Monarch of Profound Toxin [Progression, LitRPG]

Not even a whisper could be heard as more than two hundred people watched with bated breath as X-ranked Chop the Blade drew his sword from a sheath on his waist. When the blade came free, however, some mumbles rose from the crowd. Eik was a little taken aback himself.

"That's your weapon?" he asked.

"Don't be so quick to judge it based on appearance alone. It might just be the last mistake you make, lad," the old man warned. There was an edge to his words that made Eik rethink the sarcastic retort brewing on his tongue.

The weapon really did look entirely unremarkable. No, even that didn't quite describe just how little the sword looked like something the greatest swordsman in the universe wielded.

To begin with, it was far from intact. It was a straight, nondescript blade with large chips and cracks running up both edges, making it appear ready to snap in two in several places. And, as a matter of fact, the tip of it was missing half a finger length of metal.

Although they might have been polished to a shine in the past, the guard and pommel were now faded and matte and could really have done with the loving touch of a rag and some oil. Remains of the bindings on the grip hung in ragged threads and would probably be more useful cut off completely.

"You know your sword is all rusted and stuff, right? Are your eyes all right, old man?" Eik asked, moving to run a finger along the fuller of the blade. Rust stained the metal where blade met guard.

His hand was slapped away as Chop hissed. "Don't touch that! Are you trying to lose a finger?"

"Hey, I'm sorry." So it was true what they said. Never touch a swordsman's sword.

"This is not just some random, old blade, Eik," Chop said as he caressed it lovingly. "It has been imbued with my aura over a lifetime of use. The fragment of my spirit that has taken up residence inside the metal makes it more powerful than any enchanted weapon could ever hope to be. There is no weapon better suited to me, my style, and my power than this child."

"That's awesome," Eik said. "It's like in the books. A swordsman's weapon will eventually become an extension of their self." To be fair, by now Eik's own relationship with Profound Toxin had more or less reached a level he would describe similarly.

"Pretty much, yeah," Chop said with a nod. "Now, if you could step back a bit."

Eik did and Chop took up a stance with the natural fluidity of someone who had done it millions of times.

The location was perfect for their purpose. They had emerged from the woods in one side of a valley nestled in between tall mountains flanking it on all sides. Reaching several kilometers into the sky, the rocky peaks were obscured by clouds above while the valley itself stretched out vastly before them.

"Since it's just a demonstration for now, I'll hold back, just to be safe. And then, afterward, I expect to see a bit of your strength in return," he said with a smirk. "It's only fair, no? I'm sure you would like the opportunity to test out your full power as well."

He wasn't wrong. Eik had advanced a lot recently but hadn't had the opportunity to truly let loose without worrying about those fighting by his side. He grinned. Why not?

"All right, first up. Stab," Chop's voice sang rhythmically as he moved nearly imperceptibly. It looked almost too… simple. One moment he was standing still, and then, in the next, that rusty old blade was extended out in front of him in a perfect movement.

Like the greatest of thunder strikes, the roiling boom of the stab was the first thing to reach their ears, almost as if it pierced reality itself.

In the distance, one of those great, hulking mountains which seemed to be stretching ever further upward suddenly detonated in the biggest explosion Eik had ever seen. The dust cloud was kilometers across and would fit better in a scene in a military movie.

Even from here, a weighty, bassy hum hammered through Eik's body as the shock wave finally slammed into the row of spectators, the wind of the impact whirling their hair despite the vast distance to the impacted mountain. Eik couldn't believe his eyes.

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As the dust began to scatter and fall away from the strike site, the side of the mountain gradually became visible again. And so did the gigantic hole boring all the way through the mountain. The clouds on the other side were clearly visible.

"That is… insane… Didn't you say you would hold back for our safety?" Eik breathed, his eyes never leaving the ridiculous crater in the mountain. If his judgment was right, it was at least a hundred meters across all the way through. If this was Chop's power when he was holding back, then…

"Oh, don't start fainting yet, m'boy. We've still got two more to go."

"Don't you have any sweet, hidden techniques or something?" Eik asked. "You said that it was a stab but it really did look like just a stab."

"When you get to be as powerful as me, you'll realize that fancy techniques are just sprinkles on top of the foundation. What you saw was indeed just a stab."

