Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 2095, Section 2067: Waterbird Sword Technique
After Malenia swung her blade at the Piercer Spear, the subsequent rain of light that followed its trajectory blasted it away.

Along with Messermo's upper body, which was gripping the gun barrel.

At that moment, Malenia's next strike was already aimed at the enemy!
With his lower body gone and his upper body still in mid-air, Messermo had no chance to dodge or defend himself!

"Bah!"

The prosthetic blade, made of pure gold, tore through the air, leaving behind only the mournful cries of the air being torn apart.

It was about to split Messermo, who was already in two, in two more halves from the top!
The winged serpent on Messermo's body was also severed at this moment.

But the crimson snake's body tensed violently, trying to pull Messermora further away from mid-air. Its small black bat wings flapped forcefully.

However, the golden prosthetic blade was still sharp, and even though Marlenia was much slower than when her prosthetic arm was intact, the winged snake couldn't react in time.

The longsword slashed through the winged serpent helmet on Messermo's head with a sharp metallic hiss.

When the helmet is split in two, it explodes in succession, releasing a continuous stream of sparks.

On the intricately decorated winged snake helmet, the wings and snake heads at the edges were cut off first, and then cut into the most solid and heavy helmet body.

The winged helmet shattered completely under the prosthetic blade.

Messermo's entire head was revealed.

Because he had been severed from the abdomen near his chest, he spat out a large amount of blood, staining his cold, pale face.

Her fiery red hair fluttered in the wind, just like her enemy, Malenia.

However, the two, who share the same red hair and are closely related by blood, are now absolutely determined to kill each other.

Therefore, even with their red hair flowing, their eyes remained cold.

"when!"

Just as the golden prosthetic blade had cut through the helmet and was about to cleave Messermo in two from the forehead, another longsword pierced through from the side.

The precise angle and timing, along with the hidden skill, caused Marlenia's sharp and decisive swordsmanship to deflect and bounce back in this sudden, unexpected strike.

The entire sword technique, characterized by its fluidity, was thus momentarily slowed down.

In that instant, Lann grabbed the upper body of Messermo, who was still flying in mid-air, with his left hand and threw him behind him without looking back.

While deflecting Marlenia's knife, he also spun around and kicked her bleeding lower body behind him.

The lower half of the body, containing most of the organs and blood, made a squeezing sound as Lan En kicked it, squeezing blood from the flesh.

The fracture, which was already gushing blood upwards, triggered an even greater outburst.

But in the end, amidst a series of crashes, it drifted across the gray-white sand dunes, breaking several dunes before finally coming to a stop.

Even though Messermo has never been officially recognized, he is still a legitimate member of the Golden Family.

Furthermore, with the golden blessing still present in his pupils, he can't die even if he wants to.

He was merely cut in two; he could easily put himself back together.

But if it needs to heal...

Sparks flew between Lann and Malenia. Without any further prompting, Melina immediately circled around the thrown Messermo, moving away from the battle area, and approached him.

After Melina ran close to Messermo, she immediately disregarded everything and reached out to stuff the organs that had been scattered outside when Lann threw him back into his chest and abdomen.

Sticky internal organs, and flesh that was still gushing blood from time to time.

Melina carried out these terrifying things with a calm and composed expression.

"Get ready, Messermo." The girl continued speaking calmly to her brother, who had been cut in half at the waist, without stopping her hands. "Your injury is not serious. I will use a prayer that is as brief as possible to help your limbs heal."

"You need to adapt to the slight discomfort after your spine heals as soon as possible. The pace of the battle between you has been pulled too fast by Marlenia. Any disharmony will be seized upon by her and you will be eliminated immediately."

"No... gurgle... there's no time."

Messermo spoke with an equally calm expression, a trickle of blood rising from his throat and spilling from his mouth, covering the lower half of his face.

It's as if he wasn't the one who was cut in half at the waist.

After hearing Messermo's words, Melina did not ask him what he meant.

Instead, the girl, who had been kneeling with her hands clasped together, about to begin her prayer, stopped abruptly. Her right eye, which had been open, suddenly stared intently at Messermo on the ground.

"...What are you going to do?"

Messermo's red hair, spilling from his helmet, mingled with his gushing blood, creating a vivid and grotesque contrast against the greyish-white sand.

Messermo did not reply, but instead turned his head with difficulty to look at the battlefield in the distance.

