I Am The Only Witch Hunter-Chapter 354: Golden Flame

Anu Light needed a true heart first before taking the second step, which was to remain free under the challenges of life. That was the state that Anu Light swordsmen started to create their Forge of Flame. Once they got their foundation with Steel of Will, they experienced life and stayed true to their ’freedom’.

The experience created a forge inside them. A forge that could be used to shape that steel.

Mirage Blade needed obsession to step on its first rank. To become the greatest, obsession was necessary.

But after obsession, came boredom, failure and desperation. Only by hanging on to your devotion, that the practitioner of the Mirage Blade went past this stage and created their own Forge.

Regulus succeeded in two but he didn’t understand why he did it. Until Siderius told him about his purpose. That was to be the best.

Anu Light craved a life of no regret so it needed the swordsmen to stay on that road.

Mirage Blade craved the strongest of all so it needed resiliency to stay on that path.

Silver Lock craved a life of no betrayal. That was the reason why it was created. The first rank produced a Steel that was so hardened that nothing could penetrate it.

The second rank reinforced this so it created a Forge of no way out, of suspicion, and loneliness.

Silver Lock had some similarities to Siderius’ path. His crave was immortality. His first rank was similar to Mirage Blade as both of them were fueled by obsession.

His second rank wasn’t similar to Anu Light nor Mirage Blade. He needed no experience nor devotion. He needed to reinforce this path even more. And Silver Lock was a perfect example.

Inside Siderius’ mind, a Forge quickly formed behind his Golden Soul. In between his Golden Soul and the Forge was a large piece of steel.

The Forge materialized. It was a forge of loneliness. On this immortal path, only him and him mattered.

Fire reached out from the forge and wrapped around his piece of Iron Will. Siderius had reached his second rank of Spirit Art.

The witch hunter opened his eyes. Fire flashed in his irises for a few seconds before dimming away and disappeared completely.

Damien gulped instinctively. He could feel the heat pouring out from Siderius’ forge. It was a fire that he had never seen before.

Whatever this man’s obsession was, it couldn’t be measurable.

Siderius grabbed the Blazing Soul on his waist and pulled it out. Willpower leaked out from him and climbed onto the Dull Steel Sword.

The blade lit up in flame without even needing the fire switch. The flame was different from before. Not the orange shade of Sulfur flame but a gold ethereal flame. The gold of his soul.

Siderius held that flaming gold sword and approached a group of snow-covered pine trees. He sliced it horizontally. A wide beam of gold slashed over the pine trees. It almost reached the 60-meter range. All the trees fell to the side. Their trunks had left over golden fire rings that was still burning intensively.

"Holy shit!" Damien couldn’t hold himself back and curse. "I was wrong, Siderius. You don’t need to reach rank 3. You can call yourself the greatest swordsman of Everia already."

"Is that so?" Siderius smiled gently. He swiped the sword in the air, extinguishing the flame.

Siderius looked down at Blazing Soul. The sword was made from soul steel, a unique alloy that Siderius created. It could hold the power of fire and sulfur. But Dull Steel seemed to be too weak to hold the flame of his willpower.

"The first thing I need to do when I get back is to upgrade this sword to Bright Steel."

The next level of steel after Strong Steel was Bright Steel. Bright Steel was even shiner than Strong Steel.

Strong Steel already looked like silver but Bright Steel would actively glow in the night. Bright Steel would never rust, and had an ability to deflect magic and energy. It was even sharper and stronger than Strong Steel.

The only difficulty in creating it was a Gold Soul. Only a Gold Alchemist could synthesize Bright Steel. Luckily, Siderius was already a Gold Alchemist.

Siderius’ ears perked up. He heard something was coming to them. A lot of something.

"Be quiet. I heard something." Siderius said.

He closed his eyes. The scenery appeared in his head as an outline of sounds. He was focusing on his Echolocation.

But that wasn’t enough to check what was coming. He also used Sonic Localization. The range of his hearing immediately went up to a mile.

His Echolocation scanned the noisy area. It was horses’ hooves. A lot of them.

Siderius snapped in his eyes, "We need to move. An army is coming."

"North or South Army?" Damien said.

"I don’t know." Siderius shook his head.

"Can’t we just fight them? Surely you can take them on." Damien said.

"Maybe. But as I said, I do not want to meddle in this war."

Siderius pulled Damien on his horse while Ashe climbed on hers. They abandoned the carriage as it would slow them down.

"Go, Red!" Siderius shouted.

Red neighed and bolted in the night. Ashe followed Siderius closely behind.

The wind was howling and snow started to fall. A minor snowstorm rained down upon Siderius.

A mile away, Patricus Gelidius looked up at the sky and saw the column of fire. He raised his sword and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"The Evening Sword must be there. He killed our people!

Revenge will be ours, boy!"

"Revenge is ours! Revenge is ours! Revenge is ours!" The cavalries roared. They rushed at the column of fire in the sky.

Siderius’ and Ashe’s horses were fast. But in this snowstorm, their agility was limited. They couldn’t be compared to snow horses that were born and raised in the depth of snow. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Siderius’ ears perked up again as he looked back and saw the calvaries rushing at them. They were far away but they’re faster.

They would catch up to them eventually.

Siderius sighed.

He jumped off the horse and rolled on the ground.

"Siderius?!" Damien shouted.

Ashe stopped and turned her head back.

The Silver Hawk appeared on his back as Siderius grabbed it. "We’re slower. Go."

"Master!" Ashe also wanted to stay.

"I said, GO! This is an order!" Siderius shouted.

Ashe bit her lips and ran away. She was still too weak. If only there was a way for her to get stronger.

Damien took a deep look at Siderius. "Why are you doing this?"

Siderius smiled, "I’m not saving you. I only save Ashe."

"Another honorable fool." Damien scoffed. "I will kill all of them if you do not survive."

Damien rushed away with Red.

Siderius took a bottle of tonic out of his satchel and drank it in one go.