Chapter 56: Volume 12 - CH 13

Chapter 13: The Assassin from Shinryuu Temple
Edelweiss, who is at 8,000 meters altitude just outside her home, also felt the huge fighting spirit that came from the bottom of the mountain. She recognizes it belonging to Fu Xiaoli. While looking up towards the mountain peak, Edelweiss notices that Ikki is hanging onto a rock wall to prevent his body from falling to the ground. She thinks the huge fighting spirit probably knocked Ikki off his balance during his training, causing him to last almost 30 minutes in maintaining his balance. Edelweiss thinks it is still a remarkable progress because after he was able to reach 12 minutes, Ikki’s mana control probably had improved. He could make his ‘Itto Shura’ to be almost 3 times as powerful as before. Edelweiss is also aware that Stella has become stronger than before as a result of all the advice given by Tatara. But in order to reach ‘Brute Soul’, Stella first needs to reach her most absolute potential which is the limit of her possibilities. Then if she can discover her own ‘ego (self)’ that absolutely refuses to give up after reaching her limit, she will be able to cut through fate. This is why Edelweiss used ‘Rule of Grace’, in order to force her to draw out her potential. However, one of the four Desperados in China who are called the ‘Four Xian’ has come and she is strong enough to take Edelweiss’ life. Thus, Edelweiss starts heading towards below in case she needs to intervene.
At the camp site, Stella and the others meet the girl that released the fighting spirit earlier. The girl came here by running up the cliffs and she is surprised to see Stella here. She was at the Seven Stars Sword Art Festival watching the final match, but she hid her presence in order to hide from her pursuers. The girl introduces herself as Fu Xiaoli, one of the ‘Four Xian’ and a practitioner of Shinryuu Temple martial arts. Her name is known to the world despite of Shinryuu Temple being an isolated place where not much information comes out of there. Xiaoli, nicknamed ‘Taotie’, is a genius warrior who is the youngest ever in Shinryuu Temple to be a Desperado (called Xian there). After breaking out of the temple prison called ‘Kyokkurou (Tower of Extreme Suffering)’, she was running away from the ‘Great Teacher’ who is the current ‘God of War’ and the head of Shinryuu Temple. The prison is where warriors who committed great sins endure eternal hell-like discipline and no one had come out of there alive. Tatara says it is one of the only 3 places in the world that even assassins of Abgrund can’t infiltrate. Xiaoli was in that prison because she violated the ‘Five Prohibitions’ law that all monks of Shinryuuji Temple must obey. The 5 ironclad rules of Shinryuu Temple are that they: 1) must not boast their skills, 2) must not use their skills to steal, 3) must not use their skills to commit illicit sexual relation, 4) must not use their skills to kill, and 5) must not wield unrighteous power with all these vile acts in mind. Shinryuu Temple techniques are used for righteous purposes such as to protect the lives and dignities of people, not for selfish desires. The God of War League which has no reparations at all is held based on that ideal and practitioners of the arts are prohibited from participating in tournaments other than the God of War League. Even if it’s a request from the government, use of force outside the country is not allowed unless it’s for a huge matter. Xiaoli is proud of the Shinryuu Temple arts, but it’s not boasted much and so many people in the world are calling the people of her country as cowards. She wants to prove to everyone that her country, which has a history of 4,000 years of conflicts, is at the pinnacle of all martial arts even if she is branded as a depraved monk. Xiaoli challenges Stella for the right to fight Edelweiss, which Stella accepts.
