[Random ability selection in progress… Congratulations, host, you have acquired the ability: Guardian's Sword.]
As the teleportation activated, the system prompt echoed in Souta's mind.
Before he could even react with surprise, his body vanished from the world of Guilty Crown and reappeared in the his world.
As his feet touched solid ground again, Souta opened his eyes and recognized that he was back in his rented apartment.
When returning to his original world, he would always reappear at the location he'd departed from, so this place had become his default teleport anchor.
"Guardian's Sword…?"
The system's message genuinely surprised Souta.
It wasn't the affection score that shocked him.
Inori had kept Eve around as a "teacher," even occasionally handing over control of her body so Eve could do live demonstrations of seduction… If anything, that alone proved Inori had deep feelings for him.
Possibly to the point of wanting to sleep with him.
Under those conditions, it made perfect sense that her affection would reach the required threshold.
What surprised him was that for once the system had actually given him something useful.
He thought he'd get stuck with another useless "cutesy" ability like with Rin and Illya, something like "singing" or "Kuudere." (emotionless girl mode)
But this time, he got something pretty damn good.
"Guardian, huh? Was my guess about Mana wrong…?"
Souta felt a pang of regret. He'd been quite confident in his theory.
Inori's Void was inherited from Mana, so it was a sword.
And Souta had hypothesized that Mana's Void took the form of a sword because, deep down, she wanted to sever her connection to the virus.
That longing to escape manifested in the form of a blade that could cut through anything.
Classic literary interpretation.
But the system had just given him the "correct answer", the sword symbolized Mana's resolve to protect Shu Ouma.
Her determination to protect the one she loved had hardened her spirit into a blade, one that would slash down any obstacle or enemy, even if it meant defying the world.
"Yeah… that's more in line with peak chuuni. It is called Guilty Crown, after all."
Letting that go, Souta turned his attention to this so-called Guardian's Sword.
The moment he gained the ability, a new instinct had been imprinted on him.
"Come forth! Guardian's Sword, blade of my resolve!"
Souta raised his right arm and shouted dramatically.
No one was around, so he let himself go.
As his voice fell, the air trembled.
Space itself compressed and twisted like a sponge being wrung.
The spiritual and physical dimensions connected, and Souta reached into the center of the distortion.
There, he grasped the physical embodiment of his will to protect.
From the depths of his soul, he pulled out a longsword.
It looked very similar to Inori's Void, but more domineering, more extravagant.
Unlike a katana, it was a double-edged European-style blade.
Roughly 1.5 meters long and 8 centimeters wide, it looked massive.
The blade gleamed with a cold, bluish light, refracted through the golden sunlight pouring in through the window.
That chill glow was unnerving.
Everything touched by it from the floor, the couch, the coffee table, the windows had cracked under its pressure.
Souta hurriedly willed the blade to withdraw its glow and restored the damaged furniture and fixtures.
What surprised him was how much divine power it took to restore the material damage, several times more than normal.
"This thing's seriously overpowered…"
He was astonished.
Its destructive potential matched its intimidating appearance.
He teleported into the air, summoned the steamroller he'd created last time from the shop, and raised the sword.
With a single swing—
SWOOSH!
The steamroller was instantly cleaved in two.
Even the clouds behind it split apart.
But it didn't stop there.
The sword's arc had carried with it a will to obliterate everything in its path.
In the aftermath, the steamroller shattered further until only dust remained.
The rest was annihilated down to subatomic particles.
"Guardian's Sword... Are we sure that's the right name?"
Souta twitched at the scene before him.
That swing had only used his physical strength.
Just one swing.
This thing was a weapon made for destruction.
"System, are you sure this ability shouldn't be called Destruction Sword instead?"
Surprisingly, the system responded.
[The Guardian's Sword appears as it does entirely due to the host's own mindset.]
"What do you mean?" Souta blinked.
[Typically, a guardian exists to shield, to protect. Defense comes first, offense is secondary. However, your philosophy of 'if the problem's too difficult, eliminate the source' has altered the Guardian's Sword into its current form. It no longer defends, it destroys threats at the root.]
"…Okay, fair."
Apparently, this ability reflected the user's own definition of "protection."
So… he was that violent?
And Mana—no, Eve must've been a brute too?
If someone gentler had received it, the sword might've manifested as a barrier-type ability.
It could still cut, sure but it wouldn't have been this OP.
"By the way, I remember Voids are pretty fragile. Is this sword the same?"
[No. The Guardian's Sword is not a Void. It is the materialization of a protective will, a Sword of Spirit. As long as your will endures, it remains indestructible.]
"An indestructible sword…!"
A gleam of delight appeared in Souta's eyes.
Like a kid who just got a new toy.
He loved this ability.
It wasn't as versatile as material creation or time manipulation.
But in terms of raw offense and destruction, it was pure, unadulterated power—a weapon born for battle.
Grinning like a child, Souta started playing with it.
And when I say "playing," I mean...
"Heavenly Defying Slash!"
"Sword Art Number: Twenty-Three!"
"Sword energy cuts thirty thousand miles, a single light pierces nineteen provinces!"
"He Who Bears the World Must Destroy!"
He was fully in chuuni mode.
Of course, despite the flashy poses, he kept his tests mild enough to avoid causing real-world chaos.
Even when testing its power, the most he did was split a mountain.
He didn't do anything too crazy.
After two hours of slashing to his heart's content, Souta finally calmed down.
He sheathed the sword back into his heart and teleported to his apartment.
Taking a sip of water, he stretched and relaxed.
But suddenly, a strange feeling crept over him.
"Wait a minute… Did I forget something?"