Sword God in a World of Magic

A harsh wind blew.

On top of a hill was a broken castle.

Mere moments ago, this castle had been whole.

Now, the back of the castle was missing.

What had once been a room was now a ruin.

Half-broken walls were behind Shang as the bright sun shone down on him.

The bright sun didn't reflect Shang's feelings, but the weather didn't care about the feelings of living beings.

Shang's body had become a husk. Nearly all his muscles had shrunk to a sickly degree, making him look like a skeleton with merely some skin on it.

The two empty eye-sockets only strengthened this perception.

About 140 years ago, Shang sacrificed his left eye.

Today, he had sacrificed his right eye.

Shang couldn't possibly sacrifice his arms or legs since that would severely weaken his Battle-Strength.

Organs couldn't be sacrificed because that would reduce Shang's maximum life energy tremendously.

The ears or the nose weren't enough to achieve any kind of significant power with Entropy.

Shang had decided to go with the eye.

Due to his Spirit Sense, he wasn't reliant on vision anymore.

However, all of this was actually only of secondary importance.

In fact, Shang didn't even really think about what to sacrifice.

His mind had been someplace else.

Jerald.

His friend.

His only friend.

His closest companion.

Shang's life had always been surrounded by a cloud of darkness.

His Affinity made it impossible for him to have friends or companions.

His goal made it impossible for him to have friends or companions.

He was alone.

The world was dark.

His life was dark.

was willing to walk through this

walked into this darkness

for power, he

But he couldn't.

to

the only purpose

more purposes

Shang had stepped onto this dark path, all the other purposes

reach the end of the path, no matter

The consequences didn't matter.

The sacrifices didn't matter.

The price didn't matter.

to

needed to

always believed that he had already made his

already come to

true weight

and lonely journey, Jerald had been

A ray of light.

nice in a place

that hard to walk the

hand lying in front of

on it, and Shang had avoided it

he destroyed the Communication Crystal that Relon had

seconds, Shang's empty eye-sockets only stared at the

He didn't move.

blew across the now

shone down on

was

only

stood in front of the

Step.

woman walked out of the still-standing part of the castle behind Shang, and her eyes widened in horror at what she

of the castle was

What about King Storm?!

the True Mages responsible for organizing everything in the castle, and she had heard and felt

solitary hand on the ground, she

world around her

world around her gathered

anything, her head separated from

Shang didn't move.

eye-sockets

Mages arrived shortly, but they died

two minutes to move, and the only reason he was

Sylvia was returning.

horrified expression on her face as she

stepped forward and scooped