Episode 217. Shadow Hammer (3)
-You’re reviving me?
‘Of course, you won’t go back to how you were before you died. If my guess is correct, you will only leave your inner world and incarnate into the world when I hold the sword.’
This was something I realized after seeing Kamnuit.
Currently, Kamnuit is neither alive nor dead. The moment he holds the ‘Shadow Hammer’, he gains a physical body.
His previously nonexistent shadow returned, and his presence was newly detected in Rubin’s darkness.
What if Rubin holds that shadow hammer?
There will be no change to Rubin himself, as the Shadow Hammer only affects the souls of the dead.
So what will happen to Haneke in his current spiritual state?
Rubin expected that Haneke’s soul would be drawn out from his inner world, perhaps temporarily.
‘The hammer and anvil are said to be made from pieces of God. It is a power that only exists in those tools. However, it would be impossible for me to take those tools.’
-So you’re going to get permission from the blacksmith to get some of those tools. But… it doesn’t look easy.
Haneke’s question was no different from Kamnuit’s. The specialness contained in the hammer and anvil. Even if it really incarnated the soul, breaking it was another matter.
‘You said that no soul weapon can break it. But there is a way.’
-What method?
‘It’s simple. The hammer breaks on the anvil. Or vice versa.’
For now, that’s the end of the story.
Rubin stood before the shadow hammer. The voice that had been directed toward his inner Haneke was now a voice and directed toward the blacksmith.
“Kamnuit, can I borrow your hammer for a moment?”
Kamnuit left it alone, wanting to confirm Rubin’s confidence. Instead, he called Elkio outside.
“…What’s going on?”
Elkio, who was basking in the moonlight outside the blacksmith shop, approached and asked.
“I’m blind. Tell me what’s going on.”
“Why is the author standing in front of the hammer?”
“He wants to borrow it. He wants to convince me.”
“What? Borrow?”
At that moment, Rubin’s hand reached out to the hammer and gripped the handle tightly.
“What happened?”
“nothing.”
“As expected, nothing happened?”
Elkio tried to answer that nothing had happened, because he thought it was just Rubin’s experience holding the hammer.
“… … !”
But the time for an answer to continue was passing. Kamnuit turned his head towards Elkio.
If his eyesight had been intact, what he would see now would be El Chio trembling with anxiety.
“hmm?”
Kamnuit couldn’t see Elkio, but instead he noticed that the air in the forge was slightly distorted.
“What’s wrong, Elquio?
“Who is that?”
“What? Who are you?”
“If an old man were to emerge from the author’s shadow… would you believe it?”
“What is that… … .”
“Not only that. He even lifted the hammer.”
“… Don’t joke around, El Chio. That’s a hammer that no living person can lift.”
Rubin looked down at the hammer he was holding. Surprisingly, the hammer wasn’t heavy.
But the moment I held it, I felt like a part of my body was shedding its shell. And then, Haneke’s presence completely disappeared from my inner world.
“… … .”
His shadow on the wall.
At first, black powder began to spread out from the shadows. The powder began to gather in one place, and began to take shape, starting from the lower body and taking shape in Haneke’s body.
“…her.”
Haneke’s elasticity fills the forge. It was not the inner world of thoughts but the actual voices of the living.
Haneke looked down at his hands, touched his face, then placed his left foot on the ground and turned around. A state somewhere between body and soul. It was amazing.
Haneke’s vision brought into view the blind blacksmith of another world and the sentinel of the red cloud. Behind them, Blanet was looking at him with surprised eyes.
Blane, who had been outside the blacksmith shop just a moment ago, had sensed something unusual and came inside.
“Rubin.”
Haneke’s voice trembled with emotion. Hearing those words, Kamnuit had no choice but to accept Elkio’s words that the old man had finally emerged from Rubin’s shadow.
“… Oh, I guess I should say hello first. My name is Haneke Brion.”