On that battlefield, the fierce winds of blades enveloped half of the God's Gate Plaza. The clash between Lann and Marlenia was so intense and rapid that outsiders could only see a chilling blur of light and shadow constantly shifting.

Only about five seconds had passed since Lann ripped Messermo's two pieces off his body.

However, around their location, sharp blades of wind had already cut the gray sand into incredibly messy fragments.

There wasn't a single sand dune that could still be gathered together within the area!

In those less than five seconds, the white rain of light that had previously knocked away Messermo's final counterattack did not reappear.

This was not because the white rain of light was a power that Michaela and Malenia found difficult or precious; on the contrary, it was simply a power that Michaela and Malenia could easily unleash now that they were 'one god and king'.

The current situation is mainly because... for the vast majority of those five seconds, Lan En was the one attacking.

"Dang Dang Dang!"

The sounds of steel clashing and blades slicing through the air were incessant.

Without the obstruction of the winged helmet, Malenia's cool and delicate face was exposed. She looked at her opponent without any emotion, but the golden prosthetic knife in her hand was often not used for slashing attacks, but rather for defense.

This couldn't possibly be because Marlenia was thinking about her past relationship with Lann, after all, she didn't hold back or hesitate at all even against her own blood brother, Messermo.

The golden prosthetic knife cuts through the air, creating a white blade of wind.

But just as she was about to swing her sword in the most natural way, Marlenia's prosthetic wrist had to twist at an awkward angle, forcibly pulling the long sword back.

And it intercepted Lann's 'slow' strike in mid-air.

Even though this blow sent the Witcher's sword flying backward, the Lake Maiden's sword, which had been thrown backward, suddenly changed angle and pointed at Malenia herself from an unexpected direction.

Even with her prosthetic limbs missing, Malenia's speed was still significantly superior to the weakened Messermo, and even more so to Lann.

In the time it takes for Lan En to make one move, she can make at least four or five moves.

The attack speeds of the two are simply not on the same level!

Furthermore, Malenia's swordsmanship was something she discovered and honed from a young age by drawing upon the power of the Golden Dynasty.

It's called "Waterbird Sword Technique".

It is the swordsmanship passed down by the great swordsmen of the ancient nomadic peoples of this world.

From birth, Malenia lived a life worse than death due to the putrefactive disease.

Even so, she never gave up fighting against the Corruption Disease and the Scarlet Corruption she bore. It was this heroic sense that 'merely living is a struggle' that brought together the Knights of Corruption to her side.

As for fighting against the [Crimson Corruption], which is an external deity, a demigod with a crippled body has no advantages to speak of.

Marlene could only seize every opportunity.

As an external deity symbolizing the decay and rotting of living beings after death, and their reintegration into the world, Crimson Corruption has a long history, but it has never been able to ascend to a true divine position.

Therefore, He has experienced suppression and sealing throughout His long history.

One of the most famous instances involved a blind swordsman who, guided by a fairy, successfully sealed away the outer god essence of [Crimson Corruption].

"Running water never stagnates, and a door hinge never rusts." Stagnation will lead to corruption.

It was this swordsmanship, based on this philosophy, that enabled the swordsman to accomplish the feat of sealing the essence of the external deity.

And that sword technique is the [Waterbird Sword Technique].

Given that such a sword technique exists with clear records and can restrain or even defeat [Crimson Corruption], it's no wonder that Malenia would pursue it.

Fortunately, by then, the Golden Dynasty had already conquered the entire border region. As a golden demigod, it wouldn't be difficult for Malenia to find an ancient sword technique.

Thus, she obtained this sword technique that could seal the essence of an external deity, and diligently practiced it to combat the corruption within her.

Judging from the philosophy of this swordsmanship, its characteristic is undoubtedly: the flowing water must never stagnate, but must always be continuous.

This also aligns with the impression Marleneja gave during her previous battles.

But at this moment, in those five seconds of offense and defense, she repeatedly appeared stuck and stiff.

It was only because when she and her opponent were attacking each other, although the opponent was not as fast as her, the angle and timing of each of their attacks made her feel slightly awkward.

It's like being about to wave when you suddenly find that someone has blocked your path with a stick.

So although it doesn't affect continuing the movement, it still requires some trouble to turn the wrist or raise the shoulder.

This added unnecessary complexity to her originally concise and swift movements, making it difficult for her to fully utilize her speed advantage.

(End of this chapter)