"I suppose you could call it a late-life child," Gal glanced at his daughter, who was only about ten in the crowd, but let out a long sigh before turning back to look at the monster whose wound had healed once more, revealing a bitter smile.
"But... even in my prime, I couldn't have beaten you, right? At least I don't think the gap between me now and me in my thirties is all that huge."
"That's just you refusing to admit you've aged. The physical difference brought by over twenty years is greater than you imagine," He said casually, finally turning around to face the old man, "Let's continue. This time, I'll show you my Sword of Light."
"What difference could it make? Even if you're stronger than me, my technique is clearly superior. You should have been able to tell that from our first exchange, right? And yet you're already a Sword God."
Gal didn't want to continue this meaningless fight, but Ash had once again dropped into a stance, making it clear he wasn't going to let it end there.
Helpless, Gal was forced to raise his sword, preparing to use Light Reversal once more.
The next instant their figures crossed again, a blast of wind erupted.
BOOM!
A tremendous roar echoed through the Sword Sanctuary a beat late, and everyone nearby clutched their ears in pain.
When they looked back at the scene, Gal was already kneeling on the ground, both hands severed, staring dazedly at the ground stained red with his own blood.
After a long while, without turning his head, he asked in a slightly hoarse voice, "This isn't the Sword of Light... what technique is this?"
"This is a further step beyond the Sword of Light, optimized by combining various martial skills. Setting aside the Sword of Light itself, it accounts for self-protection and the constraints of the body's limits... It really can't be called the Sword of Light anymore. What do you think of 'Light Execution'? Though it's not fully perfected yet."
"Execution? What an arrogant name," Gal murmured, his voice carrying a trace of helplessness and bitterness, yet inside he had to admit the name fit.
This technique completely disregarded defense and other sword skills. If a human used it, even if he himself used it, one strike would severely strain his muscles, leaving him unable to move, or possibly worse.
That utterly focused, ultra-fast, clean slash replayed over and over in Gal's mind.
But no matter how many times he ran through it, he couldn't block that strike. Even if he used his signature technique "Light Reversal," against that terrifying speed and power, it would probably be hopeless. He just couldn't keep up.
It was then that the people on the sidelines finally snapped out of it and quickly called for a healer.
But when Ash stepped forward, everyone nervously stepped back. Yet he didn't press the attack. Instead, he reached out and cast healing magic, restoring Gal's severed hands in an instant.
This caused another uproar. No one expected his healing magic to have reached at least king-ranked level as well.
"Anyway, if there's something I need your help with, like perfecting Light Execution, I'll be counting on your cooperation. This isn't just about domination. I'll also give you compensation beyond what you can imagine."
As the crowd parted on its own, Ash silently extended his hand to the dazed old man on the ground.
The moment Gal was completely defeated, the position of Sword God was replaced. Across the continent, on the stone monuments marking the Seven Great Powers, the Sword God's emblem moved down one spot, knocking the North God off the list entirely.
And replacing the Sword God in sixth place was an emblem no one had ever seen before.
The whole world was shaken by this unexplained change. Unimaginable undercurrents stirred beneath the surface, and countless spies secretly visited the Sanctuary.
But strangely enough... Gal still served as Sword God, still taught his students. Everyone went about their days as usual.
Well, that made sense. The enemy clearly hadn't taken over the title of Sword God, but existed as a new god altogether.
Everyone had heard the roar that day, but few actually knew what had happened.
The only information that leaked out was that an unfamiliar man had barged into the Sanctuary that day.
He was under twenty, yet carried a composure beyond his years. An inexplicable aura surrounded him, making it impossible to guess what he was thinking.
He wore a gray coat, carried a greatsword on his back, and had a long sword at his waist.
But since he didn't take the name of Sword God, and both Demon God and Death God were already taken, everyone unanimously called him, the Evil God.
After all, the man's origins were too strange, and the character "evil" represented "unorthodox" in every sense.
