"Did you break another weapon?"
"Haha... I'm sorry..."
Having woken up, Akumo was currently at a loss, unable to lift his head before the red-haired woman standing in front of him.
"Lady Hephaestus, shouldn't we just kick this guy out?"
"Now, why be so cold, Big Sister Tsubaki... I bring back plenty of materials..."
"And they all go right back into making your gear!"
Tsubaki Collbrande, the one-eyed master smith who had walked up beside the red-haired goddess, looked at Akumo with exasperation. She began listing the weapons Akumo had destroyed to her patron deity, Hephaestus.
"Six total destructions of 1st-tier armaments. Thirteen for 2nd-tier armaments."
"On top of that, he orders so many custom pieces—swords, spears, axes, everything...!"
Akumo felt a wave of embarrassment at Tsubaki's words. He had been about to question the fact that he had forged many of those broken weapons himself, but he quickly shrunk back when he remembered who had taught him the techniques and provided the workshop in the first place.
"Anyway...! What on earth are you doing to make weapons break this often?"
"Just... you know... using various techniques..."
"I thought it would quiet down after you took those few 'Indestructible' attribute weapons a few months ago..."
Beside Tsubaki, who was now clutching her forehead, Hephaestus asked what could have possibly broken a sword that had actually lasted quite a while.
"I was fighting Silence..."
""!!""
"My Skill manifested, and the sword couldn't withstand the output. It just shattered, haha!"
"How was it...?"
"It was only a single blow, but I reached her!"
At Akumo's confident declaration, Hephaestus and Tsubaki exchanged stunned looks before pressing him to describe the battle in detail.
"You're saying you succeeded with a slash that should have been impossible to execute?"
"The fact that it cut through the Silence's magic makes it hard to classify as a simple offensive magic..."
"Tsubaki's right. Your magic likely holds a massive amount of hidden potential."
"But if even 1st-tier equipment specialized for durability is breaking, shouldn't we just stick to Indestructible gear from now on?"
Hephaestus seemed to ponder Tsubaki's suggestion, but eventually shook her head in disagreement.
"Something about that feels like a waste..."
"What does?"
"...Akumo, would you like to study blacksmithing more seriously for a while?"
"Wasn't I already doing that?"
"You were, but... I mean for real, this time."
Akumo accepted her proposal as if it didn't particularly matter to him.
'I don't know what it is... but I have a feeling this kid is going to show us something incredible.'
A few days later, Akumo was in his room, contemplating the weapon he desired. While he utilized a vast array of armaments, it was logistically impossible to carry every single one of them.
"A weapon..."
'Just being simply powerful won't be enough.'
As he thought, a sudden memory struck his mind like a physical blow.
"Urgh!?"
In the fragment of memory that rose unbidden, a man was holding a green dagger. It looked incredibly plain, yet for some reason, it felt familiar and special.
'It's like something I've used since the beginning...'
His vision flickered again. This time, unlike the green dagger, he saw a single sword emitting a brilliant light of overwhelming power. Its strength seemed beyond what anyone could imagine crafting.
'What is this..?'
The moment he reached out for that rugged-looking sword—
Whoosh—
"What... is all this?"
Countless weapons were now floating before Akumo's eyes. There was the green dagger, a greatsword that looked like fire itself, a spear as luminous as mermaid scales, crimson gauntlets that seemed to be soaked in blood, and a pitch-black greatsword that resembled a shadow. Six armaments in total captivated his gaze.
More astonishingly, the twelve pieces of equipment hovering above those six emitted an aura that was incomparable—an overwhelming presence similar to the divine power radiated by the Gods.
"Crazy..."
Then, the moment Akumo grasped the sword thrust into the center—
"Gah!?"
Thump— Thump—
His body trembled as if he had just completed an exhausting workout, yet simultaneously, he felt the exhilarating thrill of having woken from a rapturous dream.
"That was...!"
