Secret Sword

When Werther woke up that morning, he found that his wounds barely hurt anymore.

He picked up the lion hide he had stripped from the lion yesterday. After washing it and drying it over the fire all night, it was more or less usable. He trimmed it a few times with his sword and wrapped it around his waist.

His shirt had long been soaked in blood yesterday, and he had no idea where he had thrown it. He simply discarded his trousers as well, leaving only his underwear and the lion hide around his waist before heading out bare-chested.

After finding some wild fruit for breakfast, Werther began another day of survival on the deserted island.

He had already explored the island for an entire day yesterday. Though he had encountered several powerful beasts, he had not taken the initiative to fight them. Today, he wanted to find a stronger one and have a good fight.

Werther had never known what battle felt like before, so he had never understood those battle maniacs. But now, he realized that he liked fighting—fights to the death. The more brutal they were, the more excited he became.

After wandering around, he decided to seek out the giant gorilla he had spotted yesterday. He could tell that it was strong.

Near noon, Werther finally found the same giant gorilla again.

It was a species he had never seen before, with blue skin and a height of at least six meters.

"Hey, big guy, come fight me to the death. Let me cut loose." Without caring whether the gorilla understood him, Werther activated Lightning Mode and charged forward.

Werther usually did not care much for strategy in battle. If he could win, he charged in directly. If he could not win, he still charged in, then figured out that he could not win—after which he either fled or died.

Seeing a little runt charge at it, the gorilla did not pay him any mind. It casually slapped at him, but that careless blow cost it dearly. Two of its fingers were severed and sent flying.

Blood sprayed all over Werther. It still made him uncomfortable, but it no longer nauseated him.

Wielding two swords and relying on his superior speed, Werther constantly shifted around the gorilla, slicing off flesh with every strike. Every so often, he hacked out a chunk of white bone that spun through the air and flew far away.

Side slashes, horizontal chops—almost all his moves were cuts or cleaves, with hardly any thrusting techniques. Werther disliked thrusts. They were too delicate, and their area of damage was too small. Although his swords had originally been modeled after rapiers, after extensive modifications, the two murderous weapons had been made solely to sever living creatures.

In the past, Werther could only practice slashing at empty air. Now he was practicing against the gorilla in front of him, and the feeling was completely different. Though he seemed to hold every advantage, the gorilla was clearly a strength-type fighter. It was not fast, but if he took even one hit, he would be seriously injured.

Just as Werther was cutting away to his heart's content, the gorilla grew furious. It had been taking a nap when some deranged stranger had appeared out of nowhere and nearly chopped it into a gorilla stick.

If it did not go all out now, it felt that it would die today—a miserable death, hacked into chunks. Never underestimate the animals of the pirate world; they were highly intelligent.

The gorilla suddenly stretched both arms straight out, clenched its fists, and began spinning wildly like a windmill.

The moment the gorilla extended its arms, Werther sensed danger. Unfortunately, it was too late.

With a thud, Werther felt the world spin as he was hurled far away, then slammed heavily onto the ground. His chest and lungs burned with pain, making it hard to breathe. Then he tasted rust in his throat and coughed up blood.

He shook his head to clear it, feeling rather speechless. Going straight for the ultimate move just because we disagreed? At the same time, he realized that he had too few techniques. Even the gorilla had an ultimate move, while he had none.

Looking at the gorilla before him, Werther saw that the dozens of wounds he had inflicted were spraying blood furiously from the spinning motion. The gorilla was practically becoming a fountain.

He staggered over to it and sliced open its belly with one sword. Its internal organs spilled out.

Stimulated by the pain, the gorilla crawled away from Werther, wanting to get away from this demon.

Unfortunately, that did not save its life. It only hastened its death. With its organs strewn all over the ground, the gorilla died in agony.

Werther realized that he was especially cruel when fighting. Normally, he was fine, but once battle began, he suspected that he could chop an enemy into minced meat without hesitation.

