Chapter 652

Sword Demon smiled as he raised his sword.

Seeing him like this, I thought I understood why he was called Sword Demon.

Truly, demon itself.

Because of all the experience accumulated until now, fear rose in me for an instant, but I soon steadied my mind.

‘Why be afraid when I’ll come back to life even if I die anyway?’

Fear and terror were funny things.

There was a saying that terror came from the unknown, but learned fear was no less frightening.

But I soon steadied my mind.

From now on, I would have to fight countless stronger enemies, so I could not be frightened in advance by something like this.

Besides, Sword Demon was my teacher.

There was no malice.

It was simply a frightening illusion created by the visual fear before my eyes.

When Sword Demon raised his sword, Su-ho also took his stance.

It was the stance Shiva usually took.

Seeing Su-ho’s stance, Sword Demon laughed.

- The teacher who taught you must have taken that stance.

“Yes, he fights best in the human world. At least barehanded.”

- I look forward to it.

At that moment, Sword Demon came in.

A sword thrust out like a spear.

Su-ho, too, stretched out his fist without hesitation.

Kagagang!

The blades overlapped as if layered together.

At the same time, the sound rang out.

The very sound Su-ho had wanted to hear, the sound Sword Demon had let him hear.

At that clear and bright cracking sound, the corner of Su-ho’s mouth rose, and Sword Demon’s eyes curved.

- You did it.

Kagang!

But the sword did not stop.

Sword Demon began to move in earnest.

Su-ho, too, did not stop, drunk on a single success, and continued moving.

The blade came in.

The sword was swung.

It was thrust out like a spear.

Between them, bare flesh moved back and forth without fear.

There was no fear.

The hesitation over whether his skin would be cut, whether he would shed blood, had completely vanished.

What rang through the Sword Demon Realm was only the heavy, cold metallic sound of edged weapons colliding.

The artisans creating it smiled.

Because of that, those sounds were no longer simple metallic noises, but became a pleasant concert.

They played for a long while.

It was fierce, light, and liberating.

After enjoying it like that for a long while, the two ended the concert at the signal of the senior performer.

Kang!

The final collision, placing the period.

Sword Demon withdrew his sword and widened the distance.

Then he smiled.

- This should be enough.

At the same time, he gestured with his eyes and pointed at Su-ho’s body.

Su-ho quickly looked at his own body.

It would be a lie to say the process of the concert had not hurt.

Using his body like spears and blades did not mean pain disappeared.

The same was true for a sword, was it not?

No matter how well it was maintained and how well it was sharpened, the more it was used, the more its edge was chipped.

But what was this? Su-ho’s body was clean, without even a scratch.

The mana that had manifested without his knowledge had protected, cared for, and healed Su-ho’s entire body.

Certain of his success, Su-ho smiled.

“It’s perfect.”

- Impudent. For you to say those words.

“Then please say them.”

- It is perfect. With this, you have passed the second stage as well.

“Yes!”

At the deep sense of achievement, his fist clenched tightly without him realizing it.

It was thrilling.

As expected, no matter what it was, one of the greatest pleasures was a sense of achievement.

Calming the elevated feeling, he saluted Sword Demon with a cupped fist.

“Thank you. It is all thanks to you, Master.”

- Yes, you should be grateful. But this time, your own effort was great. You even knew to change teachers on your own. Cleverly impudent, aren’t you?

“I’ll take that as praise. Then is it the third stage now?”

- Yes, the third stage.

“What is the third stage?”

- What do you think it is?

“Well. I practiced becoming one with the sword and learned to think and move like a sword, so now shouldn’t I have to create a sword that truly does not exist?”

When he pretended to grip a sword in his empty hand, Sword Demon chuckled and raised his own sword.

- Pick up your blade.

“Yes, sir.”

When Su-ho picked up his blade, Sword Demon coated his own sword in Sword Energy.

Sharp blue Sword Energy enveloped the entire blade.

It did not flow, and its uniformity made it seem like a part of the sword.

Sword Demon said,

- What is this?

“Isn’t it Sword Energy?”

- Yes, it is Sword Energy. If one speaks of the order of Sword Energy, it goes like this.

Along with his words, the Sword Energy disappeared.

Then blue smoke rose from the blade.

The rising smoke soon gathered strongly, then flowed like water, wavering softly, and what had been flowing soon hardened solidly, becoming organized as one with the sword like what he had first shown.

That was not the end.

The organized Sword Energy soon expanded greatly, making an ordinary longsword-sized blade grow as large as a two-handed sword.

- Sword Energy begins the moment the energy of the body is transferred into the sword. At first, it scatters like gas, and when it gathers, it flows like liquid. What flowed hardens solidly and becomes a steel-like solid, and after that, it gradually swells its body and expands.

It was a process he knew.

It was not completely the same, but in any case, it was a power Su-ho could use too.

- Sword strikes begin to display definite power after Sword Energy reaches the solid state. Because you can swing it like firing a bullet and destroy enemies at a distance.

Sword Demon, who had continued the explanation, withdrew the Sword Energy, then suddenly struck the blade with his other hand and broke the neck of the sword.

