Decided to skip the rest of the rain training lol.
Two, maybe three days?Riku had trained for a few days straight with Akira and he couldn?t exactly recall what day it was now?after the training, Riku awoke to a loud banging on the wooden floor. His eyes slowly fluttered open, and as he limply turned his head, he groaned to see Thane standing in front of him, banging the hilt of Behemoth on the ground and holding the claymore by its blade.
?Alright, alright, naptime is over, get up,? the gruff sage said, slamming the blade onto the ground a few more times until Riku finally swung himself out of bed.
Putting his hands over his eyes for a moment to adjust back to being open, Riku got up, and as he walked towards the doorway, picked up Soul Eater, twirling it as he followed Thane.
?So it?s back to you today, eh?? Riku said, still twisting his blade, ?Oh, joy.?
?Yep, no more of that lightweight stuff,? Thane said, already walking to his gate, ?Anyway, we need to talk about that there blade of yours.?
~
?An... Astral Blade?? Riku asked, looking at Soul Eater as it lay across his lap.
?Astral Blade... Spirit Sword... Soul Blade... there?s a bunch of names for it, the point is, it isn?t normal,? Thane replied.
They were, yet again, in his cave-like home, sitting in the middle of the sandy arena. Thane stood, pacing as he talked, and Riku sat, though instead of following Thane with his eyes, he was intently staring at his blade.
?So... what?s so abnormal about it?? Riku asked curiously.
?Ok, well, you?re familiar with the tailed beasts right? And you know how they?re sometimes put into other humans? Jinchuuriki??
?Yeah...?
?Well, think of Soul Eater as a jinchuuriki. But it?s not like the tailed beasts; there are millions of these demons, no specific names for them, just demons, or in the case that they?re good, spirits or souls. These blades hold these demons, or souls or whatever, inside of them. There was a man long ago, if I had to take a crack at it I?d guess that he had something to do with the original version of this place, who made a ton of these weapons. Alongside... whoever his partners were, they vanquished and sealed many of these demons within the confines of his magnificently created blades. He was a master blacksmith, who made weapons that had certain seals imbued into them that were capable of containing these demons, and there were many souls who were seeking refuge from both demons and humans, who would undoubtedly destroy anything that they couldn?t understand or that seemed like a potential threats, and simply requested to have this refuge in various weapons. However, the presence of the spirits did indeed change the appearance of the weapon, giving these weapons more... peculiar structure. Soul Eater, for example, was probably a basic, short scimitar when it was first constructed. Behemoth is also an example, the red inscriptions on the side, though it wasn?t such a major change.?
Riku?s eyes were wide with disbelief, even as he asked his question, ?Wait... so if these weapons were made to stop... demons and protect... spirits... then why aren?t they hidden? I mean, why can people wield them??
?There was indeed a flaw in the creator?s attempts, a few actually, that led up to the whole idea of these weapons being flawed. The first is that unlike jinchuuriki, the original weapons weren?t alive; they were just like any other sword or spear or bow. So the problem is, the only reason why the weapon is... ?alive? is because of the otherworldly essence inside of them, the only thing keeping them from escaping is the seal. The point is, these essences can practically control the blade from the inside, but there were some precautions taken from this. The blade is designed to have a specific wielder. For Behemoth, it would be I, for Shinru?s spear, it is indeed one of those weapons, it would be him, and for Soul Eater, it?s you.?
?But these weapons were made years ago, before I even existed, before my parents even existed, probably, so how would they know to design it for me??
?You are the specific wielder of this time. The blade chooses its wielder, but it must have one. Likely, Soul Eater once belonged to a grandfather or great-grandfather of yours, or perhaps an uncle or aunt. It passes down to one who is most relevant, genetically or mentally, to the former wielder. When you die, the blade will find itself with whoever is most similar to you, or closest.?
