Meanwhile back at the underground lab of the Azure Dragon Clan. Glaze was standing in front of the tube with a teenage girl inside. The girl was staring back hatefully at Glaze. Ever since his fight with Sin, Glaze had been mulling over himself many times. He had come to the answer he had known all along.
Glaze punched the tube, just as the girl was about to slit his throat, Glaze put his hands up in the air saying. "I don't expect you to believe me, but I am here to set you free."
Glaze held a key in his hand, sticking it into the bomb collar around the girls neck. The bomb collar was deactivated, then he pushed another button deactivating the chip inside the girls brain. There would be no one to control her anymore.
The girl look at Glaze with disbelieving eyes. "Why are you letting me go, after all your plans to use me to harm my own big brother!?"
Glaze looked the girl in the eyes. "Jasmine, your brother is a man who has been through enough in life. I cannot made up for my misdeeds of 'killing' and sending you to this world. But I am no longer willing to be a pawn in this cruel game. Go to the Vermilion Bird Clan, Sin will be back in 8 days."
Glaze winked out of the underground lab, leaving the stunned Jasmine behind. She was in a emotional state. "Big brother it's been a long 10 years of suffering. Do you still remember me?"
--------------------------------
When Sin reopened his eyes, a world of blades radiating blue white aura was all he could see for over 15 kilometers. All of these swords looked the exact same, and had the exact same spirit as his Soul Weapon.
Sin locked onto one that felt the most 'real' walking over and picking it up. A enemy appeared in his sight.
Name: Mystic Blade Spirit Puppet
Level: 15
Health: 150,000
Mana: 150,000
Strength: 110
Intelligence: 110
Dexterity: 150
Agility: 150
Then a log appeared in his vision.
[You have entered the Mystic Blade World. You must find your real Soul Weapon within 5 days. Failure to do so destroys your Soul Weapon, you lose the chance to inherit the Mystic Blade Disciple class, all stats permanently reduced by 70 points. Be warned, the more Mystic Blade Spirit Puppets you kill, the stronger they become. Defeat the Mystic Blade Spirit Puppet King to increase your evaluations final score.]
A giant timer appeared in the sky displaying 120 hours worth of time left. Wielding a clone of his Soul Weapon, a world of limitless enemies corresponding to the number of cloned weapons. This was the perfect chance to refine his Blood Dragon Sword Methods.
Previously Sin had only fought weaker, or overwhelmingly stronger enemies. This was the perfect range for mastering the remaining paths. Back on earth he had already mastered the Water, Sky, Fire and Spirit paths. All that was left was Earth and Heart paths.
Wielding his 'clone' weapon, Sin felt his Mana automatically rotate. Sin felt a feeling of connection with this clone, as if it were an extension of his own arm. There was that sense of familiarity, the sword was him, and he was the sword. Sins eyes began having a white-blue hue appear within, every flaw, misstep, error in Mana flow became a visual to his eyes.
Sin slashed downwards, shattering the Mystic Blade Spirit Puppets weapon. Throwing his weapon behind himself, Sin catches it with his left hand mid somersault. Sins weapon slashed out three times on the weak points on the puppet.
[Blood Dragon Eviscerating Night]
Flexing his arm, Sin swiped up with all his might, cleaving the puppet in half from bottom to top. Sins weapon blazed with a fiery aura, a flaming blade appeared high in the sky. Exploding into a shower containing thousands of smaller flaming blades.
[Blood Dragons Fire Path: Midday Solar Rain]
The puppet was wiped out in less than 45 seconds, Sins eyes returned to normal. The whole time this was happening, his mind was void of thought, planning, real-time combat analysis and many other factors that normally play in his mind.
It was a mystical state, he and his weapon became a single being. Both operated off of their desire, and the fastest way to wipe out the enemy. Sin looked at his 'cloned weapon' it was fading into particles of light.
Looking at it fading away, Sin kept the remaining half of it in his Dimensional bag, to his surprise it appeared and had a number 1 out of 100,000 beside it, its description showed its value immediately.
[Mystic Blade Sword Heart Fragment: 1/100,000. Collect all 100,000 to relive the Sword Heart memories within. This is the Sword Heart formed by the Mystic Blade Empress. Each individuals Sword Heart is unique to oneself, take care to only study and not replicate someone else's abilities. To become a true Sword Heart practitioner, one must believe in their companion and own abilities!]
Sin picked up the next weapon, extending his senses to the peak. Sin felt that connection appear again, the sword was him, and he was the sword. However, he could no longer accurately judge the weak points like before. It were as if a gate was blocking his path.
Sin stopped himself from consciously focusing on it, all that mattered was he felt that state. It was just a matter of time until it became reflex. Sins mind formed a battlefield, locking onto the puppet Sins mind began it's analysis. Standing still with eyes closed, the puppet began its onslaught on Sin.
