[How c-can you use my a-authority?!]

Jasmine was beyond speechless.

"Trade secret," Gray replied coldly.

His grip tightened around the rapier as he looked a the Drake in front of him.

The ground beneath the Drake twisted and cracked as if dreading what was about to happen.

"..With the authority of destruction, I won't even need to use my sword art," Gray muttered absent-mindedly.

"ROAAAAAAARRRRRR!"

The Drake stomped forward, his eyes burning with fury.

It inhaled, throat swelling, fire collecting with a violent hiss.

Gray stepped lightly to the side, one foot sliding over broken stone, maintaining a steady posture.

And finally, the beast unleashed its flames.

BWOOOOSH—!!

Heat rushed over him, distorting the air.

Gray spun behind the plume in a swift pivot, the tip of his rapier slipping through the edges of fire as if guided by instinct alone.

A single thrust stabbed through Drake's hind leg as he passed.

Splat!

The leg dissipated into ashes.

The creature stumbled, nearly collapsing under its own weight. It roared in confusion as blood failed to flow, the erased limb refusing to exist again.

Gray flicked his wrist, straightening his stance.

"Don't bother… Destruction doesn't give second chances."

Whip!

The Drake spun with a furious sweep of its spiked tail, the air cracking with the force.

Gray leaned back, spine bending smoothly while the tail sliced mere centimeters above his nose. In that same breath, he stepped forward and slashed downward.

The middle of the tail blinked out of reality.

The severed half thudded onto the earth… then crumbled into nothing.

"GRAAAAAAAAAARGHHHHHHHH!"

The Drake screamed so loud that it rattled the cavern walls.

Without hesitation, as the dumb beast it was, it lunged again, its claws spreading wide, teeth dripping molten heat.

Gray dipped under its arm, his body low, feet gliding across dust. He thrust upward, stabbing into the soft flesh under its jaw.

Fwooosh!

A chunk of neck disappeared, leaving a clean, unnatural hole.

"GRAA...HAA!"

The Drake choked on its own roar.

Gray didn't rush the fight at all.

"...Truly pathetic."

He simply walked, circling his collapsing enemy like a cat toying with prey.

Each time the animal charged, he dodged gracefully and used his rapier to carve small strokes in impossible angles.

Thrust to the ribs... gone.

Slash across the shoulder... vanished.

A stab into the wing joint... obliteration.

The fight lasted quite a while, not because Drake stood a chance, but because Gray allowed it.

He wanted every attempt of the creature to survive to end in despair.

Its wings beat wildly, lifting dust and broken stone in a hurricane of desperation.

Gray leapt, feet barely touching wing bone as he climbed higher along its massive back. The Drake bucked and twisted, but Gray only pressed deeper into his poise.

Splurt!

His rapier plunged into the beast's spine.

A ripple of annihilation burst through its nervous system. Its entire frame convulsed, collapsing as it crashed onto the ground with a violent quake.

Breathing heavy and ragged, the Drake desperately dragged itself forward, claws digging trenches into the earth.

It tried to crawl away… still clinging to the stupid, fading idea that life was possible.

Gray landed in front of its trembling head.

He tilted his neck slightly, his eyes were half-lidded, looking calm, emotionless, and terrifyingly beautiful in his cruelty.

"…Stop suffering."

Fsshhh!

One quiet thrust.

The front half of Drake's skull ceased to exist.

The body jerked once… then fell still, limbs twitching as the last remnants of its mind realized death had already claimed it minutes ago.

Gray pulled his sword back, the remnants of distortion dissolving into silence. No blood stained the blade as there was nothing left to stain it.

He looked at the remaining stairs and slowly headed forward.

[Y-you... how can you control the Law... no, the Authority of Destruction that proficiently!?]

Jasmine's voice echoed from inside him, shaking with disbelief.

Gray paused for only a moment.

He raised his palm.

Thump...!

A tight sphere of darkness formed above his skin, shrinking and compressing until it looked like gravity itself had been tied into a knot.

"Is this enough of an answer?" he said, barely interested.

[...]

Jasmine's breath caught.

For the first time since she ever existed… she whispered the word.

[Monster…]

Not the insult kind.

...The kind reserved for someone who stood far beyond the level of a genius.

Fwssh...!

A new wave of monsters surged from the shadows before him. Upon seeing Gray, they roared and rushed at him.

Gray did not even blink.

He pressed that tiny sphere of darkness against the flat of his rapier, letting it sink into the metal, and then swung the rapier in a horizontal manner.

FWIP!

...Fwshhh!

A crescent wave of the dark aura was sent flying, turning everything on its way to ashes. It didn't matter how high their cultivation level was... they couldn't defy destruction.

"…I did not even get to see what the Intermediate King Realm creature looked like," he said, almost disappointed, stepping past the fading dust.

Then, he headed towards the next section, and once again... he did the same thing as before, erasing every monster in a single swing of his sword.

But then... he then stopped at the last staircase, the one where the last monster would be a peak King Realm creature.

"…Looks like my time using the Authority is finished," he muttered, and in that moment, the darkness swirling around him cracked apart and vanished.

Power drained away like water through his fingers.

He then sighed.

"Jasmine, how can you be so damn weak?"

[W-weak… I… I am not…!]

She bit her lip at his words, thinking of ways to refute him, but unfortunately, she was really weak at the current moment.

Gray shook his head.

"That idiot… if he had just killed Lyra, he would already have the Authority of Destruction as well. It would take him a few years to master it… But at least he would not be so pathetic."

[...T-then, how will you kill the monster without the Authority of Darkness?]

