Chapter 30: The Invincible Self-Created Sword Technique
As if he had eyes in the back of his head, Finn twisted at the waist and spun around, lashing out with a vicious whip kick. In the same motion, he knocked the silver streak aside and swept his leg toward the drunk man’s head.
The drunk man was completely sober now. He twisted his body into an unnatural angle to dodge the kick, then suddenly sprang back three steps.
Only then did Finn see clearly that the silver streak he’d deflected was a silver-plated dagger.
Olivia didn’t hesitate. She dropped into a half-crouch and squeezed the trigger at the man. He simply swept his red robe, and every bullet clattered to the ground.
He extended a slender arm from beneath the robe, pinched the bullet slug between his thumb and forefinger, and gave Olivia a teasing grin. “Looks like your bullets aren’t as fast as I am.”
Olivia’s brow furrowed as she took in his ragged red robe. “You’re from Radiant Path!” she said coldly. “This is Black Mountain territory. What do you want?”
“Spot on. Eddie Peters, priest of Radiant Path.” The man wiped the wine from the corner of his mouth, then crooked a finger at Finn. “Guns are boring. I hear you know how to use a sword too. How about we settle this with some cold steel?”
“Be careful,” Olivia whispered to Finn. “The power he’s shown is already at Tier 4 Vanguard level.”
“Now that’s more like it,” Finn said, rolling his shoulders to loosen up. He raised his hand, and the Skybearer Sword appeared in his grip. “Where’s yours?”
Eddie cracked his neck and clapped his hands. A red-haired woman rounded the corner and hurried over with quick, dainty steps. She was stunningly beautiful, with a graceful, curvaceous figure. A red sash cinched her waist, accentuating her hourglass shape.
She didn’t spare Finn and the others a single glance. Dropping to one knee before Eddie, she presented a rapier with both hands.
The rapier was an ancient Western European dueling weapon refined to its peak. Long and slender with a needle-sharp tip, it traded away any real cutting power for unmatched reach and lightning-fast thrusts.
In modern times, the same design had evolved into the sport of fencing.
Its specialty was the piercing strike. It might not look as flashy as a heavy slash, but the wounds it left were far deadlier. A clean thrust through the body could cause catastrophic internal damage even if the entry wound seemed tiny.
Lose an arm or leg to a chopping blade and you might still survive with quick medical help. But get skewered by a fine point and you could bleed out from a ruptured liver or spleen, or die from sepsis if it punched through your guts.
The red-haired woman offered up the gleaming silver rapier, then straightened her back and sneered at Finn. “Arrogant blasphemer. Lord Peters only needs five seconds to send you straight to hell!”
Eddie Peters flicked off his ragged red robe, revealing a tall, powerfully built frame covered in solid muscle.
He closed his hand around the hilt, gave the blade a quick upward flick, and his whole body snapped taut like a drawn bowstring. His previously dull eyes now burned bright, radiating the coiled menace of a tiger about to pounce.
“Bro, this guy’s got some real skill,” Jimmy whispered to Finn. “Want me to just shoot him while I’ve got the chance?”
Jimmy had watched Finn carve through enemies the entire way here, but right now he still felt uneasy.
Finn had never shown any fancy swordwork, and in Jimmy’s mind a proper swordsman was supposed to wield some kind of legendary blade.
As far as he remembered, Finn’s sword had been bought for five hundred bucks on Amazon… It was less a sword and more like a sharpened steel bar.
“What’s there to be afraid of? Let me show you my self-created sword technique,” Finn said, brimming with confidence.
“Self-created sword technique?” Jimmy’s eyes lit up. In his head he thought, Damn, I really underestimated Bro. Anyone who can invent their own sword style has to be a true master.
Finn didn’t have time to worry about what Jimmy was thinking. He raised his long sword and charged straight at Eddie Peters.
“Too slow! Way too slow!” Eddie Peters roared. He leaped forward, arm bending then snapping straight as he unleashed seventy or eighty thrusts in a single instant.
Sword light flooded the space. Finn was swallowed inside a storm of silver flashes. Eddie’s rapier struck at every vital organ and critical spot on his body, even landing two direct hits on his eyes. Yet Finn’s own sword had swung through empty air, not even brushing the hem of Eddie’s robe.
