Reborn: Apocalypse

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—-Grandmaster Sword Mastery—-

A powerful Ability that requires an extremely in-depth understanding of the Way of the Sword. This Ability grows in strength alongside the understanding of the user. This Ability allows one to infuse their swords techniques with energy from the environment, granting them incredible cutting power and might.

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The description of the Ability was succinct and actually underplayed how powerful an Ability this was.

While many Abilities could be purchased from the Shop, there were also many Abilities that could not be purchased. Some of these could only be gained by raw talent and practice, using skill or luck.

Many Abilities that related to battle technique or skills often functioned like this.

Basic forms of those Abilities, like Basic Sword Mastery, could be purchased from the Shop. But anything above the basic levels had to slowly be trained, through constant practice and training.

Martial Artists from Earth found themselves at a very large advantage, especially those that were considered experts.

Sword Master was one of the strongest techniques commonly used for battle. There were 7 Stages to this Ability, each one, save for the last, split into 5 internal tiers.

Basic, Intermediate, Advanced, Master, Grandmaster, World Master, Supreme Master.

Thanks to his raw dedication and effort, as well as obsessive practice, Micheal had just barely managed to achieve the lowest tier of Grandmaster Sword Mastery.

The strongest swordsman alive at the time of the final battle, the legendary French Sundering Swordmaster Bastien Amiot, had achieved the lowest tier of World Master Sword Mastery.

Bastien Amiot was a genius that had been studying the blade his entire life, including more than 45 years back on Earth. Micheal had been a regular 18 year old fresh out of highschool.

For him to reach the lowest tier of Grandmaster Sword Mastery, just a single, though full, stage behind the greatest swordsmen the Human Race had alive at the time, it could be considered a huge achievement. The frantic progress Micheal had made was incredible, enough to rank him among the 50,000 strongest living elites of the Human Race.

Alas, it wasn't enough in the end.

'But it will be this time.' He thought, his eyes flashing as he tossed the thought to the side, focusing on the present.

The Sword Mastery Ability allowed one to draw upon the ambient energy in the world around them, infusing it into their attacks.

Back on Earth, there were legends of masterful warriors that could split steel in two using a simple wooden branch. Sword Mastery made legends like that actually possible.

Basic Mastery allowed one to imbue their weapon with energy from the environment, making their blows heavier and more powerful.

Intermediate and Advanced were simply stronger forms of this, allowing one's weapon to carry with it a huge amount of force and cutting power. The increase in power between Basic and Intermediate, and Intermediate and Advanced was quite noticeable.

The Basic Sword Master Ability alone allowed one to step into the level of superhumans, able to slice through rock like butter. Intermediate allowed one to cut through steel. Advanced allowed one to cut through any and everything from Earth with ease, the materials there no longer able to hold up.

At Master Sword Mastery, one gained the ability to manipulate the energy they imbued into their sword, allowing one to extend a weapons range, or condense the energy, vastly increasing the power and impact a weapon held.

It was at this stage that one could call themselves a Swordmaster.

And at Micheal's current stage, Grandmaster Sword Mastery, one gained the ability that transformed sword users into lethal weapons of terrifying power.

The ability to send out long distance sword attacks imbued with energy, cutting through the air with terrible force.

'I only just reached this stage, just hours before the final battle happened…' Micheal observed, his eyes full of excitement as he looked over his status screen.

'Now that I have it again, I can actually test it out and use it to the fullest extent!'

He flicked his sword upward, slowly starting to draw upon the natural energy of the world. He felt invisible waves of power begin to concentrate around his sword.

At the same time, however, his body trembled, shaking. He felt a huge amount of strain settle upon him, threatening to crush him. He immediately cancelled his concentration, allowing the invisible energy to dissipate.

'Right… I don't have the same stats that I did back then. I can't go all out currently.' He frowned, looking down at his trembling arms.

Using powerful techniques required a powerful physique, through a combination of Strength, Endurance, Recovery, and Soul.

'My Talos Mind Power, King Class Ki Cultivation, Herculean Strength, Ironblood Body…' He listed off all the rare and powerful Abilities he had gained. The Enhanced Strength and Enhanced Recovery were notable too, but not nearly as hard to obtain.

'Herculean Strength can be purchased in the Shop for 2,500,000 Points, while the others are even more expensive. I can't even get the Ironblood Body anymore.' He frowned slightly.

