"By the Spirit God's Blessing, This body shall become my sword, and my sword shall become my body. Let this entire existence cut through all enemies, Grand Cross!"
The anger of a righteous knight shook the entire town. Only at the spot of his friends rose no swords. Many disciples died in this strike, but Artur himself fell on his knees as his helmet disappeared.
*Pant Pant*
This power could let him kill many people like Leoz's Thunder God Cannon. However, controlling Spiritual Energy in extreme precision was using a similar amount of Spiritual Energy as pouring all his Spiritual Energy in one single attack. And this was what Artur precisely did.
He did not let the swords appear around his friends, and even Stina on the sky was the same. This rage killed more than fifty enemies but sucking his Spiritual Energy dry. Luckily, because of losing his strength and arms, the second elder could not block this attack and die.
"Fortress Form First Stage, Enhanced Wall." Greg positioned himself in front of Alex and Anya, creating a strong barrier with all of his power. "Anya, how is his condition?"
"He is stable right now. Although he lost consciousness for a bit, he should have woken up, just with not enough strength to open his eyes and speak." Anya nodded.
Greg nodded, feeling relieved. After all, the previous wound almost reached his heart, making one worry. No one would blame Jeanne, but she still needed punishment for this. "Alright. I will ensure your safety even with my life."
On the other hand, Jeanne swapped places with Stina, dealing with the third elder.
"Lightning Spirit Worship o' Spirit God. Use my body as the catalyst, so you may strike my enemy with your lightning. Lightning Dragon!" A yellow dragon suddenly appeared from the bright sky, flying toward the third elder.
"!!!" Because of these many swords, she could not escape in time while breaking Artur's swords. She gritted her teeth and thrust her spear.
"Umbrella Spear!" A barrier appeared in front of her spear, blocking the lightning dragon to reach her. Unfortunately, this attack carried all Jeanne's hatred. It only took a second before the lightning dragon destroyed the barrier and killed her.
"Exquisite Water Body, First Command. Water Particles." Jean clapped his hand as the water vapor in the air started gathering, flooding a certain area with little water bubbles. "Leoz, kill them."
"Oh!" Leoz pointed his hand toward this area, shooting a lightning strike. "Thunder Break."
A bolt of lightning flew out of his hand toward Jean's water bubbles. He used the water element around to electrocute all the people around the area. If this was normal water, Martial Kings or Martial Emperors might not be affected. Unfortunately, Jean's water could boost lightning power and become a better conductor.
The moment the lightning arrived, it created a lightning pattern before striking at the enemies.
The rest of the disciples were scared, never expecting to meet a group like this. They wanted to escape, but with everyone's attention occupied with these attacks, they did not realize Anna's butterflies already latched onto them.
"Dark Butterfly, First Order. Marionettes." The butterflies exploded as the black energy started invading their mind.
"Ah-!"
"What is this?"
"I can't move my body?"
"No, I can't control my body!"
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"What… What is this?"
The people started getting insane as they took out their weapons, pointing them at their own bodies.
"Gah!"
"Argh!"
They stabbed themselves at the same time, dropping to the ground, died.
Anna's power was not this fast normally. If she did not wear a mask, everyone could see veins were bulging around her eyes as even blood fell down from her right eye. Seeing Alex like that released her limiter and squished every speck of her energy, forcing the invasion in their body and finally killing the rest of the disciples.
"Break! Vitality Strike!" Without anyone noticing, the first elder had destroyed the Gathering Array and without energy supply, his Vitality Strike was enough to break the barrier.
"!!!" The first elder escaped with Raku on his hand before anyone could react.
"Cha-" Before Anna could order a pursuit, a male voice echoed in everyone's ears.
"You dare to cause trouble in my city…"
Anna glanced, finding an old man with a thousand people with him. Their cultivation was at least Martial King, while the strongest was the old man, a 7-Star Martial Emperor.
"I am Neutral in this city, but since you create a ruckus in this city, then I will be forced to attack you. I don't care which influence you are as I will still attack you even if you come from Joyful Union Sect. Attack them!"
"Swinging Spear!"
"Torrential Wind."
"Blazing Fire!"
All the enemies shot out their respective attacks.
Greg stepped forward as he raised his shield.
"Fortress Form First Stage, Enhanced Wall."
A green barrier rose, stopping all attacks for a few seconds.
"Anna!" Anya instantly recognized the priority here. By looking at Anna's, Artur, and Greg's condition, it was better to stop fighting and run until Alex was healed.
Anna looked at her serious expression and commanded. "We are leaving."
Leoz grabbed Artur while Fabio carried Alex. Greg dissolved his barrier as they fled from the city.
Unfortunately, the city lord ordered a pursuit, making sure to kill an unknown party like them. The thing he said was only a pure bullsh*t as he decided the pursuit because they killed the original elder from Joyful Union Brothel.
Seeing the chase, Jeanne suddenly said, "I will hold the rear…"
They looked at Jeanne, knowing she felt guilty about this, but no one stopped her. Instead, Fabio and Vera came with her, "We are going too."
For once, they did not say those annoying Tsun-Tsun lines because they also held rage in their hearts at this moment.
Stina and Kyle also said, "We will help them too. Five of us should be enough to kill them."
