บท 33: The Truth Of The Soul Sword
"This one broke as well, huh?"
A silver-haired young man discarded a handle. Just a minute ago, it had been a legendary weapon that only a few can wield yet it had been reduced to nothing but a useless thing.
Not even taking a moment to mourn for the loss of such a great weapon, the man took out another weapon. It has the same quality to the one that was used before. He then surveyed the scene around him.
"You know, you could have attacked me all these time, right?"
He had a slight smile on his lips as he spoke gently. It could have been a normal, casual scene, if not for his weird audience. As far as he could see, he was being surrounded by countless of Demons and there were even Devils in the mix. There wasn't even a vacant spot on the whole area!
He was alone in the middle of a sea of these beings but not one of them dared to make a move. They all knew that he could annihilate them even without a weapon. And yes, they also knew that if they disturbed him from getting a weapon, he would be unnecessarily pissed which could make him go on a killing spree on just a whim.
"Why are you staring at me like this?"
The man shook his head as if he knew what they were all thinking.
"Using techniques like those is too bothersome and too consuming for my current power. If you had tried to attack me right now, who knows? Maybe you could have gotten a chance to get close."
For a moment, his eyes flashed in silver light that made some of his opponents take a step back warily.
"Well, look at me yapping here."
The man sighed and took a battle stance.
"I trust that you will help me find out the durability of the weapons I have brought."
A bright flash of silver light appeared and everything disappeared.
"Mehhh... So in the end, none of these can last."
The young man stood in front of a pile of broken and shattered weapons in the middle of the ravaged battlefield and sighed.
These weapons were legendary weapons that were made from top-grade materials and crafted by sought-after blacksmiths. Their individual prestige have spread all through-out the lands, so of course, any of these can actually hold on for a very long time for any individual who is lucky enough to obtain such. It might even outlive its wielder.
This wasn't the case for this young man, however. The techniques and spells that he uses are way above what someone at his level could do. So any weapon that he wields couldn't stand the power used behind those techniques and spells and would break after just a few uses.
"No choice."
The look in his eyes changed. It became resolute.
"I will create my own weapon. A weapon that will hold on for as much as I can."
♦♦♦
'Although I wanted to do it without a medium, it is still too early for that.'
Nex shook his head after he checked the level of the sword that he had just formed.
"Human... What is that... thing?"
He lifted his head and looked back at the Devil who stared at the sword with caution.
"Obviously, it is just a sword. If there is one thing special about it..."
He suddenly disappeared from the spot he was standing at and reappeared right in front of the Devil with his swinging sword. So far, this has been the fastest speed he had ever displayed in the game.
Although Cyoklos, the Devil had been wary of the sword, it didn't lose its composure. A lot of defense spells coated its hand that moved upwards to block the sword attack.
*Rumble!*
The face of the Devil contorted as the sword touched the first defense spell while a giant slash mark appeared across the wall of the cavern and made the whole place tremble.
This mini earthquake wasn't paid attention to in the slightest as both human and Devil stared at each other. While the latter had a mix of expressions on its face, Nex was wearing a smirk on his lips.
The Devil Viscount is now standing 20 meters away from its original spot, with one hand less.
"...That it has a bada*s creator."
"Damn you!"
Cyoklos gnashed in fury while ignoring the searing pain that the amputation caused.
"I don't know what sort of sword you're using or why someone with a low level like you can use it, but you will no longer get another chance as you did before!"
The Devil began to move towards Nex, even faster than the speed the latter had shown before. In the Devils Innate Language, it shouted a spell.
"[Sword of Rage]!"
A dark red sword formed in its hand and it was then slashed at Nex with immense force. The man reacted with a slash of his own.
'[Advanced Enchantment]'
*Bang!*
As both swords clashed, two terrifying energies met and caused a large explosion that shook the whole cavern. This made both Nex and Cyoklos fly back for dozens of meters away from each other.
"[Baleful Rain]!"
But even while being thrown back, the Devil didn't stop its offense and cast another chant in Devils Innate Language.
Numerous magic circles appeared around Nex and began to barrage him and his surroundings with magic attacks that seemed like black lasers. This destroyed the area and caused for dust clouds to rise all around Nex.
Seeing that the human didn't get away from the area of the attack, the Devil relaxed a little and then checked the situation of its wound. Its blood went cold.
What that strange sword did was more than just cut off the hand physically. It also cut and even burned the part that its soul was connected to, making the task of healing the wound much more difficult.
"Just what kind of power is---"
Cyoklos was in a little awe and a little confused as it turned its head towards where a heavily-injured-Nex should be. Contrary to this expectation, it saw Nex was still perfectly fine. He was even right in front of the Devil and aiming his sword towards its chest.
