Soul of Blades - Chapter 71: Control (Patreon)

[You have defeated level 402 Draconic Kobald (E) - additional experience points due to the level difference. Experience penalty due to grade difference]

[You have defeated level 315 Draconic Kobald (E) - additional experience points due to the level difference. Experience penalty due to grade difference]

[You have defeated level 437 Draconic Kobald (E) - additional experience points due to the level difference. Experience penalty due to grade difference]

Alex watched the savage slaughter unfolding below him, and a slew of notifications raced before his eyes.

Eclipse, was tearing through thirty Kobald men of varying levels. But each held higher level, and in some cases, higher stats than Alex. Although, according to Mei, they had weak races, classes, and skills.

Still, the last battle had been a struggle, and yet his clone was slaughtering thirty of them, although not without difficulty. Alex observed as it’s claws moved like scythes, reaping blood and flesh as a farmer harvested wheat, or as a reaper claimed souls. Each death sent a wave of experience his way. Not just a portion of the experience, but the full amount. He wasn't doing the fighting, yet his skill was reaping the full benefits. Was this normal?

"Shouldn't we stop it?" Alex asked, a tremor of uncertainty in his voice. The clone hadn’t obeyed his orders and appeared to be acting independently. Although he had instructed it to “fight”, it seemed that this command had overridden the others, making it behave like a mindless automaton, as described in the skill's description. Or was it sentient and beyond his control?

However, that seemed impossible. Mei had told him that the system was infallible, unbreachable, and didn't make mistakes. But his skill was glitched, and his class too... What if these glitches had affected the clone? Would he have to combat it? Would it pose a threat to him?

Mei was watching the bloody spectacle with a peculiar fascination, her eyes sparkling with curiosity. She turned to him, shrugging lightly. "Well, it's your skill. You should be able to stop it, no?"

The problem was, Alex didn't know how. He had given the command to fight. But the clone was acting on its own, ignoring every other order. A silent dread settled in his heart, heavy as a rock. He felt the blood drain from his face. "What if... what if it turns on us?"

"Then we fight," Mei answered nonchalantly, never tearing her eyes away from the carnage. "You're stronger than it. You should be fine."

Alex wasn't sure. He was stronger than his clone, yes. But these Kobald men, some of them were stronger than he was. And yet, here they were, being annihilated.

That was… concerning.

Mei was just observing, her face reflecting fascinated curiosity. Why worry?" she finally said, the carefree lilt of her voice contrasting the gravity of the situation, "You can just dismiss the skill, right?"

He shook his head, "I don't know how to."

Her childish laughter chimed in the silent space. "I'll teach you when the time comes. It's easy. But now isn't the time as I'm enjoying the show."

But as the slaughter intensified, becoming increasingly horrifying, even Mei fell silent. Her wide-eyed expression mirrored Alex's dread. She peppered him with questions about his skill. In return, he confessed that this was not how the skill was supposed to work.

When Alex first enhanced his stats, with his increased intelligence, he had felt as if the clone was an extension of himself. The broad command he’d given had been sufficient, but now, he felt he could possibly do more. It might slow him down by milliseconds, but he believed he could direct the clone's every move.

Yet, that wasn't happening. Nothing was working. The clone didn't heed him. He could sense the connection to it and control the mana, but when he attempted to manipulate it, nothing occurred. It was as if the skill, the sword, had gained a life of its own.

Finally, the last enemy fell in a gruesome display of savagery. His vision flooded with notifications as the clone lumbered towards him and came to a halt, standing silent and motionless.

[You have defeated level 412 Draconic Kobald (E) - additional experience points due to the level difference. Experience penalty due to grade difference]

[You have defeated level 289 Draconic Kobald (E) - additional experience points due to the level difference. Experience penalty due to grade difference]

[You have defeated…]

[You have defeated…]

[You have defeated…]

[You have defeated level 565 Draconic Kobald (E) - additional experience points due to the level difference. Experience penalty due to grade difference]

[Level 72 > Level 78]

[Strength +24, Dexterity+24, intelligence+36, unassigned stats +24]

[Class Skill gain available]

Without a choice and unable to delay selection, he delved into his skill options, but his mind remained distracted, and elsewhere.

His thoughts were eternally clouded by the sight of his savage, steadily approaching, and strangely over-skilled carnivorous demonic sword-clone.

[Please Make a selection]

Before he could even begin to face his approaching wild doppelgänger, his mind was embraced by the system—whisked away into its depths.