Akumo immediately began recording everything he remembered about the weapons in his notebook. He spent the entire day lost in thought, calculating how such things could even be forged.
Hum—
He failed to notice that his magic had drawn him even closer to his true, original form. He had, once again, clearly 'pioneered' his own future.
Graaaaaah—!!!!!!!!!!!
Slash—!
Having entered the Dungeon as usual and disposed of a Goliath as a warm-up, Akumo was deep in thought regarding his new dilemma.
"I have the image for the weapons..."
'But with abilities like that, they'd obviously have to be Magic Swords, wouldn't they?'
"I can't make them with my current skill level, and even if I could, I don't have the materials!"
VROOOM—!!
"!?"
BOOM—!!!!
As Akumo vented his frustrations, a massive greatsword aimed for his back, slamming down with violent force. The impact shattered the floor and sent tremors through the surrounding area.
"Ottar, are you picking a fight again?"
Having avoided the attack with effortless grace, Akumo let a trace of irritation leak into his voice as he looked at Ottar, who wore an uncharacteristically dark expression.
"I heard you successfully landed a strike on Silence this time."
"That's right. Why? Are you jealous because you were blown away in one hit?"
CRASH—!!!!!
Ottar's face remained a mask, but his eyes narrowed sharply. He hurled his greatsword, pulverizing the spot where Akumo stood. Naturally, Akumo had seen it coming and swung an axe with a wide arc to deflect the blade, sending it spinning into the ground.
CLANG—!!!!
"Come to think of it, this is exactly how things were when I first arrived in Orario, wasn't it?"
"....."
Ottar looked at the man before him, gripped by complex emotions.
'Even if it is by my Goddess's command... this man is a warrior.'
It weighed on him that he had intentionally resorted to an ambush to test a warrior whose talent exceeded his own. However, Ottar, who followed the Goddess's word without question, gripped his sword with both hands and leveled it at Akumo.
"Fine. I'll accept this challenge."
Shring—!
Akumo mirrored the stance, drawing his sword with a confident smirk. In that moment, the knot of complexity in Ottar's heart seemed to loosen.
'I see. An ambush isn't a stain to begin with...'
For his Goddess's command—and to witness the full power of the warrior before him—Ottar poured strength into his blade.
The two warriors collided, the impact shaking the very foundation of the Dungeon. The shriek of swinging swords, the thunderous descent of axes, the dull thud of fists and the snap of kicks—the cacophony of battle didn't cease for tens of minutes.
CLANG—!!!!
BOOM—!!!!
THWACK—!!!!
In truth, this had become a mandatory monthly ritual of extreme sparring since Akumo met Ottar upon arriving in Orario.
"Incredible..."
From the Familia Home, Freya's face was filled with awe as she watched the two through her divine sight.
'Even if they are in the middle of a battle...'
Freya already knew that whenever Ottar and Akumo clashed, they intensified each other's radiance. It was a known phenomenon to her.
However, even accounting for that, the light currently emanating from Akumo was brighter than ever before. It was as if he had achieved some monumental feat.
"The Loki Familia hasn't set out on an expedition... so how?"
As Freya continued to peer intently into Akumo's soul—
FLASH—!!!
"Ah...?"
One second.
There was a being.
One who had traversed a vast world countless times, shining with a light that illuminated all while pioneering his own path. In the end, he became a figure praised by all existence.
How many lifetimes had his adventure spanned? Even without talent, even when trials threatened him, even when born into eras of absolute chaos, he pioneered his way forward and became a legend.
Two seconds.
Before she could even process the shock that the soul of Akumo she usually saw was merely an outer shell, the entity within opened its brilliant emerald eyes and looked back at her.
Whoosh—
Freya clutched her clothes, overwhelmed by an explosion of emotion that defied explanation.
"Hnnnng...🖤!"
Freya closed her eyes and tilted her head back, trying to cool her overheated mind. But her face was flushed crimson, and the trembling of her heart refused to subside.
Thump-thump!
"Akumo....🖤"