Chapter 28: No Shortcuts to Get Stronger

And once again, I'm alone… Once again, I've lost my friend, and maybe forever… No, she's fine… She has to be… Solol, Sophie… Forgive me… I'll come back for you.

After hearing what Kenneth said, I was trapped in that cyclone for a few minutes. No sound could be heard except for the strong wind. Eventually, I couldn't even feel the ground beneath my feet; it was as if my body was floating in space.

"Gloob?"

"Don't worry, Fed. We'll go back to help them, I swear." I'm not sure if Fedora was asking about the two. But that worry is the only thing on my mind, it's corrosive, and it hurts my heart to remember that Sophie…

…

Finally, the cyclone dissipated, dropping me into a 'room'? I fell face-first into a puddle of water, and when I stood up, I realized the entire floor of that chamber was made of silver water. I'm not even sure if I'm in a chamber; I can't see any walls, just an enormous and seemingly endless plane.

The sky was light red, and the clouds were black as if about to pour rain. It even looked like the sun was setting.

"See anything?" Fedora spun 360 degrees on my head, with a gaze as focused as an eagle's, and made a cute noise while looking behind. I turned and saw two staircases in the silver floor: one leading upwards and seemingly endless, and the other going down, opening a small dark hole in the ground.

There were no clues or signs giving any context, and honestly, I doubt there's anything else besides these stairs. But which one should I choose?

"Eeny, meeny, miny, mo… Forget it, the one going up." The name of this place is Purgatory, right? So these stairs must mean heaven and hell, so I went for the obvious choice. And briefly the scariest…

Tap…Tap…Tap…

I thought I'd just climb about ten steps and be teleported to a new room… But no! I climbed for almost ten minutes, and I still can't see an end—and the worst part, I just discovered I'm afraid of heights.

"Why didn't the architect of this death stair put a handrail?!"

"Gloob Gloob?"

"N-no… I'm not scared!" My trembling voice already destroyed the lie completely, "Geez, my legs are starting to hurt…"

Tap…Tap…Tap…

Twenty minutes passed, I no longer felt my legs, and could only climb by dragging myself up the steps. Fedora was obviously worried and growled what I presume was a request for me to rest. But I can't stop; Sophie and Solol are in trouble.

Tap…Tap…Tap…

Forty minutes passed, I was sitting on a step, sweating like a pig, and breathing heavily like a train. Still, no end is visible… It's as if I'll never leave this place…

"Gloob—"

"Fine… We can… yaaawn" Suddenly, I started feeling very sleepy, a simple blink made me lose consciousness. I tried to slap myself to stay awake, but I had no strength to raise my hand. And I closed my eyes…

Zzzzzzzzzz…

<…>

Somehow, I slept well… Even resting on steps thousands of feet high, I felt like I was lying in my bed, a comforting wind hitting my face, refreshing me after so much effort.

This feels too good…

"Hihihi!"

I woke up immediately, not even sure if I actually heard that. But that was the least of my worries, because, I was no longer on the stairs. Somehow, I ended up in a mountainous field, dominated by white grass, cyan-colored clouds blocking the sky.

The laughter returned, "Hihihi!" Now awake, I could better understand it—it was a thin voice, like a child having fun—but I looked around and found nothing, not even Fedora was on my head.

"Uh… Hello? Someone there?"

The voice responded, mimicking what I said, "Hello? Someone there? Hihihi!" clearly in a mocking tone.

I noticed it echoed from a tree on a nearby hill, but just to be sure, I tested it: "Are you copying me?"

Then, something white emerged from the tree trunk, "Are you copying me? Hihihi!"

"Found you!" I ran as fast as I could towards whatever it was, hoping it could lead me to an answer or at least explain what this place is. When it noticed my approach, the thing started running.

I had a chance to see its form up close; it was a boy, no more than eight years old, but his entire body was blue and transparent, his hair seemed to have two colors, with the left side being light blue while the right was dark blue, his clothes were just traditional tunics, but clearly very worn out. He ran from me with energetic speed, as if this were all a game to him.

But I noticed that with each step he took, a metallic clack-clack sound was heard, but I couldn't figure out where it came from.

The child snapped his fingers, and the ground shook, as if the entire plane was about to collapse. A wide hole opened a little further ahead, and without hesitation, he jumped into it. I was worried and tried to follow, but I didn't expect what was in that hole.

