Chapter 28: Limit Breaker

As he regained his senses, Edward noticed that time seemed to have stopped while he was talking to Death and fighting the sword's spirit.

But as he appeared and got ready to end the fight with the demon, he saw a wave extend out of his body that turned the world black and white.

The sphere created by the wave encompassed the entire battlefield, and disappeared after barely a moment.

However, as it did, nearly all the soldiers on the battlefield fell to the ground, unconscious. As for the demon, it faltered in it's charge, and rapidly shook it's head as it stopped.

Edward looked around in shock, unsure of what just happened, and saw that the only ones still awake were Morgana, Merlin, the demon, Arthur and his Knights.

Edward didn't have time to think about what happened though as the demon across him roared and fired a ray of darkness his way.

Edward gripped his sword, the Ebony Blade, tight in his hand as he slashed at the incoming attack. As he did, he felt his Chi churn as it covered the blade.

Unlike Percy earlier, the Ebony Blade stayed firmly in his hand, and absorbed the attack. Then, as Edward swung his sword toward the demon, a flying slash made of pure black, even darker than the energy from the earlier attack, was sent toward the demon.

It travelled at such speed the demon was defenceless in front of it, and could only look as a huge gash was opened from it's shoulder to it's hip.

The demon cried out in pain, and Edward sprinted toward it, to finish the job. However, as he did he felt a sudden danger, and hurriedly stopped and jumped backward, just in time to avoid a darkness bolt from Morgana.

Morgana sent a glare at Edward, filled with surprise and confusion, before opening a dark portal behind her.

As she disappeared, and the portal closed behind her, Edward looked at the battlefield around them. With nearly everyone having fainted, it was hard to see how many casualties there had been.

Merlin came down from the sky and asked Edward "Are you okay? Any idea of what happened?"

As he said that, the remaining knights, excluding Percy who was knocked out, as well as Arthur, got closer, curious too.

Edward looked at the sword in his hand, it's cold gleam reflecting in his eyes behind the mask, before he said "The sword had developed a dark spirit, which was what was corroding Sir Percy's mind. It tried to possess me, then destroy me, but I was the one who destroyed it."

He did not say anything about his encounter with Lady Death, as he felt there was no need to do so. He then said "As for what happened to them, I think it was because of me. Don't worry though, they are still alive, only unconscious."

He could still feel the Chi of many people, too many to count them in fact, so he was pretty sure he didn't kill anyone.

Arthur was about to say something, when Merlin interjected "Serenity needs some time alone, let's let him return to the castle first."

Edward nodded at Merlin, while Arthur swallowed back his words. Edward slightly nodded at the other knights and Arthur before opening a portal.

The rule with those portals was that he had to know the spacial coordinates of where he wanted to go. If he wanted to go to India for example, he had to know where India was in the world. However, if he wanted to go to a particular city, then he had to know where that city was in India, and so on.

As this was a more ancient Earth and he didn't know where exactly he was in England, he had to personally go to his destinations before teleporting.

Other than the US, he had very few locations he could go to, so his choice was rather restrained. However, he didn't want to go back to the castle right now, so he instead teleported to a small pond they had passed by as they came here.

Around the pond was a beach of pebbles, making for a gorgeous scenery, the kind that could hardly be seen in the present world, or maybe future world here.

There was a deer drinking here too, so it seems it was drinkable water, although it didn't really matter to him. The deer ran away as soon as the portal opened, scared.

Now alone, Edward wanted to focus on his gains, and see the changes brought by what happened with the sword, and Lady Death.

He sat at the pebble shore, and entered meditation as he took the lotus position. Meditation also allowed him to enter his inner self, and discover the changes brought to him.

His Chi also began circulating around his body, and much to his excitement, he felt his body once again get stronger as his Chi nourished it. At the same time, his Chi was being refined.

But more importantly, he felt a much greater control now over his Chi. He felt that if he wanted to, he could actively use it.

He was excited, but it wasn't over. For weeks he had been itching to try his ADC, his Automated Discontinued Cultivation.

With his much greater control over his Chi, Edward started connecting all the pores around his body to his blood streams, and his organs.

Slowly, his Chi started mapping a huge network in his body, and after nearly an hour, as Edward finally grew satisfied over his work, he tried it out.

As soon as he did, Edward felt a wave of freshness wash over his body, revitalizing it. His Chi sped up massively as it refined itself and his body at the same time.

