Chapter 1427 - The Hunter, the Swordsman, & the Monk (13) (Patreon)

For a brief moment, it looked as if the world was going to break apart again. The Sword Saint had slashed in what he’d judged to be the most ideal fashion, which just – unbeknownst to him – happened to be right along one of the white lines covering the world.

However, while the Transcendent power within his slash could interact with these lines, his lack of intent to do so meant the world remained whole, and contrary to Jake, who was a living embodiment of his Bloodline, the Transcendent energy in the Sword Saint’s sword was relatively insignificant.

Of course, even if it was insignificant compared to destroying parts of the virtual reality, it was still an attack beyond anything else that had been pulled off thus far, and the element of instability from cutting alongside a white line added to the power of the Stormslash as the blade descended through the monk’s body.

The Eastbound Monk stared as the remaining half of his body was cut in two yet again. All around him, the bloodlust energy shuddered and lost control for a moment as the monk fell apart both physically and mentally.

Even without losing control, the avatar of energy was cleaved in two by the Stormslash and started dispersing. The remaining eye of the monk lost focus as his consciousness started to fade, but the Sword Saint didn’t completely let up his guard, and for good reason.

Suddenly, the monk's pupil refocused as his gaze locked onto the Sword Saint, and all the bloodlust energy surged with renewed power as it regathered. The monk's body, split in two, rapidly began to pull back together, but before it could, the swordsman spoke again.

“Echo.”

Instantly, a second Stormslash cut through the monk’s body, splitting him horizontally the second time around, re-scattering the energy. Not giving the monk any time to rest, he followed up with several quick attacks, slicing up the monk’s body further before stabbing forward through the eye of the monk as an explosion of rainwater destroyed all other remains of the sliced-up body.

Standing there with half the head of his opponent skewered through the eye on his sword, one would think that victory had been assured by the Sword Saint, but truly, the monk was living up to his description of being unkillable.

Twisting his sword, the energy from Rainblade coating his weapon surged forward and blew up the head entirely, and even then, the bloodlust energy didn’t fully disperse. In fact, the Sword Saint instead felt a sense of danger as he teleported in retreat right as all the bloodlust energy imploded to where he’d just been standing a fraction of a second earlier.

“This is starting to feel a little ridiculous,” the Sword Saint muttered as the implosion of energy slowly took a humanoid form. It was only the size of the Sword Saint himself, though far denser than before, and when the swordsman looked closely, he saw that it wasn’t made up entirely of energy. Spread throughout the energy was the blood of the monk – the final physical pieces of him that still remained.

What didn’t seem to remain was any true level of consciousness, though, as the second all the energy had finished gathering, the figure moved. It charged straight at the Sword Saint, who dodged the first swipe as he cut down, only to be surprised as his blade only slightly sank into the amalgamation of energy and blood before stopping dead in its tracks.

The creature the Sword Saint didn’t even want to call a monk anymore twisted its body and tried to tear at the swordsman, but he deflected it and cut it again. Mindlessly, it continued its assault, faster and stronger than the Eastbound Monk had ever been by quite a margin, with a far more durable body.

However, to the Sword Saint, it felt far less dangerous. Power without technique and direction felt wasted, making Miyamoto almost feel a sense of sadness as he dodged and deflected every blow, not daring to outright block due to the immense level of strength displayed by the creature.

Fighting it felt almost meaningless as, despite his best efforts, the Sword Saint couldn’t cut fully through the creature. Perhaps he could with Stormcut or another high-level skill, but truly, what was the point?

For all intents and purposes, the fight was already over.

The creature continued struggling, tearing up the world further as the Sword Saint landed the occasional cut while otherwise just staying on the defensive. His slashes sped up this sad epilogue before finally, the ending draw near.

After another failed attack, the creature stumbled as its lower body began to lose its shape, and, without hesitating, the Sword Saint cut its head off, only for a new one to appear instantly, though its shape was slightly off. Another few useless attacks later, and the Sword Saint pierced the chest of the creature, at which point it just stopped.

A second passed as both of them just floated there in the air before the Sword Saint felt a change and took a step backward, also retracting his blade. Right then, a Transcendent aura fell upon the world, making the Sword Saint’s eyes open wide as he unconsciously took a few more steps back while staring at the artifact that had appeared floating behind the creature.

