Chapter 10 - Strange voice

Darkness floated in Kenji's eyes—fear. What could he do now? How could he survive? Would someone come to save him?

"I should run away," Kenji said, trembling with fear.

He wanted to escape this dark forest because if he didn't, he would most likely die at the hands of the monster.

"Yes, I should run away. And fast!"

In that dark, scary forest, where many kinds of monsters lived, running away was his best option.

Kenji didn't know what to think anymore. He stood up and decided to run somewhere safer—maybe to the guild, if he was able—anywhere away from this place.

"You're going to run away? Pathetic!" A strange voice, which Kenji had never heard before, said.

Kenji didn't know who this voice belonged to or where it came from. It felt like someone invisible was speaking to him.

"Who are you? Show yourself." Kenji's heart was racing.

"Me? I'm your new friend, aren't I?" the strange voice said.

Kenji was shocked when the voice called itself his new friend. He couldn't understand what it meant. It felt so strange.

"My new friend? What do you mean? I don't understand. Can you show yourself?" Kenji asked nervously.

"I'm right in front of you, and you can't see me? How did I end up with an idiot like you? I thought I was luckier than this," the voice said again.

Kenji looked ahead, but there was nothing. He searched around him, but still couldn't see anyone—not a single soul, except the monster standing there.

"Are you joking? I can't see anyone here!" he said, continuing to look around.

"In your hand, idiot," the strange voice murmured.

Kenji looked at his hand, which was trembling. The only thing in his hand was his own black sword—the one he always carried.

Then he remembered something the sword's owner told him the day he got it.

"A black sword? Oh yeah, I do have a black sword. Some people say it's cursed... but I don't believe them and I still hold onto it. So if you don't want it, you don't need to buy it."

"It's cursed."

Kenji remembered these words from the sword owner.

Impossible... Now he understood what the owner meant when he said the sword was cursed.

After realizing his own sword could talk, Kenji didn't know what to do or say next.

"You finally know," the sword said.

"No, this can't be happening to me. It's impossible," Kenji said nervously.

"So now that you know the truth about me, will you still keep me or throw me away?" the sword asked curiously.

Kenji thought for a moment. He didn't know if he wanted to keep the sword or throw it away. But after a while, he decided.

"I will keep you," Kenji said with a confident voice.

At that moment, the sword was so confused. It didn't believe Kenji would keep it and not throw or sell it.

"But why would you want to keep me?" it asked curiously.

"Because I spent all my money on you. If I throw you away now, it would be a waste. I don't have much money, so I can't buy another sword. I barely had enough to buy you," Kenji answered quickly.

After hearing this, the sword didn't know what to say. It couldn't believe Kenji kept it for such a dumb reason.

"You'll keep me because you don't have money for another sword? I don't know why I thought you were a kind person!"

Before they knew it, the big monster was ready to attack Kenji with its right hand.

"No! I need to run away now!" Kenji screamed, preparing to flee.

"You want to run away? I don't think I'll let you do that," the sword said, laughing.

What did it mean?

The sword started to merge into his body, consuming him little by little. Kenji couldn't move anymore.

"What's going on? What are you doing?" Kenji barely managed to say.

He tried to stop the sword, but it was too powerful. It was impossible to resist.

"I will help you defeat this monster," the sword said.

Then it took control of his body. After merging, Kenji's eyes turned red, and his hand transformed into a monstrous claw with long, scary nails.

"Hahaha... I finally took control of his body!" the sword laughed even more.

With Kenji's body under its control, the sword saw the monster preparing to attack.

At that moment, the sword dodged the attack and plunged his hand into the monster's chest, ripping out its heart in an instant.

The monster fell quickly, bleeding heavily. Then the system appeared:

[Level 8 unlocked]

[Level 9 unlocked]

[Level 10 unlocked]

Levels kept glowing and increasing until they reached their limit.

[Level 18 unlocked]

[New spell acquired: Wind Slash]

"Nice, not a bad level and spell, but I still want better," the sword inside Kenji's body said.

Should I give his body back or use it for a while? It thought for a moment.

I suppose I'll give it back. It's not like I have any use of it anymore.

Then the sword left Kenji's body and returned to its normal black sword form.

Kenji started waking up soon after. His eyes returned to normal, his hand and appearance human again.

After waking, he was confused about what had just happened. He looked around, but the monster was gone.

He stared at the black sword still in his hand and remembered everything.

"What happened here? Where did the monster go?" Kenji asked the sword.

"So you're finally awake? I went inside your body and killed the monster," the sword said casually.

"How did you kill the monster? And how did you get inside my body?" Kenji had many questions and wanted answers.

"I can enter human bodies and take control of them—that's what I did with you. I'm much stronger inside human bodies, so killing the monster was easy," it explained.

"You can enter human bodies? How is that possible? You can talk and possess humans? Please explain," Kenji said with a serious voice.

The sword decided to tell him everything about its past and how it could talk and possess bodies.

"Well, I was once human too. A powerful one, level 70. But then I fought a monster level 80. People say it's very hard to defeat monsters level 80 and above."

Kenji was surprised to hear the sword was once human and level 70.

"I fought that monster but couldn't win. It was too powerful. This monster was more human-like—it understood language and had intelligence, unlike other monsters."

"It experimented on humans, and I was one of its victims. It turned me into this talking sword. I can also become human for four hours a day, then I turn back into a sword."

"I recently found out I can take over human bodies for ten hours before becoming a sword again. I'm stronger when I do."

After hearing the sword's story, Kenji was shocked but decided to believe him. He wanted to be friends.

"Wow, I can hardly believe you sword. It's shocking, but I know you're not lying. I'll trust you, and we'll be friends," Kenji said.

"By the way I have a name I'm not sword you know?" It said as he started getting angry.

"Oh, I forgot to ask you so what's your name?" Kenji asked him.

"I'm Ren Mizuno and don't forget it!" He said kinda angry.

"Ok then Ren, hope we will be great friends and now let's head back to the guild." they started walking back to the guild.

Kenji started walking away from this dark forest and finally went to the guild.