As the vault opened, there were a multitude of halls in front of them. Each hall was labeled by the type of weapon housed inside it. Simon noted that at the end, there was a label called "Scissors."
(What the hell is in there?)
Simon knew he should stop questioning it... But he couldn't help but focus on this hall for a few seconds. He forced his attention back to the others that were actually open.
There was everything you could think of there. Staffs, swords, daggers, guns, anything you could name. What was more impressive was that these halls went down to at least twenty feet each.
Normally, a Signator would collect about ten feet worth of contracted weapons in their life. But Rin was not a normal Signator.
To enter into a contract with an entity, the Signator would normally have to agree to the terms proposed by the entity. Rin was famous for her unique approach to doing things, however...
It was a pleasure for her to not kill them on sight.
A contract is exchanged for their life. Whether it be temporary, permanent, or as long as they submitted to her, it did not matter.
They kept the contracts with these weapons; they knew the consequences of doing otherwise. In their eyes, that woman was not human, nor an entity.
She was something else entirely — what could only be described as herself. After all, she made five out of nine of what could be considered the most powerful entities submit to her.
Out of all of the entities, Saber-Cry Abyrion-Iscaria Soul-Trapped-Blood was the one that she could not capture.
As for the other three, they were in hiding.
Simon did not have another thought before walking into the daggers section. With him being the first to try and find a weapon, the rest of the group closely followed.
Ezra walked into the sword section, Evelyn into the spears, and Leo into the Gauntlets. Haruto was having trouble finding his way, but Blossom was told to guard the Scissors section.
He held his hand out, walking slightly into the same section as Ezra. He rubbed his hands against the walls, eventually cutting his finger.
"Ow..."
Ezra turned around and saw this, guiding him out. Sharp weapons were usually not a good idea for the blind when they were so large.
Thus, he took him into the accessories section before going back. Silas was the only one who did not search; to him, it was far too much work.
However, he knew it was far more dangerous to go without one, so he went with Haruto.
In Simon's hall, most of the daggers were not ones to his liking. The contracts were either not fit for him or were lacking in some way, shape, or form.
The length of each blade was also taken into consideration, but the longer he searched, the more his options increased.
There were many options like thunder daggers, some that manipulated shadows, and others that increased his physique. Still, this was not what he was looking for.
Simon thought in terms of brains over power, so his gaze shifted to the one he believed was the best option. It was a pair of daggers, one a blackened silver, the second a deep violet.
They were marked as "Tengu Daggers."
(Really? To think she claimed such a powerful beast.)
He tried his best to sound impressed, but this was Rin Sato he was talking about. The legendary beast known as Tengu was not out of her reach. The first dagger was long and narrow, but the second was shorter and jagged.
Both of their handles were coated in deep obsidian feathers. He lifted the two up, reading the description of their contract more in detail on the wall where they were placed.
The first one could create illusions within his vision, and the second would corrupt his enemies' senses. When he compared these to the daggers he was currently using, it was heaven against earth.
Simon forced his spiritual energy into the weapons, claiming the contract for himself. Inside his core, two crows entered, immediately hunting down his other self.
The dice quickly turned back to his miniature self and began to running from them. He forced both of them to calm down, and they all sat on different fragments of his core.
Simon walked out of the hallway, and everyone was already there by the time he got back.
"You're picky." Silas pointed out.
"I'm just efficient."
Simon took note of all their weapons, with Ezra having a great sword that resembled a black and gold slab, and Evelyn a stark, white spear.
Leo had gauntlets, the fingertips resembling a dragon's claws. As he turned to Silas and Haruto, he was slightly confused. Not by Haruto's, as he held a stack of seals and Kanzashi.
What made him question things was Silas, as all he had were rings on each finger. He didn't even bother pushing the issue, just going along with the rest of the group.
The ten minutes had barely finished, and Blossom rushed them out. On their way out, Simon checked the camera, noticing that the entity had left its field of vision.
He didn't bother telling the others; it was likely that this was why they were getting weapons. As he expected, as they got inside the elevator, Evelyn explained it to him.
"We're going back to kill that thing," Evelyn said.
(Sigh.)
At least now, there was a chance they were not outmatched. But he knew how hard it was to replenish spiritual energy in the Hollow World for an entity, so he had to keep his hopes up for now.
"We should be able to win now, just don't fall into its domain." Simon pointed out that even if it might be common sense.
"As long as we can get Silas to shoot the entity from afar, and Evelyn reverse the Signature effects from it, we can win."
This was still an if, but unlike last time, he was willing to try it out this time. Before going out to the Hollow World, each of them tested their weapons.
Although Simon was trained in daggers, he was still clunky due to the short size of the second one. Additionally, the rules of the daggers were rather confusing.
While the first one created physical illusions, they could not do anything about the other senses. Thus, the second one would need to be used to disrupt the opponent's senses.
This was a major problem because both of them could not be used at the same time.
He came up with the solution of making illusions of himself or the environment, with the first dagger. After this, he would disrupt their senses with the second dagger.
This would force his opposition to have to guess what was real and what wasn't the entire time.
Continuous manipulation of their mind would eventually lead them to figure the trick out. However, when you mix truth with lies, it's impossible to tell the difference after a while.
Inside the training grounds, he worked continuously with these until the sun was setting. By then, everyone had gotten used to their weapons and mechanics, and they went to hunt the entity.