Is this really a Game?!

( Author: the first two-thirds of the novel will be in first person view. )

Eisenhorn Askeld

A name that was once synonymous with power and martial strength.

The name of a man that was feared by all in the region, and the one that everyone presumed would become the most powerful being the area had ever seen and would dominate all the kingdoms and allow Riplas to become to the sole ruler of the area.

That is my name, and that is what my fate was.

Until I lost it all in mere days.

I first noticed signs of my strength fading after finishing another battle.

It was a small change and I didn't think of it much, merely presuming that I had been a bit too stressed and tired lately, that a good-night sleep would take care of it.

It didn't.

Over the course of 10 days, my condition worsened greatly.

Each day I was able to see my muscles shrinking, my mana leaking out and disappearing from my body.

In only 10 days, I fell from being a Tier I combatant to a normal human, one that was barely able to even sense mana.

I took it hard, I visited all doctors in the area and even traveled outside of it in hopes of finding a cure for my condition, only to be told that I was healthy, that there was absolutely nothing wrong with my body, and that my condition, my illness, was something that nobody could understand.

I took the news hard, and for the next year, I merely stayed at my home and did nothing.

I sulked, I drank, I simply stared up at the ceiling or the sky and passed my days, expecting my condition to worsen even more before I ultimately met my demise.

It didn't.

I was fine, I was healthy but weak, and that was all.

It was worse than death.

I, a general that commanded thousands in battle, a general that everybody respected was suddenly a normal human that had no strength to even wield my weapon.

It was after a year that an old friend visited me.

Once a prince, he had now become the king after his father decided to pass down the crown and stepped back.

He had come to me many times in the past, but I denied him entry to my home.

I could deny entry to a prince, but not to a king.

For a straight month, without giving me a single day free, he came and talked with me.

Some days he would be pleasant and would reminisce with me, but some he would act like a complete bastard and would infuriate me.

I knew he was doing it on purpose, trying to make me act upon my honor and title, but I didn't budge on my decision.

That was until he tried to kill me.

He brought his sword and a new glaive he had the blacksmith make for me and forced me to fight. I wanted to die, at least that's what I thought before death came staring at me.

My arms and legs moved by themselves and blocked and dodged the attacks. My skills were still there, even after a year.

It was only after an hour that we stopped. My body was exhausted, but he was no better. Even though he was physically superior to me, without even using mana, he was still unable to defeat me when fighting purely a physical battle.

My pride had slightly returned and I decided that I would at least continue my training. Mana or not, muscles or not, I would continue honing my skills instead of acting like a senile old man that only waited for death.

For years I trained, many times gaining a new understanding of the way one can handle the glaive. As years passed, I realized that my understanding of the glaive had far surpassed what I once had, and I would have probably never gained something like this without losing my powers.

Upon their suddenly returning, I was shocked. I hid the fact for days as I was afraid that my mana would suddenly disappear as it once did, before realizing that I was truly back to normal.

I only found out about what had happened after going to the castle. It was Lios who told me.

He had heard of the demon worshippers talking about a curse that had been set up many years ago, and it was only after seeing me that he connected the dots.

The curse was over, and I had managed to get my life back. I still didn't want people to know, however.

I knew that it was only a matter of time before war would come after realizing what had transpired in the last couple of months.

So I hid, I hid the fact that I was back, and made it my mission to become as powerful as I could be in order to help the kingdom out. As the protector, it was my duty.

Upon attacking the king of Ios with everything I had, a change occurred and the barrier that once blocked me from entering a new realm of knowledge about the glaive disappeared. The power was too much, however, and I soon lost consciousness.

( Author: Going back to 3rd person from here )

A silver beam appeared high up in the sky, visible to everybody on the planet.

The powerful beings of the planet which were Tier VII all stared at the silver beam and shuddered slightly before looking away. They knew what that was, they had been introduced to the concept of someone below the Transcendent realm managing to do something like this, but it was rare, incredibly rare.

One could say that to actually manage to do this was rarer than becoming Tier X, hell, even bringing an ability to Rank Z before the Transcendent realm was a bit easier compared to doing something like this.

Even Transcendents that were placed to observe the planet appeared in the sky far above the battlefield and stared at Eisenhorn in shock.

"Silver light that shines across the whole planet, there's no doubting it." A Transcendent said, a heavy expression plastered on his face.

"To think a person that none had ever seen had such potential, and he is so young as well." Another one spoke, having the same serious expression.

"He can Ascend at this very moment if he wished to, we have to talk with him, and explain to him what is going on, we don't want such a talent to waste his potential and Transcend too quickly." A third Transcendent said as the other two all nodded before disappearing from the spot.

The reason why everybody was so shocked was because of what Eisenhorn had just done.

He had reached Rank Z with his weapon proficiency, a feat that although many felt was useless thanks to them gaining more power from simply leveling up and evolving their abilities, was actually much harder and sometimes more beneficial for a person's future.

Reaching Rank Z with a weapon proficiency wasn't a simple manner of having practiced with a weapon for a long time, it meant that one had reached a realm where one could use anything as that weapon.

Eisenhorn now had the ability to not only defeat enemies that were a Tier above him, but he could also use a normal stick like a glaive, and not only could he use it, but it would be sufficient for him to trade blows with someone that used a Rank SSS weapon, it could even stand up against rank Z weapons as well.

The reason for that was because the silver light that came out of Eisenhorn was not mana, but blade aura.

Blade aura was a mysterious power that even Transcendents wished to have as it was useful for them as well. Even some Saints would have trouble learning it.

Blade aura was a separate power, it wasn't a part of mana or the higher energy sources that mana was a part of.

No, it was just like Chaos energy, Demonic energy, and such, a completely separate energy source, one that was much more powerful than the mana and could even win out against world energy if used correctly.

Eisenhorn could now use only a little bit of it, and his understanding was incredibly low as well. He had only scratched the surface of the blade aura and couldn't use it to withstand blows from a Transcendent, of course, but he could use it to completely obliterate any enemy that was the same tier that he was.

Upon seeing how Eisenhorn was being carried away by the Einhards, the king of Ios was beyond angry. He quickly attacked, only for the attack to be blocked by Raigon who had appeared above him.

With him suffering such heavy injuries, the king knew that he had to retreat, otherwise Raigon would kill him. That was easier said than done, however, as Raigon wouldn't allow him to leave and was dead set on killing him today.