Chapter 72: Death's Door
Intent was a line that separated the skilled from the ordinary, the wheat from the chaff, the mortals from the gods. It was something that Will had pride in since he had spent five years honing his intent in hundreds of battles. Yet before him stood a man who oozed an intent that made Will whistle in admiration.
This was the first time that Will had met another human who could use it like him, or rather it would be more accurate to say that this was the first time Will had met someone who revealed their ability to use intent.
"Who are you?" asked Will. The man said nothing and merely reached for nothing. To Will's surprise, the man pulled out a spear from thin air. It was a long spear with a thick shaft. Will had no doubt that even he could not wield such a heavy spear with such ease.
'That's it. It's spear intent!'
The heavy and sharp intent that was bearing down on Will was no doubt spear intent. As a user of sword intent Will was now sure that intent mirrored the quality for which it was named. For example, Will's sword intent was sharp, light and agile; made purely for offense. Spear intent, on the other hand, had a certain weight to it that made it difficult for one to breathe.
It gave one the impression that no matter how far away they were, they would always be in reach for an attack.
"So you are the one Modus kept talking about, I have to say I am a bit disappointed."
The man's words shocked Will. Since the man knew Modus, Will was beginning to assume that perhaps he was not a user from earth.
"If you think I am not from earth you are mistaken. I, just like you, was born and raised here. My name is Ignius. My username is not something you are worthy of knowing."
With his first theory out the window, Will sighed. If this man was a user and from earth then this meant one thing.
"Did you really think you were the only person the immortals took note of on this world? Did you perhaps think you were special because you are a Sovereign? Well let me tell you, those pathetic rankings were only made to fool the masses! Musashi and Dragonheart? Those men are children compared to the real monsters hiding on Genesis' land, not to mention Genesis himself is…" The man's voice trailed off as his thoughts consumed him. He made a fist with his free hand and gripped his spear even harder.
The name Genesis struck a chord with Will. He was number 1 on the list of Emperors. Not much is known about Genesis, as he never involved himself with worldly matters. All that is known is that he is a martial prodigy. Will only paid attention to Musashi and Dragonheart, but after hearing what this man was saying the name Genesis was firmly imprinted in his mind.
"No matter." The man shook his head and shifted his focus back to Will, "The point is you are nothing, even on this planet. You are no different from a frog in a well, looking up assuming it can see the entire sky. Allow me to show you that there is a sky above your sky and heavens above your heavens!"
"I refuse to give you permission." Will's words stumped the spear-wielding man. "Peerless, what did you just say?"
Will crossed his arms defiantly, "I said I won't give you permission. I decline." The spear-wielding man started quivering with rage. "Peerless! How dare you say such a thing! What on earth would I ever need your permission to do!"
Will shook his head like he was looking at a fool, "Dude, you just said 'Allow me to', well I will not allow it. It's just that simple."
The spear-wielding man's face became ugly and instantly reddened. There were no words to describe how much shame he felt for falling for Will's little joke. "Impudence!"
With a speed unbecoming from such a large man he struck his spear forward. Will was not sure how to react because there was still quite some distance between the two.
'Maybe his spear can extend? Or perhaps it can fire some sort of projectile?'
The killing intent coming from the spear-wielding man was somewhat hard to detect. Even for Will. Killing intent was always some sort of marker for Will, thanks to Bloodlust Will was able to understand almost anything about a creature just from having killing intent locked onto him.
'It's probably because I've mostly fought animals. This guy seems very disciplined.'
This made it difficult for Will to understand the spear-wielding man's attack. Thus Will brought up his sword defensively waiting to see what would happen. What happened next made Will's pupils dilate.
Death was a mysterious phenomenon for mankind, but one thing all mortals knew was that you could never tell when you will die. Despite knowing this, Will felt as if his neck was resting on the Grim Reaper's scythe, ready to be chopped in two.
His water sense gave him nothing, his hearing was also blank, his physical senses told him that nothing was behind him, yet instinct told him that he was dead.
Will's minds went into overdrive. Stepping forward meant death, stepping sideways meant death, attempting to block whatever was behind him meant death. No matter what Will thought of death was the only result.
Thus Will used what he had left. Instinct still told him that there was danger in this course of action, but it was the only reaction that was not resulting in death.
For the first time since Will gained his abilities, he released Bloodlust at maximum output all around him with no intended target.
