Silence returned after the light faded.
But it wasn't the same silence as before—not empty, not lifeless.
Now it carried something fragile.
Someone's breath.
Someone's heartbeat.
His.—or rather, the person I thought was a "him."
The resonance link still buzzed faintly between us, like a thread of warm energy trailing from my hilt to the tiny, trembling figure collapsed on the cave floor.
The child—no, Yueri, though I didn't know her name yet—was curled up beside me, gasping softly.
Not dead.Barely alive.But alive.
I didn't have lungs to breathe, but if I had, I might've let out a shaky exhale.
[WIELDER STATUS: CRITICAL][SOUL LINK: STABLE][MANUAL INTERVENTION REQUIRED]
Manual intervention?I was a sword.What "manual" thing could I possibly do?
Before I could even piece the thought together, the child stirred.
A soft whimper escaped her lips.
"…hurts…"
Her voice wasn't the rough, broken tone I expected.It was… light.Soft.Too soft.
If I still had a human throat, I would've cleared it.
Okay…maybe the "boy" assumption wasn't entirely accurate.
The cave remained dim, but her mana—her life essence—pulsed faintly. That's how I "saw" her.And through mana perception, gender didn't exactly stand out.
Still, this wasn't the time to nitpick details.
She lifted her head slightly, eyes unfocused.
"Wh… who's… there…?" she whispered.
Instinctively, I tried to speak carefully—but swords don't have "carefully."
My voice boomed inside her mind like a divine command.
She squeaked, curled tighter, and nearly fainted again.
Way to go. Great bedside manner.
"…W–What…" she trembled.
Her hand moved, fingers brushing my hilt again with a scared flinch.She blinked up at me—the blade stuck in stone, dark metal faintly glowing.
"…the… the sword… is speaking…"
She froze.
For a heartbeat, she didn't breathe.Then, in a tiny voice:
"…am I… going to die…?"
Her trembling was getting worse.Her heartbeat flickered like a candle in a storm.
"…b-but… I'm scared…"
That small confession hit me harder than I expected.
This wasn't some heroic chosen one.Not a prodigy.Not a warrior.
Just a child who'd crawled into this cave thinking it was a place to die quietly.
The resonance inside me pulsed again.
[WIELDER WILLPOWER: LOW][SOUL LINK ADAPTATION SEQUENCE READY][INITIATE? — YES / NO]
Adaptation?That sounded… risky.
[STRENGTHENS WIELDER'S BODY TEMPORARILY][DRAWS FROM SWORD ENERGY RESERVES][SIDE EFFECT: WIELDER MAY DEVELOP DEPENDENCY]
Of course. Another curse. Another chain.
But if I didn't choose "YES"…Yueri wouldn't survive another hour.
And despite everything—despite being a cursed blade, a weapon of ruin—
I didn't want my wielder to die before even lifting me.
<…begin adaptation.>
Light surged from the hilt again—gentler this time, wrapping around her like a warm blanket rather than a shockwave.
Yueri gasped, her eyes widening as strength seeped into her limbs.
Color didn't fully return to her face, but she wasn't on death's door anymore.
Tiny fingers closed around my hilt.
"…warm…" she whispered."…thank you…"
That stunned me into silence for a moment.
People… didn't usually thank the Sword of Ruin.
Her breath steadied.
Slowly, she pushed herself to sit up, though she kept leaning on me for support.
"I–I'm sorry," she whispered softly, still trembling."I didn't mean to… to touch something sacred…"
She blinked.
"…you sound angry…"
She giggled—a tiny, breathy, absolutely exhausted laugh.
"Y-you sound like you're scolding me…"
Her smile broke.
The trembling came back.Her shoulders curled forward.
"…I wasn't… thinking," she whispered.Her voice small.Heavy.
"I… I didn't have anywhere else to go."
The cave suddenly felt colder.
Yueri hugged her knees, trying to make herself smaller.
"I'm sorry," she said again, barely audible."I know I shouldn't have touched a relic. I know I shouldn't be here. But I didn't have… food… or a home… or…"
She swallowed.
"…or anyone."
The link trembled.Her grief poured through it like water through cracks.
And I—a cursed sword that should've been emotionless—felt a faint ache.
Not sympathy.Not pity.
Recognition.
Abandoned things recognize each other.
<…child.>
She looked up.
