The Return Of The Exiled Villain

”Huuu...”

Aurora inhaled slowly.

The entire battlefield seemed to be quiet with her breath.

Her stance shifted almost imperceptibly.

Her left foot slid half a step forward as her spine straightened.

The sword lowered slightly, angled toward the ground as though she were abandoning aggression instead of preparing it.

For a moment, nothing happened, but just then, the air around her changed.

It was subtle at first.

The faintest distortion curling around her silhouette, like heat rising from stone.

Her auburn hair lifted slightly even though there was no wind. Her red eyes sharpened, and in that gaze, something changed.

Swish...

A thin strand of strange grey energy began forming along the tip of her sword.

It was not bright and did not glow like common Sword Qi.

It clung to the steel like ash carried by breath, flowing slowly, wrapping around the edge in a narrow stream.

Gray felt it before he fully saw it.

The space between them tightened. Not because of pressure pushing outward, but because something was pulling inward.

The air along the line between her blade and his chest grew heavy, compressed, as though that path had already been chosen.

Step...

Then she moved, swinging her sword diagonally with no unnecessary motion, not wasting a single millisecond of imprecision.

It seemed like a pretty casual swing...

But the moment the blade descended, the world narrowed to that single line.

The grey energy did not burst outward.

It condensed instantly.

”U-ugh!” Gray’s body did not react first.

His instincts did as a sharp, silent awareness crawled up his spine.

The pressure coiled around his awareness, precise and suffocating in a controlled way, as if invisible fingers had already measured the point where he would be severed.

But just as the swing was completed...

Fwoop!

The grey crescent lingered in the air for the briefest second, suspended like a scar across space itself.

Crack!

Then the stone behind Gray split.

A perfect diagonal fracture carved through the battlefield floor, smooth and absolute, extending several meters without jagged edges or shattered debris.

It looked less like destruction and more like something had been cleanly removed from existence.

The grey trace faded slowly, dissolving into nothing.

And like that, the place fell into silence once again...

Aurora lowered her sword with a faint smile, looking at Gray, who was very damn bewildered by the strength of her sword art.

”This move is called Severing Pursuit,” she explained.

Gray nodded lightly, although his eyes remained on the fractured stone.

He was still quite shocked by that seemingly simple swing.

It simply was... perfect.

No wasted motion.

No excessive power.

Just pure inevitability.

Aurora lifted the sword slightly, letting the faint remnants of that grey flow dissipate completely.

”The energy you saw is called Soul Chasing Qi,” she continued.

She stepped toward the split line in the ground and tapped it lightly with her blade.

”It is not ordinary Sword Qi formed from compressed mana. It is born from the repetition of lethal intent. When your body moves with killing in mind, when your will has already accepted the end of your opponent, your soul aligns with that conclusion.”

Her red eyes returned to him.

”When that alignment becomes natural, the Qi forms.”

Gray looked at the dissipating grey Sword Qi, his eyes narrowing slighly as he tried actually to copy that kind of energy.

[Not enough soul energy.]

’...Not enough? 500 points aren’t enough?’

That meant the grey energy she had released, the one that had already been fully formed and used without strain... its level still stood above the Saint Realm?

Thinking of this, his eyes turned to Aurora.

She stood there quietly, silver robes swaying lightly around her slender frame, her presence neither overbearing nor relaxed.

’Let me borrow your eyes, Jasmine.’

[Mhm.]

Hearing her confirmation, Gray’s eyes shone as a faint black and white energy seeped onto him as he locked onto Aurora’s figure.

『𖤐 Yin-Yang Divine Eyes 𖤐』

In an instant, a blue panel materialized right in front of his eyes.

[———✵ Status Panel ✵———]

Name: Aurora El’Catheth

Titles: The Strongest Swordsman

Race: Sword

Class: Sword Of Everything

Rank: Early Sovereign Realm [Cannot break through further without a Master.]

Active Skills: Soul Chasing Extremities [Sovereign (99%)], Void Breaking Step [Sovereign (99%)], Sword Formation [Class], Soul Chasing Sword Intent

Passive Skills: Instant Mana Recovery, Extreme Sword Qi Regeneration [Class], Supreme Recovery, Inverted Sword Meridians [Class]

Equipment: Silver-Silk Transparent Robes [Sovereign]

Special Physique: Innate Sword Body [Can transform into a sword. It hasn’t found its true Master yet.]

——+——+——+——

Upon seeing her status, Gray almost sucked a cold breath in great surprise. He didn’t expect Aurora to be so strong... and neither did he expect her to be an actual sword!

’...She was the only character who appeared multiple times for whom Dante didn’t actually have a character sheet. But yeah... she might be stronger than Gloria if not having a Master is holding her back.’

