Supreme Swordfiend

Piercing the heavens, an obelisk of pure marble denoted the location of the final trial.

Leon spotted it on the horizon, the swirling blue dungeon entrance located at the base of the spire.

Each step took Leon closer to the end.

Once more, he knew the nature of the trial before him.

Pulling his Sunlight Greatsword from its sheathe on his back, Leon ensured his energy and mana were at their maximum.

Running his hand over the blade Leon felt the veins of metal, the infinitesimally small inherent fault lines in the blade's body as he stepped through another swirling vortex.

The penultimate battle of the Tutorial took place in the air, six suspended platforms of debris, each large enough to stand on but little more floated in a circle.

These would serve as the only ground within the trial, an endless expanse of sea and sky lay below and above.

In the centre of the field stood a giant, its legs long enough to stand within the ocean, its head scraping against the clouds.

Curiously, despite the giant's humanoid features it bore no face, only a blank canvas of skin covering its head.

"Level Forty Botched Homunculus- A failed product, incapable of serving the needs of its creator. No less powerful despite its imperfections. A most worthy prey to sink your teeth into."

A hand large enough to crush Leon rose to the featureless visage, sharp nails digging in, ripping open a layer of skin to reveal yet more skin.

The second hand rose, forming into a fist as it rocketed towards Leon.

Instead of dodging Leon leapt onto the giant's arm.

The abomination raised its arm, Leon rising with it, leaping into the air.

For once he remained serious.

This homunculus moved on instinct, its every action robotic and soulless.

Sword held aloft, Leon's strike split the creature's head in two, the bisected halves reforming within seconds of being cut.

He allowed himself to smile as he fell back to the hairless skin of his foe, its second hand slapping down, attempting to swat Leon like a fly.

The giant lost its fingers in the exchange, Leon's hair experiencing a slight ruffling from the wind pressure the strike generated.

A thought had struck him when he'd touched his sword.

A dangerous, reckless sort of thought.

The kind that could be applied here and now.

Pumping every single drop of mana into his arms, Leon then drove it through the faults of his blade.

The crimson body of his sword exploded with deep blue light, the mana thick enough to be seen, roiling and vibrating as Leon fed the sword full of everything he had to give.

The mana waves grew increasingly unstable as seconds passed, Leon forced himself to run along the giant's forearm as it attempted to swat him.

Power, vibrant power that shook steel and longed to detonate.

A hand came to destroy Leon again, a leap carrying him onto another fleshy platform, a second carrying him to the giant's forehead.

For a moment inertia and gravity warred, as Leon's sword met skull gravity won.

Like a coursing stream, the blade parted the giant.

The wave of watery mana turned meat to pulp, crushed organs, split bones and sliced through a small bundle of writhing cells in the giant's chest.

The head vanished in the explosion of mana, Leon blasted backwards watching as his strike ate through the giant's body.

It collapsed, dead. No regeneration could bring it back from Leon's devastation.

Gravity flung Leon toward the ocean, the oncoming impact sure to break his bones.

The spike of fear lasted seconds before he suffered forced teleportation back to the floating debris footholds, his chest and egress portal already present, a notification before his eyes.

"You have slain a Level Forty Botched Homunculus! Experience lost due to capped level!"

"Trial Four- Undying Titan Cleared!"

Sheathing the Sunlight Greatsword, Leon stored his loot and moved on.

The harsh midday sun hardly fazed the victorious swordsman.

His eyes travelled beyond the ground he walked, fixed on the mountain at the centre of the island.

In fire and smoke the final link on this chain would be forged, then used to haul Leon into the world beyond.

He spoke, half to himself, half to the billions out there who'd watched him cut through everything put before him.

"Here I am. At the end. One last fight then I can rest. Then more. Always more fighting. Don't get me wrong- I love it. Strip away all the bullshit and this is who I am. An agent of violence."

He paused, sucking the mana from his Mana Battery to refill his stocks.

"I'll stop being so vague. I'm going to kill you all, you know that right? All of you who thought you could control me, thought you could take my planet without consequence. It won't just be you. I'll kill your families, your children will die screaming for mercy that I will not grant. You'll watch powerlessly, kneeling with amputated limbs and severed tendons inside graves I'll force you to dig for yourself while I massacre everything and everyone you were foolish enough to bring alongside you. The worst part? I'll enjoy doing it."

Running one hand through his shorter hair, straightening his unkempt beard with the other, Leon continued.

"This is your only warning. Anyone, bar members of Hellstone Incorporated, still there when I arrive is marked for death. You run after I arrive and you're still on my list. Run, hide or fight. Makes no difference. Get this through your heads. Earth is mine. The shark didn't stop me- what chance do you have?"

He lapsed into silence after issuing his warning.

No ambiguity, no compromise and no remorse.

A cave opening within the walls of the volcano beckoned Leon in, walls fixed with burning braziers.

Four swords bounced off metal armour as Leon made his way to the final fight.

Beyond bloodlust, past rage and surpassing joy Leon's mind hardened to unyielding steel as he approached a mural engraved in the cave's blackened rock

An eight-pointed star adorned the darkness, each point terminating in a crude depiction of a slain foe.

