The Sword Emperor Transmigrates

Without a single hair sticking out of their armor, these knights couldn’t be anyone else but the Golden Dragon Knights.

One of them stepped forward.

Leonard could see the man’s eyes through the small slit in the helmet.

They were golden.

He couldn’t tell what color the knight’s hair was, but someone with a rare eye color was more likely to be a direct descendant than someone with a rare hair color.

Leonard naturally used his Dragon Eyes. His pupils turned into slits, and his vision sharpened. His sight penetrated the knight’s emotions, subconscious inclinations, and tense muscles beneath his armor.

He had gained this ability by finishing his first technique of the Western God Style. Though he’d forgotten, it was said that the White Tiger could see the true essence of all things, and this ability had been passed down to him. Combined with the vision of a dragon, he had reached a whole new level with his Dragon Eyes.

As Leonard analyzed the knight, he also recognized the emotion in the knight’s eyes.

He’s jealous? Of me?

After raising the tension, the knight said with a heavy voice, “Are you—”

“Hm?” Leonard couldn’t stop himself from speaking out loud.

The knight’s body and soul were abnormal in all sorts of ways. It was as if it had been molded like clay into something that wasn’t entirely human.

Leonard narrowed his eyes in suspicion. He looked around and found that all the other Golden Dragon Knights were in the same state.

The knight lost his patience and yelled, “You! I assume you’re Leonard, stationed at the Order of the White Dragon!”

“That’s right.”

“I am Tress of the Golden Dragon! I have been ordered to escort you to the Dragon’s Head as soon as possible.”

Sure enough, these people were from none other than the Golden Dragon, here to take him away.

Apparently, they’d even predicted that he’d disobey the order and go back to the Forest of Swords. What was more, these four knights were armed to the teeth.

Even with me, the White Dragon Knights, and Calantha, it would be hard for us to take out even three of them. But there were four of them right now, and they had created a tight formation to surround them. Even if every member of the Seven Great Orders came together, they wouldn’t be able to break free without someone as strong as a commander.

As soon as Leonard realized this, he gave up on fighting as an option. His instincts told him that forcefully involving the others and fighting the Golden Dragon Knights together would be the worst possible move.

Far from being intimidated, Leonard responded to Tress’s domineering posturing by taking a step forward and meeting him face-to-face. “I never received such an order myself.”

His actions made the jealousy in Tress’s eyes burn even hotter.

Leonard thought, He comes off as so immature even though his body, spirit, and essence have become one. Unless there’s a good reason for him to feel such malice toward me.

Tress didn’t even try to hide his hostility under Leonard’s penetrating gaze. He yelled harshly, “What did you just say?! Are you saying you’ll disobey the orders of the Golden Dragon?!”

“All I’m asking is for you to be a little more conscious of the rules. If you wish to summon me to the Dragon’s Head, all you need is a letter with a seal from the Golden Dragon Commander.”

“How dare you! You haven’t even properly sworn your loyalty! And you think you deserve to meet with the commander himself?!”

“Oh?” Leonard’s eyes widened. “So he isn’t the one who ordered this?”

Tress gritted his teeth, looking a little flustered, but Leonard would never let that slip-up slide. Tress was trying to weaponize the Order of the Golden Dragon’s authority and prestige under false pretenses, and it seemed to hit him where it hurt.

“I’m sorry, but I am currently under the jurisdiction of the White Dragon Commander, so if the Golden Dragon Commander wishes to see me, he’ll have to speak with Commander Demian.”

“You cheeky little bastard!” Tress growled from beneath his helmet, furious that he was unable to refute Leonard.

If there had been no one else around, Tress likely would have drawn his sword. And though the other Golden Dragon Knights could keep their emotions under control, unlike him, they didn’t exactly look friendly either.

All of them hate me even though we’ve never met? Honestly, I have an idea why… and it would be hard to confirm it.

Trying to confirm it would be similar to touching the reverse scale of a dragon.[1] It was something he simply shouldn’t mess with.

If Leonard’s guess was correct, the Golden Dragon Knights would likely slaughter him if he brought up the reason for their jealousy. It would be similar to asking a eunuch if he could still perform a man’s duties.

That was why Leonard had tried to make them back off by refuting them, but it didn’t seem that they would.

Are they planning to drag me away by force if it ultimately comes down to it? How stubborn. They aren’t even thinking about the possible consequences. No wonder Audrey called them extremists.

The air grew more and more tense, like a bowstring being drawn.

At this rate, Leonard would likely need to fight all four of them at once. Even though they hadn’t reached their current level of power through proper means, not even a Demigod Tier expert would be able to let their guard down against them. Accepting a fight would be beyond foolish.

He decided to take advantage of Tress’s animosity instead.

“It seems you really don’t like me, so why don’t you drop the act and just say it to my face?”

“… What did you just say?”

Though Leonard was obviously provoking Tress, the other Golden Dragon Knights standing around them were dumbfounded for a moment.

They were members of the strongest fighting force in the world and received special treatment over the rest of the knights of the Seven Great Orders. And this child who hadn’t even reached twenty was telling him to stop rambling and fight him.

“Ha! It’s seriously impressive how dense you are.”

Unable to take it any longer, Tress raised his faceplate to reveal his face. The gesture meant that he would fight Leonard as a fellow knight, not as a representative of the Order of the Golden Dragon.

Golden hair and golden eyes. He was obviously a direct descendant.

Tress glared straight at Leonard. “My orders were to escort you. That also means I shouldn’t kill or seriously injure you. But don’t think you’ll be safe. If you really are as talented and skilled as you think you are, I might not be able to stop.”

Leonard smiled coldly at the thinly veiled threat. “Then I won’t hold back. I wouldn’t want a great Golden Dragon Knight like you to look like he’s just throwing a tantrum.”

