In a training square of the royal palace, Mordred held his wooden sword two-handed in a high stance as he gathered energy in his body, and then slashed out at a stone pillar in front.
Moving at an astonishing speed, his sword clearly made of wood seemed to have turned into a blade of light as it cut though the solid stone like a laser!
Being cut into two, the top part of the pillar slowly slid off to reveal a perfectly smooth surface where the blade traveled.
"Good! It was most definitely Longsword of Light!" Martin, a 40 year old knight, commented with an astonished expression.
Although Hector also practiced Sword God Style at one point in his life, his combat style was in the end primarily defensive, so he eventually advised that it would be better for Mordred to have a dedicated Sword God Style Instructor.
Starting from the age of 7, Martin was Mordred's dedicated Sword God Style Instructor. He was a knight with an official title of a Sword Saint, although his true strength was at the King rank level.
Martin said, "Amazing! With this feat you have officially become a Sword Saint!"
Mordred faintly smiled. Indeed, he officially became a Sword Saint!
Having awakened conscious Battle Aura around the time of his 8th birthday, he had jumped directly over the Advanced rank and his Sword God Style technique had reached Saint rank!
After first consciously awakening Battle Aura, that's also when Mordred discovered how Battle Aura and Mana Reinforcement interacted.
To put it simply, Battle Aura WAS Reinforcement Magic. Although slightly different, it was a type of Magic Power that built up in the body and which swordsmen could later use to strengthen themselves and their sword in combat, as well as to execute various techniques.
Because of this, there was no difference in the maximum average strength that he could bring out when he used Battle Aura or when he used Mana Reinforcement.
After grasping how to control Battle Aura, his strength while utilizing it had directly jumped up to his Mana Reinforcement level because after Intermediate rank it's apparently a skill to use Battle Aura rather than a resource that's built up over time like Magic Power.
Practically, this mainly made it so that Mordred simply had more available 'Mana' thanks to this secondary resource. Instead of using up his Magic Power reserves on Mana Reinforcement, he could strengthen his body using Battle Aura.
And the amazing thing about Battle Aura was that it was extremely efficient and regenerated very rapidly, just like a normal person's strength. Just like a person after a strenuous exercise, after being fully exhausted, he could recover most of his Battle Aura strength in just five minutes!
Mordred also observed the process with Mana Sense and Structure Analysis.
Without any conscious action on his part, his body, whose boundaries he had already pushed by practicing Mana Reinforcement all these years, would take a small part of his Magic Power and convert it into Battle Aura.
Although it still cost some Mana, it was amazing how efficient Battle Aura was at strengthening the body - Reinforcement Magecraft could not compare.
What came along with it was Mordred realizing how incredible the skill [Longsword of Light], using Battle Aura, was as well.
Longsword of Light, in truth, turned out to be very similar to Mana Burst. It was a technique that was all about gathering energy in your body to then unleash it in a single all-out strike.
Because Mordred was gifted with a natural talent for Mana Burst and had practiced with it for a few years already, he instantly learned how to execute Longsword of Light with high efficiency.
When executing Longsword of Light, a person's sword could truly reach unbelievable speed, being multiplied many times over! The amplification in speed and power of this technique is many times higher than what Mordred could accomplish with Mana Reinforcement and Mana Burst.
At the same time, the blade during the strike is also coated in Battle Aura so dense that it can slice through most materials.
The essence of Mana Reinforcement is to inject Mana into the body, as if filling the space between molecules, so since Battle Aura was the same type of Magic and there was a limit to how much Mana could be injected, there was no benefit in trying to mix both. This didn't make his Mana Burst useless, because it still had its uses, but Longsword of Light was surely a very powerful technique far surpassing a Mana Burst strike.
Being able to execute Longsword of Light alone was the proof of a Sword Saint.
Going a step further, one could unleash Longsword of Light instantly, with little preparation, and use it to even cut targets at range. That was the domain of Sword Kings.
Mordred longed to reach this realm.
Keeping this in mind, he took a few steps back, creating a distance between himself and the iron pillar.
"Hm, what are you doing?" Martin asked.
"Just trying something."
Martin frowned in response. The 16th Prince couldn't be trying to use Longsword of Light at a distance, could he?
