Chapter 82 - Witchcraft

25 February 2024

Katalysis, 43rd Floor

With a blue stone on my right hand, and a red stone on my left, I placed both on the only table in the inn room.

Tekion's hammer paused mid-swing, as he turned towards the 2 glowing stones with increasing interest.

"So that's gonna be your new spear, eh?" He went over to the table, placing his hammer on his small anvil.

"I don't see why not," I gave a little smirk, as his finger tapped onto the red stone. A small system window popped out in front of him.

"A-class," He nodded, as he tapped onto the blue stone as well. "Both of them. Very well, your new spear's on the way."

"Am I missing anything else on the material list?" I brought down my menu to check my inventory.

"Whatever I have with me is more than enough," Tekion waved me off. "That trip to the smithy was damn worth it. I'll get this done by tonight."

"Wonderful. Can't wait." I tried to show my enthusiasm as I reached for the door.

"By the way, how are my swords?" Tekion asked. "Surely they can't be that bad."

"They do work well for practice, but I guess they do need more improvement." I let my honest opinion out, as I closed the door.

I took slow, careful steps towards the door that I was about to knock on. Considering the complete silence at the other end of the door, the SoH members must have gone out already.

But, for some reason, I could tell that the inn room wasn't empty anyway.

I raised my hand in a loose fist, ready to knock. My fist swung forward, expecting the impact of the hitting a hard surface.

But it kept on going. The door had swung open in that instant, as my fist went front first into the inn room.....

But not before it hit something softer than the door.

Maybe I was still pretty much sleepy in the morning, but whatever the case, not retracting my fist might have costed me my life.

Half of my fist felt the sensation of something bouncy. I blinked for a while, before realising in the horror that it landed just beside the right side of Rakuno's chest.

"Ah."

That word expressed all the surprise, shock and fear that I had. I tried to swing my fist back to me, but Raku's right hand grabbed it with what felt almost like a vice grip.

Her pointed hat, which covered her face, tilted up to me, as I could clearly notice the reddish shades of her facial skin fading away. She gave me a cheerful smile, but one that felt ominously rigid.

"What the hell?"

".....I would like to present a valid explanation for what I had accidentally done."

I tried to get myself out of this situation, while praying hard that Raku would listen to reason.

She burst into laughter, in which I would nervously go along with that.

"Hahahaha--wait--no, no, no, no, stop, stop, stop, I can legit explain this.....!"

Raku's left hand was reaching for Picturesque Brancher as she was laughing, which prompted me to desperately pull my fist from her grip.....which proved to be pretty futile.

She stopped laughing abruptly, switching to her death stare.

"You were this close to triggering the sexual harassment system warning, you know."

"I know....."

I felt the grip on my fist loosening up, as I nursed it a little with my other hand. Raku went for her bed while I closed the door behind me.

"By the way, as a guy.....I'm just legit curious on what your cup siz--"

In that instant, I could've sworn that her eyes flashed dangerously red, as she reached and pulled out half the blade of her sword again, with seemingly murderous intent.

I shot both my hands up, palms spread wide, leaning against the door helplessly in front of a Rakuno who looked like she could kill me several times over if she tried.

"Just curious! Legit! I mean, it's not that small, as far as I can tell. Can't help but wonder....."

I was so beyond dead. If asking a girl about such a topic--especially on a whim--carried such immense risk, then maybe it wasn't that worth it.

To my thankful surprise, Raku dropped her sword back into its sheathe.

"..... It's 'C'.....Are you satisfied?"

I swallowed nothing in particular, as I slowly put my hands down in relief. "Definitely....."

Raku plopped herself down on her bed while letting out a sigh. She took off her pointed hat and placed it on her lap.

"I guess it's time for me to give my explanation, isn't it?"

I gave myself a seat on a chair. "You don't have to force yourself to share your secret with me."

Raku scoffed a little. "Heh. Is it really a secret now, if it's already been exposed? You saw what it was last night. But I had to do it, since it was an emergency....."

She reached for Picturesque Brancher again, drawing it out from its sheathe much slower this time. Holding the sword on her left hand and her empty left hand in front of me, she took a deep breath, before proceeding to activate her Armament Swap skill.

The intended effect of the Armament Swap skill here was for Picturesque Brancher to vanish from Raku's hand from thin air, to be replaced with another weapon half a second later. After all, the idea was to swap a held weapon with another, the benefit being to save precious time to change weapons during combat scenarios.

But that wasn't what I saw. Her right hand, being empty to begin with, suddenly glitched out, as the glitching spread to the rest of Raku's body.

Bits of static popped up on random parts if her avatar body, which started to look like it was out of place with the environment that it was in. A red 'SYSTEM ERROR' hexagonal window popped up in front of her, as she struggled to stand up.

Something was starting to materialize on her right hand, which turned out to be her katana. Her pointed hat fell onto the ground, unaffected by the glitching.

I might have seen this form of Raku once, but it was only from last night. Leaning back on my chair till its legs started to tilt, I stared with amazement at what I was looking.

But I had also realized that this form of holding 2 weapons at the same time probably came at a cost. Raku herself looked far from being comfortable, as her face showed signs of tolerance from the pressure that she was bearing. Her eyes, which were originally brown, have turned distinctively green.