"That is an interesting question, Jasmine, but to answer it, I first need to explain something to you." Gray slowly rolled his shoulders.

[What...?]

"What are your thoughts on mastering a single attack skill?"

[Mastering a single attack skill...?]

Jasmine was thoughtful for a moment.

[I guess it depends on the skill... if its grade is high enough, one can simply only use it and probably defeat all kinds of opponents.]

Gray nodded once with calm satisfaction and continued stretching his legs.

"A correct answer."

[...What was that question for?]

"Do you know about the Mind Cultivation method?" Gray interrupted her question with another question instead.

[You mean the one where one can theoretically train all kinds of techniques in their Sea of Consciousness?]

"Yeah... that one," finally, he stretched his arms.

"You see... hypothetically, if I had the ability of that Mind Cultivation method... and only focused on training the same sword art during the time the other Gray was here... what kind of mastery do you think I'd achieve?"

His hand closed around his rapier as he cracked his neck slowly.

[Y-you... don't tell me t-that...!]

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

"Your thoughts are absolutely right, my dear," Gray's aura erupted in a single instant, as another dark aura enveloped his body, but it wasn't the aura of destruction.

[... Emotionless Sword Intent?]

Jasmine's lips parted in disbelief.

Sword Intent... something that normally only an Emperor-level powerhouse would be able to touch briefly.

Its level is practically at the level of an authority, and for someone to achieve it, he must treat the sword practically as his life-long partner.

Basically treating a sword as his life, and understanding the deeper meaning behind it.

But Gray... didn't simply reach the state of Sword Intent; he created one based on his emotionless state, where nothing but him matters.

A selfish sword.

A sword that belonged to him alone.

Only created to protect himself and kill whoever gets in his way.

"Well, I suppose I should thank your partner," Gray said. "If he hadn't been trapped suffering here for so long, I wouldn't have reached this state so quickly."

[Ding!]

[The Shadowless Sword Art has reached the Emperor Stage of Proficiency!]

[You have received the active skill: Emotionless Sword Intent!]

The notifications floated in front of Gray's eyes. He flicked them upward lazily so Jasmine could read every word.

[Y-you... You're a t-total, c-complete monster!]

Jasmine was a little scared for a second.

"Haha..."

Gray laughed lightly as he took a step forward.

Instantly, every monster from the previous waves spawned around him. The ones he erased too fast to even see earlier… they finally stood before him.

"ROAAAAARRRR!!!!!"

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHH!"

"GROOWWLLL!"

They all roared at Gray.

And Gray also responded by lifting his rapier with a single slow movement, pointing its tip toward the horde.

"Emotionless Sword Intent..."

He muttered lightly.

"Extinguish."

Fwooooommm!

A shadow rippled through the air… then the world above him opened.

Thousands upon thousands of dark rapiers formed in the sky like a storm of blades.

Not a single monster dared move.

Even those with speed great enough to outrun lightning felt their legs lock.

The oppressive weight of Gray's Sword Intent crushed their instincts flat, forcing their bodies down until their knees cracked against the stone.

They wanted to run.

But against Gray's Sword Intent… desire meant nothing.

Gray flicked his wrist.

The sky fell.

Fwip, fwip, fwip, fwip, fwip...!

SPLUUUUUUURRTT!

A single moment, and everything died.

Creatures of the Master Realm, Great Grandmasters, low King Realm, even the giant abominations that once forced the other Gray into desperate survival... they were reduced to mangled dust before they even understood the attack had begun.

"........."

The staircase was empty now.

There was one last shape trembling before him.

A Peak King Realm monster… yet its body was small... thin even. It was so weak that Gray tilted his head slightly, almost confused at first.

But he quickly realized what it was...

"A spirit, huh?"

More specifically... a Supreme-level Spirit.

But not one blessed by fire, storm, ice, shadow, or anything else worthy of fear.

This one had no attribute at all.

A pathetic existence at the bottom of even the spirit hierarchy.

Its form was that of a snake with nine dull colors flickering faintly over its scales, like a rainbow smothered under layers of dust.

It coiled into itself, trembling so hard its body scraped the stone beneath it.

Gray slowly approached.

Step.

The nine-colored snake flinched.

Step.

Its tiny jaw opened in pure panic, but no sound came out.

Gray crouched down slightly, the cold expression on his face unbroken, unbothered, uninterested in the terror right in front of him.

He looked into its frantic, flickering eyes.

And he surprisingly smiled.

"…You're mine now."

"Hiss...?"

The nine-colored snake was confused by Gray's words. But just then, it was softly grabbed by Gray's hand and placed on his shoulder.

"You'll be my sword spirit."

"Hiss?"

Gray gently bit his thumb, causing blood to drip out, and then he gently brought his thumb to the snake's nostrils.

"Consume my blood."

The nine-colored snake was a little hesitant... but upon remembering the scene of Gray easily destroying everyone despite his low cultivation, it nodded lighly and stuck its pierced tongue to lick Gray's blood.

Swish!

A strange crimson runic symbol appeared on its forehead before slowly dissipating. Finally, Gray pressed his bleeding thumb to the rapier, fusing the little snake with it.

This process took a few minutes... but as soon as it was done, the nine-colored snake disappeared into the rapier.

"...Soul contract done. Now, the other Gray can't use this rapier..." Gray muttered in satisfaction as he waved his hand; the rapier vanished into wisps.

It was stored on his Sea of Consciousness now, and only he could access it.

"Now..."

Gray's lips parted as he noticed the end of the stairway.

"Shall we make a deal, Jasmine?"

[...]

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