The two sword's elements burst in a violent manner. It was as if they were mimicking their owners emotions.
"Don't think that having a soul weapon will give you the upper hand." [Luis]
"That's pretty funny coming from you. I'm not the one who was on the ground a few minutes ago." [Adam]
Luis' face became red in anger.
"That was just a fluke! Flame Whip!" [Luis]
He lashed out, swinging his sword at Adam. A string of flame grew from the tip of his blade and stretched itself at Adam.
"That's not going to work!" [Adam]
He sliced his newfound weapon at the flame whip thinking it would split in two.
"You fell for it, you fool!" [Luis]
Instead of being cut, the flames wrapped around Adam's blade.
"Now you can't use your sword." [Luis]
"You want to fight me in a challenge of strength?" [Adam]
They both pulled as hard as they could. Each trying to pull the sword out of the other's hands. The spectacle became a joke on the sidelines.
"What the hell are those two idiots doing…" [Felix]
"It's like they're a game of playing tug o' war…" [Flora]
"..D-do your best Adam..!" [Tiffany]
"Hrrg!" [Luis]
"Hnng!" [Adam]
This went on for a few minutes…
"RAHHH!!" [Luis]
"HAHHHH!!" [Adam]
"I can't believe this is still going on…" [Felix]
"..." [Flora]
"..Um..uh.." [Tiffany]
She was unable to find any words for the current situation.
"Just let go already!" [Adam]
"No you!" [Luis]
Suddenly, the flame whip dissipated.
"Wha- oof!" [Luis]
"Huh- guh!" [Adam]
The two fell on their bottom from pulling as hard as they could.
"What's going on? Why did my flame whip disappear?" [Luis]
The two looked at each other and jolted themselves back up.
"You know what? I don't need to use my flame whip to win." [Luis]
"It doesn't seem like that to me. All I saw was some kid screaming." [Adam]
"It's the same as you!" [Luis]
"Oh, it's on!" [Adam]
The two rushed at each other with their swords held high. They slashed at each other as soon as they were in range.
"Take that!" [Luis]
"Not so fast!" [Adam]
They clashed blades multiple times, sending sparks and debris flying. The exchange of blows sent gusts of wind everywhere displaying the weapon's power.
("The shockwave of soul weapons clashing is astonishing!") [Felix]
The attacks sped up, sending more vibrations through the air.
"Tired yet?!" [Luis]
"I can do this all day!" [Adam]
The blades kept pounding on one another for a few more minutes, but the speed of the attacks began to slow.
"Haah… Haah… Are you ready to throw in the towel yet..?" [Luis]
"Huff… Huff… I'm not, but I can see that you are…" [Adam]
"Stop! The match is over." [Mr. Frank]
Mr. Frank had stepped in between the two.
"There is no winner." [Mr. Frank]
"What?! Clearly I was the victor here!" [Luis]
"No way! You were on your last legs!" [Adam]
As the two were arguing, Mr. Frank was nearing his patience.
"That's enough bickering from you two! If I had let this go on any longer, we would've only seen more stupidity." [Mr. Frank]
"But that's-" [Luis]
"I said enough!" [Mr. Frank]
"..." [Luis]
Mr. Frank turned his attention to the class.
"As you all saw, our champions were able to summon something that is called soul weapons. Only people who have completed a dungeon have one." [Mr. Frank]
The class seemed interested in the subject for once.
"It is called a soul weapon because it is forged with your soul. Nobody knows how, but people are given personality quizzes to create one." [Mr. Frank]
He pointed at Adam, and then Luis.
"During the fight, you may have heard them say some strange chants. They all start with requesting access to an archive." [Mr. Frank]
Felix raised his hand.
"What's an archive?" [Felix]
"You're the student with the highest grade in this class, how do you not know? You know what? Just forget I said that." [Mr. Frank]
And he just waved it off.
("What a rude teacher…") [Felix]
"An archive is basically a collection of historical objects, but in a soul weapons case, it would be considered an armory. There are three archives you can pull a weapon from. First, is the celestial archive. Weapons from there are usually given to people with good personalities. Second, the demonic archive. Those are given to people with less than good personalities." [Mr. Frank]
He snuck a glance at Luis before continuing.
"And finally, the forbidden archive. There is no pattern to who it is given to. Their abilities are unpredictable, which makes them dangerous. If you encounter someone with a soul weapon from a forbidden archive, be as cautious as you can. If possible, run from them." [Mr. Frank]
("So that means I'm a good person…") [Adam]
He looked over at Luis and smirked.
"So you're a bad guy huh?" [Adam]
"Shut up." [Luis]
The two crossed their arms and glared at each other.
("What am I supposed to do with these two…") [Mr. Frank]
"I've decided that there has been enough action for today. You may all leave early. Go home, I don't want to see any of you here after five minutes." [Mr. Frank]
The class dispersed, and the courtyard was empty with a matter of seconds. Before Adam could leave the front gate, Felix grabbed him by the shoulder and leaned in close.
"Yo, Adam. Wanna come over to my place today?" [Felix]
"Why? What's the occasion?" [Adam]
Felix lowered his voice.
"Sebastian wants to talk to you about the dungeon." [Felix]
"Oh… If it's for that, then… I guess I'll come." [Adam]
Felix let go of his shoulder and patted him on the back.
"Good. Now I don't have to watch an anime marathon anymore." [Felix]
"What?" [Adam]
"Well… if I couldn't manage to bring you over, my big bro was going to force me to watch anime with him. For like… 6 hours…" [Felix]
"Yikes…" [Adam]
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
A few minutes later, they arrived at Felix's house. In the living room awaited Sebastian who was sitting on the ground watching anime with his eyes closed.