Mordred didn't think about anything else and just wanted to give it a try.
He surged his Battle Aura in his body, condensing it to the limit, and then suddenly slashed out with his sword. "Ha!"
Then an impossible thing took place. The iron pillar that was a few meters away from him was sliced! It became cleanly sliced diagonally at the opposite angle to the cut done previously.
Mordred's wooden sword remained in the position of having executed the Longsword of Light, before he slowly pulled it back.
Martin stared in shock. "You… You managed to launch Longsword of Light at range?!"
Mordred placed a hand on his hip, nonchalantly saying, "Mm, yeah. It wasn't too hard. All I had to do was use my sword to send out a sword light of Battle Aura."
He could already send out blades of red thunder using Magic Power, although it was very Mana inefficient and would damage his sword, so why wouldn't he succeed using Battle Aura? It came naturally to him as eating and drinking.
"What…"
Martin was stunned.
This kid made it sound too easy! Did he have any idea how much training and dedication it took geniuses to attempt reaching the Sword King realm?! And even then most would not succeed!
Longsword of Light was not an easy technique to learn and even harder to use in combat.
Martin himself could send out Longsword of Light at a distance and secretly considered himself a Sword King, but he still lacked the confidence to go to the Holy Land of Swords and pass the Sword God's test to officially become acknowledged as one.
For the same reason, there was only a single Sword King in this world - the Black Wolf Sword King Ghislaine.
In the first place, it normally took a talented Advanced rank swordsman upwards of five years of training under a good teacher just to perhaps learn how to launch Longsword of Light with careful preparations.
But Mordred could do that and beyond instantly!
This level of natural talent for Sword God Style was too freakish! It was as if he was the reincarnation of the First Sword God!
Martin let out a breath to calm himself down, then said, "I lack the qualifications to grant you the Sword King title. The highest title you can use officially is Sword Saint…"
"That's fine…" Mordred said, not being too bothered about it. After he visits the Holy Land of Swords, he'll receive the Sword King title and beyond soon enough. He then looked at Martin, slightly smiled and said, "Instructor, how about we spar?"
"Ah… Spar?" Martin's expression froze when he heard this.
Spar with Mordred?
Although he taught the 16th Prince the Sword God Style, their training was not focused on sparring but on the practice of offensive techniques and slashes.
Martin rarely sparred with Mordred and left it to Hector who taught him the Water God Style and more comprehensive swordsmanship skills.
But in truth, Martin didn't like to spar with Mordred in the traditional sense because… he felt he would actually lose!
He was a Sword God Style practitioner, so if he could not win the fight in a single or two exchanges, he'd be in a bind. And Mordred's reflexes were so quick that Martin doubts he'd allow him to execute Longsword of Light.
"Just kidding!" Mordred chuckled.
He also felt that he could defeat his Sword God Style instructor quite handedly. His true opponent was Hector, the ex Water Emperor.
…
"Teacher, let's spar." Mordred greeted Hector for their lesson with a smile.
"Oh? I heard you recently learned to execute Longsword of Light and even managed to launch it at a distance. Is that true?" Hector asked with a solemn expression while appraising Mordred.
"Yes. I have a natural talent for the Sword God Style."
"It indeed seems so," Hector said shortly.
Prince Mordred's achievements with the sword this time around were something shocking to the point of sounding too unbelievable, but he knew that it was not the first miracle surrounding the 16th Prince. After all, just a year ago he became the youngest King ranked Magician in history! In comparison to Swordsmanship ranks, advancing through the ranks of Magic was considered to be even more difficult.
Hector faintly smiled and added, "And so you've gained the confidence to believe you could defeat me?"
"I won't know without giving it a try." Mordred smiled.
In a regular battle of swordsmanship, even when Mordred utilizing Mana Burst to momentarily nearly double his strength and speed, Hector still had the advantage. But if Longsword of Light was added into the mix, the result might be different.
He would not use Gravity Magic because it was his trump card he could overlay on top of everything.
"Fine then. Show me what you've got!" Hector said.
"Yes!"
The two picked up two swords. It was no longer wooden swords but real steel blades.
Mordred faced Hector with a cold look. He could always use Healing Magic afterwards, so he'd go all out in this fight.
