Solitary Sword Sovereign

Martial Harmony: Will Strikes Back!

"Ha!" shouted Will as he brought down his sword in a smooth downward swing. Ha resisted with a horizontal block but it was a pointless endeavor.

Will's sword was carrying a weight that felt like a mountain.

'This boy, he has finally understood how to use the environment!'

Will stopped the rapid movement and stared his opponent right in the eye. Jingsung Ha felt as if he was submerged in a pool of tar and that he was sinking, despite the fact that he was standing still.

'The Dao of Water; Water Pressure Concept. He has copied me, not bad. This guy is worth taking seriously.'

Will had been wondering why there was water all around him, it was for his to draw power. Will suspected that the atlas columns gave you an environment that both you and your opponent can benefit from in some way.

Will expanded his Soul force into the environment. His Aqua Sense working in overdrive. The Dao of Water was fast and had many applications, but Will only needed one. To put it simply, Will had tapped into the water around him. Instead of trying to forcefully control the water around him, he was slowly feeling it out and resonating the water with his Water Gate. This allowed him to borrow power from the water around him.

Will had gained a good understanding of the Dao and how to apply from Modus after his surprise battle with Ignius back in Miami, before he was Level 50. Now he was level 99 with a yin type constitution, not to mention that the boy had not been slacking around.

One of the reasons why Will had slowed down and entered a power type clash with Jingsung is because he needed to concentrate. What he was doing required him to mentally push himself to the limits. It was like trying to fix a car when all you have learned is theory through textbooks and all you have done for practice is touch a few parts and tools. Thankfully Will had superb tools, and a top class Master! As Will's sword bore down on the Restricted Avatar of the Raindrop Sword Immortal, the former recounted the Words modus had spoken to him a few months ago.

....

"When it comes to martial arts, there are many ways to classify them. One of the classifications is in regard to how one learns a martial art or skill. In general, martial arts can be classified as orthodox or unorthodox. Orthodox martial arts are martial arts with some kind of stance; a Form. How to attack, where to attack, the angle, speed, trajectory, technique, everything is given in detail about how the technique is supposed to be executed. Most martial arts are orthodox, as it is easier to learn when a lot of information is provided. Most of the basic martial arts you use are like this."

"Unorthodox techniques are the opposite. They have no definite form and only contain an essence. Once one captures that essence, they have already learned the basics of the technique. An example of such a technique is your True Strike. It can be performed with any weapon and or body part, so long as one has the essence of the technique and the prerequisites of energy and intent.

"Unlike orthodox techniques, however, there is another requirement to mastering unorthodox techniques. That is Intent. Unorthodox techniques are much harder to learn than orthodox ones, but in return, they are much, much more powerful. Once mastered, they allow the user to completely alter them to the user's needs. This results in every mastered unorthodox technique differing from another. Look."

Modus opened his hands and two blobs of water appeared, floating above the palms. One blob became a cube of water, while the other remained ever-changing, mutating in shape every second.

"The cube represents orthodox martial arts. Orderly, easy to comprehend, straight-forward.

"This other one represents unorthodox techniques. Will, you are an extremely talented in swordsmanship, one might even say you were destined to become as sword immortal, but you are far too focused on your swordsmanship, neglecting your other power..."