Reincarnation Of The Strongest Sword God Chapter 3949 - 1023 - Third Stage

“Elise, we meet again.”

Garuda sighed internally as he gazed at Elise, his mind drifting back to their encounter at the Continental Championship just a few months prior.

He couldn't deny her raw talent. Despite failing to reach the top four in the inaugural Continental Championship, she had successfully guided her team into the top four during the second. Her pace of development far outstripped that of any typical chosen one.

Even so, Garuda refused to believe his own potential was inferior. He had, after all, stepped into the sixth-floor standard even before she had.

Yet now, a massive chasm existed between their respective standings...

Garuda remained unconvinced by this disparity. Since his Guild had tasked him with testing Elise’s current capabilities, he intended to seize this moment to prove that his own talent was equal to hers.

“Make your move,” Elise replied, her voice devoid of emotion.

“Very well! I shall see exactly how much you have grown!” Garuda laughed. His eyes blazed with an intense fighting spirit as he unleashed a barrage of punches with all four of his arms.

The heavens above the Twilight Fortress seemed to collapse as a hundred phantom fists, each spanning thousands of meters, plummeted toward Elise. The sight caused the players within the fortress to tremble in fear, with some falling into total despair.

Each individual phantom fist possessed power equivalent to a Pseudo-Tier 7 Profound Skill used by a Divine Set wearer. To throw a hundred such strikes simultaneously was a feat comparable to the devastating onslaught of a Taboo Boss.

As the strikes closed in on Elise, they merged into six colossal phantom fists, each ten thousand meters wide. This fusion naturally caused their destructive power to skyrocket.

“Is Garuda out of his mind? He’s going all out from the very start?” Tyrant Claw exclaimed, shocked by the appearance of the six massive phantoms.

Having fought Garuda many times, Tyrant Claw recognized the technique instantly.

The Sixfold Hundred Splitting Fists!

The Hundred Splitting Fists was an original Advanced Gold Holy Art created by Garuda himself. Its threefold execution already surpassed the power of a standard Peak Gold Holy Art, while the sixfold version was equivalent to a fusion of two Peak Gold Holy Arts.

“Remarkable. The Garuda of today is likely more powerful than Ink Crystal was during the battle at Everlasting City,” Daystar noted, impressed by Garuda’s rapid progression.

Unlike the Holy Race’s Absolute Chosen Ones, however, Elise remained completely calm in the face of the Sixfold Hundred Splitting Fists. She merely flipped open her black book as a series of magic arrays began to manifest beneath her. These arrays expanded instantly, covering a radius of several thousand yards.

Threefold... Sixfold... Ninefold...

Elise was manifesting magic arrays for a Pseudo-Tier 7 Spell. With every new layer that appeared, the shock among the magical class players in the Twilight Fortress intensified.

For a Tier 6 player, speed-casting a single Pseudo-Tier 7 Spell was enough to mark them as a rare genius. Those who could speed-cast a twofold version were hailed as chosen ones. After all, the difficulty of multicasting Spells far exceeded the Strength Combination techniques used by melee combatants.

Yet, Elise was currently speed-casting a ninefold Pseudo-Tier 7 Spell!

Such a feat was significantly more complex than linking a dozen physical attacks!

Elise did not stop there. Following the ninth array, more continued to emerge. She only ceased once the twelfth magic array was fully formed. The sheer pressure of the twelvefold magic array caused the surrounding space for tens of thousands of yards to begin fracturing. Every witness—from the human experts to the Holy Race powerhouses—watched the twelvefold array as if they were beholding a divine miracle.

“A twelvefold Pseudo-Tier 7 Spell! How can this be possible?!” Hidden Soul stared at the arrays beneath Elise’s feet, unable to process what she was seeing.

Most sixth-floor experts struggled to maintain even a ninefold array for a Tier 6 Spell. Since Pseudo-Tier 7 Spells were exponentially more complex than Tier 6 ones, casting twelve of them at once was simply mind-boggling. This was no longer a level of skill that should belong to a mortal.

“Have you already attained the third stage?”

Garuda stood frozen, wondering if the Main God System was playing a trick on him. However, the Twelvefold World-Destroying Spear manifesting from the arrays confirmed that this was no illusion.

The third stage of the sixth-floor standard!

One of the primary differences between sixth-floor and fifth-floor experts was the mastery of Manifold Execution. But even among those at the sixth-floor standard, the level of Manifold Execution varied wildly.

While Manifold Execution might look like simple multitasking, it was actually comparable to controlling several different individuals to move in perfect unison.

To illustrate, if every sixth-floor expert commanded a 100-man unit, their mental control determined the result. Some could only manage basic movements; others could perform complex maneuvers; and a few could make the entire unit move like a single, fluid organism. While it looked easy to an observer, the actual execution was incredibly difficult.

This was particularly true for the third stage of Manifold Execution—Hundred-as-One. Those who reached this level were no longer viewed as mortals, but as gods. Even on the Hundred Race Battlefield, Garuda had never heard of anyone achieving this stage.

Elise offered no reply. With a cold expression, she hurled the manifested World-Destroying Spear at her opponent.

In an instant, the World-Destroying Spear shattered the six phantom fists and pierced the sky, leaving a starry void that stretched for tens of thousands of yards.

Within that void, Garuda—who had activated his Lightning Beast Set’s Tier 7 Profound Skill, Lightning Transformation, to become a 10,000-meter-tall Sacred Lightning Beast—was covered in fractures. Despite possessing the massive HP pool of a Tier 7 monster, a single strike from Elise had shaved off 10% of his health...

“To think you could deal such damage even after I transformed into a Tier 7 Lifeform. You really are a monster,” Garuda remarked. Seeing his HP drop, he was forced to re-evaluate Elise’s strength.

Had he not reacted instantly with Lightning Transformation, that Twelvefold World-Destroying Spear would have wiped out both his physical form and his soul.

“However, since you’ve forced me to utilize my Tier 7 Profound Skill, your journey ends here,” Garuda declared, launching his Hundred Splitting Fists once more.

Empowered by the Tier 7 Life Rating of the Sacred Lightning Beast, Garuda was no longer restricted to a sixfold attack; he unleashed a ninefold version instead.

Nine meteor-like phantom fists, each tens of thousands of meters wide, rained down. The power behind these strikes was vastly superior to his previous attempt, even eclipsing the might of Elise’s Twelvefold World-Destroying Spear.

“Does he plan on killing us too?!” Morning Echo cried out, fearing Garuda had lost his sanity. She prepared to trigger her Divine Set’s Tier 7 Profound Skill immediately if the attack veered toward her.

As Morning Echo braced herself, Elise suddenly turned another page of her book, splitting into two identical copies of herself.

Two twelvefold magic arrays instantly erupted beneath the two Elises. This time, however, they were not for the World-Destroying Spear, but for the Pseudo-Tier 7 Spell, Supernova Destruction.

Two beams of brilliant light shot forth from the arrays, colliding with Garuda’s massive phantom fists.

The radiant beams disintegrated Garuda’s attack entirely. They continued forward, piercing through Garuda’s massive frame and vaporizing one of his arms, causing his HP to plummet by more than another 10%...