I woke up before the others.
It wasn't the noise of the city. Nor some strange dream.
It was the sword.
It was resting beside the bed, leaning against the wall, exactly where I had left it. Even so, I had the feeling that it was calling me.
I sat for a few seconds, staring at it.
The runes engraved on the blade were dim, ordinary, as if it were just a well-crafted sword. But I already knew it wasn't just that.
I got up slowly, took the weapon in my hands, and felt the weight.
It wasn't heavy.
It was balanced.
Perfect.
I swung the blade through the air once, testing the movement. The cut produced a light, clean sound, almost too elegant for a weapon made to kill.
I heard a yawn behind me.
Rai'kanna.
"You're in love with that sword."
"Maybe."
She sat up on the bed.
"Yesterday you seemed like a different person fighting."
"I felt that too."
The others began waking up little by little. Vespera stretched. Elara rubbed her eyes. Liriel mumbled something incomprehensible. Lyannis simply opened her eyes in silence, as always.
We went down for breakfast.
King Durgan was already cheerful.
"I heard the worcs didn't stand a chance."
"They really didn't," Rai'kanna answered before I could speak.
Briena was watching me closely, curious.
"So the sword is really all that they say?"
I looked at her.
"It's more."
After breakfast, she insisted on accompanying us to the guild again.
"I want to see up close how you work."
We agreed.
When we arrived, Gromek greeted us with a strange smile.
"I was already expecting you."
He placed another scroll on the counter.
"There's something that might interest you."
I picked up the paper.
Unknown creatures spotted in the ancient galleries, abandoned tunnels connecting very deep mines. Workers heard strange sounds. Two didn't return.
Lyannis read over my shoulder.
"This doesn't look simple."
"Rank S+," Gromek said.
Rai'kanna smiled.
"Even better."
We accepted.
The entrance to the ancient galleries was farther from the kingdom, in a less busy area. The path was quiet.
Briena walked beside me.
"You seem different today."
"How so?"
"More serious."
I thought for a moment.
"I'm trying to understand this sword."
She smiled.
"It chose you."
We entered the ancient tunnels.
The air there was different from the worcs' cave. More closed. Heavier. Older.
The walls had marks from old tools, signs of mining from many years ago.
Then we heard it.
A dragging sound.
Scraping against stone.
We stopped.
Vespera was already aiming her bow.
Elara was preparing magic.
Lyannis watched the darkness ahead.
The first creature emerged slowly.
It looked like a cross between an insect and a lizard. Low, elongated body, with hard plates on its back and many legs.
Small eyes.
Sharp mandibles.
And behind it, others.
Many.
Rai'kanna moved first.
I went right after her.
The first strike came fast. The creature tried to leap at me.
I raised the sword and slashed.
The body split in two.
No resistance.
No effort.
But there were many.
They came along the walls, the floor, the ceiling.
Vespera fired quick arrows. Elara kept a magical barrier around us. Liriel illuminated everything with light magic. Lyannis cut down those trying to flank us.
But my attention was on the sword.
Every movement I made was decisive.
Every strike opened space.
Every cut eliminated an entire creature.
At one point, one of them managed to jump over the barrier and came straight at me.
I turned my body and made a vertical cut.
The blade went through the hard plate on its back as if it were paper.
I paused for half a second.
That was a natural exoskeleton. It should have been resistant.
Not to this sword.
"Takumi, to the left," Lyannis shouted.
I turned and cut without thinking.
Another one fell.
In a few minutes, the tunnel was filled with bodies.
Silence.
Heavy.
Rai'kanna was breathing hard.
"This is not normal."
"Not at all," Elara replied.
I looked at the sword again.
There was no dirt on the blade.
The blood slid off and simply didn't stay.
As if the sword rejected any impurity.
We moved deeper into the tunnel.
We found the nest.
Dozens of eggs stuck to the walls.
And a much larger creature in the center.
The queen.
She was enormous. Twice the size of the others. The plates on her body looked like stone.
She opened her mouth and let out a sharp sound.
The smaller ones began to hatch from the eggs.
Rai'kanna smiled.
"This one's yours, Takumi."
I advanced.
The queen tried to strike me with her mandible. I rolled to the side and cut off one of her legs.
The limb fell whole.
She recoiled, furious.
I didn't give her time.
I jumped and made a diagonal cut across her body.
The sword went through the thick carapace.
The creature fell to the ground, thrashing.
One more strike.
Silence.
The hatchlings stopped moving.
We stood there for a few seconds without saying anything.
Lyannis broke the silence.
"This sword completely changes the level of battle."
I took a deep breath.
"It really does."
We gathered proof of the mission and returned.
On the way, no one spoke much.
It wasn't exhaustion.
It was understanding.
Something had changed.
When we arrived at the guild and delivered the report, Gromek looked at us, impressed.
"You handled this far too quickly."
I just nodded.
As we left the guild, Briena walked silently beside me.
"You don't seem happy."
"I'm thinking."
"About what?"
I looked at the sword at my waist.
"Whether this is an advantage… or a warning."
She didn't understand.
But I did.
If I was becoming too strong…
Then the enemies that would come later would be proportional to that.
We returned to the castle at dusk.
And that night, as I lay down, the only thing going through my mind was an unsettling certainty.
This sword wasn't making me stronger.
It was preparing me for something much worse.