A Core and A Heart

  ?“Why?”

  ?Severance had to ask again. The words carried the feelings Blade had only felt so far. She could not comprehend it, even if she knew why.

  ?“Your ideal… Could you tell me?”

  ?Blade's body was covered in swords. His mind was shutting off, yet if he was going to die, he wanted to listen. To hear the words of the one who had stood by his side from the beginning.

  ?Her hands shook before she let go of the sword as she held him.

  ?“Why?… My ideal is protecting, yes… but what I wish to protect, is you.”

  ?She said as she embraced him while holding him. She never meant to kill him, she only wanted to discourage him enough to give up, yet Blade had accepted her and her blade. It had never made sense for her to hold back to such a degree if she truly wanted to go against him, and Blade had realized such.

  ?“This was never about a fusion, right?”

  ?“You figured it out.”

  ?She said, cradling his head to her chest, with a sad smile.

  ?“What is happening to me?”

  ?“Iris told you, right? That when you kill an Absolute Authority holder, you get it. Yet you used me to get them. Who should get them then? You or me?

  ?Blade managed to listen to her words, even as he was dying.

  ?“The reason for this is that my authority is going haywire, and each time we clash, it only gets worse. And since your body isn't strong enough, the damage is visible in ways like this.”

  ?“So… what… now?”

  ?“I don’t know. You could have cut me down, I thought… I prepared for you to cut me down. That way, the authority would be solely yours.”

  ?“Because… deep down… I knew you had reasons… even if you wouldn’t tell me.”

  ?Severance did not know what to say to that. A tear fell, then another, and soon she could not stop the silent tears streaming down her face.

  ?“You should have rejected me.”

  ?“I… know… but I also know how it is… to be alone…”

  ?Yet that is also when it happened. Blade felt it before he saw it, as he felt a sharp pain in his chest. Then he saw it crumble. The blades that had emerged from him were crumbling as Severance began fading.

  ?“I didn't lie when I told you about the fusion… but what I was going to fuse was my existence with yours.”

  ?Her words made Blade’s eyes widen.

  ?“Why… you knew from the start?”

  ?“To fulfill my ideal, allow me to be selfish… just this once.”

  ?She said, leaning in slowly as she rested her forehead with his. Biting her own tongue, she kisses him briefly. Not out of a romantic love or hidden feelings, but to give him the last remains of her strength and blood.

  A silent embrace, both to ask for forgiveness for the lies and as her last mark as a farewell, before fully vanishing. As she does, it feels like millions of pieces of information began flooding his brain. A wave of knowledge, an unwanted present given with love. Yet the one he was the most sure of was that he had fully gained the Absolute Authority of Weapons yet lost Severance.

  ?Blade didn’t know what to feel. Why must everyone he cares for be taken away? Yet this was no time to sulk.

  Still to what end must this go? What point will his strength be great enough, to where he no longer needs to be held. When will he truly be able to protect those around him, instead of simply watching them leave. Even as he stretched his arm out for the dispersing glow, he knew it was for nothing.

  ?It was a strange feeling. He was falling, yet right now he was not stressed, not even a little. Right now he felt he could do anything. This euphoria was a curious feeling, and he wanted to find out what he could do.

  ?His curiosity led him, making him forget and not even notice how Severance had evolved, with a chain at the end of the hilt wrapping around his arm signifying and marking their fusion. Or how his hair had grown strands of dark grey strands, similar to Severance, only now mixed among his black hair.

  ?Unleashing his mora, it took the form of a skull, a form of death, enveloping him as Blade turned in the air. He faced the impending ground, yet his focus lay only on the “thing” devouring the people.

  ?Before his mind fully caught on, he turned Severance into a bow and shot an arrow and watched it explode. Though it barely even damaged it, the thing’s attention was now solely on him.

  ?As it came closer, Blade had to admit, despite everything, he did feel mad. Not specifically at it, but more so how Severance was now gone, he had been too weak to protect, and now he could suddenly bask in this feeling?

  ?He did not know if it was the euphoria, his own curiosity, or simply the silent rage brewing in him, yet something he did know for certain was that he would unleash it all on this thing in front of him.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  ?When it first reached him, it tried to grab him while he was falling, only for Blade to sidestep it, using mora to create temporary footing. It tried to send debris to crush him, only for Blade to counter by creating weapons and launching them at the debris, causing explosions as the debris and weapons collided.

  ?Blade was understanding more what an Absolute Authority meant. Being the root, he could do anything. Everything that has or would happen that entails weapons he could do, as everything originated from him.

  ?That is why his storage now carried every weapon and armor that was and would be created. The original of everything. And in his hand, he carried the blueprint that led to them all, of which all weapons and armor originated from Severance. That is why he could change her shape at will, from a sword to a bow.

  ?Landing on the ground, Blade saw how the tentacle's mouths opened before launching at him. He dodged the initial strikes before one managed to hook his foot, lifting him up, only for Blade to slash it, making it gasp.

  ?“So you can feel pain, huh?”

  ?Blade murmured out loud as he went to slash again, only for another tentacle to hit him away.

  ?Yet as he was now, this creature did nothing but disturb and bore him, brushing away the blood on his cheek. Grabbing a tree as he redirected himself to the ground, he landed as it was already on him again.

  ?Its blood was its most intriguing detail, a glowing specter from the rainbow, though even such a sight couldn’t keep his interest. Jumping over the first attack, letting himself be knocked up by the second, he used gravity to cleave through the third, cutting cleanly through its body as Blade landed back on the ground and its corpse landing behind him.