'No way! Did he block it all with his sword?!'
The Devil Viscount could barely sense the remnants of its spell on the human's sword but it wasn't granted enough time to even consider how this human has succeeded in going right in front of it unnoticed, much less mull over how Nex had successfully defended against the attack. It swung its sword to block the human's attack.
Just when it was sure that its defense would be successful, it then saw the jeering look on the human's face.
'[Martial Secret : Triple Strike]'
The poor Devil's mind must have been distracted from all of the unexpected variables of this battle as it had not noticed that Nex's stab turned to three. It can only block one of them and both unblocked stabs would hit unfavorable spots on its body.
"Argh! Damn you, human!"
"You Devils are so annoying with your stupid extra hearts that are too small to be called one."
The Devil didn't have the luxury to reply to Nex's words as it rapidly backed off and tried to isolate the burning pain from spreading throughout the rest of its body. Normally, as long as at least one of its three hearts remained whole, it could rapidly recover the destroyed ones. That should be the case here as well, if it wasn't for that damned sword and its wielder!
The Devil knew very well that if this human was not taken care of right at this moment, he could pose a great danger to Demons and Devils! Considering his frightening battle powers and the fact that as a Traveler, he can still grow as long as he kills, sooner or later he probably might bring disaster to them all!
"[Forbidden Art]!"
Cyoklos yelled knowing that it had to use every means available to it in order to cut this budding threat to its race. With its sword lifted and pointed at Nex, it drew all of its mana, Demonic Power and a copious amount of Soul Force.
"[Wicked Extinction]!"
Like a wave, a terrifying gray-red beam of light shot towards Nex. It was so big that it was threatening to engulf everything in a radius of two meters and disintegrated anything in its path.
"Looks like I gotta bring out the big guns as well."
Nex who fought countless of Devils knew very well what this one have planned the moment it had entered a certain stance. As a result, he prepared an attack of his own, as well.
Entering a stance similar to the ones that trainees use when they train their stabs, Nex took a deep breath and closed his eyes. The moment before the beam reached him, he opened them. A silver light was revealed as he stabbed his sword forward.
"[Soul Sword Second Art : Piercing Void]"
Just before the tip of the silver sword touched the beam, a pencil-thin ray of silver light shot from it and met the far bigger gray-red one. Instead of being swallowed and destroyed as anyone would expect, a horrifying yet amazing thing happened.
The silver ray sucked all of the energy around it as it passed through the beam, causing whatever part of the beam it went through to lose power and disappear. Accordingly, it began to increase its own size, power and speed.
Before the Devil could even notice, its attack completely disappeared and a frightening streak of light at the circumference of a football went through its chest and utterly destroyed its remaining heart.
"How can someone… have so much… power?"
The Devil's body fell on the floor as it began to disintegrate back to its previous form which was a small part of a soul.
Nex knew that there is still a bit of time before this small part of a soul would truly vanish, so after returning his wooden sword that was restored back in its previous form in his inventory, he walked to the Devil's body and crouched in front of it.
"Currently, how many Princes are there in the Devil's realm?"
Without wasting any more time, Nex began his interrogation.
"…Why are you asking?"
After a moment, the Devil finally opened its mouth and replied warily.
"So I would know how many more a*ses I will need to kick in the future."
"Haha…"
Cyoklos laughed weakly but in contempt.
"You won't be able to do a thing to them… The moment you killed my soul projection, you have already been marked with my curse. From now on, you will be hunted by all of the demonic and corrupted beings on your realm! Forget about the Seven Excellency. You probably won't meet another Devil before you die!"
"Oh boy!"
Nex shook his head in a mix of ridicule and reprimand.
"Until now, you still didn't understand what I killed you with? Not to mention giving me a curse, you will not even return to your main body with whole memories!"
"That's impossible!"
Although the Devil was in denial, its face still turned grave.
"There is no way that someone with your level of power could wield a weapon that can harm souls!"
"It isn't a normal weapon. In fact, your body is a good example of what it truly was."
Realization dawned on the Devil as the last parts of its body began to vanish.
"It can't be…"
"That's right…"
Nex spoke to Cyoklos who no longer can make any replies.
"That sword is my soul projection."
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matanman
matanman Sorry for the delay I will post the next chapter in the next 24 hours.
Ps: I forget to ask earlier, what do you think about the titles? If you have more ideas to add please share it in the comments or in the Discord channel.
Author: matanman. Proofreader: bet2z.
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Open to any review and will be open to questions on my Discord channel: https://discord.gg/TXFKER6.
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