Preparing to attack, Mordred surged Magic Power and Battle Aura in his body.
Red aura burst out around him and electricity began to dance around his body.
Crackle, crackle…
Boom!
Mordred shot out from where he stood like a string of red lightning. Mana Burst propelled him forward while he used Battle Aura to kick off the ground.
'Here it comes…' Hector narrowed his eyes.
But before Mordred even reached him, around one meter in front, he already slashed out.
His sword bursted out with red thunder as it slashed out in front of him. Sacrificing some of the attack power to extend his reach, he sent out a ranged Longsword of Light.
Hector's pupils instantly widened. So quick!
It was one of Mordred's incredibly quick special sword strikes like usual, but this one was special! It started the same, but then it became even faster!
It was beyond Hector's reaction speed, but he saw Mordred's Longsword of Light high stance and could predict the blade's trajectory.
Utilizing Flow, he instinctively sends out his sword to intercept Mordred's attack.
Unfortunately the sword strike reached its maximum velocity too quickly. Hector blocked it, but it blew away his guard.
Mordred's eyes turned colder as he came in closer and followed up with a quick thrust.
Being familiar with his disciple's patterns, Hector responded and parried the thrust.
Unfortunately for him, the retired Water Emperor entered a disadvantageous position from the moment his guard was blown apart, not standing steady on his feet.
Mordred made use of this opportunity and continued assaulting the elderly knight.
Powerful sword strikes and quick thrusts were sent out, with Hector backing off while narrowly blocking and parrying all of the attacks.
Mordred had the advantage.
It was a very intense exchange that lasted a few dozen moves, but after these several seconds Hector regained his balance and composure. His sword was steady and his body unmovable like a mountain as he stood in place and parried Mordred's intense onslaught.
After another parry, he sent out a thrust as a counter.
Mordred felt a thrust coming to pierce his chest and he changed its trajectory, avoiding it, before sending out his own counter, which was parried by Hector in turn.
With Mordred being primarily on the offensive, the intense fight continued, with brief breaks in-between.
Hector received all of his attacks with seeming ease, often sending out counters, which Mordred would respond to relying on his Instinct.
It was a stalemate.
While Hector's defensive ability was enough to stop anything Mordred threw at him, he lacked the offense to overcome Mordred's danger avoidance ability.
As time passed, Mordred noticed that he was gradually getting weaker while Hector seemed to remain in his peak state, fighting him as if it took no effort.
It was because of Hector's use of Flow.
Mordred had to send out full-powered strikes to attempt to defeat him, but in turn, Hector used the Flow technique of the Water God Style, receiving his attacks effortlessly and even utilizing their force to send back a counter.
Even though Mordred could utilize both Battle Aura and Magic Power, when his body was tired, he was tired. One could not replace the other to boost his endurance.
He was matched with a retired Water Emperor now… But eventually he would lose!
As Mordred began to enter a disadvantageous position, he was inspired to attempt something.
After meeting Hector's counter with an ordinary parry, he countered with a thrust.
Spear of Light!
His body exploded with Magic Power and his sword shot out, his muscles and sword overloaded with Battle Aura.
Reaching unprecedented speeds, his thrust went through the gaps in Hector's guard.
The elderly knight opened his eyes wide as he felt a sword piercing through his breastplate and protective Battle Aura like a hot knife going into butter, stabbing into his body.
Mordred's longsword entered deeply into Hector's body, before being pulled out.
With this, Mordred slightly retreated, adapted a low guard of the Sword God Style and paused their fight.
Hector looked at Mordred with a shocked face. He then looked down on the wound in his chest that was spraying out blood, then placed his hand on it.
After that, he spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Teacher, let me heal you!" Mordred saw on Hector's face that he asked him to heal him; apparently, his longs should have been pierced. He placed a hand on the hole in his breastplate. "Holy Light."
Holy Light was a Saint ranked Healing Magic spell that he learned after mastering King ranked Attack Magic. It was the highest level of Healing Magic he had access to. As long as the bones were in one's possession, it could instantly heal most wounds and even regenerate organs.
After being healed by Mordred's Healing Magic, Hector looked at his student again. "Thank you."
Mordred was silent but inwardly felt excited. With that wound, he would eventually defeat Hector.
