Having given the sword to Ai, Cirrus went and took a bath before heading to sleep again. Nox and Circe stayed behind as Eupheme, and Ai went to meet Hephaestus.

"D-Do you think it’ll go alright!?" Ai said to Eupheme. "What if I screw up?"

"It’ll be fine," Eupheme said. "Cirrus knows what he is doing. I mean, look at what’s in your hand?"

Ai looks at the sword in its wrapping, and she clenches it.

"Yes…if it’s a sword, I can use it! Oh, Eupheme, how goes my new weapon?"

"Way better than before now. You can have it on your hip at all times!"

"Can it still shift from sword to spear?"

"Yup! But with some compensation, of course, to make it work."

 

When they arrived at Hephaestus’s office, they found Tsubaki there, helping Hephaestus with some work.

"Eupheme and the Sunny Saint, I heard of your level up after soloing the Udaeus. What brings you two here?" Hephaestus said, looking over.

"Something wrong with the new workshop?" said Tsubaki. "I’m sure I double-checked it for the rising star of the Familia."

"No, it’s not that. Ai shows her."

Ai stepped forward and revealed the sword.

"!!"

Immediately, it drew their eye to the sword; they could feel and see how much it oozed awe.

"This sword... is it Cirrus’s masterpiece?"

"Yes, he worked for 4 weeks straight, day and night, to make it."

"Can I see?" said Tsubaki.

"Hm, but be careful. It’s terrifyingly sharp," Eupheme said.

Ai holds out the sword, and Tsubaki grabs it.

"Balanced…inhumanly balanced. It's already like I have been using this sword my entire life." She held it out and drew it.

Swish!!

"!?"

She had drawn it far too fast. She cut her thumb carelessly and unintentionally.

"Hey, hey… Are you sure this wasn’t made by another smithing god!" She began to look at it even more carefully now. "This weapon… Hephaestus, can you have a look at this?"

She nods her head, and Tsubaki gently places it in her hands.

Hephaestus then removes one of her gloves, gently feels the texture of the blade itself, and smirks.

"A perfected version of the one you and Cirrus made, huh, Eupheme?"

"That is correct, and much like the prototype, it has yet to show its true colors, Cirrus had said, to show you outside."

A smile formed on their faces in elation.

"Lead the way."

They all went outside, and Ai placed the sword on her hip and got into her drawing stance.

Ai takes a deep breath and centers herself.

"Haaaaa…. (When the bell tolls 108 times gather the eight serpents.

No offerings of sacrifice to the earth, wind, fire, water, thunder, poison, light, and darkness.

I offer you steel and the clear sky.)"

As the white mist covers the sword, Ai widens her stance and tightens her grip on the sheath. She looks up at the sky and holds her breath.

"[Murakumogiri]!!!"

As she draws the sword, the magic stone glows red, and as the blade leaves the sheath, it slowly turns red, like the morning sun bathing the world in light.

The mist condenses at the edge of the blade. She draws it up to the sky, and a strong blade of wind fills the street, making a—

—WOOOOSH!!!

With dust kicking up, they closed their eyes, but after a second, they opened them and looked up to see a diagonal line in the nearby clouds that were starting to bring in more clouds in a spiral, like the cut was a black hole.

Ai looks at the sky and at the sword to find them now completely in maple-like red.

"Whoa…"

"Heh…he-hahahahaha!!!" Hephaestus laughed out loud at the sight. She turned to Ai and walked over to her. "Show me the blade."

Ai holds up the blade extremely carefully, and Hephaestus looks at it again.

"Um... is something the matter, Lady Hephaestus?" Ai said, looking at Hephaestus, who had a sharp look in her eyes.

"Veins."

"Huh?"

"I see countless small vein-like lines running along the sword stemming from the spine... such high craftsmanship requiring immense focus, talent, knowledge, and hard work, it damn near outshines anything I could have imagined! It makes me want to want to make my own to try and surpass this damn sword!!" She had a look of excitement that they didn’t think she could muster.

It was a fire that lit in the two mortal smith’s hearts that they could truly reach the realm of the gods themselves!

Ai looked to see that they now all had the same passion in their eyes.

"Ummm..." she carefully sheathed the blade back, and they slowly calmed down.

"What is the name of this sword?" Hephaestus said, looking at Ai.

"Cirrus named it the Heavenly Cloud-Gathering Cutter."

"A fitting name." She turned to walk back to her shop. "Tell Cirrus he won his deal and to make sure he leaves his signature on it."

