But against this black shadow, every flaw in his path became painfully visible. His severing power sometimes carried too much anger. Sometimes it carried too much intent to kill. Sometimes it moved with the hatred he held toward the second faction. Those emotions made the path strong, but they also created uneven edges that disrupted the purity of his sword.
The black shadow's sword had none of that. It did not hate, it did not rage, and it did not judge. It simply severed. Max's eyes grew colder as he understood this, but he did not try to remove his emotions completely.
That was not his way. Instead, he began compressing them. His anger became sharper, his hatred became quieter, and his resolve became cleaner. He no longer allowed those emotions to drag his sword out of line. He made them fuel the edge without disturbing the path of the blade.
