I regressed and became the Sword Ice King

The ground shook in momentous intervals, as buildings collapsed around two figures fighting in the chaos, battling for domination.

Gonzalo, now enlarged and with it, his power had increased two-fold.

His strength and speed increased profusely as he swung and slashed in a rugged frenzy.

Raph on the other hand, fought quite differently. There was skill and precision with his strike.

A strike from his sword, with the professionalism of an eight star Swordsman illuminated brightly with his movements.

It was a continuous flow, slicing, blocking and counter attacking in successive intervals, each forming a wall for their opponent to break through to get to him.

Gonzalo was a Shadow Berserker with immense strength and skills but as a swordsman, he lacked greatly compared to Raph.

Raph sliced through the air yet again as their swords clashed, a thundering sonic boom exploding around them.

"How long has it been ?" He asked, his gaze fixed on the frenzied giant.

Gonzalo tightened his jaw, as he tried to push the boy away. 'He's not budging even a little bit'.

The force of their collision was causing a crater below them, when Raph's aura surged out of his body, and with it a new profound strength.

A mischievous glint sparkled in his eyes and a grin crossed his face when he pushed Gonzalo backwards, flinging him towards a rubble.

Raph slowly walked out of the crater towards Gonzalo as he pulled himself out of the debris.

Gonzalo's eyes fixed on Raph as he approached, while his thoughts raced through his mind.

'A way…Is there a way for me to win ? Even with two times the power ?'. He thought to himself, a bitter expression grew on his face as he began to seriously doubt his claim of wanting to kill the boy.

'This is the thing about the twelve great families, all of their direct lineage are monsters…from an early age'.

A sigh escaped his lips.

He was someone that refused to bow down to others, including battles and yet he was someone that would never give up his life for chivalrous or foolish reasons.

Once he gouged out the enemy's strength, he planned how to act to either find a way to escape or win.

Though, it seemed he was thinking of the former this time. At least he could tell what kind of opponent Raph was.

The boy had not used most of his Jun Swords art simply because he didn't need to.

He also seemed to be mindful of how much we destroyed in the battle and most especially, he had not used any sort of skill.

Even if the Great Families don't possess the system, they at least have their specific abilities or something, but the kid had not used it.

With all this in mind, he would need to escape instead of dragging it on, or he might just end up being the one that dies.

"Not going to charge at me again ?". Raph's voice rang in his ears like a waking bell. He looked up from the ground he had been staring at to lock eyes with the boy.

'A white haired blind boy….'. He thought to himself as the shadow arms dropped the great swords on the ground.

"I shall remember you". Something changed deep within Gonzalo, almost like he had received a calling. Perhaps an awakening.

A pair of halberds appeared in the palm of the shadow hands while his body exuded with red aura.

His eyes grew dim from light and instead, something sinister took its place. Crimson blood. His eyes sparkled red as scarlet liquid dripped from his eyes.

His transformation had been subtle but yet profound.

Raph had witnessed it himself for him to realize that Gonzalo's aura took control of him.

It swallowed up his consciousness, his very being and what came after, was a blur.

Gonzalo appeared next to Raph before he could blink his eyes, his claymore flying down at the same time but Raph didn't need his eyes to see it, he could feel it in his skin.

Danger was approaching.

His body warped and appeared in another location as Gonzalo's claymore dug deep into the ground, a thundering sound echoing as it collided, rocks flying into the air due to the impact.

Gonzalo's crimson eyes followed Raph's movements, his body moving before he could make sense of what was happening next.

And just as Raph had landed on solid ground, Gonzalo was next to him, his claymore slicing through the air as it aimed for his neck, though this time, Raph was ready.

A single thought crossed his mind as a cold chill exuded from his mouth.

'Everything is ice'.

He stretched out his right hand and stopped the claymore from advancing as ice spread throughout the sword, climbing onto the body of the Berserker in an attempt to turn him to ice.

Gonzalo's eyes bulged open in shock as he grunted, when a searing flame erupted out of his body in large amounts.

Raph retreated safely, a few feet away.

'Should I use the ice trait ?'. He thought as he watched the scene unfold before him, ideas reeling in. 'No, any more damage than this will be too much'.

