Chapter 89 - An Explosive End to Training

I focus my attention on the back of my blade, circulating Mana around the sharp edges of the outer parts of the sword, like a smooth chainsaw. As it slowly takes shape inside the weapon, the edges begin to glow slightly as well, my royal purple Mana emanating powerfully from inside.

[Fury Slash was forcibly evolved by an increased understanding of Mana and weapon.

Fury Slash -> Mana Blade (Super Rare)]

[Lightning Blade has been upgraded to Lightning Blade+.]

[Sprint+ has been upgraded to Dash.]

"… Impressive. I knew I would probably be surprised after the first day, but to think you've just about mastered circulation throughout the blade after only three days, while it takes others to reach the rank of Elite Swordsman, akin to years of experience… Maybe there was a reason you were selected. However, the final test of the refinement of how you move your blade is yet to come. Prepare yourself, Dirtling!" Vao whips his sword around, his clean-shaven face now covered in thick stubble. Resting the worn blade a hair above his shoulder, he gestures to 'bring it.'

The past week has consisted of intense training. After the first day of physical conditioning, I was also subjected to various other seemingly unrelated training regimes, like balancing pots on my head and shoulders, lifting and carrying giant chunks of rotting flesh into a large pile (after which I had begun sleeping under the tree, since I couldn't get the smell off me, no matter how much I showered — it was as if the meat had fused with my sweat). I had also gotten a sit-down lesson about Mana circulation, and Mana veins in general.

I sling the blade over my own shoulder, letting the flat side tap against my shoulder. After only ten days of total training, not including the first day, I had gained another 10 Agility, 12 Strength and 7 Vitality. I had also gained 2 Instinct points somewhere, but I was usually too exhausted to really read, and only noticed the change after a few days.

"I'm gonna beat your ass today, you know that?"

"That's not how you show gratitude to your Master, but I'll just assume it's your way of showing thanks," Vao responds with a grin, brandishing his sword.

I simply flip him off, and spin my sword in a circle before pointing it back at him. "On you this time, old man."

His grin quickly disappears, and he lowers his stance before flashing towards me. 'It's a real battle,' I think firmly to myself, and sure enough…

[Underdog+ has been activated.]

[Requirements have been met.]

[Underdog+ has been upgraded to Close the Gap.]

[Close the Gap has been activated.]

It wasn't enough to meet his speed, but I still manage to spin out of the way of the man's simple diagonal slash. Then, I retaliate with an upward slash of my own, aiming for the underside of his outstretched arm. "Just like a samurai, simple cuts with both hands, huh?"

Sparks fly as he deflects my blow away by turning his wrists and elbows to flip his sword up against his arm. "Despite your skill with learning, your blade lacks the flow and liquidity of Water, like I taught you. At least you have the fleet-footed nature of Sky down."

I blink at him with a blank stare. "Maybe I don't like Water."

"…What?"

"You have an Affinity for Cloud, but I don't have anything except Light, Lightning, and Dark, so…"

He takes a long breath out, a vein on the side of his head bulging so grotesquely I think about how it might pop.

"No respect for your Master, huh?"

"You're trying to force the Master thing a li'l too much. You don't have a weird fetish, do you?"

My provocation clearly pushes the man over the edge, as he grits his teeth and pulls the blade back, edge parallel to the ground.

"First Form of the Meditative State: Anger Release!"

Pressurized clouds push away from the back of his sword like steam, pushing the blade forward with added speed and force. He swings in rounded arcs back and forth, the hot steam obstructing his body and face the more he swings. I'm able to deflect the first few attacks, but as his Mana becomes thicker, it becomes harder and harder to see him or the movement of his blade. "He's getting faster."

In a sudden movement, as if he had sucked all the cloudy steam up with a vacuum, it gushes back into his blade. This causes me to squint, as the pure concentration of his Mana in such a small area is blinding for my right eye.

He bursts forward at a speed so overpowering, I think he breaks the speed of sound as his blade cleanly flies through my neck, so quick and graceful I don't feel a thing, except for the view of the gently lifting clouds taking me away.

"Fuckity fuck!" I yelp, twisting my wrist to yank myself out of my Instinct's foresight. A loud BOOM! shakes the air itself and overlaps the sound of two sharp edges screeching in metallic agony as sparks fly. Purple lightning streams from one end, due to my habitual activation of Lightning Blade (now Lightning Blade+), while clouds come from another, until the larger body flies past the blow, skidding off the slanted angle of the black sword beneath it. Sparks, clouds and lightning all race behind the gleaming silver blade, and as my eyes drift backwards from my leaned-back position, my right eye catches the natural Mana sitting in the skies all collecting in one gray cloud above the Swordmaster's head. "Shit, watch—"

In the blink of an eye, the Mana is flying in a concentrated bolt of white lightning, bouncing off Vao's sword and switching directions to arc wildly towards mine. Time slows as I watch the lightning strike my weapon, having already traveled down to Vao's handle and hit his hand.

