The Empire’s Six Forms were Shave, Tempest Kick, Sky Step, Finger Pistol, Paper Art, and Iron Body.
Each had a different use.
Shave was a technique for extreme speed movement. It allowed the user to burst forward with astonishing speed in an instant. Its weakness was that it only worked over short distances and could not be maintained for long.
Because Shave was so fast, it looked almost like teleportation. The stronger the user, the faster the burst.
Tempest Kick released high speed slashes and shock waves through rapid kicking techniques. In terms of destructive power, it was the strongest of the Six Forms.
Sky Step was a further development of Shave. Not only did it give the user high speed movement, it also allowed them to walk through the air.
It could be considered an upgraded form of both Shave and Tempest Kick, using the recoil of shock waves to gain the ability to step through the air for a short time.
Finger Pistol was simpler.
A pure attack technique.
After long training, the user could unleash bullet like force through a finger, with extremely powerful piercing ability.
Paper Art was a purely defensive technique. Those who trained in it gained a body with extraordinary flexibility, allowing them to make movements ordinary people could never manage in order to avoid enemy attacks.
When used together with Observation Haki, its effect became even more formidable.
As for Iron Body, it hardened the muscles by changing breathing and concentrating strength, granting powerful defense.
Its flaw was that the user could not move while using it.
Most of the time, that turned them into a target.
The defense was indeed strong, but the risk in actual battle was extremely high.
Once an attack surpassed the user’s limit, Iron Body would be broken through, and the person using it might very well lose their life.
Because of that, unless there was truly no other choice, Imperial officers rarely used Iron Body.
It was a lesson written in blood by those who had learned it with their own bodies.
Several youths from the training base used Shave and rushed to Caelum’s side at high speed.
Each of them attacked with full force, trying to seize the advantage in one strike.
"We got him!"
Seeing Caelum make no movement at all, they thought he had failed to react. Joy broke across their faces, as if they were about to take him down in one move.
The next second, invisible Armament Haki erupted.
A powerful impact blasted the attacking brats more than ten meters away and slammed them hard into the ground.
"Wha... what happened?"
"What was that?"
One youth was still dazed when Caelum appeared in front of him.
Without the slightest politeness, Caelum punched him away, sending stars bursting through his vision.
"Everyone together!"
The youths shouted and charged at Caelum all at once.
Several of them immediately used Tempest Kick, releasing several invisible slashes.
Caelum did not move from where he stood.
He merely turned his head and glanced over.
Armament Haki released through the air crushed all the invisible slashes apart, setting off a series of sharp explosions in midair and blasting those youths away with them.
"Ouch!"
The surrounding air suddenly shook.
The youths rushing forward froze for a fraction of a second, unable to control their own bodies.
In that flicker of time, Caelum gave each of them a few punches.
He beat them until their faces were swollen and bruised, and they cried out in pain.
Dull impacts rang one after another.
The ignorant little brats were thoroughly beaten by Caelum. Scared out of their wits, they scrambled away in a panic.
"We cannot beat him!"
"Run!"
"I told you we were no match for him!"
Their noisy shouting echoed through the deep night.
The moonlight looked somewhat cold.
Soon, everything quieted again, leaving only Caelum behind.
He turned toward the side.
"Seen enough?"
After he spoke, a figure stepped out of the night.
The man had a rough build like a wild beast. He walked over with a fierce grin, a blade hanging at his waist, his gaze settling on Cloudrend.
"Cloudrend, one of the legendary thirteen famed blades. As the World’s Strongest Sword Master, that blade does suit your strength and status."
Then the man asked, "Do you know where the thirteen blades came from?"
Curiosity appeared on Caelum’s face.
"I am willing to listen."
The man began speaking at length.
He reached down, drew the blade at his waist, and admired it with an almost intoxicated expression.
According to him, the legendary thirteen famed blades could all be traced back to the era of the ancient kingdom.
At that time, alchemists had forged thirteen indestructible blades from a metal called alchemy.
Cloudrend was one of them.
Alchemy was the hardest metal in the world, and absolutely impossible to destroy.
That was why the thirteen blades had survived for a thousand years and continued to be passed down to the present.
In essence, the indestructibility of alchemy did not come from hardness alone.
More accurately, alchemy itself represented an extreme of this world.
The essence of alchemy was turning stone into gold.
It was also the act of turning fantasy into reality.
The metal called alchemy was the material form of the fantasy of indestructibility.
No one knew how the alchemists of old had created such a thing. Even now, only archaeologists and scholars could still find a few records about alchemy in ancient ruins.
In other words, if Caelum could cut through alchemy, then he would be able to cut through every material in this world.
He would possess power beyond the limits of the world.
Cold moonlight fell onto the blade in the man’s hand and reflected a strange blood red color.
It caught Caelum’s attention.
He already had a guess.
"That blade..."
The man’s smile became stranger.
His eyes gradually dyed themselves blood red as he grinned.
"One of the thirteen famed blades, ranked alongside Cloudrend in your hand. Demon Blade, Crimson Moon."
A clear ring sounded.
As the words left his mouth, Crimson Moon drew a smear of blood colored light.
The man’s figure rushed before Caelum, and his blade hacked down.
Caelum caught it steadily.
The collision between the two famed blades gave off a crisp metallic tremor.
From the feeling in his hand, Caelum could tell that Crimson Moon’s hardness was indeed no weaker than Cloudrend’s.
With a slight increase in strength, he forced the man back.
Cloudrend changed course in his hand, aiming to cut off the man’s head.
Yet Crimson Moon blocked the blade.
"Hm?"
Caelum was somewhat intrigued.
The instant they exchanged blows, he had already sensed it.
The man’s sword technique could only be called decent. He had barely reached the Realm of Sword Master and was still far from Grand Sword Master.
By all rights, Caelum should have killed him with that slash.
But in reality, Crimson Moon had instantly used a sword technique far beyond the man’s own level.
That was rather unexpected.
Caelum understood.
"So this is why it is called a Demon Blade."
"Exactly."
The man seemed unable to pull himself out of Crimson Moon’s superb sword technique, his posture nearly crazed.
"A swordsman is supposed to wield the blade."
"But Crimson Moon is different."
"The swordsman is its blade."