Chapter 185: Collision Between Grand Knights

"What is going on here..." Wang Yu struggled to make sense of the situation, unable to discern which of the two identical, smoke-wreathed figures standing before him was the genuine article.

"!" Edward, trailing slightly behind, arrived just moments after Wang Yu. Upon rushing into the corridor and witnessing one smoke-shrouded figure hoisting the other by the throat, he too was struck by profound shock.

"Click." Wang Yu flicked the Blood-Biting Ring, prying open the grim maw of the skull. Crimson blood welled from within, snaking up his body to coalesce into a blood-red cloak behind his back.

Squinting, Wang Yu stared at the two figures, not daring to make a rash move. A single such entity had nearly killed him in their last encounter; the pressure exerted by two—their authenticity unknown—was immense.

Edward felt the same. Though he had never faced one directly, he was well aware of Wang Yu’s previous state and the power of a Grand Knight. He stepped forward to stand beside Wang Yu, activating his inner latent energy. An invisible barrier enveloped them both; facing such a formidable foe, neither dared to relax for a second.

The only silver lining was that the two figures did not seem to be allies. One was held aloft by the other, struggling in vain, unable to break the iron grip.

"Gurgle..." With a sickening sound of twisting, hardening matter, the victim began to fail. Under the immense force, its spine neared collapse, and its struggles grew increasingly feeble.

"Thud!" A heavy impact echoed as the body—or rather, the corpse—of the throttled figure hit the floor.

The remaining figure turned its faintly glowing eyes toward Wang Yu. Lacking pupils, its emotions were unreadable, yet the mere act of being watched was enough to put Wang Yu and Edward on high alert.

"Crunch!" The figure stepped onto the corpse, then kicked it forward. The body slid across the ash-and-rubble-strewn floor, leaving a long trail until it came to a halt at the feet of Wang Yu and Edward.

They retreated a few paces, wary of the corpse. They did not understand the figure’s intent—was this a display of power? But what purpose could that serve?

The two sides remained in a stalemate. Wang Yu and Edward stood ready, never letting their guard down, while the figure at the other end of the corridor appeared casual, standing there with an air of unhurried composure.

"No rush. As long as he doesn't strike, we just need to stall. Our goal is to buy time until Captain Shuguin arrives. If he just stands there, dragging this out is actually to our advantage."

Wang Yu reminded himself silently. Their mission was not to capture or kill, not even to intercept; their sole duty was to delay until reinforcements or someone capable of handling the threat arrived.

"You have done well. I am here..." Shuguin’s voice, relayed through Ziggy, echoed in the minds of Wang Yu and Edward.

Here? Where? Once Wang Yu broke his focus on the figure, his eyes swept the surroundings. In the blazing mansion, aside from the constant rain of ash and soot, there was nothing else...

Wait—the soot. As soon as Wang Yu realized this detail, the dust began to shift.

The thick smoke from the raging fire mixed with the peeling soot from the walls, making it impossible to distinguish one from the other. The smoke was Shuguin’s perfect concealment; it was Shuguin himself.

The smoke-wreathed Shuguin suddenly manifested from the billowing clouds of the nearby fire, charging out from behind the figure.

Smoke gathered in his hand, forming a massive greatsword, which he swung without hesitation toward the figure’s waist.

His vintage trench coat fluttered in the flickering firelight, and the smoke he cast off swirled around him. Edward and Wang Yu once again sensed that familiar, demonic aura.

Captain Shuguin’s signature demon, the Smoke Demon. This burning, smoke-filled mansion was Shuguin’s ultimate home turf.

"Clang!" The massive smoke blade collided with the arm of the figure, which had reacted with lightning speed to block. The sound of the impact was deafening. The clash of two Grand Knight-level warriors was more than this crumbling, fire-ravaged building could bear.

The floor beneath them shattered, and the force of the collision sent them reeling backward, smashing through the walls behind them.

The rupture triggered a chain reaction. The floor beneath Shuguin and the figure cracked and spread, and the walls, pushed to their limit by the flames, collapsed with a roar.

"Crash!" Debris rained from above, punching through floors and destroying walls, accelerating the mansion’s destruction.

The building was spiraling toward total ruin. After struggling for ten minutes in the artificially created inferno, it finally succumbed to the shockwaves of the two Grand Knights’ battle, just before the accompanying mages could arrive to extinguish the flames.

Dust filled the air. The debris and smoke from the collapse turned the corridor into a chaotic mess, engulfing all four of them.

The acrid air mattered little to the knights, but the thick smoke blinded Wang Yu and Edward, leaving them only the sounds of violent collisions and structural collapse.

"Partner! Can you not handle this? If you can't quickly finish off this fellow who smokes just like us in a place so suited for our combat, aren't you a bit weak?"

The Smoke Demon’s familiar, shrill, and noisy voice pierced the smoke to reach Wang Yu’s ears.

"Shut up. Wang Yu, Edward, get out of here. I’ll handle this; you can’t help."

Shuguin’s steady command came through. Edward and Wang Yu exchanged a glance and began to withdraw from the crumbling structure.

Since Captain Shuguin had arrived, they were indeed of no use; if they were taken hostage by the Grand Knight, they would only hinder Shuguin.

As for Shuguin’s safety, there was no need for concern. Not only was he a Grand Knight himself, but as the Smoke Demon’s chatter implied, this burning, smoke-choked mansion was the Captain’s domain.

