Chapter 110: The Secrets We Keep: Part One

“SUNSET SLASH!? SHE CAN USE SUNSET SLASH!? IS THIS A JOKE!? AM I DREAMING!? WHAT THE HELL’S GOING ON!?”

The internal battle in my head goes unheard, of course.

My protector, after uttering words I thought only I was able to utter and achieve a result out of them, only slides First Dawn once through the air, sideways, along a very short path, as if to say, “I don’t need to do much.” then, the impossible happens as a result. All the spikes sent her way, the hurricane, the cold beam, and even Wolf Spirit Amaruq herself. All of that is slashed into unquantifiable pieces. Uncountable thin white waves of slashes, paint the sky from a single movement of her hand. Amaruq dies instantly, no blood splatters. Her body vanishes after being split into a million pieces as if merging with the wind. The hurricane dissipates similarly and under the same duration. All along with the spikes of ice. And the cold beam. Everything.

She descends from the air slowly afterwards, her clothes and hair waving along the resulting wind resistance.

“All that’s left is wings and a halo.” I grunt as I get up to meet her halfway, completely ignoring the System message that pops up as I approach her.

Floating down, she immediately hugs me.

“I’m so glad you’re alive.” She tightens her grip.

“Uhm…” Here on, I was ready to start interrogating her.

“Thank you?” I reply in a confused tone. “H-hold up!” I recover as I grab her shoulders to separate us. “Quick question.” I say, looking at her intently. “Who the heck, are you?” I ask with a single eyebrow raise.

“Erh…?”

“Erh…?

She also raises an eyebrow, of which I respond to by raising my second. After all, my question isn’t really that confusing, is it?

“It’s me silly.” She finally speaks. “It’s Dawn.”

“Dawn?”

“Dawn.” She confirms with a nod.

“Dawn.”

“Dawn.” She echoes.

“Dawn. As in… my blade, First Dawn?” I point towards the blade still held in her hand.

“Yes sir.” She confirms with a bright smile.

“Oh… Oh, okay, I see. Hahaha! Good one. No, seriously. Who are you?” I ask again, my tone firm this time. My gaze, all the more suspicious.

“I’m not joking, Master.” She retorts, pouting a little. It’s kind of adorable.

“She went from bewitching beauty to adorable cutie in an instant.”

“Why do you keep calling me that? ’’Master’’.”

“Well, because you are my Master.” She answers. “You created me, remember?” She steps back up a bit and raises the blade in her hand.

“So you’re telling me, that you, are that?” I point to the blade.

“That’s right.” She nods.

“Okay.” I sigh, instinctively moving my recently severed right hand towards my forehead, as I begin brushing my thumb and index finger against in between my eyes. “If that’s really true, then, how are you both here.” I point towards her. “And there.” I point towards the blade.

“Well, technically. I’m still there.” She points towards the blade in her right with her left, mirroring my gestures and tone almost perfectly. “What you’re currently seeing is more of a physical manifestation of the blade. An incarnation, if you will. Though the more common term is ’Avatar’.”

I pause, registering the implications of what she just said. “…’more common term’? You say that like-”

“Like there’s more of me?” She cuts me off, though I don’t sense any disrespect from it. “That’s because there are.” She continues. “Though none like me. I’m both a Spirit and an Avatar.” She says with a proud thin smirk.

“I know what a Spirit is, but an Avatar?”

“An Avatar refers to the physical manifestation of a weapon’s ego.” She says, as if answering a question I didn’t even ask out loud.

“Did you just read my mind?”

“Not exactly. Avatars and Masters share a sort of, neural link, that’s stronger when they’re closer together. Simply put, it becomes easier for me to intercept your thoughts as it is for you to intercept mine when we’re close, but when we’re a fair distance away from each other, it becomes less automatic. Which will require us to do it consciously.” She then pauses. “See what I mean?” Then I pause. I’m reading her mind.

“That’s… interesting.”

“Right?”