Kamnuit and Elkio did not know what kind of fame Haneke had. It had been more than 200 years since Kamnuit left the continent and came here.
The world he remembered was before Lilic declared the empire. The recently reborn Elchio was no different.
“Haneke…? General Haneke Brion?”
Blaneman knew that the white-haired old man before him had been a great general of the empire during his lifetime.
At that moment, Rubin, holding a hammer, stood next to Haneke. Their eyes briefly passed each other.
“Kamnuit. Now, before you, another soul within me is incarnated.”
“Another soul?”
“A man with a seven-star aura, and a grand general of the Empire. And-”
This time, Rubin’s gaze turned to Elkio.
“I am a person related to Rayubia by blood.”
“Connected by blood? Are you saying you are the ancestors of Rayubia?”
El Chio intervened, and Haneke responded.
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“Yes. Rayubia is my great-granddaughter. She is the daughter of my grandson Felkion and the two-hundred-year-old Nublar.”
“… How can you believe that?”
“Pelchion inscribed the Brion swordsmanship he learned from me onto Rayubia’s body. It’s not perfect, but it’s part of Brion’s swordsmanship. It’s called the ‘Way of the Sword’.”
After finishing speaking, the general looked around and picked up a wooden measuring ruler hanging on the wall.
The manifestation of the aura. That would make Elkio believe.
Wooooow.
The ruler, which had been used only for measuring length, suddenly began to be covered in a layer of black lacquer.
“That’s Rayubia’s aura… …?”
However, their realms could not be the same. While Rayubia could barely add aura, Haneke was a man who possessed the realm of seven stars.
The black lacquer covering the chair increased one by one, until it reached seven layers in total.
As the aura manifested, the pressure in the forge also rose. The otherworldly blacksmith not only sensed this change, but also noticed the change in moonlight.
“Elkio, can you feel the auror moon reacting? Having left the world early, I don’t know what Brion Auror is, but I can’t help but believe that that person has a seven-star Auror.”
Sssssss.
The proof is over. Haneke, who is collecting the aura that was manifested in his body, looked at Blane for a moment. Blane felt a sense of awe and awe at the same time in those eyes.
‘… The reason Lord Rubin was able to use Brion Aura was also thanks to the General’s soul.’
It was also Blane who intuitively felt that the general knew what he had done to Rayubia. As if reading his mind, Haneke spoke softly.
“Blaane. I don’t have any ill feelings toward you, so don’t worry. I know you didn’t mean to kill Rayubia. When the truth is hidden, it’s hard to see even an inch ahead. However-”
Haneke turned his head towards El Quio.
“If I hadn’t been dead, my great-granddaughter wouldn’t have been so helpless.”
It was also a criticism of Elchio, who was letting Rayubia’s talent for swordsmanship rot away instead of blossoming. Elchio had no choice but to accept it silently.
“Rubin, how did the soul of the dead man end up in your body?”
Kamnuit asked, and Rubin confessed without hiding anything.
“My mother assassinated the general, and the general took his place in my mother’s body as a sword spirit. And through a ritual called ‘100 Days of Cradle,’ I accepted the sword spirit that was engraved in my mother’s body. Since then, Haneke has stayed inside me and taught me swordsmanship.”
“Hmm, it’s a sword wedding… … .”
Kamnuit also knew about the sword. It was a kind of spiritualization process that came from the final blow of a warrior who was prepared to die. This was also one of the many secrets the world held.
At that moment, Elkio intervened.
“You taught swordsmanship to the son of the man who assassinated me?”
“Assassination was just a minor pretext between the two of us. The confrontation between me and Siren was a confrontation towards the extreme of nothingness. I was happy that I could decorate the end of my life like that.”
“… … .”
“And Rubin and I had the same goals.”
“purpose?”
Rubin answered instead.
“It’s revenge against the Emperor. He’s the one who killed Haneke, turned Felchio into a traitor, and destroyed the Brion family. And he’s the one who currently holds and controls all the Assassin families.”
