Chapter 84: Ch123. Answers - 3 (Moon’s shadow)
Orkas/Kurt’s words made Kurt feel uneasy for the first time since he entered that place.
"What do you mean?"
Orkas/Kurt didn’t take his eyes away from the careful process he was going through, with the tiny Arias on his shoulder, watching the whole process with him, while saying.
"There’s the funny thing about what we call Classes: They don’t work in the way we think we do, when it comes to the system. It actually shapes you to become whatever class you want to be, but since it was corrupted, infected with Calamite, it had to, somehow, show you or tell you that something was wrong."
He finished pouring the green glowing powder into a cast.
"The Rogue element... Was, somehow... The system?"
When that part of the process was completed, Orkas/Kurt closed it, putting it back into the black fire.
"Exactly."
"But... All of us trained to become Rogues, to fit what-"
"What we believed the system wanted for us, when in truth..."
"Yeah. I get it, but-"
"No, I think you don’t get it, Kurt." Orkas/Kurt kept saying, calmly, while using a blower to make the black fire burn stronger. "I know what you’re going to say, and it’s not a matter of ’what if my legacy ends up being another class’ weapon?’, but of what skills you have been able to hone on your own. Without the system’s interference." After a brief pause, Orkas/Kurt took his eyes away from the cast, and looked at Kurt. "You have been able to hone some skills of your own, right?"
Kurt sighed, shaking his head.
But then, when Orkas/Kurt looked down, with slight disappointment, Kurt said.
"I did spend three years out of my home world-line, but I didn’t think of what I was doing as honing skills of my own."
"So you did?"
Kurt nodded.
"Let me guess, they’re all Rogue-related skills, yes?"
Kurt nodded again.
Orkas/Kurt let out a sigh of big relief, turning his eyes back to the cast, already black with grime, and chuckled, smirking.
"Then you don’t have a single thing to worry about, my man! Here, the second step of your legacy’s forge is complete." He opened the cast with the help of another tool, and looked at the glowing green metal bar. "Now comes the hard part."
"The real trial..."
Orkas/Kurt nodded, offering Kurt the cast.
Kurt’s eyes widened, but he understood what he had to do.
He didn’t hesitate, and grabbed the burning hot green metal bar in his hand.
"I hope you do well, Kurt Blake..."
As soon as his burned hand touched the metal, Kurt felt like something was invading his body.
His veins protruded as if the blood was running too fast, his heart rate increased, and his vision became blurred.
The heat of the metal was almost unbearable.
But what troubled him the most, was that he was seeing all the beasts he killed, standing around him.
It was like they were just waiting for him to even ever so slightly waver.
So that they could attack all at once.
Kurt’s senses were heightened to its limits, so he closed his eyes, trying to endure the pain from the burning metal.
He tried calming his heart, focusing his senses away from the metal, in order to try and figure out what the first beasts’ movement would be.
But the more he tried distancing himself from the burning heat of the metal, the more it felt like the metal was trying to get a hold of him, bringing him closer and closer.
To the point that he couldn’t take it anymore, and almost let out a painful scream, but only groaned a little.
Kurt remembered the fight with Zaval, and his senses eased ever so slightly.
’Zaval’s flames burned hotter than this, and I still managed to cut his tongue out.’ He thought, holding the glowing bar tighter.
"It... Won’t be... Enough... To break me..." Orkas/Kurt heard Kurt saying, while the metal in Kurt’s hand glowed brighter and brighter.
It seemed to finally be taking shape.
’Yes, that’s it, man!’ Orkas/Kurt thought, wanting to help him badly, but unable to.
Arias glowed in Orkas/Kurt’s shoulder, getting out and assuming his humanoid form.
"Cut my palm, my friend." He asked.
"Wait, are you-"
Arias just nodded, and Orkas/Kurt did as he was told.
"He might be able to withstand the trial, but I want to write the contract here and now."
As the drops of Arias’ blood fell onto Kurt’s hand and over the burning metal, the smoke raising from it swirled into the air.
And Kurt seemed to ease up a bit more.
Inside Kurt’s mind, the beasts approached, closer and closer, but he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Arias?" He spoke, getting out of that state of numbness he was feeling.
"From now on, we’re together, and no fate, in this world or any other one, can tear us apart."
Arias’ silhouette disappeared as Kurt watched the metal in his hand taking the form of a weapon he had never seen before.
But almost immediately, he understood the purpose of his new item.
His Legacy.
The beasts were frantic, charging all at once towards him.
But as soon as he felt the metal cooling down, with the beasts just a few meters from reaching him, Kurt threw the strange metal circle towards them.
The circle seemed to be growing four blades from its rim, splitting itself in two identical items.
The weapon began spinning at an incredible speed towards the beasts, and when it reached them, in less than a second, all beasts were tore in half.
And Kurt felt as if the weapons themselves had a heart of their own, beating right along with his own.
When he opened his eyes, the weapons were still in his hands, and the system beeped in his head.
[YOU HAVE PASSED THE FINAL TRIAL]
[YOU HAVE ACQUIRED THE LEGACY – MOON’S SHADOW]
[TYPE – WEAPON]
[A SPECIAL AMALGAM OF ESSENTIUM, COATED WITH PURIFIED CALAMITE, AND BORN FROM THE BLOOD AND CORES OF TEN THOUSAND BEASTS]
[A DOUBLE CIRCULAR RIM WITH FOUR BLADES EACH, THAT CAN BE USED LIKE DAGGERS, OR LIKE A COMBAT CROSS]
[SPECIAL ATTRIBUTE – LIMITLESS CIRCLE]
[NULLIFIES ALL USAGE OF VOID POINTS FOR THE USAGE OF SHADOW SKILLS]
[KEEPS THE BOND WITH ANY FAMILIAR FROM BEING BROKEN BY ANY MEANS]
"And now, my friend..." Orkas/Kurt broke the silence, after hearing the system’s voice himself, too. "This is where we say goodbye."