FOCUS.

Right, I had an Affinity for Lightning. If I can just…

The intense burning of hot energy bursting through my arm nearly breaks my concentration, causing a forcible contraction of my hand to squeeze the handle harder. Immediately, I feel Alyphia's presence appear in my mind, trying to soothe the extreme pain racing up my arm without saying a word. As it travels closer to my body, time seemed to slow even further. My mind felt like it was traveling a thousand miles a second, but I knew it was just my Instinct kicking into high gear until finally, I felt my Mana lapping over the lightning, converting it rapidly until I could see a flash of purple traveling backwards, streaking towards Vao. It absorbs the lightning destroying his arm and chest, pulling back up to dance around the tip of his blade as the conversion continues up into the sky, filling the gray cloud with purple light.

[WARNING!]

[Mana: 211/121]

[Mana: 541/121]

[Mana: 687/121]

[WARNING!]

<The user cannot handle these levels of complex Mana! Please quickly filter out excess Mana—< p>

<Ah, it seems the user's Mana veins have burst. The World's Pickiest Sword Saint is assisti—< p>

<It's gonna blow!!!>

The burning feeling of my arm spreads throughout my body, vibrating and coursing so painfully I feel like I'm dying. The messages barely register in my head as streaks of lightning burst in heavy showers of sparks. I faintly hear Eni's voice calling for my as it reaches a point where my body feels like it's boiling from the inside, and the next thing I hear is the sound of an explosion.

My body feels numb, but the type of uncomfortable numb, like pins and needles are stabbed interwovenly into each of my nerves and it won't respond properly to my mental commands. My vision only works in slow flashes, as if I'm taking blinks so slowly my eyes stay closed for several seconds before opening again. "Wh-aht 'appen'd?" I ask, my eyesight drifting over the gently glowing purple ground, scorched all around me, as I look for the others. Black smoke rises in a ring around me, obstructing my view of anything further than 10 feet away. 'Was Vao there, or further away?? Did I vaporize him??'

As if to worsen my suspicions, a new message popped up.

[The user has defeated a human enemy. Gained 12000 EXP.]

[User has Leveled Up!]

[The user has defeated an opponent over 100 Levels higher than the user.

This achievement forcefully rose one or more stats.

+3 AGI, +3 DEX]

"Fuck."

Just then, the smoke wavers, and a deep blue water splashes over the ground, bouncing over to me in a tiny wave. The scorched dirt underneath fizzles out, suppressing most of the smoke, and Eniyala soon walks through the gap, staring at me standing hunched in place, my blade stabbed into the ground to support me.

"What the hell did you just do?!"

* * *

Blip!

"What now?" The head of the World Lines groans, tilting his head to look at the strange messages that keep popping up. His face is covered in an extravagant and colorful mask, resembling something like a dragon's maw upon it. Brightly shining white eyes pierce the darkness around him as his glare focuses on the message. Due to the brightness of his eyes, the mask seems disembodied, the small flashes of body parts that can be seen obscured in a swirling gray mist.

[A user's Statb00£ is requesting to be gifted Stat points.

ID: 5!€^|@•]

As he watched, the ID slowly corrects itself to 'K|um.' He groans, slapping a shadowy palm to his forehead. Even though he already knew who it was from, since it was a screen, and not a page, he was secretly hoping it would finally be someone else. "Again?! Is the reasoning the same??"

Another message popped up, confirming his suspicions.

[Tutorial{C} is requesting "G's" grace.]

[The World's Pickiest Sword Saint is requesting "G's" grace.]

"Those two as always. Dammit, just accept all! I have things to do."

[Are you sure? Y/N]

"What in my world is this? Yes already!"

The message blipped away, and 'G' lets out a long sigh. He had done his due diligence the first few times, but the messages had become so frequent his work was beginning to become more and more interrupted, and some of the workings of Yamistro were beginning to slip through.

"If only I could banish things made by other Gods, and not just the Gods themselves," he mumbles, pulling up several mirrors. Rather than a reflection, several images display at once. Although seemingly just swirls of light and color, G could see perfectly what he needed to see.

"The world may once again flip upon its head. Oh me, why did I have to put the Rules and Regulations in place? Having to rely on mortals… Even if they are Saints."

He peers closer at a particular mirror, one that swirls with white, black, and purple. "Though, some of them are quite interesting, I would guess."