Thane then continued, seeing that Riku had no more questions, well, none that he could sort out at the moment, ?Alright, well, here?s the problem. The blade needs a wielder, but just like a bijuu, it can corrupt the wielder, take over them, and eventually free itself through the wielder. Just as the nine tailed bijuu may try and take over Naruto to release itself from the seal, which eventually weakens over time. That?s exactly what happened to you during our fight. In a situation in which you faced borderline death, again sorry about that dude, the blade saw the chance to take over, and wasted no time seizing it. But there?s something different about your sword.?
Riku raised an eyebrow, ?Yeah??
?There?s not just one soul in Soul Eater, there?re two. Both kinds, actually, a demon and a spirit. Have you ever looked at your sword? The angelic wing on one side and the demonic one on the other? The dark appearance of the blade, yet another light wing in the inner part of the blade? It is symbolic of the half and half struggle between the two opposing sides. Always, there is a constant battle between good and evil, an everlasting war that will never be settled, but there are times when one falters, and the other gains the temporary upper hand. Now seems one of those times. Usually, if there are two spirits or demons, and on very rare cases such as yours, a mixture, they are usually in the form of dual blades, two blades but that are meant for the same wielder. But there is only one blade, and so the two are fighting over control of it. The only way to end the feud is for you, the neutral side, to learn how to control them, just as a jinchuuriki must learn how to control their bijuu to properly use it. Right now, every time you use one of Soul Eater?s abilities, and every time you discover a new one, you are in danger of the dark side of it taking you over, and, possibly, during their struggle, the light side of it as well. Either way, one will replace you, and you?ll die.?
Riku gulped at the blandness of his last statement, ?So...? he stammered, ?How do I stop them??
?Like I said, you?ll have to learn to control the blade, first you?ll need to find out what demon and spirit are in there, and then train so that you can use their power without anything backfiring on you. From there, it?ll be very useful. Most of these swords have a ridiculously large amount of abilities, and Soul Eater has double that amount. So far, you?ve discovered most of the abilities that relate to your affinity, am I right??
Riku nodded, so far, he had only discovered ice-related abilities of the sword.
?As far as you know, this blade has abilities from all five basic elements and maybe even some kekkei genkais. You know nothing of the blade so far, though, and it?s likely that you assumed most of the abilities of the sword were your own channeling through it. The blade has a wider range of abilities than you could imagine, and, perhaps, you?ll even gain enough mastery over it to release the spirit in the blade to the point where you resemble them, and, though still in your human form, or at least not as large and gruesome as the actual demon in my case, will have access to all of their powers. Observe...?
Thane walked over to the side where Behemoth was impaled into the ground, and closed his eyes for a moment. The red inscriptions on the dark black steel of Behemoth seemed to leave the blade and swirl up and around Thane as a dark red chakra. Suddenly, Thane rose up as a large, dark as night demon. It simply looked like a large black pillar that rose upwards and got wider near his chest area, and had two giant, long arms with clawed hands coming from out of its bulging neck that seemed to show red veins through it. The demon had a mouth that looked like two zigzagged lines that were parallel to each other, and as he opened it and let out a giant roar, fire shot out of Thane?s, or whoever he was now, mouth and slammed into the top of the cave, making the entire thing shake. Both of his eyes were a crimson red, and his nose was now absent, and his ears were two pointed elf ears, seeming to start from his equally as pointy chin and slowly expand further out of his head until they ended only a bit lower than the two horns. There seemed to be nothing that served as his feet, his body simply extended from the ground and loomed over Riku, casting an unimaginably large shadow. Upon closer inspection, Riku realized that only one of his hands had claws, and the other ended with a giant blade that extended the arm to about the length that Behemoth was in the form of a blade.
Just as suddenly as he had transformed, Thane reverted. Black chakra swirled around him until he was back to his original self, though his eyes took a while before reverting to their normal color, and the black swirl of chakra eventually turned into a red swirl that went around Behemoth, and eventually found complacent spots among the sword as inscriptions.
Riku?s jaw was dropped as this all happened, and his eyes were practically bulging from their sockets, and he had stood up at some point due to the surprise, ?This is gonna be awesome.?
