The Test

Dusk approached, marking the beginning of Faolan's test. Passing the test would allow Faolan to undergo Mr.Nakama's training, his determination will be put to the test. Crafting a sturdy sword was something Faolan had not even achieved yet, but he was desperate in what he's learned from Mr.Nakama to make such a blade. However, what Mr.Nakama had taught Faolan could not have any possible correlation with creating a sword.

In order to craft such a blade, Faolan started by choosing a piece of steel that is about three feet long, with a slight thickness to the steel, he did not understand why he needed the measurements. Faolan makes sure that the steel he chooses is about three feet out of the hundreds of steel that lied about in cabinets and on top of shelves, by the look of his eyes.

He never understood how his eyes could picture what he wanted to understand.

'There is so much steel here, enough to make an entire army of Demon Slayers. I wonder if Mr. Nakama trained other Demon Slayers before…. I wonder what happened to them? Who trained him? What about mom? Who did she learn from?' Faolan's thoughts begin to quickly frustrate him.

Faolan quickly took the steel to a furnace to heat, he needed to make the steel malleable enough to truly forge and remove any abnormal impurities that lingered in the steel. The heating of the steel will take a long while in order to make it malleable enough. As Faolan heated the steel within the furnace, the steel slowly burned a bright ocherous glow, Faolan gazed the steel with a sharply spirit.

'With this blade I will hunt the Demons. I will make them pay for making me feel like this… I will make them suffer for what they did to you, what.. they... did to me. They will die.'

The heat would make it difficult for Faolan to remain comfortable. Sweat began to pour from his body. Faolan grew impatient for the blade to finally to glow the correct bright colors so he could begin forging it. To quicken the process Faolan proceeded to enhance the temperature by adding extra material to the steel. This was a risky tactic because if the steel was overheating, it would easily melt, creating an uneven exposure of where the hardened area of the blade should truly be dedicated in.

With just the assumption of his eyes, the glow of the steel enhanced at a faster pace, the whole room engulfed by vibrating heat of the furnace causing Faolan to pant in order for his body to cool down, in turn his body was drenched in sweat and increasing an spontaneous breathing pattern. Faolan pulled the steel out of the furnace to place it on the anvil, the only problem Faolan has now is figuring out how to forge a katana. He has never helped forge a katana with Mr. Nakama, only metallic items for the homes of the villagers that they would request.

'How am I supposed to forge this katana correctly? Think think!' Faolan shook his head in distress,

"The only time I've seen a katana through my very eyes is when…. when," the image of Faolan's mother burned into his mind, her smile, the injuries she had taken, creating panic within Faolan's spirit , and that blade, the blue blade reflecting the light of the moon, it's appearance was dazzling, Faolan was entranced by the blade, like a calm river.

CLING CLING

The sound of metal clashing, his mother fighting for his life, the hideous demon and it's maniacal smile of evil, plaguing Faolan's heart with thunderous anger.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHH," Faolan picked up a hammer that hung above the anvil, smashing the steel repeatedly, at the same time turning the steel as he forges it unconsciously with his eyes, he let out a harsh beating onto the steel. Faolan's palms were turning pink due to the excessive exertion of force on the grip of the hammer. The steel's glowing color would start to fade, meaning that it would lose malleability.

Faolan held withering eyes upon the deformed blade as he returned it to the furnace, waiting for the blade to return to it's bright glow in silence.

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After some time for the steel the return to it's vibrant glow, Faolan returned to the anvil to bend and chisel the steel into the shape of a blade, he only worked with his imagination and with everything that he's seen through his eyes, no matter how painful the memories were to hammer each time.

He would now work on the sword tip after hammering for some time. Faolan chiseled with the amount of force he felt necessary for the tip, then moving on to the curvature and bevel of the blade, this would ensure the cutting edge of the blade which then Faolan needed to taper carefully.

Faolan instinctively reached out for a clay mixture that sat near the anvil on a shelf, he wasn't sure why he took the clay so quickly, he didn't think perhaps he's done something similar before

"The clay will allow the spine of the blade to be flexible and allow the edge to be sharp", he assumed based on what he's done before.

Faolan passed the clay throughout the blade with his bare hands, he was cautious of overbearing the blade even when he was just beating it with the hammer. Once the blade was covered with the clay, Faolan decided that the blade would now need to be quenched.

'This will allow the blade to finally harden, I hope.. no ....I'm doing this right,' Faolan was unsure with how he was able to successfully craft a blade so far. He quenched the blade from the edge and tip, this would allow the cutting surface to be firm.

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More time passes for the blade to harden, now Faolan needed to temper the blade,

'I have to make sure the entire blade is hardened now,' Again Faolan returned to the furnace reheating the blade, he turned and twisted the blade in the heat of the fire ensuring every side is receiving the treatment it needs to be a formidable blade, the blade reminded him of his mother each time he turned it.

Even more time had passed,

'I have to now let this blade cool in the room, the process may take a long time,' Faolan had to let the blade cool in room temperature in order to balance the firmness of the entire blade. He stared into the blade with angered eyes, the thoughts of his injured mother continuously plagued his mind, watering his eyes.

"Mom," he whispered, wiping his eyes.

"The Demons will suffer," he used anger to harden himself.

