Cleaver Of Sin

Chapter 919: Polishing

Asher thought to himself, ‘But what should I do?’

Should he play games? Should he watch some streamers? Although, he was fairly certain no streamer would be streaming anything at the moment because of the Inter-Empire Tournament that had been going on for the past few days, even though it had already ended.

As Asher was contemplating watching a movie, his thoughts immediately ground to a halt as he remembered something extremely important that he needed to do. Although he could delay it, why not do it now?

Training… Not cultivation or creating a skill, but actually polishing his swordsmanship.

During his battle with Arianna, she had actually spotted several holes and flaws within his basic rapier techniques and swordsmanship. Although such a thing hadn’t happened against Debro or any of the other powerful opponents he had fought over the past seven to eight months, it only went to show just how ridiculously talented Arianna Haellight truly was that she could identify those flaws, exploit them, and capitalize on them during battle.

Of course, Asher had adapted and erased some of those flaws during the fight itself, but there were still a few remaining. After all, there was no way his swordsmanship was already perfect at this stage. If that were the case, then he would already surpass people like Malrik, Instructor Jane, and Lily Of The Abyss in terms of pure swordsmanship alone.

But Arianna wasn’t the only one who had found flaws. He had found some within Arianna’s own swordsmanship as well, and he too had exploited them, delivering strikes that left behind genuine injuries.

Asher couldn’t help but think back to his battle with Arianna. He wouldn’t lie; his body was still coursing with a lingering rush of adrenaline because of just how incredible the battle had been. It had thoroughly satisfied him, shown him many things, and allowed him to improve.

He couldn’t help but wonder if Arianna was currently contemplating her loss, or if she had already thrown herself back into training, working tirelessly to reclaim the victory that had slipped from her grasp.

‘I wonder how much both of us will have progressed in a few months’ time… and who would win or lose if we fought again,’ Asher mused to himself.

Yet, despite entertaining that thought, Asher held absolute confidence in himself. And the source of that confidence was his own talent and work ethic.

With that thought, Asher turned away from the glass. Although his room didn’t have a training chamber, as the Gentle Hotel didn’t provide such facilities, any capable warrior was expected to make do with whatever space they had, regardless of how little it was or how bulky their physique might be. His purple eyes swept across every object within the room, from the bed to the couch, the table, the wheeled office chair, and the various other furnishings.

With that, he got to work, pushing everything toward one end of the room, physically shoving or lifting them off the ground whenever necessary so as not to disturb whoever might be in the room directly beneath him. It seemed as though Asher had completely forgotten that he could have simply pushed everything aside using Astra-powered telekinesis.

Standing at the center of the room after moving everything back, Asher had managed to create a bit more space for himself.

‘It’s a shame my Space Control hasn’t reached Cindralis’ level yet. She could expand space for kilometers with ease,’ Asher sighed inwardly. If he were capable of such a feat, he would have undoubtedly done so already.

‘It’s time to get stronger, not just physically through Limitless Physical Growth, but through training and refining other aspects, like my swordsmanship. After all, just because my speed and strength have increased doesn’t mean my flaws have suddenly vanished,’ Asher thought to himself.

He drew Virelass from her sheath as he settled into a stance, his posture naturally shifting into a combat sequence. His eyes slowly closed as his perfect memory replayed the battle with Arianna like a broken radio trapped on an endless loop, allowing him to carefully observe his own flaws and the ruthless manner in which Arianna had taken advantage of them and capitalized on every opening without mercy.

With his eyes closed, he immediately swung his rapier upward as though parrying an attack that only he could perceive, but his blade met nothing but empty air, as there was no one else in the room with him. Asher frowned, as though the parry he had executed against the unseen attack was still insufficient and subpar.

He vanished from where he stood, his body reappearing beside the glass window as he shifted into a defensive position and blocked another invisible strike. This second defense was noticeably sharper, cleaner, and far more fluid than the first. He didn’t smile at his progress, as it was only natural given his talent, leaving him with nothing to be smug about.

He vanished once more as he entered a shadow swordsmanship battle against an invisible Arianna. The imaginary Arianna performed only a single type of attack while Asher responded with various defensive maneuvers. He didn’t rush the process; it wasn’t as though he had any deadline or urgency hanging over him.

Instead, he focused solely on the first flaw Arianna had detected within his swordsmanship and had the shadow Arianna repeat the exact same attack over and over while he defended against it until he completely erased the flaw. The moment he corrected it, he had the shadow Arianna perform other types of sword attacks, all while continuing to target that exact same weakness.

A thrust, a slash, a hack, a feint, a cleave, a stab.

Different attacks, the same flaw. And Asher responded to every single one of them with remarkable ease and adaptability the moment he fully understood the flaw and erased it.

With that completed, Asher shifted his focus toward the next flaw within his basic techniques, employing the exact same method. His body flickered throughout the room as he engaged in another battle against the unseen shadow of Arianna.

This was one of the greatest benefits of life-and-death battles: exposing flaws and mistakes that would never reveal themselves if one simply locked themselves away in isolated training. If you survived such a battle, those discoveries would naturally increase your strength, and depending on your talent, you could even improve in real time while the battle was still ongoing.

It was the reason so many people fought every day, because training alone simply wasn’t enough.

If anyone had known that Asher, the newly crowned winner of the Inter-Empire Tournament, had immediately thrown himself back into training, they would have been utterly flabbergasted. After all, every winner before him had basked in the glory of their achievement as they rightfully should, enjoying the rewards of their victory because they had earned that privilege.

Yet here Asher was, moving without pause, his eyes closed as he reduced Omni Perception to a single meter. Even so, he didn’t accidentally bump into anything, as his body and natural senses instinctively perceived the space around him with remarkable precision while he moved in complete silence and unwavering focus.

Although his swordsmanship wouldn’t suddenly leap to an entirely new level overnight, Asher knew that by the time he finished this training, followed by a few more personalized training sessions of his own design, his swordsmanship would have taken another undeniable step forward.

He had already improved physically, and now his swordsmanship was steadily advancing along that very same path.