Sin deflected every blow, attacking when he found the right opening. Throwing the puppet off balance Sins aura retracted, once again becoming calm like the ocean without any waves. Just as the puppet began its motion, Sin slashed out ahead of time, shattering its weapon. Sins subconscious started flowing outside of his body, with every move in the environment, Sin weaved in and out through the particles. Arriving in front of the puppets body, Sins sheathe slammed into its stomach, blowing a hole through it. Unsheathing his blade, Sins Sword Qi formed a straight arrow before diverging into multiple paths. The puppet fell apart in pieces, Sin put away the sword clone, adding one more to his 100,000 goal.
Sins Mana turned into multiple hands, reaching out grabbing 25 swords in a split second. His Mana formed a pool with 24 floating beside him, 25 puppets formed and swarmed towards Sin. Weaving in and out of the clones like shadow boxing, Sin was slashing out, deflecting, piercing, and guiding the puppets to attack each other. Sins Mana was flowing smoother with each passing second, various variables and weak points were exposed to Sin.
Sins body was like he was dunking his head bobbing for apples. His Sword Qi formed a tight fit star, with every movement in the environment, Sin unconsciously reacted shattering weapons, tearing puppets apart.
Sins eyes opened blazing in a white-blue hue, the flow of Mana was shown in his vision. Sins eyes were lifeless, but his mind subconscious was operating his body like a professional Gundam pilot. Sins Mana surged picking up another 50 swords, 50 new puppets formed. The battlefields grid in Sins mind expanded, he felt his brain throb as it was dealing with 75 moving beings, the environmental particles, the flow of the wind and moving clouds.
Sins body was moving 150 times a second, orchestrating the battlefield to his musical. Dangs and clangs resounded out, shattered swords like the beat of the drums. Sin imposed his will, interchanging his weapon between heavy like mountains, and light like a birds feathers.
After 2 minutes, 75 fragments were now in his inventory. Sins body was soaked in sweat, his mind throbbing but excitement was seen within his eyes. Sin stood still for many minutes letting his brain cool off. Sins Mana surged out grabbing 100 swords this time, to push your limits you must face danger. Sins brain screamed like a steam whistle, his subconscious expanded out of his body, his consciousness was like a door stopper between the two gates.
After destroying 85 puppets, Sins body spasmed as over 15 swords left deep scars on his body. Sins consciousness rocked as the battlefield grid in his mind vanished, Sins subconscious returned to his body exhausted. Sin made quick work finishing off the remaining puppets.
Sin combined the Sky and Water paths, wings of ice spread out from his back as a crystalline ice armour covered him, freezing the bleeding wounds. Sin froze each puppet before shattering the sculptures, looting his fragments Sin sat down regaining his composure. After another 5 minutes Sin rinsed and repeated the same process.
After three hours Sin managed to gather 2,000 fragments, the Mystic Blade Spirit Puppets were now becoming stronger, more intelligent, Sin noticed his abilities were being absorbed by the Mystic Blade World. Each wave of puppets were slowly becoming a perfect reflection of his own abilities.
Name: Mystic Blade Spirit Puppet
Level: 20
Health: 185,000
Mana: 185,000
Strength: 130
Intelligence: 130
Dexterity: 170
Agility: 170
The pressure from stronger puppets was pushing Sin into overdrive. Eventually he was able to learn how to swap himself in and out of that mystical state. Sin had gathered a mob of over 175 puppets, it would take him 2 minutes to wipe out 90 of them, he could maintain his state for a max of 143 seconds. Each wave he wiped out he was beginning to expand the time he could stay in his state.
After another 3 hours, Sin had managed to gain 5,750 fragments, he could now hold the state for 4 minutes straight. The mobs he had been pulling had increased to 325. Sins Sword Qi was becoming diverse, every second that passed he was becoming used to switching paths and techniques on the fly. His ability of judgement and analysis was improving at breakneck speeds.
Finally after gathering a total of 8,000 fragments, Sin was faced with a new challenger after pulling his weapon out.
Name: Mystic Blade Spirit King Puppet
Level 30:
Health: 425,000
Mana: 425,000
Strength: 225
Intelligence: 225
Agility: 265
Dexterity: 265
There was a wave of 125 Mystic Blade Spirit King Puppets. A new notification appeared in his vision.
[Defeat this wave to gain a 10% completion rate towards your final grade. Reward: 2,500 Mystic Blade Sword Heart Fragments, evaluation increased to E rank.]
Sin looked at the new horde, excitement and fighting intent was ignited within himself. The exhaustion was washed away within an instant, the dragon energy the Dragon Scale Diagram absorbed previously started flooding through Sins being. Filling Sin with the stamina of a dragon, high pitched notes were sounding out from within Sins body. His genes were hungrily devouring the dragons energy, turning it into their own fuel to evolve to a higher level.
