Chương 21: Chapter 20: Assessment to Become a Fallen God’s Student

Selen immediately rushed towards me and closed the distance in an instant. She then made a beautiful, perfect arc with her sword, which I tried to block with my own. I instantly felt how heavy the sword strike was as my knees started to buckle from the force. As I struggled to keep my balance, the goddess retracted her blade to make another flawless arc toward my side. This time, having learned that I shouldn't try to block such a heavy attack head-on, I tilted my sword to deflect it.

Goddess Selen instantly read my shift and adjusted her trajectory to counter my parry. Before I could change my stance to adapt to her movement, her attack had once again collided with my sword, causing my hands to burn from the impact. I instantly knew this was going to be an uphill fight, especially considering this was her holding back. I backed away, hoping to gain some distance to showcase my own swordsmanship. The goddess didn't give me any breathing room, following right along with my retreat.

I tried to swing my sword at a strange angle, making my arm as fluid as possible to increase the speed of the strike, but I was instantly blocked without even getting close. I could painfully feel the giant disparity between our levels and experience. I then started to use sword energy in my attacks. This was the manifestation of one's intention when using a sword. The stronger and more focused the intention, the better the strike. I then coated my sword and rushed in, looking for a weak point.

As I had used sword energy, Selen decided she would start using it too. As I was busy looking for where to strike, she had already found hers. Selen then attacked my side with another perfect swing, but this time, as I was about to block, she spread her sword energy, causing the range to expand when her sword was already close. As the attack was already too close to dodge, I was grazed by the sword energy before my own sword energy made contact, as I frantically extended my sword energy outwards.

This fight was going badly for me, so I decided to change my tactics. Learning from the goddess, I tried to correct some of the errors I had in my swordsmanship and tried to make my slashes as clean as hers. As I slashed, I corrected the angle, making the most perfect slash I had ever made, which increased the force while I also expanded my sword energy near contact. Impressed by my learning speed, Selen quickly deflected the slash and stepped out of the way.

The result of the slash was quite amazing in my eyes, as the slash caused a foot-long imprint into the ground that stretched a couple of meters. Not impressed by the result of the strike, Selen continued her attacks but slowly increased the strength of each strike. We then went back and forth, as with each strike I started to feel the increased difficulty that the goddess was displaying. After a few more exchanges, the Goddess Selen seemed to have gotten considerably more serious than before.

Her sword energy instantly condensed into a nearly invisible line on her sword. She also extended the line slightly near the sharp points to make the sword even sharper. I could instantly feel the change in the sword's destructive power. Selen then instantly slashed, which was so fast, her arm was no longer visible to my eyes. The only thing that let me feel her attack was coming was an impending sense of death that was coming my way.

I then stepped out of the way as fast as I could, and a strong energy quickly went past me, creating a void in the air wherever the energy of the slash went. The slash then hit a nearby boulder, cleanly cutting it in half, but it didn't stop there, as it cut several more objects in its way cleanly. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. I then felt the severity of the situation. If that landed on me even once, I would die instantly.

Even if I blocked it with my sword, it would cut through my sword easily and kill me. Even dodging out of the way was difficult, as the slash was so fast that it was practically invisible. My brief moment of fear was interrupted as the goddess continued her slashes towards me. Each time, I could barely get out of the way as I tried to find a way to counter her slashes. As my energy wasn't nearly as powerful or sharp as hers, I couldn't imitate her slash.

So, I decided to alter the way she slashed into my own technique. I then gathered all my sword energy towards the furthest point of my sword, where most contact usually starts. I then slashed as fast and strong as I could make it towards Selen. Though not nearly as fast or powerful, I could feel the energy that I condensed change into a different, more refined type of energy. This energy quickly shot outwards as an attack and created a vacuum behind where the slashed energy went.

For the first time, I saw Selen actively dodge the attack that I had output. I felt some sense of accomplishment as I finally got her to be wary of my attack. As the goddess had dodged my attack, the slash continued, creating a clean cut wherever it went, and finally stopped after cutting further than I could see with my eyes. Selen then looked at me with a different expression, as if she decided to get more serious after seeing my attack.

She then condensed her sword energy even further, so much so that I could feel the sharpness even though I was standing so far away. She then swung in the perfect slash she always had, but the danger this time made me instantly feel that death was watching over me. The slash, which I barely had time to dodge, grazed me heavily as a deep cut appeared on the side of my body. I instantly felt the pain as it bled heavily from being grazed completely through my flesh.

The slash then continued; even though it was so finely condensed that it couldn't be seen, the path it took was very noticeable, as a tree which you couldn't even see where it was cut suddenly split in half. This made me learn new ways that sword energy could be used that I hadn't thought about before. I then tried something similar as I constantly condensed my sword energy into a single line.

It was difficult, but as I kept dodging the attacks that came my way, increasing the number of injuries I had every time, I soon finished building up my slash. Though my body was now filled with open wounds that cut straight through the flesh, I was proud of the creation that I just made from condensing my sword energy so tight. I then slashed sideways to get the most range out of my slice.

The slash cut through the air so cleanly that the vacuum it created made my arms move at an unbelievable speed that was difficult to see. The slash then went through the air, creating a vacuum wherever it went, creating a crushing force behind it. As the slash got closer to Selen, she didn't have time to dodge, as she didn't expect me to suddenly learn this new slash and use it.

This was due to her letting her guard down, as everything I had done so far was pretty pathetic, which caused her to think what I was charging up until now wasn't going to amount too much. Selen then condensed her sword energy to a single point, creating a speck of energy so incredibly small you could feel the power it emitted without even touching it. The two energies then collided, resulting in a large grinding sound before it exploded, causing Selen to back up a few steps, though uninjured.

After the attack, Selen suddenly stopped any further attacks and sheathed her sword. She then said, "You have passed and can now become my student." As I heard her confirmation, I was very excited to finally be able to learn divine swordsmanship and level up my swordsmanship skill, which had been stuck for so long. Selen then said, "Since you are my student now, I will give you your first lesson right now. Do you remember the feeling of that slash you just made?"

I then nodded my head, as the strike was the best slash I had ever made. Selen then explained, "That is the basis of divine swordsmanship energy. If you can condense and purify that energy further into an entirely new type of energy, you should be able to level your skill to the next level." The goddess then told me exactly what to do to further improve my sword energy. After trying her instructions, I entered an immersive state.

Not long after, my sword energy became much denser, and all my energy changed into something else entirely. Then a notification popped up in my system window: Swordsmanship skill level up into [EX] Swordsmanship (Lv. 1).