by Virlyce
Their limbs separated from their bodies as divine beast after divine beast rushed towards them with claws and jaws exposed. Four of the strangers pulled round objects out of nowhere, probably interspacial rings, and crushed them with their hands. Their bodies dissolved into specks of blue light which surged up and out of the droplet before disappearing amongst the stars. Unluckily for the fifth stranger, he lost both his arms before he could crush the thing that I suspected was an instant-teleportation button. As for Puppers, he was fending off the shadows of the divine beasts without an issue. …I thought he normally died to Lucia’s attacks. Did he reach the legendary realm?
“Whew,” Lucia said as she lowered her arm. The droplet of blood dissolved and disappeared, freeing Puppers and the screaming stranger. “That took a lot of effort.”
What effort? All you did was raise your arm and perform a half-assed swing. You’re not allowed to talk about effort, Ms. I Can Wake Up and Be Overpowered Instantly. …Anger and bitterness are the main side effects of bone withdrawals. It seemed like it was safe to land, so I decided to check up on the person by Snow’s tombstone first. I put my finger on his neck and … he’s dead. Great. The other person didn’t look like he’d last long either. Two fountains of blood were shooting out of his shoulder stumps. I hurried over and performed a second-circle recovery spell to staunch the bleeding. If I restored his limbs, then he would’ve escaped and Lucia would’ve blamed me. I’m not going to take on suffering for a stranger. …Has staying around Lucia turned me into a selfish person? Maybe I’m a little selfish, but it’s fine as long as I acknowledge it. My moral integrity is a lot greater than those people who pretend to be selfless at least. I guess that’s why I stay with Lucia despite her being her. She’s a no good, self-centered, greedy, perverted, and immature person, but when she screws someone over, she has no idea that she’s doing it, whereas a noble will pretend to help you but stab you in the back when you aren’t looking. Like my grandmother from my mother’s side. Ugh, just thinking about her infuriates me. I blame the withdrawals.
“So, who are you?” Lucia asked, crouching by the armless man. She prodded his cheek with a twig she had picked up off the ground, smearing his face with bloody dirt.
“S-saint-realm expert,” the man said through labored breaths. “H-how?”
Lucia smacked the top of his head, causing his eyes to widen and his body to freeze. Lucia prodded his cheek again and nodded when he didn’t move. “It looks like he fell unconscious. Perfect!” She rifled through his clothes and stripped him of all his jewelry. She’s become extremely good at robbing people. And it seems like she doesn’t want to explain what happened. It’s a good thing there’s a sane, sensible chaperone by Lucia’s side.
“Puppers, what’s going on?”
Puppers shook his head. “I’m not quite sure. It seems like our world is a miniature dimension stuck inside of a larger world called the Immortal Continent. These strangers from the Immortal Continent are here to temper themselves.”
Is that so…? It’s a bit unbelievable, but Cain was able to create a world inside of the coliseum for the Godking’s Brawl. Maybe someone from the Immortal Continent was as strong as Cain and created a separate miniature world—ours. How many circles would that person had to have had to do something like that? Sixteen? Nineteen? Perhaps even twenty-two.
Ugh, I don’t want to think about this right now. It’s giving me a headache. No, that’s not right. It’s making the headache that I’ve had for the past week even worse. I…, I bet this headache would go away if I consume a bone of focus. It doesn’t even have to be a large piece. Just the pinky toe bone of a divine panther…. No! You’re stronger than this, Ilya! If you can’t overcome a simple addiction, how can you ever hope to cross the third wall? I’ll—
Lucia poked my forehead, stopping my shivering. “Ilya? You alright?”
“I’m, I’m fine.” Lucia was worried about me? How can that be? She only cares about herself!
“Hm. Hmm. Hmmmm.” Lucia squinted at me while rubbing her chin. Her tail twitched a few times, and I swallowed my spit as her gaze traversed up and down. She sighed and patted my shoulder twice before shoving a white mug into my hands. “Well, you were shaking, so I thought you were cold. Drink some hot chocolate!”