With his use of Mana Burst and the skill in Sword God Style, he could defeat an ex Water Emperor!
Hector wore an amazed expression as he said, "That sword thrust you used earlier… Did you just use a technique of the Sword God Style with a thrust?"
"Yes," said Mordred. "Longsword of Light is a slash, but I figured that I might be able to do the same with a thrust."
All he needed to do was concentrate his energy and send out an optimized attack with all of his power, using Mana Burst for instant acceleration, and Battle Aura to momentarily overload his physical parameters.
As a result, instead of absolute cutting power and speed, he achieved maximum piercing power in a sudden sword thrust that was also near-impossible to avoid!
Hector's eyes were full of shock as he listened – he had never heard of something like that!
Longsword of Light was a slash, and that's how people had always practiced to use it. Was there ever someone who adapted its use with a thrust?
Mordred chuckled.
Sword God Style users practiced a certain stance to learn how to unleash an ultimate sword strike – the Longsword of Light. But it isn't like it couldn't be done with a thrust, it just required training.
There were more nuances to it, like exploding the Battle Aura at the right moment and using an optimized stance for the thrusts, but he just followed his instinct for that.
For him, overloading his body with Magic Power to release however he wanted was a natural skill – an inherent talent of Pendragons, probably.
Hector looked at Mordred with a solemn look. "Congratulations. You've developed a new sword technique, and won… It seems that a Water King is no longer your opponent."
Mordred faintly smiled. "I was lucky."
Hector looked at him expressionlessly. What luck? It was pure skill, without a doubt.
Apart from simply being physically strong, Mordred was also clearly a genius of technique.
Hector understood the move that got him and why he lost.
It wasn't just the Longsword of Light adapted for a thrusting motion. It was a technique even further modified by Mordred.
Longsword of Light was a powerful technique, but it had a major weakness, and it's that it took time for the sword to reach its maximum velocity. Before that point, it could be stopped, which is what Water God Style practitioners exploit.
But Mordred covered this weakness by using Mana Burst to help instantly accelerate his sword, making it reach its maximum velocity that much quicker. This made his Longsword of Light even more difficult to stop!
Thanks to Mordred's predictable movement pattern, Hector still managed to block the modified Longsword of Light at first, but when a similar technique was suddenly used with a thrust, he could not keep up with it. This sword was simply impossible to avoid without luck or a far higher level!
'This boy… It's just a matter of time before he might earn the title of the next Sword God,' Hector thought.
After that duel, Mordred stated his true intentions. "Teacher, I want to go to the Asura Kingdom and train under the Water God and the Sword God. Can you relay this message to the King?"
"Oh, you want to leave the kingdom?"
"Yes."
"Hmm..." Hector hummed, entering a deep thought.
Indeed, with Mordred having even managed to defeat him, it seems as if there was little he could learn on the Sword God Style techniques from a Sword Saint like Martin.
Hector could continue sparring with Mordred and teaching him the Water God Style and fundamentals of swordsmanship, and Mordred could begin training under a North Emperor in Wyvern, but training in Asura under the Water God and Sword instead would still be more beneficial to complement his foundations.
If one ignored Mordred's young age, it was only natural that he wanted to go to Asura to train in the world's headquarters of the Water God and Sword God Style…
"I'll see what I can do."
***
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***
Name: Mordred Kingdragon
Titles/nicknames: 16th Prince of Kingdragon, Miko, Magic prodigy, Youngest Sword Saint
Age: 8
Strength: D | (Saint rank physical strength)
Endurance: C* | (peak King rank resilience)
Agility: D* (C*)| (peak Saint rank running speed and peak King rank reflexes and sword speed)
Mana: A- | (early God rank)
…
Fire, Water, Wind and Earth Magic: King rank
Healing Magic: Saint rank
Detoxification Magic: Advanced rank
Barrier Magic: Elementary rank (chantless), Saint rank (Magic Circles)
Summoning Magic (beasts): Intermediate rank
Divine Magic: Elementary rank
Enchantment Magic (creating Magic Tools): Elementary-Advanced rank
Sword God Style: Sword Saint (officially), Sword King (unofficially)
Water God Style: Intermediate rank
North God Style: Intermediate rank
[Instinct B]
[Mana Burst B-]
[Riding E]