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

fact, Shang had walked into this darkness

he had just stopped searching for power, he wouldn't need to be surrounded

But he couldn't.

to achieve

only purpose of

more purposes

ever since Shang had stepped onto this

had to reach the end of the

The consequences didn't matter.

The sacrifices didn't matter.

The price didn't matter.

to reach

to reach

had always believed that he had

believed that he had already come to terms with his

true weight of his path only

this dark and lonely journey, Jerald

A ray of light.

a place of nothing but

wasn't actually that hard to walk

hand lying

hand had Jerald's Space Ring on it, and

Relon had given Jerald, Relon would know that

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

He didn't move.

blew across the now exposed

shone

world was so

only saw

of the hand without

Step.

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

of the castle was

What about King Storm?!

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

Shang's husk and the solitary hand on

the world around her

of the world around her gathered

could say or do anything,

Shang didn't move.

empty eye-sockets only stared

shortly, but they died as

Shang two minutes to move, and the only reason he was

Sylvia was returning.

horrified expression on her face as she activated one Mana Step after

and scooped