Chapter 723 - Luke VS Rudolf 3 (1/2)

‘Huh, everyone seems to be fighting well.’

Luke looked over at his party and smiled.

And then came Rudolf yelling at him.

“Where are you looking?!”

The sword, as fast as light, went for Luke’s throat. It was all fast that Luke should have choked and bounced back.

Cang-!

However, a sound came which wasn’t that of flesh being torn. Blood should have splattered, but rather, Rudolf’s sword bounced off with a crackling sound.

“Huh, shield magic?”

“Did you think that it would be that simple?”

Luke screamed at Rudolf, who was frowning and clenched his Dragon Tooth.

Seeing the intense Gold Aura form on the blade, Rudolf hurriedly unleashed the Gold Aura on his sword to prevent the attack from reaching him.

Kwang-!

They both got pushed back with the sound of a mana bomb exploding.

However, Luke, regaining his balance first, flew in to attack.

Woong! Kwang! Cang!

Strong like a storm, but quick and flexible sword attack, the real Gold Sword.

But Rudolf was no less than that.

He counterattacked with ascending swordsmanship made by combining the Gold Sword and the swordsmanship of the Baroque Imperial family.

In an instant, Luke opened his mouth, frowning as if he saw something unpleasant.

“This is a shame. A situation where we can’t do our best.”

“Huh! To win over you, I only need to use 30% of my power!”

Rudolf shouted, but in reality, he was feeling dull.

In fact, he thought that with the Gold Aura, which led him to reach the Sword Emperor, it should have not just pushed back Luke, but also blown away the intruders around him.

However, if he did that, the time travel device would break.

And if that happened, his goal of killing Luke, his only way to regain his prestige, estates, and family would disappear forever.

So, Rudolf was fighting with Luke without even using the most powerful aura.

And that was the same for Luke.

Raising the power in the Aether Globe and using it along with the second half of the Gold Sword, Luke could have gotten rid of the time travel device and Rudolf at the same time.

However, his daughter and his colleagues would get caught in the explosion.

‘It would have been better to come here alone… no, if I did, I would have suffered a lot and wouldn’t have even seen Rudolf.’

It was thanks to his men that Imperial troops were gathered all over and Luke got to enter the ruins.

Luke, who exchanged a few strikes with Rudolf, gave him an offer.

“How is it, Rudolf? If you have confidence in your skills, then let’s go out and battle it out!”

“Outside?”

“Yes. Instead of fighting in this small space with restriction, we should go out and see who is the stronger one among us.”

Thinking for a moment, Rudolf nodded at Luke.

“Oh, then don’t regret it if my sword tears down your throat.”

Rudolf never even thought about the possibility of losing to Luke.

Because he was the strongest, the only Sword Emperor on the continent.

However, it was the same with Luke, he was the strongest and the only Rune Knight on the continent.

“Huh, we’ll know who will die once we fight.”

The two of them who decided that, went out of the ruins.

“Y-Your Majesty?!”

“That is Rudolf!”

The SS Knights and the Gigant riders outside the ruins were shocked to see the two people come outside.

“Protect His majesty!”

“Don’t let them go!”

Knights of Symphonia and Baroque were fighting more fiercely than before.

And that saved the trouble for Luke and Rudolf of warning those men to not intervene.

The two of them, far from their men, faced each other with their swords out.

Woong!

Unlike before, a terrifying energy rose from the swords of the two.

The flowers and the grass around them got cut off by the invisible force.

‘Why is he this strong?’

A few years back, Rudolf had seen Luke as a kid who hadn’t reached the level of Sword Master yet.

Since then, he seemed to have had rapid growth by building his merit in the various battlefields, but even then, Rudolf never assumed that Luke would be a match for him.

However, with the small confrontation a while back, the momentum of Luke and his skills seemed to be as good as him.

Well, it seemed like Luke could be stronger as he was a Rune Knight who used magic and sword.

The same was going on in Luke’s mind.

‘He reached the rank of a Sword Emperor.’

He knew the skills of a Sword Emperor far better than anyone as he had fought with Rakan in the past.

And Rudolf seemed to have the same momentum as Rakan, from 500 years back.

Even though he was the descendant of the enemy, he couldn’t help but acknowledge his talent.

Rumble! Rumble!

Just when they raised their energy, Rudolf opened his mouth.

“Before we fight in earnest, let me ask one question. How did you know that the ruins was holding a time travel device? Did you find it out when you came to rescue Ferrero? Or…”

He paused and shared his thoughts.

“Was it because you used it to change the future?”