'Well, whatever. I need to take care not to fill my slots with wasteful Abilities like last time. I can just concentrate on increasing my Ki Cultivation.' It was possible to grow that Ability without spending Points. Ki Cultivation was one of the best ways to grow stronger, enhancing one's stats across the board.

WHOOSH

WHOOSH

WHOOSH

While Micheal was planning and thinking, more and more people arrived. People of all ethnicities and nationalities, a plethora of different faces and types. A businessman from India appeared wearing a traditional blue suit, next to a youth that looked to be around 16 from Belgium, dressed in a set of relaxed jeans and a t-shirt. A rough looking man from Japan wearing what looked like a set of beach clothes appeared next to a nervous looking Australian woman.

There weren't any super young children or babies that appeared in his group, he recalled. One of the strongest powers in the First Layer, the Godfather Organization, had put out a special guaranteed reward for those that protected young children or babies and cared for them until a representative could arrive.

Despite that, those that arrived here truly young were unfortunate. Oftentimes their initial Points were wasted, and the mortality rate of the young was high, even with the Shop providing access to magical medicines in the Artifact section.

'If I can make the First Layer safe, infants and children arriving won't be an issue at all.' He thought, nodding.

Thanks to the mystical Shop and Spirit that had appeared in the minds of every human being, language barriers no longer existed. Even if you spoke in Mandarin to someone from Spain, they would inherently understand you now.

Soon, more than 30 figures had appeared, all crowded on to the rooftop. Micheal glanced back at them, narrowing his eyes at the familiar sight.

'I think most of them died, didn't they? At least, none of them made it to the final battle.' He sighed. Billions of humans had died on the journey through the 7 Layers. A huge number of lives were lost here, on the First Layer.

In the distance, Micheal could see similar sights happening on various other rooftops. He could see tens of thousands of humans arriving all around them, all at the same time. The Morenkai weren't active during the arrival of the new Chosen, he remembered that much.

'1,000,000,000 people arrived with the Fourth Wave.' He nodded, his eyes gleaming. What he could see here was only a small fraction of those that were arriving.

'I need to get to The Towers and find a Subway to the Second Layer as soon as possible. The First Layer gets more dangerous with each Wave. I must prepare the Second Layer to receive humanity, I can't let the Great Disaster happen again.' He thought, frowning slightly.

'But first…' He smiled,

'I need to find a way to reveal the big secret of the First Layer to the public.'

"Alright, everyone! Gather round, gather round!" A loud voice interrupted Micheal's thoughts as Daniel called out to all the milling Chosen, his voice full of authority. Everyone's attention zoomed in on the burly figure, staring at him. Micheal turned to look at him, his eyes zeroing in.

"I'm sure a lot of you have some questions! Before we do anything else, however, I need to explain to y'all the danger you are in." Daniel waved his hand around at the various rooftops,

"You are no longer in safe little Earth. You are now in the wilderness of the First Layer, a world of terrible danger, where death stalks the land. If you listen to me closely, you might have a chance at surviving!"

As he spoke, sniffling and cries broke out from a few of the girls in the crowd, wails of panic and fear. Some of those that were transported were teenagers that weren't even ready to live as adults, let alone deal with this disaster. Even many of the adults shook with fear, taking everything rather hard. Very few people wanted to be teleported away from their loved ones to a world of danger.

There were, however, some that took it better than others. Some that looked eager or excited, looking around at the strange new world with a sense of wonder.

"This world is not only home to us humans." Daniel said, pounding on his chest.

"There is another type of being that stalks the skyscrapers. Beings of horror that prey upon humans." His voice was dour as he continued,

"Beings that you absolutely must not fight against if you encounter, but instead must flee. Their strength is far beyond yours, standing up against them alone is the same thing as asking to die." As he continued speaking, he walked over to the doorway that led down into the skyscraper, opening it up. He reached inside, grabbing ahold of something.

"A type of freakish creatures that look like this." Without hesitation, Daniel jerked his arm out, revealing a body. Screams of horror broke out as people saw it, a cacophony of fear.

The body of a lean, skeletal figure that had pitch black skin. It had no eyes, no nose, no ears, only a long, closed mouth on its ghoulish face. As Daniel held it up, one could see that it was abnormally tall, around 2.5 meters, with eerily long arms. The very sight of it was one that drove fear into the heart of any human.

It was not a costume or an art creation, one could feel, in a very real sense, that this was a creature that had once moved, preying upon the Human Race.

"The Morenkai."

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