“Yeah…” There’s no denying it now. She wouldn’t have been able to use the blade. She wouldn’t have been able to use the Special Attack. If what this woman is telling me was a lie, then she wouldn’t have been able to do any of that. This woman infront of me, is in fact my blade. First Dawn. In human form. Well, not exactly human, but still.

“Manifestation of a weapon’s ego, huh? So you’re telling me that all those times the System kept saying ego this and ego that about my weapons, this is what it actually meant? Here on, I thought it was just saying all that to make my weapons sound cooler.”

“Hehe.” Dawn giggles. And its freaking adorable.

I then conjure out all my other weapons from the Item Space. They all start floating between me and Dawn. The Great Shovel, The Great Pickaxe, The Hammer of Unknown Origin, The Emerald Twin Fangs, and Hayzar’s gifts.

“You’re telling me that all these guys are gonna wake up some day and start fucking shit up? Same as you?”

“Pretty much.” She answers with pride. “Especially that one.” She points to the Hammer of Unknown Origin.

“Huh?”

“The hammer?”

“Yep. There’s a power even I don’t understand in that one.”

“Okay, now that’s just some serious foreshadowing right there.” I look at the Hammer of Unknown Origin one last time, before sending all the weapons back in the Item Space and sitting down to relax. I may be healed, but mentally? I am way too exhausted. I’ll leave the Dungeon when I feel like it. The snow fluffs under my weight as Dawn joins me to my left.

“You said ’a power even you don’t understand’. You make yourself sound pretty special, huh?” I taunt with a thin smirk.

“Well that’s because I am!” She retorts while pouting. “I’m half Spirit, half Avatar. You know that’s something that’s never happened before, don’t you?” She asks rhetorically. But I answer her regardless.

“I didn’t even known of anything called an Avatar until today. Furthermore, I’m still not quite knowledgeable on the Spirit department as well.”

“Well, you were fighting one, for your information.” She says, in a matter-of-fact tone.

“Amaruq? I had my suspicions because of her name. Not to mention she used Spiritual attacks. But there’s no denying it now, huh? My first time fighting an A-Rank monster and they just so happened to be a Spirit. I nearly died. If it weren’t for you, I would’ve. Thanks for saving me. Dawn.” I say, turning over to look at her with a genuine smile. She blushes and turns away a little. Seriously, it’s illegal to be this cute.

“I’d readily give my life for you, Master.” She says. It catches me off guard. Give her life for me?

“I’d prefer you didn’t do that.” I say, my tone turning serious. “I’m not ready to lose my prized possession just yet.”

“P-prized possession?” You’d swear someone painted red circles on her cheeks as she echoes. I mean every single word of what I say, though. If this woman really is the first weapon I created, then she is in fact, my prized possession. Like a daughter, without the messy process.

“Still kinda feels weird how easy I found saying that. It’s odd. Whenever I’m close to her, there’s a warm fuzzy feeling in my chest.”

“That’s because of our Soul Bond.” She intercepts my thoughts. It doesn’t catch me off guard this time. Rather, I simply continue the conversation.

“Soul Bond?”

“Masters and Avatars are connected by what is called a Soul Bond. The neural link thing is actually just one of many benefits of the Soul Bond. One perfect example would be the fact that even if an Avatar dies, they can be revived as long as their Master is still alive.”

“I take it that doesn’t work the other way around, though?”

“No silly, cause that would be cheating.”

“Rats.”

“My Master really is greedy. Isn’t it enough that you can regenerate and are an Aspect Bearer?”

“My regeneration isn’t all powerful, plus I’m not ready to test the Aspect Bearer benefits.”

…

“Hold on. You were awake when I was talking to Hayzar?” I finally break the thought conversation as I turn to ask.

“Of course.” Dawn answers. “Are you forgetting that I basically helped in freeing him in the first place? I’ve been conscious since the day you created me actually. It just took a while for my ego to fully develop.”

“So all those times I thought I was alone…” My expression turns grey in realization.

“You weren’t.” She affirms with a condescending smirk.

Motherfucker.

She then breaks the awkward silence with a childish chuckle. “It’s okay, Master. I thought you were funny.”

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