Kojiro's original sword was the blood katana which was given to him by the council due to his exceptional swordsmanship but after defeating the fiends, he dropped the Fiend slayer with the council and went into isolation in the north with the blood katana.
It was there that he found a little boy that had been abandoned by his parents during a war that was raging there at the time. Kojiro took this boy and trained him in all forms and techniques of Mana swordsmanship including the litanies of the Fiend Slayer. That little boy was indeed a prodigy because he learnt and perfected everything he learnt at a tremendous rate.
That little boy was Lloyd Ronan
After learning everything he could from Kojiro, he remained with him and treated him as a son would treat his father.
But few months before the contest was announced, Kojiro caught a terminal ailment and died shortly after and Lloyd stayed with him to the very end taking care of him as if he was his own father.
It seems that Kojiro had told Lloyd about the contest because immediately it was announced, he was the first person to apply with Kojiro's blood katana as his weapon."
"Now I understand why a contestant was wielding a weapon out of the six weapons of sin" Steve said with his eyes closed and legs crossed as he cultivated.
"…Now tell me about the blood katana itself, it's activation was very powerful compared to Grandpa Matt's sword of grace"
"Yes…. Actually, the blood katana is the strongest weapon out of the six weapons of sin and it is the only activation weapon other than the Fiend Slayer that has techniques.." Joaquin explained
"Techniques?" Steve said and opened one eye with his eyebrow shot up
"Yes… just like the Litanies. The techniques of the Fiend Slayer are called litanies"
"Ohh… I understand now. Then the blood katana must be very powerful for it to have techniques" Steve said after closing his eye and focusing back on his cultivation.
"Yes it is….. Why the sudden interest in him?"
"Anyone would be curious to find out about a swordsman who is able to defeat an imoogi with one strike"
'Smart kid… Learning about his opponents' Joaquin thought as he nonchalantly watched Steve's concentrated face,
"What about that four eyed guy from the prelims? Has the council found him?" Steve asked
"Fletcher Fisher?"
"Yeah… That one"
"That kid must've had an ulterior motive for coming here and he has done an impressive job of concealing himself here because even i, a nine star mage hasn't picked up his presence"
"Do you think he's dangerous?"
"I can't say for now but whatever he's doing here, I'm sure he's up to no good"
Joaquin then stood up slowly before saying, "I'll be going now"
Steve opened his eyes the moment he heard the words but he didn't see anyone, Joaquin had already left
"Sly bastard"
…..
The Next Day….
During breakfast,
Steve, Trygve and Susan were eating their breakfast on a four seater rectangular table. Steve and Trygve were on one side while Susan was on the other side, opposite Trygve.
They were talking noisily when Anna walked up to their table with her tray of food and sat down beside Susan, opposite Steve.
"Hey" She said as she sat down amidst stares from people around, especially Susan and Trygve.
"Hi" Steve replied without even raising his bent head from his plate
It was then that Trygve who had been brainlessly staring at Anna knew that something was up.
"What's with that reply?" Anna pouted with her full round lips protruded,
"Sorry…. Hi" Steve raised his head with a boyish, innocent smile on his face.
Trygve was about to nudge Steve with his elbow when Anna turned to him and said, "Hi there, I'm Anna. Nice to meet you"
Trygve, in an attempt to act cool put one elbow on the table and used the other hand to part the thick blonde hair on his face aside, then he raised his eyebrows up before saying, "I'm Trygve, nice to me…"
He didn't know that he placed his elbow on the edge of his tray so as he was about to speak, the tray flipped and poured out all it's contents on his body.
"Sh*t!" He interjected as the hot food scalded his skin.
Anna chuckled softly and turned to Susan and said, "I'm Anna, nice to meet you"
"I'm Susan, nice to meet you too" She replied with a smile on her face.
From the way the two girls were smiling at each other, Steve was sure that they would get along well.
"Bro you landed another chick?" Trygve whispered fiercely to Steve after he had recovered from his mortification.
"Shut up" Steve replied him with a sarcastic smile
"He he…. Bad boy"
....
Lloyd was sitting on a rock on the shore of a huge expanse of water that was within the contestant arena.
Since he entered into the Infernal Realm, he had never trained once. All he did was to sit by the shore and stare into the ocean while reminiscing over the memories of him and his master.
Pieces of rocks were in his palm and he threw them into the water, watching as it hit the water surface with a PLOP! sound and form ripples that would spread around and disappear shortly after.
The ripples disturbed the calm water surface and the reflections on it undulated as a result of the disturbance.
He could see the reflection of the dull purple sun in the water as it danced in tune to the ripples that disturbed it's reflection.
PLOP!
Another stone hit the water surface and sank instantly.
Suddenly, he felt someone's presence behind him, ordinarily he would have turned to face the person but this person seemed to carry absolutely no killing intent, it was almost like the person was afraid of him.
"What do you want?" Lloyd asked and the person stopped in his tracks.
'He's truly a powerful swordsman. He could sense my presence even though I was at full stealth' The person coming thought before saying, "I come in peace"
He took Lloyd's silence as an affirmation and slowly sat down on a rock beside him.
Dark in complexion, short black hair with tattoos scrawled all over his body. His aura was emitting that of an initial level four swordsman.
"I'm sure you have noticed…" Billy started, with a serious voice
"Go straight to the point" Lloyd replied effortlessly, never taking his gaze away from the water as the stones made ripples on it with every drop.
"I want us to cooperate together to eliminate Steven Heracles"
"What did you say?" This time, Lloyd turned to him with a confused look on his face
"I said that I want us to cooperate together to eliminate Steven Heracles" Billy repeated himself, enunciating the words singly as he spoke.
"Why?"
"Eh?"
"…" Lloyd had a look on his face that said 'you heard me right'
"Well… He's obviously a threat to our success in this contest! Can you imagine? He's rescuing his opponents!" Billy trembled with indignation as he spoke
Lloyd was silent for a while after Billy's outburst and Billy began to think hopefully, 'Yes, I've gotten him now. He will help me eliminate that annoying Heracles idiot'
When Lloyd turned and looked at Billy with his honey brown eyes, Billy couldn't make out any emotion in his eyes… They were just plain, dull and dangerous.
"Who exactly is he a threat to? You. Or. Me?"
Lloyd's choice of words shocked Billy and he widened his eyes before saying "What do you mean?"
"Stop whatever you're planning and focus on the contest. Either way, you won't succeed"
"Wait…. Are you for real?!" Billy started with a flabbergasted expression on his face, "Aren't you seeing his growth speed? He's stronger now than he was during the prelims…. We have to end him now"
"We? Don't lump me in with trigger-happy charlatans like you. You're just here to satisfy your ego….."
Billy began to clench and unclench his fists as a way of trying to suppress his anger as Lloyd spoke.
"So you better…"
"Shut the hell up!" Billy yelled at Lloyd, interrupting his statement. He stood up and pointed a finger at him, "You know what? I did you a favor by coming to ask for your help in this quest but on second thought it seems that you're just as self righteous as he is! Mark my words, after the Heracles boy, I'm coming for you"
Lloyd didn't even spare Billy a glance as he stomped off in anger while muttering incomprehensible things.
With the blue pill in his palm, he looked up to the purple lit sky and said
"Kojiro-sama, I'll fulfill my promise and become the fiend Slayer of my generation"