In the Sand Village, the clones are everywhere, and the Arkham game begins

Chapter 527 Sword Sacrifice
"God?"

Shimizu frowned slightly.

Which god?

Is it simply describing how powerful the two swords are when combined, or does it mean that these two swords actually have a record of fighting against gods?

Through the explosion, Shimizu also learned some information about the gods.

In extremely ancient times, gods extended their reach to the earth. Many sacrificial relics and ancient objects of worship recorded in history are remnants of those gods.

Later, for reasons unknown, it was expelled, and its true form was sealed in another dimension, somewhere in the outer higher-dimensional space.

The place was blown up and called the Heavenly Rock Door. No one had ever been able to reach it before. Legend has it that behind that door was the true form of a god.

Could it be that among those who drove away the gods, there was a swordsman who wielded both swords?

After all, the Sun Wheel Sword alone can unleash combat power exceeding that of a dragon. If there were a sword that could perfectly complement it, and the two could work together to achieve a synergy greater than the sum of their parts, it might not be impossible for it to reach the level of a god.

"Well, perhaps it was an extremely powerful enemy, so powerful that the ancients referred to it as a god. Even the first Sword Saint who founded the Sword Saint Society was amazed by it. It is said that there were other allies at the time, but because the era was too long ago, there are not many historical records left in the society. The relevant records also seem to be deliberately avoiding something, resulting in vague details. What we, the later generations, know is very little."

However, the mission passed down by the Sword Saints Association is to protect the two divine swords. When crisis strikes again, it will be the time for these two swords to reveal their sharpness once more. Therefore, we will also gather and invite every sword master with the potential to draw the divine swords to join the association, to learn from each other and improve, so that we can have the ability to draw the swords when crisis comes.

Shimizu listened to Nichirin's words, seemingly lost in thought.

The reason why the explosion did not spread the news of the gods was because knowing about the gods might attract their attention and lead them astray.

Even though he was the King of Ninjas, this former teammate of Blast was definitely not weak. Even if he was not as strong as Blast, he was still a Dragon-level or higher powerhouse who was proficient in spatial abilities, yet he still fell for it.

If it were anyone else, and their will wasn't strong enough, they would only end up with the same fate.

The first generation of sword saints did not pass down information about the gods, only some fragmentary details, presumably because they were afraid of such a thing happening.

As he thought this, Shimizu placed his hand on the hilt of the Nichirin Blade and reached out to try to draw it.

However, as soon as her hand touched the sword, it began to tremble again, showing some resistance, and various mental disturbances continued to affect Shimizu's mind.

If it were any other great swordsman in this situation, they would definitely use their heart as a sword, concentrate their sword intent, and cut away these distractions with a single strike.

However, Shimizu's spiritual realm was too high, far surpassing his own swordsmanship realm, so this influence was nothing to him.

It's not as gentle as a breeze that you can ignore, but it's more like a tickle, something you can easily tolerate.

As a result, both Nichirin and Atomic Samurai saw that the trembling of the Nichirin sword became more and more obvious, and streaks of blood-red smoke drifted out from the sword, which affected the two of them to some extent.

"This is……"

Atomic Samurai spat out the toothpick from his mouth, his hand resting on the hilt of his newly acquired longsword, his eyes sharply fixed on the Nichirin Blade.

He sensed an extremely powerful and ferocious sword intent within this sword.

Even a sword master of his caliber wouldn't be confident he could control such terrifying sword intent.

And what about Shimizu, who is holding the hilt of the Nichirin Sword at this moment?
"The Sun Wheel Sword has never shown such unusual activity in the past hundred years. When I was your age, Kamikaze, I also drew the Sun Wheel Sword once, and even though I only had one move of power, I did not encounter such a situation."

Ri Lun's eyes held a mixture of expectation and worry.

Perhaps this young man truly has the ability to wield this sword?

What if I fail? Will I get hurt?
After all, this Sun Wheel Sword is very dangerous; it is an absolute murderous sword, a demonic sword!

Hinowa and Kamikaze exchanged a glance, both prepared for any unexpected events that might interrupt Shimizu.

At this moment, Shimizu calmed his mind, connected with the sword in his hand, and communicated with it.

His situation is very special. Other swordsmen often have a higher level of swordsmanship than mental skill. Through honing their swordsmanship skills, body, and sword intent, they indirectly improve their mental abilities.