Xiaoli’s device, ‘Banki (barbaric demon)’, is indigo blue gauntlets and her fighting style is Shishou (Four Symbols) style hand-to-hand fighting. If Stella’s heart is swallowed by the feeling of accepting defeat, her own fate will be pulled towards Desperado’s power of influencing fate. Thus, Stella’s faith in herself must not be shaken in order to win. Stella plans to remove Xiaoli’s advantage in short distance by launching ‘Satan Fang’ from a distance at the charging Xiaoli. However, Xiaoli just slips through the gaps of the seven fire dragon heads coming from all directions using minimum movements and speed, like water that would slip through any obstacle and eventually reach the ocean. This Shishou style move is a Seiryuu (Azure Dragon) type called ‘Ryuusui (flowing water)’. Stella then makes the fire dragons surround Xiaoli entirely like a dam preventing water from flowing through. The dragons then turn into fire tornadoes that completely engulf Xiaoli. After all the flame disappears, Xiaoli is nowhere seen but there is melted ground with a deep hole. Stella senses Xiaoli’s sudden presence behind her and launches a horizontal sword slash towards behind. Xiaoli repels the slash by touching the wide middle part of the approaching ‘Laevateinn’ with the back of her hand, and at that moment she launches a spear hand strike at Stella’s abdomen. Stella is then kneeling on the ground due to her body becoming numb from the poison Xiaoli applied to her spear hand strike using an ability to manipulate poison. Stella, Ascarid and Tatara are confused because they have heard Xiaoli used wind ability before. Xiaoli then uses Suzaku (Vermillion Bird) type move called ‘Tenku (sky soaring)’ which she makes a crouch start posture and then kicks the ground hard so that she can rush towards Stella in a much faster speed that makes her look like she’s soaring. At such speed, Xiaoli launches a fist towards Stella who is unable to move. However, Stella is able to move and delivers a powerful slash. Xiaoli is able to block in time with her device, but both her arms get broken and she ends up getting blown away almost 30 meters until her back lands on a giant boulder. She then vomits blood and falls to the ground there. As Xiaoli is confused about how Stella was able to move despite being poisoned, Stella immediately rushes towards her.
Xiaoli is trying to escape from Stella’s pursuit that is happening all over the place. Some rocks get split deeply from Stella swinging her sword down. From Stella’s abnormal strength and flickering skin, Xiaoli can tell Stella is using ‘Dragon Spirit’. Stella then uses ‘Dragon Stamp’ which causes Xiaoli to fall from losing her balance and at that moment, Stella swings her sword down at Xiaoli. However, Xiaoli rotates her body sideways and the iron ball attached to her foot slightly hits Stella’s chin, causing Stella to have a concussion for a moment. Tatara is impressed by the move Xiaoli made, but Ascarid adds that Stella is also amazing that she had lured Xiaoli to the center of the camp. It is a plain area with no place to hide which is a perfect place for Stella to unleash her most powerful Noble Art since Xiaoli shouldn’t be able to escape from it there. Stella uses ‘Katharterio Salamandra’, but Xiaoli manages to stop the sword of light’s slash with her left hand that should have been broken. As Stella is confused about it, bluish-white flame engulfs Xiaoli’s right gauntlet. Xiaoli then says ‘Katharterio Salamandra’ and delivers a fist strike towards Stella, who blocks it with her sword. From the amount of heat and overwhelming power of Xiaoli’s strike and the fact that Xiaoli’s arms are healed, it is no doubt that Xiaoli is using dragon ability. Stella realizes that Xiaoli is a ‘faker’, someone with the concept manipulation type ability to copy their opponents’ abilities. Xiaoli’s ‘Goheitaishu (great master of five soldiers)’ causes her to gain the ability of the owner of the magic she touches. Stella then jumps to the sky to stop resisting Xiaoli’s ‘Katharterio Salamandra’ and avoid it. At the same time, she uses ‘Dragon Wing’ and then moves fast towards Xiaoli.
It is probably difficult for Xiaoli to use Stella’s dragon ability because a ‘faker’ has two flaws. One of them is that it is impossible for Xiaoli’s copied ability to surpass Stella’s ability especially when it is one of the highest of all abilities. The other is the difference in the degree of mastery, which it is impossible for Xiaoli to have learned to use it better than Stella during this one battle. Stella thinks there’s nothing she should be afraid of and so she swings down her sword towards Xiaoli while moving fast with her wings of fire. However, Xiaoli stops Stella’s sword by catching it with her right index and middle fingers only, and Stella can’t even pull back her sword. Stella is shocked and wonders if Xiaoli is able to use the dragon ability better than her. Xiaoli replies there is indeed a huge gap between Xiaoli and Stella in using the dragon ability, but even that gap is insignificant in front of China’s 4,000 years of polishing martial arts skills. Xiaoli immediately pulls the ‘Laevateinn’ she caught with her right hand in order to get Stella closer to her, and she launches a strike up towards Stella’s chin with her left hand. Stella suffers a concussion from the strike and her ability to fly disappears, causing her to be grounded. The superior physical strength that Xiaoli possessed was caused by a Genbu (Black Tortoise) type move called ‘Taizan (large mountain)’. Xiaoli held her feet to the ground so strong that it made her as if she was one part of the mountain that even a dragon couldn’t move. By firmly grasping the ground with her feet’s fingers, she gained huge strength from the support. Stella has a hard time making a defensive stance due to her concussion, and so Xiaoli strikes Stella’s abdomen with the strength she gains from the mountain. Stella’s body is blown tens of meters away until it hits a wall of rock and she then falls to the ground. Stella is on the ground writhing in pain and spreading blood and vomit due to her internal organs damaged. Xiaoli strangely doesn’t attack while Stella is healing her injuries with her dragon life force.