The man stopped his spear mid-motion and jumped back in fright. The air around Will permeated with the smell of death. It almost seemed as if blood was flowing right underneath Will into the void. The spear-wielding man knew that he would have no doubt killed Will, had Will not done this.
"So this is Bloodlust, one the Empyrean Intents. Truly astonishing. You have barely learned how to use it yet the effects are already so brutal. How frightening." The spear-wielding man nodded in approval at what he saw, while Will's eyes narrowed to the point that he looked like his eyes were closed.
Will had never felt so close to death before. Even when Modus had feigned attacking him five years ago he did not feel so close to death. Despite having over a thousand minds to process his thoughts, Will still felt overwhelmed.
"Bloodlust has a close relationship with the Dao of death. Be grateful you have it otherwise you would not have been able to sense where my attack was coming from, let alone remain standing."
Will could not refute the spear-wielding man, Bloodlust had indeed saved him. Will touched his throat with his free hand as he vividly remembered the thought of the Grim Reaper's scythe cutting into him. Yet despite the shock Will's eyes never let go of his opponent's movements. Ignorance is bliss, but bliss comes with rest, and rest comes after death.
The spear-wielding man got ready to attack again, this time he was now acclimatized to the feeling Bloodlust gave him so he was less wary of it. Especially considering the one who was using it was so weak in his eyes.
" A child with the sharpest of swords is weak in front of a master holding a twig. It's a shame someone like you was gifted with such an ability." The spear-wielding man shook his head, "Truly a shame."
While the spear-wielding man spoke Will got back into position. This time however something was different, a voice echoed words that were already engraved in his heart, into his mind.
'The path of the sword is the path of death. The sword is not a toy, neither is it merely a tool. It is a weapon designed to kill. The best way to master such a weapon is to master its aspects. In other words, to master the sword is to master death. You must understand death, let it permeate your very soul.
Death must become even more important than your brother, you should focus on it more than you do your sister, you should love it more than you do your mother and you should learn from it more than you do from your father.
Understand death.
Use it.
Master it.
Become a Sovereign of death, and the Dao of the sword shall become your slave!'
Cultivation is the ability and practice of absorbing energy from the universe. This energy then allows the player to modify their body, soul, abilities, and strength, extend life, and more. There were three types of energy that a human was able to use: Qi, mana, and yuan. Qi was the energy of the body. Mana was the energy of the spirit. Yuan energy is a fusion of the two. There are different yuan energies, one that is primarily Qi, one that is primarily mana, and one that is a balance of the two. Once a user has reached a certain level of skill and ability, they are able to use yuan energy.
The closer a user's yuan energy is to a perfect balance of the two, the better and more effective the energy is. It is when yuan energy is at a perfect balance, having equal amounts of Qi and mana, it is considered very high quality. These players are then called a practitioner. Practitioners have a greater advantage of other players who cultivate and absorb energy from the universe because they are able to use both types of energies.
Will had almost no experience in terms of fighting humans. Demonic beasts all fight using world energy thus matters regarding usage of energies were not of importance to him. It was only when he was in front of the spear-wielding man that he realized the grave error he had made. The voice that had echoed in his mind awakened the sleeping instinct within Will, the instinct one martial artist when facing a fellow martial artist, or rather in this case, a practitioner.
Users use cultivating techniques to gather energy and control it. The better the technique, the greater the quality and quantity of energy is that is cultivated. The type of technique determines what kind of energy can be harvested. For example, a user using ice techniques absorbs frost mana. A user using fire techniques absorbs flame Qi. Users who attempt to cultivate energy that does not correspond with the techniques used will be negatively affected.
The Solitary Sword Sovereign created sword Qi for Will, thus most of the energy in Will's body was sword Qi. The majority of this Qi constantly lay dormant in his dantian.
The dantian is a region two inches below the navel. This is where yuan is stored. Qi is stored in the body, mana in the mind and yuan in the dantian. Will was a yuan user thus his sword Qi was automatically pulled to his dantian as well as residing in his body.
Will quickly pulled out as much sword Yuan as he could from his dantian and mixed it with the Bloodlust he had released around him. Will quickly designated each one of his minds to a portion of his qi, resulting in him having a degree of control that he had never possessed before. The entire area around Will permeated with Bloodlust and sword Yuan. Death nearly caught him unprepared. He was not going to let that happen again.
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