There was only the single Swordman remaining now, but I knew it could defeat me in a fair physical fight unless I used my powers.
I shouldn't take any risks. Really, I should just fly away and blast it with a divine bolt of lightning.
But a part of me knew I would never get the chance to fight an opponent like that back in the camp. The warrior was clearly very high level in swordsmanship, probably even above my Spear-wielding. Around Lvl 5 or 6 in master realm maybe. It could teach me a lot.
Not with my spear, but with my sword. Plus, I wouldn't have to hold back my physical might like I had to do with Luke nowadays.
I closed my eyes, still hanging in the air, and instinctively knew what to do. I Willed the change to happen, and waited for my spear to change into its sword form.
But I knew it wasn't a sword before I even opened my eyes. I had an intimate connection with the weapon and I could feel that it was back in its base glove form, and the glove looked like it was trying to separate into two.
The weapon was asking me to...touch it?
A little uncertain, I glanced at the glass panel where Hephaestus stood.
"Touch the glove, boy! With the other hand I mean!" The god bellowed, confirming what my instincts were saying.
I did as was instructed, and with surprising fluidity, ths glove divided into two parts, covering both of my hands. I thought about wanting a sword, and this time both the gloves started to change together.
Again, the colour remained the same; Twin snow white handles, looking like they were made out of the whitest piece of bone.
As for the blades, they glowed with a golden aura, the Celestial Bronze looking more like an extremely expensive and purest form of gold. The lightning-bolt shaped runes further enhanced the swords beauty by twinkling in a bluish hue.
They were majestic short swords and their balance was light and absolutely perfect to be wielded with one hand.
But of course, they were twin blades. I was proficient in using them, but not as good as I was with a single sword.
Instantly, the swords started melting again, with the golden blades suddenly gravitating towards each other, and I instinctively knew to touch them together.
Both the blades melted into each other, and coalesced together to form a similar looking white and gold sword, except it was more heavier, and clearly a long sword.
I glanced appreciatively at Hephaestus. The god truly outdid himself in making my weapon.
I decided to fight with the twin blades this time. I was happy to know it had both options, but I was trying to increase my swordsmanship here. And two swords were better than one in capable hands.
The sword warrior had thrown the spear aside when it saw me coming down with swords of my own. Maybe it wanted a good fight too.
Who knows.
The moment my feets touched the ground, the being was upon me with a strong horizontal slash of it's Greatsword.
I jumped backwards, not wanting to even deflect such a heavy strike, before closing the distance again and unleashing a quick stab to the head.
Of course, the warrior simply tilted slightly before striking at my extended arm. But my other sword deflected it's strike while I tried to kick my opponent back. The hit didn't connect, because the being backed off on it's own.
And then the duel restarted in ernest.
It came at me with a right feint before going left, and I shifted my position and guard accordingly, but the swordsman again abandoned it's attack mid-strike, changing the direction of it's strike from my shoulder to my head, and I barely managed to lower myself as the sword zoomed past over me. It's elbow suddenly struck down and managed to graze my head slightly, forcing me to leap away in retreat, feeling just a little dizzy.
The being was better than me. Much much better. And also more stronger. But that's why I was still fighting it, wasn't it? Even Luke couldn't give me a proper challenge now due to the huge difference in our physical stats. This right here, was a golden opportunity for me.
Or so I said to convince myself to not just give up in the middle and blast the thing off in a gust of stormy winds.
I initiated the bout this time, charging with a feint of my own as I stabbed my sword to its right knee before swinging outwards at its head.
It dodged both the strikes with little to no trouble. Even the feint.
But I kept up the pressure, wanting to keep a close gap between us this time so that my short height and lower range wouldn't work against me.
I stabbed at it's head once again, while my other sword deflected the blade that was going to block the head strike.
The being jerked back its head in time to let my blade pass through before launching a rough kick and I was forced to stop pressing my advantage in favor of dodging. Normally I would've tanked the kick to my stomach, and took the opportunity to press ahead.
But this being was too strong for me to perform such risky moves.
[Skill Leveled Up: Swordsmanship] Lvl 9
And the effects were already showing itself. Nice.
We re-engaged again, and this time the warrior wasn't playing around. It closed in with two consecutive feints, both of which I recognised and didn't fell for, before slicing at my thigh. I managed to deflected the blade to a side, but it spun around using the deflection to launch a spinning kick at me while bringing it's sword swinging back at my throat simultaneously.
It spun so fast that I didn't have time to take advantage of what would normally be a stupid move. In return however, it's strikes picked up a solid amount of momentum and power.
I managed to deflect the blade, barely but surely, before sending electric discharge coursing down my sword as I dodged back to avoid the kick. The slight shock that it's body experienced, for less than a millisecond, was enough for me to dodge out of the way as the ground cracked under its kick.
I decided to stop the training time and go all out. I already got a level, no need to get my bones broken by being greedy.
And thus, I summoned the lightning storm around me. And it formed almost instantly. My divine weapon actually helped me control the entire storm precisely.
This was a skill that I could perform anywhere I wanted, sort of like my new bread and butter technique. It was like creating my own domain where I was the god.
Flashes of lightning glowed around me in a vortex even as the wind whipped the dust in a tornado. And now, with the help of my weapon, I can create it incredibly easily.
When the being met me again, I knew which of its strikes were feints and which were the true ones with barely a trouble.