After Stella manages to get back up, Xiaoli says with a serious face that she didn’t think Stella’s power to be this terrible and that she might end up killing her. Xiaoli asks if Stella will give up, which causes Stella to be boiling with anger. Xiaoli replies that Stella herself knows that she can’t win which Stella can’t deny. Stella’s fear of facing against a Desperado has gotten stronger and she is desperately trying to shake off this feeling to prevent her from getting pulled by Desperado’s power to influence fate. Stella then swings her sword many times randomly at Xiaoli with all her might, but Xiaoli just stands there handling the sword strikes with just her right hand without receiving even a single scratch. It is like striking a mountain that cannot be moved, making Stella’s strikes all in vain. Stella then suddenly receives an invisible blow to the side of her head, and her body is sent flying sideways until she rolls on the ground. The blow caused a crack to her skull, but her injuries are immediately healed due to ‘Dragon Spirit’. She then decides to attack from a distance by launching ‘Satan Fang’ at Xiaoli. The flames don’t have any effect on Xiaoli since she is copying Stella’s dragon power, but they momentarily rob her field of vision. At that moment, Stella uses ‘Flame Veil’ to hide her appearance in order to deliver a fatal blow to Xiaoli from behind. However, Xiaoli catches the sword with her two fingers like before and with her back facing Stella. Xiaoli didn’t sense any thought of winning in the ‘Satan Fang’ released, so she figured Stella would attack from behind like this. She then let goes of the sword and delivers a roundhouse kick towards Stella’s side. Stella blocks the kick with the grip of her sword, but then the impact causes the inside of her body to feel like it has exploded. It was a Chinese martial arts skill similar to Ikki’s ‘Dokuga no Tachi’ that destroys the inside of Stella’s body regardless of her wearing her dragon armor. Stella then spits out blood and her body collapses. Xiaoli asks if Stella understands now that she can’t win, but Stella refuses to give up while struggling standing up. While sighing, Xiaoli tells Stella to realize it already and delivers a kick to Stella. Then for over 10 minutes, Stella’s attacks can’t even shake Xiaoli who has become one with the mountain while Xiaoli’s counterattacks keep hitting Stella instead.

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During this one-sided development, Tatara is angry at Stella for getting hit by Xiaoli’s counterattacks so easily. Ascarid says it’s because Xiaoli is skillfully hiding her counterattacks behind Stella’s arms and sword that are blind spots, making them look like invisible blows. Stella has wounds all over her body with signs of internal bleeding since her dragon healing ability had become depleted a while ago. She is then walking towards Xiaoli while staggering and doesn’t even have the strength to properly raise her sword. Tatara and Ascarid realize that Stella has lost consciousness and is probably moving by instinct. Tatara is about to go to stop the fight, but at that moment she suffers pain as if her heart is being pierced and then collapses on the spot while in agony. The effects of ‘Testament’ will tear apart Ascarid’s and Tatara’s hearts if they break their promise of not to lend their hands to Stella. As Tatara is desperately thinking of what to do, Edelweiss suddenly appears and says that Tatara is really kind. Edelweiss then says it was her mistake for not predicting Xiaoli’s arrival and she will put an end to this fight since she didn’t make the same promise in front of ‘Testament’. As Edelweiss is moving ahead to stop the fight, a sword suddenly comes towards her. As shown in one of the pics, Edelweiss stops the incoming blade with her own sword and she is surprised to see that it is Ikki who stopped her. Ikki says that at first he thought that he would stop Stella if things went too far because the people in Vermillion do not wish for Stella to get hurt for their sake. However, he realized that she was aware that no one wished for her to be reckless. Even so she still insisted on continuing as the ‘Crimson Princess’ which Ikki does not why. But he does know that Stella is not fighting for everyone’s sake. Right now she is fighting for something that she refuses to yield and she is defending her ‘ego (self)’ that refuses to give up. Ikki had sworn that no matter what happens he will believe in her ‘ego’ and prevent anyone from stopping her. He says to Edelweiss, “With my strongest, I will hold you back for sure this time”.
