Requiem Of A Failed Hero



Raith landed on the rooftop of the Rain Guild building as he had been called a moment ago by Tae Dong-Hyun himself.

The man had sounded so tired, yet hyped, shouting "It is complete! It is complete!"

And so Raith redirected his route and landed on the guild rooftop. Then traced his way to the underground of the building.

As he reached there, the place was deserted which he found weird but didn't think much of it.

Considering the delicate work Tae Dong-Hyun wanted to do, it was given. But Raith didn't know the intensity of that work.

He could never know the depths of hell Tae Dong-Hyun went into to pull out the true form of that sword.

No one would ever understand.

Raith opened the door to the hot smithy and gently entered. He put one step inside and alertly jumped back outside, looking ahead of him with widened eyes.

It was because he had felt a humongous presence inside the room just when he was about to enter, it was brief. He didn't even feel it before or after he had jumped. It was quick, and his response goes it was to immediately run away.

'The hell? What the hell is that?!' He beckoned on himself with a serious face. A frown shrouded his brows afterward and he gritted his teeth in vexation of how scared he was the moment he entered that room.

He signed and walked in again– He took a sudden pause but did not fly outside like before.

However, this time the presence was more powerful and strong. It was as if the shadow of a colossal monster had been cast over the entire room but there was no physical presence of a monster.

Raith narrowed his gaze to a slit and his pupils began to emit red smoke while dark smoke swirled around his body.

And with that faint release of the enormous void he carried, he took baby steps into the smithy and was flabbergasted as he entered.

Tae Dong-Hyun was sitting cross-legged on the floor and in front of him was a black sword, that looked like a katana but did not have that slant blade like katana or the round hand guard.

The sword indeed had a taped hilt and cross guard with a red crystal embedded in the center, when a closer look is taken one would discover it is more the eyes of a devil than a crystal.

"Bastard! You have grown stronger. I presume you grew a little bit of sense too."

Black's thick voice resonated inside Raith's head such that it was as if the voice of the sword was coming from all corners of the room.

Tae Dong-Hyun raised his head to Raith seeing that he was switching left and right as though he was looking for something. Tae Dong-Hyun couldn't tell how, but he knew.

"Did it speak to you?" He asked.

Raith guided his gaze back to him, and with a confused expression, he nodded. "What is happening?"

Tae Dong-Hyun let out a mad giggle, the giggle went on longer than normal which insinuated more madness and before he could stop giving, he passed out.

Raith was put in a very awkward position.

'What do I take of this? Did he laugh himself into a stupor?' Raith scratched his temples as if he was scratching for answers.

"He is tired out already. He only lasted this long because he wanted you to see what he has done."

"He wanted me to see what he has done?"

"Yes..."

"Please where are you sounding from?" Raith asked with unintended politeness, looking around the building in search of the deep hoarse voice that was talking to him.

"Fool! Did you grow so much power and no sense?"

"I see you have no manners still, I thought your manners got broken because you got broken but it seems you were born broken."

"At least you learned some cussing skills."

The voice rested with a short sigh and spoke again.

"That guy, is crazy?"

Raith's gaze fell on Tae Dong-Hyun who was still laying on the ground.

"I suppose you mean he is mad but by the texture of your voice which sounds quite serious, I now re-suppose that he exceeded your expectations."

"I don't know if that is what to call it. That guy pulled the part of me that I didn't even know existed, how in the world is a human able to do that?"

"Do you want him to wake him up and ask him?"

"Are you dense? didn't you see him faint?! Shouldn't you even be carrying him right now to the hospital or something? Isn't that what humans would normally do in this situation? Run around with care and worry, how can you be so calm."

'How do I tell him I'm not like most humans...'

"What? You are not like most humans."

Raith's eyes squinted and fell on the sword that suddenly rose on its own and fell towards him.

"What is this? A sword is moving on its own?" He spoke with unbelief resounding in his tone.

"So you still can't comprehend what is happening. I'm an ego sword bastard!"

"Even still... moving on your own is too much." His voice went lower after the small pause.

But the sword had no problem hearing him perfectly. It was Raith that still conversed with it as though the voice was sounding from. outside and not inside.

He pointed to his head, 'Looks like you are here....' He said in his mind, a test to confirm his hypothesis.

"No fool, I am not in your mind. It is as simple as you are the only one that can hear my voice because you are the one attuned to me." The sword explained to me.

"Ah, I see..." Raith nodded in acceptance of what the sword said.

"Yes... now, don't you want to see what I can do?" The voice said with a tone that sounded like it was grinning.

"Okay, sure..."

'Appraisal'

[THE SWORD HAS BLOCKED THE APPRAISAL ATTEMPT]

"What?"