While the storm wasn't very successful in slowing or deflecting the being's strikes by themselves (I suspected the bastard's spirit was atleast 400, to remain so unaffected), they still constantly produced electricity that shocked the warrior every few seconds.
It recovered too quickly, but I still got opportunities to strike and damage it, before finally, after a particularly challenging exchange of slashes, thrusts, parries and blocks, I managed to create a fabulous opportunity and thrust one of my swords in its skull. My meter long blade slid inside the metal like it were made of wax, and the sight sent shivers of jubilation down my spine.
My weapon was op.
[Skill Leveled Up: Swordsmanship] Lvl 10
Wait what? Two level ups in combat skill from a single battle? This was a first for sure.
[Challenge Complete: Defeat the mechanical warriors]
Rewards: 2 to all Combat Skills
Bonus Reward [First Challenge]–
1 Level
Oooh yes, baby. Plus a free level? Sweet generous system, I would never badmouth you again, even in my mind. Promise.
"Well done, lad. Now come back here." The god announced, sounding annoyed.
With a satisfied smile, I flew towards him, entering the glass panel. "That was harder than I thought it would be, but not as hard as I thought it could've been after my first exchange with that super strong metallic swordsman."
The god huffed, shaking his head. "It was supposed to be impossible, boy. You weren't supposed to defeat them, they are Ares' toys. Guess those wings give a much larger boost than I first thought, huh. And what was that sphere of power that you created? You fought like a god inside that thing."
"I call it the lightning storm." I responded absently, raising my swords to stare at them.
They were just too beautiful, and deserved all the fawning they could get. "And why did you give a task you thought I'd fail anyway?"
"Well, it was supposed to be a lesson." The god replied with a frown, confirming my suspicions. "That no matter how good your weapon is, you shouldn't get a...big head?...or some-such bullshit..I forgot. Well basically, father wanted you to understand what a weapon is for, and not rely on it too much. I couldn't care less. As long as you make a name for yourself and promote my creation, I couldn't give two shits how much you rely on it."
I couldn't help but chuckle at that.
"I had my own reason to choose those things too. I wasn't joking when I said those things are his toys, lad. Ares may be a dumb little shit, but he is still a god, an Olympian god. The things you struggled against? He smacks them around to feel good about himself whenever someone embarrasses him. Only go after him when you could do the same."
I nodded. I wasn't going to face a god till I reached lvl 600 anyway. I could defeat these things at lvl 430, so I had no doubt I'd be able to 'smack them around' at lvl 600.
"Now lad, come with me. I've got a lot to tell you about your weapon."
And with that, we walked towards yet another different door. All the while I was stroking my weapon, thinking a good name for it.
"First thing first, lad. Your weapon is permanently laced with manticore poison and further strengthened by the shell of karkinos. You didn't get to check it cause those toys you were fighting are metallic. And this goes for all three forms, yeah even the bow form. Whatever arrow you shoot will be laced with poison without assistance. So don't use your weapon in practice duels unless you want your friends to writhe on the ground in pain."
Oh, the bow form! I hadn't even checked it yet. With but a thought, I let my twin blades change shape. They again combined together, and i looked at the process closely.
It felt so-o-o satisfying to observe the white and gold metal melt down like butter and combining with each other mid-air as if gravity had no hold on them.
The swirling blue lights too remained mid-air, like magical floating lines.
They then formed a pure white bow, with a golden string. At the front of the bow's body, was a small miniature head of the manticore, with its mouth open and dripping poison.
"Remember I made you show your demonic powers last month?" The god asked as we reentered his storage room."Well, the bow plays very well with that. You just gotta form arrows, any type you want, and the moment you load them onto the bow, that golden string will give your arrow tips a Celestial bronze coating, and that miniature manticore will lace them with poison. Remember though, the poison will dry out in half a decade, so come back here for me to reapply it."
"This is so amazing." I whispered, touching the manticore's tiny head. It was just a 3 inch head attached to the front of the bow, but it was wet with the original things poison.
"Next, and the most important part, is it's identity as a divine weapon. No questions now. I don't like them when I explain things like this. I'm not very good at this, so only use your ears for now."
He took a deep breath and restarted again. "Father said you've got divine authority in your veins. So you're like a minor-god without a divine form right now. Which is why I made this weapon worthy of a god. A demigod could never hope to weild it. When you start accessing your divine authority and godly form in full, the weapon would help you guide it, control it. Perhaps your divine form will even be as strong as an Olympian's one day. And your weapon will match your might toe-to-toe."
That was a lot to take in. I've never really considered forming my own divine form but it would be a huge power-up if I could achieve it. 100 instant levels? Yes, please. Its like going super Saiyan mode. Though a minor god's divine form was only 50, it was still op as well.
Whatever level of divine form I created, it'll be like having a superior version of my wings stacking on an already op set.
"Well that's about it really. Oh yeah, take this list too. Your monster parts were a massive help in creating this weapon, so if you want an Armor just as grand as your weapon, you must defeat these creatures yourself and bring the trophies to me."
I looked down at the list given and quickly scanned the monsters that I'll need to hunt.
'Medusa's Head, Nemean Lion's pelt, Chimera's Blood'
"...Fine." As long as they were tier 4 and 5, I'll gladly fight them. Though even Tier 6, if I was looking for a challenge.
"Good. Come visit me in my forge under mount St. Helen if you need me. I don't work in this palace that much."
"Sure." I replied absently because suddenly a perfect name for my divine weapon entered my mind.
Stormbreaker.