The Trapped Soul

𝗛𝗶𝗺𝘂𝗿𝗮 𝗦𝗮𝘁ō

"How did you know?" The voice asked as I checked at the other doors further into the hallway.

"It was already weird that Jin would give me his sword only after meeting for like five minutes so I figured that somebody told him to do so. I didn't expect a response since I had other theories on what the answer would be." I explained as I looked carefully inside the room, it was the same room as the one I was previously in but inside was only full of lifeless bodies.

"So you're saying that if I didn't respond, you wouldn't even know? Well shit." The voice speaks in irritation.

"You do know, I would replace immediately the moment I found a better weapon, but that's not the point, explain," I said sternly as I looked at my longsword. Now that I know there is someone in my weapon, I needed to know whether it's because it was trapped there or because it was imprisoned there for good reasons.

"Geez, you do know I can hear your thoughts right?" He said angrily, I haven't denied it since, at the start of our conversation, the blade hasn't made any noise meaning it would have to connect itself with my brain so that we could talk telepathically.

'Then explain already.' I said in my mind and immediately got a response. "Alright, alright, geez where to start..." It starts to be silent as it thinks about where to start and eventually it speaks again.

"My name is Akira Yamamoto, I was a vagrant during the Kyōhō era before meeting my untimely demise with desperate samurais trying to regain their power as their title was slowly decreasing in value after Japan entered a peaceful state." He explains his origin first. If he did die during the Kyōhō period then that must mean he would have to be trapped in this sword for about four hundred and so years before I even arrived in this world.

'You're from japan?' I asked, obviously knowing the answer but that wasn't my intention. "Yep, I'm even surprised to see a Japanese boy in the future arrive in this world, anyway where was I, right, after killing many of their retainers and even a couple of samurais but in the end, I was eventually killed and died in obscurity and now I'm here." He said to me sadly but I had another question.

'You realized it? How?' I asked as I opened another door before its filthy smell entered my lungs. "Isn't it obvious, you know that I connect myself to your mind meaning I can see your memories as I wish though you can still hide your thoughts from me." He said so I clicked my tongue. "Damn."

He stayed silent for a few seconds, clearly knowing about those memories. I cleared my throat and changed the subject. "So what do you want to do?"

"...I just want to get out but to do that I need a large amount of mana, I'm so sick of living and not being able to do anything." He said scornfully.

'Sick of living huh? Damn, I do not like my future immortal life but then again, that is the cost of being able to live forever.' I thought to myself sadly before I asked a question.

"How much mana do you have?" I asked before he responded dreadfully. "...To put it simply, were only 0.002% done..."

0.002% in four hundred years meaning it would take about four hundred thousand years to free him.

'That would take too long especially since I only have one mana.' I said clicking my tongue as I continue checking the rooms.

"I can absorb the mana of your enemies so I can use it to either change the weight and form of this sword or just consume the mana myself to slowly break my prison. When Jin was wielding me, we had ninety-five to split or the mana we obtained." He explained.

If that is the case then I can change the form of my weapon by my will. "Treat me as the middle man, if you managed to free me then you can change the form of your sword yourself." He added.

'If he can change forms then why would Jin not tell me about it? I guess he didn't really find a use for it.' I wondered before speaking to him again.

'Then consume fifty percent of the mana right now, for now, we'll keep it at fifty-fifty since I don't know how frequently I will be changing the form of my sword.' I asked him but was returned with confusion.

"But why would I need that much mana in the first place?" He asked confused so enlightened him with a nugget of knowledge that I have learned while drawing different kinds of weapons.

'All types of weapons are created for a reason, they cater to the different kinds of niches based on the battles they brought. For example, the flamberge is a two-handed weapon with a wavy edge, this made the flamberge have lethal stabbing damage due to the wavy edge destroying more arteries especially when you twisted it and this made it hard to recover from it since the study of medicine was still at its early stages.' I said to him but he didn't respond.

'In other words, I can change into different types of weapons to adapt to any battlefield and any kind of enemies.'

After a second he finally responds. "I see, I never thought of it that way. All right, we'll split it fifty-fifty. Now that I think about it, Musashi did say that we should always try to get the slightest advantage against our enemy which was why he used two katanas."

'Good.' I responded after checking the last room was full of rotten corpses, I returned to the hallway and asked him to change his form, in response, he told me to think of the form I want so began imagining a weapon in great detail.

I closed my eyes and saw a blank canvas, a bar of steel was created and was heated before being cut in the middle not all the way, it was then stacked with each other before being hammered again to create another bar, this was done a thousand more times, strengthening it each time before finally the forge into a blade.

A full tang was created and had two small holes for the pins and the edge was slightly curved before being heated again and quenched giving solidifying it. It was sharpened with great precision leaving the blade in pristine condition, especially the edge's beautiful damascus pattern.

A tsuba was made of lighter but still sturdy steel, it was given a beautiful pattern and had a few holes for the design.

Hardwood was taken and sculpted into a handle with an oval shape before two holes were created.

The rest of the parts were made before finally being assembled. As the handle was put in, two pins were put in the holes of the handle securing the weapon and were finally given the right to be called a weapon.

I opened my eyes to see a beautiful katana in my hands, the longsword was no longer to be seen. It was far lighter than one would think because of my limitations of having one arm however its sharpness was still the same.

"Beautiful..." Akira commented.

"It's more of a placeholder weapon than anything else," I say as I put it in its scabbard. 'I guess, even the sheath could be changed.

As it made a clicking sound he spoke again. "Hey, I saw that sword being carefully made alright, even I know your fond of it." He retorted.

'It's a katana of course I'm fond of it, my ability is at its best with katana since I'm more comfortable with it.' I said as I draw it again.

Since it was less curved than a regular katana, I tried dropping it at an angle but sure enough, it still had a sense of direction so I caught it and put it back in my scabbard

"Why did you do that for?" He asked, confused.

'This katana is less curved than a regular katana so I tried to see if it has a sense of direction when I tried dropping because if it didn't, it wouldn't be great at slashing.' I said casually.

'But enough of that, I can't linger here any longer so we're leaving after sabotaging them, we'll talk later.' I said before he could even comment.

The reason why I was investigating the other room was to make sure that none of them were there and now that I confirmed it, I prepared the paper bombs and readied myself.

I breathed slowly yet steadily and dropped my body. As I entered the room at the end of the hallway, I dropped my body and blended in with the walls and the shadows where the light of the torches doesn't reach.