Therefore, they are often pure and direct in the realm of the mind.

The enemy can use illusions to hypnotize and interfere with minds? I don't care about that, I'll just cut them down with one sword.

Therefore, the interrogation and testing of the mind is, besides actual combat, the best way to demonstrate a swordsman's swordsmanship.

Unfortunately, Nichirin Sword encountered a complete oddball like Shimizu, whose mental abilities were so strong that they could not be affected at all, yet his swordsmanship level had not kept up with his mental level.

After venting its anger, the Nichirin Sword fell silent, as if it were giving up.

Whatever you want.

"Zheng——!"

The longsword was drawn, its ancient blade revealed before the three. Nichirin was initially startled, but then, seeing Shimizu's unchanging expression, he became puzzled.

"King Shimizu, do you sense anything amiss? I suggest you sheath the sword as soon as possible. Using the sword's power will consume a large amount of the wielder's blood. Even at my peak, I only had the power of one sword strike. I'm worried..."

"It's alright, Senior Nichirin."

Shimizu calmly sheathed the sword.

"If I don't want this sword to suck my blood, it won't be able to."

This sword is powerful; even a swordsman like Atomic Samurai, who is stronger than a high-level Dragon-level monster and poses a threat to some Dragon-level experts, cannot resist it. However, it is still not enough to affect him.

However, he also lacked the ability to wield the sword.

Everything else is perfect, except for the level of swordsmanship.

If he is unwilling to provide blood, the sword will not respond to him or give him power. However, if his swordsmanship level is raised to a higher level, he will be able to forcibly control the power of the sword.

However, its power comes from blood, and if it is forcibly squandered without being replenished, the power within this sword may be exhausted.

Even if you're clean, you can't conjure up energy out of thin air. You'll either have to use your own blood to power it, or, like the Sword Saint Society has done for so many years, whenever a new member joins, you'll cut down a powerful monster and feed its blood to the Sun Wheel Sword so it can slowly absorb it.

However, over the years, the Nichirin Sword still contains a considerable amount of energy. Even though members of the Sword Saint Association, such as Nichirin, occasionally draw upon the Nichirin Sword when faced with unavoidable disasters, they may not be able to use it even once every few decades.

In other words, the energy inside is actually increasing slowly, so it won't run out of energy after only a few uses.

For Shimizu, the Nichirin Sword itself had no value; its true value lay in its forging technique, which offered the potential to enhance his weapon's power. Even in his normal state, he could unleash destructive power exceeding that of a dragon, and after equipping the Dark Energy Black Warrior Armor, he possessed god-like combat strength.

A single Sun Wheel Sword that can only unleash the power of a dragon or higher a few times is not very useful.

Unless you can gather both the Sun Wheel Sword and the Moon Wheel Sword, and combine them to unleash god-level power, it will be unusable.

Fortunately, although the method of making the Moon Wheel Sword has been lost for a long time, it has been passed down.

However, in the many years since the technique was lost, no swordsmith has been able to create it.

Shimizu had a track record of forging several extraordinary swords, including Tiger Soul, and coupled with his own achievements in battles at the Dragon level or above, Nichirin had a glimmer of hope and, with a try-it-out mentality, handed the blueprints to Shimizu.

This is a thin stack of A4 paper, the contents of which are clearly scanned and copied, providing a general explanation of the manufacturing process of both swords.

Behind the blueprints are annotations and opinions left by swordsmiths who were invited by the Sword Saints' Guild to try forging swords throughout the ages.

"how?"

After Shimizu finished examining the stack of blueprints, Atomic Samurai asked a question.

"There are no problems with the process, but the materials used in it are now unavailable. We can only use other materials to replace them, but we can give it a try. However, this part is a bit troublesome, and we may not be able to find a suitable material."

Shimizu turned to the last page of the blueprints, facing Atomic Samurai and Nichirin.

The last page describes capturing a powerful, monstrous figure associated with swords, to be used as a sacrifice during the sword's forging.

If the sword is successfully consecrated, then the sword's extraordinary properties will be revealed.

The stronger the strange person associated with the sword, the better; ideally, they should be proficient in swordsmanship, as the more powerful the sword they forge will be.

Many swordsmiths had failed before, but even the most skilled one had fallen at this hurdle.