Wang Yu caught a glimpse of movement behind him. The dust filling the corridor was churning, converging toward the center.

When the obscuring smoke finally dissipated, Shuguin had once again transformed into the Smoke Demon Knight, his body clad in armor made of smoke.

"Hoo..." Furthermore, behind the figure, past the shattered, burning walls, a giant hand of smoke coalesced from the soot pouring through the cracks, reaching for the figure as it plummeted through the broken floor.

The fire-induced smoke made this Shuguin’s arena. Every wisp of smoke became a weapon at his disposal, driven by the "Demon Possession" latent power.

Shuguin gripped his hands in the air, as if holding something invisible. As he fell alongside the figure, he swung the non-existent weapon with all his might toward the figure, which was simultaneously being attacked by the giant smoke hand from behind.

Smoke surged toward where Shuguin’s hands were, and the "non-existent weapon" took form between them as he swung.

A massive, hideous axe of soot descended with unstoppable force upon the figure, which had no leverage in mid-air. Together with the giant hand, it formed a trap—a pincer attack with no escape.

This was the final sight Wang Yu and Edward witnessed before their retreat.

Their withdrawal was swift and coordinated. Edward’s inner latent energy surged, covering them in an invisible shield that deflected the flames and falling debris.

Wang Yu released all the blood stored in his ring. The Bloody Gale Knight secret technique was pushed to its limit, as was his Matter-Shaping Sword art.

A flurry of longswords made of his own blood flew and slashed, driven by the technique to be sharper and harder than metal, carving through the walls and clearing a path.

Easily shattering the walls, which were already weakened by fire and vibration, Wang Yu and Edward carved a passage to the outside.

"Boom, crackle!" A violent sound erupted from deep within the burning mansion. Unlike the sharp crack of an explosion, this was the sound of two hard objects colliding with immense force.

Accompanying the sound—which they knew came from the battle—were powerful shockwaves.

The building’s structure disintegrated. The main support beam twisted and collapsed, followed by the entire roof.

"Edward!" Wang Yu shouted, looking at the burning ruins falling toward them.

Edward understood immediately that Wang Yu was about to do something brutal and effective. He accelerated his battle aura, strengthening their invisible barrier.

Communicating with the Weaver’s Book, Wang Yu tapped into the updraft of the fire. Wind elements erupted, accelerated by the book: Third-Tier Spell, Hurricane Tunnel.

A powerful force of wind shot upward, amplified by the updraft. The violent gale swept up debris, flames, and smoke.

For a few seconds, this spell—usually meant to disrupt enemy formations—actually held up the falling roof.

With the Weaver’s Book upgraded by Avia, Wang Yu immediately cast his next spell: Second-Tier, Storm Step.

Wang Yu grabbed Edward’s shoulder, and propelled by the powerful wind, they shot out through the passage they had carved.

"Boom!" Just as they slid out of the hole in the Viscount’s mansion, the building collapsed behind them.

The burning roof crushed the structure, sending bricks and debris flying into the street, followed by a massive plume of smoke.

The dust engulfed the noble guards who had just pulled the Viscount from a neighboring house, as well as the city guards and Night’s Edge members who had arrived moments before. Everyone was left covered in grime.

"Click, click." The blood swords transformed back into his cloak, then morphed into bladed ropes that dug into the street, halting Wang Yu’s momentum.

Edward did the same, plunging his heavy greatsword into the ground. After carving a groove and throwing sparks, he stopped and turned with Wang Yu toward the mansion.

"Cough, cough..."

"What happened? Is the Viscount buried in there!?"

"How could a mansion like this collapse just from fire?"

Amidst the dust-choked street, the Night’s Edge members and city guards murmured. The accompanying mages reacted quickly, gathering wind elements to disperse the smoke.

Yet, the smoke moved faster than they did. As if possessed by life, it surged autonomously, rushing back toward the ruins and drilling into the gaps of the debris.

"It’s the Captain..." Wang Yu realized the cause before anyone else. Smoke-filled, the Captain’s home turf—this must be the finishing move.

Unsurprisingly, as the massive volume of smoke converged into the ruins, the giant smoke figure Wang Yu had seen before appeared once more.

This time, fueled by the massive surge of smoke, the Smoke Knight that rose from the wreckage was even larger and more solid than before.

"Whoosh!" The Smoke Knight’s colossal axe of soot tore through the air, descending from the heavens like a falling star, cleaving downward under the gaze of all who stood before the ruined manor.

The great axe struck, shattering a cage of hyper-condensed smoke and everything trapped within it into oblivion.

"Boom!" The impact against the earth unleashed a resonant tremor, a vibration felt distinctly beneath the feet of every onlooker.

The sheer, raw power of the smoke giant left the witnesses paralyzed in awe, even long after the titan had dissolved into wisps of drifting haze.

As the settling soot blanketed the ruins of the viscount’s estate, the sound of footsteps emerged, and Shuguin stepped forth from the grey veil.

He held a pipe between his teeth, drawing back the peculiar vapors of the smoke demon, while his trench coat, singed with embers, fluttered incessantly behind him. In his hands, he carried two burdens: a corpse scorched beyond recognition and a severed arm, its surface wreathed in fading black smoke.

"That fellow was far too agile, possessing physical prowess that defies the standards even of a Grand Knight. Even on my own turf, I could not fully claim his life, but having severed his arm, he should remain quiet for a time."

Shuguin’s voice rang out, calm and composed.