22 Having A Real Meaning In Life

After the dinner between the two, Otto joined Muramasa in the forge as he was curious about how swords are made.

*clang* *clang* *clang*

"Don't you feel tired?" Otto asked, as Muramasa continuously hammered the metal.

"Yeah, I do... But I still need to finish this sword for today's quota." He replied as he pointed at the piece of paper on the wall.

"A request? Are they your private customers?" Looking over the list of names.

"In a way, yeah. But they're my distributors, they sell the good swords that I make, to blazers or swordsmen. This is my way of making a living."

"Do you happen to sharpen swords?" Otto asked as he felt that his Blade of Tathagata was getting dull after it was covered in his flames.

"I do... But I don't do free sharpening though." He replied since Otto was already freeloading out of him.

"Then what's your price?"

"Depends on the blade's quality."

"Then, can you sharpen this?" Otto took out The Blade of Tathagata.

"Hm!?" Muramasa looked at his sword in pure astonishment and at the same time in confusion at how Otto managed to get a sword like this, as he can only describe the sword as "perfect" for killing.

"Are you certain that this blade needs to be sharpened?" Muramasa sounded serious.

"Yeah?"

Hearing his response, Muramasa facepalmed.

"???" His sudden action made Otto confused if he said something wrong.

"Otto was it? Here's the thing, your sword doesn't need to be sharpened. You just suck at wielding it if you can't cut." He said.

"Huh?"

What Muramasa thinks of the sword is that it is one of those swords that choose their master. He also thought for a second that Otto stole the sword from someone, but quickly dismissed that idea. Since he saw Otto summoned it.

But that begs the question to him, as to why Otto wanted him to sharpen it when the blade is clearly in a perfect condition.

"Tell me did you lose to someone?" Muramasa asked that question specifically to know if Otto just wanted to sharpen it just because it couldn't cut his foe.

"I did..." Otto hated to admit it but answered him nonetheless.

'Hmmm... Is Otto's sword purposely making him lose his fights?' Muramasa thought that as his conclusion, as he could feel the sword was made of something evil, and yet it still shined like a divine treasure.

"Where did you get the sword from? And what's it's made of?" He asked curiously.

"I found it back at home. And as for the materials for making that sword..." Otto was hesitating whether or not he should tell him that it is made by using 48 thousand souls.

"I heard it was made by a god." He decided to only give him the race of the swordsmith.

"I mean. How else would this masterpiece be this unique, unless it was made by a higher being."

"Then can you sharpen it?" He asked.

"No. In the first place, it doesn't even need to. Since it is designed to kill without dulling the blade."

"Then why can't I cut my foe's weapons?" Otto asked since Blade of Tathagata should be able to cut anything in this world.

"Probably because the sword is trying to teach or show you something if it doesn't let you properly cut your foes, that's probably why you lost since you don't know its intention."

"How about this? Try to realize what's the sword's intention, only then can you properly wield it. Honestly, I don't understand the reason why that sword picked you as its master, but there might be a reason why it picked you." Muramasa said, that all special swords like these, needed a reason to pick their user. Be it goals, motivation, rules, hell even the fate of the person.

Otto gets that the Blade of Tathagata chooses its master but he just took it for granted, the moment he pulled it out. The sword couldn't talk like Brynhildr, because unlike her. The blade of Tathagata used the souls as its materials, Brynhildr on the other hand, sealed her soul inside.

The only difference between the two is that the other has a soul that can communicate, while the other cannot...

"Kid, a sword is a companion that accompanies the user through a fight. If you don't even treat your weapons at least like that, then you should just give up that delusion that you made for yourself. You'll just going to die in the end." Muramasa said.

"Mr. Muramasa, to you what is 'to be invincible.'?" Otto asked him since he wanted to know other people's opinions on it.

"Mmmm. Invincible..." He cupped his chin, thinking. "To me, it's just a word." He said.

"How so?"

"Define to me what is invincible to you," Muramasa asked him.

"The strongest? The one that stands above undefeated?" Otto replied, which made Muramasa control his laugh.

"Undefeated... Hmph, no one in this world is truly undefeated. Because to become THE strongest, they would need to know the loss or failure first."

"Claiming to be the strongest without failure is simply just a mere joke. It's like you're in a heat haze, and the closer you are to it the more you'll start to realize that the invincibility that you seek, doesn't exist. Leaving you to wonder if you're just wasting your time on pursuing it." Muramasa just scoffed at him, as moved on back to his work.

