Odin led Maria to the top of a very large mountain made completely of solid void energy. It was pretty high up that it felt like they had reached the very peak of the Void Realm. Maria even had the illusion that she could just raise her hands and pluck one of the brightly glowing stars in the Void Realm's sky.
“We’re here...this is Mount Valhalla.”
“We’re pretty high up...but this isn’t the highest point in the Void Realm, is it?”
“No, unfortunately, it isn't. It used to be, but now, Bahamut’s home is the highest point in the Void Realm,” Odin replied.
“Oh…”
“While Ultima watches the Earth, her brother watches the Heavens. If you want to meet Bahamut, you will have to search for the Sky Castle, Liwash. We can talk about it after a week once you’ve mastered the technique I’ll be handing down to you.”
Maria nodded at Odin’s words and said, “Alright, let’s get started then!”
The peak of Mount Valhalla had an arena placed right on top of it, Odin explained that the Einherjar used to come here and fight for glory and honor against mythical beasts and monsters of legends. Now, it was mostly quiet since there hasn’t been a worthy character in the past millennia that fit the status of an Einherjar so his Valkyries couldn’t bring anyone back to fill this stage or those that were worthy have already been snatched up by other gods.
Maria asked what happened to the Einherjar of old and Odin said that most of them have moved on and either returned to the Void or became lesser Primals after accumulating enough Void Energy within their being. Odin brought Maria here because this was the most suitable place for her to learn one of his techniques. He got off of Sleipnir and moved to the center of this arena before unsheathing his sword and waiting for Maria.
“Observe closely, little one. I will only display this technique just once.”
“Okay!”
Odin didn’t get into any sort of stance but just stood there with his sword held aloft.
“I must say, you’ve actually become my most favorite disciple yet. This is why I’ll impart to you my favorite technique. Now watch and keep this image of my sword embedded in your mind.”
Maria nodded and paid rapt attention to Odin’s stance and the Zantetsuken in his grasp.
Odin raised his sword with both hands before he slashed down and roared, “[Zantetsuken]!”
All Maria saw was an ordinary downward slash that used only the smallest amount of Aura to execute, but this simple slash held the mysteries of Odin’s Sword Path and Maria was able to barely see this. As ordinary as the slash seemed, the results were anything but that. Odin's slash caused the space in front of him to break apart as the dimensional fabric of the Void Realm began to tear apart. The glass-like dimensional fabric began to break apart and when these glass shards tried to reform, they smashed against each other and caused an explosion of dimensional energy.
These dimensional explosions wreaked havoc all across the stage and they lasted for just a single moment before the Void Realm’s dimensional space immediately repaired itself. Odin had cut apart space itself and this caused Maria’s mouth to drop a little but she continued to pay attention to what happened to the space in front of Odin’s attack.
*DING*
You have witnessed an attack that held the truth and mysteries of Void and Space You have received 10,000,000 EXP for witnessing such a profound attack
“Woah!”
“Did you see that, little one?”
“Y-Yeah, that was amazing!”
“Hahaha, indeed it was!” Odin said with a laugh. “That technique is called [Zantetsuken]. It was named after my sword because it is a technique that can only be used with my sword.”
“Oh, okay...but wait a minute, if it can only be used by wielding Zantetsuken then how am I supposed to learn it?”
“Oh, little one, did you forget what I gave to you when we first met?”
Maria thought back a little and remembered that after Odin had offered to take her as his disciple, he had given her a small gift to show his sincerity because he wasn't joking or messing around with her. The gift he gave was a small piece of Zantetsuken’s blade that allowed her Calamity to evolve once again and achieve its Third Form, the Great Sword Form.
“You gave me a piece of Zantetsuken’s blade to transform my Calamity...so does that mean I can use that technique too if I use Calamity in its Sword form?”
“Haha, yes, little one! Also, I’ll allow you to call it the Zantetsuken form!”
*DING*
Calamity’s description has been updated!
“Oh!”
