"Swords?" I asked, opening the two lids. Looking up, I tilt my head at them, hoping for an explanation.
"Yeah, each of our home countries gave us a sword for you," Leah said happily.
"They're both soul-bonding swords. We refer to the white sword as Bing Mo and the black sword as Heian Emo." Lina indicated the sword during her explanation.
As she said, one was pure white. And the other was completely black as if it were devouring the light around it.
"Huh, soul-bounding swords," I said, nodding before looking at them again.
"Yes, of course, you are royalty now," Uwe explained, looking at the sword and then at me.
"It's just that I have never seen this on the battlefield. So, I thought it was quite rare." I raised an eyebrow at them in response.
"Yes, it is. The reason you haven't seen it is because the only people who had one were the generals that were on the front battlefields. Even so, some of them never had to use them to survive." Uwe responded, dismissing my raised eyebrow with a shrug.
"Yes, and they didn't join the war that much," Leah added, making me nod in understanding.
"Yes, our loyal generals never went into battle." Uwe agreed, shrugging.
"Because you wanted the tyranny group to go out and die," I said, glaring at them with disdain.
"As quick as ever," Uwe said, grinning.
"So, which one?" Leah asked again, pointing at the swords.
"Both," I said, grabbing both of them by the handles.
Lina grabbed my shoulder and said, "Wait, don't do that-" before stopping, confused and seeing both swords change in my hands.
"Heh, like I thought," I said, grinning from ear to ear.
"What do you mean, as you thought?" Uwe asked, tilting forward.
"Well, you see," I muttered, looking out the window.
"What, Hou Yao?" Uwe spoke, recognizing the sword.
"Oh, you recognize it. That makes it easier." I walked to the window and opened it.
"Hmm, how did this happen?" Leah asked, confused.
"Well, I stole it from your general and used it to cut off his head. Getting killed by your own sword is the ultimate form of humiliation. I laughed as I opened the window to let Hou Yao into the room.
"Huh, huh, huuuuh!? What is the connection between your soul and being human?" Lina said, baffled.
"Yeah, quite weird, right?" Realizing that the two other swords had finished changing, I spoke up.
'Hmm, I did expect it, but to think the only difference between the swords is their blade color.' I contemplated this while carefully unsheathing each blade individually. Putting them back in their sheaths, I let them flout behind me while I sat back down on the couch.
"But that isn't normal?" Leah pointed at the three swords floating behind me.
"Ah, yes, Selone assisted me last week. Firstly, we discovered that I couldn't store anything….What's the word? Whatever the case, I cannot infuse the sword into my soul. It's impossible. The second issue is that to utilize the fire trait or any other attribute the sword possesses, I must physically touch it. I explained calmly.
"Huh, then it makes sense why you can soul-bind more weapons because you don't have that stress on your soul from putting them into your soul," Leah thought thoughtfully.
However, she is still experiencing some stress. Hmm, I wonder." Lina said she was a bit more worried than Leah.
"How many swords can I be soul-bonded with, right?" I said this, looking at Lina.
"Yeah, do you feel anything different?" Lina asked, ignoring my question.
"I already thought about it, but after having two more, I only feel a small tug, but nothing more than that," I said, shrugging.
"Hmm, dear, don't hurt her, okay?" Leah said, gesturing at Uwe.
"Huh?" Uwe and I exchanged a confused look before turning back to Leah.
"Sigh, spar with her, and test her limits," Leah said, annoyed.
"Oh, but isn't she still tired?" Uwe tilted his head at her.
"Nah, I am good. Let's go," I said, grinning like a battle junky.
"Sigh, we just came back."
"Hehe, it doesn't matter."
"Are you guys joining?"
"We will watch from the balcony," Lina said, shaking her head.
"Sigh, well, let's go outside then," Uwe said, jumping through the wall.
"Eh, we could have walked out of the balcony doors. I can at least wait a bit." I gazed awkwardly at the gap in the wall.
"Well then, go on. We can fix all this later," Leah said, shooing me away.
