Cleaver Of Sin

Chapter 945: Should Be Illegal

FatelessPen stared at the departing Asher and spoke with a calm smile, “I know your swordsmanship is about to enter the next stage. I could help, you know,” his tone calm as he leaned against a tree.

Hearing FatelessPen’s words, Asher’s footsteps immediately came to a halt. He turned toward FatelessPen and asked with genuine confusion in his eyes,

“How can you help when you don’t even practice the way of the sword?” he asked, genuinely curious. From what he could tell about FatelessPen, the guy had probably never even touched a sword in his life, and yet he wanted to help.

FatelessPen shook his head as he explained, “I wouldn’t deny the fact that I don’t train in the way of the sword, as that isn’t my specialty like you and the First Sun,” he began to speak. “But you forget that my ability relies heavily, almost entirely, on Astra energy. In the case that I meet someone who possesses the ability to nullify Astra energy, or in the event that I run out of Astra energy on a battlefield, what then? Wouldn’t I become a sitting duck, waiting to be chopped up?” he asked as though it were obvious.

Asher stayed silent for a moment as it dawned on him that the Star Academy had always made it its purpose to ensure that its students possessed at least a bit of knowledge in other fields, so they could adapt, no matter what situation they found themselves in. At the end of the day, the body was everyone’s number one weapon. Not their abilities, not their swords and whatnot, not even their Astra energy.

But still, that didn’t mean FatelessPen was suddenly a sword grandmaster or anything of the sort.

“So, when it comes to hand-to-hand combat and weapons, I’m your guy,” FatelessPen completed his explanation as he stared into Asher’s purple eyes with his own red ones, a hint of pride evident in his expression.

Asher remained skeptical, as he simply didn’t believe FatelessPen. While the man might possess more knowledge when it came to hand-to-hand combat, Asher found it difficult to believe him when it came to swords.

FatelessPen could clearly see the doubt in Asher’s eyes. He couldn’t help but burst into laughter at being so thoroughly underestimated.

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” He clutched his stomach as he bent over from laughing, then wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes before speaking, “You underestimate me way too much, Asher Wargrave.”

As those words left his lips, a grin spread across his face. His soul-bound pen appeared in his hand once more, and the next moment, he began to draw with visible excitement.

The very next instant, a book materialized into reality. The book was golden in color, its pages flipping rapidly before they suddenly came to a halt as FatelessPen spoke with unconcealed excitement in both his eyes and voice.

[Fictional Reality: Personification Type: Sword Master]

[Fictional Reality: Summoning Type: Excalibur]

The next moment, FatelessPen’s entire demeanor shifted. His body, aura, and very presence transformed into that of a man who had devoted centuries to the art of the sword without ever taking a single break. The air itself grew heavy around him as an invisible pressure spread outward. Then he stretched out one hand, and a unique sword appeared within his grasp.

He stared down at Asher, his taller frame making the difference in height even more apparent. His red eyes gleamed with excitement as though he were genuinely looking forward to beginning Asher’s training.

Asher’s eyes widened in pure shock and disbelief as he simply couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He recognized the book. He recognized the ability. It was the Librarian, the First Great Elder, Morthern Wargrave’s ability. Yet, at this very moment, FatelessPen was wielding it as though it belonged to him.

“How?” he asked, swallowing hard.

Yes, FatelessPen’s ability allowed him to draw anything into existence, but this was too much. This was madness.

FatelessPen smirked as he spoke, “Shocked, right?”

He was clearly enjoying the reaction Asher was displaying, as though he had anticipated it from the very beginning and had been eagerly waiting to witness it.

“My ability allows me to draw anything into existence,” he began to explain. “Only an idiot would limit themselves to objects, magical attacks, and skills like Fireball or Earth Spike and things like that. If my ability can draw anything into existence, why can’t it draw another ability into existence?” he asked with a wide grin.

At that question, a thunderclap exploded inside Asher’s mind as he couldn’t help but contemplate it.

And the answer was simple; nothing.

“But alas, this particular side of my ability is limited to soul-bound weapons,” FatelessPen continued as he sighed in disappointment at his own limitations. “If not, I could simply draw any ability into existence and possess every ability in existence. But alas…” he shook his head as though he were speaking about something completely insignificant.

“But that’s not all,” he continued. “I have to know the abilities related to the soul-bound weapon in order to use them. For example, with the First Great Elder Morthern’s ability, I have to possess knowledge of the abilities the soul-bound book contains. I already know that his soul-bound book possesses this Excalibur and Sword Master ability. If I didn’t know that, I wouldn’t be able to use them. If that weren’t the case, I could simply use every ability that Great Elder Morthern already has stored inside his own soul-bound book,” he stated as he shook his head in dissatisfaction, speaking as though it were merely a minor inconvenience.

The more Asher listened, the more dumbfounded he became, as he simply couldn’t believe his own ears.

“But make no mistake, this soul-bound book before me is merely a cheap imitation. Any skill or ability I use from it can’t even display half of what Great Elder Morthern is capable of,” FatelessPen continued to explain. “If I attempted to draw a soul-bound book capable of matching that man’s power, I might just die,” he mused aloud.

Morthern’s soul-bound book possessed the ability to pause time for him while its pages flipped, but FatelessPen’s imitation couldn’t accomplish that. Likewise, he couldn’t resonate with fictional characters to gain their abilities, as that was Morthern’s innate ability and not one tied to his soul-bound book. Since FatelessPen couldn’t draw innate abilities directly into reality, he couldn’t add those abilities to his own imitation of the soul-bound book.

“And because of these same limitations, I can’t use the First Sun’s soul-bound katana. Even if I draw it into existence, it would simply become an ordinary katana without Solaris’ abilities, since I don’t actually know what Solaris’ abilities are,” FatelessPen continued, his voice carrying a trace of genuine dejection.

Asher remained silent as he stared at the man before him. He honestly didn’t know whether he should simply teleport FatelessPen directly to Morthern and let the old man deal with this situation himself because… what the actual fuck?

Asher sighed and massaged his temples. He had thought he understood FatelessPen’s abilities, but it turned out he had barely scratched the surface. Although FatelessPen had repeatedly stated that what he had drawn into existence was merely a watered-down imitation, the fact that he could accomplish something on this level at all should have been illegal.