Chapter 108: A Cherry Blossom Tree

A few days prior—

Noa and Vionette sat on a bench inside a training hall. At the far end of the hall stood Elina, while Lina stood in front of the duo.

“Hey, Noa! I can’t fight without a sword!” she complained, extending a hand towards him. “Just give me your sword!”

“Yeah, yeah, you punk,” Noa sneered, lazily opening [Reserve] and dragging Acheron out. “Just take it and—”

“Wait.” Vionette placed a hand over his, stopping it mid-motion. She looked at Elina and said, “It would be unfair to bring a Mythic-grade weapon into a fair duel, wouldn’t it?”

“HELL YEAH! THANK YOU!” Elina shouted from across the hall.

“Fair play, I guess?” Lina muttered, disappointed.

Putting Acheron back into [Reserve], Noa shaped a standard longsword out of Null Essence and handed it to Lina. “Use this, then.”

“Thanks!” Clutching the sword happily, the girl ran back into the fighting grounds.

Vionette’s crimson eyes were locked onto the hand Lina gripped the constructed blade with, narrowing.

“As I thought… something really is off,” she muttered.

***

Present—

Intrigued by the unfamiliar dimension, Lina walked deeper into it. Spotting a cherry blossom tree that stood out among the rest, she headed towards it.

“What is this place…?” she wondered.

When she was a few steps from the tree, a pink energy gathered before it and took the form of a woman holding a long katana. Lina halted in her tracks, looking at the woman in confusion, while the woman simply looked back at her and smiled.

Lina’s gaze dropped to the woman’s chest, her eyes widening, and she shouted, “Holy moly, how big are those, Lady?!”

The woman blinked once, glanced down at her chest, then back at Lina, and blinked again, her expression utterly dumbfounded. “...That’s not a good way to start a conversation.”

“Only Big Sis Vionette or Mom could beat that…” Lina muttered to herself, then locked eyes with the woman, narrowing her own. “Forming a body out of energy alone… are you a Transfused Lifeform?”

“Right now, yes, I am.” The woman nodded. “How did you find the entrance to this place?”

Right now? Is she in a weakened state? Lina wondered.

“I was just wandering around the city trying to find a good sword. I saw that guy Big Sis told me is an ‘MC’ coming out of a cave, so I went in and found that portal.” She pointed at the portal in the distance.

“I see.” The woman placed a hand over her chest, smiling fondly. “You can call me Yeishi. So, what’s your name, cute girl?”

“Lina Ravel.”

“Mmm… a cute name for a cute girl.” Yeishi laughed softly. “Since you’re cute enough, I’ll let you ask me for any one thing.”

“Any one thing…?” Lina’s eyes widened, brimming with desire. “So are you, like, super, super strong?”

“I promise I am a ‘super, super strong’ swordsman.” She placed a finger over her lips. “But don’t get ahead of yourself. I won’t become your master~”

“What if I ask for this:” Lina raised a finger. “Let’s fight. You can use all of your techniques, but only 10% of your overall power. If I manage to hurt you, you become my master.”

“A fight? Okay, I’ll go along with your proposal. But 10%?” Yeishi closed her eyes and shook her head lightly. “You underestimate me, cute girl. I’m afraid I might accidentally kill you. So I’ll go below 2%.”

Lina gritted her teeth, a wry smile crossing her features. How strong is she?

Yeishi pushed herself off the tree trunk and took a few steps towards Lina.

She drew her katana and pointed it at Lina. “Draw your blade, then. Let’s begin.”

Lina raised a hand, her face sheepish. “Actually, I don’t have a sword.”

“Huh?”

“I walked around the city trying to find a sword, remember? Can you give me one?”

Yeishi looked at Lina with a deadpan expression. “Doesn’t that make it two requests?”

Lina put on a pleading smile, gazing at the woman with big, adorable eyes.

“Fine…” Sighing, she extended her other hand to the side.

[Imaginary Repository (Legendary)]

A katana manifested in her outstretched hand. She eyed it for a few seconds, as if checking that it passed muster, then tossed it to Lina.

“I made it on a whim, but it should at least be nearly as good as mine. Put it to good use.”

Lina clutched the blade protectively. Her eyes full of light, she slid it a little way out of its sheath. The blade was black, its edge a vivid pink, matching her outfit’s colors.