Rather than cut lunch from the gorilla, he hunted another animal. Gorillas were humanoid and might even be humanity's ancestors, so Werther did not want to eat something so disgusting. He killed a Giant Snake, retrieved the large pot the merchant ship had deliberately left behind from the shore, and began stewing snake soup.

As he enjoyed lunch, Werther assessed his injuries. Perhaps because of his long-term use of the Lightning Stimulation Method, his recovery speed and resistance to blows were both excellent. He had not suffered any fatal injuries or lingering complications.

After eating, Werther did not go out to continue hunting. Instead, he stayed in the stone house and pondered how to develop a new technique.

Werther began to think. Do not misunderstand—he was not considering basic movements or combinations of techniques. Instead, he thought of the ruthless swordsmen from anime in his previous life and considered which of their techniques he could imitate. With his current swordsmanship, even if he developed one, its level and power would only be average. He might as well draw inspiration from masters.

Werther actually thought of a technique, one with great potential for development. It was a sword technique from Fate/stay night that could defy the rules of Heroic Spirits.

Secret Sword Tsubame Gaeshi.

Without question, Tsubame Gaeshi was an immensely powerful technique. It would be extremely difficult for an ordinary person to master, but Werther thought of Lightning Mode. Once Lightning Mode was activated, Werther's reaction speed and physical speed increased dramatically. The stronger the lightning, the faster he became, though it could not exceed his body's limits.

Werther's idea was to activate Lightning Mode at high intensity for a brief period, greatly increasing his speed in order to execute Secret Sword Tsubame Gaeshi.

The Secret Sword Tsubame Gaeshi Werther envisioned was somewhat different from the original Tsubame Gaeshi.

It would use extremely rapid slashes to make multiple strikes erupt at the same time, creating an effect similar to a pseudo-dimensional slash and drastically increasing its destructive power. Then, by adding lightning's cutting properties to the slashes, the more slashes there were, the greater the destructive power would become.

No sooner said than done. He first activated Lightning Mode, then raised it to the maximum level he could endure. He could activate it at that level briefly once, but keeping it active would be a fancy way of courting death. His body would collapse.

During those few seconds, his entire body remained pale blue, but his swords were no longer their previous silver-blue. Instead, they were silver-white, with a faint purple glow showing through.

Then he swung both swords with all his strength, one strike from each hand.

Werther had never imagined that, at his current level of swordsmanship, he could achieve what Sasaki Kojiro had done—using a single sword to slash three times simultaneously. After all, that man had trained for an entire lifetime.

Therefore, Werther's goal was to swing both swords at once and attain the speed of Tsubame Gaeshi. What mattered most was that speed, combined with his lightning attribute, to form his own sword technique.

If he failed once, he rested for an hour and tried again after his body recovered. If it still failed, he tried again next time. Failure after failure, summary after summary.

Whenever he was hungry, he went out and found some beast to cook. Whenever he was thirsty, there was a nearby stream where he could drink and bathe.

One day, then two.

One month, then two months.

Finally, a year and a half later, Werther's Tsubame Gaeshi succeeded. That time, he swung his swords as he always had, yet something felt different.

Suddenly, Werther felt as if the space around him had slowed down. No—it was that he had become too fast, faintly breaking free from the constraints of space, air, and gravity.

At that moment, Werther felt that there was only his sword and one pursuit in his heart. Faster. I need to slash faster.

Two intersecting purple sword trails formed in the air almost simultaneously, carrying a faint blue radiance as they flew forward, as though they could cut through everything.

With a clang, there was also the faint tremor of metal.

One wall of Werther's stone house was sliced directly into four pieces, and the entire wall was sent flying. A hole was carved straight into the mountain.

Werther felt waves of weakness wash over him. He had not expected that using Tsubame Gaeshi would produce sword energy, turning it into a mid-range and close-range attack.

"Hehehe, hehehe, hehehe, I succeeded." Werther was delighted and excited.

After a year and a half of grueling training, Werther had finally mastered his ultimate move—his trump card.

Secret Sword Tsubame Gaeshi.