She tried to make a smile, despite her struggle to do so. She might have wanted to tell me that she was still feeling fine in that state, but seeing as she couldn't even open her mouth to tell me that, I had my obvious doubts.

"Is it.....painful?" I asked, as I leaned the chair back into its upright position.

Raku, who was still being glitched out, tried with great difficulty to place her katana back into its sheathe. It was as if she was dragging the weapon across, as the glitches made her arm movements look messy.

As soon as her katana was sheathed, the glitching stopped, and she was back to normal.

"I'm used to it," Raku sheathed Picturesque Brancher before plopping back onto her bed. "Well, it's not painful, but rather inconvenient."

It was evident that the system recognized this phenomenon as a bug that should not have happened with the Armament Swap skill, but it happened anyway.

I wonder if this glitch could happen with my Armament Swap skill. Though, it was working as intended, without any peculiarities. Raku seemed to discover that in hers quite some time ago.

"When did you first discover this glitch?" I asked.

"A few months back," Raku replied. "It's definitely last year, that's for sure."

Well, no shit. It's impossible for her to get used to using a glitch in combat in under 2 months. Her level of control of it should be credited to more months of experience.

I wouldn't have thought much on how a glitch could affect a player's avatar, but now I had a much better understanding.

I also had a much better understanding of the circumstances that Raku was in at the very moment. She had exposed her secret out in the open, to anyone around her. It would be safe to assume that Tori would have known about it too, either from being told about it or having seen it with her very own eyes.

Before I could ask more about the glitch, a message icon popped in front of Raku. As she tapped on it, the message window popped out, and her face instantly turned.

"It's Tori....."

That made me sit upright.

"She's telling me to meet her later," She continued. "By the city entrance."

"Hmm," I stood up and dusted myself off. "I see."

"She's started to get along with me," Raku swiped off the message window. "Although it was only just for a day....."

Knowing Tori, she'd be more than interested to get close to Raku, and it was all because of the glitch that Raku had no choice but to use.

The glitch that only Raku could control. It itself was a complete mystery, and there was no way to deduce its origins. It was simply something that was never supposed to exist, even in this world.

Tori's motive for inviting Raku to the next Gladorium was as clear as day. The Council leader was definitely in for exciting fights that could get the crowds roaring, and she had found an exceptional player that could make such a fight happen.

The problem with that was.....the Gladorium involved prisoners that were--so to speak--arrested by the Council. The possibility that Raku will soon be pursed by the Council isn't low, to say the least.

"What else did she say?" I asked.

"She wants to meet me in secret," Raku lifted her head a little. "Just the 2 of us, in preparation for the Gladorium."

"Preparation? What's there to prepare for a Gladorium, when all you need for one are just the prisoners and the Council members?" I pointed out. " I can't help but think it's gonna be a trap or something."

"Me too," She agreed. "She's way too impatient than usual."

"What do you mean?"

"Tori's a woman who puts in the effort to get the things she wants done. Your plan to get me to investigate on her yesterday actually worked out."

"It's a pity that you couldn't really get along with her enough. She definitely still doesn't trust you enough, which is why she's using you for the Gladorium."

"I know that sucks, but I'll deal with her when it comes to it."

"What about her weapons? Her combat style?"

"Nothing much. She works well with a sword, but that's all I could confirm. But I'm having a bad feeling about that."

"She's hiding something. It's safe to assume that. So.....will you still go to meet her?"

I was thinking of the worst case scenario here. Raku might run into unnecessary trouble if she went to meet Tori herself.

"What? Are you worried about me?" Raku stood up as well, putting a hand onto my shoulder. "I understand, but in times like these, you should trust in what I can do."

"Even if it means using that glitch?" I stared at her with a frown.

"Well, it's not a secret anymore I guess....." Raku pulled her hand from my shoulder. "But I've thought of an insurance plan."

She unsheathed Picturesque Brancher, let it rest on her hands, and presented it in front of me.

"You're borrowing this."

"What the hell?" I took a step back. "But why--"

"Like I said, it's insurance." Raku took my right hand and placed it on the sword's handle. "I want this weapon to be in the right hands if something happens to me."

"Because while Picturesque Brancher might be the sharpest sword you would ever see, it's also the easiest to wield. The metal that it was made of was so light, that even an average player around level 20 could pick this up with a single hand and not suffer weight penalties."

She nudged the sword closer to me. "If this sword falls into the wrong hands, we're doomed."

I didn't know if she was serious in her tone or not. Either way, whatever she had explained about the sword sounded too important to ignore.

The witch tapped the handle of her katana. "Anyway, I still have Taiyoubimaru. So please, don't worry too much about me."

She stepped past me and reached for the door handle.

"Does the glitch have a name?" I asked as I slid Picturesque Brancher into my sheathe.

"Do you want to know what name I gave it?" She turned to me with a cheeky smirk, just as she was turning the door knob.

"So it didn't have a name to begin with....." I muttered.

Raku gave a little giggle. "I call this glitch.....'Witchcraft'."

Of course. Why the hell not? It was only natural for the Katana Witch to give it such a name, though it did sound a little cringy to me.

I simply smiled at her, trying to suppress whatever other reaction I might have given her.

"You were gonna laugh, weren't you?" She narrowed her eyes at mine.

"Almost," I gave a sigh. "Just don't die, got it?"

She replied with a thumbs-up as she swung open the door, before leaving the room.

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