Chapter 19 - A Heated Exchange of Words and Blades

<p>The distance closed until both blades clash, holding for a second before pushing away.<br/><br/>[New stats have come into effect.]<br/><br/> A surge fills my entire body. Every stat I had was suddenly raised by one. Plus, Underdog was still active, and seemed to round to the next number up rather than deal with anything that wasn't a whole integer, meaning some stats were being boosted 3 points now. It was nowhere near matching the dark man's stats, but that hadn't stopped me before. We met near the middle of the shrine again, a rapid exchange of blows passing between us that I wouldn't have been able to keep up with 3 days ago. But with my Agility at its new all time peak, I kept up as best I could with each swipe coming to kill me. The strength was still overpowering, but it was as if Holy Rend was urging me on, supporting me more the longer I held it.<br/><br/> Swapping my style back to erratic movements, I deflected his attacks while unexpectedly slipping my own in there, which he narrowly dodges or blocks. A few cuts began covering the both of us, but there was one problem.<br/><br/>[* Warning! Health 6/50*]<br/><br/> I was defending the blows enough that only two cuts had slipped past, but with a loud clash of our blades we split apart again, circling slowly. I frowned a bit; thanks to the Vitality increase, I had gained and recovered five Health, but before I had died my Health was at three. This wasn't great for me; I could die if his sword hit me a little too hard. With a deep breath, I exhale forcefully before pointing Holy Rend at Reniel, still holding the handle of the Lower Canine in my left hand. <br/><br/> "Let's end this, you dark bastard."<br/><br/> "I was just thinking of how I should torture you."<br/><br/> His voice had an unsettling, barely noticeable change within it, almost causing me to shudder. <br/><br/> 'It's fine.'<br/><br/> Rather than a smart comeback, I lift Holy Rend up by my cheek, as if I planned to thrust with it as I lowered my stance. My Statscreen was open, and I mentally scrolled to the stat points.<br/><br/>[+2 AGI]<br/>[+2 DEX]<br/>[Free Stats: 1]<br/>[Stats taking effect in 3…]<br/>[Target is in sight.]<br/>[The World's Pickiest Sword Saint has intervened with the World Lines.]<br/>[The target's Critical Mark will be forcefully upgraded to Killshot+ once.]<br/><br/> I blinked. I didn't know what Killshot+ would do, but the purple X on the side of Reniel's neck had spun and transformed into a line across it. <br/><br/> The intention was clear.<br/><br/> I took another deep breath, this time letting it out slowly. Reniel seems unbothered, except for tightening his pose. I sharply inhale, and—<br/><br/>[New stats have taken effect.]<br/><br/> My new level of speed surprised even Reniel, whose black eyes widen slightly. Still, he swings upwards, attempting one last attack with his full strength.<br/><br/> But I wasn't done there.<br/><br/>[Skill Light-Bending Slash activated.]<br/><br/> Holy Rend seemed to warp space itself as the light bent around it. I swung, roaring at the top of my lungs, and it felt as though it were pulling itself along faster as it went. As I went to decapitate him—<br/><br/> Ding!<br/><br/>[Klum's Reincarnation Cooldown complete!]<br/>[Activating Klum's Reincarnation…]<br/>[DEX reduced to 1.]<br/><br/> "Shit—"<br/><br/> SHINNNG!<br/><br/> This time around, it was two thuds that hit the floor.<br/><br/> It was Reniel who looked down in shock as both of his arms fell to the floor with his knockoff sword clattering away. A black liquid that resembled blood poured from his new stubs. Sure enough, once it had left his body for long enough, a slight dark mist rose from it, and it returned to its darker red color.<br/><br/> My eyes, on the ground as they were, watched the puddles slowly travel to me as I lay on the floor. Eventually, I pull myself up, crouching on the balls of my feet as I rub a red mark on my forehead. "Fuuuck," I sigh, chastising that I had somehow tripped right before I could decapitate the man.