Having failed to land a hit and instead being caught in a counterattack, Riezel was not annoyed in the slightest. Rather, he looked at the one-eyed swordsman with a trace of curiosity.
A closer look revealed scars covering the man’s entire body, making it obvious that he had once suffered inhuman abuse.
One-Eyed Sword Saint Hardt was a legendary figure in Jinas.
He had no surname, no parents, and had been an orphan since birth. At a very young age, he had fallen into the hands of nobles because of theft, and in the end, he was sold as a slave, becoming nothing more than a commodity owned by others.
Even as a slave, Hardt had never compromised with reality. Not only had he secretly learned swordsmanship, but he had also trained himself in secret. After persevering for thirty years, he had unknowingly reached the level of a Sword Master.
Yet he had never revealed his strength to anyone.
He knew that if the slave traders and slave owners discovered his true strength, he would only be subjected to even more inhuman exploitation, used as a tool, and forced to risk his life for others.
For that reason, he had endured in silence.
No matter how brutally his masters abused him, he had never exposed his true strength and had continued hiding it.
Everything changed when he met Sergius.
Among countless people, Sergius had somehow noticed Hardt at first glance, then purchased him and granted him his freedom. Only then did Hardt finally turn his life around, cast off his identity as a slave, and become a free man.
In the end, to repay Sergius, Hardt swore his loyalty to him and became the sword in his hand.
Just like that, the famous One-Eyed Sword Saint was born, and the news that the son of the Cordelion family had gained the loyalty of a Sword Saint quickly spread throughout Jinas, bringing Sergius tremendous fame.
It was precisely because of that achievement that many people believed Sergius was the most suitable successor to the throne.
Yet now, this loyal Sword Saint had not only turned a blind eye to the treatment Sergius and Serena had received but was also standing before Sorren, confronting Riezel alongside him.
Naturally, the reason was simple.
Riezel looked into Hardt’s remaining eye.
Like the black-eyed knights, the white of that eye had been completely stained black.
Just like the Shadow Sword Saint Rohm, the One-Eyed Sword Saint Hardt had been corrupted by the holy relic in Sorren’s possession, so he had already become an enemy.
"Do you see now, Riezel Brynhart?"
Sorren slowly turned around and revealed a smug expression as he looked at Riezel.
"I told you before, didn’t I? I’m not the same person I used to be."
"Do you think I’m still that little prince who could only secretly train private soldiers in the shadows?"
"Wrong. You’re completely wrong! Now I can casually command even a famous Sword Saint! HAHAHAHA—!!!"
Sorren threw his head back and laughed arrogantly, his voice dripping with confidence and mockery.
"SO WHAT IF YOU CAN GO UP AGAINST THAT OLD FART?!"
"SO WHAT IF YOU SURVIVED ROHM’S ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT?!"
"CAN YOU REALLY SURVIVE BEING HUNTED BY TWO SWORD SAINTS AT THE SAME TIME?!"
"TODAY IS THE DAY YOU DIE! KILL HIM!"
Sorren roared with the exhilaration of someone who was finally about to exact his revenge.
Following his command, the black-eyed Hardt raised his head, stomped heavily on the ground, and charged straight toward Riezel.
In Riezel’s eyes, Hardt’s speed was not particularly fast—at the very least, it was nowhere near Redson’s level and was even slower than Rohm’s.
Among all the Sword Saints Riezel had met, Hardt was probably the slowest.
However, the moment he began charging, his body seemed to transform into steel itself, becoming incomparably tough.
Needless to say, this was the Special Swordsmanship he trained.
It was a swordsmanship capable of hardening the body. According to legend, if trained to its highest level, one’s body could become as hard as the toughest magical metals. It was a swordsmanship specialized entirely in defense.
Ever since mastering this swordsmanship, Hardt had never had his defenses broken, and that remained true until he encountered Sorren.
Holy energy naturally countered magical energy, and every special ability of Special Swordsmanship required magical energy to activate, much like a unique form of magic.
Because of that, Hardt suffered an unexpected defeat.
Having underestimated Sorren, he was stabbed through the abdomen by the holy relic before its power invaded his body, and just like Rohm, he became a puppet under Sorren’s control.
Now, as the fully metalized Hardt charged forward, he resembled a tank barreling toward Riezel. Every rock and fragment of stone in his path was smashed apart and sent flying, and nothing could slow him down.
"OOOOOOHHH—!!!"
Hardt let out a roar and brought down the greatsword in his hands, which was clearly no ordinary weapon, toward his target.
It was obviously a magic weapon of extremely high quality, as evidenced by the instant it swung downward—dazzling magical energy surged across its blade, increasing the weight and power of the strike severalfold.