[System Message: Choose one of 2 Skills]

[Divine Soul (Active - 10 Second Duration): The sword sovereign channels the power of soul into a state of self-focused divinity, befitting of their station. Dramatically increases the user's reaction time and combat speed, allowing them to dodge attacks effortlessly and strike with precision. This state also enhances the user's awareness, making them highly attuned to their surroundings for strategic manoeuvring. This transformation sharpens their senses and reflexes, allowing them to perceive and react to threats at preternatural speeds.]

[Divine Fist: Should a sword sovereign find themselves without their weapon, their sovereignty allows them to channel inner divinity, delivering a blow that carries the weight of divine judgement. Allows the user to empower unarmed blows, recovering lost blades ointment the process.]

Without much time to think and a potential evil doppelgänger seconds away from disemboweling him, Alex assessed his options with haste.

First, Alex thought of Divine Soul. He envisioned his movements becoming fluid and almost precognitive. The state the skill provided would drastically increase his reaction time and combat speed— already his highest attributes— allowing him to dodge impossible attacks with ease and strike back with unparalleled pinpoint accuracy. In his mind's eye, he visualized himself activating the skill, his reflexes and sensory perceptions dramatically heightened. He saw his senses sharpened, saw himself an imagined strike, moving with enhanced speed, each muscle and sinew reacting with heightened awareness. He would be able to noticed every small movement of an enemy, and sense every detail within his range. It could allow him to dodged flurries of strikes with from all angles—the world would probably even appear to stand still. However, the skill had steep limitations: the brief ten-second duration would leave him vulnerable - it was a mere fraction of mana burns duration. But a lot can be achieved in ten seconds, he thought, considering all that he had done with thirty. But he noted the lack of mention of stats in the skills description, would it pair with mana burn to turn him godly? Or would both skills work independently, neither surpassing their set height's? The lack of explicit stat mention caused him to believe it would be the latter. If a confrontation extended beyond the fleeting moments of enhanced ability, he would be left waiting for the cooldown to end, or have to solely rely on the one chance afforded to him by Mana Burn.

Turning his focus to Divine Fist, Alex imagined a scenario where he stood weaponless against his savage and potentially patricidal— or was it his deicidal?— clone. When you really think about it, killing your creator would make it creatorectomal, well either way, blunt force would work better against that thing if it goes crazy, he mused, swimming in seas of endless systemic darkness.

Through the skill, he could channel his ‘inner divinity’— Whatever that is, he wondered,— to empower his fists, delivering blows with the weight and force of ‘divine judgment’. He visualized himself striking the clone squarely, noted how the skill’s description lacked any apparent duration or cooldown, providing a continuous tactical advantage. The lack o limitation is appealing, he thought, enamoured by the promise of uninterrupted combat effectiveness.

The first time I used the skill, it was bludgeoned to oblivion, Alex recalled, images of his first skill use’s susceptibility still fresh in his mind. Gouging attacks had worked, too, from foes stronger than it. Unfortunately, his jaws didnt stretch and elongate like some monstrous freak show, and he doubted his teeth were harder than system empowered steel, or other metals. Although the clone's body, composed of densely packed metal, typically sustained only dents and scratches from most attacks, Alex vividly recalled the past instance where significant force had cracked and shattered the already damaged white sword’s form during the first activation of his skill.

He also considered how well the skill coupled with BladeBody and any effects the enchantment absorbing could skill granted him. The pairing could become the only tool in his arsenal capable of damaging beings resistant to bladed damage.

Alex paused to consider his immediate options, with the threat of his potentially rogue, carnivorous, demonic sword-clone looming ever closer. As the system's interface enveloped his mind in what he’d come to realise as dilated time, he made his decision.

[Class skill ‘Divine Fist’ gained!]

Excitement bubbled up inside him at the acquisition of a new skill, but it was quickly smothered by the sight of his approaching clone. He would have to inspect his new skill once he had uncovered the mystery of his demonic doppelganger.

Despite the victory and skill acquisition, Alex felt…worried, while Mei looked morbidly curious. Could this all be chalked up to a misunderstanding? He wondered. Had he somehow simply misused his skill?

Or had he unintentionally created a monster?

His clone—silent, immobile—remained stood before him. The thrill of victory was tainted by an undercurrent of dread, a chill that clung to Alex and danced across Mei's curious eyes.

Alex swallowed. "Hey," he said, forcing casualness into his voice as he stepped closer, "You alive in there?"

No response. The clone was as still as stone.