("Is he actually watching it or not?") [Adam]
Somehow noticing Adam and Felix, Sebastian turned around to greet them.
"Welcome home, have a seat." [Sebastian]
Adam sat down on the couch while Felix headed to the kitchen.
"You must be wondering about what happened in the dungeon." [Sebastian]
Adam pinched his index and thumb together in the shape of an ok sign.
"A little bit." [Adam]
"Well… this will take a bit." [Sebastian]
He got off the ground and paused his anime before taking a seat in front of Adam.
"After I handed you that box, it knocked you out, but gave you something called a soul weapon." [Sebastian]
"Oh, I pulled one out today." [Adam]
"...What?" [Sebastian]
"I had a duel with some upperclassmen and we both pulled out soul weapons. That was the first time I summoned it though." [Adam]
"So… you already summoned it." [Sebastian]
"Yep." [Adam]
"Do you know about archives?" [Sebastian]
"Learned it today too." [Adam]
"What else did you learn about them?" [Sebastian]
"Honestly… that was about it." [Adam]
"...Alright. Anyways, Roy and I brought the two of you out of the dungeon. Roy left as soon as we dropped you off, and I had to tend to Felix's wounds." [Sebastian]
"You? Not Roy?" [Adam]
"Roy had some other business, and Felix's wounds were not that bad. It was just some bruises and some fractured ribs." [Sebastian]
("Just some fractured ribs?") [Adam]
"That kind of sums up what happened in the dungeon." [Sebastian]
"That was it?" [Adam]
"There wasn't much left to do after killing the dungeon master. The void inside closed and we just left. Other than that, I'll also have to explain to you about soul weapons." [Sebastian]
"Please do." [Adam]
"Just making sure… you ONLY learned how to summon your weapon and information about archives right?" [Sebastian]
"Yeah." [Adam]
"Okay, just making sure. To start off, each sword has special inherent skills. It usually relates to its chant, name, and title. They also come with a set of skills you can activate." [Sebastian]
"What? How do I find that?" [Adam]
"Your soul weapon is forged from your soul. It's basically giving life to an inanimate object. You have to wait until you can hear its voice. Once you do, it will tell you what skills it has and how you can use it." [Sebastian]
"It can talk?" [Adam]
"...You sure you summoned it? It should have told you how to summon it in the beginning." [Sebastian]
Adam recalls back to the fight against Luis and remembers a voice speaking inside his head.
"Oh… That was my soul weapon?" [Adam]
"Call it by its name, it should be treated as a person. Every soul weapon has a conscience, so it's better to get along with it." [Sebastian]
"Is there something going to happen if I don't get along with it?" [Adam]
"They can choose not to listen to your commands. It would be risky using a soul weapon that doesn't do what you want it to do." [Sebastian]
("...Then was Luis' Flame Whip disappearing because of that?") [Adam]
"Can you show me your soul weapon Adam?" [Sebastian]
"Uhm… Sure, just let me try to remember the chant." [Adam]
("If I remember correctly, it was…") [Adam]
The rush of words flooded his mind again.
"Requesting access to the celestial archive. Pass your judgement to the strong and the weak. Manifest yourself, Krino!" [Adam]
Instead of a lightning bolt striking the inside of the house, electricity enveloped Adam before merging into the blade known as Krino.
"This is my soul weapon." [Adam]
Sebastian inspected it and nodded a couple of times.
"Not bad, not bad at all~" [Sebastian]
"Wait a minute... How do you know so much about soul weapons?" [Adam]
"Isn't it obvious? I have one too." [Sebastian]
"You do?!" [Adam] [Felix]
Felix shouted from over the kitchen.
("He could hear us from there?") [Sebastian]
"Yes, I do. Roy and I were also champions at some time." [Sebastian]
"Even Roy?!" [Adam] [Felix]
It sounded like utensils were dropped in the kitchen.
"Is it that surprising?" [Sebastian]
Adam scratched the back of his head.
"I can imagine you being a champion, but Roy? No way." [Adam]
"Hahaha!, that's a joke I'm going to tell him later." [Sebastian]
"Wait, no. Please don't, he'll beat me up." [Adam]
Sebastian released some laughter before quieting down.
"Haha… Anyways, I called you over for one more reason." [Sebastian]
"And that is?" [Adam]
"I'm going to train you in swordsmanship." [Sebastian]
"Why? I think I'm pretty good at it." [Adam]
"You said earlier that you fought an upperclassmen with your sword right?" [Sebastian]
"Yeah?" [Adam]
"Who won?" [Sebastian]
"...Well, it ended up as a draw, but if it went on longer I definitely would've won." [Adam]
"If you had trained swordsmanship with me, you would have already won." [Sebastian]
"...Singing your own praises huh?" [Adam]
"It's a well deserved confidence. Whatever, let's head to the backyard." [Sebastian]
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Moments later, they were in the backyard.
"Hm… lets see…" [Sebastian]
He was looking around the backyard until he grabbed something off the ground.
"Ah ha! Here it is." [Sebastian]
He held up a stick in his hand.
"What's that for?" [Adam]
Sebastian's mouth widened into a subtle grin.
"It's what I'm going to use against your Krino for sword practice." [Sebastian]
"What?! That's insulting! Don't you have your own soul weapon? Use that!" [Adam]
"Hm… but I'm not sure if you can handle it." [Sebastian]
"I don't care, I'm not fighting you with a stick!" [Adam]
"Well, if you insist…" [Sebastian]
He extended his hand and began to chant.
"Requesting access to the forbidden archive…" [Sebastian]
("Is it too late to pick the stick..?") [Adam]