The Mech Touch

CLANG!

Though Ivan cleverly managed to disturb Ketis' thoughts, her battle instincts were not for show. She woke up just in time to fend off her opponent's charge.

The winds that assisted Ivan allowed him to evade her follow-up attack.

Ketis tried to come close enough in order to dispel his winds with a Conceptual Cut, but her opponent had learned from his previous attempts and kept his will contained.

She could not cut something that was out of her reach!

As Ivan cautiously circled around her in order to spot another opening, Ketis couldn't help but go think back on what he said.

Was she truly without direction?

From her understanding, sword initiates were equivalent to expert candidates. Both were excellent fighters who had gone above and beyond to unlock their hidden potential.

She was different from the rest. She was originally supposed to be a mech designer, but somehow managed to step onto the path of higher swordsmanship with the help of Sharpie.

Although she wielded her will like a blade, she was very well aware that she was remarkably different from more conventional sword initiates.

Her fights against Ivan Reid and Scipia Pepperin took place on both a physical and mental level.

While she was able to resist Ivan's will with her own, that mainly had to do with the quantity of her mental energy.

She sensed that she was able to expend considerably more energy than Ivan.

Yet her opponent did not lose out. Constant training and dedication in a single sword style honed his will to an exceptional degree. Even if Ivan was lacking in quantity, he had plenty of quality to make up for his shortcomings!

In other words, Ketis was like a lumbering giant who was barely able to control her great power. Her moves were wasteful and inefficient.

Ivan was like a precision instrument. His high control allowed him to achieve results with considerably less effort.

Even though he was constantly dashing and moving around, he had always rationed his will throughout the duel. He did not care too much about his physical exertion because of his body augmentations.

It was easy to upgrade a swordsman's body!

What truly mattered was whether a swordsman was able to develop their willpower. This was not an easy process and everyone had a different method to hone and condense their wills.

"What is your reason to fight, Miss Ketis?" Ivan asked as he fended off another strike from her. "What do you truly care about?"

"I care for my Swordmaidens! I care for my fellow sisters!" She snarled as she unleashed a quick Beheader energy attack.

"That's not good enough! While I'm sure you love your comrades, that's not a distinct enough goal for you. That's a sign that your vision stretches beyond your own circle. You have a greater ambition!"

She did?

"I want to become the best swordsman mech designer in the galaxy!" She insisted. "This is the best way to help the people I care about. My fellow Swordmaidens will pilot the strongest swordsman mechs that I can design! This is my ambition!"

"Is it truly the case?" Ivan smirked. "Look at yourself. Feel your heart. Do you truly believe this is the most important goal of your life?"

"I…"

She hastily raised her greatsword to block Ivan's unpredictable assault. The man had gained a lot of courage all of a sudden and continually lunged in order to poke a hole through her defense.

It took some time for Ketis to push him back.

She breathed deeply, and so did her opponent. While they were far from reaching the point of exhaustion due to their augmented bodies, their consumption was not light.

A sense of urgency drove her forward. She intuitively sensed that dragging out this match would not go well for her. She needed to find a way to pin down her opponent and exploit one of his weaknesses!

Yet that was easier said than done. She was becoming slightly more adept at dealing with swifter adversaries, but Ivan was no common opponent. His skill, physical capabilities and battle consciousness were all excellent now that he was fighting seriously.

He even had the time to torment Ketis by picking at her greatest mental weakness!

"What are you fighting for?" Ivan asked as he unleashed another flurry of blows before darting back in order to dodge Ketis' furious counterattack. "Why are you wasting your time on practicing swordsmanship? Do you really have to work so hard to get good at something you aren't serious about?"

Ketis grew furious. Ivan was constantly attacking her confidence and image as a swordswoman. He was essentially stating that properly-trained Heavensworders like him were much more superior than someone who learned swordsmanship in a much less systematic fashion.

Not only that, Ivan also accused her of lying to herself. This wouldn't have bothered her so much, but a part of her simply couldn't shrug off this possibility. No matter how much she tried to ignore this issue, it continued to hang over her like a cloud, which slightly affected her judgement and rhythm.

Even so, her unyielding will grew firmer. Each time she suffered a setback, she became more unwilling to let her opponent have his way!

"I WON'T LET YOU QUESTION MY DEDICATION!"

Something snapped inside her! Her will grew more furious around her as she imposed a greater influence on her immediate surroundings.

As Ivan dashed forward in order to launch another opportunistic strike, he yelped a bit as he felt as if his entire body bumped into a bed of needles.

Even though he rapidly dashed back, he found to his surprise that Ketis managed to attain a burst of speed. While it was not enough to match his pace, she was still able to get close enough to pose a serious threat!

"I have lost many sisters due to my lack of ability!"

Her CFA greatsword wooshed as it barely missed Ivan. The glowing blade was so sharp that it seemed it could even cut air molecules in half.

Having been on the receiving side of Ketis' unnatural cutting power, Ivan felt an awful itch from his shoulder area. His bionic arm quivered a bit in fright!

"I have felt lost and powerless in the face of overwhelming strength too many times to count!"

Ketis generated an unstoppable momentum as she constantly closed in on Ivan despite his best attempts at getting out of her reach.

Was she speeding up or was he slowing down? Neither explanation made sense, but Ivan somehow felt as if he had inadvertently stepped into a nightmare!

A large blade of sword energy extended straight from Ketis' greatsword. The length of the extended blade was considerably longer than she had exhibited earlier.

Wielding it caused Ketis to look as if she was carrying an oversized toy in her hands! The difference was that her radiant weapon was much more lethal than an ordinary toy sword!

