, Evening Palace!"
Riezel’s Iai slash, so fast that it was almost impossible to see the blade, flashed through the sky.
*Whoosh!*
Waves of flame surged along the path of the slash, raising the temperature around Hermit, making the constant heat radiating from it far stronger than usual.
Over Norwich, with a sky filled with a cursed atmosphere, Riezel silently unleashed this slash that cut toward the wide-eyed Woodwose like moonlight.
*Clang!*
In his haste, Woodwose could only raise both arms to protect his head, causing Hermit, aimed at his neck, to strike his arms instead, producing a violent metallic crash.
*BOOM!*
Immediately afterward, Woodwose gathered magical energy without hesitation, condensing a current like a lightning bolt in his hands that soon transformed into a sharp thunder spear, which he hurled fiercely at Riezel.
A flash of clarity appeared in Riezel’s eyes, and a burst of fire flickered across his body.
In an instant, his speed surged, and at the last possible moment, he twisted his body at an impossible angle and reaction speed, dodging the thunder spear that shot straight at him.
*BOOOM!*
Woodwose’s thunder spear struck a nearby building, exploding with a roar and reducing the structure to rubble.
"Moon Breathing - Second Form - Pearl Flower Moongazing!"
Following the momentum of his dodge, Riezel spun and unleashed two flaming crescent moon blades in Woodwose’s direction.
*BANG!**BANG!*
Swift and unstoppable, the two crescent moon blades slammed into Woodwose, who could not react in time and was sent flying.
"Moon Breathing - Third Form - Loathsome Moon, Chains!"
"Moon Breathing - Sixth Form - Perpetual Night, Lonely Moon, Incessant!"
Riezel pressed the advantage, unleashing two more sword forms in succession.
Two crescent moon blades, along with countless interwoven slashes, chased after Woodwose.
*BANG!**BANG!**BANG!**BANG!*
Riezel’s crescent moon blades struck Woodwose again and again, battering him as if he had been struck by lightning. Explosions erupted across his body, and the force of the blows sent him flying even faster.
*BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!*
Woodwose’s body tore through the air, causing sonic booms, and crashed into building after building, shattering each one and leaving them to collapse in ruins.
"Bas...TAAAAAARD—!!!"
As Riezel’s relentless assault left him with almost no chance to fight back, Woodwose, enraged, let out a furious roar, sending shards of stone and debris flying in every direction.
"CURSE YOU, CHILD OF PROPHECY!"
Barely regaining his footing, Woodwose burst through the ruins of a collapsed building, his feet tearing furrows in the ground as he charged at Riezel like a furious storm.
As Woodwose rammed straight toward Riezel in a blind rage, his attack had already been seen through by Riezel’s Transparent World.
"Moon Breathing - Fifth Form - Moon Spirit Calamitous Eddy!"
Riezel spun again, making Hermit slash in a circle around him.
A massive vortex of crescent moon blades immediately formed, surrounding Riezel.
*BANG!*
Woodwose, still charging forward, slammed into the vortex and was thrown aside by the swirling winds.
"Useless." Riezel’s voice remained unnaturally calm. "You can’t even get close to me."
As he spoke, he raised Hermit high and brought it down on Woodwose once more.
"Moon Breathing - Tenth Form - Drilling Slashes, Moon Through Bamboo Leaves!"
In that instant, three gigantic, rotating, circular saw-like slashes shot out, destroying everything in their path—the ground was cleaved open, sliced into several massive sections.
Such slashes, such destructive power—it was hard to believe a single, unassuming black sword produced them.
Yet, this was exactly what made Moon Breathing so unique—its attack speed was fast, and its range was wide.
In fact, apart from the first few sword forms, more than ten out of the sixteen sword forms of Moon Breathing possessed attack ranges that could rival the area-of-effect of ranged offensive magic, granting even a Level 5 Kokushibou the ability to cause large-scale destruction with ease.
For that reason, when it came to clearing a path or wiping out a large number of enemies, Riezel chose to use Moon Breathing.
In this battle against Woodwose, Riezel also used Sun Breathing to support Moon Breathing, resulting in attack speed and range far beyond what Sun Breathing alone could achieve.
As a result, even though Woodwose looked fierce, in reality, he was constantly being overwhelmed by Riezel.
It was not that Moon Breathing was stronger than Sun Breathing, but rather that, against an opponent like Woodwose, Moon Breathing held the advantage.
Woodwose’s strength lay in the divine protection of a great fairy, allowing him almost to ignore all attacks that hit his body.
Yes, his strength was considerable, but his defense and speed far surpassed his physical power, making him like an impenetrable steel wall.
Facing such an opponent, only superior speed and a wider range of attacks could suppress him, which was why Riezel did not switch to the more powerful Sun Breathing, but instead continued to use a combination of Sun Breathing and Moon Breathing to unilaterally overpower Woodwose.
