“Hm? Where’s the sword?”
When Damien opened his eyes, he noticed that the sword wasn’t in his hand anymore.
‘Did it try to escape again?’
But he knew that wasn’t right. Unlike before, he could feel a clear connection to the sword. The problem was, the connection told him that the sword was still in his hand.
Damien gripped his fist and noticed that there was indeed something in his hand, but his eyes couldn’t perceive it at all.
“Oho?”
There was an easy solution, though. He poured mana into his eyes and let their abilities get enhanced. Soon, he was able to see what he couldn’t before.
“You’re an interesting guy, aren’t you…don’t tell me you’re shy?”
Damien spoke teasingly to the sword in his hand. The sword was actually doing something that looked to him like it was hiding. It hid itself within the spatial layers, and its body became entirely transparent. Due to the fact that the spatial layers were also relatively transparent, Damien hadn’t seen it.
Vroom!
The sword vibrated slightly and transmitted an indignant feeling to him, causing Damien to smile.
‘Didn’t something similar happen a bit back? Why are all the semi-sentient things I have always acting indignant? And why is it always so cute?’
As if realizing that Damien was thinking about it, the Void Flame popped into the air without his prompting and wrapped around the sword.
The tongues of flame flicked wildly as if excited to meet a new companion.
“You’re my sword now, so you should act with pride. Why are you cowering like a little girl? No, wait, even the little girl I know is brave enough to fight a Demon King. Do you really want to be less manly than a little girl?”
Damien egged the sword, and with his constant teasing, it finally revealed itself again.
‘All jokes aside, it truly is a beautiful sword. And it’s just as deadly.’
Damien was proud of his new possession. Especially considering that it also had spatial properties, he had to thank the inheritance site for giving him such a treasure.
‘Well, now it’s confirmed that the one controlling the inheritance site is sentient. Otherwise, there’s no way it’d choose this speed to test me.’
Damien stopped thinking about the inheritance site and looked at the sword again.
“Do you have a name?”
Whir…
“No? What kind of owner doesn’t name his sword?”
Whir…
“Why do you look so sad? If you want a name then I’ll give you one. My first sword was named Devourer, so how about Devourer 2?”
Vroom!
A frightening aura came out of the sword as it tried to struggle free of Damien’s grip and attack him.
“I’m kidding, I’m kidding. Hmm, with your translucent body, I would want to name you Bladeless, but that name is taken.”
Whir?
“Wanna see? Alright, let me show you the tricks of the master you’ll be spending the rest of your life with.”
Damien prepped himself and poured his mana into the sword. He precisely executed bladeless, causing a massive chunk of the secluded space to disappear into the void.
Whirrr!
The sword made an excited sound, causing Damien to puff out his chest.
“I know, I’m amazing as fuck. Anyway, let’s get back to the naming thing. How about Phantasm?”
Whir…
“Yeah, that’s too long. Then…Mirror’s Edge?”
Boom!
Damien almost got slapped in the face by the blade when he said it. Even he had to admit that it was a pretty cringe name.
“Fine, fine. I thought my naming sense was pretty good though…I mean, my skill names are all badass.”
The blade vibrated again as if telling him to hurry up. Damien fell into thought as he tried to come up with a domineering enough name for the sword to like.
‘I could take the easy way out and call it the Void Sword…but once it finds out about the Void Flames, the Void Physique, my Void Essence, my last name…fuck there’s too many things named Void…anyway, once it finds out about all those things it’ll probably try to sever our connection immediately. If so…’
“How about Mirage?”
Whirrr!
The sword vibrated to show its excitement. Evidently, it liked the name.
“Sigh, I didn’t want to use Mirage since that name is already taken, but there’s nothing wrong with paying homage, right?”
Whir?
“You wouldn’t get it. Well, anyway, now that you have a name, it seems our business here is settled.”
Damien nodded and looked around the space. Even though he had finished taming the sword, there weren’t any changes.
With nothing else to do, he went to check the coffin and see if there was anything else in there. The blade had attacked him the second the lid opened, so he didn’t have time to inspect it.
‘This must be its previous owner. As expected of a man who could tame such a sword. Even in death, he gives off such a fierce aura.’
The coffin did indeed have a corpse in it. It was well preserved and even the skin hadn’t rotted yet. The corpse was of a man who looked in his mid-30s with long silver hair and a relatively handsome face.
Even though he was dead, his body was emanating killing intent. It was extremely powerful, but it wasn’t enough to affect Damien.
After all, Damien’s own killing intent was equally massive. It was built on the corpses of tens of thousands of beasts.
‘Besides his body, there doesn’t seem to be anything else here…’
“Since you are the previous owner of this blade that I’ve claimed, I’ll show you respect as my senior. I hope your soul has found peace in reincarnation.”
Damien lightly bowed to the corpse and sent his Void Flames out, cremating it within seconds. But he had a basic amount of respect. He didn’t let his flames consume the corpse’s essence.
Whir…
Mirage seemed forlorn as it watched its previous master fade away, but Damien didn’t say anything. He might’ve tamed the sword, but he wasn’t familiar enough with it to interfere in these kinds of matters.
He had no idea how long the sword and its previous owner were together, but judging by the desolate aura surrounding it, he could tell that their relationship wasn’t simple.
He could only give the sword space so it could mourn. It was a sentient being, unlike his previous sword. He had to treat it as such.
Leaving the sword alone, Damien wandered around the secluded space and curiously looked at the spatial isolation barrier that was separating him from the others.
‘Surprisingly, it isn’t that different from the spatial lock I experienced back in the Myriad Illusion Veil. Except, this one doesn’t prevent me from teleporting inside of it, only from teleporting out.’
Sighing, Damien realized that there was nothing he could do besides wait. Although he had the strength to break past the barrier with his own comprehension, the restrictive will of the inheritance site obviously wouldn’t allow that.
And so, he sat quietly and played with the Void Flame to pass the time, waiting for the others to finish their trials.
***
In a hidden part of the inheritance site, a lone will watched the proceedings.
“Ohoho…unexpectedly that boy was the one to finish first. Between him and that effeminate one, which is the better choice?”
It lightly spoke to itself and pondered. Soon, it would be time for it to make a move.
“Finally, after so many years I can taste freedom…”
The will smiled wickedly as it faded into the background.
