Kaijin Fighter: So I Have to Make Monsters, So What?

Chapter 1699: Sword of Naraka

=Milord...=

’Yeah?’

=You do realize you could just add the hilt yourself and then hand the sword over to Lythero, right? Like...this isn’t a test, it’s just the sword itself releasing waves of power.=

’I am aware, yes.’

=So...why?=

’Because this entire ritual has been going too smoothly and I want to see if this motherfucker has the balls to grab destiny by its family jewels as well. Besides, cultivation is weird like that. Sometimes you end up in a situation that might as well be someone else’s personal trial.’

=Huh...=

<That and because you want Lythero to feel like he actually worked to earn this sword?>

’Kind of. It was either something like this now, or some bullshit trial further down the road. Pull a Excalibur type shit or something, I don’t know.’

<=Fun.=>

...

’Okay, I just need to attach the hilt to the blade and pull it out of the furnace,’ Lythero repeated to himself as he imagined surmounting the test before him. ’Sounds easy enough.’

As soon as that simple thought danced across his head, the entire furnace suddenly spat out flames like it was the maw of an exhaling dragon.

’Oh...fuck me sideways!’

Instinctually, Lythero understood that reckless charging forward without a plan and just shoving the hilt onto the blade like an idiot would result in either death or injury.

However, if he didn’t get the blade out of the fire in time, it would eventually melt or break apart due to being overheated way pass it’s tempering point.

At least, that was the case for normal swords.

He really didn’t want to imagine what would happen when a powerful aether treasure sword gets destroyed during its own creation process.

As such, Lythero simply gritted his teeth and began to walk forward with the hilt in hand.

"Alright...let’s do this," Lythero said more to himself than to Zhen Liu and Axer. "[Regalia, on!]"

Lythero’s [Regalia] didn’t resemble the fully armored ensemble that Zhen Liu was used to seeing his opponents wear into battle. Instead, it more closely resembled the clothes of a traveller or a nomad, someone who only fought when necessary or wished to have others doubt their abilities before properly engaging them in battle.

As such, Zhen Liu couldn’t help but to initially flinch as he saw his friend charge into the flames and think that he was going to catch on fire.

When the smell of burning cloth and flesh didn’t tickle his nostrils, he knew that his worries were only slightly overblown.

Then again, Zhen Liu wasn’t actually expecting the blade in the furnace to suddenly flare up like that either.

...Wait, what?...

’Logos. Pathos. I know I had said earlier that I was doing this to slightly mess with Lythero and get him to earn that sword, but why did that flare up occur?’

<Well...there is a slight possibility that the sword picked up your intent and it’s now actually testing Lythero to see if he is worthy.>

’Say what?’

=To be fair, you and Axer did make an aether treasure that’s at least Platinum tiered and you then empowered further using [Chaos] and [Primordial Sun Fire]. That much power would normally be enough to turn an ordinary torch into a kaijin capable of burning down half of the world.=

’Whoopsies.’

...Oh fuck...

"Okay, just one step at a time..."

BANG!

"WHAT THE FUCK?!"

As soon as Lythero took a step towards the burning furnace, his foot sunk a solid three inches through the stone floor and practically cratered the ground.

An immense pressure, like a ton of elephants, began pressing down on Lythero after that first step and he found it surprisingly difficult to breathe or move.

He was fairly certain that if he didn’t have the physique of an Aether Lord, or if he didn’t wrap himself in his [Regalia], then he would’ve definitely died from the immense pressure coming down on him.

Lythero had a feeling that the longer he took retrieving the sword from the furnace, the more intense pressure in the room was going to become.

Not only that but he was also fairly certain that once he got closer, whatever bullshit the sword was trying to test him with was going to get worst.

"Fuck it! It’s now or never!" Lythero yelled in order to hype himself up. "Let’s fucking go!"

Through sheer brute force and will, Lythero managed to take four more progressively heavier steps towards the furnace.

"Alright, half way there!" He yelled triumphantly into the air. "Just another seven and—"

[Lythero....why?]

"Oh, fuck."

The moment Lythero reached the half way point to claiming the sword, though, it decided to go for an alternative attack method.

The burning blade decided that if it couldn’t use physical force to stop Lythero’s advance, then it was going to attack his mind and spirit.

Spectral forms of his former masters began to appear in his vision, whisper in his ears, and touch his skin in a manner that caused it to feel cold and clammy.

Alongside their appearance though, Lythero began to recall memories he never had, memories of his dead masters, alongside ones he deeply regretted.

He saw their individual childhoods, he felt their pain, he reveled in their celebrations...all leading to him feeling the pains of their death both from an outsider’s point of view, and an insider’s personal experience.

He felt the wounds being inflicted upon his body, he could feel the coldness of death as he felt the blood rushing out of them, and he could feel the contempt from the man who had killed them like they were nothing more than mere rodents in the street.

It was humiliating, it was painful...it was oddly invigorating.

’This...this is why I’m doing this.’

The past few months after he had lost all of his masters’ swords in combat, Lythero’s motivation to pursue revenge had understandably cooled.

Without this swords, he would just be seeking revenge for himself and that wasn’t enough. He wanted revenge for all seven of his masters.

But as this period of inaction kept going on...Lythero began to feel like he could’ve just let go of his revenge.

He already had his cultivation restored, he had a woman who loved him waiting for him, and he friends that would definitely help him out in the future if he ever got in trouble again, so why would he want revenge?

But as the sword showed him these visions of the past, the memories of the loved ones he had lost, he felt that old flame spark up.

"They...were looking for a chance to find peace. They didn’t have anyone but each other. They didn’t have anything but the blades on their backs. And then they died because they did the right thing...what kind of bullshit is that," Lythero said as he took the second to last step towards the furnace.

At this final step, the blade and furnace began to release enough fire power to render most regular mortals into just pure smoke.

No ash.

No feeling.

Just...carbon.

However, to Lythero, this blaze felt oddly...welcoming and warm.

"Huh..."

Staring at the blade in the furnace, Lythero felt like he wanted to just stick his barehand in there and just grab the blade by the incomplete handle and use it as is.

However, he knew better than to just run on pure instinct and intrusive thoughts.

Besides, he had a perfectly good handle ready to go from this exact moment.

"I think this is the moment where I’m supposed to give you a name," Lythero said as he held the handle and stared at the now fully tempered sword. "But I think I’ll wait until after I do this!"

With a roar, Lythero thrusted the hilt forward and locked the blade into the designated slot until he heard an oddly satisfying rining sound echo out from the act.

In that moment, the sword was completed and the fires that were in the furnace were now fully extinguished by the power released in the moment.

Off to the side, Zhen Liu and Axer looked both impressed and mildly worried.

Evidently, they had grossly underestimated the power behind the sword they had just brought into existence.

And now, they were about to witness what it could do.

"I see...that’s a good name," Lythero said to himself as he held the sword in his hand and got used to the feeling. "[Sword of Naraka]..."

While still holding the sword, Lythero circulated his aether into it and activated the main feature.

The sword began to seamlessly cycle through the seven forms it had inherited from the broken swords that had composed it before settling back into its original state: a long straight sword that had a shine like blackened crimson gold.

Once it has settled back into this state, Lythero finally decided to remove the blade from the furnace.

But he didn’t do it gently.

Not in the fucking slightest.