Regression of the Manaless Sword God

Chapter 1: Back to the past

"This is absurd. How dare you? A mere human... much less one born without a single drop of mana, stand before me? The King of the Demons? This... this... I refuse to accept this."

The Demon King, hovering in the grey sky, roared. His eyes locked with murderous intent onto the human before him.

He couldn’t understand how a human could stand against him. He had already succeeded in killing every other human on this planet, and yet a rat was still alive. One who not only survived but became a bane to him.

It was unbelievable, should have been impossible, in fact. A person existed who was born without any mana, and not only did he survive the rampage of the monsters pouring out from rifts, but slaughtered them with ease.

After the emergence of the Tower in this world and the era of awakened humans born with mana... Ethan remained the single exception. A man forsaken by mana.

"I don’t care what you think. Accept me or reject me... nothing truly matters. They laughed at me, poked fun at me all my life, but at the end, they died and I didn’t. Makes me wonder if this so-called mana all of you pride yourselves on is really so great or not."

Ethan spoke, his voice rusty and old... after all, it had been more than 40 years since humanity failed to clear the 50th floor, causing the rifts to open all around the world.

The constant invasion from demons and other monsters became the sole reason why only a single human was left alive in this world.

Ethan had already reached the age of 60.

He had watched the slaughter of humankind, not having the strength to protect it at all. He wanted to fight too, but he was just a human.

And by the time he had the strength to face the monsters... it was already too late.

’Yeah, it doesn’t matter anymore... everything is over anyway. But at the very least, I will take this demon down with me.’

Ethan locked his focus onto the monster in front of him. It was faint, but for some reason, he felt as if he could see it. He himself had no idea what it was... till now, he had slaughtered monsters with his raw physical strength and through the techniques he made himself.

Without mana, he had no choice but to focus on his body, so he trained and trained until he couldn’t move his body anymore. He swung the sword till his hands couldn’t hold it anymore. He did that for 40 long years.

He did everything he could, but there is a limit to what a human and a human body can do. However, his hard work wasn’t for naught... he did gain something from all the arduous training, and now it was time to put it to use.

’I need to follow what this is...’

So, he tightened his grip on his sword. The demon before him was preparing for the final attack as well, pouring his all into creating the massive hellfire that had the strength to turn everything around him to ashes.

Ethan’s battle senses, which he had developed through his own hard work, were telling him that he wouldn’t be able to survive such an attack, but his will to cut down the very mana that had rejected him was far greater than that fear of death.

He always knew he wouldn’t be able to survive this invasion, neither did he wish to survive after losing the only person who was dear to him. The only reason why he had stayed alive till now was to get revenge for her death.

’This all ends here.’

He made up his mind to give this his all, everything he had, and cut the mana that forsook him.

The more focused he became, the clearer his path became for him. The line he saw vaguely before... it was getting clearer, more precise than before.

With one last push from his feet, he jumped straight at the demon and the raging hellfire that it was unleashing.

The surrounding temperature soared to the point where the debris around him turned to dust. Ethan, who was at the center of those cruel burning flames, was getting charred by them, but even then, his sword did not waver. He followed the line that he saw and did it.

He cut through mana with a sword.

Alas... he wasn’t able to kill the demon along with it. He wasn’t strong enough to kill a Demon King on his own.

The spell, Hellfire, was gone, but it also took Ethan down with it.

He was scorched by its flames and fell down hard. He did not possess any more strength to face it again. That move wasn’t something his body was able to handle.

Just when he was about to take his final breath, his system panel flickered before him.

[You have learned "Severance".]

[You have learned "The Basic Intent of Sword".]

[Your path has been acknowledged by the Tower.]

[The Path of Sword.]

However, he wasn’t able to see that at all. As he was taking his final breath, regret still lingered within him. If only he had enough time... or if only he had realized it sooner.

Just if...

’If...’

He took his last breath, and with that, humanity completely perished. This world now belonged to demo-

Suddenly, the world seemed to stop, frozen in time. Out of nowhere, a white foggy figure appeared before Ethan.

"Remarkable. Just how much had he planned for? This isn’t where you die, you have a lot to accomplish yet. Do not disappoint me."

With that, the figure disappeared from there, and as it did, Ethan opened his eyes again. But miraculously, he did not see the ruins of Earth. Instead, he saw humans still laughing and running around him.

"W-what...?"

He was stunned. This moment felt oddly familiar.

"Is this an illusion, or am I in hell?"

However, it did not feel like he was in hell, nor did this feel like an illusion.

’Did I really? No, no, no... this shouldn’t be possible.’

He tried to deny it, his hands shaking nervously.

He really came back in time.