Dea Arc had lived a relatively normal life for an aether child. He had been enslaved at first but the Divine Sword Sect descended on his mortal realm long ago and brought a war of liberation.
He was a rail thin nearly used up tool when his future Master found him. Freedom was not a word he understood but in ti, it beca his greatest treasure.
The sect was not a kind place but it was fair. The effort put in would have results. Cruelty was only in the form of injury and pain, not heartless entertainnt.
Dea Arc received his na on the day he was accepted under his Master. The aging woman did not rember him exactly but she always smiled as he swung his training sword in those early days.
He assud he would live out his days in that mortal realm but fate had different plans.
As had happened in several mortal realms, the Fiends ca to create a farm. His Master had only been a peak World Realm and unable to help in the Golden Plateaus where the Sky Realms lived.
Dea Arc had been led to join other disciples below a certain age and entered into an aggressive path of cultivation and training.
His Master remained in charge of him but the pressure awoke sothing unexpected in him. Unlike other Aether Children, he never knew what it was he was born to do. The Illusion Goddess was the most famous example.
Aether children are born with an innate talent and she showed how powerful they could beco when taken to the limit.
Dea Arc had been enslaved for his good looks and restrained so he could never explore his abilities. He had forgotten them by the ti he was freed.
During the training, his sword suddenly held darkness and fire like it was always ant to. He could cleave through wards, weapons, and even the training hall walls!
It was like a weight left him and his cultivation exploded forth. He beca a Gold Tier as if he was simply waiting to take the step and in less than a year he beca a Diamond Tier.
His Ascension Tribulation to the Sky Realm had been terrifying but he beca a powerhouse at a re 300 years of age.
He then joined the battle and it was going badly. The Void of Heaven had taken over a third of the many plateaus. His Art, which had no na at the ti, beca a ga changer in making a spearhead in Fiend forces.
His darkness and flas sliced Fiends like they were nothing. Their thralls were rendered crippled and he was quickly trained in tactics and leadership.
It was a ti of great growth but ti slipped away. They were able to repel their enemy when the beasts had a sect suddenly descend.
The Ravenous Stalker Sect was a beast of predators created for the sole purpose of killing Fiends. He never learned how they ca to be but the story was affird by them.
Their arrival flipped the odds in their favor. Dea Arc was so excited he wanted to let his master know about their victory when reality set in.
He had reached the 7th Tier of the Sky Realm and 4 centuries had passed. She was dead!
He learned she had died knowing he and his sibling disciples were fighting well. Upon the success of the war, a jade slip arrived with a heart breaking ssage of congratulations and a warning.
He was not allowed to die until going as far as he could and as hard as he could along the path of the sword.
Now, several million years later, he was a Sovereign Tier. He was participating in a tournant that would finally test his limits but his opponent was a monster on par with what he had just seen the Immortal Berserker pull off.
An Immortal that could control Dao!
He was injured, but his recovery was terrifying. Even after clear internal damage, he was healed long before their duel.
He had no confidence of winning the tournant but that was not the point of it for him. He had already gained insight into the precious Dao of his sword.
The Laws of Inferno and Oblivion were what he resonated with the most. His Art, the Searing Sever Art, was incomplete. It was the final piece he was missing and he had spent that last hundreds of thousands of years studying Dao to make the critical breakthrough.
It was all most of them could do at their level as the effects of battle were too devastating otherwise, but another way finally ca to them from a rising star.
Dea Arc had been so happy but now he felt as if he was back on those plateaus waiting to face his first Fiend.
They were in the last set of fights and when a platform freed up, they went in. Surrendering never occurred to him but a tremor went through his body.
He began to simulate the battle and even with only what he knew for certain, his odds of lasting more than a few rounds of back and forth were laughably low.
Dao was the ultimate trump card and Lind Frey had it.
"You need to relax, Senior Arc. I am not like the Berserker." The calm voice shook him from his depressing scenarios and he took a breath. He pictured the wrinkled visage surrounded by tightly tied back silver hair looking at his practice swings.
It was the happiest ti of his life and it centered him.
[BEGIN!] The judge made him assu his stance as heat that made the air steam while darkness consud all light engulfed the blade. He was not holding back at all.
