71 Chapter 71 : Arts and Crafts

Baby Duri sliced the robotic arms off of Taiya with Jiyu's sword body, and Taiya blasted backwards, yelling, "Owww! Why is a baby fighting like this?! But that's okay, I ALWAYS HAVE A BACKUP! AND WHY DID THAT GIRL TRANSFORM INTO A SWORD?! WHAT IS UP WITH YALL?!"

Standing near the door, everyone was watching.

Kazuma exclaims, "Go, baby Duri! And…Jiyu?!"

Shiryu yawned, "This event…is waking me up. Um, Jiyu's parents…you guys got graham crackers anywhere?"

Nine said, "This is so cool and random."

Seven says, "Jiyu just turned into a sword. I've seen enough weird shit in my life to be shocked at it, but can someone please help me understand why she can turn into a sword?"

Hide, Jiyu's father said to everyone, "As you all see, Jiyu is a weapon. But not just a weapon. She's much more than that. We're from another realm. By the name of Guesha. The Guesha realm. Jiyu was once a regular sword that was wielded by the lead guardian there, she was a weapon that everyone wanted to get their hands on, sort of like how people want Marshy's Excalibur. Marshy's Excalibur can destroy an entire planet, Jiyu was similar to that. There was a time where Zabel arrived in that realm and wanted to take Jiyu away from us. Of course, there was a large-scale battle that took place. But it was once sided, it was all of us versus Zabel."

Tek asked Hide, "All of you versus Zabel? Was he that full of himself?"

"Zabel had a reputation, of course he was that full of himself. Zabel went there to try and take Jiyu away, but me and Anya got her out of there."

Kazuma asked Hide now, "Just like that?"

"It wasn't easy. At first, Jiyu was taken out of there by the lead guardian, Zabel caught up with them and they fought, and the guardian lost. But on his dying breath, he put the rest of his life energy into Jiyu, bringing her to life. Jiyu was like an isekai character, she didn't know where the hell she was. She didn't really speak it all, and she didn't really understand us. The lead guardian entrusted Jiyu to be with us as he was dying, saying that his sword was precious to him, and that he wanted it to experience real life on its own because Jiyu was useful, so he thought she would be useful as a real person. And so we transferred to earth with Jiyu."

Nine asked Hide, "What was she like at first when she got to earth?"

"She hated violence. But she hated bad guys. She had no true disciple or motive yet, so she was constantly killing bad guys or random people that were assholes every single day. Host Tetsuya warned me and Anya to keep her on a tight leash until she can control herself and develop, or else they would have to destroy her. Me and Anya worked hard to train Jiyu, teaching her the right ways and showing her to avoid the wrong ways to go about life. Once she started getting older, she started to develop feelings and real emotions, and she knew she was a weapon. She believed other kids wouldn't like her because she was a literal weapon, so that's how she became so nervous and scared around. She didn't wanna scare anyone off, so she barely said anything to anybody. But now..it almost brings tears to my eyes..because she's really grown and developed, and I blame all of you, her friends, for her growth. Thank you."

Kazuma smiled, "You're welcome!"

Nine said, "Jiyu has a cool ass backstory. Makes me wanna hear everyone else's backstory."

Kazuma waved his hand, "Oo, oo, my backstory is really really dark!"

"TELLL USSSS.."

Espen asked Hide, "So. Who's the villain of the week this time?"

Hide laughed, "Haha, that's Taiya in the armored suit. He's just an old colleague that wants to invent things and sell them on the black market on the dark web. He wants my stuff too."

"Cool, cool."

"Pretty dope right?"

Anya smiled at everyone, "Who wants popcorn?"

Kazuma, Espen, Nine, Seven, and Shiryu raised their hands. But Tek didn't do anything.

Anya yelled to Jiyu, "Jiyu, if you and baby Duri end up killing Taiya, make sure not to make too much of a mess, kay'?"

Taiya shot a hail of bullets from his armored chest, laughing with a high pitch voice, "DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!"

Baby Duri was running through the grass using Jiyu's sword body to slice all the bullets in half.

Taiya screamed in a high pitched tone, "EWWWWW! YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE CUTTING THROUGH THOSE, IT'S MADE WITH THE STRONGEST MATERIAL IN THE WORLD: DIAMONDS! AND THE DIAMONDS HAVE BEEN MODIFIED TO ITS MAX TOUGHNESS, HOW ARE YOU JUST SLICING THROUGH IT LIKE BUTTER?! YOU'RE KILLING MY VIBE! EW! EW!"

