WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 704: Sword and Magic - 2

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The space surrounding the Demon King was far more vast than it appeared. My mind-reading could not reach beyond that distance, and neither could any attack. I could only vaguely guess at the principle behind it, but in any case, the Demon King's power had reached a dizzying height.

Yet the Sword Saint crossed that space in an instant and cut the Demon King.

It made no sense. His sword had not grown longer, nor had the slash flown through the air. Still, the Sword Saint swung his sword without the slightest doubt and cut the Demon King.

And the Demon King was cut.

The situation was incomprehensible, yet emotionally I had already accepted the result.

"Master! That barbarian dared to...!"

The Green Tower Master, who had rushed over after us, let out a shrill scream. The instant she saw the Demon King cut apart, she flew into a rage and unleashed her innate arcane.

Innate arcane, One-Way Passage.

She erected walls of One-Way Passage, took aim at the Sword Saint, and fired wind magic. Air compressed so tightly it was visible shot forward like cannonballs. The projectiles were air infused with magic. They could neither be blocked nor cut with a sword.

"On-the-spot execution! Die!"

A storm-like wind scraped across the meteor as it flew toward the Sword Saint. The impact was enough to shake the meteor itself. An artificially created tornado swallowed the Sword Saint whole.

Facing a storm meant to kill one person, the Sword Saint lightly swung his sword.

"Flow Cut."

After cutting the approaching storm, the Sword Saint looked away. One cut could not possibly end it. The Green Tower Master poured in more magic and raised another storm. The violent flow of wind reached the Sword Saint.

Nothing happened.

"What...?!"

The wind could not reach him.

One-Way Passage? No, this was different. Light and air could pass through, but the wind's flow had been severed. The wind could no longer reach the Sword Saint.

Because its flow had been cut.

"Impossible! Wind is the movement of gas!"

The Sword Saint did not seem particularly interested in that theoretical explanation. He spoke clearly to everyone around him.

"I came today for personal reasons. Only one person will be cut down."

"You think you can attack Lord Demon King in the floating castle and leave alive?!"

"I have no interest in your circumstances. I will decide whether you live or die later. But."

The Sword Saint could cut down everyone here at this very moment. Yet he did not. Instead, he merely issued a warning.

"Someone must take responsibility. It should be fine for me to kill just the highest-ranking one as I see fit."

"Who decided that?!"

"I did."

The storm could not reach the Sword Saint, but its roar still drowned out his voice. Looking annoyed, he waved his sword around.

The storm, its currents severed into strands, collided with itself and vanished.

Cause of death: cut by sword. That verdict applied even to a storm. Having killed even an inanimate thing by cutting it with a sword, the Sword Saint spoke as though declaring an absolute truth.

"I decided it. If I decide I may kill many people, too many will die."

He would kill only one person because he did not want to kill too many. He spoke as though every life were in his keeping. It was an arrogant statement, but I could say nothing.

Because it was true.

"Who do you think you are?!"

The Green Tower Master flew toward him atop her umbrella. It was far too close a distance to face a qi master, but she trusted in One-Way Passage's defenses.

"One-Way Passage!"

An invisible wall blocked the Sword Saint's path. Sensing space twist for an instant, he reflexively raised his sword and cut at the wall.

Even the Sword Saint's sword could not penetrate the wall of One-Way Passage in the slightest.

Interest appeared in his eyes.

"Hm?"

"Too late! Get crushed!"

One-Way Passage surged up from the front, back, left, right, and above, gradually shrinking the space around him. She had to get close, and the walls could not overlap, so there were gaps. Still, if it succeeded even once, it was a killing blow capable of killing anyone.

The pressure rose sharply.

Though the walls of death closed in, the Sword Saint wore an interested expression. He raised his sword again. Shifting what he was cutting ever so slightly, he drew a long horizontal line with it.

"Side Cut."

The walls of One-Way Passage tore apart like sheets of paper. The Green Tower Master's eyes widened.

"Huh?"

One-Way Passage was absolute. It was an innate arcane that imposed rules upon the world. At that wall, one could pass through in only one direction.

An absolute barrier.

And yet, the Sword Saint's sword had effortlessly torn through One-Way Passage.

"That's impossible... How?"

"I cut it from the side."

He could not pass through the wall. So he cut sideways and tore it apart. He reached that simple conclusion and made it reality.

That was all.

"That's nonsense... How could that possibly...?"

Of course it was absurd. To tear a wall, one first had to penetrate it. If penetrating it was impossible, how could one damage the wall at all?

But it worked. What use was there in arguing against something possible right before my eyes?

"I will not kill you. But that attack just now carried killing intent."

The Sword Saint was suddenly standing before the Green Tower Master. Unable to keep up with his movement, she staggered.

