Moonlight Blue

The Heroes’ Swords

“Kid, wait! You should first go back home to heal your injuries,” Ray cautions. “You can look for the other demon after you’ve healed.”

“No, I’ll look for it now.”

“You’ve lost a lot of blood and the demonic energy has started to corrupt your body. If you push yourself even further, then you might not even survive to find this other demon.”

I then use purification magic which Ray taught me to dispel the demonic energy that has corrupted my body.

“See, all good and new. And my wounds should heal after a few minutes.”

“Kid, even if you find this demon, considering that it was able to corrupt a large part of the forest, that means it is as strong as the demon we just fought if not more. In your state, you don’t stand a chance.”

“I know… but that’ll only apply if the demon can fight.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“If there is another demon in this forest, then why did it not join the fight? Why didn’t it help its friend?”

“Hmm, I guess that makes sense. But still-”

“Did you see it at the end? It didn’t want to die. Monsters only do that if they want to protect something. Which means the demon that is here isn’t able to fight for now, and that means I can kill it. If we leave now, then I’ll at least need three days to completely heal myself and be one hundred percent ready. What if at that time, this demon takes the opportunity to flee or hide?”

“You do make a viable argument but still, I’m worried.” “Are you worried about me?” I ask jokingly.

“W- who’s worried about you?” Ray stutters, blushing. “I’m not worried about you for a second. And even if I were, then it would be this slave contract that makes me feel like that.”

“I guess that makes sense. You don’t need to worry though, I’ll be careful.”

“Anyways, how will you even find this demon?”

“Huh?”

“Don’t ‘huh’ me. Since this place is covered with demonic energy, your magic sense won’t work. The demonic energy will interfere with it.”

“Hmm?”

“Don’t tell me you don’t know?”

“Of course, I do.”

“Oh really? How?”

“Hmm… I’ll just have to use the demonic energy itself and trace it back to its origin.”

“What?”

“Demonic energy is also a form of energy, isn’t it? So, I’ll just trace the flow of it.”

“Are you crazy? You are a human, and therefore you cannot sense demonic energy. Sensing it is impossible since you’re not a demon.”

“Actually, after being stabbed by those spikes, I was able to perceive a little about its nature. Even though I can’t utilise it or sense it like a demon would, I can at least somewhat feel the direction of its flow.”

To think he can perceive the nature of demonic energy even though he isn’t a demon. The only time a human can sense demonic energy is when they get corrupted by the demonic energy, turning them into demonic humans. Even if they turn into demonic humans, their minds would have been corrupted by the demonic energy to the point that only a husk of their former selves remained.

I then close my eyes and sense the flow of the demonic energy. Since I’m only human, if I sense the demonic energy for more than ten minutes, then I risk being corrupted by the demonic energy. I manage to sense the direction of the flow of the demonic energy and I then follow it.

It is flowing from the center of the forest. I then tentatively walk towards the source of the demonic energy. It seems that the demonised monsters and animals are scared of me. Maybe it is because I killed the boss of this place. I guess I should call him sub-boss. I manage to reach the center but I notice that something is off.

“What’s wrong kid? Why are you stopping?”

“It’s weird. My sense is being obscured by something. The moment I entered this place after following the flow of the demonic energy, it seems like I can’t pinpoint where the demonic energy is coming from. It’s like there is something created to confuse me.”

“Hmm, wait a moment. I’ll investigate.”

I then leave it to Ray to investigate what is happening whilst I look around. Hmm, I’m pretty sure I’ve passed this tree before. It can’t be a coincidence that I’m passing it again, right? I then walk around again and again, and I still pass the same tree.

“Kid, I’ve figured out what’s going!”

“We are under some sort of spell, right?” I pre-empt him.

“Huh, how did you figure it out? Actually, we are under a barrier.”

“A barrier? Is it an illusion-type barrier?”

“No. it seems it was a barrier meant to hide the place we are heading to. But it’s weird. How did a demon learn how to make a barrier?”

I am pleasantly surprised. “Demons can’t make barriers?”

“Not really. Demons can utilise their demonic energy to shield themselves from attacks just like how humans do with mana. But demons don’t use magic. It’s more like they can’t use magic.”

“Demons can’t use magic? Then what was that the Ant demon was using?”

“Those demonic spikes were probably its demonic art.”

“Demonic art?”

“Demons are blessed with unique abilities. These abilities cannot be learned as they are more like their entire being. Each demon possesses its own demonic art that isn’t possessed by another demon. Higher-ranked demons like demon guardians possess at least two demonic arts and a Demon Lord is said to possess at least three or more.”

“So, how does that apply to this case? Couldn’t a demon just possess a demonic art that can create barriers?”