Baby Duri got closer to Taiya, and a giant cannon opened up in Taiya's armored chest, and it lit up around the area.

Taiya screeched again with snot coming out of his nose, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! IT'S OVER FOR YOU!"

Baby Duri had his arms crossed up to his chest like an X while holding the sword, then he vanished.

Taiya thinks, 'Huh? He's gone? But where? Haha, I know this trick. Every time someone teleports in front of me, they ALWAYS end up behind me.'

Taiya looked behind him because he felt a piece of wind touch the back of his neck. But baby Duri appeared in front of Taiya again, and sliced hard one good time.

A great wind blasted, and the arms and legs and chest of Taiya's robotic armor came off, and he fell.

Taiya yelled, "NO! This can't be happening! A baby shouldn't be that smart! It had a whole fUCKiNGGGG sTRATEggYYY!"

Taiya was intact, he was just stuck inside of his robotic suit.

Jiyu said to Duri, "G-good job, Duri!"

Baby Duri looked at the sword, because it was talking to him. Baby Duri smiled, and he started smashing the sword on the ground over and over while giving off a few giggles.

Jiyu yelled, "Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Duri stop! Duri stop!"

Jiyu turned back into her human form, and her face was dirty.

Baby Duri looked at Jiyu, and started wobbling to her, laughing.

Jiyu's face got red, saying, "Aww! How could I be m-mad at you!"

The others were looking at them, and all of the girls were getting jealous.

Anya yelled, "Young lady, you put him down this instant! He's not yours! Now give him to me!"

Seven added, "If you don't hand over Duri, I'm using the Spirit of Wrath to acquire him."

Nine exclaimed, "Screw all of you! I'm more fit to hold Duri! Duri is like a little brother to me! I'll use Godspeed on everyone! I swear!"

Espen threatened, "I'll trap all of you in a hellish domain if I don't get to hold baby Duri."

Kazuma said, "Here they go again."

Shiryu said out loud, "Aren't we gonna work…on our costumes? We go back to school..in two days..I'm so sleepy.."

Seven said, "Oh shit, I forgot all about that."

Kazuma exclaimed, "Me too! This is good though! We can work on our costumes and go over our scripts, and you can all take turns holding Duri!"

Tek says, "I'm not holding my rival."

Anya responded to Kazuma, "Well, I guess that sounds fair. Okay girls, do we all agree to take turns holding Duri?"

Seven rolled her eyes, "Fuck it, I guess. But I get to hold Duri first."

Nine replied, "No I do."

"No me!"

"No me! Nine comes after Seven, so I go first!"

"You can't use that illogical logic! That doesn't even relate!"

"Yes I can! And yes it does!"

(7 minutes later)

Everyone was in Jiyu's personal workshop, and they were sitting on mats with clothing material laying all over the floor, and they were knitting and sewing with Jiyu's machines that she had created.

Music played in the background, and there was tons of chatter going on in there.

Kazuma was trying to talk to Tek the whole time, but Tek was ignoring him.

Her workshop was 40 feet tall and 60 feet wide, and it had grey walls and metal and steel parts everywhere.

Seven was holding Duri, as she was explaining to Tek what they were going to do for their project.

Tek asked curiously, "You're saying that we should base our presentation off of what happened at the village last night?"

Seven nodded her head.

Tek asked, "Detail for detail? We'll be standing in that classroom looking like fools all day."

"Nooo no no. Not detail for detail, we'll just skim through it. Like, okay, I'll show you. Hold Duri real quick."

Seven placed baby Duri in Tek's lap, and Tek rolled his eyes. He tried his hardest not to look at baby Duri in his bright googly eyes.

Tek kept his eyes on Seven, but baby Duri was tugging at Tek's shirt.

Tek looked down at baby Duri, and Duri laughed with cuteness.

Tek's face got red, and he threw baby Duri, yelling, "YOU WON'T TRAP ME!"

A second later, baby Duri was sitting on Tek's head, pulling his hair and laughing.

Tek tried to ignore it, and he said to Seven, "What were you saying?"

Seven continued, "We're gonna act like we're entering a new land, and there's gonna be an evil tribe of people that try to sacrifice us so we won't take their land."

"Mediocre plot line. But I can't think of anything else. We need someone to play the villain. One of us has to."

