‘Reversal Severance’ was extraordinarily difficult to learn.
The reason was simple: one had to wager one’s life. Was it not a technique that could activate only immediately before a blade touched the body? To use it in real combat, one had to overcome countless failures.
Of course, the training itself could begin with wooden swords. I had done so when learning beneath Gilford. Yet ‘Reversal Severance’ could only be completed in actual combat.
Because the smallest instant determined its success or failure.
The difference between practice and battle was unmistakable. No matter how much one cultivated the feeling in a safe environment, it could never compare to a single battle with one’s life at stake. Thus, mastering the principle of moving second yet striking first inevitably required crossing the boundary between life and death.
Just as I had inherited this secret art after fighting my Master once he became a Demonic Human.
That was why ‘Reversal Severance’ was a technique of the weak. A blade that could only be revealed after being driven into a corner countless times, yet once learned,…