Sword of No Edge

Creak 

The door shuddered slightly as Cassius opened it fully and a bell rang. It was the bell of the shop named 'The Kross Smithy', belonging to the man with the fake name Todar Kross. It was the middle-aged man who had given the group the weapons they required for themselves, for training. In the four days that had passed, Baron and Nessie had already practiced with their respective weapons. 

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Baron had diligently practiced with one of the Intelligence agents. His method of practicing sought to improve his reaction time, stance, and capability to strike back after blocking.

The Intelligence agent, who was skilled in traversing the shadows like all his contemporaries, throughout the entirety of four days, had forced Baron to be on complete alert. He would strike at times no one expected, from places no one expected. The only time Baron was excused from the relentless attacks was when he ate and when he went to the bathroom.

At all other times, however, Baron was constantly keeping his shield on him, training his fortitude. Each blow from the agent had enough force to break a few of his ribs if not blocked properly with his shield. The attacks were all different, too. Sometimes, the agent used his fists, sometimes he struck sneakily with his black blade, sometimes he threw daggers from afar.

And Baron somehow managed to endure. Even when he slept, he kept his shield on his chest, fastened around his hand. His right hand which constantly held the coffin shield's handle was calloused and rough, his sword hand was slightly less calloused. Baron, with the help of the excruciating training that didn't even leave him enough time to sleep, had masterfully learned how to be alert while sleeping and adapted his shield form into one that flowed effortlessly to protect from all angles.

According to John's explanation after Cassius inquired about the peculiar training method, John had simply said, "For a Knight, their weapon is the most important. For a Protector, however, their shield is the most important weapon. Even Protectors, although, cannot defend against some things. What do you think is the bane of all shield-bearers, Your Highness?" 

"Uhm… if I had to guess… ranged attacks? Or maybe sneak attacks." Cassius said as he pondered slightly, he had no knowledge of combat, his only knowledge coming from the very surface-level information he had gathered from John and Mike. 

"Well, you are partially correct. The bane of all shield-bearers is two things, Your Highness. Endurance, and unseen attacks. Endurance is one of the most important things, because while the shield may endure, the warrior behind it will not, if not conditioned properly. Unseen attacks are the true killers of all shield-bearers, and the people they are meant to protect. Look at Baron, Your Highness a child such as him will grow to be tall, big, and extremely tough. Do you think he would die from a single sneak attack like a flying dagger?" John asked Cassius as he looked at the morning sun in the distance, Baron was in the courtyard outside the inn, still training. 

"I- I don't even think he would be hurt by it. Knowing Baron, he'd be more likely to pull the dagger out and laugh in ridicule…" Cassius said as he imagined the funny scene. However, it would not be funny for the attacker. 

"You are correct. Then, do you think you could survive such an attack, Your Highness?" John asked this time as he narrowed his eyes.

"No. Definitely not." Cassius said honestly. He was tough for a kid, but not nearly as tough as Baron.

"That is right. With your position as Imperial Prince, there will be people after your life who will use all sorts of methods to eliminate you, from political schemes to actual assassinations. However, if Baron, a person who has been trained diligently to be alarmed at all times and can block any sort of sneak attack, were to stay by your side at all times, then you would not need to worry." John said calmly as he looked at Baron from the room's window. 

The young boy who had a physique that could rival even adults was absorbing knowledge and habits like a sponge. He no longer slept like a log, instead, his senses were heightened even more while sleeping. He had learned to filter out from his perception all useless factors and focus his entire mind on one thing. Defending. 

Even now, he seemed less than bothered in his carefree stance. He stood silently in the courtyard as suddenly, in a split second, a shadow surged and from it emerged an agent, he immediately struck at Baron's blindside. 

BOOM 

The attack was futile as Baron unnaturally twisted his body to protect himself with the shield, and dispersed the force of the attack by using it as support to perform a 180-degree spin and strike with his sword. 

The sword flew through the air like a snake, the whistling of the wind created from it was chilling as it neared the agent's head millisecond by millisecond. 

Of course, the agent could disappear into the shadows, but Baron's counter-attack happened so rapidly that his ability had no time to cool down. The pressure of the sword increased in his mind as it got closer to his neck. Every centimeter that it got closer, the agent's eyes widened and his expression grew grim. 

He could not expect such a young child to stop his sword right at that moment, the momentum was far too much, but he could not deflect it either. When the sword was just ten centimeters away from his neck, the agent had already accepted his fate. 

'Ah.. so this is how I die… at least, I'm not dying a horrible death. I miss my friends. I don't wanna die. I haven't made a family yet. I haven't gotten the only thing that's missing in my life…' 

Cold sweat dripped down the agent's face. If one could remove his plain white mask at that moment, they would see a man with a mustache, his face slightly wrinkled but still sharp and cold.