I glanced at the surface of the chocolate. “This … isn’t poisoned, right?”
“What? Why would I poison hot chocolate? That’s such a waste.” Her fingers touched my lips and pried my mouth open. Before I could squeeze out a protest, she lifted the mug and poured some chocolate down my throat. It burned a lot, but at least the pain distracted me from my headache. “S-stop!”
Lucia nodded. “See? Not poisoned.”
I blinked back the tears that threatened to fall from my eyes and gestured towards the dead man by Snow’s tombstone. “I saw him drink some hot chocolate out of your mug. And he’s dead.”
“Ah! The hot chocolate that I poisoned for Snow! Why the hell did that weirdo drink it!?” Lucia dashed over to the corpse and stared at it. She sighed before squatting beside the body and closed its eyes with her palm. She shook her head and clicked her tongue. Then she stripped the corpse of its valuables. “Well, can’t let these things go to waste. I’ll be sure to put your things to good use; you can rest in peace.”
I’m sure his ghost would want to haunt her for saying such words. But wow, this hot chocolate really does do wonders for withdrawal symptoms. My headache’s gone away. No wonder why Lucia drinks hot chocolate so often. But how come I’ve never—
“Ilya,” Puppers said, interrupting my train of thought. “Weren’t you trying to wean yourself off of Lucia’s bones?”
“That’s right.” I nodded.
Puppers pointed at the mug. “You know that mug’s made out of a divine focus bone, right…? It imbues the hot chocolate inside with—”
“Goddammit!” Lucia! You reset a whole week’s worth of progress! …But it’d be a waste to dump this hot chocolate. Servants spend hours tending the cocoa trees, harvesting the cocoa beans, and grinding them into the powder before creating hot chocolate. I, I can’t let their efforts be in vain! It doesn’t help that hot chocolate’s tasty.
Why is Puppers looking at me with such pitiful eyes?
***
It’s been a long year. I would’ve reached the legendary realm faster if I didn’t have to share Lucia’s qi with Puppers, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. During this year, I’ve strengthened my fundamentals: power, speed, toughness, everything’s gone under a qualitative change. I’ve abandoned the spear and reverted back to using a sword like I should’ve from the start. A spear was enough to defeat Lucia while I was still realms above her, but now, it’s not. If I want to grow as a weapon spirit, I have to return to my roots. I’ve fully integrated the techniques of my fallen brothers into my swordsmanship while removing the superfluous: cutting as swift as a dagger, stabbing as sharp as a spear, swinging with the weight of a hammer, defending as if I had a shield, all the while maintaining the flexibility of a sword. Only a style as versatile as this one can hope to defeat Lucia’s outrageous natural abilities.
Now, I’m taking the last steps towards entering the legendary realm. Though I’ve developed a path of my own, the Versatile Path of the Sword, I have no idea how to proceed to a higher realm through it, which is why I’m following in Lucia’s footsteps and accumulating enough qi in my spirit seed core. My seed has been saturated for the past month, but I’ve been delaying the breakthrough to temper myself further. Unfortunately, today, I had a premonition that accumulating anymore qi would be counterproductive. Thus, I entered my weapon body and proceeded with the breakthrough, letting Lucia’s qi remold my spirit body.
And the first thing I saw after emerging from my weapon body after breaking through to the legendary realm was Lucia squinting at a pile of items on a table while sniffing a green slip made of jade. Her ears twitched, and she raised her head to meet my eyes, her face lighting up as a smile blossomed o
n her lips. “Durandal! You’re back!”
Though she didn’t say it, I could see the question etched into her facial features. “Yes, I’m back. And I successfully broke through to the legendary realm.”
As expected, Lucia’s face became lewd. It’s a good thing I threw away those pole-stiffening medicinal pills that I found while snooping through her interspacial ring. There was absolutely no reason for her to have those; thus, I took justice into my own hands and righted the natural laws. A crackling noise drew my attention away from her face. The jade slip in her hand was cracking near her fingers. “Lucia, you’re breaking it.”