The battlefield grid rebuilt itself in Sins mind, working up and increasing his tolerance pulling larger mobs. Sins brain was no longer short circuiting, despite the Mystic Blade Spirit King Puppets having mastery over the Sky and Fire paths. Sin had no fear of them, their stats were increased. But a clone of himself was nothing else but partial.
This time, Sin was no longer interested in making fast work of the mob, Sin charged forward pulling one and manipulating the others to his will. Sin bobbed and weaved through the crowd, each king puppet had a different method of the Sky and Fire paths techniques. It gave Sin new insights and ways to combine both paths.
When Sin had killed 10, he felt the remaining puppets had gotten stronger and smarter. It seemed they were of a single unit, what the others experienced fighting Sin would then be imparted to the remaining live puppets. If that were the case, the final five puppets would be about 6 times as smart, and harder to win over. That was of course, if the fallen did not contribute to their remaining allies, it may even pass the threshold Sin could handle.
After 4 minutes, Sin was still in control of the mystical state, over the many hours of training. Sin had been able to switch between his consciousness, and subconscious to control his body. Each mode of operation had it's benefits and its flaws, Sin was challenging himself to be able to operate in both modes at the same time. This however, taxed his brain easily overriding his control, only giving him 45 seconds of time at max.
The gates were opening wider, but there was still much to learn. Whenever Sin felt like he was just on the point of a breakthrough, the feeling would disappear. While it was frustrating, shit happens. "force a relationship too much and it'll turn to shit." Sins father had always advised him.
Sin wielded the clone this time without expanding unnecessary Mana, there would be no need for it this time. Sin ran forward clashing blade with blade, side stepping 2 inches the attack aimed at Sin ripped through the Spirit King Puppet in front of him. Sin isolated that Spirit King Puppet, focusing all his attacks on it and defense in the surrounding.
Imposing his will, Sin felt a change this time. The pressure was making his will waver, but nonetheless Sin was not one to take no for an answer when it comes to his own abilities. Sins Mana surged as his aura became incredibly dense and elastic. Sins aura converged with his sword, his Mana formed an outer layer on his weapon. Sins eyes blazed with the hue of blue, Sin found there was a thin red line inside the carapace of the Spirit King Puppet.
Sin cleaved his weapon downwards, cutting through the red line. The Spirit King Puppet blew up like a fuse which had just been ignited. Jumping upwards, Sin shot his legs downwards pushing a sword into the ground. Sins eyes focused finding the red thin line again, slashing out with extreme speed that formed a cyclone pushing back the 113 other Spirit King Puppets.
Without further explanation the Spirit King Puppet had blown up.
Sins head was starting to ache and throb, but he bit through the pain. While he had only just experienced this sensation, it would quickly disappear without further meat to the broth. Sin locked onto 13 puppets remembering the configuration of their sequences.
Sin flew forward like a floating cherry blossom during a storm, Sin slayed the 8 puppets, increasing the intelligence of the remaining 105 puppets once again. Before Sin could sever their sequence structure, they had moved it to unknown parts in their body. Sin was losing grips over his state, but his body had simultaneously moved behind one of the Spirit King Puppets. Slashing its calf open it blew up.
The remaining had backed off, they channeled their energy into one single unity. The Spirit King Puppet used [Infernal Sword Blaze] of the Fire path. Sin watched on as he let the energy gather forming around the Spirit King Puppets weapon.
Sin followed suit using his own [Infernal Sword Blaze] it's density was thrice as dense. Sins blade wafted out flames of death, as he clashed weapons with the Spirit King Puppet. He felt the dense essence of the Sky path hidden within. A torrent of wind blades exploded out aiming at all sure kill spots on Sins body.
Sins body flashed and danced about, dodging each before stabbing the Spirit King Puppet through the left eye blowing it up. Sin licked the blood rolling down his cheek. The murderous beast within Sin had tasted blood and was roaring to go.
Sin spent the next 15 minutes killing the remaining 100 Spirit King Puppets. The last 5 had become a force to sweat about.
One of the puppets talked somewhat shocking Sin.
"If you wish to give up this challenge now, your time to do so is now. From here on out, each one of us you kill will only make the others that much stronger."
Sin flew forward smashing his fist into the talkative Spirit King Puppets face. Sin grabbed the puppets arm before leaping over its body, a loud snap was heard as the puppets arm was twisted backwards. Sin stood parallel behind the puppet, threw his elbow backwards caving in the back of the puppets head. Dropping his body to the ground avoiding its follow up attack. Sin got into a handstand formation, locking the Spirit King Puppets head in a X lock. Using his abdominal strength, the puppet was thrown down to the ground. Sin back flipped with his weapon drawn, stabbing downwards through the puppets head.
