Blade Over Magic

Swords of Myriad Paths

The first time Xander ever witnessed the Paths in his fight against Mia, he’d tried quite hard to reach that state again, but try as he might, he could never do it again.

He even put himself in dangerous situations when in Avoma, meeting Sergeant Alya privately to fight until he was on the brink of death, but he never managed to see them again.

He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t a bit disappointed. It was hard to explain, but he felt like when he saw the Paths, he had tapped into something familiar, yet unfamiliar. Like a part of him that had yet to be discovered showed itself.

...

Also they were cool as hell.

Eventually, though, he’d just told himself that it was one of those things that he would work towards gradually. After all, he really didn’t have much to go on when attempting to see them again. It didn’t feel like a spell, nor did it feel like something external. He even jokingly told himself that it was a ”Bullshit Powerup” and would never appear again.

However, it was now that he knew what the truth was.

When he fought against Mia, he succeeded in breaking through a subconscious bit of trauma which caused his complacency. That caused his obsession, which had been repressed, to erupt out in full force. So perhaps, unknown to him, his mana moved similarly to how it did when he started fighting the ant, stripped of every layer and leaving nothing but his ”passion”.

So maybe, back then, he’d accidentally taken the preliminary steps to forming the Swords of Myriad Paths by freeing his ”obsession”. However, that alone wasn’t enough, so it lasted for a brief moment.

But when his ”passion” was revealed, and he made his consequent realizations on how the swords didn’t need to remain dead. That, coupled his with his previously released ”obsession” allowed his mana construct to fully take shape.

That’s also why Xander was unable to figure out what way to make his mana construct if not in the direction of vibrations. Simply put, it wasn’t something he could force. The corresponding prerequisites needed to be met, and all of them were internal factors.

And now that he had finally met them... the result was clear.

Once again, Xander experienced the feeling of witnessing the massive tapestry of colorful Paths.

They filled his vision and appeared to be everywhere, yet they didn’t actually make it hard for him to see. In fact, he seemed to see better with them.

And they were attacked to everything.

From his clothes to his body, his hair, his fingers, and so one. The ground had Paths, the air, and if he focused, even space had them. Though, those ones appeared quite a bit smaller than the Paths of more material things.

Then he looked at the ant, and its own Paths filled his immediate vision.

Some led to the shroud of its energy, others led to its different body parts, and some led to certain things that seemed to exist ’beneath’ it, like the ’integrity’ of its body. One thing that was clear, though, was the density. They seemed to extend around it and cover a vast area like a massive net, showing off just how insane the ant’s range was now.

Then Xander noticed something else.

When the ant swung at him with its remaining bladed limb, numerous Paths extended from it in his direction, and Xander realized that these were the trajectories of the ant’s attack which extended to different parts of his body. But a moment later, he realized it was a bit more complicated than that.

First, he noticed that some of the trajectories were more solid than others, and after enduring the attack, he quickly concluded that, depending on the level of effort used to target a certain part of his body, that Path would be thinner or thicker. For instance, he noticed that the Paths extending from the ant to not vital spots on his body like his legs or arms were thinner, and those aimed at vital spots like his head and heart were thicker.

Second, he noticed that it wasn’t simply about trajectories. The Paths themselves seemed to be a collection of several factors. One of said factors was ’intent’, which was also further broken down into several factors, most psychological. There were physical factors like speed, velocity, mass, and the anatomy of the attacker—the ant in this case. There were also environmental factors like wind resistance, gravity, or friction.

But among these, there were what he dubbed metaphysical/conceptual factors. For instance, the ant’s slashes naturally had an influence on space, weakening it and causing its attacks to arrive faster as the concept of ’distance’ was weakened. And there were some more, but he couldn’t properly ascertain their purpose.

Third, he noticed that this applied to him as well. When the ant attacked and he moved to block before following up with a counter, the Paths extending from him would intersect with the Paths extending from the ant, and depending on the level of skill employed, the Paths of the ant’s attack would be redirected while the Paths of his would extend towards its body, thin or thick depending on how much he wanted to commit to striking a certain area. And compared to the ant, his range was quite a bit smaller, barely extending past his own body to the ant, but they were far denser.

And when the ant reacted by blocking on its own, it would redirect his Paths away from their intended target.

It was all quite novel.

Fourth, though, was something quite interesting.

Xander noticed that he had two sets of Paths extending from his body.

The first appeared to be the ’natural’ Paths which followed the previously mentioned factors. But the second set was different.

If he wanted to strike something. For instance, the ant’s hip he’d damaged. He could go at it normally, using the convergence between his and its Paths to find the optimal path to follow and strike.

This second set of Paths, though, seemed to skip that process entirely and directly guide him towards the optimal path to take.

He tried it, and it was a lot better than he expected.

In reality, they exchanged a series of moves, but in the world of Paths, their paths converged and intertwined several times before, suddenly, one of Xander’s Paths extended from his sword to his target, and he immediately followed it.