<br/><br/> Still, Reniel's attack probably would have re-severed my head if I hadn't fallen the way I had.<br/><br/> Shaking my head to try to clear it, I return my eyes to Reniel's defeated face.<br/><br/> "It was supposed to be m-m-me," he muttered quietly, kneeling as his will and blood left him.<br/><br/> "You have too much darkness within you." I said suddenly, a womanly voice escaping me.<br/><br/> Reniel looked up sharply in recognition as I lightly touch my throat. 'What…'<br/><br/> "You were never supposed to be my disciple. You were merely a man meant to test his limits, possibly to test my true disciple. Even then, you grew much more quickly than I could have expected, so I had to intervene."<br/><br/> Tears filled Reniel's eyes as he raised what was left of his arms towards me. "P-please… Alyphi-"<br/><br/> My eyes grew cold as I stepped towards him, holding his chin up with the tip of Holy Rend. Her presence had disappeared. She probably had to pay some kind of reparation for intervening so much… or something. I didn't even know what the World Lines were, and it's not like I had time to ask.<br/><br/> I had just realized how petty Klum's Reincarnation had allowed me to be.<br/><br/> Focusing in on the man that nearly killed me, I pull the blade away and crouch down, pulling my face closer to his with an evil smile upon my lips as I sneer, "Hey. Do me a favor. Enjoy whatever counts as hell in this world, bitch."<br/><br/> I spit on one of his shoes, causing his face to distort, but—<br/><br/> Pat.<br/><br/> As if I couldn't even be bothered with the effort to cleanly disconnect his head, I lightly tapped the side of his neck with the broken pieces of Canine in my left hand.<br/><br/>[Killshot+ activated.]<br/><br/> The loud ripping of muscle and flesh could be heard throughout the shrine as Reniel's neck was crudely shredded through by an invisible force. It looked very painful as his head fell to the floor, ending in a ragged line of skin where his neck should be. <br/><br/> It looked not as if someone had cleanly cut, but more so sawed his neck with a dull blade. Even in death, I looked at the man's face to find utter rage stuck upon it, as if his hate for me transcended the ending of his life.<br/><br/> I stared at the body for a while, before looking up towards the statue of Alyphia. "Sorry about this," I said meekly, gesturing towards the body limply. "I don't have the strength to move much right now."<br/><br/> As if it had heard me speak of my weakness, a message popped up.<br/><br/>[The intervening has ended.]<br/>[World Lines will continue to diminish Holy Rend's power until it matches the user's.]<br/><br/> The pain from when I first summoned the sword was back, forcing me to hold onto it as extreme pain shot through me. I fell to my knees, my head hitting the floor as I grit my teeth furiously. The pain didn't disappear instantly this time, so I had to endure it as it gradually subsided, until finally—<br/><br/>[Holy Rend now matches the user's power.]<br/><br/> I gasped for air, sweat cascading down my face. "Shit."<br/><br/> I stayed on the ground for another 10 minutes before I sat back up. At some point, the light blade had dissolved, but I paid no mind as I attempted to recover. Finally, I rolled around and laid on my back — this time away from the blood, not towards it — and stared at the sky through the windows exhaustedly.<br/><br/> "Please tell me I got some good shit for this."<br/><br/> Hesitantly, I pulled up all the unread messages I had mentally. Even if I wanted to, I didn't have the energy to move my arms.<br/><br/>[???: Progression increased.]<br/>[Total Progression: 100%.]<br/>[New Skill created: Erratic Movements (Rare)]<br/>[???: Progression increased.]<br/>[Total Progression: 8%]<br/>[For defeating a human who became your enemy, you obtained 5 EXP.]<br/>[For defeating an enemy much stronger than you, you obtained 400 EXP.]