Though Ash himself felt oddly complicated when he learned his title was so bizarre and ill-fitting.
But in the days that followed, he didn't wander around. Instead, he stayed in the Sword Sanctuary, further refining his research on Light Execution and the records of the first Sword God.
At the same time, drawing on his past life's research as a mad scientist, he tried experimenting on Gal, attempting to help the old man break past human lifespan limits. However...
"As expected, experiments need large-scale equipment. Hmm... I'll leave this to you."
After failing with pure magic, Ash silently drew up blueprints and handed them to Gal, with various notes attached, asking him to prepare materials and build the equipment.
Not purely technological, half-magical, half-scientific equipment could still be cobbled together by hand.
Gal took the blueprints without hesitation and nodded thoughtfully, "Looks pretty weird, huh? But what's written on here?"
"Damn... I forgot you can barely read," The old man's blank expression gave Ash a headache.
His first official partner and subordinate was an illiterate who only learned a few characters now and then, and everyone else in the Sword Sanctuary was pretty much illiterate too.
Just thinking about it made his stomach hurt, but then someone suddenly rushed in from outside.
"Ash-sama, this appears to be a letter for you," Gal's direct disciple, the Sword Emperor, handed over the letter with a confused look, clearly he couldn't read it either.
"For me? Hmm... Ghislaine's?", Ash took the letter, puzzled.
He had sent a letter to Ghislaine some time ago, but he hadn't expected to get a reply from that illiterate.
And the contents surprised him a little, it was an invitation to Ghislaine's thirtieth birthday. Of course, considering the travel distance... it had been sent two years early.
Aside from the birthday invitation, Ghislaine's letter also said that if he could come, she'd like him to give some guidance to her disciple.
There weren't any specifics, she wasn't the talkative type, so she just briefly mentioned those two things.
Of course, the handwriting clearly wasn't Ghislaine's; someone else had written it for her.
Since Ghislaine had helped him plenty before, Ash didn't mind lending a hand. Besides... staying too long with these brute-force-worshipping thugs who thought even writing was unnecessary was starting to make him feel like he was getting dumber.
"Might as well take it as a break?"
"What's wrong? What does it say?", Gal leaned in curiously.
"Nothing much. Just an invitation to visit over there. And staying with you guys has been piling up stress on my end too...", Ash let out a long sigh and casually handed the letter to Gal.
But Gal had no interest in reading, so he couldn't understand most of it. He just found what Ash said ridiculous.
After all, they were the ones who were really stressed. For the Sword God style, strength meant life itself. And now there was someone far stronger than them right next door, it didn't sit well with them at all. Everyone's motivation to train had been cranked up.
Take Gal, for example. If Ash hadn't been so strong that it was impossible for a human to surpass him, beyond human comparison to the point where even chasing after him seemed foolish, he would have probably fallen into complete despair and given up on the Sword God style entirely.
"Ah! Speaking of stress!", Gal suddenly boomed after a moment of gloom, "You've been stuck in the back mountain here and haven't gone back, so you might not know, but the Asura Kingdom, the Dragon King Kingdom, and the Millis Holy Kingdom have all sent you something good for relieving stress. They said they hope to use those things to establish friendly relations with the Evil God."
"Good for relieving stress?", The strange phrasing made him genuinely unable to guess what it could be. But Gal stroked his beard and said casually, "Well, aside from the money, Asura Kingdom's offering is probably the best."
"What is it?"
"You'll know once you try it~ This time Asura Kingdom's gift is even better than what I got when I became Sword God. If I were ten years younger, I'd probably be jealous of you. But you should be careful not to break it... though even if you do, it's no big deal."
Gal grinned mischievously and pushed him out the door, waving for his disciple to escort him back.
[T/N: New fanfic chat—"Genshin Impact: Retiring Early from the Fatui". A solid read, definitely give it a try. Have a great day~]