It’s so light, like it was made for an elegant Art, and it looks so sharp—sharper than even Acheron! It isn’t made of iron either. What is this metal?

“So, ready to start?” Yeishi asked, an eager fire dancing in her eyes.

Lina drew the blade completely. “Yeah. Make sure to use every technique of your Art.”

Yeishi vanished and reappeared in front of Lina, already mid-swing in a diagonal slash.

Lina raised her blade and blocked. They held for a moment, then she was sent skidding backwards, her shoes carving furrows into the earth.

“You want to see them so badly?”

Lina smiled, her face slick with sweat. “Yes. I need to see them at least once.”

This is below 2%?! This power?!

Gripping the katana with both hands, she charged and attacked from several angles. With each strike, it was the attacker who was sent reeling backwards while the defender stood unmoving.

Leaping up, Lina came down with a vertical slash. Yeishi tilted her blade to the side and redirected it, making it bite into the ground.

“This dimension will give you more stamina and more Aether. It should help you evolve quicker. You’re already at the peak of a Vital Lifeform,” she said, striking Lina with the back of her blade and sending her crashing into a tree.

Seems she won’t get serious until I become an Augmented Lifeform. Lina thought, getting to her feet.

Sliding forward, Yeishi turned her blade into a horizontal slash aimed at Lina’s torso.

[Aura Blade]

A pink aura enveloped Lina’s sword, extending all the way up her arm so that neither would break. The two blades collided, and this time, Lina was finally able to block a strike from her.

“Oho? You know that at such a young age? You’re talented, aren’t you?” Yeishi struck again.

Lina blocked the first two attacks, then, sliding to the side, swept a slash at her legs. Yeishi simply floated upwards, dodging it completely.

“Did you forget that Transfused Lifeforms can fly?”

Lina gritted her teeth and shouted, looking up at her, “That’s not fair! Cheater!”

Yeishi descended, laughing softly, amused by teasing this cute girl. A second later, Lina lunged furiously, pouring all of her aura into the blade.

The exchange of attacks and defenses continued on and on, carrying them through the forest so far that the cherry blossom tree was nowhere in sight. Meanwhile, spending only her aura, Lina gathered Aether into her Aether Core.

Hurry up, cute girl. Yeishi mused, attacking Lina.

After being sent flying backwards, Lina planted her feet on a tree trunk and, crouching, launched herself at the woman again, her sword burning brighter. 

But again, the result was the same.

I’ve fought a dragon before, one from a race born with overwhelming strength and defense… but even that wasn’t as hard as this. I have only one skill that doesn’t use Aether.

[Hyper Calculation]

Yeishi observed. Lina’s attacks had somehow become more precise, and her reaction speed had improved.

“Something has changed… is it your skill?”

“Yes, but not mine.” Lina smiled.

Come on! Gather faster! she barked inside her head.

The fight raged on across that lonely field, the clash of blades ringing out with no beast or person to hear it.

“I’m done with this!” Lina barked, her eyes widening.

Pouring all of her aura into the edge of the blade, she swung. As always, Yeishi casually met it with her own blade, blocking the strike. Lina pushed harder, screaming, but the sword wouldn’t advance.

It should be close now. Yeishi cut Lina’s arm, letting blood drip into the greenery below. 

After a few more exchanges, she glanced back at the wound and, to her surprise, found it already half regenerated.

“...You regenerate unusually fast.”

Out of nowhere, mid-swing, Lina’s body began to glow.

“What the—?” Lina muttered, looking down at herself.

It’s done! Yeishi leaped backwards.

Aether began to vibrate through Lina’s body in a continuous loop, her Aether Core feeling like it was about to burst. Stopping in her tracks, she dropped her sword and clenched her trembling fists.

Her veins felt ready to rupture under the overwhelming Aether, and her organs felt like they were burning. Her heartbeat quickened with every second, and her muscles tightened beyond what she could bear.

It felt as though… she was being reborn.

Finally, the evolution was complete.

Lina looked at her body, feeling the new energy surging within her.

So this is what it feels like to become an Augmented Lifeform? My senses have increased tenfold, and now I can use Aether as a sixth sense to perceive things. I don’t feel thirsty or hungry either… no, I can’t even feel my organs. She placed a hand over her right chest. And my Aether Core has evolved as well.

