"Why?"
Hearing the Sword God's words, Ghislaine's expression froze.
She never expected that her master, the strongest Sword God Style swordsman in the world, would make such an evaluation of Shirou, completely denying his strength.
In Ghislaine's opinion, this was completely incomprehensible.
After all, in Ghislaine's view, Shirou possessed a talent in swordsmanship that ordinary people could not have, a talent far above her own, with the potential to become not only a Sword Emperor, but even the next Sword God.
It was precisely because she had such confidence in Shirou that she directly brought him to see her master, the current Sword God, Gal Farion.
However, Ghislaine never expected that the Sword God would not only fail to see Shirou in the same positive light as she did, but would instead give him a terrible evaluation.
Ghislaine was undoubtedly unable to accept this outcome.
The Sword God seemed to have anticipated Ghislaine's reaction. He had no intention of changing his mind, and said calmly, "You seem to be questioning me, which is good. After all, since you became a Sword King, you have lost the will to deny the strong and have become a weak person."
"I…"
The Sword God's words left Ghislaine speechless.
Indeed, after becoming a Sword King, Ghislaine had lost the will to continue pursuing the sword. She no longer lived and breathed for the sword as she had in the past, but instead began to care about other things and forget her original intention in learning the sword.
However, she didn't think her problem had anything to do with Shirou. She didn't want someone as talented as Shirou to be buried.
So she pleaded with the Sword God, "Master, don't you understand Shirou's swordsmanship? Forgive me for speaking bluntly, but Shirou's sword is one of the most talented I've ever seen. He learned the Longsword of Light at a young age and has great potential to go further on this path! Master, haven't you always wanted to find the next successor to the Sword God? If Shirou were to learn Sword God Style from you, perhaps he could..."
"Alright, alright, I get your point."
The Sword God seemed too lazy to listen to Ghislaine. He waved his hand dismissively and said, "You think this kid is talented, so you want me to guide his swordsmanship, right? You're my disciple after all, so I should give you some face. But I also need you to face reality and understand what kind of guy this kid really is! If I'm willing to give him a chance, can you accept any outcome?"
"This…I…"
Ghislaine hesitated at the Sword God's words, but finally nodded firmly.
She had great faith in Shirou, believing that his talent was real.
Thus, the Sword God was willing to give Shirou a chance, allowing him, like Eris, to use all his means to try to swing his sword at the Sword God with all his might, attempting to kill him.
"..."
Shirou was undoubtedly a little nervous about this unconventional test.
Especially when the Sword God looked at him with eyes that seemed to see through everything, he instinctively felt a strange sense of panic and emptiness.
It was like a child who had cheated to get good grades and was unable to show confidence when facing questions from teachers and parents.
But Shirou didn't think he had ever cheated or taken shortcuts in swordsmanship. He had reached this point completely by relying on his own hard work.
So he chose to accept the Sword God's test.
Since the magic sword Muramasa had been broken, Shirou didn't have a suitable weapon at hand. After all, he couldn't use Galatine to deal with such an assessment.
So Shirou borrowed a training sword from the Holy Land of Swords.
The Sword God calmly agreed, even lending him one of the few precious swords from the Holy Land of Swords.
Shirou didn't know what sword the Sword God had given him, but Ghislaine recognized it at a glance. The sword the Sword God gave him was the [Dragon Sword of Beauty and Grace], one of the Sword God's Seven Swords.
Past Sword Gods had collected famous swords from all over the world, with dragon swords and magic swords being the most outstanding. Including Ghislaine's own magic sword [Hiramune], there were a total of seven swords, all of which were top-tier.
The [Dragon Sword of Beauty and Grace] was one of them.
Normally, the Sword God's Seven Swords were only granted to Sword King-level or higher fighters.
Only upon reaching Sword King could one gain the right to use the Sword God's Seven Swords.
So Ghislaine couldn't understand why the Sword God, who clearly looked down on Shirou so much, was willing to bestow the Dragon Sword of Beauty and Grace upon him. This was a completely contradictory action.
While Ghislaine couldn't understand, Shirou was also surprised by the dragon sword in his hand.
Unlike any weapon he had seen before, this Dragon Sword of Beauty and Grace had a very special property. It could infinitely absorb the user's magic power and fighting energy, like a high-powered water gun, allowing the wielder to release the magic power and fighting energy within their body to the greatest extent.
This property was like the [Excalibur] that Shirou had always wanted to create.
This showed how special the dragon sword was.
Shirou had never seen a dragon sword before, only hearing that it was made by one of the legendary Five Dragon Generals, a treasure sword that remained as sharp as ever even after countless years.
For thousands of years, only the magic swords forged by the demon blacksmith Julian could compare to it.
Although he didn't expect the Sword God to give him such a weapon, Shirou didn't think too much about it. He figured the Sword God had just given him the weapon casually.
More important than the weapon now was how to pass the Sword God's test.
Judging from the Sword God's attitude just now, he seemed very disappointed in him, and even didn't want to give him a chance for the test from the beginning.
Shirou couldn't understand what the Sword God looked down on about him.
After all, even Eris had passed the test successfully.