“Hmm?” Lucia lowered her head, looking at where I pointed. “Ah! My treasure!” She placed the strip on the table and licked her fingers before rubbing her saliva onto the cracked portion. Of course, it didn’t help. She placed the sleeve of her dress against it and wiped the saliva off, revealing a pristine, undamaged jade slip. “Phew. Just in time.”
…Alright. Let’s not question that. “Who’d you rob this time?”
“A weirdo,” Lucia said as she placed the jade amongst the other items on the table. She met my gaze. “Oh, he’s dead, so you don’t have to worry about vengeance or anything.” She blinked when I didn’t say anything. “I didn’t kill him! He drank the poison that I put in the cup, but it wasn’t my fault!”
I sighed. One day, Lucia’s terrible actions will catch up to her. And when that day comes, I’ll be dragged into it too. Is it wrong that I’m looking forward to confronting it? Speaking of confrontation…. “Lucia. Let’s spar.”
“Eh? But it’s almost dinner time.” Lucia scratched her head and looked the other way, avoiding my eyes.
Well, when I said, “Let’s spar,” I wasn’t giving her a choice. I drew the white sword hanging from my waist and lunged forward. “Versatile Path of the Sword: Piercing Thrust!”
“Durandal!?”
My sword pierced through Lucia’s Armor of Slaughter like paper, but as the tip of my blade made contact with her skin, a large resistance pushed back against my arm as if I were stabbing into an immovable mountain. I grunted and focused all of my qi into the tip of my sword, letting out a shout as I shoved my arm forward. “Pierce!”
Instead of injuring her, my sword pushed Lucia backwards, causing her to lose her footing and fall to the floor. “Durandal! What the heck!?” Lucia bounced to her feet as she drew mini-DalDal, a reddish-black qi rising out of her skin and congealing into a ram’s head behind her. Before Lucia could raise her sword, I advanced while condensing qi into the edge of my blade.
“Swift Slash!” I swung my sword horizontally, striking Lucia’s elbow to break her stance, leaving her chest wide open. With a flourish of my arm, I slashed my sword downwards like a hammer. “Meteor Slice!”
My sword struck Lucia’s chest and forced her to bend her knees. The floor cracked beneath her feet, but she remained uninjured. Instead, her eyes glazed over, turning completely white as she activated her path. Her free hand flashed, and she grabbed onto my sword’s blade, locking it into place as she raised mini-DalDal. But I was expecting this! “Versatile Path of the Sword: Cheap Shot!”
I released my sword as I leaned in and firmly planted my lips against Lucia’s, causing her to freeze. Her eyes returned to normal as they widened, and her muscles relaxed as the tension left her body. Taking advantage of her moment of weakness, I disarmed her by striking her wrist while knocking mini-DalDal away at the same time. How could a Path of the Sword be versatile if it couldn’t be used without a sword? Roland had an arm-guard spirit who was an expert in grappling. I slid around to Lucia’s back and positioned myself for a choke…, but Lucia’s tail wrapped around my right leg and lifted me off my feet. She tossed aside my sword as she slammed me to the ground, back first, before mounting my waist. Her voice was breathy as she leaned forward and panted into my ear, “It’s my turn.”
Lucia knew how to grapple? When did she learn that? Her arms pressed against my shoulders, keeping my back in place. I lifted my waist in an attempt to slip out from underneath her, but her tail wrapped around my ankle and stretched my lower body out, preventing me from moving my legs. She chuckled with a flushed face as she leaned forward, her nose nearly touching mine. This, this wasn’t sparring anymore! “Lu—”
My words were muffled as my lips were covered. A foreign invader assaulted my mouth, dueling with my tongue. I tried to turn my head to the side, but Lucia’s hand appeared on my cheek, holding my face still. At this rate, I was going to be humiliated! Retreat back into mini-DalDal! …It didn’t work. My corporeal body was still being pressed down by Lucia. Why didn’t it work!? My eyes shifted towards mini-DalDal, and a sparkling blue bead attached to its hilt by a string caught my eye. Was that a spirit-restraining rope!?
