Joshua wasn’t the one who created the raging wind that blew in every direction. It was the man who had earned the title of War God long ago.
“You’re ridiculous,” Draxia growled in fury, letting his light green hair fly. “You’re going to show me the sky? How dare you...”
One end of Draxia’s mouth curled up into a smirk.
“I did hear that you were injured, but it looks like it was your head that was injured. Stop bluffing, Joshua!”
“Over the past three years, everyone on the continent forgot about Joshua Sanders because they think you’re dead,” Draxia drily intoned, as if he was giving a lecture in the center of the raging winds. “So, do you think I’ll blink at your bluff after you suddenly show up again? People say the most pathetic ones talk the loudest. The only way you’d affect them with your bluffing is if you make it sound even a little bit plausible. ”
Draxia clicked his tongue. “...Of course, it’s possible that you have a different idea of what ‘materialization’ is... so let me show you.”
“Woah!” Anna’s eyes popped wide open. “You’re going to do it yourself?”
“Yes,” Draxia nodded, “I changed my mind.”
“What about me?” Anna asked.
Draxia narrowed his eyes.
“I want to make him realize how meaningless his power really is.”
“...It’s a pity.” Anna smacked her lips as if she genuinely thought it was a bummer. “But he was still called the Hero King, so I wanted to go easy and make him mine...”
“Let me have him this time.” Draxia looked at Anna.
“It’s been a while since I saw you being this serious,” Anna giggled.
“He made me that way,” her father growled.
“Can you please not kill him though?” Anna pleaded.
“...We need to get a lot of information out of him anyway.” He shrugged
“Yay!” Anna jumped for joy.
They talked very naturally, confident that they were never going to lose.
“You heard about the greatest human hero from the ancient age of magic that lived two thousand years ago, right?” Draxia asked, turning back to Joshua. The wind subsided like nothing had happened at all, allowing Draxia’s hair to settle. “He conquered two-thirds of the continent, so he was called the God of War and Conquest. Although only wizards were respected in the age of magic, the hero used his physical strength alone to crush every enemy in his path. The hero’s name was Heradios.”
A low yet loud resonance took hold of the sky. Joshua silently watched as Draxia's aura gradually swelled to the size of a house. It also flickered, but Joshua was the only one who could see the flicker.
Draxia took off his top like a barbarian warrior from the north, revealing his bulging veins and rippling muscles. The greatsword in Draxia’s hands looked especially ferocious, like it was ready to cut the enemy in half at any moment.
“...Ha, it looks like you’ve lost the will to fight back.” Draxia chuckled when he noticed that Joshua hadn’t moved a muscle. “I learned Heradios’s swordsmanship years ago. With the old mana circulation technique, it’s impossible to create a large aura like this, but the aura materialization technique makes it possible.”
“The concept of materialization was first created exactly three years ago,” Joshua casually mentioned.
“So what?”
“After a long age of peace, the Continental War broke out and created numerous cheap tricks aside from materialization,” Joshua said.
Draxia trembled with anger.
“You’re humiliating... me until the end...!”
Joshua smiled faintly. “Do you know what it means? It means the technique only has a three-year history.”
Draxia boggled at him. Joshua broke his stillness and strode forward.
“The aura technique has been continually refined for thousands of years. Compared to that... materialization is just a cheap trick.”
“You bastard!” Draxia instinctively pointed his sword at Joshua. Joshua didn’t even have solid ground to stand on. Draxia’s attacks had reduced the land around Joshua and turned into an abyss-like pit.
“I guess you’re the Scheme King, not the Hero King. If you take one more step forward...” Draxia warned Joshua.
“On top of that,” Joshua interrupted, “the past three years...”
Draxia flinched and stopped speaking.
“...might have been just three years for you,” Joshua continued, his eyes turning cold, “but they weren’t for me.”
“You’re talking nonsense again!” Draxia shouted.
“Even if I disappeared and didn’t show myself anywhere in the continent for three years, do you really think people would have forgotten about me?” Joshua asked.
Draxia’s eyes lost focus after belatedly coming to a realization.
Joshua looked away from Draxia and quietly raised his hand. By going through countless wars on innumerable battlefields, Joshua had made one glorious achievement after another throughout the many years. Heroes may fall, but their countless achievements were recorded eternally in history. Therefore, the world could never forget the name of Joshua Sanders.
“Do you think you can handle me?” Joshua quietly asked.
“Yo-you...” Draxia could not hide his dismay.
Joshua’s aura gradually became bigger; it was as big as a longsword at first, but it didn’t take long to become as large as Draxia’s. Even after that, Joshua’s aura kept getting bigger as if it didn’t have a limit.
Joshua smiled faintly.
“This is your cheap trick that I imitated.”
“The fuc—” Draxia unwittingly cursed.
Joshua swung the giant sword that he had created down onto Draxia’s head.