Tyrant, Commander, Lord, Spider, Elemental, Clone, Scorpion and Giant.

As though it detected Leon, the star lit up, each depiction similarly glowing with soft golden light, a final engraving appearing in the star's centre.

The Apex, cruel jaws bared flashing in brilliant golden as the wall vanished, revealing the volcano's thrumming heart.

The sky above remained purest blue as Leon entered a raised platform, suspended over the bubbling lava through thick chains of white metal, eyes locked on his opponent.

Sitting astride the corpse of a gigantic blood-red dragon, hands clapping merrily as rivulets of liquid flame flowed from the walls, Zerasos still wore only a pair of ratty blue shorts and a proud grin hands slick with wet blood.

"Kept me waiting kid! The guys upstairs said you needed to face a real trial before they'd cut you loose. Time for your final exam! See this?"

Tapping a black band tied around his neck, Zerasos explained as he dismounted the dead dragon.

"Suppression collar. I'm only a half-step [G] right now, close enough for you to fight but not to beat. Land three hits that draw blood on me and you're done. Don't hold back kid. I'm not gonna be fighting to wound here, my neck's on the line if I don't go all out. Ready?"

Leon's aura exploded sending a chill down Zerasos' spine, Leon's crimson blade appeared in his hands.

A pregnant pause followed as both men eyed each other up, Leon's evaluation breaching the gap of grade thanks to the suppression.

"Level One Hundred Son Of Sulphur- Unique Class

Aggregate Level- Level Seven Hundred and Fifty-Five."

Even suppressed Zerasos radiated danger, a caged monster though no less deadly for it.

Leon barely registered this, cold fury fixated on a simple fact.

He could have been fighting a dragon.

He'd been robbed.

Forget three hits- he'd give Zerasos a hit to remember, the kind they'd look back on as one of Leon Knox's greatest hits.

For all his reach, Leon lost in the first exchange, Zerasos bursting forward with enough speed to vanish from sight.

"I said. All. Out. Stop holding back."

The fist slammed into his back breaking through his armour and cracking his bones, sending Leon face-first into the sharp stones.

The devil waited, allowing Leon to rise, his greatsword slammed into the floor as he drew twin blades, a savage roar rising from his chest as he kicked toward the devil.

The venom failed to affect Zerasos as he parried each blow with his bare skin.

Leon's swordplay grew ever more aggressive each slice aiming to maim. Groin, throat, legs and eyes all took chops which left faint white marks on the black skin.

Desperation drove action, Leon turned his blades inward gouging his own flesh to coat the armaments in blood, forced to waste energy burning out the venom.

The invisibility and burning blades still failed to achieve their goal.

Nothing got through the devil's hardened skin.

A burst of sulphuric gas rose as the flaming blade met the devil's skin.

"Brimstone Constitution kid. Fire's only making me faster, tougher. Now stop. Holding. Back.

The fist punched through his chest snapping ribs and breaking steel, Leon crumpled against his own discarded sword.

Shakily rising once more, he fought through the pain, forcing his broken body back together.

Mana thrummed as he pushed half his reserves into Ebb and Flow, throwing Silent and Scream aside, hands going to Wavecutter, words choked out through burning breaths.

"All out. Got it. Don't regret this."

Flashes of blue crashed against Zerasos, the devil laughing as he effortlessly deflected each blow.

"C'mon, kid. This can't be your limit. Show me that spark that's got the world watching you! Hit me like ya fuckin mean it!"

A notification Leon normally filtered out passed by his vision.

"Ebb and Flow Boost Limit Reached. Power and Speed Doubled."

Four times, thanks to his insight and still not a single drop flowed from the devil's skin

He grinned through the agony, bellowing to the heavens as his blade sliced dark grey marks on his foe.

"Not good enough! I need more power!"

The remaining half of his mana raced into a parallel circuit, a layering over the original, formed of tightly controlled mana.

The Shifting Tides Style Manual had never said one circuit would be his limit.

If Ebb and Flow had a limit, then he would simply form another, consequences be damned.

Victory meant more than death and if he had to burn his life to win then he'd do so gladly.

His strikes grew beyond the point of reason as Leon's body collapsed under the strain.

Everything not related to keeping his arms moving and his heart pumping he left to die under the strain of his circuits.

Eight times the Power and Speed proved enough.

Zerasos failed to parry the strike that carved through his gut, a thick burst of blood spraying forth.

Nor did he react to the second, this one tearing his chest open.

The third and final strike he did.

The sheer amount of power pouring from Leon forced the devil's hands.

A veritable tsunami of energy, forced into a single blow.

His exposed veins burst, lava coating Zerasos' body and hardening into armour as his fists met the blade.

The armour failed and the fist split, Leon's strike splitting Zerasos' arm in two.

Leon's sword arm had vanished along with his shoulder, obliterated in his attack, his blade clattering to the floor as he wobbled on his feet.

Leon still managed to smirk while Zerasos' body knit itself together in seconds.

"Bet that hurt. Made me use my secret art. Ebb and Flow. Times two. Still workshopping the name..."

The victorious swordsman trailed off and collapsed, heart only barely still beating as his mentor lifted him from the ground.

"Not bad kid. Let's get you to a healer."