The first Moon Wheel Sword was used by a Dragon-level monster, most likely at the peak of the Dragon level. He was originally a swordsman with mediocre talent, but after accidentally obtaining a demonic sword that could make him stronger by killing people, he became a monster and was eventually captured alive by the first Sword Saint.

According to Shimizu's guess, this strange person is obviously related to the consciousness possessed by the sword itself.

Although the consciousness on the Sun Wheel Sword is very pure, even its purity cannot conceal its bloody and ferocious nature, which is probably influenced by the strange person who sacrificed the sword during its forging.

The process of consecrating a sword probably involves formatting and cleaning up the soul of a monster, then importing it into the sword body, turning it into a sword spirit-like entity.

The sword itself has no brain, and its soul has been formatted and its memory cleared, so that the sword spirit always remains pure and will not develop a complex personality or become a monster.

However, this kind of formatting cannot change the essence of the soul. Whatever characteristics the soul possesses, those characteristics remain the same. Changing them is extremely difficult, and only those with a high level of attainment in the way of the soul can possibly do so.

Although Shimizu can summon spirits and command generals, his mastery of the soul is not particularly high. He only has a basic understanding through the realm of spirit and mind, so he cannot do this.

But at least in the sword-offering ceremony, he was still confident.

Kill the monster, then bind its soul and stuff it into the sword.

The sword's material is so special, probably not only because of its toughness and sharpness, but also because it requires a certain capacity to bear the soul.

As for what materials are suitable for carrying a soul, Shimizu actually has some knowledge about them, after all, the souls of Hashirama Senju and Onoki are currently imprisoned in magical artifacts he created.

As for those materials that are not found in other worlds but are unique to the One-Punch Man world, we can test their effects on other souls first to see if there are any better options.

"No problem. Once a suitable monster appears, and the Sword Saint Society gathers its power, even a Dragon-level monster can be captured with ease."

The sun wheel said confidently.

There's no need to trouble Shimizu; both he and Atomic Samurai have the ability to kill high-level Dragon-class monsters. Add to that the other members of the Sword Saint Society, and they certainly have the ability to capture most Dragon-class monsters alive.

When the three of them came down from the second floor, the other members of the Sword Saint Society had already arrived.

As members of the Sword Saint Guild, who are guaranteed to be on par with S-class heroes, their numbers are naturally not many. Apart from Nichirin and Atomic Samurai, there are only three people.

One was a familiar acquaintance who committed seppuku.

The remaining two were a black man with dreadlocks named Tian Qing and a monk with three scars on his face named Can Mei.

"This must be Mr. Shimizu. Both Fukukiri and Kamikaze have mentioned you before. I have long admired your name."

Canmei clasped her hands together and performed a Buddhist salute to Qingshui.

"Haha, so handsome, truly a man of exceptional talent!"

Tian Qing adjusted her glasses and laughed loudly.

This man was not only a master swordsman, but he could also forge extraordinary divine weapons like Tiger Soul. Naturally, they all wanted to befriend him.

If one could forge an extraordinary weapon for their own family, that would be an incredibly rare and wonderful opportunity.

"Shimizu-kun, it's been a long time."

On the contrary, Fusakiri simply nodded slightly to Shimizu without saying anything more.

Shimizu simply nodded slightly, and after greeting Tensei and Canmei, he gave Fukiri a deep look.

This guy's not acting right.

Because he was in such good condition, he didn't seem like a swordsman in decline due to old age at all; instead, he gave off a feeling of vitality.

Could it be that he ate monster cells, causing him to turn into a monster?
If that's really the case, then...

Very good!
We're just missing a weirdo who fits the bill!
Satsuki-senpai, please don't let me down!
As a master swordsman, Fukukiri already possessed Demon-level strength, and after consuming the monster cells, he couldn't be much weaker.

Although Atomic Samurai could instantly kill him with his Atomic Slash, Atomic Samurai's attack power is at the Dragon Peak level. It's just that he doesn't reach that level in other aspects, which is why his overall combat power doesn't reach the Dragon Peak level.

If it were any other monster below the Dragon level, Atomic Samurai would have performed just as overwhelmingly.

Even Bakuzan can be considered a Dragon-level swordsman. If Fukukiri is inferior to Bakuzan, then he is truly disgracing us swordsmen.

Hopefully, the seppuku master isn't that bad.

(End of this chapter)