Chapter 9 — Blade Of The Chosen
The chamber trembled again, dust falling from the ceiling. Small fragments of stone cracked loose and bounced across the ground. Jae-Min looked around nervously. "That's weird."
Aken ignored him, his attention remained locked on the weapon in his hand. The black blade vibrated softly, crimson lines across its surface pulsed like slow heartbeats. Then something changed, the weapon began to shift. The thick straight blade slowly curved, the metal compressed and refined itself. The crossguard shrank, the entire weapon reshaped itself with smooth unnatural precision. Within seconds…
The sword had transformed—into a katana. Elegant and deadly. Its black blade curved slightly, polished yet still impossibly dark. The crimson veins now ran along the edge like glowing cracks inside obsidian. Jae-Min blinked. "…Did the sword evolve?"
Aken didn't answer because a voice had suddenly appeared inside his head, soft, calm and yet ancient. "Master…"
Aken froze.
"…I've finally found you."
His grip on the katana tightened. Jae-Min noticed immediately. "…Why do you look like that?"
Aken spoke quietly. "…Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?" Jae-Min said confused.
"The voice." Aken spoke in a serious tone.
Jae-Min frowned. "There wasn't any voice."
The voice spoke again. Inside Aken's mind, now it was clearer. "I apologize for the sudden greeting, Master. It took me a very long time to find you."
Aken stared at the blade in disbelief. "…You're talking?."
Jae-Min's eyes widened. "…are you talking it."
Aken ignored him. The voice continued calmly. "Yes, I am."
Jae-Min slowly backed away. "…This feels looks like a private conversation."
Aken spoke mentally. "…What are you?"
The blade responded instantly.
"I am your weapon, your partner and your blade."
There was a pause, then the voice added almost proudly— "And now… your loyal servant."
Jae-Min crossed his arms.
"…Okay I'm officially concerned."
Aken exhaled slowly, he lowered the katana slightly and focused. "…Why can only I hear you?"
"It's because our souls are connected." The voice sounded pleased. "My consciousness exists within cursed energy, and you…are the first compatible master I have encountered in centuries."
Jae-Min stared. "…You're definitely having a conversation."
Aken finally spoke out loud. "…The katana is talking."
Jae-Min rubbed his face. "I knew this day would come."
Aken ignored him again, his mind returned to the blade. "…By any chance, do you have a name ?"
The katana responded without hesitation. "I once had many, but the one I prefer most…is Miokuo."
The name echoed strangely inside Aken's mind, ancient, heavy and alive. Before Aken could ask another question—the ground shook violently.
BOOM.
The entire chamber trembled, large cracks spread across the ceiling above them. Jae-Min immediately drew his sword, his expression was serious. "That's bad."
The katana suddenly spoke again, this time outward. "Oh." There was an awkward pause. "…Master?" Aken narrowed his eyes. "…What."
The blade sounded almost embarrassed. "I forgot to mention something."
Another violent tremor shook the dungeon, stone shattered above them. Jae-Min shouted. "WHAT DID IT FORGET?"
The katana spoke calmly. "This dungeon has a guardian."
Silence, Jae-Min slowly turned toward Aken.
"…Of course it does."
The ceiling exploded, a massive chunk of stone collapsed into the center of the chamber. Dust filled the air, a horrifying roar echoed through the cavern, not like the Stone Crawlers from earlier. This sound was heavy, older even. Something enormous moved above them, the second floor had collapsed. A massive creature descended through the broken stone. Its body slammed into the ground with terrifying force.
BOOM.
The dust cleared slowly and then they saw it. Jae-Min whispered.
"…That's not an E-Rank."
The monster was enormous, nearly three meters tall. Its body resembled a monstrous armored golem made of dark stone, cracks ran across its surface like molten scars. Its eyes burned with red light, massive arms ended in jagged claw-like formations capable of crushing stone. The creature slowly stood, rock fragments fell from its shoulders. The katana spoke calmly in Aken's mind.
"That is the guardian, it has been protecting me for a very long time."
Jae-Min turned toward Aken in horror.
"…YOUR SWORD HAS A BODYGUARD?"
The guardian roared, the sound shook the chamber walls. System notifications suddenly appeared in Aken's vision.
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[Dungeon Guardian Detected]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Name: Stone Warden
Rank: D
Warning: High Threat
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Jae-Min nearly collapsed.
"This is an E-Rank dungeon!"
The monster slammed one massive fist into the ground, the impact cracked the stone floor. Jae-Min pointed accusingly at the katana.
"YOUR KATANA BROUGHT A DAMN BOSS!"
The katana spoke calmly.
"Technically it was already here."
"That doesn't make it better!"
The Stone Warden accelerated, Far faster than something that large should be able to move. It charged directly at Aken, a massive arm swung downward. Aken moved instantly, he stepped forward instead of back, his new katana flashed through the air.
CLANG.
The blade struck the creature's arm, a loud metallic sound echoed through the chamber. Aken slid backward by two meters, the guardian barely twitched. Jae-Min's eyes widened.
"…That thing is tough."
The katana spoke quietly through telepathy.
"Master, I recommend attacking the core."
Aken frowned. "…Core?"
"Yes, its right over there."
The blade subtly guided his gaze. A faint glowing point deep within the creature's chest, the power source. The Stone Warden roared again and charged, Jae-Min rushed forward looking serious. "Distract it!"
He slashed at the creature's leg, sparks flew as his sword struck the stone, the monster turned toward him. Perfect, Aken moved, his cursed energy stirred slightly within his body. The katana seemed to drink the energy greedily. "Excellent."
The blade whispered inside his mind. "Your cursed energy is quite strong."
The Stone Warden swung at Jae-Min, he barely dodged.
"…Okay I'm sorry, I regret everything!"
Aken dashed forward, the katana cut through the air with terrifying speed. This time the blade moved differently. Aken leaped, the katana thrust directly toward the glowing point in the creature's chest. The Stone Warden reacted instantly, its massive arm blocked the strike but something strange happened. The moment the katana came in contact with the stone, a pulse of dark energy exploded outward.
CRACK.
The creature's arm fractured. Jae-Min froze.
"…Did you break its armor?"
The katana spoke proudly.
"Of course I did, I'm not an ordinary weapon after all."
The Stone Warden roared in rage, now cracks were spreading across its arm. The battle had just changed. Aken landed lightly, his eyes focused, cursed energy slowly circulated. Jae-Min grinned.
"Now we're cooking."
The guardian charged again but this time, Aken stepped forward to meet it and somewhere deep inside the katana…
Miokuo smiled, after centuries of long silence…
Its true master had finally arrived.
END OF CHAPTER 9