Chapter 61

Chapter 61

An unknown power poured into me, and searing agony swept through my entire body.

It hurt.

And yet, a realm that surpassed that pain elevated my mind.

‘Get a hold of yourself. I cannot simply rely on it.’

A Unique Ability that was merely borrowed without Enlightenment had a Time Limit.

Because I was forcibly receiving Ishara’s transcendent realm, my body was being pushed into Overload.

And that duration would not be very long.

‘Roughly six minutes…… eight at most, perhaps.’

Perhaps because I could now observe my body through Mana, I was able to calculate, to a certain extent, the time I could reach my limit through my Unique Ability.

Because I had the preparation known as Myriad Currents Bond Cultivation, it lasted longer than I had expected, but it was still not long enough for me to use at ease.

I had to internalize it and make it my own before the Time Limit expired.

Firming my resolve, I “blocked” the puppet’s fist as it shot toward me.

“……?”

The puppet tilted its head.

“Why? Does something feel strange?”

Until now, our exchanges had always been one of two things.

Either I deflected it with Parrying, or the puppet deflected me with Divine Strike Fist.

Since there had been no contest of strength, the act of blocking itself had not applied in this fight.

But this time, I had blocked.

To be precise, I had met it head-on with the sword strike of [Fate] and canceled it out.

The reason something that had been impossible until now because of my inferior physical specs had suddenly become possible was simple.

“So this is what Activation of the core means……?”

It was because the core activated through Myriad Currents Bond Cultivation had optimized the Output of my Mana and the routes of my Energy Channels, maximizing the destructive power of my Swordsmanship.

SKREEECH!

Fist and sword scraped against each other, and sparks veiled my vision.

The clenched fist pierced through an instant and aimed for my heart.

A moment ago, it would have been a surprise attack I could barely have blocked, but now, I responded to that attack with precision.

The core throbbed, and Mana raced along my Energy Channels.

A sensation wholly unlike when I operated the White Cloud Mind Method became one with my Swordsmanship at my fingertips.

SCREEEEECH!

After blocking the straight punch that rushed in, I used its force against it and shoved it away with all my strength.

The puppet’s stance collapsed.

Its reaction had slowed compared to before, and I could feel that it was flustered by the sudden explosive growth in my skill.

WHIIIIING!

The brilliant radiance leaking from the puppet’s chest grew even brighter, and its Output rose even further.

Not to be outdone, I drew up the power of Myriad Currents Bond Cultivation and charged at the puppet.

The strength of the puppet and I, clashing once again, was evenly matched.

The puppet had raised its Output as well, but my Swordsmanship, strengthened through Myriad Currents Bond Cultivation, stood on equal footing with it.

Once our realms became equal, my Swordsmanship, which had barely been able to exert its power, gradually began to regain its momentum.

‘[Fate] loses efficiency when it is losing momentum.’

Perhaps because it was a technique that restricted and guided the opponent’s actions, it was a Swordsmanship heavily influenced by momentum.

It displayed its greatest performance when I was pressing the opponent, but when I began to be pushed back, that performance was reduced by half.

‘I learned something new.’

Until now, I had simply thought it was because my realm was low, but as I observed the battle from a realm one step higher, the characteristics of the Swordsmanship entered my eyes one by one.

Of course, that was only a secondary effect.

The Swordsmanship of Ishara, who had begun to operate a Cultivation Method in earnest, slowly began to reveal the functions it could not originally display, as if stretching after a long sleep.

‘So it could be used this way as well.’

Now that our strength was evenly matched, I could even cut off the very pulse of the enemy’s attacks through cancellation by Swordsmanship.

Parrying through guidance occurred only after the opponent had fully unleashed an attack, so even after being deflected, the opponent’s response speed was relatively fast.

But cutting off the pulse like this was different.

Because the waist of the offensive had been severed, all the movements that should have followed became tangled, exposing an even greater opening.

The more I cut off the offensive, the fewer moves the opponent could take.

The more that happened, the more I forced the opponent into attacking, and continued to cut off the flow.

And then, at the decisive moment.

In an exchange that converged into a single move, Parrying completely collapsed the opponent’s offensive.

This could no longer be called guidance.