  ?When it began disintegrating into mora, he said,

  ?“I guess when you are made of mora, only people who use mora can harm you. What a cheap excuse for a monster you are.”

  ?Blade said, brushing away the blood that landed on him.

  ?“I’m turning all of you back to the dust you came from.”

  ?Though the creature had no face to show emotion, it had obviously gotten mad at his words. Rushing at Blade yet again, even he was getting bored at this pattern. Jumping off one tentacle, turning Severance into a bow, and shooting arrows at three other heads. Though these were not normal arrows but weapons from his inventory that he reshaped into arrows. Of course, they were not the original. Letting the original be destroyed would destroy it everywhere. And as he was not feeling like recreating weapons, he settled with making copies.

  ?From the information flowing through his brain, he could make out a few categories that weapons could be categorized in.

  ?There were the normal-grade weapons. Normal weapons made in normal worlds and realities. These also included magical weapons and such, yet they could not harm anyone from the Origin Realm and would be unable to handle mora.

  ?There were the divine-grade weapons, those weapons holding some sort of divinity. Even these could not harm someone from here, but they could be imbued with mora to be able to at least pierce their skin.

  ?Afterwards there were mythical-grade weapons that get empowered through legends, stories, and myths about them, both fiction and real. These weapons and treasure varied depending on the legend/story/myth. Meaning it might be stronger than a divine-grade one or barely better than a normal-grade one.

  ?Then lastly, Mora grade weapons made using Mora. These could harm an individual from the Origin Realm like how a normal weapon could harm a human.

  ?Most weapons in his storage were mythical grade or below. There were Mora grade weapons, yet most of them were practically normal grade weapons but built here. He would also prefer keeping them hidden and use them as trump cards instead of wasting them here.

  ?Blade had filled the arrows with mora and made them explode on impact. So seeing the tentacles explode was satisfying, but only more came forth from the explosion.

  ?The more tentacles he destroyed, the more would come. That is when the words of Severance rang in his mind.

  ?“You know, there is not a lot of difference between an origin and an attack made of mora. An origin is simply an Absolute Authority given identity and then form.”

  ?If that was true, then as long as this thing has an identity, it should be easier to kill. At least that was what Blade thought as he tried naming it.

  ?“I name you Tentra.”

  ?The tentacles stopped for a moment, seeming to register the name, before lashing out, more angry now than before.

  ?“Yeah, that would have been too simple.”

  ?Blade muttered as he dodged the attack, countering the ones he could not dodge with slashes. This process was too tedious to continue. It did make sense that a name had to be given with both parties' consent, so it was not a shock.

  ?Jumping back, Blade planned to end it with the next attack. Running up and avoiding a tentacle, Blade jumps in the air, looking down at the ‘thing.’

  ?“You fall here.”

  ?He was glad, glad he would never have to look at it again.

  ?As portals open around them, shooting chains empowered by mora, binding all the tentacles. And that is when it happened. It could thrash, it could rage, yet it could not escape.

  ?“Dawn of the Fallen

  ?As Blade said those words, his aura formed a moon. A moon reflecting light over the area, yet the moon hollowed out as wings appeared behind Blade's back. By the time he had dived in, the wings transferred to his blade just before cutting the tentacles. As Blade landed gently, the monster fell horrendously. It took a few seconds for him to truly register what he had done.

  ?“So that is the power of a named attack? Well, you served a nice test.”

  ?Blade had not known why he had named the attack, it just felt right.

  ?Though the moment quickly disappeared as he remembered the reason why he had fought. He had been too busy raging over Severance's forced departure, and in the euphoria that came with his newfound power, that he had forgotten. But now the fog cleared from his mind.

  ?Running as fast as he could to the village, he did not even notice how his sheet had been destroyed, though he did not need it, as Severance dispersed into the chain before they also turned to marks covering his arm. When he reached the village, he looked around at the loss, the fear, and the desperation etched on the people's faces. From scared families grieving for their lost ones, to wounded individuals screaming not to die.

  ?Blade was used to seeing soldiers and armed men bleed, begging for their lives. Yet this was different. Seeing innocents so wounded, so scared. He did not know what to do or how to do it.

  ?He was never the consoling type, never the one to deal with the repercussions. His belief had always been that protecting people was enough. That it would fix everything. Yet when he saw the carnage to the innocents, new thoughts grew in his mind.

  ?Did it truly make a difference? Was he really saving people, if the conclusion was one without smiles?

  Character Card:A human, now part blade, fighting to protect both himself and his ideals. Thrown into a realm of power and discovery he fights to uncover the mysteries that plague both his existence and his summoning to this realm.

  Name: Blade

  Age: 16

  Race: Human (part weapon)

  Mora: Black with purple highlights

  Absolute Authority: Weapons

  Title: Devil's Blade

  Appearance: Blade is a tall teenager with a slim but muscular build. He has neck length, spikey black hair with dark grey mixed in it. He and grey eyes that instead of pupils host what looks like three spiralling cross-shaped swords, overlapping each other similar to a six-pointed star.

  Blade's outfit consists of a dark grey shirt that was worn underneath a black trench-coat with gray linings, and black boots. His right sleeve is gone, stopping over the shoulder to give way to silver black chains wrapping around his arm. These chains connect to his sword, and when the sword is unsummoned the chains gain rune like symbols in the color of his mora. On his hand he wears silver claw-like gloves which he can retract into bracelets.