“How dare you!”

Shing! Leonard and Tress drew their swords nearly in unison, blades flashing as they clashed faster than the speed of sound. They exchanged fifteen stabs and slashes in the time it took to blink as they each tried to gain the upper hand.

But neither Leonard nor Tress were successful. After tens of blows at supersonic speed, they each took a step back to take in a deep breath.

Our level of skill is around the same, Leonard observed.

Despite Tress’s disgustingly shallow attitude, his swordplay was exquisite. Like Leonard’s, his was nearly flawless.

At some point, Tress’s face had gone expressionless. He had fallen into a trance after realizing that Leonard wasn’t someone he could defeat with just a few swings.

His golden eyes had become vacant, like glass marbles. Leonard felt a chill go through his body.

It wasn’t because he was scared. The reaction wasn’t something out of his own will; it was the blood in his veins reacting, the same dragon’s blood that flowed through all members of the Cardenas family. It had diluted after generations of being passed down, but now it was burning up.

Leonard squinted at Tress as he tried to figure out why.

Claaaang—!

He dodged just as Tress’s sword nearly reached his eyes, retreating two steps back.

Tress’s swings were fast but heavy. The impact of his blows was enough to make Leonard throb even though his body had nearly become that of a dragon’s. Tress was even stronger than Hugo, who had Dragon Muscles. Only someone who had multiple dragon traits could have this much strength.

Leonard’s Dragon Eyes immediately saw where it came from. I don’t know how they achieved it, but the Golden Dragon Knights can’t be called human anymore.

It wasn’t that they had broken through the boundaries through martial arts; it was that their dragon’s blood had become several times more potent and somehow reshaped their bodies.

They haven’t reached the point where their organs themselves have transcended, so they haven’t yet created Dragon Eyes or Dragon Hearts, but they’ve awakened every dragon trait intermediate-grade and below.

Leonard could see that all the low-grade traits—blood, scales, bones, and muscles—and all the intermediate-grade traits—lungs, horns, and wings—were embedded into their bodies.

Having even a single dragon trait would put someone in a group that only made up about one percent of the Cardenas knights, but the Golden Dragon Knights had seven traits. It would be more accurate to call them dragon-people.

That was where their power came from.

Boooom!

As blade met blade, the sound they produced was not a clang but an explosion.

Leonard’s counter was perfect, but his balance was starting to become jumbled as his body accumulated damage from Tress’s superior physical strength.

Since both of them had perfected basic swordplay techniques, Leonard couldn’t overpower him in that aspect.

He had to change things up. Go beyond the basic.

His colorless sword energy darkened into black, blocking Tress’s attack that came down from above.

Five Elements Style

Black Tortoise Ninth Form: Great Moon Anti-Yin Mirror

No matter how perfect, basic swordplay didn’t go beyond the fundamentals. As Leonard drew a small full moon, he blocked his opponent’s attack.

After Tress exchanged hundreds of blows, Tress’s movements became habitual, and he was too late to stop himself. As Leonard threw aside the trajectory of the attack, he created an opening as small as the eye of a needle.

But at their level, such an opening was huge.

The black sword energy split into five colors before turning blue, creating a bolt of lightning using the power of the Five Elements.

This wasn’t something Leonard would use outside of a real battle, but he was in no position to hold back.

One Origin Five Elements Sword Art

Five Elements Style

Ultimate Secret Technique: Azure Dragon’s Flash

Tress instinctively pulled his sword back, but a flash of light shot out and cut him from his right shoulder down to his breastplate and came out from his left side.

If it had gone the slightest bit deeper, his lungs and heart would have been punctured and his ribs would have been shattered. Even then, Leonard’s sword had cut through his orichalcum armor as if it were made of butter.

Tress’s armor clattered to the ground along with his pride.

No. Even if I had hit him directly, his body is so resilient that it wouldn’t have killed him, Leonard thought as he looked down at his sword.

It could incapacitate a Void Deity’s authority and even weaken unique traits, but the blade made from Pollux’s remains wasn’t especially sharp. If he attacked him with Mimong, though, the strike would be deadly.

Still, they hadn’t been trying to fight to the death, and Tress had only been using basic techniques in an attempt to overpower Leonard without injuring him too much. If he had killed Tress, the rest of the Golden Dragon Knights would have shown him what they were really made of.

“You little…”

Tress stared at the ghastly damage on his armor in disbelief for a moment, and then his face turned red. He had planned to toy with Leonard a little bit and flaunt how much stronger he was, but he had ended up humiliating himself.

He was no longer emanating jealousy or hostility but pure hatred nearing bloodlust.

Shing.

He raised his purple Aura Blade.

Leonard didn’t understand his feelings, nor did he want to, but he braced himself for another fight.

“Stop.”

A solemn voice cut in, making them freeze in place.

The speaker’s presence was so powerful that it made arrogant Tress’s bloodthirst die away.

Leonard turned to the sound of the voice, and his eyes widened.

His plan had been to buy time by fighting, but he hadn’t expected this person to show up.

“You have crossed the line, even if you are acting under the authority of the Golden Dragon. Please, can you help me understand what’s going on?”

This was the monster standing at the summit of the Demigod Tier, the man who was tacitly considered the strongest knight even among the Seven Great Orders.

Red Dragon Commander, Wade.

1. Quote from Han Feizi: “The dragon, being a creature, may be tamed, played with in close quarters, and even ridden. However, below its throat are the inverted scales, each spanning one chi. The dragon would kill anyone touching them. A prince of men has those inverted scales too. Persuaders might have a chance at success, provided that they can avoid touching the inverted scales of the prince.” ☜