Chapter 128: Chapter 128: Seven-Star Sword
This was a tropical island brimming with historical sites, rich in produce, and flourishing in agriculture. On this island, a legend circulated that, several hundred years ago, there once stood a very powerful Askar Kingdom, which governed many surrounding islands.
However.
On the night when a blood-red full moon hung high in the sky, on that ominous night, the three princes of the Askar Kingdom met a beautiful shrine maiden for the first time together and fell in love with her simultaneously. The three princes, striving to win the shrine maiden's affection, produced the Seven-Star Sword, which proved the throne, and initiated a war that plunged the entire country into fire, and the earth and sea wept as they absorbed the grief of countless innocent victims.
Later, the Seven-Star Sword, which had absorbed the hatred and blood of countless people, transformed into a cursed demonic blade, drawing terrifying slaughter and destruction, and utterly destroying the powerful Askar Kingdom! The "Cursed Seven-Star Sword" caused battle after battle in the form of blood sacrifices. The war spread throughout this entire sea region and spread across the entire sea, causing the world to completely fall into darkness.
To save everyone from the war, the shrine maiden sacrificed her life to dispel the blood and hatred absorbed by the Seven-Star Sword. The three princes prayed to the gods in return for the death of their beloved shrine maiden, and received three jewels from the God of Askar that would turn the Seven-Star Sword from a Demonic Sword, sealing its power and restoring peace to this sea.
A spatial door, from the bustling port where the people of Askar Island came and went, in an alley, suddenly opened, attracting the attention of many passersby. However, this was the Grand Line, full of legends about various Devil Fruit abilities, and many people had even seen extraordinary Devil Fruit abilities firsthand, so passersby were only momentarily surprised, and ceased paying attention, becoming busy again.
Wearing a black leather jacket, with a Husky draped over his shoulder, shoulder-length silver hair, and a half-masked face, Sephiroth, armed with a long blade, emerged from the other side of the spatial door. He glanced casually to the side, at an open bar on the dock, which, in a room within it, contained black bats in cages. That was the Umbrella Corporation, an intelligence gathering point on Askar Island.
Sephiroth pulled out a map from his pants pocket, compared it to his lower position, and moved away from the port. Only after arriving in the middle of nowhere did he spread his black fleshy wings and ascend into the sky, heading towards a village.
Whoosh!
Sephiroth, flying through the air, looked down and saw, beside a winding river, on a dilapidated altar, a blue-haired girl with waist-length hair and fair skin, wearing simple clothes and white shorts. From the middle of the river beneath the altar, she surfaced, and while holding three pink spherical jade stones, she slowly ascended the steps to the ancient altar.
Seeing this scene, Sephiroth frowned slightly, and he muttered, "Hey! Save me the trouble of meeting you." He flapped his black fleshy wings and swooped down from the sky.
On the altar, a blue-haired girl named Maya, kneeling at the altar's offering stone table, placed the three precious jade stones on the stone table, and she faced the stone statue of a witch in front of her for worship. A faint shimmer of light flashed away from the three jewels, lending them a slight mystery.
Wow-!
Suddenly there was an air vibration from behind, and Maya, with a bewildered expression on her face, stood up, turned to look behind her, and a silver-haired young man had suddenly appeared.
"Where is the Seven-Star Sword? How can I unseal it?" The corner of Sephiroth's mouth quirked up slightly, outlining a wicked smile.
"You..." After hearing the strange man's question, Maya's eyes suddenly constricted, and she couldn't help but feel horrified. "He's also a person who covets the power of the Seven-Star Sword!" "No! I must hurry and inform the elders, and keep them vigilant." Subconsciously, she was about to bend down and pick up the three jewels and immediately flee from here.
However, Sephiroth, who gave the blue-haired girl no chance at all, instantly lifted the girl and embraced her in his arms, his slender blood-sucking fangs emerging from his mouth.
Zi~!
He bit the girl's fair neck, his fangs piercing the skin directly, and he began to suck the girl's blood, and his Observation Haki was even more extreme.
"Blood Warning!"
Suddenly attacked by this, Maya quickly resisted and struggled a few times, trying to push the other party away with her hands. However, only a slight pain in her neck, followed by a fluttering sensation, emerged from her body, and the nerve-numbing poison on his bloody fangs made her lose her will and mind to resist.
On the other hand, through his vampiric abilities, Sephiroth's special blood sense, combined with his Observation Haki, he successfully read the thoughts and memories that flashed in her mind when he questioned the girl. As he developed his Observation Haki more and more strongly, although he still failed to foresee the future, he became more and more meticulous in sensing biological breaths and movements! He found that he could sense the emotional changes of others by sensing the blood in other people's bodies, which was considered half mind-reading. Therefore, after a long period of research and development, he created a technique of reading short-term memories from the other party by sucking blood. However, this was also limited to short-term memories that surfaced in the other person's mind. If long-term memories needed to be read, with his current ability, there were still some things that could not be done. The long-term memories read would appear very vague and messy.