At the last moment its sequence structure shifted throughout its body. Sin combined his consciousness and subconscious together. His blade chased the sequence structure like a fish in water, severing through it like a heater knife through butter. The talkative Spirit King Puppet became an explosion of nuts and bolts.
Sin stood up with his weapon pointed at the remaining Spirit King Puppets. "If you wish to talk, you had best learn to clean your mouth of the shit you spew. Now let's finish this!"
Sin charged forward, with both hands on his weapon. Sin did a 180 degree turn with his weapon cleaving through the breastplate of the closest puppet. Sin straightened his body out, imposing his will and Sword Qi into his weapon, Sin slashed down with all his might. A loud "BOOM" was heard like the clap of thunder.
Sin ducked his body, with his sword turned upright Sins knee smashed its hilt. Piercing through the arm of another Spirit King Puppet. Throwing his weapon up into the air, Sin used [Void Steps] appearing mid air with weapon in hand, slashing through another Spirit King Puppet.
Sins weapon was held diagonally behind his back, bouncing off a blade that was aiming for his neck. Back stepping in a capital S position, Sin appeared behind the attacking Spirit King Puppet. Grabbing it by the forehead with his left hand, Sins right hand eviscerated the head off of the body. Sin jumped backwards kicking out with both legs, launching the body forward into another approaching Spirit King Puppet.
Sin turned his neck backwards, seeing the reformed Spirit King Puppet he blew up.
"How was your trip to blow up city?" Sin smiled provoking it.
"If you think that's enough to eradicate the 5 of us, you're sadly mistaken."
Sin looked forward seeing the other 2 reform in perfect shape.
"Hoh now this is fun, undying puppets? Perfect!"
Sins switch in his mind flipped, his killing intent billowed out causing the Mystic Blade World to rock. The Mystic Blade Empress who created the world, was sipping tea with a man in her courtyard. The Mystic Blade Empresses face changed to a look of shock.
Seeing this the man asked her worriedly. "What's wrong my wife?" This man is the one who has been training Merala.
The Mystic Blade Empress took out a mystic ball from her dimensional bag. Within was Sin and his billowing killing intent, behind him was a mountain of corpses, rivers of blood, guts and dismembered bodies littered the 'battlefield' behind himself.
The Mystic Blade Empress smiled. "My disciple is a rather interesting human isn't he husband?"
The man looked and his eyes nearly shot out of their sockets. "What the fuck! The husband is so much more terrifying than the wife is!"
The Mystic Blade Empress was shocked. "What do you mean by the husband is much more terrifying than the wife is?"
The man replied. "About 13 days ago they chanced upon my Tower Of Sword Heart, it was him and his wife. I took his wife as my personal disciple, one of the ancient swords in my possession had called out to her. So I have decided to take his wife as my direct disciple. What's shocking is that you picked his husband out as your disciple, and he is much more terrifying than his wife is."
The Mystic Blade Empress smiled widely. "So not only am I stronger than you, better in bed, I also got the better disciple!"
The man frowned, cursing Sin for the comment he just got from his wife.
The remaining Spirit King Puppets showed traces of fear.
Sin seeing this once again voiced out. "So it seems even once dumb beings can sense fear. Very good, maybe this instinct you have developed may keep you alive longer!"
Sin flashed forward, his weapon was wrapped in a baleful red hue. Slashing down on the nearest Spirit King Puppet, his baleful aura had contaminated the spirit mark placed on its body. Sin tore his weapon through the puppets breastplate, severing the sequence structure. This time the puppet didn't reform.
"So it seems when you fear death, you become just like the others huh?" Sin smashed his fist through a Spirit King Puppets head. His hand lit up in flames while his weapon snaked through its body. Sin contained his killing intent, sure enough after keeping interest in the puppet it reformed 3 minutes later.
Sin unleashed his killing intent as he slaughtered the remaining 4 with ease. When he finished his challenge there were logs waiting for him.
[Congratulations! You have completed your challenge.]
[Congratulations! you have risen to E rank. Rewards: 2,500 Sword Heart Fragments, +15 points to all stats, Physique +5 points, Comprehension +5 points, 2,375,000 Experience Points.]
Sin was overjoyed, during the fight he found his killing intent was able to be controlled under the mystical state. Normally when unleashing it, Sin would become a beast that lived only for slaughter. But now, he would be able to truly unleash it to his hearts content, while also being in complete control of himself. This was his biggest weakness.
Sin was a trained killer on earth, and claimed well over 125,000 lives. The brutality and killing intent had seeped into his very being. Think of it like this, if you were a chef and one day you lost your hands. That would cut off your lively hood, all your life you practiced becoming a better chef. How could you ignore that calling? It was similar to Sins case, he craved for killing and wreaking havoc. It had been deeply ingrained into his being.