Mei scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "That's your big question? Really?"

Heat rose in Alex's cheeks. "Well, do you have any better ideas pipsqueak?"

She stuck her tongue out at him, flipping two fingers in what Alex believed to be the opposite of peace, then turned back to the clone, her face scrunching up in concentration. "Hey, clone," she said, the name spat out as an insult, "you enjoy all that killing?"

The clone didn't move.

Mei humphed, her small shoulders hunching in frustration. "This is stupid," she muttered, "It's like trying to talk to a wall."

"Wall or not," Alex said, still observing the living replica with intense scrutiny, "it moved on its own. It didn't listen to me."

“But you told it to fight, remember” Mei pointed, gesturing back to him while stepping closer to the clone.

“Yeah, and I told it to ‘STOP’ too.” Alex said, his eyes never leaving the clone.

As he spoke, Mei began poking and prodding the clone, much to Alex’s dismay. She attempted to climb the being, first grabbing its wrist, then clinging to its elbow, then hanging from its shoulders.

This continued for several seconds.

"Let's try this again," Alex said, breaking the silence with exasperation. He looked at his clone, and saw a warped and demonic mirror image of himself staring back at him. "Clone, can you understand us?" He queried.

No response. Not a flicker of recognition in its eyes.

"Maybe it only responds to orders," Mei suggested, biting her lower lip, dropping from the sword-clone’s shoulders to land beside Alex.

"Good idea," Alex nodded, feeling a surge of hope.

"Clone, raise your right hand," he commanded, his voice loud and clear.

The clone's right hand lifted slowly, matching his command perfectly. A wave of relief washed over him.

"Lower it." The hand went down.

"Step to your right." The clone sidestepped obediently. "Jump."

The clone jumped.

Using his high intelligence and stats, Alex connected with the clone, controlling its every move, guiding it through the Kendo Kata forms.

The clone performed a series of actions - head strike, wrist strike, body strike, throat thrust, head, body, counter force, two-handed thrust, triple strike - perfectly under his direction. They moved in unison, with inhuman speed, the air snapping in plumes with each move.

Alex turned to Mei, a satisfied smile playing on his lips. "I guess I must've screwed up the first command, 'fight.' It seems I gave it too much weight."

Mei eyed the clone skeptically for a moment, far longer than Alex thought to be normal—

Then she shrugged, her soft face breaking into a grin. "Well, as long as it's not eating us, I suppose it's fine. Just make sure not to give it too many 'fight' commands next time, yeah?" She glanced at the clone one last time before skipping away, her boisterous nature seeping back into her stride. As for Alex, he kept took a final glance at the clone, an unsettling mix of relief and lingering fear within him.

His connection to the clone felt normal to his Inner Sense. It had even allowed Mei to clamber along its form, showing no signs of autonomous behaviour. In fact, all of its actions still aligned with his initial order to some degree. His latest string of commands had all been mindlessly obeyed, when offered without weight or urgency. On the surface, it seemed he would truly have to experiment with weighing his commands during future uses of the skill if he hoped to avoid overrides.

Satisfied yet mildly troubled, Alex attempted to dismiss the skill, guided by Mei's instruction. He willed his mana to return to him from the sword, which it did, and the sword reverted to its original form. But it was now larger, its blade sharper, its rending thorns along the blade more wicked and pronounced. The eye on the hilt seemed almost alive, although still clearly metallic. It was as if a master smith had improved the sword.

As Alex continued to examine the weapon, Mei called out “Lets go, this way.”

“Where to?” He called after her as he raced ahead to catch up. She didn’t respond, or slow down.

But eventually she did turn to meet his gaze, signalling him to follow with a gesturing nod.

***

Some time later, they arrived at a gigantic, luxurious palace gate, guarded by two gigantic guards clad in golden armour. As Alex craned his neck to look at the towering guards, he asked Mei once more where they were.

Seemingly annoyed yet grinning sheepishly, Mei replied, “Mistress Yan Hau has arranged a meeting between us and an ancient Dragon. Normally, I would refuse and search for a weaker one. But with you here, I might get a chance to escape while it’s busy killing you.”

Alex quirked an eyebrow at her statement as the palace gates opened. “Like hell,” he thought. Now that he was heading into danger, It was time to prepare, and time inspect his new skill and its myriad applications.

He eyed his altered dark blade in contemplation.

"Come on, we've got a date with a dragon," Mei chimed, interrupting his thoughts. Alex nodded, still examining the sword.