“It feels like your power has multiplied tenfold, doesn’t it?” Yeishi asked from the side, smiling warmly.

“Yeah. It feels so different.” She picked her sword back up and pointed it at Yeishi. “Now, round two.”

Now that my Aether capacity has expanded, I can use magic up to Tier 4 and handle all the skills. Sheathing the sword, she began chanting, a somewhat amused, wicked smile forming. From now on, it’s an all-out battle!

“Kaelvorn syther, ryxal thorne…”

A magic circle bloomed before Lina’s extended palms, aimed at Yeishi.

— Tier 3 Magic: Crimson Helix —

Twin torrents of fire, one blood-red, the other a blinding amber, surged towards Yeishi, spiraling around each other like a double helix of heat.

“Now this is getting exciting,” Yeishi said, smiling as she swept her sword sharply to the side.

[Veyritha (Mythical)]

A vivid-pink energy wrapped around her katana’s blade. When the fire was a few steps away, she stepped forward and cleaved her sword straight through it.

The fire that would normally explode at the slightest touch was cut in half. And in an instant, the flames transformed into pink cherry blossom petals, swirling gracefully on the wind as they fell.

Lina’s eyes widened. She… cut down the magic? That’s possible?

— Tier 2 Magic: Ember Fang —

She unleashed another spell that fired fanged projectiles at the woman, keeping her busy as she ran forward. Once close, she planted a foot forward, held the sword at her hip, and drew the blade in a fierce vertical slash.

[Exalted Judgment]

[Weight Authority]

Just as the blade’s weight multiplied tenfold, swords of golden light surrounded Yeishi, all of them lunging at her at once.

“I have something similar too,” she said, smiling as she raised her blade. “Though it isn’t a skill.”

— Blossom Sword Sutra Style: Fall of Myriad Petals —

While her physical sword held off Lina’s gravity-amplified blade, slashes of pink energy sliced through the golden swords cleanly and turned them into cherry petals.

A technique of her Art! Lina’s smile widened.

Spinning into a full rotation, Lina launched into another assault. Unlike before, she was now able to keep pace with Yeishi’s 2% power.

Her style has changed? How interesting… Yeishi observed Lina. Before, it was some kind of royal swordsmanship; now it’s raw instinct.

“What the hell is that energy?” Lina asked, shifting her grip on the hilt and driving the blade forward in a thrust.

“Blossom Energy. It’s generated from my Mythical skill.” She tilted her blade slightly, altering the thrust’s trajectory.

Lina sent a sphere of golden energy towards Yeishi and retreated a few steps. Right before Yeishi’s face, the sphere compressed inward and exploded.

The blast carved a large crater into the ground. It should’ve hurt her at least a bit. But Yeishi appeared in front of Lina anyway, completely unscathed.

Caught off guard, Lina managed to block the swift attack, though it left a wound on her forearm.

Her swordsmanship is so swift and elegant, effortless, yet precise. Lina’s blue eyes followed the pink slashes coming at her as they fought their way across the plain field. She really is a sword master.

When the next attack came, Lina sank into her own shadow. Rising from Yeishi’s shadow behind her, she delivered a vertical slash. Yeishi pivoted on her heels and blocked, the pink energy in her sword erupting in a blinding light.

This won’t do… Retreating, Lina stared at that pink energy. If I want to scratch her, I have to tap into that. Now that I’ve evolved, it shouldn’t be as difficult as before.

***

Noa turned towards Vionette. “What do you mean, ‘something’s off’?”

Vionette leaned her head back and said calmly, “Null Essence is an energy that can’t be restrained. You’re only fine using it because it’s inside your body. Just touching that energy would hurt a person’s skin, at the very least.”

She turned her gaze towards Lina’s hand.

“You handed her that sword like an idiot without dialing it down like for other constructs, and it’s made purely of Null Essence. So why…?”

“In my defense: why would a sword’s power need to be dialed down?”

“You know, while you were upstairs putting your shirt on the day we met, Isla said something questionable to me.”

“Something questionable?”

Vionette looked at Noa directly, her eyes narrowing. She said in a deeper, more serious voice, “She said that even with her healing powers, Lina wasn’t supposed to survive that day. She said: ‘Princess, that child regenerated herself. It was just like that man.’”

