Crossover
Chapter 11: The Ancient Sword of War
Kuro felt the consciousness inside his mind once more. He was sure that the consciousness was coming from the huge stone in front of him. It was calling out to him.
Suddenly, in his eyes, it seemed as if the stone was shining brilliantly. He felt his blood boiling, his mind hazy, and he couldn't help but move forward to caress the stone.
Raphael spoke, “You can also feel it? That stone is no ordinary stone. But what’s inside is more extraordinary than the former.”
Every dragon stopped their movements as soon as they saw Kuro approaching the stone. They felt as if something spectacular was about to happen. They actually felt fluctuations from the energy released by the huge stone.
Raphael also felt this. But it was more intense. He could feel the energy drawing Kuro near the stone. It was voluntarily inviting the young man. He watched Kuro place his hands on the stone till he heard something.
The surface of the stone cracked. Kuro’s senses came back to normal the moment he heard the crack. He looked at the obvious horizontal crack in front of him, nervously backed away, and sweat started to form on his forehead.
He remembered his extraordinary strength that he still couldn’t control and was nervous, “I swear it just cracked! I did not exert any force when I touched it!”
Raphael did not hear what Kuro said for his attention was on the huge stone in front of him. After some few seconds, the huge stone finally cracked in half. Yet, nothing happened.
Everyone was confused until a tremendous pressure enveloped the entire island. The hidden realm was shaking. All the flying dragons were forced to settle on land. The nearer a person or dragon was, the more pressure they would feel.
All dragons were forced to stay on the ground, Crescent and Raphael stood calmly, while Kuro tried his best to stand straight. The pressure was unbearable for him, perhaps due to the power difference that he couldn’t stand calmly like the two behind him.
Several cracking sounds were once again heard until the entire upper half of the stone was mysteriously pulverized. The pressure gradually faded, and all of them peeked at the bottom half surface of the stone.
What they saw vividly gave them surprise. Even Raphael was surprised with what he saw. Crescent muttered something before giving a slight smile.
Kuro was still trembling, but he tried to stand up to see what made everyone surprised. As he stood, he saw a familiar part of a very dangerous weapon. And when he managed to stand straight, he finally understood everyone’s reaction.
A sword in the stone.
‘Is this the legendary Excalibur?!’ Kuro wanted to voice it out, but he was afraid of copyright infringement.
“Young man, Kuro, the stone cracked the instant you touched it. We, the wisdom dragons, tried to shatter this large stone into pieces, yet to have no result even just a tiny crack!” Raphael spoke with amazement.
“W-w-wait… First of all, what the hell was that stone? And that sword… Is that the consciousness that I felt inside my mind?” Kuro tried to mask his confusion and bewilderment. This was certainly one of the moments where his calm composure was gone.
“Remember what I told the both of you earlier? The possible way out from this hidden realm? I was talking about that huge stone.
We have observed this stone for years and we found out that every time someone will enter, or when Rosalie was exiting, this stone would slightly shudder. Then, the moment both of you entered, the entire hidden realm trembled.”
Kuro became more confused, “But we didn’t feel anything though.”
“That time, you must be passing by the door, so you didn’t feel anything at all. But we, wisdom dragons, clearly felt it. Such a reaction from the stone should not be ordinary at all.”
“Then, this stone should be the heart of this hidden realm?”
“Indeed.”
Kuro suddenly reached some kind of clarification and wondered back to his question earlier, “Then what’s with the sword?”
Raphael shook his head in dismay, “This, I am afraid, that I don’t have any answer for it. We are as empty as you are about this sword.”
Kuro was disappointed; the consciousness clearly came from the sword and was still calling out to him. But he didn’t want to head forward and take the sword lest something unexpected might happen. He turned towards Crescent and saw his delighted expression whenever he praised Kuro.
Kuro was clueless with why Crescent was happy and asked, “Crescent, do you feel anything bad about this sword? I am afraid my sense of danger is not as sharp as yours.”
Crescent shook his head, “Master, I have a hunch of what this sword is. No, more precisely, I am sure about what this sword may be.”
“You actually know this sword?!” Kuro was a bit doubtful, but he trusted Crescent’s judgment.
Crescent nodded and began explaining his knowledge and hunch about the sword’s origin.
“Master, this sword is no ordinary sword. Master, this is the Ancient Sword of War, one of the 12 Great Swords spread throughout the vast cosmos.”
Kuro was petrified in his position and nervously gulped, ‘What the hell? Did I damage it? From the name itself, it sounds like it’s a super powerful weapon and it's just one out of twelve sets! It would be very nasty if the owner of the swords found out that I destroyed the stone that was supposed to protect it.’
Crescent laughed at his master’s nervous expression. “Master, do not be frightened, this sword will never be scratched even if it was hit by meteors.”
Kuro breathed a sigh of relief, “Do you have any more information about this sword?”
“Master, the 12 Great Swords are a collection of swords hidden throughout the vast cosmos. These 12 swords have existed for more than a millennium. Millions have tried to search for these swords, but only a few were able to own and wield them.
The twelve great swords will only recognize one owner and will never be able to recognize another until a century has passed after the previous owner’s death.”
Kuro felt a chill creeping on his spine. He could only surmise Crescent's description to one word—trouble. “Can we just forget that this ever happened?” Kuro felt the consciousness inside his mind intensified when he mentioned these words.
Raphael shook his head, “Young man, Kuro, this sword called you for a reason. You must decide carefully before walking away from the path presented to you.”
This gave Kuro a headache. If it was only a sword considered to be powerful only in a specific world, perhaps he could try to take it. But it was a sword renowned in every corner of the universe. It bound to have troubles, especially that death could reset the ownership of the sword.