The agent had never had a family, in fact, sometimes he even forgot his old name. Codename Seven, or simply Seven, had once had a name of his own too, one filled with many painful memories and sorrows. Jakub had been the name by which they called him in the orphanage, until one day, three men dressed in official governmental clothes took him and fourteen other children away.

He had been taken for nurturing, to be educated and taught on how to be an effective agent, and more specifically, an assassin. Countless times he was forced to go without sleep, without food, without social interaction. He had suffered through battlefields, and torturous testing grounds, and had been forced to kill other people when he was only a teenager. 

But he did not regret any of it. Jakub knew well what happened to orphaned children who were too old to stay in the orphanage. They were dumped on the street and left to fend for themselves, or worse, they were adopted by creeps or nobles who would do unspeakable things to them. 

The Imperial Intelligence had given him a home. They had given him a goal, and somewhat of a family to call his own. He depended on the rest of his comrades as if they were his other half. He did not regret a single second of it. He did not regret that he no longer had his old name too. He could not forgive the parents who had brought him to this world and left him in such horrible conditions. 

Therefore, the day when Jakub graduated and received the codename Seven had been the happiest moment of his life. Yes, for such people, even a simple thing like a codename could mean the world to them. 

And he had gained many things throughout his years of serving in the Intelligence. He had gained friends, superiors, subordinates, experience, relationships, and more. But he had also lost a lot. He had killed more people than he bothered to count, and sometimes he had ruined entire families with his actions. Maybe what he did was not right. 

But he still did not regret it, even at the moment where the sword was almost about to strike his neck, he still did not regret serving the Imperial Intelligence. He knew he was not a good man, and this was only payback for what he had done his entire life. 

And yet, at the last moment, just before the sword struck him, Seven had been allowed to live again. 

"Ngghh!" Baron strained his entire body as he barely stopped and deviated the blade. Cassius who had been watching on was just now forming his grim expression. That was how fast the situation had been, and in another second, his expression switched to shock. 

He could swear he almost heard Baron's muscles snap as he resisted with his entire body and did not let the sword move an inch. It had barely nicked Seven's skin as he bled slightly, but not nearly enough to cause any damage. 

Seven could only fall helplessly on the ground as he breathed heavily. His gaze was empty. 

Baron extended his shield hand towards him, offering it to the agent who had been caught off-guard. 

In reality, this sort of situation should have never happened. It was not logical for a child of barely eleven years old to perform such a feat as almost killing a Tainted. Yet, it happened. 

"Thank you… for sparing my life." Seven said slowly as he took Baron's calloused hand. 

"What're you thanking me for? I simply did what's right." Baron said as he smiled. 

"Doing what's right…" Seven repeated as he lowered his head for a second, before looking up again at Baron, and then at Cassius who was watching from the inn's top floor. 

Then, he looked at John who did not seem affected by this at all. 

'So you knew he wouldn't do it…' Seven said in his mind. 

Then, Seven knelt on the ground. 

"I apologize for the blunder! I shouldn't have been so careless." 

"No, no, it's my fault. I don't know what took over me, normally I can't react that fast." Baron said, flustered as he scratched the back of his head. 

He had his typical smile on his face as he laughed and said, 

"But, hey, that was really dangerous, in any case, does that mean my training's finally over?" 

"Yes, there is nothing more I can do to improve your shield skills." Seven said as he rose.

'What a monster…' He thought in his mind as he stared at this beast of a boy behind his mask. It was not logical, or normal. But nothing was ever normal when you served the Imperial Intelligence. 

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"John, how did Baron manage to do that? I mean… it's a Tainted he was almost about to kill.." Cassius questioned as he looked on at the scene. 

"Well… it's a lot of reasons, but it's mainly because of one thing. Have you ever heard of what a Soul Surge is, Your Highness?" 

"No, I've never heard of that, what is it?" 

"Explained simply, Soul Surge is a state in which an experienced and talented fighter enters when under extreme focus and stress. It happens completely randomly and has a very small chance of activation. When activated, Pure Energy surges from your soul and saturates your mind, enabling you to react quicker and exhibit unnatural strength. Of course, it is very tiring on the body, and the soul." John explained calmly. 

"Well, I never really expected Baron to be capable of doing that, to be honest… you see, Your Highness, Soul Surge is rarely achieved by Tainted it is so rare that you are more likely to encounter a sack of gold coins on the street than a Tainted who has achieved Soul Surge. It is more commonly seen in Alter Class elites and above." John said as he sported a confused expression on his face.

"So you're saying that theoretically what Baron did should be impossible? Also, what are Alter Class elites?" 