"You're edgy as hell, so you could play the villain."

"Of course it's me. I'm chosen as the villain because I don't engage in foolishness."

"E-D-G-Y."

"Shut up."

Kazuma said, "Well maybe if you lightened up a little, you wouldn't be all edgy and stuff!"

"Quiet people are considered edgy?"

"It's not just that. You always wear black. That's edgy attire."

"Black is my favorite color. Are you disrespecting it?"

"No! Of course not!"

"Alright."

Nine exclaimed, "Dammit!"

Shiryu asked Nine, "What is the matter?"

"I messed up one of the shirts! Look! It's supposed to be brown, not green!"

"Allow me."

"Hm?"

Shiryu held up the shirt, and he ripped it to shreds.

Nine looked shocked with her eyes and mouth wide open and her hands twitching.

Shiryu grinned with a yawn, "Now..you don't have to..worry about."

Nine replied, "SHIRYU! I'M GONNA CURBSTOMP YOUR FACE!"

"Can you do that..like…later?"

"LATER?!"

Jiyu was talking with Espen, and Espen was making her laugh.

Espen said, "Is everything I say funny?"

Jiyu chuckled, "Ye-yes!"

"Why?"

"I-it's just t-the the way you say it."

"So if I farted, would that be funny?"

"It would..stink. Why?"

"Because I feel the thunder arising from the cave."

"HAHAHAHAHA!!"

From the corner, Hide and Anya were watching everyone, smiling, and then seeing the smile on Jiyu's face.

Hide said, "Just imagine where they will be in the future."

Anya answered, "Probably at each other's weddings and bachelor and bachelorette parties."

"I was thinking the same thing."

"No you weren't!"

"Yes I was!"

For the next 3 hours, everyone was still creating their outfits, looking at some of Jiyu's creations in the workshop, reenacting their lines for their presentation, and laughing and making fun of each other's presentation.

They even had to chase baby Duri around the workshop because he kept picking up some of Jiyu's weapons that she had made.

Baby Duri would laugh as he ran around with the equipment, and Tek had to wrap him up in a chain to stop him.

Nine yelled at Tek, "Why are you putting those chains around a baby?! It could kill him!"

Tek answered. "Baby or not, Duri is a dangerous being mixed with three races of dangerous beings. This has no effect on him."

"I know but it's still cruelllllll!"

"It is. And I don't care."

Jiyu watched all of this, thinking, 'I still can't fathom how happy I am. But when everyone saw me turn into a sword..they didn't..rebuke me. Before we came in here…they told me it was cool. I'm so happy..!'

After a few minutes, everyone was writing down more presentation ideas. Tek asked Kazuma, "Oi, have you heard anything from Ren-Ren? Because that psycho is usually around you."

"No. Not at all. I've tried texting him since earlier, but he hasn't answered me. I even tried calling him, but it goes straight to voicemail."

Nine says, "I theorize that he's out there actually trying to become a villain. But I truly think that he's out there terrorizing puppies."

Shiryu suggested, "He may be…studying really hard…"

Everyone looked at Shiryu fast, even Espen looked at Shiryu with shock.

Shiryu uttered, "Nevermind..then.."

Kazuma implied, "Ren-Ren only studies just because he could use the knowledge. He said dumb villains never go anywhere in life. And it's unlike him to not respond to me, because he usually tells me I'm lucky to get a response from a Grade S villain like him. I don't wanna think the worst, but.."

Tek asked, "You think something happened to him?"

Kazuma nodded slightly.

Seven says, "I think he's alright. He has that cheating sword of his, and he's insane. That's unbeatable."

Jiyu added, "Ren-Ren used to tell me if he ever went ghost, that means h-he's doing v-villain work."

Tek asked, "Why does he actually wanna be a villain? He always brings it up, so he's serious.."

Kazuma shook his head, and everyone else shook their heads.

Espen implies, "There's no need to worry, he'll turn up out of nowhere like he always does."

In the middle of the conversation, baby Duri turned back into his regular teenage form.

Duri was in Sevens lap, and Seven yelled, "WHAT THE FUCK?!"

Duri jumped off of Seven, and screeched, "Whaaaat the hell happened to me?!"

Seven said, "Duri?!"

"WHAAAAAAT? ANYWAY, Someone needs to answer my question! What was I doing this whole time?!"

Shiryu says, "Duri's..back! It's..about time.."