Noa’s eyes widened in horror. “Lina wasn’t supposed to survive? Wait… do you mean…”

“Yeah. That day, all the other children died except Lina. You were a bit late that day.” Vionette turned towards the arena where Lina and Elina were fighting. “Which means only one thing: Somehow, Lina Ravel…”

***

Lina slid her sword back into its sheath, though her hand never left the hilt, as if ready to draw at any moment. She closed her eyes and focused.

It was an energy from a place deeper than the abyss and darker than the space between stars. A place that existed everywhere and nowhere simultaneously, creating an omnipotent loop of existence and non-existence.

The Void.

[Nihility Decree]

She drew her blade, and Null Essence coated it as she did, pulsing and dancing in excitement at its first release.

Unlike Yeishi’s [Veyritha (Mythical)], which generated Blossom Energy for her, [Nihility Decree] only allowed Noa to draw upon the Null Essence already inside his body, not to create new energy.

So how, even if she possessed the skill called [Nihility Decree], could this girl still use Null Essence? To this, Vionette had only one answer:

“Somehow, Lina Ravel, though not related by blood, has Null Essence inside her body too.”

— Formless Sword: Horizon (Unsteady Dawn) —

The slash carved through the air towards Yeishi, setting the whole horizon aglow with violet light.

Yeishi’s eyes widened. Null Essence?!

Driven by an ancient memory, her body moved on instinct.

[Sanctuary: Garden of Severence]

Within a single second, the environment changed. Behind Yeishi, a massive cherry blossom tree sprouted skyward, its petals drifting down. Below, the ground that had been green with grass was blanketed by white flowers, hiding every blade beneath them.

A single petal from the tree above fell before her. She drew her blade vertically, cutting the petal in half, and a pink slash raced towards the incoming horizontal attack.

— Blossom Sword Sutra Style: Cut Reality with Ease —

The pink and purple energies collided, dyeing the whole area in their hues. But the purple one dissolved into falling petals, while the pink one surged onward, heading straight for the girl.

Yeishi snapped back to her senses. Oh no! I moved on instinct!

Lina stared at the oncoming slash, its brilliant pink light shining in her blue eyes. The strongest technique…

It was aligned with the path of her left arm.

[“A Joke” (Unique)]

Her form turned hollow, making her untouchable by any attack for the time being.

But there was a problem.

Yeishi’s Sanctuary, when activated, had only one simple function: “If you cut, it will be cut.”

Severing Lina’s arm, the slash flew onward and tore through the fabric of space and time. Its path was carved into a bottomless abyss, and the sky was split in two.

The Sanctuary deactivated, and the green grass returned.

Yeishi teleported in front of Lina with a worried face, only to be greeted by a sword strike. She hurriedly moved her blade to block it. Then another attack came, and another.

“Cute girl, are you okay? We should stop this.”

“Not yet!” Lina smiled, more satisfied than ever. “I still want to see the other techniques!”

— Formless Sword: Origin (Unsteady Dawn) —

Between exchanges, Yeishi glanced at Lina’s arm. “Your arm… grew back?”

“It’s not a Unique skill of non-existence for nothing.”

“I’m relieved. I was afraid I had cut off the arm of such a cute girl.” She gripped her sword with both hands and struck forward. “Only a skill of non-existence can survive an attack that cuts existence itself.”

— Blossom Sword Sutra Style: Moonlit Blossom Waltz —

She glided forward through a series of circular steps, each swing leaving behind a luminous pink arc. The arcs hung suspended around her, slowly rotating like rings of petals as she kept attacking through Lina’s gaps, forming the image of a spinning cherry tree.

They slid across the dimension, trading blows. One was a light-devouring violet that moved by pure instinct; the other, an elegant, fully mastered swordsmanship of vivid pink.

It was, truly, a sword dance.

The final strikes were just two simple diagonal slashes, the last ring of steel echoing through the air.

Lina sheathed her sword, breathing heavily.

All of my Aether is gone… and yet, she studied Yeishi’s body, I wasn’t even able to scratch her. And that was 2% of her power?

“Good job.” Yeishi dismissed her skill, and her sword vanished. “I had a good time, for the first time in a long while. It’s been so long since someone visited me.”

“Visited you?”

