Birth of the Demonic Sword

"That's not how it works!" King Elbas complained.

"How would it work then?" Sword Saint asked.

"I attracted her attention," King Elbas explained. "I get to fight her."

"That sounds stupid," Sword Saint commented. "Noah and Alexander switched roles last time."

"It still doesn't allow you to steal my opponent," King Elbas continued.

"I'm not stealing her," Sword Saint corrected. "I'm cutting her."

"How is that different?" King Elbas shouted in an exasperated tone.

"She's still yours," Sword Saint explained. "Just cut. The number of pieces depends on her."

King Elbas opened his mouth to speak, but he couldn't think of anything fitting for that situation. The lack of sense of the last answer had defeated him. His desire to reach the ninth rank almost waned when he thought he had to spend it with those idiots.

"Why would you cut her if she already has an opponent?" King Elbas eventually decided to try a bit harder.

"Why would anyone need a reason to cut others?" Sword Saint scoffed. "You are strange."

King Elbas wore a blank face as his eyes moved toward his companions in the distance. Wilfred, Steven, and Robert were doing their best to suppress their laughs. Instead, Divine Demon wasn't even trying to hide how fun he was having. The expert had even taken out a jug of wine from his space-ring to enjoy the scene even more.

"Are you sure you don't want to switch sides?" The rank 9 woman's voice resounded in the area as Sword Saint's silver energy shattered.

The silver energy rained toward the ground in the shape of tiny shards and revealed the rank 9 cultivator. She didn't move from her previous spot, and the attack didn't even manage to hurt her. The expert checked that her hair was fine while showing complete indifference toward the battlefield.

"You don't get to join this conversation," King Elbas cursed before a helpless sigh escaped his mouth as his eyes went back on Sword Saint. "That's not how it works. You should make her summon counters for my existence before taking my place. It's common sense."

"It's pointless to cut something that I know I can cut," Sword Saint explained. "The path ahead is hidden behind what I can't cut."

King Elbas rolled his eyes. It was annoying, but Sword Saint's words made sense, especially for his existence. Still, that didn't justify his actions.

"Why would I lose my chance to give it to you?" King Elbas honestly asked. "Give me one good reason."

Sword Saint turned toward King Elbas for the first time during that conversation. His long eyebrows hid his seemingly empty eyes, but King Elbas could feel his companion's focus on him. Sword Saint's gaze was sharp, but it wasn't strong enough to hurt him while the golden sphere floated before his fiery chest.

"Because it's incomplete," Sword Saint stated while focusing on the golden sphere.

King Elbas' pupils constricted. He didn't expect Sword Saint to see right through him so easily, especially when he wasn't even sure if the expert was paying attention to his surroundings.

Sword Saint resembled Divine Demon at times, but he was a completely different existence. His silence and fixation on the path of the blade didn't make him an idiot incapable of thinking about anything else. He was actually one of the smartest experts in Noah's group. His only issue was that he didn't care about anything unrelated to his law.

Sword Saint's devotion toward the path of the blade made him appear crazy. He had made countless enemies in the past due to his habit of challenging every expert that he met. The situation had gotten so bad that he had left for the stormy regions when he was nothing more than a liquid stage existence.

The years that Sword Saint had spent practicing and researching sword arts were also uncountable. The world carried the mark of his efforts. Mountains, plains, and other lands featured his cuts. Weaker experts saw them as inheritances, but they were nothing more than an expression of the depths of his knowledge. Their ability to instruct others about the path of the blade came from his desire to generate techniques that he had yet to see.

His driven but simple life had awarded him with one of the sharpest minds in the entire Immortal Lands. Sword Saint was a monster built on training. Part of the reasons behind his presence in Noah's group came from the latter's ability to find unreasonable opponents. After all, a maniac addicted to his practice required many training dummies, and Noah ensured that his life would never lack opponents.

However, things had started to worsen after the return in the stormy regions. Noah's group was too strong for normal rank 9 experts but too weak for the insane threats that those areas hid. Sword Saint could barely get opponents during the period in-between the two levels of battle prowess that the gales contained. The fact that he had companions didn't help either since he often lost the chance to fight existences that appeared vaguely interesting.

Sword Saint would typically leave the group and travel through the storms on his own, but he still felt that he owed Noah for his past teachings. Moreover, he would go back to hunting mere lower tier magical beasts if he were alone, and his existence was far past them.

The expert planned to imitate Alexander. Sword Saint wanted to overcome the counters to his existence and step into the ninth rank before leaving the group. His new level would grant him access to stronger opponents, which were nothing more than better training dummies in his eyes.

The only flaw in that plan was the lack of Noah's influence and ability to attract problems, but Sword Saint believed to have created enough mess in the last years to gain the status of a primary target. That should be enough to grant him opponents even without Noah.

"You are strong," Sword Saint continued. "You would probably defeat her even if she wielded the perfect counter to your existence, but your law wouldn't advance anyway due to the incompleteness of your core."

King Elbas didn't know what to say. It felt annoying to see all the idiots in his group coming up with smart speeches whenever they suited them. Sword Saint's words were on point. His new power wasn't complete. He planned to finish it during the battle against his counters, but that wasn't his style.

His creations had to be perfect to carry his name. King Elbas had an extreme standard when it came to what he built, and he didn't respect it when it came to the golden sphere. The item was definitely powerful, but it was also incomplete. Noah had been the reason behind his decision to use it in the battle came. The growth of his leader's existence had made him restless.

King Elbas glanced at the rank 9 woman before heaving another sigh and turning his eyes toward Sword Saint again. He almost couldn't believe himself when he spoke altruistic words. "You can have her."

"I think you are failing to realize how bad your situation is," The woman announced. "Do you think that taking care of me will be easy? Do you think that Heaven and Earth are still underestimating you?"

The woman raised one hand, and whiteness filled the areas around her. The winged cockroaches that had suffered from King Elbas' disease lost their golden shades as they retrieved their original appearance. Moreover, more creatures materialized in the areas around them. It seemed that the sky had transformed into one massive swarm.

****

Author's notes: One hour for the third chapter.