Maria pulled out her Calamity and when she changed it to its sword form, its name had changed to Calamity-Z which was short for Calamity-Zantetsuken. Other than the name, however, nothing else changed and it would only turn into the Calamity-Z when she used it in its sword form. With this, the prerequisite of wielding Zantetsuken was fulfilled and all Maria had to do now was comprehend and learn the skill [Zantetsuken].
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“Now you should start meditating on that strike!”
Maria shook her head and said, “No, just that second showcase is enough.”
“Hm? Second?”
Maria smirked at Odin and said, “You showed me it once already, although it wasn’t as grand as this one.”
Odin smiled at her and said, “Show me then.”
*DING*
For witnessing the [Zantetsuken] for a second time, you have earned Odin’s Recognition. The skill: [Zantetusken] has been temporarily added to your [Skill] menu.
Skill Name: Zantetsuken Description: The Almighty Blade of the Primal Allfather, Odin. This sword slash allows the user to destroy the fabric of space to damage their enemies, breaking the damage limiter and dealing (1,111-9,999) + (Total Stat x (1-9)) Pure Damage on any target it cuts with a chance to trigger [Execute]. The slash causes multiple dimensional eruptions to occur and each eruption deals (1,111-9,999) Pure Damage in a 5-meter area. 0.5-1 second charge time. Cost: (9-99)% MP and (9-99)% SP Cooldown: None Note: Damage is influenced by how much resources are used to power the technique
*DING*
Quest initiated: Odin’s Legacy
Quest: Odin’s Legacy Rank: A Description: You have comprehended one of Odin’s Legacy Sword Skills, [Zantetsuken]. The skill has been temporarily listed in your [Skill] menu but to have it permanently acquired, you must perform the skill in front of Odin and gain his approval. Objective: Perform a full-powered [Zantetsuken] until you gain Odin’s Approval! (0/1) Time limt: 1 week (167: 59: 50) Reward: Skill: [Zantetsuken], [Odin’s Random Reward] Failure: Skill: [Rekka-Zantetsuken], [Odin’s Random Reward - Degraded]
Seeing as the timer had started, Maria immediately jumped forward and wielded her Calamity-Z. Without waiting, she immediately used [Zantetsuken] that was temporarily listed in her skill menu. Maria charged up the skill for about a second and immediately saw her MP and SP deplete until only 1% remained. Her Calamity had also changed shape a little when she used the skill to resemble Odin’s Zantetsuken.
The crimson colored crystal-like blade elongated as a fiery aura wrapped around it and Maria felt like the blade suddenly turn heavy. She struggled to even move it but as she adjusted her stance, Maria managed to execute the sword skill as she slashed out and yelled, “[Zantetsuken]!”
The space in front of Maria was bisected with a thin fiery line. She had kept an eye on the area in front of her and Maria had the illusion that the two halves of the area she bisected had suddenly fallen out of place before multiple large explosions occurred. Unlike Odin’s previous [Zantetsuken] where he had controlled his spatial eruptions so it wouldn’t damage the arena, Maria wasn’t able to do that so her skill devastated the arena’s floor and completely destroyed it.
“O-Oh, no…”
Maria then heard a loud, thunderous laugh from next to her. Odin had let out a loud laugh that shook the air as he proudly looked at Maria’s version of his skill. He couldn’t be happier that his disciple had been able to execute the skill so flawlessly on her first try. Of course, Maria cheated a little because she hadn't actually comprehended anything. She used the skill thanks to the system's assistance that listed [Zantetsuken] temporarily into her skill menu.
“I knew that I picked the right person! Not only are you a hard worker but you’re also a genius!”
“Th-Thanks?”
“Now, I want you to try that again but this time, control the amount of Aura you infuse into the skill and try chaining as many [Zantetsuken] slashes as you can!”
“A-Alright!”
Odin snapped his fingers and the destroyed arena was immediately restored while Maria waited until both her MP and SP had filled back up to 100 percent. She looked at her skill again and noticed that the minimum requirement to use the skill was 9 percent of her MP and SP so the most she could chain was around 10 or 11 slashes at best if her MP and SP regeneration was taken into account.
