Dark Magus Returns
chapter-806

The Dark Edge Sword Arts was one of the things in Raze's arsenal that made him extremely powerful. It was the technique that allowed him to use both his magic and Qi in a special way.

Using one of the techniques while combining it with the Descending Steps was currently his strongest method.

This was where he had been going wrong with using them initially.

Raze's Qi started to wrap around the Ghost Blade. The special sword reacted to his Qi. As it wrapped around, Raze dashed forward.

Before Raze could do anything, Samantha threw her fan again, aiming to hit the sword.

Rather than hitting it directly, Raze quickly moved to the side, pushing himself away with a little help from his Wind magic.

'Not so obvious in front of all these people, but just enough to ease me into it.'

Right after, Raze dashed in again, using the fourth Descending Step, explosive in power.

The fan had returned to Samantha's hand, and she was ready to strike at Raze when she could see the sword.

"That technique, I'm familiar with it. Did you think I wouldn't know what it was?" Samantha said.

Raze's sword clashed with Samantha's fan in the air, but the Qi around the sword was still wrapping around and moving as if it were alive.

"You have no idea about the Dark Faction's history, do you? You think just because you know how to use the Noctis Clan's techniques that you can win this fight?" Samantha asked. "We killed so many of them; we hunted every single one down. We've fought against these techniques numerous times."

The bystanders listening to this were shocked. They knew the Noctis Clan was the one created by the founder of the Dark Faction.

The founder who had disappeared. After that, the clan itself was being eliminated. Members who appeared were dying.

No one had suspected foul play, and now, right in the open, they were learning that fact from Samantha.

"You know, I've lived long enough to know what those actions represent!" Raze said as he pushed further, enhancing his Qi even more.

Samantha didn't realize that Raze had become a stage 8 warrior, with Qi equivalent to the Clan Heads.

So he could now maintain the current position for a while.

"It's the actions of someone who's scared," Raze claimed.

"Scared? Ha! Lived long enough? You're nothing but a child!" Samantha lifted her fan and was ready to strike again, but before it could hit, Raze moved his hand, pushing it away with his Wind magic.

Then with his sword, he swung it, wrapping it in a way that made it feel like it was going around her body.

"The first formation, Shadow Bind," Raze said.

After the sword left her body, strange Qi could be seen wrapped around Samantha, making it harder for her to move.

Those who still remembered the Noctis Clan from the past could see it was an exact replica of the move that had been used.

Right after, Raze didn't stop as he lifted his sword above his head, and with it, the Qi that had gathered around his sword quickly encased the weapon.

"The second formation, Eclipse Strike!" Raze swung the sword down, and a large strike came right toward Samantha.

Due to her being restricted by the first formation's attack, she was finding it difficult to break free. Just before the attack hit, she amplified her Qi and managed to somewhat break out.

She lifted her fan in the air and swung it down using all the power she could. The attack pushed her far back, destroying the flooring around her and leaving her arms heavily hurt.

'I'm not using magic in these attacks, but she's still able to block it. She is a Clan Head, after all, and this proves that,' Raze thought.

However, the Qi energy from the Eclipse Strike, which had broken out, was lingering in the air at that point.

"The third formation, Nightmare Veil Formation."

A heavy mist covered Raze's sword and the areas surrounding Samantha. As Raze swung his sword through the mist and out of his weapon, solid objects that looked like creatures began to appear.

Since it was still Qi, Samantha had no choice but to try and strike back. She swung her fan rapidly as she struck at all those that came close to her.

She started to remember the fight from the Tulip Clan—the number of people she had to cut down to get out of the situation she was in.

While the images of the beasts from the Nightmare Veil Formation were being destroyed, the Qi was all coming back to the bottom of Raze's weapon.

'The movements, the techniques of the Dark Edge Sword Arts. Each one of them was so individually strong I always thought of them as separate attacks to be enhanced with other things.

'But I could feel it, something was missing, and in the books, there was a hint in how the techniques formed, how they were meant to be used.'

'Just like the Descending Steps, there is a reason why the formations are numbered—because they're meant to be performed one after the other.'

'Using the Qi that lingers from the attack makes it less of a burden on the user. Shadow Bind keeps the user still, the Eclipse Strike delivers a powerful attack from the front.'

'The dispersal of the Qi is then used to create nightmares for the user. If someone could survive all eight forms of the formation, they had to be a complete monster.'

Right now, Raze was ready to use the fourth.

"The fourth formation, Void Pulse Formation!" He dashed forward, and Samantha felt it—her body was too hurt, she had slowed down considerably from everything that had occurred.

And only just now had she finished attacking the beasts. When she finally turned, she could see a sword had completely gone through her stomach.

"Maybe it's time we get rid of the old generation and start a new one," Raze said. "You can rest."

Standing in the crowd of people, there was one person who was starstruck to the point of being brought to tears.

The old man, the librarian Jiyo.

"Those aren't replicas of the Noctis Clan, that's how the techniques are meant to be used. I feel like the old Faction Head has returned!"