Having been trapped the first time around when this Wheel of Samsara had appeared, the Sword Saint hadn’t felt its aura, and unlike Jake, who wasn’t a Transcendent, Miyamoto felt a certain level of resonance with it. Through that resonance, perhaps amplified by the fact he was currently in a state of having fully unleashed his Transcendent Skill, the Sword Saint truly realized:

Whoever had created this Transcendent Artifact was beyond the swordsman’s comprehension. Primordials and other powerful beings also felt beyond comprehension, but this was different. While Transcendent Skills didn’t have ranks or rarities, there were clear differences between them, and through this wheel alone, the Sword Saint was certain that the creator of the artifact was beyond any other being he’d ever encountered.

It was oppressive, yet inspiring, and merely bathing in its presence, the Sword Saint was full of insights. He was only thrown out of his stupor as the wheel made a small movement, finally finishing a full revolution.

The creature of pure bloodlust energy and actual blood instantly disappeared in a flash of light that blinded the Sword Saint for a moment. When he regained sight, what he saw shocked him even more as he instinctively raised his sword.

Standing there, the monk had reappeared, all his injuries gone, wearing a pristine monk’s robe while holding a set of prayer beads. He stood in prayer, and only after a few moments did the Sword Saint realize that the Eastbound Monk’s body was slightly transparent and didn’t give off the slightest sense of danger.

“Still alive?” the Sword Saint asked, honestly not sure whether he should expect a result. He didn’t even know if it was actually the monk or just an image of him conjured by the wheel. This was truly unexplored territory.

After several seconds, the monk finished his prayer, opened his eyes, and smiled. “No, this life has come to an end, thanks to you and the hunter’s efforts.”

The Sword Saint considered if he should apologize for that, but the monk continued with some rather surprising words before he even had the chance to insincerely do so.

“You two truly have my gratitude. Thank you for the battle, and I wish both of you well in the future,” the monk continued, the wheel starting to also disappear as the monk bowed toward the Sword Saint before standing upright again. “I’ll forever hold gratitude towards you two for helping me this day, and I hope to show that in the future, even if I fear that we may still meet as opponents. But know that I’ll never be your enemy.”

A golden radiance surrounded the monk as he smiled and looked calm, his aura slightly leaking out, giving the Sword Saint pause. The monk closed his eyes as he faded away entirely, leaving the swordsman behind with a frown on his face despite having won.

He didn’t know what had happened with the monk, but the aura he gave off towards the end made Miyamoto certain that the next time they met, he would be even stronger. Had his Path been refined somehow? Had he been enlightened? Either way, the Sword Saint would know when they next encountered one another.

It also shouldn’t matter, because the Sword Saint didn’t plan on losing then either, and he seriously doubted Jake would slow down his own rate of improvement, wherever he was. Besides, wasn’t this World of the Exalted Prima one big war game? Things could become rather unpredictable during wartime.

Shaking his head and letting out a sigh, the Sword Saint breathed deeply as he looked towards the sky, right as the space beside him shuddered momentarily as a familiar figure stepped out. Seeing this, the swordsman turned and gave a polite bow.

“I should be the one acknowledging you,” the cyclops waved him off. “And congratulating you, even if things didn’t quite go as I’d imagined.”

“Thank you,” the Sword Saint said with a smile. “I’ll admit that I wasn’t sure it was truly over before you appeared. As you said, things haven’t exactly happened as one would expect. I am curious, though... what happened to the Chosen of the Malefic Viper, if you don’t mind me asking?”

That remained the Sword Saint’s biggest question. Jake had ripped the world apart only to disappear as if snapped out of existence. Had he been teleported somewhere? Gotten thrown out of the simulation for breaking some sort of laws? Somehow made a great achievement that had gotten him rewarded by finding a flaw in the simulation? There were so many explanations that-

“He died,” the Abundant Emperor shrugged. “Can’t really survive that kind of thing. I wouldn’t be confident in surviving getting caught in that, though of course, I would just reform should my physical body be destroyed.”

“Died...” the Sword Saint muttered before glaring at the Abundant Emperor. “There’s more to that. Did he truly die?”

“I didn’t lie, he did die,” the Abundant Emperor confirmed. “But he didn’t disappear from the simulation. I genuinely couldn’t tell you what happened. To my eyes, he was swallowed by Null and disappeared, something that inevitably leads to deletion.”

“Null?” the Sword Saint asked, hearing that term for the first time.

“The space where nothing is simulated yet. Think of it as empty space one can expand the simulated world into endlessly. An open slate of sorts. It’s difficult to explain,” the Abundant Emperor shook his head. Being surprisingly forthcoming with information despite having probably come here to hand over the Prima Credits earned for getting first place.