Rather…… it had to be called hunting.

My Swordsmanship was devouring the opponent’s offense.

‘What an astonishing Swordsmanship.’

With only the power of Chapter One, there had been times when defeat was certain depending on the difference in weight class.

But Ishara’s Swordsmanship, expanded all the way to Chapter Two, was different.

This was a Swordsmanship that created a certain, decisive move.

As long as one could endure without losing, it was a consummate technique that would inevitably drive in the dagger.

[……It is truly a fearsome martial art.]

Hyeollyeo’s voice was trembling.

It had sensed it as well.

That if this could only reach Great Completion, it would be a Divine Art that had nothing to fear before the world.

“……Wait.”

As I swung my sword, intoxicated by the flow, I suddenly sensed something strange.

‘Something feels wrong.’

There was a sense of disharmony.

It was not a problem with my body. There was pain, but I could still endure it.

I wondered if it was a problem with my Swordsmanship and examined it, but that was not it either.

What in the world was the true nature of this sense of disharmony?

I examined the activated core, the Output of my Mana, and the Energy Channels through which it flowed.

And the moment I exchanged a few more moves, I became deeply bewildered.

‘W-What is this?’

The Output of Mana, the routes of the Energy Channels—none of them matched.

Even though I had clearly performed the same Swordsmanship, the operation of Myriad Currents Bond Cultivation was entirely different.

The more I continued the Swordsmanship, the more I fell into panic.

The more I performed the Swordsmanship of Chapter Two, the more I realized that there was no consistency in how the Cultivation Method was being used.

“That cannot be……?”

I tried it again several times, but the result was the same.

No matter how many times I used the same technique, the operation of Myriad Currents Bond Cultivation differed, however slightly.

‘What in the world is this?’

The problem was not with me.

Nor was I being affected by the puppet’s offensive.

The continuing battle was clearly evenly matched.

The knowledge of Swordsmanship conveyed by the Fragment of Transference was definitely still in my head.

The problem was that even that knowledge contained nothing identical.

The more I unfolded the Swordsmanship, the more exceptions to exceptions to exceptions piled up like a mountain.

‘No…… no. I simply have not found the commonality yet.’

Persica’s Phantom Thunder Art and Jin Sohwi’s White Cloud Mind Method.

Even if there were slight differences in form from the originals, the same movements used the same operation.

But this was not so.

Secret Art: Ethrana was unfolding the power of Myriad Currents Bond Cultivation differently at every moment.

As though, regardless of the method, it was enough as long as the predetermined effect was achieved……

‘Wait, a predetermined effect?’

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!

As I blocked the beams and flew backward, I thought.

It produces only the predetermined effect.

The clue that flashed through my mind felt strangely familiar.

‘A Skill…… It is a Skill.’

Yes, a Skill.

When I dismantled the structure of the passive Skill, 「Dreamer」, to create Myriad Currents Bond Cultivation, I had felt exactly this upon seeing its structure.

The structure of a Skill has no consistency.

And yet it produces consistent performance in any situation.

With an “inconsistent” structure, in “any situation” at all.

Why did it have such a structure?

Why had its structure been twisted so much? And yet how did it still produce consistent performance?

My mind spun fiercely.

Every time I thrust my sword out and received an attack, my thoughts accelerated and derived an answer.

And then, at that moment.

I realized one thing.

“Ah.”

It was the “situation.”

“Even if it is the same technique…… the situation can never be the same as well……?”

My eyes widened.

Lightning struck through my mind.

That difficult structure of a Skill had not been created simply because it produced an effect.

It was because that was “correct.”

Even if one performed the same technique, the situation in which it was used changed every moment.

The opponent was different, the location was different, and the condition of my body and Mana was different. The techniques exchanged were different, the weapons were different, and countless other variables lurked everywhere, changing the situation.

Until now, I had thought I was using the same technique, but I had never once truly performed the “same” technique.

Of course.

Because a perfectly identical situation did not exist!

Then what had to be done in order to produce the same power at all times, regardless of the situation?

The answer was simple.

‘I have to find the optimal method of operation every single moment……!’

Such a thought also came to me.

Was that not impossible?

Was responding to near-infinite change not a realm impossible for a human being?

No!