Even though it just appeared now, there was a stone platform in the middle of it—20 meters below ground—and the boy was there, sticking out his tongue as if he'd won the game.

"Bleh! I won!"

"Congrats, now how will you get out of this place?"

"But I'm not in the hole…" he snapped his fingers, "You are! Hihihi!"

Suddenly the ground broke, and I fell right into the center of that platform. And the child, somehow, was outside the hole laughing and sticking out his tongue. When I got up, the platform swayed, as it was supported by a single pillar below it. Terrible design, by the way.

The boy disappeared, great… And now I needed to find a way out of that hole—its walls were too far apart, so I couldn't just jump and climb out, below the platform, it was so dark it seemed bottomless, also out of the question.

"Who are you?" whispered a calm and 'comforting' voice? It sounded very much like an old man, I turned and found, sitting and leaning on a katana, an old man with long orange hair, wearing a red kimono, but he wasn't normal…

He didn't have a left arm, where his shoulder should have been, there were shards of red glass instead. The lower right corner of his abdomen also had a similar wound, a hole that went through his body, which seemed to be made only of glass inside.

However, I didn't feel any ill intentions in his gaze; in fact, he just seemed tired, not even surprised to see me. "S-sorry for raiding your home, mister… I was just…"

"I know why you came here, Blade Dancer. I can tell from your look that…" he widened his eyes and looked me up and down for a long time… If he's a pervert, I swear on everything that…

"You're desperate. You lost something, or someone. And you want to gain power as quickly as possible. Correct?"

"Uh…" Technically he's right, but is 'yes' the answer he wants? I want to save my friends; that's a valid reason. "Y-yes. I—"

"Enough." He raised his palm asking for silence. I chose the wrong answer, of course. "You expect Purgatory to choose you just because you want a shortcut to get stronger?"

"I want to save my friends! If I take too long, they might die!"

"I could build three and a half castles with all the swords of those who told me exactly the same thing. And you know what you and everyone who came here have in common? You all think that just swinging a sword makes you a swordsman, but no one dares to appreciate the real art of the blade."

"W-well, what do I have to do then, so I can prove it that I'm worth the Purgatory?"

He laughed briefly, and got up, walking out of the platform—and walking on air, "First, you must show yourself worthy of the title 'swordsman.' And for that, you must practice a valuable lesson: the sword is not just an instrument for murders."

The old man disappeared, and before me, three swordsmen similar to him in attire and weapons emerged, but their skin was completely white and there was nothing on their faces, like hair or eyes.

[Apprentices]

[Description: The spiritual manifestation of the abilities of a true master. Each apprentice has a percentage of his power, which means their range of techniques is still limited.

With the presence of those three, the platform tilted forward, almost making me fall off. "W-woah!" I jumped back and managed to balance the ground.

[Wind Scrapper]

[Stamina: 175/190]

Before they approached, I cut them with my wind slash and what was left of them fell off like bowling pins. "STRIKE!"

"HUH?! But I did what you asked!"

I obviously didn't get any

response, and four more of them appeared, each from one side of the platform. I quickly dodged the one summoned next to me and easily cut off its head—the resistance of these guys is absurdly low.

Still, no change. But that was the least of my worries; the three that remained gathered on the other side of the platform, which suddenly tilted.

Like a slide, I fell towards them—they quickly prepared slashes with their katanas. But luckily, I managed to embed my sword in the tilted ground and keep a safe distance.

They seemed angry, even without having a face, one of them was even stomping on the ground like a child throwing a tantrum. However, suddenly, it lost its balance and fell off the platform.

I did it? But he fell on his own… Wait, 'the sword is not just a tool for murder.' Okay, I'm very stupid, how did I not see this?

Now that I understood how this game works, I slid towards the two and jumped with a kick to the head of one of them, who also fell. Now on the edge, I embedded my sword again to avoid falling off the arena, and the remaining Apprentice tried to take advantage of this to attack me with a vertical slash. How naive.

[Perfect Block]

[Stamina: 165/190]

I simply put my arm in front of the strike at the right timing, and he was instantly thrown off.

With those guys out of the game, I moved to the center and put the platform back in place. And I noticed that old man was sitting in the air watching me, without any surprise on his face… Still.

"It's still far from over, girl."

"Doesn't matter! I'm winning this anyway! Bring it on!"