"How does 'just a stab' do that?" he gaped with a finger pointed at the mountain.

"Well, that's because I'm very good at stabbing, y'see," the old man said with a grin.

Eik threw a glance back at the others behind them. "Those guys don't really seem able to believe their own eyes either, though."

"Yet another reason why I usually don't mingle with other Awakened," Chop said, following Eik's gaze. "It's always such a shame to see their dreams shattered and their fires extinguished."

As if to underline his words, a young man with dark blue skin unsheathed his own sword, looked at it in his hand for a long moment, and then hurled it to the ground with hissed curses. A few others looked just about ready to follow his example.

"Damn," Eik muttered. The Gohkamorian scout Chop had called out earlier didn't look better. In fact, he didn't look good at all. While all others were filled with awe or existential despair as they contemplated the realistic impossibility of ever reaching a level of power that was even remotely comparable to Chop's, the Gohkamorian's face revealed a different and more appropriate feeling.

Dread.

"Well, let's get on with it, then, shall we?" Chop said and turned back to the valley.

Eik stepped back again, significantly further this time. Just to be safe.

"All right," Chop said nonchalantly. "next up is… horizontal slash."

He took a different stance this time, his sword arm raised and bent over his shoulder. With a slow step forward, he brought the blade around and across in a line at chest height. With how casual it looked, Eik almost expected the old man to pull a muscle in his back and fall to his knees in pain.

What happened next was anything but.

As if potent explosive charges had been planted all along the rock face, the mountain range erupted with rocks in a straight, horizontal line that followed the path of his rusted blade perfectly. Avalanches of boulders and dust rushed down the sides of them all, annihilating trees and all else in their paths.

"You're basically a walking, talking, eating natural dis… aster…" Eik began but trailed off as he noticed what some of the other spectators had already shouted in alarm.

One of the mountain tops was sliding off its base as if on grease.

Just the sound alone was horrid. Like a massive earthquake it grated on the ears with an earthshaking rumble that threatened to rattle the teeth out of their gums.

Eik was the first to react and bark orders to the spectators as he waved wildly in the opposite direction. "That shit might just hit us, boys and girls! Get the fuck out of here all of you! Raise a hand if you're not confident in escaping and I'll take care of you, but by Odin's hearty breakfast, put your legs on your necks and ru—,"

"And finally, overhead slash!" came Chop's voice, carrying on the wind as if uttered from above.

Despite the franticness with which they fled, Eik and most of the others couldn't help but turn around to watch what the outrageous geezer intended to do next. It was as if his voice had spellbound them to watch in awe.

It was another casual movement. A simple step forward followed by an equally simple swing of the old blade from above his head and down in a perfectly straight and perfectly executed overhead slash, exactly as he had said.

Yes, there was nothing flashy about the movement itself but if that wasn't a paragon of ultimate technique then Eik would eat his hat and whatever else he happened to be wearing on his head at the time.

This time, the effect was not on the mountains alone. From right in front of Chop's feet the earth split in twain. A fissure opened in the crust as if Ragnarok had come early. Appearing bottomless in its blackness, the chasm tore up the ground in a display of violence that was basically indescribable.

For a brief but utterly terrifying moment, Eik was convinced that Chop had just cleaved the world apart.

Now on his ass, Eik watched as the dust settled, eyes glued to the scene in front of him. This wasn't possible. Power like this wasn't supposed to exist in this world. It wasn't natural. It didn't make sense.

He had been told that the very cosmos had granted them the ability to Awaken and grow stronger in order to oppose the Worldbreakers who had become too mighty, but then what was this? Was this the level they were expected to reach in order to fulfill that duty?

How could anybody be capable of this?

In the distance, two titanic fragments of the cloven mountain lay collapsed halfway inside a fissure in the earth so vast that it could have swallowed a whole city. It was absolutely no mystery why Chop the Blade's legend had become exactly that—a legend. If this was what he could do when he was being careful, then who the hell would believe any of it without having witnessed it for themselves?

Eik was still staring at the mayhem at this very moment and even then he wasn't sure he hadn't just been drugged and left in a movie theater running battle anime episodes on repeat.

"Well," Chop said as he sheathed the decrepit sword, sneezed, and kicked a pebble into the woods. "your turn."