The world blurred but his target was clear. No trickery nor attempt to distract even was put forth. Dea Arc never had to use such thods.
Yet, he never expected Lind Frey to calmly hold up his left hand and catch his empowered sword! The Laws flared, yet not a singe ca to his flesh.
Those that had seen his Art before were brought to silence but the roar of the audience made it clear they were happy.
"Interesting, you are trying to fuse fla and darkness into a single blade. Yet it is not quite in sync. Even so, you would be hard pressed to find sothing to be able to resist it." The calm analysis made Dea's anger flare.
The man was holding his sword with ease! His thoughts must have been on his face.
"I have to use my Dao to do this. Anything less, even my scales at full strength, could not stop it. It is much harder to hold than it looks." His ego felt soothed but the next words brought everything to a halt. "Would you be interested in an experint?"
Confusion spread but those erald eyes looked at him openly. No deceit nor danger ca from them. He saw sothing he had not seen in a very long ti.
He saw the joy his master once showed as she held her sword in battle. She was not all powerful nor a stunning talent, but she loved the sword. She never married nor had children because her beloved was the path of the sword.
He treasured the ti she showed that side of herself to her students. He always wondered if he would ever feel it but he now saw a similar fla in his opponent. Not about the sword, but about his Art.
A pure look that made him warm with nostalgia.
"What kind of experint?" Lind smiled wider and let the sword go. He then summoned out a very old sword. It was not even grade 5!
Dea could tell but he felt sothing looking at it. A pride and deep connection to the man holding it. It began to glow with erald light.
"One last ti, old friend. I know Solon is gone but he left you with
and I have found it. The fight you were ant for." The words did not all make sense but that na was known to Dea. A fallen brother reported with many others.
The fact a brother gifted a sword to an outsider made Dea salute with his balde to his face. Lind returned the salute and a new dance began. Pure sword play!
No QI, no Arts, just pure skill. A grade 7 sword was impressive but at the end of the day, it was only tal. Its capacity for Qi and inscriptions was what made it powerful. In theory, a grade 3 and above blade could face even a peak grade 7 blade.
No one did it save 1 kind of person, sword fanatics! While many in the audience began to boo, many others beca excited. Any cultivator that walked the path of the sword recognized what they were seeing!
Sword Dao! Not just an aspect of it like cutting, slashing, and so forth, but the full path! Dea Arc felt like the world was falling away.
He realized as their blades clashed that he had been wrong! He had been so backwards! His master had figured out millions of years ago what he struggled with as a Sovereign Tier!
An Art that incorporated a weapon was always incomplete if one aspect was missing, the Sword Dao at its core!
No elents, no enhancents, nothing but still and skill! A smile spread on his face and for a brief mont he could hear her voice! She was correcting him and guiding him as she had at the beginning.
{The sword is not an extension of you. Stop trying to treat it like a limb. You must see the path and walk it. Stop trying to kill the dummy and just feel it. Feel your feet on the path and see with your eyes the horizon.}
They flowed back to him and like a puzzle almost complete, the final piece slid into place. The shattering of tal snapped him out of the trance as he saw Lind Frey holding a broken blade.
Not a scratch was on him but Dea Arc understood. His eyes were alive as his sword lit up once more. The previously dueling forces now ca together and a new set of words ca to him.
[Dao of Annihilation.] The Heavens rumbled but he then felt all the strength leave him. He was completely spent!
Sweat poured down his body and he could barely stand up! What had happened?!
"It is not so easy to realize your Dao. It is much more than Immortals realize. Do you understand?" Lind stood over him calmly but Dea Arc understood. He had been guided to the final step he had sought all his life.
A smile spread as he sat back and laughed.
"I lost! Yet, I think I won too!" Lind smiled down at him and nodded. The judge ca forth which Dea Arc found odd until he glanced up and saw all the other battles were over!
How long had they been fighting.
[Winner is Lind Frey! Also, congratulations to the Sovereign Dea Arc.] Confusion spread to the crowd but Dea Arc suddenly realized! He was ready!
He would beco a Divine Realm!
Reviews
All reviews (0)