The air around Ivan grew less restless as his opponent's lengthy weapon cut through a huge area in front of her. The wind forcefully calmed down in its wake as the sword energy blade cut through his influence!

"I have long grown upset at my inability to catch up to my mentor and sisters!"

As her unwillingness increased, so did her unyielding will. Sharpie activately changed as Ketis underwent a remarkable shift in mentality.

Her sword grew sharper and her energy became more unbound. She had repressed her desires and ambitions for so long that unleashing them felt as if she was liberating herself!

"I feel so powerless for my inability to save my first teacher and mentor!"

Her emotional catharsis drove her to fight harder despite her prior consideration of conserving her energy. Right now, fighting all-out was the only way for her to vent all of her unwillingness and frustration!

A strong field of sharpness appeared around her. It resembled that of a resonance shield but was undeniably shaped by her attributes.

This was odd!

Every swordmaster in the VIP areas looked on with surprise as they witnessed the birth of an unprecedented phenomena.

Even Venerable Dise was surprised at what was happening!

"I feel so disappointed at myself when I compare my mech designs to that of my mentor and his wife. They're so much better!"

As her thoughts strayed to her frustrations as a mech designer, her nascent design philosophy joined the party as well.

It resonated with her words and drew strength from her desire to become better!

The field of sharpness that surrounded Ketis turned her into a lethal hedgehog that Ivan did not wish to tangle with! His steps grew lighter, yet Ketis somehow managed to keep up with his pace!

It was as if Ketis was cutting the air resistance that should have constrained her pace!

"I AM NOT WILLING!" She roared as she raised her abnormally-long greatsword and chopped it down like she was an incarnation of a butcher!

Boom!

A long and narrow trench had formed in front of Ketis as her energy blade managed to cut deeply into the resilient floor material!

"I AM TIRED OF LACKING OPTIONS!"

A painful cutting sound echoed in the arena as Ketis unleashed a wide horizontal slash that briefly seemed to cut apart space itself!

"I WILL NOT REST UNTIL I HAVE BECOME STRONGER!"

The energy she released began to overflow. Her mind and spirit expanded beyond reason.

Two humongous changes occurred at the same time.

First, Sharpie grew enormously. Some kind of limit had been breached that caused her sentient sword intent to swell in size and strength.

Normally, such an explosive change would have broken the living spiritual construct, but somehow the quantitative change also came paired with a qualitative change as Ketis became more and more aware of why she struggled!

Second, Ketis finally experienced a long-awaited transformation of her design philosophy. Having been stimulated by all of the resonance and her strong emotions, the spirituality that was dedicated to her mech design specialization was finally beginning to grow and concentrate into a new seed!

These simultaneous changes caused Ketis to become unprecedentedly focused and aware at the same time!

Perhaps they should have conflicted under normal circumstances, but her mind and spirit did not show any signs of breaking.

Sharpie bore the brunt of her advancement to swordmaster. Even though it was an extension of her own spirit, it still counted as a separate entity in some fashion.

Meanwhile, the main part of her spirituality evolved in response to her desire to design better swordsman mechs. A large sample of the thoughts in her mind including a bit of her unyielding will got caught in the vortex that was currently in the process of condensing her design seed!

Even though Ketis began to imagine many fantastical swordsman mechs, she did not become distracted at all. In fact, she became more joyous as she realized that these possible mech designs were all strong enough to elevate the Swordmaidens!

This was what she wanted!

This was what she was chasing after!

"I WILL NO LONGER BE POWERLESS! I SHALL BECOME THE FIRST SWORD GOD AND STAR DESIGNER AT THE SAME TIME!"

"Impossible!"

No one had ever imagined that someone would make such an impossible goal. No one had become a sword god in modern history! As for becoming a Star Designer, the odds of achieving this exalted rank was much lower than winning the lottery!

Ketis did not acknowledge the impossibility of her immense ambitions. Instead, she drew strength from her unflinching desire to become stronger than anyone else!

As if in response, the energy blade that extended from her greatsword became even longer! She swung her weapon up and hacked it down in an unavoidable trajectory.

"I surrender!" Ivan yelled in panic. "Don't cut me down!"

Hidden shield generators came to life and projected multiple layers of shields that were strong enough to resist the force of mechs.

Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!

Multiple energy shields broke in quick succession as they were unable to resist the sheer might and extraordinary cutting power of Ketis' fatal chop!

It was only at the final moment that Ketis gained a tiny bit of awareness. She minutely shifted the angle of her grip, causing the end of her enormous energy blade to slice right through the floor besides Ivan!

A trench that covered a third of the length of the arena surface had formed!

"I-I-I'm alive!"

As the sharpness field around Ketis seemed to reach a crescendo, she did not feel as if she had completed her unique and unprecedented transformation.

She looked at her trusty CFA greatsword. It sang to her as she resonated with it to an unprecedented degree. It had become more alive than ever as it actively fed from the force of will she exuded.

It was at this time that she finally understood.

She slowly lowered her stance and tilted her enormous blade back. She looked up above her head and focused on the narrow roof that was high above.

Her lips briefly moved as she uttered a whisper.

"From now on, your name is Bloodsinger."

As she finally named her greatsword, she cut into the sky, unleashing an enormous and destructive sword energy wave that broke through a couple of energy shields, passed between all of the vertical stands and broke right through the transparent roof material that enclosed the top of the narrow arena!

From the outside, the huge burst of sword energy continued to travel straight into the sky until it reached the heavens!