What's This? Take It Away (3)
"What the hell!"
Kriel moved with lightning reflexes. Fighting for honor was one thing, but decisive action against an enemy was a knight's duty as well. He grabbed her collar and slammed her straight into the ground.
"...Huh?"
It was so swift that even Morgina, mace in hand and closing in, froze mid-thought. She was the one thrown off by Kriel's instinctive strike. Kriel wasn't the type to manhandle some random stranger like that.
He wouldn't beat up an ordinary person like that. But he just started laying into her. Which means...
She wasn't ordinary. Morgina ramped up the weight of her mace, which she'd kept tuned for intimidation. Whoosh—the sound of it cutting the air was heavy and thick.
[What the—? What?!] Orishin shouted in bewilderment.
To an outsider, it just looked like he was suddenly beating the tar out of some overripe young woman.
"Get over here and help!" Morgina yelled urgently.
A foe that had taken on a perfect human form and posed a real threat to Kriel? Whether it was a doppelganger-type monster, a demonkin mistaking him for an ally, a polymorphed ancient dragon, or whatever—anything on that suspect list was dangerously hazardous. It needed to be sent packing from this world right now.
"Hold on."
Then, a calm voice cut through. A beautiful timbre that didn't fit the chaos.
"My lord, why do you reject me?"
Kriel's movements halted in an instant. He couldn't comprehend who she meant by "lord." Or more precisely, he didn't want to.
"Do not deny my true name. You bested me through a contest of pure power, and thus you are my rightful lord."
Kriel instinctively knew this being before him was the single greatest threat to his lifelong project of living long, healthy, happy days with a sound body and mind.
The master of one of the Seven Great Demonic Weapons? As if my job class doesn't screw me over enough already!
"Morgina, smash her!"
So he shouted bluntly, dignity and honor be damned. Who else was around to hear but Orishin and Morgina anyway?
"It is futile."
The ash-gray girl explained in a slow, almost leisurely drawl.
"Just as I cannot defy my lord's will, damaging my physical form cannot harm my essence."
[Whoa, we're screwed.] Orishin muttered blankly, the first to grasp her meaning.
Morgina shot a glance at the horse head clicking its tongue in midair.
"What does that mean?"
[Well, see... It looks to me like she's linked to Kriel's soul.]
"What the hell? What kind of crazy talk is that?!"
[Hey, don't get mad, you thug saintess. You know Kriel isn't your standard knight, right?]
Morgina bit her lip but nodded. She'd witnessed it firsthand on the Western Front; no denying it.
[And those non-standard knights we know of... they absorb the physical pain, mental anguish, souls, or whatever from the enemies they defeat, yeah?]
Kriel released his grip on the ash-gray girl's collar. Too many possibilities flooded his mind.
Morgina, still not buying it, pressed him.
An abyssal being that could claim Kriel had bested it in a "clash of power." Her identity was obvious.
"I sealed Gratuon away and shipped it to the Holy Capital. The blade didn't shatter or anything. How?"
Morgina stared at Kriel with trembling eyes.
Kriel's hand went to his forehead on instinct.
"My lord, would you like me to explain in your stead?"
"Shut it..."
At Kriel's words, the ash-gray girl clamped her mouth shut and nodded.
[Thing is, from what I know, clashes in the abyss don't always end with physical destruction. Sometimes one side's will breaks, and that's that.]
Orishin rattled off examples. One demon acknowledging defeat and serving the victor; a demonkin taming a beast with a mere glare and making it a war steed.
[Same deal here. Gratuon must've deeply accepted its defeat...]
Morgina felt a crick in the nape of her neck. Her champion had this stuck to him? She'd planned to drag him to the Eve Kaha headquarters and persuade him as best she could. Now she'd have to convince the church elders instead.
[But it's weird. Never heard of Gratuon having a sword spirit.]
Orishin tilted his head, lost in thought. Info on the Seven Great Demonic Weapons was scarce, but a spirit concrete enough to manifest like this? The Holy Kingdom's record-keepers wouldn't have missed it.
All the warriors who wielded Gratuon before weren't strong enough to awaken the spirit? Not impossible...
Orishin sensed something off, but couldn't pinpoint what.
While Orishin and Morgina delved into an academic debate on abyssal natures, Kriel closed his eyes and sank into his inner self. To connect with that acquired instinct—the thing he called "the system"—that guided his skill usage.
His inner world felt like a constellation. Each star symbolized an ability he could wield. No helpful game-like tooltips, but he intuitively knew what each one did and its outcomes.
...Damn it.
And sure enough, a new star had appeared—one he'd never seen. A blue one. Even the hue was unfamiliar.
'System'-provided job skills were red; the plain fighting spirit and techniques he'd picked up grinding in this world were yellow.
He contemplated the flickering blue light within. He sensed its essence. If it had a name, it'd be Phantom Sword. The authority to wield a demonic blade's power.
Kriel had long known this half-baked system didn't support skill deletion or anything like that. He opened his eyes and glared at the sky.
"Are you seriously pushing me to dive headfirst into the abyss?"
Damn sky. What the hell was the heavenly pantheon doing, not stopping crap like this?
[Tuon, make some food.]
"I heed not the words of those weaker than I."
[What?!]
Kriel, who'd given up cursing the heavens, consulted Morgina on resolving this mess. Maybe the elder priests at Eve Kaha HQ knew something useful? Half-hopeful question.
Morgina was like, "First worry about not getting stabbed by your own sword," as they huddled together.
Meanwhile, Gratuon's sword spirit sat on a tree stump, having received orders to "stay put."
Why hadn't Kriel recalled Gratuon into his inner world? Simple: if using it counted as an "abyssal skill," who knew what fallout that might trigger. Better to leave it manifested for now.
Orishin, on monitoring duty, poked and prodded the spirit, observing her reactions closely.
[Huh, wild. So this came from Gratuon? The blade itself is in the capital, and I feel no connection.]
"Logically speaking, the sword is not my true body."
[Huh?]
"I possess all of Gratuon's functions, making me the true body. The blade sealed in Temris is mere shed skin."
[Ah, sure. You're the boss. So, Tuon—what can you do?]
"I heed not the words of those weaker than—"
[This punk again?]
Orishin recalled the spirit's personality. Sky-high pride meant ignoring questions by default, but poke hard enough and she'd bite back.
Thud, thud. Kriel approached, looking deflated.
[Yo! Any good ideas?]
Morgina answered for the gloomy Kriel.
"...Not really sure, but we're sticking to the plan: head to our church HQ."
[That kinda half-assed strategy gonna work?]
"He's my guaranteed champion—think they'll just chop him on sight?"
Morgina sounded confident, but somehow unconvincing.
Kriel eyed the spirit.
"Can you turn into sword form?"
"If my lord desires. It is my purpose."
Blue cracks spiderwebbed across the ash-gray girl's body—the same shade as her eyes. The blue light spread, turning her into a crystalline human figure. Then it shattered spectacularly, like stained glass or sunlight breaking on waves.
The fragments gathered, forming a new shape. Where the light faded stood a sword matching the ash-gray hue of Kriel's old chest-cracking tool.
"The shape's a bit different."
Subtle changes: the old Gratuon Kriel fought had weird pointed flourishes; this was sleeker, cross-like. Ash-gray all over, save for the single blue gem embedded in the crossguard's center.
The gem pulsed in response to Kriel's mutter.
[Shedding my husk. No need to match the old form, right?]
As Kriel blinked at the sword speaking, Orishin muttered.
[Three swords now. Gotta bite one?]