Only after Sephiroth obtained the intelligence information he needed from Maya's blood, did he retract the fangs he had bitten into the girl's snow-white neck. In the end, he also gently licked the wound on Maya's neck with his tongue, and used his vitality reserves to help the girl stop the bleeding and provide initial wound care so that the other party would not die from bleeding from the wound.
"Pure girl~! Thank you for your hospitality!" Sephiroth carried the girl and leaned lightly against the stone table. Then, he took the three precious jade stones in his left hand, drew the long blade from his waist, opened a spatial door leading to some relics, and stepped inside.
"Wait! Give me back the precious jade stones." After Maya's initial blurred consciousness, she saw the strange youth who had taken the three jewels, and... She also saw that on the other side of the door was the altar where the Seven-Star Sword was hidden!
With anxiety in her heart, Maya forced her somewhat weak body and rushed to the spatial door that was about to close, and arrived in the secret room of the ruins. In the center of this room was a cube-shaped sarcophagus.
Knowing that there was too much disparity in strength between the two sides, Maya could not resist at all, so she could only hold onto her weak body and persuade him: "Please, don't take the Seven-Star Sword. It's just a demonic sword that will bring disaster and war!"
Sephiroth glanced around, followed by the blue-haired girl, who had arrived in the room, and chuckled, "I never like to do anything beyond my capabilities... If I can't subjugate this demonic sword, then I won't try my best to use it. I'm taking your precious jade stones just to counteract its pollution!"
Squeak-squeak.
As he spoke, the black bats, separating from Sephiroth, and the Husky, draped over his shoulder, immediately flapped their wings a few times and flew into the air. Only a few seconds later, a clothed Bat Doppelganger, identical to Sephiroth, appeared among the remnants of the room. Under his control, the Bat Doppelganger pushed open the sarcophagus lid, revealing a dazzling all-green long sword: the Seven-Star Sword!
Maya saw it and was anxious, but she didn't know how to stop the silver-haired youth's actions. Just as the Bat Doppelganger picked up the Seven-Star Sword, a stream of green evil energy came from the hilt and infected its arm, instantly eroding its sanity.
Roar!
The bat clone immediately roared and raged, and a ferocious expression flashed across its face. It actually held the sword in both hands and slashed at Sephiroth.
"Interesting!" Sephiroth chuckled, and his right hand, pressing down on the hilt of the Butcher's Blade, was so fierce that it was drawn from its sheath, and wrapped around the powerful blue-black long blade shrouded in Haki, he drew a red trajectory and collided with the Seven-Star Sword.
Clang!
In the two men's surprised gazes, his Butcher's Blade effortlessly sliced the Seven-Star Sword into two, and the sharp blade instantly cut off the Bat Doppelganger's head, splitting the Husky in half.
Boom!
The Seven-Star Sword, broken in two, fell to the ground, the Bat Doppelganger collapsed, and the black bats dissipated into the air.
After a long silence, Sephiroth turned to look at the blue-haired girl. He couldn't help but complain: "Your Seven-Star Sword… is a bit fake!"
Sephiroth, who had just seen the Bat Doppelganger rampage and be controlled by the Seven-Star Sword, slashed at it with all his might, holding the idea of subduing the opponent so he could directly subdue the Seven-Star Sword. He never thought that this Seven-Star Sword would be cut directly!?
"Maya thought about it, but she could only force herself," she explained. "The Seven-Star Sword is already under seal, and its power has not yet awakened. And it's only natural that it could be damaged!"
"..."
Sephiroth carefully sensed it using Observation Haki, and the broken sword lay on the ground. He reluctantly found that the evil power on the Seven-Star Sword had completely vanished without a trace.
"Forget it! So far, and there's no need for me to keep these three jewels. Give them back!" Sephiroth returned the three pink jewels to Maya in his left hand.
As he swung his blade to open a new spatial door and was about to leave, he subconsciously glanced at the severed Seven-Star Sword. He thought for a moment, but finally bent down and picked up the broken sword, ready to take it back and conduct research. The power of the Seven-Star Sword in its heyday could not be underestimated. It could not only control people's hearts, but also give the wielder strong combat power! If he had discovered the mystery within the Seven-Star Sword, mass production might be possible. "I'll be satisfied if I can mass-produce swords of Meitou (Famous Blade) level!"
"Huh!? Wait. If I can't find a weapon that can replace the black blade Shusui. Then can I forge a great Meitou, or even a Saijo Ō Wazamono (Supreme Grade Sword) out of it?" Thinking this, Sephiroth's depression, which was originally due to the severance of the Seven-Star Sword, immediately vanished, and his mood improved greatly.
Click!
The spatial door closed, leaving only Maya with the three precious jade stones in her arms and a blank look on her face. The mission she had always carried was to seal and suppress the Seven-Star Sword, but now that the sword had been cut, would she need to perform the prayer ritual again in the future?
Enjoying the story? You can read 7 chapters in advance on p@treon/Rzzzy!