…All hope is lost. Puppers, if we’re companions, please, come out and save me. The door creaked as a tiptoeing, armored wolfkin opened it and slipped outside. I’ve been abandoned. Is this the end…? Is this how I lose my dignity as a sword spirit?
As Lucia’s hands stripped off my shirt and as I was about to resign myself to fate, the floor trembled and the walls shook as cracks formed upon the ceiling. A second later, a massive booming sound echoed through the room, ripping up the floor tiles and tearing down the walls. The ceiling collapsed on top of us. It took less than a second for Lucia to clear the rubble, but killing intent was rising out of her body like smoke, her eyes red and her teeth bared. Her hair flew upwards as she whipped her head back and forth, searching for the cause of the explosion.
“Lucia!” a familiar voice shouted. It was Ilya. Was she the one that saved me? But where was she? The rubble in the distance trembled as the demon’s head popped out, followed by her arms and torso. Her face was smudged with soot and tears streaked down her cheeks. “He exploded! He actually exploded!”
Who exploded? What was going on? I’m not too sure, but I know the first thing I have to do is remove that spirit-restraining rope around mini-DalDal.
“Where is he?” Lucia asked, her tail twitching back and forth, destroying the bits and pieces of the walls by her feet. “Who blew up my happy time!?”
“H-he’s dead,” Ilya said, swallowing visibly. Her tears also stopped flowing—it seemed like they were caused by soot in the first place. “I was interrogating him, and he told me to release him or else he’d self-detonate. I turned around to grab my pliers, and when I turned back, he was glowing while radiating heat. Then he exploded!”
“…You’re sure he’s dead?”
“Well, people generally die if they explode, right?” Ilya asked.
And with Ilya’s brilliant timing, I managed to slip the spirit-restraining ropes off of mini-DalDal and sneak back inside. …Or so I thought. When did Lucia place this enchanted ankle cuff around my leg? When I was pinned down and her tail stopped me from escaping? Just how many scenarios did she prepare for…? Then … I’ll accept whatever’s coming to me. It’s my duty as a weapon spirit to serve my master and teach her well. If, if bed stuff is required of me to bring her back onto the right track, then I’m willing to sacrifice myself!
***
Whew. That was satisfying. Super-duper extremely satisfying. “Durandal, let’s do it again! …Durandal?” Oh, right. He fainted after the fifth time. And the sun’s coming up, so I guess we can stop now. Ah…, life’s great, isn’t it? Beautiful weather, chirping birds, and a partner in bed! What more can a girl ask for? Sure, there was that inconvenient explosion that destroyed my mansion, but that’s why I have a lakeside house! …Actually, the lakeside house is for storing guests that I don’t trust, but there was nowhere else to sleep, so I had to make do. It’s a shame about the pole-stiffening pills though, but thankfully, Durandal was vigorous enough without them! It must be a perk of reaching the legendary realm.
Now that there’s finally some downtime, I can finish inspecting all the treasures I robbed. The thing I’m most curious about is this weird green slip. When I opened the weirdo’s interspa
cial ring and took this out, a strange spirit came out and attacked me but died to my Armor of Slaughter. I wonder what it is. Hmm. Maybe it’s money? But what would be the point of spirit stones? The weirdo had a lot of those, by the way. I squinted at the jade slip. “C’mon, stupid thing. Show me why you’re valuable.”
…Nope. I guess the only thing I can do is put it away for—
“Lucia? Is it over?”
Oh, it’s Ilya. She has some pretty dark circles underneath her eyes. It seems like she didn’t get much sleep last night, huh? Well, I’d be traumatized too if someone exploded for no reason. “Is what over?”
“Nothing.” Ilya shook her head and sighed. She pointed at the slip. “What’s inside?”
“Inside?” Does Ilya know what this is? It’s a secret kind of treasure chest, isn’t it?
“…Let me see.” Ilya held her hand out.
“No! Tell me how to open it.”
Ilya sighed. “Send your mind into it.” She must’ve understood that I had no idea what that meant because she sighed again and said, “Look at it and think about entering it.”