Edelweiss can tell that Ikki has resolved to prevent her from interfering Stella’s fight even if it means dying. She doesn’t think that Stella’s story shouldn’t end in a place like this and so she has to fight Ikki in order to save Stella. Both begin with moving at their fastest speed and exchange a number of slashes. Even though both of their sword skills are at superhuman level, Ikki is being overwhelmed by Edelweiss due to his fatigue from training continuously for few days. His magic has been depleted too which is not enough to use ‘Itto Shura’. Edelweiss then uses her left sword to repel Ikki’s sword, and then swings her right sword towards Ikki’s defenseless body. However, her sword has landed on Ikki’s body but it won’t proceed to cut. At that moment, Ikki slashes at Edelweiss’ shoulder though she is able to defend with her left sword in time. She was unable to hold her ground and thus her body was largely pushed back. Tatara and Ascarid are surprised that Ikki was able to force back Edelweiss, but Edelweiss herself is more surprised at the hard impact she felt on her right hand after the sword she swung landed on Ikki’s body. From the impact, Edelweiss understood that Ikki used the mana defense that is commonly used by Blazers to protect their bodies from physical impacts. Ikki’s mana was originally too weak to do this, but the training given by Edelweiss had enabled him to concentrate his mana release to a single point on his body to the limit and create mana defense. Ikki then says Stella is determined to continue living as the ‘Crimson Princess’ and not running away no matter how much hardship she is going through. He also tells Edelweiss not to look down on his beloved knight, and at that moment a huge sound from Stella and Xiaoli’s battlefield can be heard.
Xiaoli once again stops Stella’s attack and then delivers a kick to Stella’s abdomen. Stella’s body is blown away and rolls on the ground like many times before, but every time this happens Xiaoli makes a grim face. Stella has wounds all over her body, has no strength in her limbs and has very little light in her eyes, which indicate that she’s just one final blow away from collapsing. However, Xiaoli has already given the supposed final blow tens of times already and yet Stella got back up each time though struggling. There is still some light in her eyes even if it’s little. Stella then drags her sword while moving towards Xiaoli and then swings it at Xiaoli. The sword slash Xiaoli receives shouldn’t have any power and yet it feels heavy to her. Every time the slash is repeated, it gets heavier. Xiaoli then decides to deliver a barrage of attacks to crush Stella’s consciousness completely. She makes an upward kick that hits Stella’s lower jaw and when Stella becomes defenseless Xiaoli then delivers a very fast series of 17 hits with both of her fists on Stella’s body. Stella is about to fall on her back but at that moment, she suddenly lets out a huge scream and then swings her sword towards Xiaoli who receives it with her gauntlets without any damage. Stella’s sword slash couldn’t even shake Xiaoli before but now it has pushed her back few meters away. Xiaoli is amazed and confused because Stella who had received so many hits was able to counterattack like this. Within her remaining consciousness, Stella then remembers that the reason why she became the ‘Crimson Princess’ in the first place was to look cool in front of everyone. Her gratitude towards everyone for loving Stella no matter was what led to her wanting to be their proud daughter. Such ‘ego’ was what supported her through hardships in the past. Even now the feeling of gratitude is what causes Stella to still have some light in her eyes and to believe that she can still continue. Stella then raises her sword to the sky, indicating that she’s going to use ‘Katharterio Salamandra’.
Stella’s ‘Katharterio Salamandra’ this time is largely different. Her sword is only shining slightly and looks like having less power than usual which should be due to her being wounded all over her body and completely exhausted. However, Xiaoli can see that Stella still has light in her eyes that continues to shine and that she has something she refuses to yield which is similar to how Xiaoli refuses to give up for the sake of her country’s dignity. Thus, Xiaoli finally understands that the person in front of her is an opponent she must defeat. She closes her eyes and extends her arms above her head. While her arms form a semicircle, she breathes in slowly and largely until her lungs are inflated to the limit and spreading energy to her blood. She then lets out a huge howl and at the same time a pillar of blue blaze is released from her body towards the night sky. This is the ‘Shishou’ martial arts secret technique called ‘Kirinkou (Qilin achievement)’ that only the talented Xiaoli and the ‘Great Teacher’ can use. It is a breathing technique that can cause Xiaoli to ignore all of her survival instincts safety mechanisms and release all of her mana, strength and vitality at once, which is similar to Ikki’s ‘Itto Shura’. Even the power of her Noble Arts (called war technique in China) will be increased up to tens of times and moreover it is the copied dragon power that is being increased. Xiaoli then gathers all of the strengthened dragon power into her gauntlets, creating bluish white plasma on her arms. For the first time today, Xiaoli finally has gotten serious. This battle is already going outside the realm of fate and will be decided by the strength of the soul. Xiaoli believes in her fist that carries China’s 4,000 years of pride.