But he thought that Raphael was correct. He couldn’t just walk away from the path given to him. His intuition told him that he might regret it later on.
Without further ado, he steeled himself and inhaled deeply. He stared at the stone and concluded that he may not be able to climb it normally because of its height. Kuro crouched into a starting position that a runner would do and exerted a huge amount of his strength as he ran.
Kuro’s goal was momentum. As he got near the stone, he readied himself and greatly jumped above the stone’s surface. He was able to perfectly land on the middle surface of the stone.
“Fate serves as a path that leads one to its own destiny. Master, having unexpectedly discovered this sword is no mere coincidence. Fate has led you to your own destiny, and this should be the start.” Crescent muttered as he watched his master walk towards the sword.
Kuro released a deep exhale. He was a bit afraid since he was unsure of what would happen after he managed to pull out the sword.
In fact, he was still clouded whether he would be able to pull out the sword or not. However, he didn’t mind things anymore for it would only waste time. He grasped the sword’s handle and started to pull it.
As Kuro began to pull it, he suddenly felt an immense desire to fight. Unexpectedly, the sword, once again, released a heavy pressure. This time, its intensity was magnified, and Kuro was experiencing the worst among all.
Kuro felt his organs being squished, no, more exactly, he could feel his entire body being squished with the pressure that the sword was emitting. Yet, he never let go of his hand.
He began to cough blood. He gritted his teeth, and persisted to pull out the sword, even if he could feel his death looming around.
“Ahh!!!” Kuro grunted aloud and gave his all in pulling out the sword.
A loud clang resonated around the plaza, the pressure diminished and Kuro stopped grunting. Everyone gazed above the stone surface and saw Kuro standing, with a sword in his hand, and a faint red mist encircling him.
Kuro panted and had a smug smile on his face. He inspected the sword before he spoke, “War, the hilt on the sword has an inscription of the word ‘war’ on it!”
Kuro felt relieved as he was trying to catch his breath. He started to laugh wildly. He felt elated for being able to pull out the sword despite the great pressure he felt.
“War, I wonder, what is your use and ability?” Out of curiosity, he gently swung the sword and a wave of red light gushed out and sliced the trees apart. Fortunately, no dragons were flying, and most of them were sprawled on the ground from the previous pressure, otherwise…
Kuro gulped at the thought. “W-what was that?”
“Sword energy,” Crescent answered.
“Sword energy?”
“It’s the basic ability that most sword users have. By inserting a certain amount of magic power in a sword attack, it would be able to materialize itself and create an energy that will slice everything on its way. Even if it is a basic ability, it is quite dangerous and deadly.”
Kuro gulped and sweated at the thought of accidentally slicing someone or something, “I-is that so? I think I should practice handling the sword first before I start to use it.”
“Master, I think it should not only be the sword that you must practice upon; you also have to learn how to efficiently control the magic energy inside your body. To better understand my thought, please try to swing the sword again. But, to avoid the possibility of casualty, may I request Mr. Raphael’s assistance?”
Raphael nodded, walked to where Kuro was, and crouched down, signaling Kuro to climb aboard. Kuro felt all his nervousness vanish and was replaced with the excitement of being able to ride the fluffy fur of Raphael.
“Hold on tight.” Raphael flapped his wings and gushes of wind formed around them. A black seatbelt appeared on Kuro’s hips. Kuro mouthed a silent ‘thank you’ to Crescent while the latter waved his hand and smiled in return.
Once Raphael and Kuro ensured that the altitude was enough for others to see, but not to get hurt, Kuro lifted the ancient sword of war and slashed horizontally.
To his greatest surprise, nothing came out of the sword. He did what he did when he first summoned his portal. Yet, this time, he made sure to connect his body with the sword in order for the magic energy to bridge on. He knew how to handle a sword and use it, after all, he, and his friends always practiced martial arts and weaponry at Mayumi’s dojo.
Kuro did the same process again; he made sure to pour quite some of his magic power on it when he suddenly felt something ache nearby his heart. It was too painful that the sword slipped off from his grasp and fell on the ground. Nearby dragons flew away to avoid being slashed by the sword.
“Ooohhh, a falling sword! Can I wish on it?” Rosalie, who was enthusiastically watching the events unfold before her eyes, asked with a sparkle in her eyes.
She was enshrined with a barrier created by Raphael, protecting her from the pressure earlier. Then, someone groaned in pain beside her, it was Alios. Even if Rosalie was protected by the barrier casted by Raphael in hope of protecting her from any danger, Alios didn’t have any of it.
Thus, he felt the pressure earlier and was weakened. Rosalie stopped the thought of wishing on the falling sword and gently ruffled Alios’ fur. This somehow alleviated the pain that the white soft ball felt.
When the sword buried itself on the ground, it quaked the entire island. It emitted a faint red mist, and adult dragons could feel the pressure that those mists exuded. Meanwhile, Raphael and Kuro landed on the ground, and they were greeted by Crescent.
“Master, I am afraid that you are not proficient yet in controlling your magic power. What master is experiencing now is the side effects of using your magic power too much without being familiar with it in the first place.
Your black portal earlier was all fine because it doesn’t consume too much of your magic power for it is an inherent ability. But the ancient sword of war consumes a lot, thus your magic power control is a must.”
Kuro clenched his fist and stood up with all his might, “Th-then, what should I do?”
“Master, like I have mentioned earlier, this humble servant would be the one to teach you everything about magic. And magic power control is one of it. But for now, please try to circulate the magic energy inside your body so that it would replace the lost magic power.”
Kuro did what Crescent said, and the pain was slowly being alleviated, but not gone. Crescent continued, “I’m afraid that the side effects will continue unless you manage to learn magic power control. I guess, we have to start our magic lesson as soon as possible.”
-End of Chapter 11-