“That sounds somewhat similar to the void,” the Sword Saint nodded, wondering why that term wasn’t used here instead. He had even believed it to be the void that had opened up and was swallowing everything when Jake had broken things.

“The void cannot exist within the virtual world,” the Abundant Emperor shook his head. “As far as I know, the void is infinite, correct? The very concept of infinity cannot truly exist within the simulated world. You should have already realized by now that the World of the Exalted Prima isn’t a perfect simulation. The void is one of those things that cannot be simulated.”

“I see,” the Sword Saint muttered, wondering about the implications of such a revelation. “I must admit, I’m incredibly surprised by how forthcoming you are with information regarding this world. Information I believe few are aware of.”

“You’re correct, I am sharing more than I usually would, and I’m doing so mostly for the sake of fairness,” the Abundant Emperor sighed. “After failing to be deleted, the Prima God... excuse me, Exalted Prima stepped in to handle the matter personally.”

Nodding, the Sword Saint had a feeling that little slip-up was entirely on purpose, though he still wasn’t sure why the Abundant Emperor had made it. Either way, if the cyclops was going to be open with information, Miyamoto would take advantage.

“You said before that the void doesn’t exist in this world. Does that mean the Void Gods also aren’t simulated?”

One thing the Sword Saint had found odd was how he hadn’t seen or even heard of any Void Followers within this simulated world. While there weren’t many of them, they were all powerful and should have at least had a few appearances. However, if the void didn’t exist, that would explain why they had avoided the simulation. Arnold had apparently claimed not to be interested, which could be one reason for his lack of interest.

“They are not,” the Abundant Emperor confirmed. “Those... beings are not something that can exist here. Due to where they come from, neither can-“

The Sword Saint frowned, feeling as if he’d misheard something before shaking his head as he fell silent, once more considering the implications of that statement and the fact Void Gods weren’t in this place. As a World Wonder, the system powered the Seat of the Exalted Primas, and thus the World of the Exalted Prima, but that didn’t mean they had access to the infinite power of the system. Clearly not. Which in itself was a little odd, wasn’t it?

Based on all the Sword Saint knew, the system truly was omnipotent. The only rules it followed were self-imposed ones, and its only limitations were there of its own choosing. It could likely create a perfect copy of the entire universe without even making it a simulation, yet it hadn’t.

Instead, the simulated world seemed almost as if it were deliberately flawed. Like its limitations weren’t a shortcoming but instead a design choice. He could have hundreds of theories why this was, but ultimately, only the system and perhaps the Exalted Prima knew.

“Wait, you said that you are being forthcoming for the sake of fairness. I understand that Jake is receiving information from the Exalted Prima, but does it also mean the Eastbound Monk knew information you deem an unfair advantage?” Miyamoto asked, still intent on extracting as much information as humanly possible.

“He knows more than both of you combined, even if we include any information you receive today,” the Abundant Emperor shook his head. “He’s already met the Exalted Prima long before this world opened up. I would share more than that, but I’m unfortunately limited from doing so.”

This piece of news should have surprised the Sword Saint, yet he didn’t find it very shocking. It wasn’t that he’d suspected that the Eastbound Monk had already met the creator of this virtual world before, but more that he’d known that the monk clearly knew far more than he was supposed to. That he’d met the Exalted Prima before was a rather reasonable explanation.

“Speaking of limitations, with the final other Administrator dead, this part of the event has come to an end, and I can’t extend it too much longer. I will keep the overall Central Domain event going for another... hm, let’s say year; that seems fitting considering the circumstances. If I ended it too much earlier, far too many Territories would get eliminated as so few have reached the required Prima Credits thus far,” the Abundant Emperor continued.

Hearing this, the Sword Saint honestly felt a little relieved. He knew his Transcendent Skill was soon coming to an end, and given they were in a virtual world, he wasn’t sure about the backlash. No matter what, he knew he would enter a period of weakness, and having other Territories still focus on the Central Domain would at least give him some time to recover.

“That is reassuring,” Miyamoto nodded. “And you are right, perhaps it isn’t too bad for things to end here. I’ll need to recover as much as possible as quickly as possible. Things will surely get hectic in a month when all the other top performers of this event return.”

“A month?” the Abundant Emperor commented with a grin. “I guess I can share one extra piece of information for your peace of mind...”