“Weak! Pathetic!” A look of contempt crossed Eddie Peters’ face. “This is all you’ve got? How disappointing! Looks like Simpson seriously overhyped you!”
His eyes narrowed sharply. His body tensed like a coiled spring, and his thrusting speed exploded. “Ignorant sinner! Go to hell!”
But the smug grin on Eddie Peters’ face vanished almost instantly. No matter how precise or fast his strikes were—hundreds of thrusts in just two or three seconds—not a single hole had been left in Finn.
It was like stabbing a steel plate with a toothpick. No matter how quickly or forcefully you jabbed, you couldn’t pierce it.
“What kind of monster is this? His skin is way too tough!” Eddie thought, heart racing. He tried the same move again, aiming straight for Finn’s eyeballs this time, hoping the lens might be softer.
Facing the frenzied barrage that looked like a hummingbird’s wings, Finn finally caught the rapier’s trajectory. He shot out a hand, clamped down on the blade, and yanked hard. Eddie Peters was dragged straight toward him.
Finn stepped in close, raised his sword, and sliced clean through the arm gripping the blade. Blood exploded outward like a geyser.
Eddie Peters clutched the stump, stunned for a split second, then let out a wretched scream. “Ahhh!! My hand! My Holy Radiance!”
“That’s it?” Finn tilted his head, then closed the distance in one step. His sword traced a sharp arc and severed Eddie’s neck.
Eddie’s head soared into the air. The headless corpse crashed to the floor with a heavy thud. Blood sprayed upward, splattering the ceiling. The head rolled across the ground, eyes still wide open, face frozen in bitter resentment.
“Lord Priest! Lord Priest!” The red-haired woman still hadn’t recovered. Her eyes were blank, her mind reeling. She couldn’t accept that her once-invincible master now lay in two separate pieces.
Finn tossed the rapier aside, picked up his black handgun, and shot her in the leg.
The red-haired woman screamed in agony, hatred blazing in her eyes. She snarled through gritted teeth, “You bastard! You’ll go straight to hell!”
Finn pointed at her and told Jimmy, “Kill her.”
“Huh?” Jimmy blinked, then raised his rifle. He hesitated, finger on the trigger, but couldn’t pull it. The only enemies he’d actually killed this whole trip were the ones he’d wiped out with his Laser Rain ability, taking down a bunch of Demon Gang members.
Every other time danger showed up, he’d just ducked and covered, counting on Finn’s Profound Energy shield. The few shots he had fired had gone wild and missed everything.
Finn knew there was no real difference between wiping out enemies with an ability from a distance and pressing a button to end a life.
Remotely piloting a drone to bomb an enemy glowing on an infrared feed was one thing. Pulling the trigger and putting a bullet into a living, breathing person standing right in front of you was something else entirely.
But pulling the trigger and watching a living, breathing person thrash and die right in front of you—or beating someone to death with cold steel—was nothing like pushing a button.
Being able to kill the enemies without a flicker of mercy was the first step onto the blood-soaked path of a Celestial Sojourner.
“I… I can’t do it,” Jimmy said. His assault rifle had stayed trained on the red-haired woman for a long time, but in the end he lowered the barrel.
“How the hell are you supposed to become a Celestial Sojourner acting like this?” Finn sighed, frustration clear on his face.
“Don’t push him,” Olivia said quietly.
She looked at Jimmy, and there was no scorn in her eyes—only envy. “The Refuge City you grew up in must be really peaceful. For us, we started learning how to kill the second we could walk, just to stay alive.”
People raised in safe places had a natural aversion to killing, and that wasn’t a bad thing. Finn nodded and dropped the subject. He raised his pistol and put a bullet in the red-haired woman.
Jimmy hugged his rifle tighter, clearly ashamed. He changed the subject fast. “Bro, that self-created sword technique you used on Eddie Peters was crazy strong! Can you teach me?”
Finn gave a small, satisfied smile. “You wouldn’t be able to learn it. I came up with this style before I’d even started studying swordsmanship. It’s one of a kind in the whole world.”
“You invented your own sword technique before you even started learning swordsmanship!” Jimmy’s eyes went wide with awe. Bro really was a one-in-a-million sword genius! No wonder he’d carved up that arrogant Eddie Peters so easily.
He asked carefully, “What’s the name of this sword technique?”
“I call it the Chivalric Eightfold Whack. What do you think? Want to learn it?”