Her eyes were a stunning shade of pale silver—dimmed by hunger, but beautiful in a way that made my mana perception flare.
She hesitated.
And then, in the quietest voice:
"…because I'm the one they're hunting."
The air tightened.
"…the Church… the Knights… the village… everyone…"
She clenched her hands into her ragged clothes.
"…because they said I'm cursed."
A cursed child.
Hunted.
Rejected.
Dragged to death's edge until she collapsed in a cave where fate—or whatever cruel thing ruled this world—dragged her to me.
This world…was already showing its teeth.
"…Y… Yueri."
Her voice shook as if she expected me to reject her too.
I repeated it—letting the name settle into the resonance link.
Her breath caught.
No one had spoken her name gently in a long time, probably.
She hugged herself tighter.
"…I didn't know…"
She blinked."…fate?"
A faint smile tugged her lips.
"…you talk weird."
Her eyes widened.
"You… you were?"
A pause.
"…by—by someone? A bad person?"
<…no. By my own sword.>
She stared at me like I'd just told her the funniest or saddest thing ever.
"That's… that's really unlucky…"
Another tiny giggle escaped her.
The sound unexpectedly warmed the cave.
Then she whispered:
"…I'm glad you're here."
And something inside me—something rusted, bitter, and chained for who-knew how long—shifted.
I wasn't sure what emotion it was supposed to be.
But I didn't hate it.
THE GODDESS' MEMORY
The link flickered suddenly.
Then—
A vision forced itself into my mind again.
A throne of light.A woman with wings made of shattered feathers.Silver eyes brimming with ancient wrath.
Seraphyne.
The Goddess who cursed me.
"Arrogant mortal," she hissed."I warned you. You meddled with powers forbidden.Now be ruin incarnate.Let your existence destroy all you touch."
The vision cracked like glass—ripped away as quickly as it came.
And I realized something horrifying:
The faint mana signature in Yueri—it wasn't ordinary.
It was… divine.
A shard.
A fragment.
A sliver of the very goddess who cursed me.
No wonder the resonance had exploded when she touched me.No wonder our souls linked so violently.
Yueri wasn't just a hunted child.
She was the reincarnated vessel of Seraphyne's broken divinity.
And she had no idea.
…this is going to be a problem.
THE MISUNDERSTANDING
As I processed the revelation, Yueri tugged on my hilt gently.
"…um… sword-san?"
"Why do you keep calling me 'boy'…?"
Silence.
The cave echoed the quiet in the most humiliating way possible.
<…you're… not?>
Her cheeks puffed in tiny outrage.
"I–I'm a girl!! Obviously!!"
Her expression softened instantly.
"…oh."
She looked at her ragged shirt, her short messy hair, her tiny arms covered in dirt.
"…okay, maybe it's not obvious…"
She poked my hilt in embarrassment.
"But now you know!"
"…sword-san?"
"…you're not going to call me 'boy' again… right?"
She sighed dramatically like a little old lady.
Then she whispered shyly:
"…thank you."
THE CHOOSING
Yueri shifted closer, exhaustion still dragging her posture down but her eyes clearer now.
"What… what should I do… sword-san?"
"E–Eh?! Right now?! I'm still—"
She swallowed.
"…but I'm weak."
Yueri hesitated for a long moment.
Her fingers slowly wrapped around my hilt.
Her grip was tiny.Shaky.But determined.
And for the first time since being reborn as a cursed relic—
I felt movement.
Stone cracked.Dust lifted.The cave trembled as I slipped free from the ancient rock.
A burst of crimson light surged around us.
Yueri staggered—but held on with both hands.
Her silver eyes gleamed with fear.
But also awe.
"…it's… beautiful…"
No one had ever called me that.
I didn't know how to respond, so I simply let my blade glow brighter.
The link pulsed.
Her heartbeat synced with my core.
We were one.
Wielder and weapon.
Destiny tied by ruin and desperation.
THE WORLD MOVES
Far outside the cave—beyond the forest—in a distant kingdom—
A bell rang.
A priest awoke from meditation, eyes widening in horror.
"A resonance…A forbidden awakening…The Sword of Ruin… has chosen a wielder."
He turned toward the horizon.
"And the bearer is… a child?"
The church shifted.
Knights readied themselves.
Hunters rose.
And in that cave—
Yueri stood trembling but alive,
and I, the blade cast away by gods,
finally awakened.