"DIE, RIEZEL BRYNHART!"
Sorren seemed as though he could already see Riezel’s death approaching.
He frantically unleashed his spiritual power, creating the largest spiritual storm he had ever produced and sending the pitch-black tempest crashing toward Riezel.
One attacked from the front while the other attacked from behind.
One unleashed physical force, while the other launched a mental assault.
Hardt and Sorren attacked together without the slightest hesitation, determined to kill Riezel here and now.
Faced with these two overwhelming attacks converging from opposite directions, Riezel’s expression became incomparably calm.
"Can’t survive being hunted by two Sword Saints...? You’re really just a frog in a well..."
Confronted by such a desperate situation, Riezel showed no panic whatsoever as he muttered in an indifferent tone.
Indeed.
Sorren Jinas was nothing more than a frog in a well.
He had no idea that there were enormous differences even among Sword Saints, nor did he realize that, even together, he and Hardt amounted to nothing more than two Level 7s. Two Level 7s, even if both stood at the pinnacle of that level, generally could not defeat a newly advanced Level 8.
One only had to look at the Gulliver Brothers of the Freya Familia.
It should be noted that the four pallum brothers were all Level 5s, and as quadruplets, they shared flawless coordination and could execute endless combinations together.
Yet despite that, they, as a group, were only considered comparable to a Level 6, at most only slightly surpassing one.
In other words, without sufficient teamwork, even four people fighting together would find it nearly impossible to defeat a powerful enemy of a higher level. Unless they possessed exceptionally powerful statuses, magic, or skills, challenging an opponent above one’s level was never an easy feat.
And the reason Redson had managed to hold out against Riezel for so long was because his time-based swordsmanship had boosted both his dexterity and agility to a level comparable to that of a Level 9.
But what about Sorren and Hardt?
Sorren had only reached the level of a Sword Saint through modifications brought about by holy energy. Aside from his rather unique spiritual power, every other aspect of him was mediocre.
Hardt’s endurance was indeed comparable to that of a Level 8, but that was all.
Together, the two of them could at most contend with a lower-tier Level 8 for a period of time.
As for Riezel?
It went without saying that his combat power had long since reached the point where he could routinely fight above his level and rival a Level 9.
Just as Hardt’s greatsword and Sorren’s spiritual storm were about to strike Riezel, flames erupted from his body like an exploding inferno. Blazing fire illuminated the entire Cordelion residence like the light of a scorching sun, while the terrifying heat spread in all directions like a sea of molten lava.
Amid a whisper-like murmur, a streak of fire appeared beneath Hardt’s sword and suddenly bloomed.
It was like a flash of light, passing through Hardt’s blade in an instant.
It was like a blazing sun, vaporizing Sorren’s spiritual storm.
All anyone saw was a crimson flash.
In the next second, Riezel’s figure appeared behind Sorren, holding a blade engulfed in flames, revealing to everyone that the crimson flash had, without question, been the slash he had unleashed.
It was a perfectly circular strike that seemed to have reached the speed of light itself.
Hardt’s giant sword shattered.
Sorren’s spiritual storm exploded on the spot.
A perfectly clean tearing sound rang out as blood erupted simultaneously from both Sorren and Hardt.
"Huh?"
Hardt’s black eye widened.
A crimson wound appeared across his waist, and in that instant, all strength left his body as he slowly collapsed to the ground.
"..."
Sorren, meanwhile, could not utter a single word.
At this moment, the madness in his eyes had frozen, while the vicious expression on his face had become completely rigid.
All he could do was slowly and blankly lower his head to look at his own body.
At his waist was the same crimson wound, but the difference was that while Hardt’s wound only cut across the front of his waist, Sorren’s wound had completely passed through his entire body.
It had cut him in two.
A faint sliding sound emerged as Sorren’s upper and lower halves separated from one another. Amid a torrent of blood, both halves crashed onto the ground, gradually staining the earth red.
"Ugh—AAAAAAAHHHHH—!!!"
Only now did Sorren seem to feel the agony as a miserable scream tore from his throat, but just then—
A black blade wrapped in flames descended, and the inferno engulfed his upper body.
In an instant, Sorren’s scream came to an abrupt stop as the inferno devoured his body.
Gradually, his upper half disintegrated, turning to ash bit by bit.
At the same time, the Sword of Authority, symbolizing the supreme power of the royal family of Jinas, and the ominous black, curved dagger both fell to the ground, producing a clear metallic sound.
Riezel watched the gradually crumbling Sorren with cold eyes, without the slightest ripple of emotion.
Just like that, the Mad Dog Prince, who had thrown the royal capital into chaos, met a miserable end there.