“Damn you!”
Before the sword could even finish speaking, Evans was the first to blow his top.
His black True Form manifested once again, puffing up like a pufferfish.
“Fine, fine. You're down to a broken piece of scrap metal and you still have consciousness. That's great.”
“Get the hell out here so I can keep beating you up!”
The longsword standing proudly in mid-air gave a disdainful, gentle buzz.
“Oh, youth, listen to yourself.”
Without a physical body, the Sword-man's punchable, youthful voice sounded even clearer and more roguish:
“Right now, there's no body to be found, only this one sword. If you want a fight, come hit this blade.”
“Just a heads-up, kids should be careful when playing with sharp objects. Don't go cutting yourself, now.”
Evans grew even angrier upon hearing this. He extended a limb and pointed at the crack on his body, which was still crackling with a faint green sword light:
“Come here and look! Does this look like a scratch to you?!”
“Now that your damn experiment is over, what else do you have to say?”
“I was wrong.”
The Sword-man... no, the sword in the sky instantly capitulated.
The reply was incredibly swift and neat, without a single shred of pride.
“How about this? Once my human form grows back in a couple of days, I'll go to your doorstep and kneel there for three days and three nights. Sound good?”
Evans hadn't expected him to yield so quickly and choked on his words.
As the saying goes, a shameless man is invincible. But looking at it now, a shameless sword was also invincible.
What was more, this thing didn't even have a face.
“No, you're a sword! What's the point of you kneeling? How is that any different from just putting an empty shell in front of me?!”
Evans bellowed in anger as he finally realized the absurdity.
Ren Yi watched the two of them from the side.
Really, how should he put it?
When these two were fighting, they looked earth-shatteringly cool and overflowed with murderous intent. So why on earth did they both have to have mouths?
The moment they started bickering, their imposing auras completely vanished.
Meanwhile, the flying sword seemed to grow a little impatient. It spun around in the air and mumbled indifferently:
“Uh... or how about I let you beat me to death again once I grow back?”
“Anyway, you can sit tight and think about how you want to vent your anger while I finish my business.”
Evans grew alert. His black liquid instantly retracted, and his entire body tensed.
“Sit tight and think? What do you mean by that?”
In an instant, a blinding green light began to shimmer once more on the ancient, simple blade that had previously gone dark, its sharp, fierce aura climbing rapidly.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Didn't we already verify everything?” Evans's voice rose an octave.
“Yes, yes, yes. You've been slashed, so there's nothing left for you to do here.”
The Sword-man spoke in a lighthearted tone, as if coaxing a child.
“You go take a break. Let me have a chat with your little buddy.”
At the same time, Ren Yi felt a cold lock-on land on him, as if something sharp was pressing right against his forehead.
“Then again, little thing... what on earth are you?”
The Sword-man's tone turned dangerous, though a hint of curiosity lurked beneath it.
“How strange. I've never seen you before... not in any of the eras.”
“I should know about every Anomaly in this world.”
Ren Yi remained silent, having absolutely no intention of answering him.
However, the Sword-man clearly didn't care about his attitude in the slightest, continuing to talk to himself:
“Forget it, it doesn't matter.”
“Since you're Evans's buddy, no matter what you are, I'll treat you fairly.”
“I'll give you a slash too to make sure you aren't that guy. Once that's done, we'll be friends.”
“Don't worry. Seeing how misty and ephemeral you look, you don't seem like the type of unlucky bastard who'd die from a single slash.”
At this point, the longsword in the air paused slightly, a hint of apology creeping into its tone:
“Well, Evans, my bad.”
“This little buddy of yours is a bit hard to pin down.”
“This Sword Immortal is extremely unsure right now whether the one I'm looking at is the real deal.”
“So, I'll have to redo what I just did.”
“If he gets hit again this time, I'll... I'll just kneel in front of your house for a few more days.”
“Do you even hear yourself right now?!”
Evans roared in anger, throwing himself in front of Ren Yi without a second thought.
Ren Yi finally understood.
This Sword-man fellow must have some sort of obsession with “slashing everyone in the world.”
Whenever he met someone he didn't recognize, he would just slash them to test them out. It was simple, crude, and utterly devoid of any technical skill.
Unfortunately, Ren Yi was really not good at dealing with this type of opponent who possessed overwhelmingly powerful frontal attack capabilities.
Moreover, this guy had already realized he might be under the influence of some ability, so he simply gave up on distinguishing truth from falsehood and went straight for a full-map area-of-effect attack.
No matter where the real body was hidden, covering the entire map would get the job done.
Was this slash really unavoidable?
Ren Yi's thoughts spun rapidly.
The sword energy began to condense layer by layer, but right at that moment...
The Sword-man suddenly noticed that something in his surroundings seemed to have changed slightly.
“I say... little thing, stop hiding. Just cooperate a bit.”
The Sword-man was still muttering, his tone even carrying a coaxing quality.
“My control is excellent, I definitely won't slash you to death... wait...?”
Before he could finish his sentence, the Sword-man's voice abruptly choked up.
A subtle, chilling dread suddenly arose from the depths of his soul, spreading numbly through the entire sword.
He felt as if the surrounding world had suddenly gone quiet.
Did something appear?
No, there was nothing at all.
Did that little thing conjure up some terrifying trick?
Honestly, this Sword Immortal already knows my senses are compromised. Nothing can affect... me.
The green light condensing on the sword's blade trembled violently, growing chaotic.
He stiffly tilted slightly.
Not far to his side and front, something existed.
No, rather, something had vanished.
This space was already empty enough, but compared to what the sword “saw” at this moment, that emptiness was incredibly noisy.
The thin air, the distant passages, and even the darkness itself felt crowded and loud.
Yet in the direction he “looked,” there was nothing.
The sword felt his consciousness slowly freezing.
Like being on a perfectly smooth curved surface with absolutely no support, slowly and uncontrollably sliding down into the abyss below.
There was no friction, no foothold, and absolutely nothing to grasp.
The sword muttered.
“Nothingness...”
...
Outside, within Ren Yi and Evans's field of vision.
The sword shuddered violently.
Suddenly, the swirling green sword light vanished completely, like a candle blown out by the wind.
Then, the entire sword plummeted lifelessly from the air, like an ordinary, inanimate object.
The fully-alert Evans was stunned, and Ren Yi didn't react immediately either.
He even suspected that the Sword-man was playing dead to trick him.
After all, this guy had just shown off his “Phase Two,” so it wasn't impossible for him to pull out a “Phase Three.”
It wasn't until the sword plunged straight down, falling deeper and deeper, that it almost slipped out of his range of perception.
Only then did Ren Yi snap out of it, using the Withered Claw to grab it back in one swift motion.
They were situated on a fold on the side of this space, resembling a small platform on the edge of a cliff.
Ren Yi warily threw the sword a bit further away to prevent it from suddenly attacking again.
Following his toss, the sword rolled on the ground a few times, making a few muffled clashing noises before coming to a lifeless halt.
Nothing happened.
The sword lay motionless on the cold, grayish-white ground.
It seemed to be completely dead.
Beside him, Evans looked at Ren Yi, then at the completely lifeless sword.
Suddenly shrinking in size, Evans silently slid away, retreating into the deeper parts of the fold and completely leaving the space in the middle to Ren Yi and the seemingly dead sword.
Ren Yi had no time to worry about Evans.
Although the illusion from just now had lasted only a brief moment, it had actually consumed a significant amount of his power, leaving him somewhat weak.
But the result...
He looked at the motionless sword and fell into deep thought.
Didn't I just use the appearance of Pops' True Form to scare you a little?
Was that really necessary?
Rate on N.U.