I already possessed such a power.

A power that, amid changes from minute to minute and second to second, guided and handled the very “phenomenon” that encompassed countless situations.

[Secret Art: Ethrana]

[Chapter One – Fate]

Chapter Two was not something like the “next” of Chapter One.

Chapter Two unfolded on the foundation of Chapter One!

“I cannot believe I was this foolish…….”

A smile escaped me before I knew it.

It was something I had already done before.

How had the man who had found the optimal Energy Channels while learning the White Cloud Mind Method failed to understand this?

Sssssss……

I released my Unique Ability.

The pain vanished, and the realm that had dwelled within me evaporated and disappeared.

But that was fine.

Because I had already gained everything I needed.

“……?”

The puppet tilted its head.

Even though this was a situation where I should have drawn out more power, it could not understand me scattering my realm instead.

I paid it no mind and swung my sword.

I melted the realization from a moment ago into my Swordsmanship and unfolded a Sword Dance.

I was not used to it yet. I needed to swing more.

To seize the realization I had just gained, I had to press harder. I had to break through my limit!

And there happened to be a perfectly suitable sandbag right in front of me.

“Come at me.”

The puppet no longer looked like an enemy to me.

That was a Wall.

It was merely a trial I would step on to climb higher.

Exhilaration heated my blood.

I did not mind being wounded or bleeding.

This was entertaining.

This was enjoyable!

“This is…… yes. Discussing the form of something is the core of Chapter Two.”

Then what was that “something”?

At the point I had learned Chapter One, additional Swordsmanship held little meaning.

Because [Fate] itself was the extreme point of Swordsmanship using Parrying.

At most, the only distinction would be something like the difference between one-on-one and one-against-many, as with the White Cloud Sword Method.

It was not the form of Swordsmanship. That had been grasped in Chapter One.

I suddenly felt that the operation of the core unfolded through Chapter Two was drawing a single pattern.

The strength and flow of Mana changed with every consecutive movement.

Taking that irregular flow of power and refining it into a single form to wield it……

“……Do not tell me.”

Mana raced.

I was shocked.

I was awed.

Even though this was not the power of Mysticism, had you intended to realize it as Mysticism?

“Haha…….”

Why is Mysticism the Will to Challenge the Unknown?

I understood the meaning of that power, but in what manner was it realized?

Each Trait had its own symbolic decisive technique.

For Martial Arts, which handled weapons and hand-to-hand combat, there was “Force Aura.”

For alchemy and Magic, there was “Multicasting,” which handled multiple formulas at once.

For Blessing, there was “Sanctuary,” which unfolded that power as a domain.

For Curse, there was “Sacrificial Offering,” which made another’s power one’s own.

Magic Power and Divinity possessed powers such as these.

But what about Mysticism?

Mysticism had no such decisive technique.

It was also one reason Mysticism was avoided, but inwardly, I had always wondered. Why did Mysticism have nothing like that?

‘Now I finally understand.’

It was not that it had none.

Rather, it could do anything.

At last, I understood the True Meaning of what this was trying to unfold.

The symbol of Martial Arts performed through Magic Power, and the power that would one day reach the extreme point called Force Aura.

And the Art that Ishara had first unfolded.

Sword Aura.

I performed the Sword Dance of Chapter Two.

The power of Myriad Currents Bond Cultivation aligned itself along the Sword Dance.

The activated core throbbed fiercely.

Chapter Two had not been about Swordsmanship.

The entirety of Chapter Two had been created solely for this technique.

The power of Mana was none other than the power of Thought-Force.

The form of Thought-Force was none other than the form of aspiration.

To grasp the form of aspiration with my own hand!

[Secret Art: Ethrana]

[Chapter Two – Sword-Cladding]

Why did the name contain the word “sword”?

It was because the form of my aspiration was a sword.

That which Ishara had never let go of, even through thousands of regressions.

My essence, which had not been forgotten even once throughout thousands of spans of time.

I was a sword now.

A single blade of sharpness that would cut down what stood before me.

Mana, Thought-Force, aspiration.

Become a sword!

FWOOOSH──!!

Deep, dark violet flames blazed from the sword.

SLAAASH!

My Sword Aura cut the puppet.