Then, he exhaled, and the impurities brought by the breath of air were expelled. A cycle started appearing in his body as he felt himself get stronger at a speed never seen before. But it wasn't all, Edward could feel his body reaching a purity he didn't even know existed, and his body was being filled with energy.

For a normal person, having too much oxygen in their bodies was bad, but with his strengthened body it only gave Edward more energy.

In his euphoria, Edward continued feeling the changes brought to his body by his cultivation before turning his attention to something else.

He had always felt he had already reached the peak of Chi manipulation, and didn't see how it could become better. However, now he understood he was actually right.

In terms of pure Chi manipulation, he indeed had reached the peak, and he hadn't improved. And yet, he was now able to use his Chi much more freely.

This was because what he lacked wasn't physical control, but spiritual control. Only now did he understand that to breakthrough the limit, the barrier wasn't physical, but spiritual.

When the spirit of the Ebony Sword had tried to destroy him, his mind had evolved, reaching a new level, allowing him to eradicate the evil spirit and break the limit.

His strengthened mind seemed to also possess an energy, which he decided to call spiritual energy, that he could use to control his Chi more efficiently.

But perhaps even more interesting, was that he could also use it outside his body. When Edward opened his eyes once again, he was floating about half a meter above the ground, surrounded by several floating pebbles too, all thanks to his spiritual energy which he had released earlier.

Edward decided to go back to his meditation as he was actually doing this effortlessly, and looked at the Ebony Blade.

By infusing his spiritual energy, he seemed to be able to enter a kind of synergy with it, and he felt like he had left a kind of mark in the sword.

Using his spiritual energy, Edward threw the sword away, and retracted his spiritual energy. And yet, without any energy, Edward still felt this connection with the sword, and managed to call it back to him. It actually floated on it's own back into his hand.

Edward now also guessed that the wave that extended out of his body probably was a manifestation of his spirit, but unfortunately he wasn't able to replicate it. For now, the only thing his spiritual energy seemed capable of was telekinesis, which was great already.

Edward also took the time to think of why Death said she couldn't give him her gift, the Ageless Body, and came up with a conclusion.

The Ageless Body was essentially a body that was stopped in time. Although all the vital functions still remained, any change would be eliminated so as to keep the user Ageless. They wouldn't gain or lose weight for example, or maybe they wouldn't even need to eat anymore.

He wasn't really sure of the specifics, but what he did know was that to get stronger, both his body and mind needed to change as they were nourished by his Chi, and this Ageless Body most probably would stop this progression.

And Edward would rather remain a mortal than lose the ability to progress ever again, and Death probably knew that too if she paid attention to him, hence why she didn't give him her gift.

While it was a pity, it did not matter much to him. He didn't want to remain a 20 years old looking person for his whole life. As for the boost for a Sorcerer, Edward also had a solution.

With his ADC, his Chi circulated around his body at all time, and cleansed it repeatedly. This was a similar effect in itself, and although it wasn't as strong, the stronger his Chi, and the stronger energies he would be able to take in his body and cleanse.

If he went on with his plan to only use energies which he could cleanse 100% of, although his rate of progression would be slower than with the blessing, he would still gain access to many spells.

Overall, picking up that sword was a blessing in disguise, and set a road for him in the future. Once he finished checking his gains, Edward opened another portal back to Camelot.

Arthur and his troops had already come back, apparently Merlin still had enough energy to teleport the troops back to the castle after the fight.

The soldiers who had been knocked out by his Spirit Outburst, as he liked to call it, had easily been awakened after he left, they had merely fainted. According to Merlin, their spirit had suffered a huge pressure for a moment, forcing them to faint. Only the stronger minds such as the Knights had managed to stay awake, but even they felt weakened.

Percy was a little bit more worrying as he still hadn't awaken, probably because of the broken connection with the sword, but Edward convinced himself it was for the best, Percy clearly hated the sword, and he should wake up.

In the end, Edward found Zatanna in her room, looking happy. He stopped at her opened door and said "Sorry I couldn't kill it."

Zatanna looked at him in surprise, she hadn't seen him coming, before smiling and saying "You already did your best, and I was the one who started all this trouble. Nommus riahc."

A chair suddenly appeared in front of Edward, a modern looking one. He looked at Zatanna in surprise, who smiled and said "Although you didn't kill it, you damaged it severely, allowing a part of my power to come back to me."

Edward let out a slight smile and said "That's good then."

There was a bit of an awkward silence after this, and it was only after a few excruciatingly long seconds of silence that Zatanna said "I want to learn the Mystical Arts."

Edward looked at the younger woman in surprise, he truly didn't expect this from her.