As he was walking around town, dusk arriving and casting a multitude of colors across the sky, he began to hear many commotions. As he continued to walk and look around, he began to hear select words from passerby about a blacksmith shop, and a thief. Thinking it couldn’t possibly be the blacksmith he was thinking of, as Godfrey was highly unlikely to allow himself to be the victim of a thief, especially after what he had asked Mikajia to do to assist him with crafting his “Masterpiece” as he liked to call it. Mikajia, honestly was more concerned that there would be a butchered body left out to rot as a sign to others not to steal from him.


However, as he approached the shop, not seeing anything gruesome outside, but realizing something was off, he began to wonder exactly what had happened. As he entered the shop, shouting for Godfrey, he began to really worry then, when no one answered. His senses kicked in to high gear as he looked around the man’s shop; weapons and armor were lying all over the place, showing an obvious sign of a struggle. If there really had been a thief, and they had in fact gotten away, which Mikajia figured was the case seeing as Godfrey wasn’t here, that meant this was no ordinary thief.


They obviously had to have either very powerful magic, or were extremely skilled in combat to have gotten away with anything. Mikajia felt a bit of a chill down his spine as he began wondering exactly what that kind of thief would be after in this place. His eyes slowly crept up to glance at the back room. He sincerely hoped his hunch was wrong about this, as Mikajia slowly made his way to the room.


WC = 300/2,000

When he entered the back room, he felt an overwhelming sense of dread as he realized the cursed blade was not in the room. His only hope to prove him wrong, was to find Godfrey, and pray that the man had the sword in his possession and had just decided to go on a murder rampage. Though that wouldn’t necessarily be a good thing, at least then he would have some idea of how to deal with Godfrey. Based on how that sword had felt in his hands, he could only assume what effects it would have on someone that wasn’t skilled in magic.


It had only been for a short while, but for the brief time he held that blade after it began to glow, it had almost started to feel like he was holding something sentient. And for the briefest moment, he thought he could hear a quiet whisper in his mind. But it was over before he could experience anymore as he had then handed the blade over to Godfrey. If it was some random person that now wielded that sword, he had no clue of knowing what to expect from them, where they might be going, what they had planned, or how they intended to use the sword. There were far too many unknowns for Mikajia to be comfortable.


Plus, considering Mikajia was the one that had officially given that sword its power, both by infusing it with his mana, and soaking it in the blood of multiple innocent bystanders, he didn’t particularly relish the thought of it getting around that he was involved in such problems as this. Those kinds of rumors would only cause problems for his progress. He definitely didn’t like any of the thoughts that were going through his mind right now.


WC = 600/2,000

A few minutes more passed as Mikajia continued to look through the room for some kind of clue as to what had happened, then he finally heard the sound of a door in the back of the shop opening. As Mikajia began reaching for his dagger, he realized he recognized the sound of the voice as Godfrey. When he yelled for the man, he heard the guy stop for a moment before responding, confirming it was him. When he came around the corner into the room Mikajia was in, he instantly noticed how beat up and weak the man appeared.


He seemed mostly happy to see Mikajia, but still obviously distraught. It took a moment before Godfrey was finally willing to tell Mikajia what had happened, explaining that he had been engrossed in the sword, wondering how he could possibly improve on its design. While he was lost in thought, someone had come up behind him and knocked him out. For obvious reason, the man was very embarrassed by this bit, and Mikajia felt no pity. He was so damned engrossed in that sword that he actually allowed himself to be ambushed so easily? He would have scoffed at the thought of Godfrey being such an easy target before this.


But not now, the man that had seemingly possessed eyes in the back of his head, and all throughout his shop; always noticing every tiny little detail that was wrong, or every little piece not set back exactly where it was supposed to go, was not able to be knocked unconscious by a random customer. If he wasn’t so worried about what could come of a random person wielding the blade, he might have found it in him to make some kind of joke. But that wasn’t the case now.


WC = 900/2,000

Godfrey said that when he came to, he began frantically searching around the shop for the blade, but discovered quickly that it wasn’t there. He had only been out for a few minutes from what he’d seen on the clock, but that had obviously been more than enough time for them to escape. When he’d came to and realized the sword was gone, he then began searching outside the shop for the thief, but to no avail. Realizing he would need help, he came back to the shop and had actually been planning on contacting Mikajia to help him find the sword.


They were discussing different methods for narrowing down where all they would need to search for the thief. Roughly ten minutes into their conversation, the two began to hear absolutely horrific screaming coming from outside. They both quickly got up and went out to search for the source. It wasn’t absolutely certain that the source of this commotion would be the sword they were looking for, but considering how it was made, and what it required to finish it, Mikajia figured this wasn’t too far-fetched of an assumption.


Another few minutes later, the two of them would stumble upon a grisly and nightmarish scene. They first spotted the decapitated head of a woman, offset from the body, which also looked like someone had been in a carving mood, and had started dismembering the body, cutting off almost all of the limbs. Mikajia arched a brow as he followed the stream of blood going from the body and around a corner. Mikajia and Godfrey both set to following the trail of blood, and quickly encountered a few other dead bodies, each more butchered and gruesome than the last. The sheer brutality of these deaths sent a chill through him.


WC = 1,200/2,000

Mikajia had seen and done many gruesome things to some people before in the past, but nothing he had done had come anywhere close to this level of brutality. As he continued to follow the trail of dead bodies, he and Godfrey encountered another three dead butchered bodies, the trail of blood continuing down into the Giant’s Tear Ducts. He had heard of these catacombs before, but had never personally entered them before this. At this point, Mikajia had only been dealing with the catacombs beneath cathedrals, and had been simply purging spirits. This was certainly more sinister than any other job he’d ever taken.