“He must be the cause of this world losing its balance. He must also be the reason why Amyeon chose you.”
“Yes, Kamnuit. I will cut off the bad relationship between him and the Assassin’s Blade. I will return the Assassin’s Blade to hundreds of years ago, when they carried out the oracle given by ‘Amyeon’. Back when they gave their lives with a pure sense of duty.”
It was only then that Kamnuit understood the situation.
“I understand why you need a piece of the ‘Fragment of God’. You want to summon that dead general out of your body and fight together?”
Rubin nodded, but he didn’t reveal the most important reason.
According to the Chieftain’s diagnosis, the period during which the inner world would remain stable was three years.
But the moment he took hold of the hammer, Rubin felt another of his predictions come true.
During this brief moment when Haneke was incarnated, not only did the inner world’s rampage come to a halt, but it also quickly regained stability. The three-year lifespan was extended.
“El Quio.”
“Speak, Kamnuit.”
“Is Rubin really holding a hammer?”
“Yeah, that hammer is what brought out the dead general.”
“… Maybe. It might be like Rubin said.”
“Hmm? You mean breaking hammers and anvils?”
“Yes. No one has ever been able to lift that hammer. Only a blacksmith appointed by the gods can lift it. But now, Rubin has broken that long-standing rule.”
“Are you saying I broke the rules?”
“No, to be exact, I discovered a hidden law of the world. ‘Those who embrace the soul of the dead are qualified to handle a piece of God.’”
“then…….”
Elkio guessed. Maybe all of this was part of the Absolutes’ plan, including Rubin’s determination to break the hammer and anvil.
‘No, maybe it’s the other way around.’
An exceptional being.
Could it be that this human being, Rubin Roinen, is an exceptional being, something that even the absolutes could not have anticipated?
In any case, what is certain is that even those who created the world of blacksmiths are experiencing unexpected events.
“I don’t know what will happen when that ‘chosen one’ hits the anvil with his hammer.”
It was Kamnuit’s gentle permission to use hammer and anvil.
Rubin stood in front of the anvil, holding the shadow hammer. The anvil was glowing softly. In response to the light, the hammer also briefly gathered light.
It wasn’t the manifestation of an aura. It was the reaction of a piece of God when it encountered an ‘exceptional being’. Whether it was goodwill or hostility is still unknown.
“… … .”
Rubin took a short, deep breath and raised the hammer high above the empty anvil.
Kamnuit, who created weapons through the clash of shadows. However, Rubin was a ‘living being’. If he were to strike with a hammer, it would be real, not a shadow.
“It’ll be a little noisy.”
There was no friction when the shadows clashed, but this time it would be different. The sound of hammering, louder than ever before, would fill the forge.
Wheeeeee.
The hammer falls like lightning. The sound of the wind cutting through the air is deafening. As the hammer finally falls on the anvil, Rubin strains his eyes.
Bullfight!
A huge roar shook the blacksmith’s world. As if a fierce storm had struck, a whirlpool formed around the anvil.
Elkio’s ash-gray fur flew up in unison, and Blanet had to hold on to his center of gravity as his body was being pushed far away. Haneke stood firm, like a captain facing the sea breeze.
And then the silence came again.
“What happened? Did a crack appear in the tool of God?”
The one who was most curious was Kamnuit. Since the bet with Glayton in his twenties that made him go blind, he had never felt so frustrated at not being able to see as he did today.
Kamnuit waited for Rubin’s answer in the pitch-black darkness, but received no response. Feeling frustrated, he looked for Elkio.
“Elkio, what happened?”
“… … .”
“Elkio? Rubin?”
The silence continued for a long time. It wasn’t someone’s voice that broke the silence. In fact, there was no need for words.
Tsk tsk tsk.
“… … !”
Kamnuit, who could not see ahead, could clearly hear the sound of something splitting apart.