“Well, they could but this barrier isn’t created by a demonic art but by a magic spell.”

“Which means a human created it.”

“Yeah,” Ray concurs. “That’s how I was able to know we were under a barrier. Because I sensed magic in it even though it was only a little.”

“You said this wasn’t an illusion barrier, right? Then what is it?”

“It’s just a normal barrier that’s meant to trick a person’s eyesight along with their magic sense. Normally, this type of barrier is created by a high-ranking magician to camouflage their hideout or something. But the barrier evolved over time due to the dense demonic energy and thus turned into a

barrier that is close to an illusion barrier.”

“Ah, I see. Then if it’s simply a barrier created by a human, I think I can overwhelm it with my energy, breaking it.”

I then release my energy in all directions filling the space, but the barrier doesn’t break. I guess the demonic energy reduced the energy I just released. I then release even more energy until finally, the barrier breaks. I could have used my magic spell break to completely shatter this barrier with relative ease, but due to the demonic energy, I couldn’t.

As the barrier breaks into pieces, a thick fog suddenly appears. I prepare myself as I unsheathe my sword from its scabbard and lunge forward slowly. After a few minutes of walking cautiously, I see a bright light at a distance.

I walk towards it. As the bright light becomes constant, I see a hint of darkness emanating next to it. Two energies – day and night, light and darkness - almost like ebony and ivory on a piano. I narrow my eyes to the source of the energies, and I am stunned by the sight of two worn swords embedded on the ground in the form of a cross.

“Swords, huh?!”

“Yep. It seems they are worn out too. Hmm, come to think of it, I don’t have a decent sword. These two will be perfect for me after a few hits of a blacksmith smithing.”

“Never mind the swords kid and look over there.”

“Yeah, I noticed it.”

Behind the swords is a magic circle. And it seems that the demonic energy was gushing out of it. I then slowly approach the magic circle but a slightly ricocheting feminine voice halts me.

“Don’t get any closer, human child.” Huh, who said that?

“Over here, child.”

It is the voice of a woman. It is a sweet and tender voice like a voice of a caring mother.

“Just let him approach it, Saber,” another voice suddenly rings out. “Why do you have to ruin a good show? After two hundred years of being here, I want to at least witness a spectacle.”

I guess Saber is the first voice.

“Ashes, that’s cruel and incredulously petty of you,” Saber shoots back. “We can’t let a child die while having the strength to stop him.”

I look around frantically, trying to pinpoint where the two voices came from.

“Over here, child. We are the two swords right in front of you.”

Huh, swords that can speak? I am stunned.

“What the hell are you guys?”

“How dare you ask us that question, human? You should be bowing-”

“Sorry child for my short-tempered companion,” Saber interjects. “My name is Saber and the goof who just spoke now is Ashes. We are what you may call Heaven-grade magic swords.”

I am stunned by what she says, even though I don’t know what heaven-grade magic swords are.

“Ray?”

“Magic swords are swords that have been crafted to possess their own magic. They use materials and ores that are good at absorbing magical power, and have magic on their own. That means if you have a magic sword, then you will not need to imbue it with your mana to make it stronger as it is already strong. Mithril swords are examples of magic swords.”

“Then what are heaven-grade magic swords?”

“I’m getting there. Heaven-grade magic swords are swords second only to divine-grade magic swords. Magical weapons are classified as a common-grade, unique-grade, legendary-grade, earth-grade, heaven-grade and divine-grade. Heaven-grade magic weapons are weapons that can be discovered in ancient ruins and possess sentience. They are powerful weapons that at the right hands, they can destroy an entire kingdom.”

“Huh, I see.”

The two swords are confused as it seems I am talking to myself.

“So, you guys are heaven-grade weapons huh? Does that mean that there is an ancient ruin nearby?”

“No, child. We are swords that were forged by the world’s greatest blacksmith, Ironhead Rever.”

“Ray?”

He sighs. “Ironhead Rever is a dwarf who was given the title of the greatest blacksmith over three hundred years ago. He was given this title when he forged his first-ever heaven-grade weapon, Storm Breaker, making him the first person to craft a heaven-grade weapon. He went on to forge more heaven-grade weapons like the two heroes’ swords two hundred years ago. Wait a minute, the two heroes’ swords!” Saber then speaks.

“We are the swords of the two heroes, the Hero of Light and the Hero of Darkness.”