"Yes, that's precisely what I'm saying. Regarding your question, Alter Class elites refer to all Cleansed or Reformed. Tainted are referred to as Normal Class elites, while Transcendents and Mutated are referred to as Legendary Class elites." 

"Ah, so they're classified into tiers after all. I was really confused with all the Cleansed and Reformed and… you know what I mean." Cassius said in relief.

"Yes, Mike had probably forgotten to mention it to you, Your Highness." 

"In any case, how's Nessie's training with the shortbow going?" Cassius asked John.

"She's currently still training with Mike, she's moved onto moving targets after all that training," John replied simply. 

Mike had returned from the Coven Tower three days ago and had volunteered to help Nessie out by using his… peculiar skills. In any case, she had received basic guidance on how to properly draw the bow and how to fire an arrow and had completed enough training on stationary targets. 

Mike manipulated the earth by creating small boulders and moving them around in the air to form moving targets, which Nessie constantly tried to hit with her arrows. 

Well, it was easier said than done. In any case, while Nessie was quite excellent by all means, she still could not match up to Baron and his training. It wasn't a matter of effort, but rather inner talent. Of course, Cassius himself wasn't sure he would be any better than Nessie, despite having had his weapon chosen by a master of smithing.

In any case, back to the present. 

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"Mister Todar, I assume the weapon's ready?" Cassius asked with a smile. 

He called Arrista by his fake name after he had learnt the situation from John, he didn't want to spook him.

"Ah, my young Lord, yes, of course it's finished!" Arrista said as he bent down behind the counter and picked something up. Then, he set it on the counter. 

It was the weapon Cassius had ordered, wrapped in gray cloth as Arrista seemed rather excited about it. 

Slowly, he unraveled it, revealing a mighty and finely made estoc. The estoc had a silver handle wrapped in pitch black leather for better grip. The cross guard was finely engraved with the unique markings of the Kross smithy. It was silver-black in color. 

The estoc's blade was the most impressive part, although. The very bottom of the blade is rather flat and wide, characterized by swirling black markings that formed circles around the blade. In the middle part, the blade got thinner, flatter still. At this part, the blade had sturdiness that was elite, yet also seemed flexible enough to not break. 

Finally, the very tip of the blade. Thin, extremely thin. The tip was so thin that Cassius' fingernail was much bigger. The entire blade had no sharpened edge, it was blunt in every possible location, except one. The tip. The aura it gave off seemed as if it could pierce anything. 

Cassius admired it for a while until Arrista finally spoke again. 

"It is my finest work of this year… in fact, it might even be my finest work of the decade. It had been enchanted by the Coven, as well, mainly with enchantments of [Unslippable], [Unbreakable], [Ultimate Piercing], [Self-Recovery], [Self-Maintenance], [Supernatural Speed], [Self-Adjustment]. It has seven enchantments, the highest ever recorded in the Kross Smithy. I used Ten Thousand Year Black Mithril, tempered with Volcanic Rhino horn. The handle is wrapped with Giant Panther leather, and the crossguard is made out of Refined Black Silver. The Unslippable enchantment will make it so the estoc never leaves your hand unless you will it yourself. Unbreakable will render the estoc extremely durable, it will not shatter from any mundane armor. Ultimate Piercing raises its piercing ability while Self-Recovery and Self-Maintenance make it so that the weapon recovers and maintains itself with a small supply of Pure Energy." Arrista said excitedly, he hadn't even breathed at all as he spoke, he quickly took a deep breath and continued. 

"The Supernatural Speed enchantment will give you the ability to strike with the speed of a snake, and… for the most important enchantment, Self-Adjustment. It will allow you to change the weight of the weapon as you will, and it will change its size to optimally fit the size of the wielder."

Cassius was left speechless by the barrage of information, and the extremely valuable enchantments listed. 

"This… isn't this a National treasure?" Cassius asked in bewilderment. 

"Hah, National treasure? This is a much finer weapon. If… if the wielder is capable enough, it could be a Numbered Artifact…" Arrista said in thought, he seemed offended at Cassius' evaluation. 

"This… isn't this way more expensive than a few hundred Gold…?" 

"Yes, yes it is, but it doesn't matter. 'They' will handle the material costs, and as for my fee… Well, as long as you wield this weapon right, that'll be enough for me." Arrista said as he glanced at John. 

"Besides, I'm filthy rich, kid, why would I need your money?" Arrista said proudly.

"Haha.. yes. Of course…" Cassius said as a vein popped on his forehead. 

"In any case… it's yours to name, kid." 

"Then… I'll name it, 'Sword of No Edge.'" Cassius said as he held the Sword of No Edge in his hand. 

"A fine name… a fine name indeed."