The Astral Blades
Two, maybe three days?Riku had trained for a few days straight with Akira and he couldn?t exactly recall what day it was now?after the training, Riku awoke to a loud banging on the wooden floor. His eyes slowly fluttered open, and as he limply turned his head, he groaned to see Thane standing in front of him, banging the hilt of Behemoth on the ground and holding the claymore by its blade.
?Alright, alright, naptime is over, get up,? the gruff sage said, slamming the blade onto the ground a few more times until Riku finally swung himself out of bed.
Putting his hands over his eyes for a moment to adjust back to being open, Riku got up, and as he walked towards the doorway, picked up Soul Eater, twirling it as he followed Thane.
?So it?s back to you today, eh?? Riku said, still twisting his blade, ?Oh, joy.?
?Yep, no more of that lightweight stuff,? Thane said, already walking to his gate, ?Anyway, we need to talk about that there blade of yours.?
~
?An... Astral Blade?? Riku asked, looking at Soul Eater as it lay across his lap.
?Astral Blade... Spirit Sword... Soul Blade... there?s a bunch of names for it, the point is, it isn?t normal,? Thane replied.
They were, yet again, in his cave-like home, sitting in the middle of the sandy arena. Thane stood, pacing as he talked, and Riku sat, though instead of following Thane with his eyes, he was intently staring at his blade.
?So... what?s so abnormal about it?? Riku asked curiously.
?Ok, well, you?re familiar with the tailed beasts right? And you know how they?re sometimes put into other humans? Jinchuuriki??
?Yeah...?
?Well, think of Soul Eater as a jinchuuriki. But it?s not like the tailed beasts; there are millions of these demons, no specific names for them, just demons, or in the case that they?re good, spirits or souls. These blades hold these demons, or souls or whatever, inside of them. There was a man long ago, if I had to take a crack at it I?d guess that he had something to do with the original version of this place, who made a ton of these weapons. Alongside... whoever his partners were, they vanquished and sealed many of these demons within the confines of his magnificently created blades. He was a master blacksmith, who made weapons that had certain seals imbued into them that were capable of containing these demons, and there were many souls who were seeking refuge from both demons and humans, who would undoubtedly destroy anything that they couldn?t understand or that seemed like a potential threats, and simply requested to have this refuge in various weapons. However, the presence of the spirits did indeed change the appearance of the weapon, giving these weapons more... peculiar structure. Soul Eater, for example, was probably a basic, short scimitar when it was first constructed. Behemoth is also an example, the red inscriptions on the side, though it wasn?t such a major change.?
Riku?s eyes were wide with disbelief, even as he asked his question, ?Wait... so if these weapons were made to stop... demons and protect... spirits... then why aren?t they hidden? I mean, why can people wield them??
?There was indeed a flaw in the creator?s attempts, a few actually, that led up to the whole idea of these weapons being flawed. The first is that unlike jinchuuriki, the original weapons weren?t alive; they were just like any other sword or spear or bow. So the problem is, the only reason why the weapon is... ?alive? is because of the otherworldly essence inside of them, the only thing keeping them from escaping is the seal. The point is, these essences can practically control the blade from the inside, but there were some precautions taken from this. The blade is designed to have a specific wielder. For Behemoth, it would be I, for Shinru?s spear, it is indeed one of those weapons, it would be him, and for Soul Eater, it?s you.?
?But these weapons were made years ago, before I even existed, before my parents even existed, probably, so how would they know to design it for me??
?You are the specific wielder of this time. The blade chooses its wielder, but it must have one. Likely, Soul Eater once belonged to a grandfather or great-grandfather of yours, or perhaps an uncle or aunt. It passes down to one who is most relevant, genetically or mentally, to the former wielder. When you die, the blade will find itself with whoever is most similar to you, or closest.?