Espen said, "You turned into the most adorable baby in the world."

Kazuma raised his hand, "You turned into a baby! And you fought a man in a robot suit as a baby! And then Jiyu turned into a sword and you used her to beat the guy!"

Duri asked everyone, "Um..what?"

Jiyu said, "You shot yourself with one of our gadgets, and you had turned into a baby. It is true. And yes, I did turn into a sword to help you. And about the baby effect, It was supposed to wear off in 7 hours, but It took you 4 and half to turn back to normal. That's odd. I guess the lasting effect is due to how strong the user is. Definitely need to document that for my studies!"

Duri looked down at the floor, and then he started to remember things. He remembered when Jiyu had told him at school that she was a weapon. And then he started to remember that Jiyu's arms had turned into swords at the exams, then he remembered himself in a baby form using Jiyu as a sword.

Duri gasped, then he ran up to Jiyu.

Duri asks, "So that's what you meant?!"

Jiyu answered, "When I said.."

"You were a weapon. I remember using you. But I don't remember anything after that. I remember fighting a little bit too. But as a baby? That's weird. Another thing…WHY THE HELL DO YOU HAVE WEAPONS LIKE THAT JUST LAYING AROUND CARELESSLY?"

"Hehe, it's okay Duri. You can calm down. It's a good thing your clothes shrunk to baby size when you turned into a baby earlier. Because you would be naked right now."

"That's a fucking relief then."

"You-you don't feel any t-type of way about..me? How I'm…a weapon?"

"Heh? No. What? You want me to just despise you? I'm a weapon too. Actually, we all are. That doesn't change who the hell you are. And I accept you, so uh..remember that. That's all I'm saying because I'm not with the complimenting shit. Just know we're all the same in being a weapon. I was raised and trained to be one in the shadow realm. Take what I said to heart. Do whatever you want, I don't care."

"Everyone else..said the same thing. You all are my f-friends, and you all accepted me. Especially you, D-Duri. Thank you."

"Yeah, whatever. I'm not with the gushy niceness. But I got your back."

Kazuma exclaimed, "Duri!!! You're back to normal!"

Duri replied, "Okay. What did I do when I was a baby? Besides the fighting?"

Tek answered, "All the girls were chasing you around because they wanted to hold you. I for one didn't engage in that activity."

"Wow. Just WOW. I didn't shit in myself did I? I didn't eat baby food did I?"

"No."

Nine said to Duri, "Yeah you're safe. But next time you turn into a baby, I'm gonna make sure you stay like that permanently and steal you away and go to another realm."

Seven replies, "I can't let you do that, Nine."

"OHH? Do you wanna have a duel to see who gets to run away with Duri in his baby form?"

"I'm down!"

Anya slid in, saying, "You cannot have these conversations without me being involved. I will make Duri permanently a baby and leave earth."

Jiyu exclaimed, "Mom?!"

"Sorry, honey, but this is where we draw the line."

"Really?!"

Hide patted Jiyu on the back, "Haha! Jiyu, you know your mother is only joking."

Espen stepped between Seven and Nine, saying, "I will be the one to change Duri to a baby permanently and lock all of you in my domain."

Duri responded, "Uh, I hope you guys aren't serious?"

[A few miles away]

[An abandoned farmhouse]

Ren-Ren was sitting on a stack of hay, inspecting his katana sword up and down.

'A villain should not be waiting this long for anyone. I'm going to leave now. Wait…if I leave, it could ruin everything. Shiiiiit.'

Immediately, two unidentified people around Ren-Ren's age walked into the barnhouse with a sheet of paper.

Ren-Ren was relieved, "Finally! What's the paper?"

The two people were a boy and girl, and the boy said, "This is a list of 20 strong fighters that Kin befriended when she was a Host. Our mission is to apprehend them all and convince them to join Kin. If not, we kill them. Kin has already sent out a few teams from our side to do the same thing, we need to beat them so Kin can applaud us and hopefully we get rewarded greatly."

The girl said, "It will get shaky at times, but Kin chose us for a reason, we can handle difficulty. Are you okay with heat, Ren?"

Ren-Ren answered, "My name is Ren-Ren, commoner. And second, if things get too hot, I would leave all of you behind just to save myself. A villain's life is somewhat valuable, but mine is way more valuable."

"Seriously?"

"I mean of course I'd come back. Maybe."

"…I see. Tell me, why do you really wanna be a villain?"