A Sword King Without Battle Aura

Darkness suddenly flooded his vision, and the world spun. Intense dizziness and nauseating sickness crashed over him like a tsunami bursting through a dam!

"Ah—!"

Cui Ciyou could not stop a muffled, agonized groan. His body abruptly went limp, and he nearly collapsed on the spot!

Fortunately, he reacted quickly and drove the longsword in his hand viciously into the ground, barely managing to support his swaying body and avoid falling down in disgrace.

He clutched his splitting head tightly with his left hand and gasped for breath, cold sweat streaming madly down his forehead like a waterfall.

So... so painful...

This feeling... is ten times, maybe even a hundred times worse than the dizziness I felt when expanding the Anti-Magic Field or forcibly suppressing a mage's mana!

Cui Ciyou thought in shock.

So that's it... it was Mental Power. This mysterious Mental Power supported me... and let me unleash that strike.

My guess was right. Battle Aura and mana are, at their core, merely pure forms of energy. But the ways they affect the world are different.

But forcibly squeezing out my Mental Power and physical strength, driving them to a level beyond the speed of light... the burden it places on my brain and nervous system... is simply too great.

The unbearable agony lasted for nearly ten seconds before slowly receding like the tide.

All that remained was extreme weakness, as though his brain had been completely hollowed out, along with an indescribable exhaustion.

Cui Ciyou shook his groggy head and slowly straightened up.

He looked down at the longsword in his hand, which still hummed from the enormous energy it had endured, then raised his head to look at the empty space ahead.

Cui Ciyou had not set any particular target just now. He had merely swung that sword with all his strength to test the bold possibility in his mind.

But he knew that he had succeeded.

In a way entirely different from the common sense of this world, relying solely on his terrifying body strengthened by mysterious power and his unique, formidable Mental Power, he had successfully unleashed that... ultimate slash that surpassed the speed of light!

So that's how it is... for me, the so-called Soundless Sword can be achieved purely through the limits of my physical body.

And the Sword of Light... for me, its essence is the initial combination and application of physical strength and Mental Power to a certain degree.

Then the realm beyond the Sword of Light is a method of using "energy" that can perfectly unite one's will, power, and speed, then drive them to their absolute limit?

Battle Aura can do it, so this unique "Mental Power" of mine... should be able to do the same!

It's just that, judging from the strength of my Mental Power and my body's endurance right now, the cost of using this move is simply too great.

It could almost be said that... it instantly drained all the Mental Power I currently possessed—if I fail to defeat my opponent before my Mental Power runs out, then death will probably be the only thing waiting for me.

The way Mental Power grows... seems somewhat similar to how mana growth is described in the original work. It requires constant depletion, even overdrawing it, followed by sufficient recovery and accumulation before it can slowly improve.

That strike just now nearly emptied all the Mental Power in my body. Once I recover completely... it should grow somewhat, right?

Thinking of the possible increase in Mental Power after recovery, a faint smile surfaced on Cui Ciyou's face, pale from the agony—a smile that was slightly unhealthy, yet full of satisfaction.

Then... judging by the sword strike I just unleashed...

Although its attack principle is completely different from that of this world's swordsmen, and there may be some difference in power, the realm of "speed" it reached has already crossed the threshold beyond the Sword of Light...

So now... I can probably barely be called... a Sword King, right?

An aberrant Sword King with absolutely no Battle Aura, who fights using only physical strength and Mental Power?

As Cui Ciyou silently assessed himself and calmly summarized his findings,

Ghislaine, who had recovered from her extreme shock nearby, already had an unprecedented brilliance erupting from her bright amber beast eyes.

She strode quickly up to Cui Ciyou, carefully examining him from head to toe, her face filled with disbelief.

"That just now... was... a slash beyond the Sword of Light?!"

Ghislaine's voice trembled slightly with excessive excitement.

"Although it felt... somewhat different. I didn't sense that distinctive, powerful force that comes with an eruption of Battle Aura..."

"But that speed, that fleeting flash of light, was absolutely the supreme realm beyond 'light'!"

"You... you actually... unleashed it without any Battle Aura at all?!"

Seeing Ghislaine's excited expression, as if she had discovered a new continent,

Cui Ciyou merely gave a slightly weary smile, neither confirming nor denying it.

Ghislaine circled Cui Ciyou twice, as though carefully confirming something.

Then she suddenly clapped her hands together, and a dazzling smile like sunlight appeared on her face.

Such a heartfelt smile was exceedingly rare on her usually stern, expressionless face.

"Amazing! That's truly amazing!" Ghislaine said, forcefully patting Cui Ciyou on the shoulder.

That single pat nearly knocked Cui Ciyou, already dizzy from overdrawing his Mental Power, straight to the ground.

Cui Ciyou wailed inwardly: Please, my head really hurts right now!

Then, in a tone brimming with admiration and sincere recognition, Ghislaine solemnly announced to him,

"Congratulations, Ciyou!"

"No matter how you did it, you truly unleashed a sword strike that surpassed 'light'!"

"From today onward, you can completely call yourself—a Sword King!"

By evening, Alice had cheerfully finished her day's "outing."

Like a tiny red whirlwind, she rushed into Cui Ciyou's bedroom.

She did not notice Cui Ciyou's slightly pale complexion or his exhausted mental state at all.

Alice excitedly ran up to Cui Ciyou. Her little face was flushed from excitement and running as she eagerly began sharing her "adventure" from the day.

"Ciyou... Ciyou... listen!"

"Today, Grandpa and I went to play in the forest outside the city."

"I saw, I saw so many... super huge spiders! They were this big!"

Alice spread her tiny arms wide, gesturing in an extremely exaggerated manner.

"Their legs were covered in fuzzy hair! And they could spin webs too! Grandpa said they were..."

Mm... mm... mm...

Cui Ciyou listened somewhat absentmindedly, watching Alice's animated, chattering excitement.

He felt that the bone-deep exhaustion brought on by forcibly draining his Mental Power to unleash that strike beyond the speed of light seemed to have unknowingly faded quite a bit.

Cui Ciyou gently rubbed his still faintly aching temples.

A helpless yet warmly gentle smile appeared on his face.