Thane then continued, seeing that Riku had no more questions, well, none that he could sort out at the moment, ?Alright, well, here?s the problem. The blade needs a wielder, but just like a bijuu, it can corrupt the wielder, take over them, and eventually free itself through the wielder. Just as the nine tailed bijuu may try and take over Naruto to release itself from the seal, which eventually weakens over time. That?s exactly what happened to you during our fight. In a situation in which you faced borderline death, again sorry about that dude, the blade saw the chance to take over, and wasted no time seizing it. But there?s something different about your sword.?
Riku raised an eyebrow, ?Yeah??
?There?s not just one soul in Soul Eater, there?re two. Both kinds, actually, a demon and a spirit. Have you ever looked at your sword? The angelic wing on one side and the demonic one on the other? The dark appearance of the blade, yet another light wing in the inner part of the blade? It is symbolic of the half and half struggle between the two opposing sides. Always, there is a constant battle between good and evil, an everlasting war that will never be settled, but there are times when one falters, and the other gains the temporary upper hand. Now seems one of those times. Usually, if there are two spirits or demons, and on very rare cases such as yours, a mixture, they are usually in the form of dual blades, two blades but that are meant for the same wielder. But there is only one blade, and so the two are fighting over control of it. The only way to end the feud is for you, the neutral side, to learn how to control them, just as a jinchuuriki must learn how to control their bijuu to properly use it. Right now, every time you use one of Soul Eater?s abilities, and every time you discover a new one, you are in danger of the dark side of it taking you over, and, possibly, during their struggle, the light side of it as well. Either way, one will replace you, and you?ll die.?
Riku gulped at the blandness of his last statement, ?So...? he stammered, ?How do I stop them??
?Like I said, you?ll have to learn to control the blade, first you?ll need to find out what demon and spirit are in there, and then train so that you can use their power without anything backfiring on you. From there, it?ll be very useful. Most of these swords have a ridiculously large amount of abilities, and Soul Eater has double that amount. So far, you?ve discovered most of the abilities that relate to your affinity, am I right??
Riku nodded, so far, he had only discovered ice-related abilities of the sword.
?As far as you know, this blade has abilities from all five basic elements and maybe even some kekkei genkais. You know nothing of the blade so far, though, and it?s likely that you assumed most of the abilities of the sword were your own channeling through it. The blade has a wider range of abilities than you could imagine, and, perhaps, you?ll even gain enough mastery over it to release the spirit in the blade to the point where you resemble them, and, though still in your human form, or at least not as large and gruesome as the actual demon in my case, will have access to all of their powers. Observe...?
Thane walked over to the side where Behemoth was impaled into the ground, and closed his eyes for a moment. The red inscriptions on the dark black steel of Behemoth seemed to leave the blade and swirl up and around Thane as a dark red chakra. Suddenly, Thane rose up as a large, dark as night demon. It simply looked like a large black pillar that rose upwards and got wider near his chest area, and had two giant, long arms with clawed hands coming from out of its bulging neck that seemed to show red veins through it. The demon had a mouth that looked like two zigzagged lines that were parallel to each other, and as he opened it and let out a giant roar, fire shot out of Thane?s, or whoever he was now, mouth and slammed into the top of the cave, making the entire thing shake. Both of his eyes were a crimson red, and his nose was now absent, and his ears were two pointed elf ears, seeming to start from his equally as pointy chin and slowly expand further out of his head until they ended only a bit lower than the two horns. There seemed to be nothing that served as his feet, his body simply extended from the ground and loomed over Riku, casting an unimaginably large shadow. Upon closer inspection, Riku realized that only one of his hands had claws, and the other ended with a giant blade that extended the arm to about the length that Behemoth was in the form of a blade.
Just as suddenly as he had transformed, Thane reverted. Black chakra swirled around him until he was back to his original self, though his eyes took a while before reverting to their normal color, and the black swirl of chakra eventually turned into a red swirl that went around Behemoth, and eventually found complacent spots among the sword as inscriptions.
Riku?s jaw was dropped as this all happened, and his eyes were practically bulging from their sockets, and he had stood up at some point due to the surprise, ?This is gonna be awesome.?