“Yes. Because I’m stuck in this place.” She looked around with a sad smile. “If I leave, I’ll be erased from existence. So I’m lonely here most of the time.”

“It must suck.” Lina stretched her arms and walked towards the portal. “Well, time for me to head out too.”

“You’re leaving already?” Yeishi asked as Lina reached the portal. “Since I almost killed you by accident, I’ll let it slide and become your master. You were interested in learning my Art, right?”

Lina turned around, a smug smile on her face. “Nah, I only needed to see them once.”

[Zel-Avarin]

Behind Lina, something began to form. It was a small, fragile cherry blossom tree, only twice Lina’s height. Beneath it, the ground turned into a sea of beautiful white flowers.

Yeishi’s eyes widened at the sight.

When the petals catch the wind, a new blossom wakes.

[Sanctuary: Garden of Severence]

Lina’s clothes, formerly a pink blouse and a black skirt, were replaced by a black halter qipao with pink accents.

She swung her blade towards Yeishi.

— Blossom Sword Sutra Style: Cut Reality with Ease —

Lina stepped through the portal to Mythara as the strike sped towards Yeishi. But Yeishi’s eyes were not on the strike; they were fixed on the portal where the girl had been. When the slash arrived, she simply waved her hand to the side, and it dissolved into petals.

It’s not as strong as mine, but I’m more than certain… that is my exact attack, with no flaws in the technique. She only lacks raw power. A smile crossed her face. This girl… not only did she copy my Art, she even copied my clothing style.

A name for such a child came to her mind:

A successor.

***

It was a memory from millions of years ago, yet also one she could not, or would not, forget.

After failing to protect her people, the Shinradra, she had wandered the Upper Realm, striving to reach greater heights.

And she did.

She had forged the sharpest blades there were and created an unrivaled Art, along with a Sanctuary that let her cut beyond imagination.

After becoming the unrivaled cultivator of the Upper Realm, she heard of a mysterious figure who had appeared out of nowhere and was wreaking havoc across it.

So she went to confront him.

She teleported to where he stood, her sheathed katana held near her hip. “Hello. I heard you were strong.”

The man’s clothes were woven from dark energy, his hair falling messily over his handsome face. He turned and looked at her with eyes of black sclera and purple irises, his expression full of loneliness.

“What do you want?” he asked, unbothered.

She drew her blade. “I’m the strongest in this world right now. So I came to see who this ‘strong figure’ everyone’s been boasting about is.”

“Ah… I see…”

[Sanctuary: Garden of Severence]

— Blossom Sword Sutra Style: Cut Reality with Ease —

As the attack came towards him, he muttered, almost to himself, “Not this again. No matter the multiverse, people think they’ve become the strongest.”

The strike hit him dead center, yet nothing happened. It was as though he had been struck by a casual swing.

She was in disbelief. Her whole world had turned upside down. Her attack, which had destroyed universes and erased enemies from existence itself, had been nullified.

“W-what are you…? W-where did you come from?! Which multiverse could be higher than the Upper—” she asked, her instincts screaming at her to run.

“I’m not from any multiverse.” His lifeless eyes locked onto hers. “I’m from a planet—a planet that exists outside these multiverses.”

“What…?”

“I must admit, this is one of the strongest ones I’ve been to, but this verse is not, and never will be, the strongest, because Mythara is outside the rankings.”

He raised a single finger, pointed it at her, and lowered it. Confused, she looked down, only to find her body severed in half and being erased from existence.

The man paused, thinking for a moment. Then he snapped his fingers, and her body returned completely to normal.

“If you desire to be the greatest swordsman there, I will strengthen your abilities to fit that world and send you there. But in return, you won’t be able to walk around in that world unless someone undoes my curse.”

“Sharpen my sword even more…?”

***

[Name: Lina Ravel]

[Race: Human]

[Age: 14]

[Affiliation: Sister of Crimvane’s King]

[Titles: — ]

[Essence Fragment: — ]

[Synchronization: — ]

Attributes

• Authority: ???

• Existence: ???

Inheritances

[Zel-Avarin]

•Authority of Envy that was granted by $*&@. Desire what is theirs, and it shall be yours to claim.

• Allows the user to copy an ability by perceiving it once and store it inside [Zel-Avarin].

• Inheritances cannot be copied.

• One one skill can be copied per an individual.

Skills

— None —