Journey to Become the Zenith

The Artifact of Materialization

The thought frustrated her.

’If this was back in my prime, I would’ve been able to summon a thousand blades.’

Victor suddenly appeared beside one of the floating swords.

He twisted his body and allowed the blade to pass behind him.

Then his hand closed around the sword he had taken earlier.

His smile widened.

Finally, he stopped running.

Evelyne’s eyes sharpened.

Victor swung.

The clash was immediate.

His sword met hers with a powerful impact.

The force pushed Evelyne backward.

Before she could recover, Victor stepped forward.

His second strike came.

She blocked.

The third came from another angle.

She redirected it.

Then the floating swords attacked from behind.

Victor spun.

His blade swept across the incoming weapons.

The clash echoed throughout the cavern.

Evelyne’s expression became increasingly frustrated.

Victor, on the other hand, looked delighted.

He joyfully swung his sword around, each movement carrying more confidence than the last.

His strikes weren’t wild.

They were clean.

Direct.

Efficient.

And most importantly, he was enjoying every second of them.

Evelyne was forced backward.

One step.

Then another.

She tried to regain control of the rhythm, but Victor refused to give her the opportunity.

Every time she attempted to establish distance, he closed it.

Every time she changed her sword angle, he adjusted.

The floating swords tried to support her.

Victor simply dealt with them as they came.

"You’re getting slower."

Evelyne’s jaw tightened.

She didn’t answer.

Victor attacked again.

"Come on. You had such a confident expression earlier."

Another clash.

"You can do better than this, can’t you?"

Evelyne’s eyes flashed.

She swung harder.

Victor blocked.

The impact sent a tremor through the floor.

Diana watched from the side with an amused expression.

There was no mistaking it anymore.

Victor was genuinely happy.

The man who normally carried himself with calm confidence had become almost childlike in the middle of this battle.

Not because he was careless.

Because he had finally found someone who could at least give him something interesting to examine.

After several more exchanges, Evelyne finally understood the truth.

No matter what she did in her current condition, she wouldn’t even be able to scratch Victor.

She stepped away.

Her boots dragged against the stone as she created distance between them.

Victor didn’t pursue her.

He simply stood there.

His sword hung loosely at his side.

His golden eyes remained fixed on her.

Waiting.

That confidence irritated Evelyne more than any insult could have.

He wasn’t even bothering to prepare himself.

He was simply waiting for her next move.

Evelyne slowly exhaled.

Victor tilted his head.

"So what else do you have for me?"

The question was innocent.

The tone wasn’t.

Evelyne stared at him for several seconds.

Then she reached into her possession and pulled out something neither Victor nor Diana recognized.

A strange orb appeared in her hand.

It shone faintly beneath the cavern’s torchlight.

Its shape was irregular, almost unnatural.

It wasn’t perfectly round.

Its surface seemed to shift subtly whenever the light touched it, as though something was moving beneath the material.

Victor’s expression changed.

Not fear.

Curiosity.

Diana also stared at the object.

She had lived for a very long time.

She had seen countless artifacts, treasures, weapons, and strange relics.

Yet she had never encountered anything like this.

Victor’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"What is that?"

Evelyne didn’t answer immediately.

She looked at the artifact in her hand.

There was a faint trace of hesitation in her eyes.

Then she raised her gaze toward Victor.

"I now know that my current self is no match for you."

Her fingers tightened around the orb.

"But with this artifact, I’ll be able to show you what true power is like."

Victor’s smile disappeared for a moment.

Not because he was frightened.

Because he was genuinely interested.

Evelyne continued.

"With this artifact, you can make your soul materialize and form an actual body."

Diana’s expression changed.

Evelyne’s voice remained steady.

"Everyone within fifty meters of me would have their souls materialize."

The cavern suddenly felt colder.

Victor glanced around.

Fifty meters.

The distance was more than enough to cover the battlefield.

Evelyne continued explaining the artifact.

"Normally this would only serve with making a doppelganger for both of us, but for me it’s different."

Her eyes sharpened.

She raised the orb slightly.

"As you are already aware, my soul that is residing in the body of Evelyne Elmhart is different."

Victor’s eyebrows rose slightly.

So she was finally saying it openly.

Evelyne’s voice became proud.

"Normally this would only serve with making a doppelganger for both of us, but for me it’s different."

"For I am Evelyne the mighty heaven’s sword!"

The words echoed through the cavern.

"The greatest swordsman under the heavens!"

For a brief moment, there was silence.

Victor stared at her.

Then his expression became strangely flat.

He wasn’t particularly impressed by the title.

Heaven’s Sword.

Greatest swordsman under the heavens.

Those words meant very little to him.

What truly caught his attention was the artifact.

The possibility of forcing souls to materialize was far more interesting than Evelyne’s grand introduction.

Victor’s gaze returned to the strange orb.

His mind worked quickly.

’If she activates that thing, this is going to become boring.’

His expression softened into a strange smile.

He looked directly at Evelyne.

"I’m going to warn you right now."

Evelyne’s brows furrowed.

"If you use that artifact the advantage you think you’ll have won’t happen."

Victor’s smile widened.

"Instead, you will be horribly outclassed that I kinda feel sorry for you."

Evelyne stared at him.

For several seconds, she couldn’t understand what he was talking about.

Was he mocking her?

Was he bluffing?

Or was there something about this artifact that he somehow knew?

’What is this guy talking about?’

She couldn’t make sense of his nonsensical babble.

But one thing was certain.

She had already decided.

There was no reason to hesitate now.

Evelyne tightened her grip around the shining artifact.

Without hesitation, she activated it.

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