Faolan laid on the bed that Mr. Nakama had put him in, his face was filled with forgery debris from the forging, his hands were smeared with dark cinders. He glared into the ceiling waiting for the blade to cool, a sense of drowsiness came upon Faolan, his eyes fell heavily, closing.

'It was that night..'

The smell of dying embers, and the smoky sky, enveloped around Faolan, awaking him. Faolan could not move, he struggles to soak in air, panicking he attempts to scream for no sound to be heard.

He blinked to the sight of the horrifying Demon.

The Demon smiles maliciously as it raises one of it's mangled arms drenched in blood, pointing into a direction. The sight of the Demon overwhelmed Faolan with the evil it displays, forcing him to look into the direction of where it was pointing, to witness what no child should ever see.

The body of a woman lying on the ground, bloodied and injured, his mother. Faolan's eyes formed a heavy storm of rage, he screamed hatred onto the Demon only for it to laugh.

"aha….ahahahaha….AAHAAHAHAHAHAAHA!"

Faolan couldn't do anything.

It approached Faolan, closer and closer, continuing to roar in laughter.

"I WILL SLAUGHTER ALL OF YOU!"

Awaking from the bed, Faolan's heart was about to burst from his chest, sweat returned pouring from his body, he panted heavily. The shimmering light of the sun reflected through a small window,

'A sign of the morning? The blade must be hardened already! I have to hurry before midday ,' he picked himself from the bed proceeding to recover the blade from where he placed it to cool down.

He picked up the steel blade from where it cooled,

'I need to get all this clay off the blade now, where is the grinder here?'

Faolan searches the room for the grinder, looking through every shelf, every container, searching for the grinder.

"There isn't a grinder anywhere! How am I supposed to finish the blade by midday if there isn't a grinder!" Faolan, frustrated kicked one of the shelves in the room, causing metal steel that sat on top of them to tumble across the floor. Some were in a cylinder like shape, others in a prism.

"A circular shape like that is what I need," Faolan quickly picked up the cylinder shaped metal steel.

' There is no way to spin the metal so I can grind the blade….. so… so….. I will have to use my bare hands.' Faolan's decision to use his bare hands to grind the blade is extremely dangerous for he could accidentally ruin his own fingers. The grinding will be long and tedious for Faolan, he held the metal cylinder against a shelf with his palm, and with the other hand held the blade to grind until it was sharp. Faolan maintained his wrist in a forward position, moving the wrist in an upward and downward flow so that the metal could sharpen the blade. The grinding of the blade had taken Faolan two hours, his wrist was sore and weak. His other hand holding the blade grew numb of constant pressure of the blade against the cylinder, but the blade was sharp.

Midday was slowly approaching soon, Faolan could feel it, his eyes could see it, he forced himself into the next step of forging a blade, assuring that the grinding process was done, his hands are rougher now.

"I need to… I need to.. polish," Faolan took one of the steels that had a rectangular shape in order for him to polish the blade. Using the same shelf, he pushed his palms on the non-sharp side of the blade pushing the blade into the steel to sharpen the blade even further. The unharden and hardened parts of the blade will become apparent in the future.

Even more time had passed, Faolan needed to finish the blade soon,

"In a katana it needs a… a..sort of square thing.. like what I saw.. I need to make it fasten that square,"

Faolan, showed signs of an afternoon slump, his body was overruled by exhaustion, yet he desired to finish the blade at all costs. He took a massive metal splinter that was on the side of the shelves to form holes on the blade for the hilt. Faolan swung with enough force on the blade to bust a hole and again for another hole. Luckily for Faolan, there were many guard like materials sitting about, he picked out a guard made out of hardwood, with copper pegs, also aligning them to the tang, this allowed the blade to be held in place.

Faolan finally took the square things' pegs into the two holes he had made into the blade, putting it through the blade's tang, fastening them with an anchor. There wasn't any leather to wrap the blade so Faolan used scrap rags from inside the shelves used for wiping, to strengthen the attachment of the handle and the blade.

The sun was at its peak, Faolan inspected his blade, raising it high, his hands were scruffed, beginning to form calluses. Faolan's body collapses in exhaustion sprawled throughout the floor, the blade falls with him as well.

The front door opens soon after, the old man Mr.Nakama had come to inspect the quality of the sword if it will break in a single strike. He witnesses a sprawled Faolan that rested upon the floor, he lifts him onto the bed slowly. Mr. Nakama beamed the blade Faolan had crafted next, reaching down and lifting the blade by the hilt.

"I'm not sure how he was able to craft such a blade, filled with determination and anger. I'm not sure how he even was able to craft such a blade with no prior knowledge to forging a sword. He has your eyes Okami-san, his eyes perceives information in a much more powerful way than almost any other eyes," Mr. Nakama knew it was time for him to test if the sword will break, the blade looked entirely make-shifted, but still a blade. He took the blade out into the sun, near one of the many trees to slash. He breathed heavily taking in as much oxygen as he could. In a thunderous flash he slashed the tree leaving a scar on the trunk and he awaited for the blade to react to the impact.

"Nothing. The blade did not break… Faolan you have successfully created a sword? From nothing but your eyes!"

He re-entered to where Faolan rested, he noticed how much smudge covered him, Mr. Nakama turned his head upwards beyond the ceiling.

'Okami-san I will teach him all that I know, Faolan I will teach you all that I know.'

'I NOW ACCEPT YOU AS MY STUDENT! OKAMI FAOLAN!'