"in that case". He stretched his right hand forward, a spark of fire blooming as it spread throughout the length of his arms.

"Fight fire with fire they say".

The red-yellow flames danced to the tone of the wind as more began to form around him, taking shape and igniting smaller flames until it filled the skies with a searing burning sensation.

Gonzalo had finally gotten rid of the ice when he noticed the flames. His body flinched involuntarily and a mixed feeling of awe and confusion etched on his face.

His form may have taken most of his reasoning but what he knew from battling so many enemies was that swordsmen can't use magic.

"6th tier Fire Magic : The Burning Lance".

Fifty fire lances, burning brightly and strongly illuminated the skies.

Raph's circles and stars were in synchrony where he could use some to replace another but it didn't just stop there.

There were two more things he found out about this trait as a dual energy swordsman. Stay updated through empire

He could use his stars to form circles but not circles to create stars.

He wasn't sure why he couldn't do the latter but the former was more than enough. It meant an easier path for him to increase his mana circles.

With each new star he formed, he could create an additional circle leaving a two–level gap between them.

He thrusted his hand forward and the fire Lancers projected towards the Berserker in a coordinated fright.

The scene caused Gonzalo to take a step back, but that wouldn't save him. He needed to dodge and run, and so he did.

Dodging an incoming lance that caused an explosion behind him, he twirled and sliced off another that flew too close but the explosion was not cuttable.

The force blew him backwards but he regained his posture, and dodged the rest of incoming Lance's, one after the other.

He dodged and turned, when he felt a presence beside him.

His body tensed, turning towards the side when a sudden intrusion of pain grew from his side as a punch shattered his bone and flung him towards a pile of rubble.

In the end, Raph may not need to spend as much energy as he thought. It seemed Gonzalo was getting weaker with time, or was his transformation taking something from him in return ?

He wasn't sure, but he could tell that something was lacking.

As he approached the debris, a halberd spun towards him, its blade suffused with a red aura but he easily dodged it, causing it to crash into the ground.

Gonzalo stood up again, his crimson eyes fading as he heaved greatly.

After all, Berserkers boasted a powerful boost in strength but it came with a backlash. Gonzalo was aware of this, and prolonging the battle seemed futile.

His gaze hazy with tiredness as he felt his stamina depleting at a quick rate, fell on Raph, a murderous glint sparkling in his eyes.

If none of his usual skills worked, then he would proceed to use one of the forbidden skills that was granted to him by the Red Peacemakers.

Every head of a branch was given at least one, and it was a Master class skill.

If nothing he had done so far would work, at least that would, but the problem was the backlash.

The words of the Executives as they handed the skill book still remained in his head, constantly reminding him of the danger that would befall him but he needed to escape, and he was sure he could bypass the backlash when he really needed to.

Raph's footsteps echoed in his ears, muddling his thoughts. There was no point in thinking about it anymore.

He wanted to escape or….at least die by his own hands.

Raph took another step when an ominous aura assaulted his senses causing a throbbing sensation to sweep over his body while life returned to Gonzalo's gaze in an instant. 'It's now or never' he thought to himself, activating the skill, causing a black viscous energy like a deep void to surge out within him, consuming the sparks of red aura that burnt brightly once.

Raph stumbled grunting in pain as he took a step back. The sudden sensation sent a shiver down his spine as a memory flashed before his eyes.

This was similar to what had happened once before in his past life.

The skill that caused so much destruction in his past life, summoning hundreds of greater devils at the same time.

The Master Skill, Devil's Calling.

A skill that destroys the body of the caster but, in return, summons a red portal for Greater Devils. A terribly wicked skill.

A sudden change occurred in Raph's body as he charged forward with might and grabbed Gonzalo, slamming him into the ground.

"You can not !" He cried out, a state of panic evident in his voice, and a frightening glint in his eyes.

Gonzalo had not failed to pick it up and a terribly ugly grin appeared on his face.

"Ohhh !! Do you know of this skill ? Then prepare to die !". A twisted, hideous laughter escaped his lips, his eyes shaking from the fear of losing himself to the unknown.

With no way forward, summoning the devils was his next best choice.