"I will-" Sherry also wanted to go but was stopped by Stina. "It's alright. You need to go with him."
"..." Sherry glanced between Alex and Stina a few times before she decided to go with Alex.
After getting separated, Alex's group kept flying for a few hours before stopping in a forest where they decided to focus on healing Alex.
Not long after that, he finally opened his eyes. He was awake this entire time, but because he did not have enough energy and the wound was too deep, he could neither speak nor open his eyes. He was sad to make his spirits and contracted beasts like this.
"Alex!" Anna immediately hugged him gently, afraid of hurting him. Anya might have closed his wound, but his body should still hurt, so she did not dare to put any strength in this hug.
He smiled weakly, raising his hand bit by bit before putting it on Anna's head. "It seems I have troubled all of you…"
"No… We just miscalculated the opponent would do something like that." Anna shook her head furiously.
He closed his eyes for a few seconds before turning to Anya, "Thank you for healing me."
"I will commit suicide if you die, no matter others' opinions."
Alex smiled, tapping Anna's shoulder. She released her hug, afraid of hurting him, but Alex just wanted to take off her mask. He was sad, looking at the blood that had dried on her face. His hand tried to wipe the blood away but to no avail. "I am truly sorry…"
"Master-Wuu!" Sherry clung onto him.
'Her hands are shaking.' He noticed how worried she was and patted her head. "Sorry, Sherry."
"Still… Sword Emperor, huh…" Alex looked down, recalling everything about that 'Vitality Break.' "What is the qualification for the Sword Emperor?"
"It is…" The spirits wondered if they could answer this or not.
On the other hand, seeing this kind of reaction did not disappoint him. Instead, it slowly made him realize what he was exactly lacking. Though he did not really watch the first elder from up close, he noticed his battle with Jeanne.
He found nothing different in their fighting style, which meant Sword Emperor actually was no different than Sword King. Their strength came from another thing, which Alex had yet to realize.
"Sword Emperor… Vitality Break." Alex muttered to himself, gradually fell into deep thought. "Ah…"
The spirits were startled by the sudden realization, and looked at him with a worried expression. They feared Alex would be disappointed or anything, but all they saw was Alex's curious face.
He realized that when he looked at the Vitality Break, he could not understand its concept even a little bit. It should not be possible with his Sword Mastery, yet this Sword Technique could confuse him. "Sword… Sword Concept… No, Sword Technique… Is that the requirement to be a Sword Emperor?"
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmSince Anna and the others were indecisive, the system answered him.
[Host has figured it out, so I will explain it more to prevent any confusion. As a step to be peerless in the way of the sword, you need to make your own Sword Technique, the one that only you can use, your specialty. No requirement needed in your domain, but people usually can make their Sword Technique after reaching 500 meters domain.]
"I see. My domain has reached 500 meters not long ago, so I will try to reach the Sword Emperor stage before the war… Wait! I should also aim for the Spear Emperor stage, can't I?"
[Yes. Though a normal person could only make one Original Technique, you can make two with that perk of yours and use both weapons to do it. So, you will have two Original Techniques.]
"Alright. The target has been set."
[Good Luck.]
"Thank you."
Two hours later, Jeanne and the others had come back. It would seem they had truly killed all those people without leaving anyone behind, including the city lord. When Alex saw Jeanne, his heart was aching.
Jeanne was fully covered with blood from top to bottom. Alex sighed, knowing she would kill all of them recklessly. He could even picture it where Jeanne single-handedly killed half of them.
She kneeled on the ground, placing her head on the ground. If she were a normal person, the way she did it would be strong enough to make her head bleeding.
"Master, I deserve death." Tears fell to the ground as her body was shaking.
Alex only smiled, never putting any blame on her. He stretched his hand at her, asking, "Jeanne, can you come here?"
She did not rise for a minute before she moved toward him and kowtowed again. He still could not reach her, so he said, "Come a bit closer."
She was unsure but followed his order. Unexpectedly, before she put down her head again, Alex immediately hugged her with one hand, not letting her do it again. Even with the blood on her hair or body stuck on him, he did not care.
"Master, I am not worthy…" She struggled to break free. "I have almost killed you… The blood will also stick on you…"
"Calm down for a minute." Alex only smiled, talking to her with a gentle expression.
She kept struggling for a minute until she calmed down, afraid of hurting Alex.
"This is because I am weak, you can't change my opinion." Alex stated, "If you are going to hurt yourself like this, then it is the same as you hurting me. Remember, if I find you doing something like this again, I will also do the same, do you hear me?"
"I… I…"
"You all are my precious family… I can't stand when you hurt yourself like this." Alex sighed. Seeing her like this, he added, "With this, we know what we need to do. It is to get stronger than ever… Within the next five months, Leoz will become Martial Monarch while the rest of you shall at least become a 7-Star Martial Emperor. Are we clear?"
"Yes." All of them acknowledged his order.
"Thus… this is our fault Jeanne, not yours alone." He hugged her tightly, telling her it's fine.
"Master…" It might be the first time for everyone to see Jeanne crying. The guilt, anger, sadness, she released all of it with this cry.
Alex simply smiled, stroking her hair gently.