Xiaoli runs towards Stella and delivers her left fist directly at Stella. At the same time, Stella swings her sword down towards Xiaoli. Xiaoli’s fist, which is powered by the dragon power strengthened tens of times by ‘Kirinkou’ and the whole weight of Edelberg by ‘Taizan’, collides with Stella’s ‘Katharterio Salamandra’. Xiaoli’s super heavy fist is breaking her own arm, crushing her shoulder, squashing her internal organs, snapping apart her muscles, and making cracks on the ground she’s standing on. Cracks are then forming on ‘Laevateinn’, looking like it’s going to break. Xiaoli thinks that all she has to do left is brushing aside the sword with her left arm and then delivering a right crushing fist. However, she tries to brush aside ‘Laevateinn’ but it won’t move and feels heavy which surprises her. Then, golden light is leaking out from the cracks on the sword and gets more intensified as the cracks increased further until it becomes much brighter than Xiaoli’s blue blaze. Seeing this, Xiaoli understands Stella’s sword is not crumbling but is actually going through something that is like an emergence. Stella then says that if Xiaoli is heavy like a mountain, then she will just cut the mountain. In an instant, a flame of light bursts out from inside ‘Laevateinn’ and cuts Edelberg into two. Later, a huge cut mark that spans from the camp site to the base of the mountain is visible and Xiaoli who had lost consciousness fell into the huge cut mark’s abyss. Stella raises the sword that burst out of the light high into the sky, confirming herself as the victor. The sword is looks like ‘Laevateinn’ but has a completely different form. It is a golden double-edged blade longer than Stella’s height and the sturdy center part is thicker than a human arm. It is large enough to cut an elephant’s head and has majestic look with some fine decorations. Tatara wonders if ‘Laevateinn’ has changed form and Ascarid replies that Stella’s soul has evolved in order to respond to her feelings of refusing to give up on her ‘ego (self)’ and to surpass her own limit. As a result, ‘Laevateinn’ which is the symbol of her soul has changed too.
Stella’s body then collapses and Ikki rushes there to embrace Stella’s worn body strongly, which causes her to feel pain. Stella then notices that Ikki’s body is slightly trembling from being worried about her, but she thanked him for also believing in her. The final night has ended, and the morning of the sixth day has arrived. Edelweiss makes an applause congratulating Stella for fulfilling her promise. She was actually surprised that Stella was able to drive away Xiaoli who is considered a genius even in the long history of Shinryuu Temple. Edelweiss also says that Stella is now someone worthy for her to cross swords with, as her eyes are showing bloodlust. However, Stella decides not to go ahead with fighting Edelweiss. Stella says that after remembering the reason she picked up her sword, she realized that she has to live and so she can’t be doing something rash like fighting Edelweiss right now. The one thing she has to do now is going back home to Vermillion and recover the strength she needs to defeat those who have messed with her family. Thus, Stella finally realizes that even though sacrificing herself to protect those important to her looks good in appearance, it won’t lead to unexplored futures. Always having hope is the strength of a person who is not giving up on their ‘ego (self)’ that wants to make their own future. In front of such strength, fate is no longer an obstacle. Edelweiss then says, “As long as they don’t give up, people can do anything. After all, humans are living creatures that have shown able to reach the moon despite not having wings.” Ikki is surprised at the words Edelweiss just said, and seeing Ikki’s surprised face causes Edelweiss placing her index finger in front of her lips while making a mischievous smile. She then suggests that everyone should have a meal at her house before they go back to Vermillion. As Stella thanks Edelweiss for the invitation, Tatara suddenly throws a snowball to Stella’s mouth and says that Stella should just eat snow if she’s hungry. Tatara is pissed, complaining about why she had to become worried about someone like Stella. They both end up engaged in a snowball fight, and then the 6 days of training in Edelberg has finally ended.

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