"Tell the kid, I’ll reclaim my title as Orario’s best smith!" Tsubaki said, going in after Hephaestus.

"Um... Eupheme, is everything alright?"

"Yes…" She still had that look in her eyes. "Let us return and keep the sword wrapped up. I, I wish to return to my forge seeing this... It lit a fire in me as a smith." She was smiling from ear to ear.

 

Back in the shop.

"Tsubaki, how much money can you gather?"

"Lady Hephaestus, are you thinking of commissioning a blade from Kirin?" Tsubaki shouted.

"I am. Seeing that sword made me want one as well before word gets out of his skill."

"Do you plan on dismantling it to see how it works?"

"I already know how it works, Tsubaki; as a god of blacksmithing, if I couldn’t see how it works, it would bring shame to me as a goddess of the forge. I simply can’t replicate it as the technique is impossible for me without the use of my Arcanum."

"Then... it's a method only Kirin could use!?"

"Not exactly." She sat back down in her seat. "I made a deal to not reveal what was discussed in this room, but you can achieve a weapon of a similar degree if you follow the prototype Eupheme and help make Brilliant Nightmare... Are you excited, Tsubaki? A human managed to finally graze the heavens."

She made a big grin as the fire in her eye blazed.

"Hell yeah, I am!!! I’ll gather up some money for the commission!"

"And I’ll get to work on making some product!"

 

Back at Cirrus’s workshop.

"I’m back!" said Ai.

"Oh, welcome back!" said Nox. "Circe is organizing the stuff down in the basement. So how did it go?"

"She said he won the deal?"

"Haha! He did! Hey! Circe! He won!"

From down in the basement.

"Really! Wooo!!!"

"Shouldn’t we be quiet? Cirrus is still sleeping, right?"

"Don’t worry, see those weird talismans spread around the room?"

Ai looks to find several of them nailed to the walls and ceiling.

"What are they?"

"They're called Sound Eaters; they make any room eavesdropping-proof, as you can see." She points to a near the top of the stairs: a Sound Eater. "Cirrus can’t hear us; the only reason Circe can is because I took some off." She then got up from her seat and walked over to the basement stairs. "Oi! We’re leaving!"

"Coming!" Circe quickly came up the stairs and looked at Ai. "Make sure he eats enough, alright? I put some food in the fridge."

"I will."

"Hm!" She then turned into a bird in a plume of smoke and flew out the window.

"See ya tomorrow, Ai!" Nox followed suit, leaving Ai alone. Eupheme had gone straight to her workshop to begin smithing.

She locks the doors and windows. She walks upstairs and sees Cirrus sleeping in bed. She slowly walks up to him.

‘I won’t do what I did last time! I swear it!’

Sniff! Sniff!

A fire grew.

‘Ah dammit! No! No! Keep yourself together till after dinner!’

She looked at Cirrus’ sleeping face, and she wanted to indulge herself a bit. It has been a while since they had any intimate time with one another.

"C-can’t be too safe!" she silently whispered to herself.

She got the bottle and took one pill before placing it in one of his drawers.

"Ahem! C-Cirrus, are you hungry?" Ai shouted.

"Hm!? What!?" he said, looking around, a bit dazed.

"Food! Shall we eat for your winning of the deal!" she said with a big expression.

"I won? Hell yeah!" He got up, and she found he wasn’t wearing a shirt.

Seeing him like that, her previous thoughts flew out the window.

"Ah, I forgot—! Ai... why are you hugging me?"

Hugging him from behind, Ai buried her face into his back. She loved the scent he had from his days of toiling at the forge.

"I didn’t want to do it while you were asleep, so..." Ai could feel his back muscles with her face and even the subtle form of his muscles on the front with her hands as she gently traces her fingers across his torso.

Cirrus could feel the hot breath on his back and the slight breeze from the wagging of her tail. The way her fingers moved began to get him a bit riled up.

Cirrus turned around to see Ai have an almost feverish look in her eyes.

"Did you wake me up to have se—"

Ai quickly stole his lips and wrapped her hands around his neck as well as her legs around his waist.

"Y-you have been ignoring me for 4 weeks, and it really bugged me when you didn’t even notice I fed you food."

"Fine, I guess I do have some stress built up—!!"

Ai kissed him again, and he stumbled back to the bed.

"Ah~♥" Her eyes grow even more feverish as she starts to take off her clothes. "This will be our little love nest, Cirrus♥"

Ai would also begin to spend nights here.