His sword technique had stopped improving no matter how hard he trained.
Then, by chance, he obtained Demon Blade Crimson Moon, one of the legendary thirteen famed blades, and from that moment on, he slipped onto a crooked path.
He drowned himself in the strength Crimson Moon brought him and never climbed out again.
That was probably the man’s story.
False strength had inflated his confidence without limit. Having never stood at such a height before, he craved recognition. He craved a name great enough for the world to hear.
The moment he appeared before Caelum, he could not wait to show off.
Now he stood before the World’s Strongest Sword Master, competing with him as a swordsman of equal standing.
That vanity and excitement slowly gnawed away at what little reason he had left.
Caelum had no interest in the man’s past.
To him, the person before him was only a madman, a puppet who had willingly thrown away reason for power.
"Owl!"
The man’s face twisted with excitement, and his roar carried a wild joy.
"Aren’t you the World’s Strongest Sword Master? Then show me the strength that proves it!"
In the midst of his frenzy, wind rose violently.
The man cut out several enormous slashes. They tore through the air with deafening roars, shaking all of Walnut Town beneath the night sky.
Caelum’s expression did not change.
He settled into the opening stance of Cloudrift Style.
The man’s slashes looked powerful, but all that force was hollow. Plenty of momentum, nothing worth fearing.
A first class blade.
A third rate swordsman.
"No matter how indestructible the blade may be, you, as a swordsman, are still nothing."
In the next instant, blade light flashed.
Cloudrift Style, Azure Dragon Flash.
Caelum erupted with extreme speed.
Cloudrend cut through the air, and the slash it released seemed to carry the roar of an azure dragon. It crushed the slashes from Crimson Moon in a single stroke.
"Roar!"
The resounding cry landed like thunder on flat ground.
The dragon like slash took on the shape of a dragon’s head, turning into a stream of light that destroyed everything in its path. Across the earth, it carved a huge trench several kilometers long.
The ground shook violently.
Inside the training base, the instructors jolted awake. Under the moonlight, they looked toward the rolling smoke in the distance, their hearts beating hard.
"Isn’t that destructive power far too exaggerated?"
"Hm?"
At that moment, the brats who had sneaked out at night were climbing back over the wall.
They lifted their heads and met the gazes of the instructors.
Their faces changed at once, cold sweat pouring down.
The instructor understood immediately.
His anger exploded.
"You little brats!"
When the slash faded, the man’s figure emerged from the smoke and dust.
He looked miserable.
A blade wound ran from his neck straight down his chest, almost cutting him in two.
What was strange was that he was still alive.
The man grinned.
"So this is the strength of the World’s Strongest Sword Master? As expected..."
He never finished.
Caelum appeared beside him and cut off his head with a single stroke.
Crimson Moon reacted, but with the man’s body in that state, it could no longer keep up with Caelum’s speed and attack.
A clear sound rang out.
Caelum knocked Crimson Moon away with one strike. It spun several times through the air before stabbing into the ground not far away.
The man died completely and collapsed without strength.
Caelum sheathed his blade.
After a moment of thought, he reached out and pulled Crimson Moon from the ground.
The instant he gripped the hilt, a surge of madness rose from within him.
He suppressed it just as quickly.
Conqueror Haki was the manifestation of spirit.
In a sense, it was also the manifestation of willpower.
Caelum’s Conqueror Haki was extremely powerful. Naturally, his willpower was far beyond ordinary as well.
Crimson Moon could not control him.
Caelum swung Crimson Moon twice.
Perhaps because he was used to Cloudrend, the feel of Crimson Moon in his hand was not very good.
Even so, collecting another legendary famed blade still left him quite satisfied.
He turned Crimson Moon in the moonlight.
The blade reflected a strange blood red sheen.
Caelum was certain that Cloudrend alone truly could not cut Crimson Moon apart.
Both famed blades had been forged from alchemy, the most indestructible substance in this world.
If he wanted to destroy alchemy, Caelum would need power that surpassed the extreme limit of this world.
"Let us try."
As he spoke, interest rose in him.
He decisively threw Crimson Moon into the air.
Then he drew Cloudrend again.
In an instant, his essence, spirit, body, and technique all focused to the extreme and joined as one.
Black and red lightning erupted.
Caelum released all of his Conqueror Haki and wrapped it around Cloudrend’s blade, compressing it to a single point at the limit.
Then he swung.
A thick bolt of black and red lightning shot straight into the clouds.
Caelum’s full power slash landed solidly on Crimson Moon’s blade.
When the disturbance faded, Caelum held Crimson Moon in his hand.
With his Grand Sword Master level swordsmanship and more than tenfold intensity Conqueror Haki, forget cutting Crimson Moon apart. He still could not leave even the faintest mark on the blade.
As expected of alchemy.
Those ancient alchemists truly had some ability.
This thing really deserved to be called indestructible.
Caelum imagined it for a moment.
If a physical combat expert wore a full suit of armor forged from alchemy, such a person would certainly be troublesome.
That did not mean he would fear them.
In terms of combat strength, he could crush anyone. Even if he could not break through alchemy armor, that person would still never be able to injure him in the slightest.
His quiet heart for swordsmanship stirred again.
Caelum had originally thought there was nothing in this world he could not cut.
The appearance of alchemy renewed his interest.
From now on, the pursuit of his swordsmanship would be to destroy alchemy and cut through famed blades.
As long as he took that step, his swordsmanship would stand above anyone else’s.
Perhaps others could never accomplish it.
Caelum was different.
As his swordsmanship and Haki proficiency continued to rise, surpassing the world’s limit was only a matter of time.
He calculated briefly.
In around ten months, his swordsmanship proficiency should break through 10000000 and enter the next Realm.
When that time came, he wondered whether he could cut Crimson Moon apart.
After that night, the brats from the training base were cursed bloody by the instructor.
They also understood one thing.
Caelum was far stronger than they had imagined.
From then on, none of them dared provoke him again.
Caelum remained as he had always been.
He trained his swordsmanship and three forms of Haki, and outside of that, spent his days leisurely.
His stay in Walnut Town grew longer and longer.
Before he noticed, ten months had passed.
One day, a news bird delivered the latest paper.
A major event had taken place in the south, shaking the entire Empire.
Before the rebels were crushed by the Empire, internal conflict had broken out among them first.
Tekular had led the Second Regiment of the rebel Third Army out from under the control of the rebel supreme leader and established himself as an independent resistance army.
From then on, he no longer obeyed the rebel leader’s commands.
The reason was unknown.
And shortly after Tekular broke away, the Empire launched a lightning assault on the rebels.
The commanders of the Second Legion and the Norvind Legion personally arrived at the front lines.
The rebels suffered a disaster close to annihilation.
More than half their strength was destroyed by the Empire.
The surviving rebel forces lost unified command and were scattered across the south, each fighting on its own.
Only Tekular’s Second Regiment preserved its strength.
In one leap, it became the largest resistance force against the Empire in the south.