The Sword Saint's blade came down before her.

"No, Vanishing Point...!"

The Black Tower Master, who had hurried after her, activated Vanishing Point. A black sphere appeared directly before the blade and blocked it.

But.

Slice.

Vanishing Point split into two, and the sword continued downward.

At the same time, it severed the Green Tower Master's arm.

How often could someone with the innate arcane One-Way Passage have been injured? The Green Tower Master stared blankly at her fallen arm, then screamed when the pain finally reached her.

"Eliot! Aaaagh...!"

The Black Tower Master hesitated, watching the Sword Saint. The Sword Saint, however, turned and walked toward the Demon King instead, as though an attack without killing intent was not even worth responding to.

"This time, I will only confirm his death and leave. Pray there will not be a next time."

The Sword Saint had rules of his own. Precepts he had imposed upon himself because he was too powerful. Shackles that bound him so he would not cut down everything in sight.

Once he drew his sword, he would kill only one person. Even when attacked with killing intent, he let the attacker off with only an arm.

...Wait a moment.

"Hughes. Stay still. He's an opponent you can never defeat... Hey!"

No. This was an opportunity.

I honestly could not even try my luck against the Demon King. I could not read his thoughts.

But the Sword Saint had his precepts, and he followed them thoroughly. Not because the precepts mattered to him. It was because he possessed the power to keep any precept he chose.

Even if I acted up, he would not kill me.

Then just a little. Time to gain some experience.

"Wait a moment."

I stepped in front of the Sword Saint. He watched me as though judging my intentions. I pointed my skewer at him.

"I'd like to learn a move from you."

"With words alone?"

I needed to go right away. He would not kindly wait for me.

I raised my skewer and charged. At the same time, the Sword Saint naturally raised his sword into a middle guard, as easily as breathing.

This was bad. His mastery was too high for me to read clearly.

Shei drove the supreme qi art Heaven-Reversing Boundary into her body and reacted on instinct. The Sword Saint, though, seemed to have made the very concept of qi tangible. From his movements to his breathing, qi naturally permeated everything he did.

His will and qi were one.

I had seen many people consciously use qi techniques, but never anything like this. Was this what it meant to be called the Sword Saint?

I thrust my skewer straight at him.

Spade 5. Apple of Universal Gravitation.

A crushing weight pressed down on my body. The Apple of Universal Gravitation could adjust the force of gravity affecting my body. It only applied to me, but that was still incredible.

I increased gravity.

The strain on my body was less than expected. Yet compared to that gravity, my body was light. I kicked off the ground, and my body surged forward.

Fast and heavy. I thrust my skewer more sharply and quickly than I ever had in my life...

But it was blocked.

The Sword Saint angled the flat of his blade and precisely blocked my skewer. The skewer bent violently, and my grip felt as though it would tear apart.

I could see it. The flow of qi.

The Water Qi Art filling his body supported it, strong and unyielding. And it did not end there.

His right foot stepped half a pace forward, while his rear foot lifted slightly. A stable stance. Yet even that was not all. The qi he extended through the Earth Qi Art anchored him firmly to the ground.

It was natural. Earth Qi Art and Water Qi Art flowed together as though they were one.

At that moment, he was one with the earth.

Heaven, Earth, Water, and even Li. The four branches were distinguished to make them easier to understand. Normally, one had to consciously use them.

The Sword Saint did not bother distinguishing them.

Qi was already one to him.

"If you intend to fight with weight, change your weapon first."

After giving that brief advice, the Sword Saint's hand blurred.

At the same time, my skewer was cut in half.

As the Sword Saint passed by me, he raised his sword.

"You did not put killing intent into it, so I will only take your weapon... But."

His cold gaze swept over me. My hand, especially the card hidden within my skewer. He even saw my fingers twitching slightly as I tried to draw the Demon God card I had hidden away.

"So the skewer was not your weapon. I will take one finger instead."

"What? Where's the rule that says that?!"

"I decided it."

His sword spun with that declaration.

The sword, too, held qi within it, so it was no different from his body. It swung swiftly and precisely, without the slightest error, at my index finger.

Fortunately.

The Demon God I had drawn was a Thunder Coil!

My finger moved. The moment the Sword Saint spotted it, I reacted on instinct. His target was only my finger. Even after reacting, it took time to move, but the Thunder Coil moved my body directly with lightning!

"You dodged?"

It was an application of the qi techniques I had read from the Sword Saint moments ago. I used the Thunder Coil like qi to control my body. This directly stimulated my muscles, so it was far more complicated, but I had succeeded anyway.

"Not Heaven-Reversing Boundary... How peculiar."

The Sword Saint muttered that, then immediately cut off my finger.

