Saturu stood at the peak of Skull Mountain. The air was so thin it burned his lungs.
Before him, the air shimmered like heat haze, solidifying into the form of the Blade Demon.
The pressure from the demon shattered Saturu's sword in an instant. He threw the hilt to the ground, his gaze sharpening.
Its body was a living armory—a monstrous knight whose flesh was a tapestry of protruding blades and scars earned in endless, timeless battles.
"I give you a choice," the demon's voice rasped, a sound like grinding stone and shearing metal. "Turn back now and live, or face my eternal wrath."
Saturu did not flinch. The howling wind tore at his clothes, but his stance was as unyielding as the mountain itself.
"…A true swordsman does not retreat from a challenge," he replied, his voice cutting cleanly through the gale. "Not until I have claimed what I came for."
"So be it. Your ambition will join the others."
The Blade Demon's form swelled. Its shadow fell over Saturu as it grew to twice its height.
New blades sprouted from its arms with a sound of ringing steel. It moved not with steps, but with a blurring displacement of air, closing the distance in the space of a heartbeat.
Reacting on pure instinct, Saturu snatched a rusted sword from the skeletal grip of a long-dead master and met the charge.
Their battle erupted across the peak—a cataclysm of clashing steel and brilliant orange sparks.Each clash carved another bloody scar into Saturu's flesh.
'What is this?Am I being overpowered? No… I can't let this happen. I have to activate it now!'
Saturu activated his Authority of Adaptation, his body moving at impossible speeds to deliver dozens of strikes in a single breath.
Yet the demon matched him perfectly. Its own innate Swordsman ability read and countered every move. The very rock beneath their feet fractured under the strain, creating a web of cracks as they fought.
In a burst of motion that defied perception, the demon vanished. It reappeared directly behind Saturu, its blade already in a killing arc. He twisted his body at the last possible moment, the edge grazing his forehead and drawing a thin line of blood.
The sting ignited a cold fury within him. He charged forward with a roar, but as their blades met again, the rusted sword in his hand could take no more. It shattered into a dozen pieces, leaving him disarmed.
The demon seized the opening. A massive, blade-covered hand shot out, grabbing Saturu by his torso and hurling him across the peak like a discarded toy. He crashed into the floating torii gates.
The Blade Demon appeared on top of him, grabbing his leg and slamming him into the ground.
Crash!
Instantly, the demon fired a sword blast.
KABOOM!
The ground erupted. The intense explosion caused the floating, shattered torii gate to fall. Dust and debris filled the air.
Saturu lay in the rubble as the dust settled.
Just when I thought everything was going smoothly…
'...is this really how I'm going to die? Wasting my second life like this?'
The words echoed in his mind. An image surfaced. Saturu had trained his body day and night since waking from the coma.
'All that time I spent training… just to end up like this. I can't fall here. I can't waste this chance.'
He had learned to channel spiritual energy directly into his body, enhancing his physical strength, turning himself into a weapon.
'Throughout all the challenges, I refuse to break here.'
Images of his death in his past life and all his shattered swords flashed before his eyes.
'I need more power. I have no option but to live fully as Saturu now. My revenge and recovering my fragmented soul are one and the same.'
"My revenge and recovering my fragmented soul are one and the same thing," Saturu breathed, pushing himself up from the rubble, his resolve hardening.
'Since I can't use mana to form a blade, I'll turn these hands into weapons.'
He took a single, measured breath, centering himself.
He grabbed a nearby fallen sword and threw it with tremendous force.
BOOM!
The creature anticipated him. It jumped, caught the sword, and threw it back. It had perception, and its body was durable. Saturu let out a dark chuckle.
As the demon charged again, a visible purple aura flared around him, crackling with untamed power. He became a blur of motion, meeting the charge not with a block of metal, but with the focused, devastating force of his own will.
The resulting collision was a shockwave that shook the mountain to its core.
As they clashed, Saturu reached deep within—past his rage, past his pain—to the core of his being. A blade demon appeared in front of him, aiming a hammer-like punch. Saturu roared.
"I have you now!"
Purple aura enveloped his fist as he punched straight through the blade. The metal shattered. His knuckles connected with the Blade Demon's core, sending it flying into the stone wall.
Saturu didn't waste time. He took up a nearby blade and unleashed his ultimate sword skill one final time. This time, the sword was an extension of his soul.
