Sword King, a Slash That Surpassed "Light Speed"

One morning, on a rare day of leisure.

As agreed, today was Alice's once-every-three-days "holiday."

Early in the morning, Lord Sauros, who utterly doted on his granddaughter, happily took Alice along.

They boarded the most luxurious and comfortable carriage in the estate and set off in grand fashion for the family manor outside the city for a so-called "outing."

He also claimed that he would personally teach his adorable little granddaughter Alice some basic riding skills.

Having obtained a rare full day of "freedom," Cui Ciyou immediately seized this precious opportunity.

Cui Ciyou arrived at the training grounds and immediately spotted Ghislaine lazily sprawled beneath the warm sunlight.

Like one of those lazy cats on Earth, Ghislaine narrowed her eyes and basked in the sun absentmindedly.

Mm... she looked exactly like those cats on Earth sunbathing.

Cui Ciyou silently compared her to them.

"Ghislaine." He got straight to the point.

"Hmm?" Ghislaine slightly opened her amber beast eye, the one not covered by an eyepatch, and looked at him with a trace of puzzlement.

"I'd like to ask you about the ranking standards of the Sword God Style."

Cui Ciyou plainly stated why he had come.

"Go ahead." Ghislaine replied succinctly.

"You're a Sword King of the Sword God Style." Cui Ciyou stared into her amber beast eyes and asked directly,

"So, I want to know."

"Within the Sword God Style, how exactly are the standards determined for swordsmen progressing from Advanced Swordsman to Sword Saint, then Sword King, and even higher ranks?"

"Or rather, what must one achieve to be called a Sword Saint?"

"And what realm must one reach to be granted the title of Sword King?"

Hearing this, Ghislaine fell silent for a moment, as though organizing her thoughts or recalling her days at the Sword Sanctum.

She slowly began:

"The Sword God Style centers on pursuing ultimate speed and unrivaled attack power."

"The division of ranks is naturally closely tied to those things."

"First comes the 'Advanced Swordsman.' When you can skillfully master all the basic techniques of the Sword God Style and initially perform the Soundless Sword, you may be called an Advanced Swordsman."

"The Soundless Sword?" Cui Ciyou repeated the term. He had seen it in books in the library as well.

But the relevant explanations had always been vague and difficult to grasp.

"Yes, soundless." A sharp glint flashed through Ghislaine's eyes.

"When the speed of your swing becomes fast enough to break through the barrier of sound propagation, your blade will no longer make a sound as it cuts through the air. Others will hear no whistling of the blade at all. That is what 'soundless' means."

"To reach that level, you need an extremely high degree of control over your physical strength, the speed of your strikes, and your swordsmanship."

"Then what about a Sword Saint?" Cui Ciyou pressed on, eager to understand the secrets of a higher level.

"A Sword Saint," Ghislaine explained,

"Means that you can not only perform the Soundless Sword consistently, but wield it with complete mastery."

"Achieving a state where the strike arrives the instant the thought arises in actual combat."

"In other words, under any circumstances, you can unleash a lethal slash beyond the speed of sound in an instant, before your enemy can react."

She paused, then added:

"When a swordsman can elevate a slash beyond the speed of sound—the Soundless Sword—to a realm approaching the speed of light, they have grasped the true ultimate art of the Sword God Style—the Sword of Light."

"A swordsman capable of using the Sword of Light is qualified to be called a Sword Saint."

"The speed of light... is something like that really possible?" Cui Ciyou asked in astonishment. It sounded far too unbelievable.

It probably wasn't light speed in the literal sense, right? Cui Ciyou wondered inwardly.

"Not the true speed of light as mortals understand it, the kind that can transcend time and space."

"Such power could probably only barely be achieved by the legendary gods."

Ghislaine shook her head and continued with a detailed explanation:

"But when the Sword of Light is unleashed, its speed has already far surpassed the limit of what human eyes can perceive."

"To others, it appears as swift and inconceivable as a flash of light. That is how it got its name."

"To master the Sword of Light, one must first possess vast and exceptionally pure Battle Aura."

"You must have microscopic control over both your body and the sword in your hand. More importantly, you need a powerful heart as firm as stone, one capable of bearing that ultimate speed and terrifying power."

"It could be said that the Sword of Light is the ultimate manifestation of a swordsman's perfect union of technique, strength, Battle Aura, and state of mind."

"Master it, and you can rightfully be called a Sword Saint!"

So that was it... A sonic slash was the Soundless Sword mastered by Advanced Swordsmen, while a near-light-speed slash was the Sword of Light that only Saint-level swordsmen could perform...

Cui Ciyou silently absorbed this crucial information. It was far clearer than the vague descriptions in those books.

"Then the Soundless Sword could be considered a prerequisite skill for the Sword of Light. What about King-level?"

At the mention of "King-level," Ghislaine's expression turned even more solemn.

"The Sword of Light... that is the supreme ultimate art of the Sword God Style, and the final proof of entering the realm of Sword Saint," she said slowly.

"But to reach King-level, one must go a step further beyond that."

"One must perfectly fuse one's Battle Aura, will, technique, and the sword itself into a single whole, then drive them to an unprecedented extreme in order to unleash... the strongest attack, as swift as though it had surpassed light itself, as though it could sever everything in this world!"

"That is a Sword King." Ghislaine's gaze suddenly sharpened. "Watch closely. Like this!"

Before her words had even faded, the longsword in her hand flashed forward like a dazzling bolt of lightning tearing through the void, slashing with terrifying speed that was nearly impossible to follow with the naked eye.

An utterly brilliant burst of light seemed to appear from nowhere, instantly cleaving through the air above the training grounds.

It moved so quickly that it even left behind a distinct, warped afterimage of energy in the air.

It seemed as though even the resilient fabric of space itself could be forcibly torn apart by that sword strike!

"Beyond light speed...? So this was a slash beyond light speed? This was the strength of a Sword King?"

Witnessing that earth-shattering strike, Cui Ciyou's heart jolted violently as he suffered an impact unlike anything he had ever experienced.