Chapter 625: That Is no Sword I Recognize

Benjamin had begun to rub his eyes with the heel of one hand.

The motion was slow and clumsy, his coordination dulled by the drain.

Internally, he cursed Sys and wondered, with a tired kind of unease, what monstrous weapon the katana would become with so much magic packed into it.

The blade did not feel like a finished object. It felt like something that had only just opened its eyes. Something that was still waking up.

{It has a resistant effect to magical attacks, and it can keep growing on its own.}

[Yes, yes, kick me when I’m down.]

"Eep!" Katana yelped as the sword changed in her hands.

The sound was small and startled — more surprise than fear.

From the normal curved katana, it elongated in one smooth motion.

The blade stretched and straightened, becoming a straight sword, still possessing the same dark metal, the same thin gold lines, the same quiet sense of a person standing in the room with them.

The point rose, the edge straightened. And it held the new shape for a breath, wobbled once as if testing the air, then folded back into its original curve with a soft sound.

"Almost like kintsugi... Fudō..." An impressed Katana spoke the name in a hushed tone.

As she said it, the black parts of the blade seemed to loosen.

They flowed downward in a liquid sheet — not dripping, but moving with purpose — and covered her forearm in a close, living armor.

It looked as if she wore long gloves that ended in soft tatters at the base, the edges uneven and faintly moving, as though the material had not quite decided where it wanted to stop.

The gold lines traced across the surface of the armor, faint and shimmering, mapping the contours of her arm like veins beneath skin.

"Benjamin, I want to call him Fudō!" Katana chirped the words, the excitement breaking through the hush.

Her eyes were bright.

The flush from earlier had not fully left her face, but it was a different color now; warm, open, and childlike.

She held the sword up slightly, turning it so the light caught the edge, and watched the gold lines shift and settle.

[How does she know it’s a "him?" She’s getting too excited] Benjamin was trying to keep his eyes open.

A soft smile stayed on his mouth because she looked happy, and he did not want to take that from her.

His thoughts, however, were focused on something else entirely:

[Sys... what the hell is that?]

{The weapon we created.}

[Nope... That is no sword I recognize. I wonder where it came from.]

{The individual Katana has befriended the spirit inside the sword, and it accepted her.}

[Spirit? Why are we suddenly talking about spirits? You never mentioned spirits when we were making the sword.]

{...}

The question went unanswered once more.

"Thank you very much, Benjamin!" The black element began to recede from Katana’s hand.

It drew back from her arm in the same liquid motion, sliding up over her wrist and into the hilt until the glove was gone and only the sword remained in her hand.

She held it with both hands for a moment, then one, as if she were still learning the weight. Her fingers adjusted. Her grip tightened. She tested the balance with a small, careful motion.

She continued; "This is more than I could ask for. I have never seen a sword respond so sharply with a wielder. It truly is legendary-grade... I promise to never disappoint you and all the gods you worked with!"

[Gods I worked with? What is she talking about? Or am I the one getting confused by my need to sleep? I used enough magic here to nearly rival the magic I used to create Vaelora’s body. Except that she took my parts of my entire physical vessel, not just magic].

The floor felt unsteady beneath his feet, and the wall looked like it might be a good place to lean.

"Ah... no problem... They will receive your gratitude in good faith, I guess." Benjamin answered, the words coming out casual because thinking of a better reply felt like too much work.

His voice was slower than usual. The syllables blurred together at the edges. "Oh, I would advise you to not swing that thing indoors... Honestly, I don’t recognize it anymore."

He added the warning quickly, because Katana had already shifted her stance.

Her shoulders had squared. The blade had risen a few inches, the point turning toward the open space of the room as if she meant to test the arc. The gold lines caught the lamplight and flashed.

"I will test it in the forests tomorrow, then!" She said it brightly, already following him as he stepped toward the door.

Coming out, they saw the other party members waiting in the corridor outside. Beside Yuki and Heka, they were all there.

They stood in a loose, poorly disguised cluster near the door — the kind of arrangement that said they had been listening and had only just stepped back when the door opened.

Erica was nearest the wall, her arms folded, her expression carefully neutral.

Aria had her arms folded too, but her weight was shifted onto one hip, and she was watching with open curiosity.

Maria stood a half-step behind her, her face calm and unreadable.

Sophia and Sapphire were together, Sophia still faintly pink in the cheeks, Sapphire looking as if he had been told something he did not fully understand.

They were trying to discover what Benjamin and Katana had been doing inside.

"Ah, you guys haven’t gone to sleep? Sleep is good for your body, you know." Benjamin said it with droopy eyes.

Dark circles had somehow already formed under them — faint but visible in the hall light, as if the drain had written itself onto his face in the few minutes since the blade was finished.

His smile was still there. It just sat a little lower than usual.

Katana stood beside him. The corridor went quiet in the particular way a group goes quiet when they have been caught waiting.