"Sword technique Hollowed Light!"
Purple energy emanated from the blade like smoke. Instantly, the Blade Demon's own authority activated. The ground turned into reflective shallow water. Red shards formed around the demon, then shot forward, charged with lightning.
VWOOOSH!
The air hummed with divine power. Saturu drove his attack forward, piercing straight through the Blade Demon.
The two forces collided in a cataclysmic explosion, obliterating the mountaintop.
BOOM!
The creature staggered back, its form flickering, beginning to dissolve into motes of fading light.
Suddenly, the mountain peak vanished into light. Saturu now stood in a featureless, endless white place.
The demon's monstrous form was gone, replaced by a humanoid figure in simple, dignified knight attire. Its voice, once a grating roar, was now calm and carried the weight of eons.
"Out of the countless swordsmen I have faced across the ages," the figure said, a note of profound respect in its tone, "none have ever come close to besting me. Today, I have witnessed my lifelong dream fulfilled. To be truly free."
It bowed slightly, a gesture of deep honor.
"I deem you worthy of my divine blade."
The sound of the knight faded into light.
"And I shall"
---
Back on the rain-swept dry land outside the torii gate, Saturu stood alone.
The storm that perpetually wreathed the summit had broken. A gentle rain began to fall, washing the dust and blood from the stones.
A new sword rested in his hand—a Divine Blade, perfectly balanced, its steel gleaming with an inner light, humming in harmony with his own spirit. As he smoothly sheathed it, a permanent, purple-dark circle formed around his eyes—a visible mark of his transformation.
His path was blocked.
A full contingent of Vermillion guards stood waiting, their crimson armor a stark contrast to the grey landscape. Their leader stepped forward, his voice projecting forced confidence.
"Saturu, the executed knight of Vermillion! Surrender now, or face our collective wrath!"
Saturu didn't bother with a reply. His answer was the soft, definitive shing of his new sword being drawn.
"So be it!" the leader yelled, and the entire unit charged as one.
What followed was not a battle, but a harvest.
Saturu blitzed through their ranks, his new blade a silver streak of inevitability. He moved with terrifying grace, slashing without hesitation or mercy. The air filled with desperate screams cut short and the horrific sound of spraying blood.
"Uwaaahk?!"
In the midst of the carnage, a sudden, violent spike of spiritual energy pierced his awareness—Kayon's energy, flaring with alarming intensity and then faltering.
The sensation was a cold shock to his system. Without a second thought for the remaining guards, he broke off, leaping into the trees and vanishing into the forest canopy.
He was a purple streak against the stone and green, moving faster than he ever had before, driven by a dreadful urgency.
He burst into the familiar grove where Kayon had promised to wait, but the scene that greeted him stole his breath.
Kayon was slumped against the base of a great tree. A terrible wound glowed in his chest, pulsing with a corrosive, celestial energy that no mortal medicine could ever hope to heal.
"Oh, Saturu… you're here," Kayon rasped, his voice a faint echo of its former strength.
"Sorry you have to see me in such a… undignified state."
"You acquired the Divine Blade," Kayon stated, a faint, proud smile touching his bloodless lips. "As I knew you would."
"Who did this to you?" Saturu demanded, kneeling beside him, his hands hovering uselessly over the fatal wound.
"There is no need for that now," Kayon said, coughing. A mouthful of blood spilled onto the grass, where it sizzled and smoked.
Saturu looked on, stricken, helpless.
"I have lived too long. I watched him grow." An image surfaced in the sorcerer's fading sight.
A boy with white hair and green eyes, walking his own path.
"This end was always meant to come." Kayon waved a frail, dismissive hand.
"You can't die like this! You have to keep your promise, Kayon! Not after everything!"
"There's no time left for me… tell him I am sorry," the sorcerer whispered, his gaze growing distant.
"Now… it is all up to you. Live on. The legacy of companions lives with you."
His eyes closed. His body dissolved—not into death, but into a soft, radiant light that rose and scattered on the wind.
Saturu watched, the cold rain mixing with the tears on his face. He did not wipe them away.
"I will keep your promise," he whispered to the empty air. "I swear it."
He stood, his expression hardening into a mask of cold fury. Without a backward glance, he turned and began to walk, his steps heavy and deliberate, toward the heart of the Vermillion palace.