"Do not look directly at that sword; that sword is corrupted. The power it holds is way too immense. If you are weak, it will devour you," said Maria as she looked towards the bell tower. Thankfully, she was able to sense something was wrong with Rudra before the sword had managed to kill him.
'Corrupted sword? Just merely looking at it can kill you? Being weak is truly a sin in this world, it seems. When I read about it, I just laughed it up, thinking how could a sword possibly kill you just by looking at it.' Rudra ridiculed himself as he remembered the day he learned about this type of sword. Even though he was in a new world, his mind still tried to rationalize things using the logic of his old world. Rudra finally realized that if he remained stuck in the ideas of the old world, he would eventually die without achieving anything in this life as well.
According to his knowledge, when a sword gains an ego after taking too many lives, it becomes a corrupted sword. As the sword continues taking lives, it starts devouring the victim's resentment, helplessness, and all the other negative feelings. As the sword keeps on feeding on all the negative feelings, it develops a unique ego that intends to destroy everything in the world. That is how corrupted swords are born, according to the book; the sword even tries to devour its user. If the sword wielder isn't strong enough, only death awaits them.
Feeling the helplessness he felt after almost dying, suddenly sparked a fire in his heart that was eventually going to burn the entire world with him. He was still unaware of the changes that had happened to his body as he suddenly started feeling light; it was as if someone had unclogged a pipe that had been clogged for years. When Rudra started feeling strange, he was hot and nervous and started looking around him. What Rudra saw suddenly made him grasp in awe; all around him were floating small balls of light, which were flickering with light, which made it seem like they were stars.
'Just what are these things?' Rudra questioned himself as he tried touching one of the balls of light. However, to his surprise, he was unable to touch them as they passed through his fingers. After contemplating for a while, Rudra finally concluded that the lights he was seeing were none other than the spiritual power he had read about in the books but was never able to sense.
'But according to the books we no one can see them with their naked eyes. Even among the most talented of humans, there were only a few who were able to feel the presence of Spiritual power in the world. Humans aside, Elves were one of the species that were most attuned to nature, so there were a lot more Elves compared to humans, who were able to feel the spiritual power. Even among elves, there was never a mention of any elf who was able to see Spiritual Power. So, is this really Spiritual power or is it something else?' Rudra began contemplating the visions he was having as he became very confused.
.....
Rudra became lost in his thoughts; however, outside the orphanage, the confrontation was still ongoing.
"HAHAHHA, how unbecoming of you, using such a high-level skill just to save the life of an ant who is about to die later anyway. Do you still not realize, you are going to need all the energy you have to kill me, or do you still believe you can kill me as easily as those wyverns?" The masked man, eerily he began mocking Maria.
"Are you here to kill me with your mouth, or are you going to use that sword of yours? You really don't believe that by wasting time, the shield will come undone now, so you?" Maria said as she smirked mockingly. The provocation seemed to have worked, as the masked man who was laughing suddenly stopped and glared daggers at Maria.
"BLOOD DEVOUR! If you wish to die early, then die." Screamed the masked man as he swung his sword towards Maria.
"UGHHHH... So you really were part of Blood Cult, to think that you people have begun to act so brazenly even inside the territory of the Radiant Empire." Maria said that after she blocked the attack, she had used a skill that turned the materialized shield in front of her to neutralize the attack. Although the attack seemed very dangerous for the people watching the fight, defending against the attack, Maria just took a few steps back, and the shield didn't sustain any major damage. Although the masked man didn't use all of his strength in that attack, Maria was still able to gauge his strength to be around hers successfully.
"Yes, you are correct. We are from the Blood Church, how preceptive of you. Not many on the continent know about us just yet, but you seem to have some knowledge about us," said the masked man. Maria was instantly able to recognize the blood cult because they were the only ones who were able to use the skills related to blood.
'It seems that the church was right. I need to report this to the capital immediately.' Maria thought silently as she looked at the blood red eyes of the masked man. It seemed like she was able to realize something very important because of their interaction.
"I was thinking of keeping you alive. I have many questions that I want answers to. But keeping you alive is no longer an option. Let's go a little further away from here. HEEEYAAA...." Maria said as she threw her halberd towards the masked man.
CLANK
Maria didn't use any spiritual power when throwing the halberd, which was why the masked man instantly deflected the halberd using his sword. After the Halberd clashed with the sword, it landed right in front of the masked man.
"MANA BLAST!" Shouted Maria as a loud boom followed her voice. When the masked man heard Maria, he could instantly feel the Spiritual power fluctuate under his feet. He wanted to move out of the way right then instantaneously, but unfortunately, he was unable to react in time.
After the loud boom, people were able to see the Masked Man flying across the town. He looked like a kite whose string had been cut. After flying for a few hundred meters, he was finally able to stabilize his body midair.
"You got me good this time, you were lucky. But I won't fall for the same trick twice." Said the masked man as he wiped off the blood that oozed out of his mouth. He felt humiliated as he had fallen for such a childish trick.
"Just once is enough," Maria said as she smiled mockingly. It was as if she were trying to rub salt on the wound.
"Everyone, heed my command: Kill everyone you see. DO NOT EAVE ANYONE ALIVE, BY THE TIME OF DAWN I WANT TO SEE A MOUNTAIN OF CORPSES." Masked man said in a bone-chilling tone, it was as if he had no value for human life. Maria suddenly felt her body shiver. She looked behind where the nuns were fighting the group of masked people. She felt a little relief because it seemed both groups were evenly matched.