Although he didn't look down on Eris, in theory, his strength was definitely above Eris's, there was no doubt about that.
That meant that the Sword God saw something that Eris possessed, but he didn't.
If he wanted to gain the Sword God's approval, he needed to show him that something that he didn't possess.
"..."
Shirou couldn't figure out what that something was, and he realized that he didn't have much time to think. When he came back to his senses, his body had instinctively gripped the Dragon Sword of Beauty and Grace in his hand, and he was standing at opposite ends with the Sword God.
At this moment, the Sword God was still standing there absentmindedly, just like he had been when facing Eris.
And Shirou, like Eris, instantly saw the many openings in the Sword God's defenses.
He immediately began to think, trying to find the most suitable angle of attack, looking for a sword strike that could hit the Sword God. However, he couldn't find the most suitable place, or rather, because the gap between him and the Sword God was too great, many places that looked like openings gave him the illusion that they were traps.
This undoubtedly put Shirou in a very difficult situation.
After all, Shirou always liked to think before trying to swing his sword, to use his mind to make up for his lack of swordsmanship and fighting ability.
Therefore, for Shirou, an enemy full of openings was far more difficult to overcome than a tightly-sealed fortress.
Because no matter how tightly-sealed a fortress was, as long as he kept thinking, looking for loopholes and gaps, he would eventually be able to find its flaws and destroy it. If all else failed, he could use the many means he had mastered to forcibly create openings, creating an advantage for himself in advance.
However, the Sword God's current attitude was the situation he was least comfortable with. He clearly seemed full of openings, but he exuded a kind of pressure that could not be ignored, making it impossible to see the truth.
As a result, Shirou couldn't move for a long time, let alone swing his sword, and he fell into stagnation.
"What's wrong, kid, do you not even have the courage to swing your sword at me?"
The Sword God said mockingly.
He knew that Shirou couldn't swing his weapon because he couldn't find the right opening, but he still mocked him for not having courage.
Although Shirou wouldn't fall for such a simple trick, he knew that he had no chance of retreating at this point and could only do his best to defeat his opponent.
"Whoosh!"
Shirou swung the longsword in his hand, using the Longsword of Light's style.
His movements were extremely sharp, with a posture repeated thousands of times, swinging the sword in his hand toward the Sword God with an absolutely reasonable and correct form.
Because of the amplification of the dragon sword in his hand, Shirou's movements were even much faster than in the past. Explosive energy was concentrated in his arm, and then conducted from his hand into the weapon.
"Whack!"
Without a doubt, the most perfect Longsword of Light was swung from Shirou's hand, descending with the force of a thunderbolt from a high stance.
It was a perfect strike.
Anyone who saw it would be fascinated, it was a perfect Longsword of Light.
However—
"Whack!"
The Sword God simply yawned, glanced at Shirou with an extremely cold attitude, then raised his right hand and easily pinched the sword in Shirou's hand with his fingertips.
"Bang!"
Although it was such a simple movement, Shirou felt as if he had been hit by a huge impact. The Dragon Sword of Beauty and Grace was forced out of his hand, and his entire person flew out like he had been hit by a train.
After rolling on the ground for a lap, Shirou finally stopped with difficulty. His face was filled with doubt, and he obviously couldn't understand what had just happened.
Ghislaine also didn't understand.
Clearly, the Sword God hadn't made any counterattacking movements, only using his fingertips to pinch Shirou's weapon, but Shirou was knocked away as if by brute force.
This was simply illogical.
"The outcome has been decided."
The Sword God looked at Shirou who was lying on the ground and said frankly, "Although your disguise is very good, or you may really have the talent for deception, deception is not reality after all, and a fake will never become the real thing. Guys like Ghislaine may be fooled by you, but I won't. My eyes can see through the truth of swordsmanship, and I can naturally distinguish between real swordsmanship and fake swordsmanship."
"Master, what, what are you saying?"
Ghislaine looked at the Sword God in shock, with a confused expression.
The Sword God said without looking back, "What I want to say is only one thing, and that is that this kid you brought is not a swordsmanship genius, but a mortal, an extremely ordinary mortal! Such a person can't learn my swordsmanship at all, let alone become the next Sword God! Take him away, planting the field in any town might be more suitable for him than practicing the sword in this Holy Land of Swords!"
"No, Master, you must be mistaken!"
Ghislaine couldn't accept the Sword God's words and tried her best to plead for Shirou.
But her actions were stopped by Shirou.
"It's okay, Ghislaine."
Shirou comforted Ghislaine and looked at the Sword God, "What you said is correct, I am indeed a mortal, not a genius."
"Oh? It seems you're self-aware..."
The Sword God's tone was full of sarcasm.
Shirou took a deep breath and said, "However, even if I am a mortal, a fake, I have my bottom line. I will prove that a mortal's sword is not beyond the reach of the divine realm!"
"Oh? What do you mean?"
The Sword God seemed to have finally seen something interesting and looked at Shirou with a serious gaze.
"I want to challenge you, Sword God!"
Shirou took a deep breath and made up his mind, "To use my mortal sword to challenge you to a duel!"
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