Path of the Endless Sword

The Path of the Endless Sword is a sword-aspect Path practiced by the Sage of the Endless Sword and his disciple, Yerin Arelius. After the death of the Sage, Yerin is the only known practitioner.

It is said that the techniques of this Path are more powerful than others as long as the practitioner holds a sword, or a source of sword aura, which is the function of the Goldsign.

"On her Path, every technique was half a Ruler technique. Made her more powerful, gave her techniques extra heft…so long as she held a sword. If she didn’t have a weapon with a sharp edge, she was worth less than any other sacred artist. That’s what her Goldsign was for." - Yerin Arelius

Techniques:

• Striker:
  • Rippling Sword:
    • Sends razor sharp slashes through the air. Its appearance has been described as a ripple of razor-thing glass.

"Let it build and build like you've stopped up a river, and when it's just about to burst, push it out.” She shrugged. “My Striker technique starts the same way, except through a sword. And mine has three more steps.” - Yerin Arelius

• Enforcer:
  • Flowing Sword:
    • Enforces a sword with madra and aura. This technique grows stronger the longer it is held.

"And she'd never released her Flowing Sword. The blade shone like a silver star in her hand, a bonfire of madra and aura. It carried power like a Truegold's weapon, and she was about to see how it stacked up against his armor." - Yerin Arelius

• Ruler:
  • The Endless Sword:
    • This technique causes the sword aura around the user to resonate in accordance with the user's madra. There are five levels of mastery.
      • Level 1: Storm Stage - The user hits the aura as hard as they can with their madra and it explodes out in an uncontrolled storm, cutting everything.
      • Level 2: Sword Like the Wind - At this level, the user's sword aura is quiet, invisible, and everywhere. The user is able to make more effective cuts and block physical weapons with sword aura.
      • Level 3: Whisper - The Winter Sage mentions this stage to Yerin during their training before the fourth round of the Uncrowned King tournament to give Yerin more tactical options. It is possible Yerin demonstrates this level of mastery against Calan Archer when she manages to cut his throat even while he is distant from a source of sword aura.

"The truth was, hers was a pale shadow of her master's. Her master could use the Endless Sword to cut one page from a closed book. She just hit the aura around her weapon as hard as she could with her madra." - Yerin Arelius

• Forger:
  • Hidden Sword:
    • Creates a thin, razor sharp blade hanging in the air which is invisible from the front. Yerin often uses this as a security measure to guard her quarters.

• Miscellaneous
  • Final Sword:
    • The final sword appears as a silver-white Forged sword complete with hilt. It is then launched at high speed like a lightning strike. It should be noted that a complete version of the technique requires a touch of the Sword Icon.

“You’ll need to layer techniques,” he said. “It’s like using a Ruler technique, Striker technique, and Forger technique at the same time. It might take soulfire to hold it all together.” - Wei Shi Lindon Arelius

Cycling Techniques:

• No specific cycling techniques known

Iron Body:

• The Steelborn body
  • This body was chosen for the path of the Endless Sword in order to compensate for its lack of full body enforcement techniques. Instead the body enforces itself.

Weapons/Tools:

• The Sword Sage's Blade:
  • There are two copies of this weapon, each created by the Winter Sage. The weapon is made of wintersteel, and the binding is able to lock down an area with blades of ice. It also possesses a measure of the Winter Sage's authority.