Blade Over Magic

The Hunt IV

One of the things Xander focused on the most during the time dilation training was, naturally, more applications of the Garden of Myriad Paths.

It truly was a fantastical construct, both because of what it allowed Xander to do and what it represented.

Infinite possibilities through the way of the sword. Just what did that truly entail? And how far could something like that be pushed? At what point would it stop being considered swordsmanship? And so on.

Xander explored many possibilities, and one of the ones he discovered that he could put into practice was his sword projection. The ability which let him manifest a sword he’d used before in the past.

Before, he’d just thought of it as a sort of sword storage where if he didn’t have a weapon usable at current, he could manifest a sword projection to use temporarily. That or something used to amplify the power of his strikes, like when he stacked all the projections of all his blades on his longsword to kill the ant.

Now though, he’d expanded his usage. One included the thing he’d done to Mira where he embedded one of his swords into her soul, binding her.

The second... was this.

The projections clashed against the bone scorpions, all of them maintaining a tightly knit formation as both sides fought aggressively.

The closest scorpion attempted to drive its spear-like pincers forward, only for three of the projections to move at the same time. One caught the attack while the remaining two countered, their swords moving along its paths to slice into its weak points. Killing it before it could retreat.

Now, one may ask. How exactly were many of the swords and their projections so effective or durable?

After all, many of them were swords Xander got while still on earth, made with normal metals that held no enchantments which increased their general durability. So how exactly were they able to survive the terrifying clashes they faced at this moment?

Well, that was another thing Xander learned. As it turned out, one boon of the Garden the swords resided in was that, like a real garden, and like real plants, the swords were continuously ’nurtured’.

Every time Xander advanced and made any headway on his journey. Whether that be by adding another flower to his garden or simply improving skills he already had, it acted as a sort of fertilizer and caused the plants, and the swords within, the develop further.

Xander suspected that this was because each sword represented a path that could be taken. And if the swords were fragile, so would the paths. So the garden helped them grow to circumvent this.

The battle continued. And the bone scorpions truly were a dreadful set of opponents.

Other than the ranged scorpions and their terrifying projectiles, the rest he’d seen also had abilities that seemed to be in the same domain. For instance, the scorpions with the sharp pincers could draw in the kinetic energy surrounding them to increase the power of their thrusts, and if they collided with any of the projections, Xander noticed that the kinetic energy in them would get sucked away as well.

The shield scorpions took the latter to a whole new level as clashing directly with their shields meant that a projection would almost entirely come to a halt as most of its kinetic energy was drawn out, allowing the surrounding scorpions to rush in.

The scorpion with the pale crystal on its back essentially acted like a sink where the surrounding kinetic energy was drawn in from the surroundings before getting put into the other scorpions, amplifying them while slowing down Xander.

It was a terrifying set of abilities that changed the rules of engagement entirely, and if one had no attainments in the realm of concepts, they would struggle immensely to fight even one scorpion and even the kinetic energy within spells would be siphoned, causing them to come to a stop before they could hit anything.

...

And then there was Xander.

First, let’s look at the mechanics behind the projections.

The perfect synchronization between each projection was already a sight to behold. Numerous swords moving in such a way where every single one of them covered each other’s bases. It looked like a beautifully orchestrated dance as no gaps were left behind. So even if one projection lost its momentum, another would be there to ensure it remained unharmed.

But this was just the base effect of this as there was a more significant purpose this served.

All of it... was one massive array.

One issue Xander faced due to his path was his inability to create spell circles or formations. It wasn’t really a case of lacking Mana, he had quite a bit of that now. It was simply how his path worked.

So he figured out a workaround.

As the different projections moved—himself included—they did not simply use the Myriad Paths to cut through the kinetic devouring concept the scorpions employed. No. Instead, they played into another application of the Paths Xander learned, and that was the act of deflecting Paths.

Xander... well and truly treated the paths the same way he treated physical attacks when related to swordplay, and one thing that was prevalent in swordplay is redirection and using your enemy’s force against them.

Previously, Xander learned that rather than cutting through an opponent’s Paths, he could redirect them to achieve a myriad of effects.

He later built upon this and applied the concept of using an opponent’s force against them. Hence, he learned to use the paths of their own concepts against them.

This began to show as suddenly, Xander and his projections stopped getting affected by the kinetic devouring, and instead, their own attacks began to become fiercer.

In his eyes, the paths extending from the concept the scorpions employed were drawn in and forced to move along the paths of every sword in motion.

This already spelled danger for the scorpions. But Xander wasn’t done.

Again, this whole setup was an array. And right now, the drawn in hostile concept... behaved like fuel, and the projections acted like the runes while the paths between them behaved like the nodes connecting all of them.

Suddenly, things reached a crescendo, and the scorpions felt an ominous feeling as their attacks became even fiercer, but unbeknownst to them, this just made the situation worse.

All the projected swords began to hum, and Xander felt the feedback from each of them as he exhaled and aimed Abscinde upward. The red markings on the sword glowed as Xander’s perception of the Paths changed.

Suddenly, there was another Path, one that appeared especially unique as esoteric as the thing it connected to... was far terrifyingly complex.

Under normal circumstances, Xander was unable to perceive this path, but right now, with the feedback he received from his array, he’d essentially charged up his perception of the Paths.

He took another breath, and like he had before, he controlled his paths into a sort of ’blindspot’.

Then, his view of the world shifted.

The surrounding colors became muted, and the figures of the scorpions and his projections slowed to a crawl, like they were moving through layers of mud which made their movements painfully predictable.

The only thing whose colors remained the same was Xander as without hesitation, he began to move.

He knew that this state was not something he could sustain as he was running solely on the energy his projections drew from the concept of the scorpions, which should have been a lot, but with what he was doing, it was just barely sufficient.

His body moved as whenever he passed by a scorpion, his sword flicked out and followed the path leading towards a fatal spot, and as he walked, afterimages followed him like mirages.

As for what he had done to achieve this effect? Well...

Xander... had entered the blindspot of time.

It wasn’t perfect, which is why the energy drain was so immense and why everything still moved, just far slower.

But... it was still a thing, and he currently utilized it.

In truth, Xander had discovered this purely by accident.

When he was experimenting with the sword array concept and succeeded in drawing in the surrounding concepts, his thoughts were to make his own concepts even more potent, but it’s then that he learned that when he supercharged himself, he noticed other paths he had never seen before, including the one extending to time.

This was a huge shock to him because this wasn’t simply a case of increasing his mana. No, this only happened when he drew in external concepts to strengthen his.

He’d asked Xavier about this due to the man obviously having high attainments in the concept of time, only for Xander to be confused when he was stared at with... legitimate yet resigned irritation.

”You just had to go ahead and pull some bullshit after making me think you couldn’t interact with concepts for whatever reason. The fact your body is even still functioning is just nonsense. For fuck sake. Figure it out yourself.” That was what Xavier had said at the time, and he never elaborated.

Even Mia didn’t give him an answer. She just stared at him like a particularly interesting bit of scenery before going back to what she was doing.

Xander sliced through the last bone scorpion and immediately allowed his paths to return to their proper states. As soon as he did, blood spurted as the various scorpions let out pained noises before falling.

’Phew, barely.’ He thought as he rolled his shoulders. His body always felt weird whenever he did that. Not pain per se. More like... very tingly.

’That’s another thing I gotta figure out, I guess.’ He shook his head and took all the scorpion corpses. Then he canceled his projections and once again began to run towards his next target.