<br/>[EXP: 459/200]<br/>[User Leveled Up!]<br/>[Note: Due to a request from the World Lines, Free Stats will be reduced for this Level only.]<br/>[New Skill Unlocked: Sword Saint's Sigil (Unfound)]<br/><br/> It took me a minute to process all of the information. Most of the information was good, aside from my stat points being reduced again. But, I couldn't really be mad when I had gotten a stat raise to every single stat I had. I opened the Life Statscreen to see just how much I had gotten, and to check my two new skills. The Level Up animation played once again, and I was now Level 5. With how much EXP I had gained, I was already halfway to Level 6, too. The one thing that concerned me was how the requirements doubled each time. If it did that indefinitely, I would probably cap out by level 11. "Hell, if I'm stuck in this forest it'll probably be 8," I giggle weakly.<br/><br/> Moving to more important things, I scroll all the way down to my Skills and the Free Stats.<br/><br/>[Free Stats: 2]<br/><br/> "One point?!" I groaned, flopping my head back. I had expected at least two, but one meant I wouldn't be touching anything right now. "Dammit, man…"<br/><br/> In an attempt to cheer me up, I check out my two new skills.<br/><br/>[Erratic Movements (Rare Passive Skill): By training in an unpredictable and erratic style, this Skill was made. It grants the user +15% Movement Speed while utilizing that style.]<br/><br/> My jaw dropped. "15%??" This more than made up for the one Free Stat! It may only be with the new style I was creating, but there was no Cost or Duration, which probably also meant that there was no cooldown. Feeling giddy, my fingers twitched, but that was all the movement I could muster. It was kind of pathetic, but I felt like a little girl at her birthday right now, so it didn't matter to me.<br/><br/> Cheerily, I move on to the next Skill. I had high hopes, since it was the only other Unfound Skill I had, which meant there might only be one of it in the world at a time.<br/><br/>[Sword Saint's Sigil (Unfound Active Skill): The sigil of the Sword Saint resides within and on you, proving you to be her disciple. Provides two effects.<br/><br/>Effect 1: Summon Alyphia's blade, Holy Rend. Stats will be adjusted to the user's level. There is a 10% chance per hit to cause Holy Dmg.<br/>Current:<br/>Element Dmg: Light<br/>ATK: +20<br/>DEF: +10<br/>SPE: +15<br/>DUR: -<br/><br/>Unique Skills: Sword Saint's Mercy (Unfound) , Light-Bending Slash (Legendary)<br/>Other Skills: Forceful Counter (Super Rare)<br/>Cost: 10 Stamina, 10 Mana — Duration: 10 minutes (Note: 1 Stamina and Mana per minute; if canceled early, remaining Costs will return.) — Cooldown: 3 days (23 hours, 56 minutes remaining)<br/><br/>[Light-Bending Slash (Legendary Active Sword Skill): By concentrating light around the blade, the user raises Atk speed greatly, and may cause light to distort during single attack.<br/>Damage: 500% of user's atk<br/>Cost: 15 Mana, 3 Stamina]<br/><br/>[Forceful Counter (Super Rare Active Sword Skill): Once activated, any attack within the user's field of vision will automatically be parried or blocked, with a 20% chance of reflecting 40% of damage per hit to the attacker.<br/>Cost: 4 Mana per minute, 2 Stamina per block/parry — Cooldown: 2 minutes]<br/><br/>[* Effect 2: Locked*]<br/><br/> "Damn!" I cried out, seeing the stats and skills of Holy Rend. I had used Light-Bending Slash instinctively, but seeing the skill in words baffled me on how it was fair. The cooldown made sense, as it was almost as long as Klum's Reincarnation. Speaking of…<br/><br/> I glared hatefully at my other Unfound skill. While tripping HAD saved my life, it felt extremely targeted for some reason. Plus, after having done all the work I had, it was jarring to drop Dexterity so suddenly, causing me to be so dizzy that I fell in the first place.<br/><br/> "Ungh!"<br/><br/> No matter how much it had sucked, I had survived.<br/><br/> Like always, that meant I had to celebrate with a long nap.</p>