...

"..." Otto left Muramasa in the forge alone thinking the words he had heard thus far as he went to the guest's room.

'Love and kindness... Did Inshun show that? when he could've easily killed me? He did warn me a lot when we fought.' He then thought about when Inshun let him live another day, which was intentional on Inshun's part.

'Thank you...' That was what he wanted to say Inshun, for fighting and letting him live... Otto in reality was afraid of death, because he wasn't sure whether or not he could get away from it. Just like the time when Shakyamuni pulled him out of countless deaths. He had always thought of it as nothing more than pure luck.

'I couldn't say thank you to Lavinia Reni for helping me recover, and just took it all for granted.' She was the one after all, who told him about kind.

"You look like you're about to cry Otto," Brynhildr said softly.

"I'm not..."

He then remembered Ryouma's last words to him.

' "It's not the swordsmanship that wins the fight, but the one who understands the heart of his opponent" I never knew, no... I ignored my opponent's intentions on what they were trying to convey to me.'

He was starting to appreciate, Suzuka's excessive kindness towards him, as he now realized that. You don't need to be strong to emerge victorious, even merely words could defeat anyone. Just like when she made Otto give up when he was the stronger one between them.

"Brynhildr." He then wanted to ask her about something he heard from Muramasa.

"Need something?"

"What am I to you?" He asked curiously, as he had always been with her in the past few weeks by now.

"..." It took her some time to answer that question as she felt conflicted since, even though their relationship was that of a master and servant, they didn't really act like one.

"To be honest with you, I don't know..." She replied.

"I see..."

"But, if you want any answer from then you're like my... Lover." She muttered the last part.

"L-Lover?" He was taken aback by her answer, as he didn't expect that she would say those words.

"Umu, we're going to be together at all times you know. If you die, I'd also die. And besides, aren't we already close?" She whistled after.

"I mean, you're not wrong about us being close... You're literally living inside me." He wondered if she could read his thoughts.

"So you're not rejecting me as your lover?" She said in a sad tone since she was aware that she currently doesn't have a physical body and can't have physical contact with him, aside from the sword.

"Why not? We're already been together for at least 3 weeks now." He had no experience with other women in his previous life, and when he did. It wasn't the relationship he ever wanted.

"Really!?" Brynhildr sounded happy at his answer.

At first, He had always thought of Brynhildr as some kind of a nuisance, in his everyday life. But as he got to know her a little, she was the type that minded her own business and only ever talked when he was troubled.

"Hmmm, then why don't I try to find a way for you to get a body?" Otto said, as he now halted his goal of becoming the strongest, and started to dwell present rather than the future of what he doesn't see yet.

"You would do that?" She was having butterflies in her stomach, as she thought of something lewd with Otto. "He-he-he."

"???"

'A companion... Is she going to be my Kallen? Hopefully, I won't go the same path as the Otto from Honkai Impact.' Otto smiled gently as he closed his eyes to rest. His genuine smile, took Brynhildr by surprise as she hadn't seen him smile once in their adventure and was always put on a serious face.

'Oh lord, I finally have a boyfriend— after my creation by the chief God, Odin. *sigh* Though I'm no longer a Valkyrie back at the Asgard. I wonder if they've already replaced my spot in Valhalla after my sealing since I'm going to soon marry someone.' Brynhildr was dreaming of a future between her, and Otto, having several children playing with the two of them.

Her delusions run wild in her mind, as Otto's body temperature seems to slowly rise. As her desires burned deep within her, all the while it was also transferring to Otto's body.

"Mm?" Otto opened his eyes as he thought someone turned on the lights, but only to find himself covered in the warmth of the blue flames.

"What is happening?" He sounded confused as he was sure that he was controlling his magic, to prevent this.

"Uhh— I think... It's me, Otto." Brynhildr doesn't seem to know what's happening either, as she feels something has changed within her. She then realized that her form reshaped, into a purple-bladed spear that burned brighter than Otto's flames.

"You alright?" He said as he summoned her.

"I'm a spear now?" She sounded confused as to why this happened.

"???" Otto just looked at the unique spear, finding it familiar. But couldn't recall from where.

"Do you like my new form?" Even though she was confused, she still asked him that, since the appearance of her sword wasn't that appealing to him.

"Mmmm. Yeah." Otto also wanted to find a good spear, someday. But it looks like his lover, made the trouble to turn into a spear. He thought it was sweet of her.

...

-Chapter End-