The ant was unable to properly defend as Xander sword went through its defenses and struck that area, cutting into the injury and drawing blood.

The ant’s Paths immediately converged in on Xander’s arm, but his responded by forming the optimal retreat route. A moment later, a net of red lines descended on the area, but Xander moved as though he had a road map, evading every strike with shocking precision.

Then came the fifth thing.

As he and the ant collided again, he thought back to how he had directly struck the ’integrity’ of the ant’s shell, and he wondered.

Just how far could he push this?

He immediately tested it.

As numerous Paths converged on him, he swung his sword. However, he didn’t target the ant. Not directly, anyway.

Rather, he targeted the Paths themselves.

Then something weird happened.

The second set Paths converged as well, turning into a single path. He swung his sword along it, and something shocking happened.

His blade seemed to pass through nothing, but in the world of Paths, they accurately sliced through all incoming Paths that extended from the ant, causing them to disappear.

When this happened, the ant froze and looked around frantically, which is when Xander realized what just happened.

By slicing through its Paths, he seemed to have sliced through its ability to perceive him completely. Meaning, at the moment, the ant was unable to find where he was despite him being so close. It appeared like a higher application of what he did against Mia the first time he glimpsed the Paths. Back then, he only cut through her ’intent’.

However, when the second set of Paths unraveled to their usual state, he found them quite a bit dimmer than usual, and he felt a splitting headache assault him. It didn’t impact his movements, but he still felt him.

Moreover, his dwindling mana pool, dropped further. This told him that using the Paths to directly attack certain things, like other Paths, did not come cheap.

But even then, he was ecstatic. The effects of being able to cut away someone’s ability to perceive you was incredibly useful with a whole swathe of possibilities.

However, the effect didn’t seem permanent, as just a few moments after it was cut, the ant seemed to ’find’ Xander again, and it immediately started attacking him frantically. Clearly, what had just happened jarred it significantly.

Unfortunately, he was saddened to realize that his experimentation could not continue.

That last drop in Mana meant his Resonance State was on the verge of ending, and if that happened, even if he could still painting the Swords of Myriad Paths, the ant would speed blitz him before he could properly utilize them.

He did sense that there was one more thing he could do, though.

Looking at the ant, he smiled slightly.

He red its intent through its Paths, and it essentially let him read its emotions to an extent. When he did, he could sense its determination, its desperation, its fear, its desire, all of it.

Even though he hadn’t been able to glimpse the Paths for long, he knew that compared to before, the ant’s emotional spectrum was far more expansive. It was no longer a creature of adaptation, but something with true sentience.

It was a bit difficult to explain, but somehow, it made him a bit closer to it. Something akin to kinship. Or maybe a rival?

Either way, despite everything, Xander couldn’t find himself hating the ant.

But he also had no intention of letting it live.

Taking a breath, Xander initiated the last application of Myriad Paths that he could sense.

Suddenly, the ant’s feeling of danger spiked, and it subconsciously knew that what would follow would determine its life or death.

Immediately, the ant readied its remaining limb. Countless red lines appeared all over it, making it turn blood red, and wherever it moved, space itself seemed to get shredded apart.

It poured all the comprehension it had gained in these last few minutes into this attack. Its Coup de Grace, so to speak.

At the same time, Xander raised his longsword, but somehow, it looked different.

Over it, the images of countless blades seemed to overlap with it. A flattened metal pipe. A wooden sword. A standard longsword. A Katana. A Khopesh. A broadsword. Gladius. Zweihander. All sorts of blades overlapped unto the shape of the longsword, and it gave off an indescribable aura.

In a way, Xander and the ant appeared to be mirrors of each other. Or maybe contrasts. After all, both of them seemed to go towards the same direction of mastery. However, they approached it from two different directions.

The ant approached it from the direction of unbelievably fast adaptation and comprehension. It went from directly copying its foes to internalizing its experiences, allowing it to reach its own conclusions and results.

Meanwhile, Xander approached from a lifetime of discipline and passion. Obsessively polishing his skills in his path until they reached a realm where mastery wasn’t able to accurately describe its true scope.

None of these paths were wrong. After all, everyone was different, and the way they comprehended things were different, as well.

It’s one of the reasons living creatures, especially sentient ones had so much potential, even if they previously appeared untalented.

As the swords overlapped, Xander recalled a specifically diagonal slash from a period of life from every sword he’d ever used. These past experiences seemed to manifest on his current sword. Then, he focused on the ant, and he changed what he wanted to strike.

It wasn’t just a part of the ant. But the ’existence’ of the ant itself.

Not just its physical body. Its mind, its soul, its energy. Everything that made the ant what it was. That was his target.

The second set of Paths converged once more into a singular path, and just then, the ant moved forward, limb thrusting.

The compressed red lines eliminated the space in front of it, reducing the distance it had to travel to reach Xander by a staggering amount, so it appeared almost instant.