"I was going too," I said, jumping through the broken wall. Looking at where Uwe was, I swung the Darkness blade in his direction, making a black arc go out of the blade.
"You know already how to do that?" Uwe, impressed, flicked at the arc, effectively destroying it.
"It's quite simple to do actually," I said from behind him as I swung my fire sword at him, creating another, more violent arc to block his vision.
"Hmm, you really are a battle prodigy." He hummed as he gazed at the spot on his shoulder where my white sword had stabbed him, causing his shoulder to briefly freeze before dissipating.
"Ah, thanks, but that was aimed at your heart," I said behind the flames.
"Where do you think my heart is?" Uwe jokingly smiled at me, although I had already teleported behind him.
"You are annoying. I have a question: Is it possible to destroy soul-bounding swords?" I responded, leaning back slightly before proceeding with my conversation.
"Yes, but when your soul finds rest, it regenerates. But with you, I don't know." He said this while pulling the sword from his shoulder.
"I will remember that." I hummed, grabbing the dark sword.
"Well, let's go on," Uwe said. This time, he jumped at me. Though holding back a lot.
"Yeah."
[Leah Pov]
"Hmm, to think she can use three soul-bounding weapons," I said, resting on the rail next to Lina, looking down at Ren and Uwe fighting.
"Yeah, but she can definitely use more than that," Lina said, looking at me for an answer.
"Probably," I said, agreeing.
"So, do you have any theories about how? We both know a human can't use them." Lina inquired, glancing at me for a response.
"No, it's actually possible. I have run some tests. Humans can use soul-binding weapons, but their souls are way weaker than ours, so they have a time limit before dying." I explained, thinking about all the prisoners we had at the start of the war.
"That's dark."
"It is. But don't worry; Ren won't die. All the humans I tried it on died after a few days. Some only held out for a couple of hours."
"Sigh, if she knew about this, she might change her stance towards you. With everything you've done for her, you believe her soul has become stronger.
"Well, she is half dragon demon," I said, careful not to reveal too much.
"What was that? She is half!" Lina inquired, looking at me skeptically.
"Nothing; don't worry about it," I said, trying to change the subject.
"Sigh, you know, if the whites just heard you, you would be in a deep shit again," Lina said, sighing, appearing to be hesitant to push too hard.
"I know, I know, but I didn't have a choice to use it," I said, depressed at the thought.
"There is always a choice... But I understand why you say that, Lina said, nodding in understanding.
'I almost killed her just to let her blend in more.' I lamented my own foolishness.
"Though I have to ask this: Where did you get black dragon blood?"
"I don't remember. I got it years ago. It was my most treasured blood." I uttered those words without any hint of sadness. After all, wasn't that very blood, saving Ren?
"Well, you still need to figure out what she is, don't you?"
"No, I already know," I said, nodding at myself.
"What then?" Lina asked, tilting her head at me.
"Not happening."
"Why not."
"So, you can't be blamed. You know the white people will figure it out anyway. I wouldn't be surprised if Chief White already told the Duke about her." I shrugged, keeping my mouth shut.
"Well, he is too busy setting up the traveling system, so we won't need to worry about him for a few weeks. At that time, Ren might even return to her original size." Lina was relieved.
"Hmm. She will probably be."
"Oh, will she have wings?"
"No, certainly not if she was born like that. Yeah, probably, but you know how rare wings are on our planet." I responded to her question by shaking my head.
"True, then comes the soldier in white; all of them have wings," Lina said, grunting in annoyance.
"Yeah, something makes them very strong and annoying, and having floating bases isn't helping much," I said, sighing.
"Well, that's why we have a special unit for winged demons," Lina said, nodding, remembering the unit Uwe set up.
"Having it and using it are two different things."
Is it going to other families to get Ren more weapons?
"I think Ren will have more fun exploring the world looking for the weapons than if we just give them to her."
"I guess. Oh, Uwe is using his axe."
"Yeah, oh sh*t." Cursing out, I jumped off the balcony, but I was too late to catch Selena's flying body.
BOOM!!