Reality proved that Riezel’s choice was correct.
Against Moon Breathing’s lightning-fast, wide-ranging slashes, Woodwose had almost no chance to fight back.
However...
"DON’T! UNDERESTIMATE! ME!"
As Woodwose was engulfed by the massive crescent moon blades, he let out a furious roar that blew away all the smaller crescent moon blades that had swallowed him, dispersing them completely in an instant.
"Tch."
Riezel clicked his tongue upon seeing the scene.
"Still as tough as before, hard as a turtle—can’t even break through his defense, huh?"
He was truly troubled by this.
During their last battle, Riezel had actually managed to suppress Woodwose a bit, as the relentless attacks with Sun Breathing had forced Woodwose to scream in pain, yet he still failed to take him down.
And this time, Riezel was undoubtedly stronger than before.
He had even mastered a new explosive speed technique by mixing breathing styles with Sun Breathing, making his suppression over Woodwose even more obvious. Yet even so, he still could not break through Woodwose’s defense or actually injure him.
As a Returned A-Rei, Woodwose had once subdued even the Great Calamity a thousand years ago, and had succeeded in slaying the previous King of the Moss, whom the former head of the Fang Clan could not defeat.
Needless to say, this showed that the divine protection granted to this aged Britain hero was simply too powerful.
Gawain, after breaking off her own horn, also experienced an atavistic transformation and became close to an A-Rei, but she did not have such troublesome divine protection, which showed that even among A-Rei, Woodwose’s kind of divine protection was rare.
Under such circumstances, even if Riezel could suppress Woodwose, he still could not finish him off.
"Who do you think I am?"
"I am Her Majesty’s most trusted hero, the strongest warrior who protects this Britain!"
"As long as I’m here, you can forget about overthrowing Her Majesty or the rule of Britain!"
"I am the sharpest sword guarding this Britain!"
Woodwose’s eyes turned blood-red as he stepped out of the shattered pit created by the crescent moon blades, roaring at Riezel with every step.
"Is that so?"
Riezel looked at Woodwose with a chilling gaze.
"In my eyes, you’re just a fool blinded by the glory of the past."
"Faerie Britain is destined for change, and this has nothing to do with Morgan or the Child of Prophecy."
"From the very beginning, when this island first emerged, all the fairies and everything here have been built on the ugliest of sins."
"No matter how much Morgan and you mutt try to maintain it, it’s destined to be cleansed and corrected."
Riezel’s words made Woodwose’s chest heave violently.
He did not understand the meaning behind Riezel’s words, nor did he care what kind of earth-shattering secret was hidden within. He only knew that the man before him was an enemy, a villain who threatened his queen and country.
As a result, no matter what Riezel wanted to do or say, it would not change what Woodwose had to do.
"You should not exist in Britain! You do not belong here!"
"Her Majesty is far too naive, wanting to make someone like you a prince consort, her husband—she must be out of her mind!"
"Only I... I am the one suited to be the King of Britain!"
"I will never let you go... I cannot let you live... I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO SURVIVE!"
"If Her Majesty refuses to give the order to kill, then let me do it!"
As he spoke, the heat radiating from Woodwose became more terrifying and intense than ever.
"I WILL DEFINITELY KILL YOU!"
*BOOM!*
With a furious roar, Woodwose gathered all his magical energy, turning it into a storm of heat as he charged at Riezel, tearing up the ground along the way.
"Moon Breathing – Fourteenth Form – Catastrophe, Tenman Crescent Moon!"
Riezel suddenly swung Hermit, unleashing countless gigantic crescent moon blades.
*Whoosh!**Whoosh!**Whoosh!**Whoosh!*
They became another storm, sweeping through everything before him and tearing apart a wide area—including Woodwose—in their overwhelming onslaught.
*BOOM!*
However, Woodwose, wrapped in his storm of heat, actually tore through the countless gigantic crescent moon blades, using one storm to break another, his crimson eyes crashing into Riezel.
"!!!"
Riezel’s expression shifted slightly as he immediately tried to activate teleportation magic to escape.
"Don’t even think about running!"
It was as if Woodwose had seen right through Riezel’s next move—he suddenly stomped the ground, shattering it completely.
*BOOM!*
With a deafening roar, the entire ground seemed to explode, spraying mud and sand high into the air.
Caught off guard by the surging flood of mud and sand, Riezel’s teleportation magic was interrupted, and he was sent flying.
"AAAAAARGHHH—!!!"
Woodwose roared as he burst through the flood of mud and, under Riezel’s rapidly narrowing gaze, slammed heavily into him.
*BOOM!**BOOM!**BOOM!**BOOM!*
In an instant, the storm of heat drove the sword-wielding swordsman forward, smashing through countless buildings and sweeping numerous Moss into it, turning them all to ash in the blink of an eye.
At the same time, the city of Norwich trembled as if hit by an earthquake, shaking for a long time without stopping.