A sword with only the handle remaining.

What was he trying to show?

At that moment, the same Sword Energy rose again over the thing that had only the hilt left.

After passing through smoke, becoming liquid, and hardening solidly like a single blade, it expanded greatly like that thing from before.

- Do you understand the difference?

“Isn’t it the difference between having a blade and not having one?”

- That is right. But earlier, there was a blade, so it could not be called the Formless Sword. But what about now?

“There’s nothing that can be called a blade, so if it is the Formless Sword, then it is the Formless Sword.”

- Yes. This is the most basic appearance of the Formless Sword and its first stage.

“Why the first? Are we going back to the beginning?”

- You will know why it is the beginning when you try it.

Is that difficult?

Su-ho immediately raised the Blood Sword.

Then, just as Sword Demon had done, he deliberately broke the neck of the blade, leaving only the handle, and began to inject mana.

But at that moment.

“......Huh?”

Su-ho’s eyes widened.

A sword with only a handle.

He thought he only had to overlay Sword Energy over it and do it like Sword Demon.

Because it did not look particularly difficult.

But when he actually tried to create a nonexistent blade over the hilt, the energy kept dispersing.

At the sight of his disciple flustered, Sword Demon laughed.

- Keukeukeu, why? Can you not do it?

“W-wait a moment.”

This could not be happening.

Su-ho muttered such words and kept trying.

It was strange.

Mana gathered above the hilt, but whenever it seemed the mana was about to clump together, it kept dispersing.

Even when he focused so hard his eyeballs felt like they would pop out and gathered the energy, the most he could do was make it clump together hazily, like an illusion, like smoke.

Even that could not grow large, and remained faint and blurry at the level of a dagger.

After struggling for a long while and still failing to create a blade like Sword Demon had, he eventually had no choice but to give up.

- It is difficult, is it not?

“Yes, it’s difficult.”

- A fellow who could make and use Sword Energy so well cannot do that. Why, I wonder?

“That’s right. Why can’t I?”

- That is why creating something from nothing is difficult.

“Ah.......”

It was strange.

Sword Energy was something he used as casually as eating whenever he fought.

If he wanted to increase its size, he could increase it as much as he wanted, and he could send sword strikes flying like tidal waves, yet just because there was no single sword, he ended up like this?

- Do you know why I tell you that swordsmanship must be your foundation and capital?

“Why?”

- Because in the end, as long as you have swordsmanship, everything can be resolved. To put it bluntly, if you are put in a situation where you cannot use that blood magic and shadow magic you boast of, what will you do then?

“That is.......”

For an instant, he could not answer.

He had many other means of attack, but the point being made here was ultimately about a special situation where he could not create a sword.

- The ultimate swordsman must be the strongest even when walking around barehanded. Of course, you do walk around barehanded, but without blood and shadows, are you not a body that cannot even pull out one usable blade?

“That’s true.”

- That is why you must realize the pinnacle of the sword. Only then will you become perfect.

It was connected to what he had said at the beginning.

That if he obtained the Formless Sword, he could become close to invincible.

At a story similar yet different, Su-ho’s head nodded on its own.

- What you have learned until now can be said to be only the level of finally taking your first steps. Creating a blade on a sword without a blade. That is the first step of the real Formless Sword.

“The first step...... When you put it that way, I’m really curious what the final form of the Formless Sword is like.”

- Are you curious?

“It would be a lie to say I’m not.”

- Then I will show you.

“Oh, really?”

- My disciple says he wants to see it, so there is no reason I cannot show him.

He would show it this easily?

I was slightly moved by his kindness.

Then Sword Demon threw away his sword.

Then he spread both arms and also spread his fingers wide.

- What did I say earlier? I said the ultimate swordsman must be the strongest even while walking around barehanded, did I not?

“Yes, that’s right.”

- A question here. If there is no physical sword, no shadow, no blood magic, and even no two arms or mana, what becomes of that swordsman?

“......Can that be called a swordsman?”

- It can be called one. Only in the case of certain swordsmen. I am not merely talking about something conceptual like will. A swordsman must be able to swing a sword. Just as one cannot be called a swordsman simply because one thinks of oneself as a swordsman.

“But you said there is no physical sword, no shadow, no blood, and even no two arms or mana.”

- Yes. I added blood and shadow because I was comparing it to your case. If you end up in such a situation, you too can no longer be called a swordsman. At that point, you are a cripple who can do nothing.

“A cripple...... That’s not wrong.”

- But if you realize the pinnacle of the sword, from then on, you become an eternal swordsman. Watch carefully.

At that moment, Sword Demon’s energy disappeared.

By energy, it referred to the unique energy emitted from the body, and mana was usually what that meant.

But even that sense of mana completely disappeared.

- Right now, I have completely locked and sealed my mana inside. On top of that, I have no blade. But.

Sword Demon, who had continued speaking, swept his gaze over Su-ho.

At that moment.

Slice!

A sharp cutting sound.

At the same time, a stinging sensation appeared around his neck.

Su-ho brought his hand to his neck.

‘No way.......’

The moment he thought that, Su-ho’s head fell downward.