She took a deep breath before she tried it but unfortunately, she overshot the first slash and messed up her second slash forcing her to stop before she could even let out the third slash. She fell to her knees because chaining multiple [Zantetsuken] slashes actually required a lot of her concentration and that was taxing on her mind since she needed to control her body to move properly while at the same time regulate how much MP and SP she used.
If she used too little, the skill would fail and if she used too much, she wouldn’t be able to use the maximum amount of slashes. Not only that, but if she messed up her stance and couldn’t chain the slashes properly, the skill would fail. Odin was just about to say something, but Maria quickly got onto her feet and said, “O-One more time!”
She waited for her MP and SP to charge up again before she executed the skill. This time, she actually managed to perform 3 slashes before she messed up. She got up and tried again. On her third try, she improved a little and got to her 4th slash before she lost concentration and messed up her 5th slash. Maria honestly thought that it would be simple as long as she could control her MP and SP input, but it was actually much harder than she expected. Messing up her stance could lead to failure and if she overcompensated, it could lead to one of her slashes causing problems with the subsequent ones.
She needed to create a form where all of her slashes could connect seamlessly so she would only need to focus on controlling her MP and SP while leaving the execution to muscle memory. Thankfully, the Capsule allowed for this kind of movement to happen so all she needed to do was create the form and practice it over and over again until it became an instinctive action for her body. However, Maria didn’t actually need to do all this. With just her first use of the [Zantetsuken], she would have already attained Odin’s approval but she wanted to succeed in this challenge that Odin gave to her.
Odin had only wanted to see if she could perform multiple slashes of the [Zantetsuken] or not but he didn’t expect her to be so invested in it. If she succeeded or failed, Odin had already decided that he would still give Maria his approval since he was already satisfied with her first execution of [Zantetsuken]. She didn’t even need a week to comprehend the skill as she did it right on the spot. Of course, Maria had seen the skill once already when Odin showed her what a proper sword slash was like at the very beginning of her training.
The beauty of that slash was stuck in her mind and Maria continued contemplating how she could replicate that and when she saw Odin use [Zantetsuken], everything immediately clicked into place for her. That genius and talent of hers were already enough for Odin but Maria didn’t seem like she was satisfied until she completed Odin’s challenge.
“Little one, stop.”
Maria was about to go at it again but Odin quickly told her to stop.
“I-I haven’t completed the challenge yet…”
“That’s fine. I’ll give you my approval regardless but you seem so fixated on this so let me help you a bit. Also, perfectly performing 3 slashes without any help is no simple feat. I am very, very proud of you already.”
“...”
Odin moved next to Maria and pulled out Zantetsuken before he got into a sword stance and said, “Follow my movements.”
Odin began moving in what appeared to be a sword dance as he gripped his sword with both hands and performed a downward cut which was followed by an upward slash then another downward slash as he stepped forward with his sword now at his waist and performed a sweeping strike from right to left and brought his sword behind him and did an overhead cleave to the ground.
Maria struggled to keep up but that wasn’t even the end of the sword dance. Odin kicked off the ground after he performed his cleave and using the momentum of his body, pulled the sword up for another downward stroke and stably landed on the ground. He then stabbed forward twice, one stab came from his left and the other, from his right. He then brought one arm back and held the blade with his other arm before suddenly disappearing. He appeared a few meters ahead with his sword slashing forwards and that was the end of the sword dance as Odin sheathed his weapon on his back and began stretching.
“Hahaha, I haven’t done that in years!”
Maria had already remembered the moves so she tried to perform them. However, it was easier said than done as she failed multiple times and nearly tripped on her feet. It was a sword dance with just 9 strikes but she struggled to perform even 3 of them as she also had to pay attention to her footwork.
“I will give you a week, little one. If you can perform the sword dance and execute [Zantetsuken] with it...I’ll give you a special reward.”
Maria wasn’t even listening to Odin as she was completely focused on trying to master the sword dance that Odin had given to her.
She failed the first time, “Again!”
Then the second time, “Again!”
Then the third time, “Again!”
Maria continued failing an innumerable amount of time but after recuperating a little, she immediately got up and shouted, “Again!”