For two weeks after the region clear, Ji-hu barely put the twin blades down.
He carried them everywhere he went. He slept with them next to his mat in the dojo. He practiced with them until his arms screamed and his fingers bled and he couldn't lift them anymore. Yuna watched from the doorway some evenings, leaning against the frame with her arms crossed, saying nothing.
Yuna: You know those aren't going anywhere, right?
Ji-hu: Feels like they might.
Yuna: They're yours. You earned them. They'll wait for you to get some sleep.
He kept swinging anyway.
The blades were different from anything he'd used before. Not just weapons—they felt alive somehow, responsive in a way that his old pipe never had. When he channeled fire through the left one, the orange veins running through the black metal glowed like embers in a dying fire. When he channeled water through the right, the blade cooled until it felt like holding a piece of winter in his hand.
Yuna: That's the artifact talking. Something from the other side lives in them now.
Ji-hu: The other side?
Yuna: Where the monsters come from. The Zones. The rift. Whatever you want to call it. High-grade artifacts pick up something from that place. Makes them different.
Ji-hu looked at the blades, at the glow fading slowly from their surfaces.
Ji-hu: Different how?
Yuna: They choose. Sometimes. Who wields them. If they don't like you, they won't work at all. If they do... you can feel it.
He felt it.
---
A few days later, Ji-hu took a cart into the city.
Valiant Storm's headquarters dominated the central district. It had been an office tower before the Convergence, forty stories of glass and steel, but now it was covered in guild insignias and defensive wards that hummed with energy if you stood close enough. Hunters streamed in and out constantly through the main doors. Civilians gathered at the base of the building hoping for autographs, for news, for glimpses of the people who fought monsters so they didn't have to.
Ji-hu walked past them all and asked for Hana at the front desk.
Receptionist: Name?
Ji-hu: Ji-hu. I'm her brother.
The receptionist raised an eyebrow at that but made a call anyway. A few minutes later, Hana stepped out of the elevator looking tired and rumpled and exactly like the sister he remembered.
Hana: Oppa.
Ji-hu: You look terrible.
Hana: Thanks. You look less terrible than usual.
She hugged him quick and tight before he could say anything else, and for a moment he forgot about the blades and the training and everything that had happened in the last few weeks.
Hana: Come on. I've got thirty minutes before my next briefing.
---
They ended up in a small café attached to the guild hall, the kind of place that served expensive coffee to hunters who could afford it. Hana drank something dark and bitter while Ji-hu stuck with tea.
Hana: So. Yuna treating you okay?
Ji-hu: Yeah. She's good. Runs her shop during the day and trains me at night. It's not fancy but it works.
Hana: I looked into her after you mentioned her. She lost her son in the first minute, you know. Never joined a real guild after that.
Ji-hu: She doesn't need one.
Hana: No. I don't think she does either.
She studied him across the table, her eyes lingering on the blades resting against his chair.
Hana: Those are nice. Where'd you get them?
Ji-hu: I killed a region boss a couple weeks ago. A troll. There was this joint operation with some small guilds and I ended up being the one who finished it. Got the artifact as my share.
She stared at him for a long moment.
Hana: You killed a region boss. Alone.
Ji-hu: Not alone. Yuna was there. Some other hunters too. But yeah, I was the one who landed the final blow.
Hana: A region boss.
Ji-hu: That's what I said.
She kept staring, and then something in her expression shifted. Not disbelief anymore. Something warmer.
Hana: You're different.
Ji-hu: I think I might be.
Hana: Took you long enough.
She smiled then, really smiled, and it was the first time in years that Ji-hu saw his sister look genuinely happy.
Ji-hu: I missed you.
Hana: I missed you too. I tried to visit, I really did, but every time I planned to come something came up and—
Ji-hu: It's fine. You're here now.
Hana: It's not fine. But I'm glad you came.
Her console pinged. She glanced at it and frowned.
Hana: Guild master. I have to take this. Five minutes.
Ji-hu: Go. I'll be here.
She left, and Ji-hu sat alone with his tea and his thoughts and the twin blades resting against his chair.
---
A man approached his table.
Late twenties, maybe. Sharp features. Valiant Storm patch on his chest with an insignia that marked him as A-rank. He stood over Ji-hu with his arms crossed and a smirk that didn't reach his eyes.
Dohyun: You're Hana's brother?
Ji-hu: Yeah. That's me.
Dohyun: Huh. Doesn't look like much.
Ji-hu didn't respond.
Dohyun: Must be nice having a sister who carries you everywhere. Gets you into places you don't belong.
Still nothing.
Dohyun: You know how she actually made S-rank? It wasn't talent. There are plenty of talented people who never get past A. She just had the right assets, if you know what I mean.
Ji-hu's jaw tightened but he kept quiet.
Dohyun: Pretty face. Young. That innocent act she puts on. Guild master eats it up. Probably why she gets all the special treatment. Probably why she never has to work as hard as the rest of us. Probably why she spreads her legs for—
Ji-hu swung.
---
Dohyun caught his fist mid-air like he was catching a child's punch. Blue electricity crackled around his hand and Ji-hu felt the shock race up his arm, making his muscles spasm.
Dohyun: That's your move? Street fighting in a guild hall? That's what Hana's brother does?
Ji-hu tried to pull back but couldn't. The electricity held him locked.
Dohyun: You want to hit me so bad? Fine. We do this right. Training arena. Formal duel. Everyone watches. Let's see if Hana's blood is actually worth anything.
He released Ji-hu's fist and the electricity lingered, making Ji-hu's hand shake.
Dohyun: Or you can walk away right now. Go cry to your sister. Tell her some big mean A-rank hunter was mean to her poor little brother.
Ji-hu didn't walk away.
---
END OF CHAPTER 12