"Noble Phantasm.That is the name of my Longinus."
Samael stopped at Haruto's words. But he didn't stop looking at the weapons floating all around them, with a slightly opened mouth and wide eyes. Even though Samael lost most of his ominous features like his fanged teeth and dragon body parts, his sharp chin and crimson eyes weren't exactly giving him a friendly outlook. But the person himself was more eager to see the surroundings rather than paying attention to his new form.
"'Noble Phantasm'? A fitting name I must say." Samael replied with a thrilling voice, "But the mindscape … I have never seen something so beautiful, so original."
Samael said as he pointed at his surroundings with both of his hands. They were in the mindscape of Haruto's Longinus. The ground was adorned with unique markings of which the beginnings and the ends could not be seen. It was even hard to form the exact complete image as to how little of the markings that the eyes could see from the ground. But these markings were the first thing that caught Samael's eyes as they were glowing with a soft golden hue. And then came the countless weapons. If anyone could tear their eyes off from those countless unique and majestically crafted weapons, they would see the cloudless sky with thousands of stars. But it was the huge ancient clockwork gears made of black and white, surrounded by smaller ones, which gave the sky a complete otherworldly look.
"Awesome, right? Haruto grinned as he saw Samael looking all around, his head not stopping for one second.
Samael scoffed, he wanted to retort that these weapons and the mindscape were more than "Awesome", but when he looked at Haruto's smile, he stopped. His smile stretched from ear to ear and his azure eyes were as wide as his.
"So what do you think?"
Samael shook his head and looked around again, "I can't find the words to describe this place, Haruto." But then he furrowed his brow and looked back at him, "I see lots of weapons of dark origins but I don't sense any evil inside any of them. How is that possible?"
"Weapons can't be evil, Samael." Haruto chuckled, "Unless it is a soul bound weapon or a weapon that has been tainted by its creator. Or a weapon that has taken too many innocent lives. But a weapon can't be evil just because it has the power over dark or unholy elements."
"Interesting." Samael smiled, satisfied with the answer, and went back to observe the weapons.
"Well, I think it is time for me to show you the 'Big Guns'." Haruto's eyes twinkled with amusement as he pointed at a direction with his head. When Samael turned to the pointed direction, he blinked. He furrowed his brows and blinked again.
"It wasn't there before." It came out like a question rather than a statement as he pointed at the floating island surrounded by mists.
"You mean this island." Haruto snapped his finger and the surroundings changed in a flash. Samael blinked for the umpteenth time. He didn't need to be told where he was. He just chuckled lowly and looked at Haruto, who was grinning like a mischievous fox.
"Lead the way, my friend." Hearing that Haruto beamed and laughed, "But we are already here."
And then he noticed, that they weren't alone.
"Welcome, to the deepest part of my soul." Haruto gave an elegant bow, and in return, he received sniggering from behind him. Even though Samael could clearly hear the voices but he couldn't see the owners of the voices properly other than their silhouettes; despite them being quite close to Haruto.
"Shut it guys, will ya." Haruto snapped. Then he coughed and stood up straight, "This is where all my soul-bound weapons are, each and every one of them can be compared to any ordinary Longinus, almost." Haruto said the last part in a small voice.
"Oi oi, what do you mean by almost." One of the silhouettes came forward. He was an early to mid-teen boy who had a Mohawk hairstyle. But it was the blunt short broadsword, glowing in blue-green color, which caught his eyes. And the moment Samael's eyes landed on the sword, he couldn't move them away. He just couldn't help it.
"Ekko, we talked about this before."
"Ya, and you never won that argument."
"Neither did you, you brat."
"Look who's talking."
"Ekko, behave."
The last voice was from someone else. Samael tore his eyes away from the sword and looked at the newcomer. The moment he realized that he did that involuntarily he immediately knew that the man wasn't any ordinary soul. It wasn't his blood colored hair or eyes, or the simple staff he was carrying that caught Samael's attention. It was the marking sporting on his body and cloth. It looked exactly like the ones from the ground below.
"You …" Samael couldn't finish his words as the person looked at him and slightly nodded, "Your guess is correct Samael. I am the consciousness of 'Noble Phantasm', also the guardian of this part of Haruto's soul. You can call me Kurama. And," He gave the kid called Ekko a look who backed off while putting his hand up in a surrendering manner, "Also the being that keeps the noisy bunches in check."
Protests, whines and wry laughs could be heard all around them.
"So shall we begin." All Kurama received was a blank stare. With a sigh, he looked at Haruto, "You didn't tell him, did you?"
"I was getting to that part." Now it was Haruto who whined.
"What are you talking about?"
Haruto looked around, and Samael felt that there was a silent communication between him and the souls around them, as just moments later they all disappeared completely.
Taking a deep breath, Haruto looked straight to Samael.
"Kurama was talking about the ritual that you have to go through, to turn you into a 'Regalia'."
"I thought I was already turned into one?"
"All I did was to extract your soul, nothing more and nothing less." Then Haruto chuckled and answered before the question could come out of Samael, "The reason why you could be here is because both I and Kurama allowed you to come here."
"How does the ritual work?"
Haruto looked at Kurama who was holding a crimson colored spear, something that Samael was sure wasn't there before. But he stopped making heads and tails of this place long ago. Kurama gave the spear to Haruto who in return held the spear in front of me.
Samael didn't know but for some reason, it felt as if the spear was calling to him. Seeing the confused look on Samael's face Kurama came forward, "One of the materials used to make this spear was your blood."
"I am sorry for taking your blood without your consent. But I was running low on time." Haruto apologized sincerely.
"It's ok," Samael composed himself, "So what do I have to do now?"
"Accept the spear as a part of yourself and give it a name."
Samael blinked …
"Is that all?"
"That is all."
He blinked again …
Then Haruto burst out laughing, even the composed Kurama started to chuckle.
"It never gets old."
"Haruto," Samael frowned.
"I am not lying Samael." Haruto gave a lively smile, which even reached to his bright azure eyes.
Whatever Samael had thought of when he heard "Ritual", this certainly wasn't it.
"Samael, I don't have to tell you, but I think you know how powerful a 'Name' can be." Haruto said in a soft tone, "Usually, the wielders of 'Sword Birth' or similar types of sacred gear don't know the value of it. For example, I know a guy who named his swords 'Holy Eraser', 'Flame Delete' and it goes on."
Haruto rubbed his forehead and released a long breath through his mouth, "Who the hell in their right mind named their weapons like that? I mean do you name your kids based on numbers?"
"So I have to 'Name' this spear, something that symbolizes me or my power in any way or form?" It was a question as well as a statement. Samael was answered by Kurama's low chuckle and Haruto's wide grin.
"You got it in one go."
"So after the ritual is done, you can use my power whenever you want?" Samael asked.
"Not exactly. I can use any weapon, however, I want in the first stage of my 'Longinus' but the weapons that have souls, the 'Regalia' I need to use them through my 'Balance Breaker'." Haruto answered promptly.
Samael hummed at that answer. But all of a sudden his head turned to Haruto, "Wait, does that mean you have multiple 'Balance Breaker'?"
Haruto shrugged his shoulders but his wide fox-like smile answered his question. Kurama cut into the conversation, "You will see it yourself as time goes by. But for now, do you have any name you want to give to the weapon? You can take your time if you want."
Samael looked at Kurama, then at Haruto, and finally, his eyes landed on the spear on his hand. The corner of his lips went upward as he closed his eyes.
"No need to wait. I know what 'Name' I should use."