My severed index finger flew up before my eyes.

Huh?

I reacted, but he still caught up to me?

His sword was faster than my finger, and my finger's movement had limits. In that brief instant, he forced my finger into a contest of moves and took it from a position I could not possibly evade.

Even reading thoughts was not enough. I simply could not overcome his qi, his strength, or even the natural contest of moves.

I clutched my severed finger and bent over. Then I heard someone call out to me from behind.

"Hughes!"

Shei had told me to stay still, yet she charged straight at him.

Skywarbler was swift, while Jizan was heavy. The swords with their different natures targeted the Sword Saint in discordant harmony. Yet the Sword Saint blocked Skywarbler with one strike. When Jizan knocked his blade away as he tried to block it, he naturally moved half a step aside and targeted Shei's body.

Clang, clangclangclang.

Heaven-Reversing Boundary astonishingly reacted even to the Sword Saint's attacks. He was holding back and had not used a principle, but Shei still blocked seven of his strikes in that brief moment.

The impact was tremendous, though. Shei was flung away by the recoil while holding Skywarbler.

"Heaven-Reversing Boundary? You, what relation are you to her?"

"Urgh...!"

"A disciple? No, she has never taken a disciple..."

'But it is definitely Heaven-Reversing Boundary. If she is that woman's direct successor, I cannot hurt her.'

Instead, the Sword Saint adjusted his grip on his sword.

Then his perception of the world changed.

The sword remained the same length, but he held it as though its center of gravity had shifted farther away, making it seem slightly longer.

Li.

The Li he had never used against us twisted the world.

"Long Cut."

The sword seemed to lengthen in an instant. Had the qi wrapped around it extended? Or had the sword itself grown? Or did the sword remain the same while only its force reached farther?

I did not know.

But it happened.

"Ah! Ngh...!"

Shei was gradually pushed farther away. The Sword Saint's slash continued forcing her back. She had been driven a long distance away, yet a heavy slash still pressed against Skywarbler.

She could not move her hand away. If she did, she would be cut immediately. The Sword Saint's attack exquisitely targeted her center of gravity, sending Shei flying far into the distance.

When the Sword Saint withdrew his sword.

"Hm?"

Crack.

The surroundings froze with a sharp sound. Breath vanished. Every bit of air froze and fell as fine ice.

The Cyan Tower Master's innate arcane, Crystal Theory.

Before the absolute being that was the Sword Saint, the Cyan Tower Master unleashed her greatest miracle.

"Haaaah... Infinity... Zero."

Terrifying cold capable of freezing even gas settled over the surroundings. Frozen gas fell. Ice crystals froze coldly, holding danger within them. It felt as though space itself had frozen solid.

But it was shallow.

"Hughes. Your hand, is it all right?"

"I'm fine! I reattached it! Withdraw your power, quickly!"

"Huh?"

I would have been fine even if my arm had been cut off! I can reattach it! But if you step in...

"Watch out for yourself! You can't stop the Sword Saint with that!"

"Hoo."

Heaven Qi Art spread qi through objects, including air.

The Sword Saint had already achieved unity of Heaven and Earth Qi Art. He was spreading qi through his surroundings, making it impossible even to take his breath away for a moment.

"Quite threatening. To this extent while controlling your power so the surroundings are not caught up in it. If you became a relic, you might be dangerous."

The Sword Saint took one step out of the area and approached the Cyan Tower Master. The Cyan Tower Master had attacked with killing intent, so he intended to take her arm.

Tch. I could not stop that.

Tap.

As he walked, the Sword Saint tilted his head. The distance had not changed. With Gon qi, he could move nearly ten meters in one step, yet although he had clearly moved, the distance between him and the Cyan Tower Master did not change.

At the center of this power was...

"Ah, Sword Saint. You startled me."

The Demon King stood there.

His upper and lower body remained separated. Yet blood was still flowing. Had he connected space even while his body was severed?

"This is why I dislike qi masters. They're crude, unreasonable, and their abilities are impossible to predict."

Until now, the Demon King had kept his innate arcane around himself, so my mind-reading could not reach him and he had always felt distant. I could see him, but it was as though he stood somewhere completely apart from us.

But now.

I could feel him more and more.

His thoughts, emotions, mental image, and life.

And even his innate arcane.

"Now then. Let me give a lesson to a fool like you. Listen carefully."

The Demon King's innate arcane controlled space. That mysterious power, close to a miracle, which he had not once displayed to the world since we met, spread out from him.

Space invaded space. Distance became distorted. Empty space lost meaning, and every law tangled together beneath a single rule.

"What if there were a limit in this world that could not be crossed by any means?"

Innate arcane.

Absolute Speed Control.

Footnotes:

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