He dismissed the panel before looking at Aurora.

”Would you like to try?” she asked, tilting her head slightly, studying him with curiosity deeply etched on her eyes.

She knew how terrifying of a genius Gray was, so she was indeed quite curious about how much of that first move he was able to understand on his first time seeing it.

Gray nodded lightly.

He was feeling pretty confident since the sword art suited him the most.

He stepped forward and then closed his eyes.

His memories surged back to the moment Aurora performed, the slight shift in her stance, the way her sword was angled lower.

...The way the intent moved first, and the energy followed.

A sword art that strengthened the soul with every kill.

A Qi that hunted more than flesh.

A path that aligned perfectly with his own.

Swish...!

His aura slowly sharpened, and suddenly... a thin grey strand flickered into existence around his fingers.

He wasn’t even using a sword and was using his hand instead.

This caused Aurora’s eyes to widen slightly.

Gray raised his hand, the grey energy almost turning into the faint shadow of a sword.

The intent was formed perfectly.

The structure locked into place.

Fwip!

And in a single smooth motion, he performed the exact same movement she had shown earlier.

The air screamed.

A condensed grey arc split forward with frightening accuracy, cutting through the ground and leaving behind a flawless diagonal fracture.

But just immediately...

”Blughh!”

Gray’s body jerked violently.

A mouthful of blood burst from his lips, splattering across the stone.

His vision blurred at the edges.

The world tilted.

His knees nearly buckled before a hand caught his shoulder.

”I-I... didn’t expect you to get it on your first try!” Aurora’s voice trembled, something close to shock breaking through her usual composure.

”Because of that, I didn’t warn you... your current realm, even if you can cross realms to fight, isn’t enough to perform the sword art.”

Her fingers pressed lightly against his back.

A soft silver glow seeped into him.

”I’m sorry about that...!”

Mana flowed through his meridians like cool water, repairing torn pathways, soothing the backlash tearing through his soul.

The dizziness slowly faded.

His breathing steadied.

The taste of iron disappeared.

Aurora exhaled softly once she felt his condition stabilize.

”You understood the intent instantly,” she said quietly, still sounding stunned.

”That alone is abnormal.”

She stepped back, though her eyes remained fixed on him.

”Since you grasped the first move in one attempt... you should try forming Soul Chasing Sword Qi next. When you reach the Grandmaster Realm, you should have enough mana and soul energy to perform the move without harming yourself.”

Gray nodded slightly.

Of course, he had understood what she meant.

Power without capacity was simply self-destruction.

Just as he was about to respond, a notification appeared before his eyes.

[You have recovered 200 Soul Points by stealing the Soul Energy in the air.]

”...Oh.”

His lips slowly curled upward.

This sword technique really suited him.

”Alright, we’re done for today!” Aurora clasped her hands with a big smile.

”You can come to me... this Friday, as I’ll help you awaken your Soul Chasing Qi,” she added lightly before approaching him.

”Mhm...!”

Hearing her words, Gray nodded slighly, stretching his arms above his head, but as he did so, a hand suddenly shot and tightened around both of his wrists.

”...”

He calmly stared at Aurora, who was mischievously smiling at him.

”One kiss, please?” she asked.

”...If you wanted a kiss, you didn’t need to lock my wrists,” Gray spoke with a deadpanned expression, glancing at her hands around him.

Her smile widened.

”Ohh, my bad, Darling~”

She released him slowly, fingers sliding down his wrists with a faint rustle of fabric brushing against skin.

Instead of stepping back, she moved closer.

Rustle~

One hand rose to his jaw, tilting his face slightly toward her, thumb grazing his cheek.

She pressed her lips to his.

”Chuu~♡”

A soft chh sound slipped between them as her lips sealed over his.

She did not rush and held him there, savoring the pressure, her fingers tightening faintly against his jaw.

Gray’s breath hitched for a split second.

His eyes lowered, then closed.

”Mmh...” Aurora tilted her head, deepening the angle.

A faint hum escaped her as her lips moved against his with unhurried heat. The sound vibrated softly between them, intimate and satisfied.

Gray responded.

His hand slid to her waist, his fingers pressing into the fabric as he pulled her a bit closer.

His lips parted slightly, answering her pressure, their mouths brushing again with a softer, wetter smack as the kiss deepened.

Aurora’s other hand slipped behind his neck, his fingers threading into his hair as she leaned into him fully now, her massive breasts squishing against his chest.

”Mmh... ah...”

Shortly after, she finally pulled away, a faint bridge of saliva connecting their tongues before breaking a second later.

”Haah...”

Aurora remained close, her forehead nearly brushing his, softly breathing into his face.

”I love it...”