He couldn’t even begin to wonder what kind of monster they were going to encounter when they finally did catch up to the killer. As it was right now, they had no way of knowing who or what had taken the sword, or even how they had come to know of the blade in the first place. That was the part that kept bugging Mikajia, more than anything else. As far as he knew, thought Godfrey was certainly proud of his “Masterpiece”, the man hadn’t told so much as a single soul about the sword, so ball all rights, no one aside from the two of them should have known anything at all about the weapon.


Considering how the sword had to be crafted, the steps required to finish forging it, but most of all, the final requirement; letting knowledge of this sword run amok in the city would only serve to damage their reputations, and make it harder for the two of them to get work. They had come to an unspoken agreement that neither of them would speak a word of this weapon to anyone at all. Mikajia had obviously kept his word.


WC = 1,500/2,000

As they entered the catacombs, they encountered yet another series of brutally dismembered bodies, this time though, they were two Rune Knights, rather than just random people. They followed the trail of blood for a bit, watching it eventually led in to a passageway that was hidden from view. They honestly would have missed the passage entirely if something hadn’t made it obvious to them. And once they entered the passage, they finally found what they were looking for. First though, they spotted the large ornate coffin in the middle of the room. Next, they spotted the girl, standing over the coffin, cursed blade in her hand.


She seemed small and frail from a distance, someone he would normally assume was just a regular girl, possessing no particularly impressive skills or strength. However, the blade had obviously changed that, and turned her into a murderous lunatic. Even from their distance, Mikajia could make out the several coats of fresh blood dripping off of all her clothes. Without even seeing her face, Mikajia could tell from the way she stood, this girl was obviously not in her right mind.


The way she carried herself, like her body was nothing more than a vessel now. A hollow voice and eyes greeted them as they approached closer, the girl turning to meet them. There was no semblance of humanity or rationale left in the girl’s eyes. All he saw were the cold dead eyes that belonged to someone with no soul. The voice that spoke to them did not belong to the small girl that stood before them. As it spoke, it spun a tale of a mad but genius blacksmith from ages ago. A man consumed with crafting the most powerful blade anyone had ever seen. A sword that would grow more powerful with each swing of its blade.


WC = 1,807/2,000

With each passing second as she spoke, it became clearer to Mikajia, the man in the coffin was the one that had written the scroll Godfrey had used, which meant he was the original crafter of this blade. The sword, after becoming sentient, had turned on its master. The blacksmith had wanted a powerful weapon to defend his fellow citizens with, but the sword simply desired death and destruction, nothing else. When it realized it wouldn’t get it while being used by the old man, it turned on him. And based on how the voice was talking, Mikajia knew, this girl had been possessed by the spirit within the blade.


However, before he could say or do anything else, Godfrey flew into a rage, accusing her of stealing his masterpiece, clearly the only thing he cared about, and tried to lunge at her. However, once he was close enough, she very easily side-stepped his attack and struck out, slicing open his stomach, and leaving him writhing on the ground. She may have been an ordinary girl before getting her hands on the sword, but clearly it was giving her the knowledge and skills of a master swordsman. He knew this wasn’t a fight he’d be able to easily win, or win at all, if he fought her head on.


The way the girl wielded the sword, made it very obvious, she didn’t think of the sword as a weapon at all, but as an actual extension of her body. If he tried to fight her head on, he would very likely be struck down. So instead, he just began pelting her with his magic. He first sent himself flying into the air with his Vault spell, then starting swinging to the other side of the room with his tether spell.


WC = 2,107/2,000

While he was swinging through the air, he sent multiple other spells at her. She had extremely fast reflexes, however, it was only a matter of time. He knew this development of his would come in handy one day, so he had spent time studying a type of enhancement that would cause all of his spells to drain mana from his opponent with each hit, regardless of whether his spell actually put them in a bind. And considering this girl wasn’t an actual mage, her mana reserves had to be pitifully low.


All it took was him pelting her with spell after spell until she had no mana left to stand. Once that happened, he placed her in his strongest bind, then declared that she wouldn’t be able to use physical attacks. That meant she just sat kneeling on the ground as Mikajia walked up to her. Once he was close enough, he withdrew his dagger then plunged it in to her heart. He knew there was no saving her, the spirit of the sword had made it obvious, there was nothing but an empty shell left. Once struck through the heart, Mikajia could practically watch as the spirit left her body and receded back into the sword, a second later shattering into a thousand little pieces.


With the spirit removed, and the sword destroyed, the dead girl slumped to the floor. Mikajia released his magic, then closed his eyes and nodded, sending up a prayer for the girl’s soul. A second later, Godfrey finally got back up, apparently having managed to temporarily seal up his wound. He also seemed like the old Godfrey he knew, before he had become obsessed with this sword. The man thanked Mikajia for destroying the sword and taking care of the possessed girl. He seemed genuinely mournful of what had happened, then handed Mikajia every last jewel he had on him, thanking him for his work. Just then, he heard something at the entrance to the room, then turned to see a horrified Gallant, Godfrey’s brother, starring at Godfrey and the surrounding chaos. He then turned and ran, Godfrey chasing after, yelling for him to wait and let him explain. Mikajia took a deep breath, then exhaled. It was unfortunate to see this happen to them. The two brothers had been very close before all this happened. But Mikajia doubted they would be able to make it past this. With that, he pocketed his jewels and made his way back home.

Spells Used:

Mana: 2,375/2,800 (50% Mana Cost Reduction)

WC = 2,524/2,000