Chapter 23: Sword Saint
The King of Leo, Regulus, shook the world when he reached the ninth and final star of the Leo constellation at just 37, with the world praising him as a cultivation monster.
People who knew Regulus, however, when asked about this feat, would often shrug and simply say.
'What difference does it make?'
Despite his monstrous talent with cultivation at his core, Regulus had always been a swordsman, he himself being a honed blade that could cut with a single look.
Able to achieve impossible feats of fighting across ranks due to his overwhelming combat prowess, Regulus already stood at the pinnacle at the eight star.
Unlike most, Regulus reaching the ninth star was simply an already recognised King displaying a meaningless crown on top of their head.
"Regulus Cosmon, enter the magic circle for your first fight."
Saul's bitter voice, full of resentment for the Cosmos family that once held the Felt's position, spurred Regulus to enter the magic circle with confident strides.
Accompanying the weighing eyes of the other applicants was a look of respect as they parted like the sea to make way for the handsome young man.
He knew that even if it wasn't his intention, his feat during the first test propelled his position in the hearts of most applicants to an unprecedented height.
'Yet with every respect-filled gaze I get, there is an opposing one filled with hatred.'
Although the common folk and borderline applicants saw him as an idol, the higher nobles regarded him as an eyesore. He not only leeching attention with his displays but also a worm who didn't understand the hand faith dealt to him.
These very eyes watched Regulus whilst praying for his downfall, amusing him to no limit and filling him with a desire to crush their feeble wishes.
'In comparison to the swordsmanship in this world, calling me a grandmaster would be an insult. I heard David is aiming to become a saint-ranked blacksmith; I reached that long ago in terms of swordsmanship.
Standing alone in the centre of the magic circle, the fact that he had brushed the noble's glares off like flies only caused them to redouble their intensity.
'Tsk, don't these children know it's rude to stare.'
Although it didn't bother him, Regulus wouldn't allow the glasshouse nobles watching him to do as they pleased. Focusing a strand of killing intent, he met their eyes one by one.
---
As the first son of a Marquis, Louie Mac had been moulded with the mindset of clear distinctions in social class.
As a noble, he knew he bled a different blood to the commoners and that his life was worth 1 million of theirs. This was an unshakable truth for him.
Yet a fact that held even more true was the distinction between the talented and the untalented was even more significant.
He, Louie Mac, had been chosen by higher beings compared to the untalented earthworms that toiled in the fields.
Yet despite these clear signs, Regulus Cosmos, a boy so untalented he didn't hold a spark of card energy, dared to act so arrogantly before his superiors.
Louie couldn't keep the disdain out of his eyes as he poured all his hatred into a gaze that breathed down Regulus's neck.
Louie saw Regulus's neck swivel, and that's when he saw those eyes. Despite knowing the impossibility of his thoughts, Louie didn't believe the thing in front of him was human.
Eyes that carried such monstrous terror that Louie felt his knees buckle as his muscles turned soft; every survival instinct was yelling at him to run.
Slightly collapsing, Louie didn't dare look back in that thing's direction, breathing quickly as he muttered under his breath.
"What the hell are those eyes? *huh* He just looked at me for a split second *huh*, that thing is a demon."
His heart beating at a dangerous speed, Louie decided that just this once, due to his mercy, he would let Regulus's arrogance slide.
---
'I've gotten lucky with my opponent in the first round.'
Regulus knew he could beat anyone who came his way, but that didn't mean he wanted to exert the effort needed for it. In his eyes, the quicker this was over, the better.
Regulus's opponent was a blue-haired wolf man who sported a sky-blue tail behind her and gripped a katana with a black leather grip.
It was hard for Regulus to tell card energy ranks due to his lack of any, but using the memories of the Soul Doctor, he figured the young man before him was low 'Ace' rank.
This was the same rank as Azrael and could be considered a slight majority of those who made it to the third test.
His opponent's thoughts were close to a mirror of Regulus's as he studied the blonde young man before him who exuded a regal pressure.
'To think I'm facing the only person who doesn't have card energy, the lucky stars are looking down on me.'
Although the wolf man respected Regulus's willpower, he didn't see how it could have any bearing in actual combat.
The audience watched as the wolf with blue hair drew his katana in a way that suggested constant refining; lifting his blade to point at Regulus's eyes, he took a combat stance.
Looking down, the blade pointed at him, too, the man behind it. Regulus gave a look which suggested immense boredom.
Feeling a crack in his calm composure due to Regulus's taunting and seeing the blonde man making no indication of drawing his blade, he began to move.
"I won't let someone like you look down on me. Your arrogance will be your end."
Crouching down into the critical stance of his style, harsh and wild card energy began howling around his Katana.
"Wolf styl-"
Despite executing the move with ease and at high speed, not a single person in the room would see it come to fruition.
Regulus moved, celestial energy coursing through his legs; for the first time in Immisso, he was facing someone physically weaker than himself.
The simple footwork Regulus executed seemed profound enough to leave the floor undisturbed as he reappeared in front of the crouching wolf like a ghost.
A telling smile could be noticed on his face as he wrapped dense celestial energy around his finger and thrust it towards the moving katana.
'Is he sacrificing a finger?'
Unable to see celestial energy, the crowd of applicants saw an impossibly quick Regulus about to sacrifice one of his fingers to the razor katana.
Yet the catastrophe they were expecting didn't happen as a resounding twang rang throughout the room, breaking them all away from their delusions.
A wide-eyed Princess of the Jack Kingdom felt her icy composure melt at the scene she was witnessing.
'Can he see the future as well? Is that really possible?'
As if mocking Ria's feat, Regulus had caused the total collapse of his opponent's move with a single finger.
Discombobulated from his technique being shattered, the blue wolf-boy couldn't hope to react to the perfect follow-up by Regulus.
Using an arm to push aside and neutralise his blade, a slicing palm with no wasted movement was jammed into the side of his neck as the world turned dark and his head bounced off the floor.
Standing over a cold body without his heart rate fluctuating a single beat, Regulus waited for his opponent to reappear outside the ring before turning around and exiting the magic circle.
In a burst of childish competition that no one would expect from a former King, Regulus didn't forget to look at Ria and convey the message.
'That's how you really do it, Princess.'
Although his mouth didn't move by a millimetre, Regulus's eyes told Ria everything she needed as the spark of competition was lit within her.
'This is going to be much more fun than I thought. Allow me to expose what you're hiding, Regulus Cosmos.'
Seeing him walk through the slowly dwindling crowd once more, the thought of Regulus as just an untalented man with willpower was erased from the onlooker's minds.
The handsome man in front of them was now a real threat to all the applicants in the room.
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