Back at home

It’s been three days since I came back home and healed my wounds. I have recovered fully now but a new problem has arisen. Back in the forest, Saber was able to tell me a lot of things. The first was that they were the weapons of the two heroes. The second was that the magic circle on the ground that was gushing out all that demonic energy was a seal imprisoning a demon. The third, that seal isn’t just keeping captive any ordinary demon. In fact, it is sealing the Demon Lord who is said to have been defeated two hundred years ago. And four, the seal has weakened over the years and the Demon Lord is going to break out of it in six months.

Saber and Ashes told me the real story about the fight with the Demon Lord. It turns out that the heroes didn’t defeat the Demon Lord but sealed him, resulting in their souls being used to maintain the seal.

There are just too many things happening at once. I was also planning to completely heal my gram after fighting the Silent Demon but I’ll have to postpone that after I defeat the Demon Lord, if I can even do that.

I take Saber and Ashes to the village to get fixed.

“Hey, kid. Are you an idiot? We are heaven-grade weapons,” says Ashes. “No blacksmith in the world can fix us. We are beyond repair, okay? And even if there was, the materials required to fix us are basically impossible to obtain in this backwater village.”

“He is right Allen, we are beyond repair,” concurs Saber. “The time we spent maintaining the seal drained us of all the magical power we had. It’s best to give up and let us die.”

I snub the two and continue to the village. I entered the village and I immediately go to the village’s blacksmith. There, I am greeted by Erika, the blacksmith’s granddaughter. Erika is the same age as Amy and like always, she is covered in soot from blacksmithing every day.

“What amazing materials have you brought us today, Al?” she asks excitedly. “Let me guess; a flame tigers’ core. No, an armoured grizzly’s thick armour. Or did you bring a dragon’s heart?”

“You know there are no dragons in this forest. Actually, I’ve come to let your grandfather look at these.”

I show her the swords. She is breathless and stares sparkly-eyed at the two swords.

“I’ll call Gramps right away.”

She runs to the back room and calls Grampa Gonz, the stern-faced old man who never gets surprised by the materials I sell to him. But this time around, the old man who would shrug off even the best of materials that I bring to him, is shocked. His eyebrows look like they are about to fall off his face. His eyes are opened in shock and his curvy mustache is weirdly straight.

“Impossible, these… these are… heaven-grade swords!” he gasps. It is my first time hearing the old man utter a full sentence. Well, it doesn’t matter. I just came here to see if he can fix them.

“Can you fix them?”

“I can’t,” he says, shaking his head, his eyes still transfixed on the swords. “The materials needed to fix these two swords are nearly impossible to obtain, and that’s just a tip of the iceberg. The amount of magical power needed for these swords to be completely repaired is unreal. Only the heart of a legendary dragon could replenish the lost magical power.”

I then take some materials out of my storage space and put them on the table.

“Will these materials do?”

Both Erika and Gonz are shocked even more.

“Mithril gold, moonstone metal, and adamantium. Where did you get these precious metals?”

“It doesn’t matter. Can you fix them with these?”

I actually found them from the Phantom Thief’s treasure. I didn’t know their purpose but Ray informed me of their worth, so I decided to bring them.

“Yes, I can fix them,” he says, a dose of excitement audible in his voice. “But that still leaves out the magical power problem.”

“Don’t worry about that, I have a way.”

I think with the amount of magic I have in me, I can replenish these guys’ magical power. And if I can’t, then I’ll just use that golden energy for the left-over magical power.

“Hmm, then I’ll be finished after three days, so you can fetch them then.”

“I’ll leave it to you.”

I then leave the store and go to visit the pharmacy.

Meanwhile, in the backroom of the blacksmith shop.

“May I have the honour of knowing the two Heavenly weapons’ names?” Gonz says.

“Oh, you are well knowledgeable, blacksmith. My name is

Saber and this guy is Ashes.”

“Saber and Ashes, huh? Those are beautiful names.”

Gonz seems sad after hearing these words and happy at the same time.

“I’ll start now.”

Almost immediately, a magic circle appears under the two swords.

“You, you are one of HIS disciples, are you not? This technique is his without a doubt.”

“Yes, Saber. He was my master,” says Gonz. “I am one of his disciples of this generation.”

“I see. Then if I may ask, what are you doing in this small village? With the skills you’ve received from that man, you can stand at the top of any nation you desire.”

He chuckles. “Of course, but after a while, you start to notice that that life isn’t yours. You are basically living for other people’s greed and desires. My master hated that life. I now understand why he disappeared from the public eye. And so, I did the same and chose this village to hide in since it’s so far from the Capital.”

“I see.”

“Why is Ashes so quiet?” Gonz asks.

“He always acts like that when it involves our creator or wielder. He might be short-tempered sometimes, but he still has a heart of a kid.”

“I’m not!” said Ashes as he blushes.

“Well, then. Let’s begin, shall we?”

“Yeah.”