And yet, Xander had already read it with the first set of Paths, so he still evaded by moving to the side.

The residual sharp space ripped apart the red of his armor and tore at his skin, but he ignored it as he moved to the ant’s exposed side.

Both of them met eyes, and for the first time, Xander saw another emotion in its eyes.

Unwillingness.

He sighed inwardly, then he praised sincerely from the bottom of his heart.

’... You were magnificent.’

Then he swung down.

His sword experienced no resistance.

It reached the head of the ant and continued down the middle, going all the way through, and on the way, Xander felt numerous intangible things fall apart as well, not just the ant’s physical frame.

The slash wasn’t massive or flashy... Well, maybe a little flashy. However, as the target had been the ’ant’ only the ’ant’ was hit.

When the attack ended, Xander felt his resonance state undo itself as he ran out of Mana. A normal mage would have collapsed on the spot, but his physique was still strong enough to sustain him, so he remained standing. Bloody, tired, but standing.

The ant met his gaze, and for a moment, none of them said anything.

Then it stretched its remaining limb towards Xander, the red lines having already dispersed.

No words were said, but Xander read the rest of its intent, most of it having been already been destroyed in his attack, and the rest rapidly following.

He removed one hand from the hilt of his sword and grabbed the edge of the ant’s limb.

When it did, it looked up, and a colorful line appeared on its body, down the middle.

Then it split in half, both halves getting reduced to tiny particles before they even hit the ground. The only thing that remained of it was the limb Xander now held.

He sighed again, the he raised his longsword and saw that it was about to break. Honestly, it was a miracle how the weapon managed to survive the entire duration of the fight. But it was pretty much unusable now.

But that was fine, too.

Because he knew it wasn’t really gone. It still accompanied him, just in another form.

***

In the dungeons of Landor, a torturer held the head of former commander Haru. His face bruised and bloodied, and the rest of his body covered in all sorts of injuries, both magical and physical.

After the demons were separated from their bodies, James and Haru were subject to intense torture as a form of interrogation.

James had been unable to handle the torture and passed early, so he was the one subject to the agony of being interrogated.

The manner of torture wasn’t easy, either.

After all, Landor had healing mages, so whenever he was on the brink of death, they would heal him up just enough, only for the process to repeat.

Then one might ask, how did James die?

Simple, they let him. As a way to strike Haru mentally. And after days of ”Hardwork”, he finally gave in.

”The... ants...” Haru said weakly, eyes swollen shut from the beatings. The torturer and the recorder behind him listened attentively.

”They aren’t... for attacking... Landor...” This made the two listeners pause, and the torturer asked in a deep voice.

”Then what are they for?” Haru swallowed before answering, his voice carrying a trace of fear.

”... They are.... f-for, a ritual.” This alarmed the two, but Haru continued.

”... To... open... another... Hell Gate.”

***

Just as Xander turned around to walk towards where the soldiers were waiting, his entire body froze, a feeling of uncontrollable dread encasing his entire frame.

His heart started to pound uncontrollably, and he felt as though someone was gripping his neck as he struggled to breathe. Even though he was already sweating from exertion, even more broke out across his skin as goosebumps covered his body, his hair standing on end. Pupils dilating. Virtually every reaction a human could have to stimuli assault Xander’s senses.

But, somehow, he managed to turn his head, and he felt his mind go blank.

Where the mountain had been a massive crack in space appeared, looking like a closed vertical eye. It was so silent that, had he not been looking at it, he would have never even noticed it was there.

The edges of the crack were jagged and tainted with an otherworldly aura.

Suddenly, Xander felt as though the intense demonic corruption he felt from the ant was a joke. It couldn’t even match to this in the slightest.

Yet, this crack appeared highly unstable, as though an external force was pressing down on it, preventing it from materializing properly.

But before this process could complete itself...

Something slipped through the crack.

His gaze subconsciously started to move towards it, but before he could fully lay his eyes on it, every Fibre of his being screeched at him not to stare at it directly.

At the same time, countless incoherent ravings filled his mind, each louder than the last, and he felt as though his head was going to explode. It made him drop to his knees and clutch his head, blood coming out of all his orifices.

But amidst the ravings, two words in a language he’d never heard, yet somehow understood clearly, filled his mind like a lightning strike.

₵₳Ⱡ₳₥ł₮Ɏ ł₦VØ₭ɆⱤ

Just as he thought his brain would really explode, two small hands suddenly pressed down on his ears, and the ravings suddenly quietened down, allowing him to catch his breath.

Then he heard a familiar voice in his head.

’Don’t look at certain things before raising your level. Gazing at them alone can kill you.’ Mia said in her usual bored tone, and Xander wanted to reply, but his physical condition coupled with the mental assault he just endured had been too much.

Hence, he passed out.

Mia nodded and snapped her fingers, causing Xander’s figure to vanish.

Then she looked up and yawned.

”Xavier said he’d deal with it, so I don’t have to stress myself.” She mumbled, then she also teleported away.