+9 Life Force
This time, there was neither surprise nor lethargy when the blade sprang to life in the hands of its wielder once more. Instead, there was only eagerness to find out how many victims there would be this time as it looked at the frantic world unfolding around it.
+6 Life Force
That the enemy was other humans this time was a pleasant surprise. Sometime between the last time it had last lost consciousness and now, its wielder seemed to have abandoned his friends and the cramped room at the inn they’d shared.
That was promising. He’d replaced them with a small trade caravan in the middle of nowhere, and that caravan seemed to be under attack by bandits of some sort. Every one of those details just made its new circumstances better and better.
+8 Life Force
Where they were and what the enemy wanted was much less important than who they were to the blade, though. It hadn’t tasted human blood before, and the energy that was flowing into it now, was somehow sweeter than the monsters and beasts it had subsisted on up to this point.
+11 Life Force
+7 Life Force
From what little it could make out from its blurry view, the three wagons that its wielder had been walking along until so recently were shabby things, but it was obvious that bandits had decided to try their luck just the same. Anything worth transporting over long distances and paying someone to guard was likely something worth stealing in the eyes of desperate men.
+6 Life Force
The sword couldn’t recall being a wielded by a desperate man before, but seeing the wind burnt skin and dented blades of these bandits triggered some sort of distant memory. It had certainly dealt with their type enough to be intimately familiar with them.
+10 Life Force
Given that there were only two guards that it could see, including its wielder, it should have been an easy fight for the six bandits that were even now rushing out of the tall grasses on the side of the road to ambush the wagons. Sadly, the blade doubted that it would work out for them as expected.
Six on two would not be enough to stop it from bleeding any of these sinewy, hard-bitten men dry. Their steel blades could hold back its thirsty edge better than the monsters it had fought so far, and their teamwork would strike more blows against its wielder.
That wouldn’t be enough, though. It would only make the fight more protracted which would, in turn, only benefit the hungry blade no matter how it all turned out.
Even as steel rang out against steel, another man charged Ren as he felled his first opponent with a lucky blow that cleaved through the man’s trachea to the bone, the fight was already half over. Their armor reduced the strength of its impacts, but whether its tip found some unarmored bit of flesh or it had to first pierce through boiled leather, it did nothing to hold back the energy that it drained from even the smallest cut.
+6 Life Force
+10 Life Force
+8 Life Force
+5 Life Force
This was a new wrinkle to the blade, and while its owners struggled to keep up with warriors who did not fall with the first sweep of his sword, it studied the effects as its opponents died from four or five smaller wounds rather than a single brutal wound.
+9 Life Force
“This one has some kind of taint about him!” one of the bandits cried out.
“It’s nothing. Just a trinket!” another said with a chuckle of bravado. “Bring him down, and maybe the boss will even let you keep it!”
It was clear they underestimated the unarmored boy, but it doubted they would do so much longer. One corpse would become two in short order where the magic of the blade was concerned.
That was when the Blade noticed Marden for the first time. He’d been on the far side of the wagons, now he was pivoting around, and only barely holding his own against a single bandit with his long knife. The Ebon Blade thought about inflaming Ren’s paranoia about him, but decided to hold off.
It didn’t want to distract its wielder just yet. Right now it had more important people to kill.
+11 Life Force
The sword wasn’t concerned with what the men said or even how the fight went, as Ren fought like a cornered wolf. Instead, it focused on the nature of the smallest wounds the boy managed to inflict.
In such cases, it could expect some bleeding or perhaps even weakness from the opponent, depending on the location. This time, though, it could see them weakening almost immediately as their skin paled and the life was leached from their bodies.
Such small wounds weren’t even satisfying. It barely felt them as they were inflicted. Even those tiny wounds were serious when the blade that made it sucked out a noticeable portion of their vitality.
The blade had no explanation for how any of this worked. It merely studied and feasted while its enemies bled and died.
As steel rang out against steel, it was the creeping dread of those wounds that ultimately won the day for its wielder, even if its wielder didn’t notice. He was too busy fighting for his life.
That’s not what his sword saw. To it, all Ren was doing was putting his ineptitude on display. His parries were clumsy things, but his counters were all but nonexistent. It was clear to the blade that if these men had just a little more skill, he would end this day dead in the mud.
As it was, he still had a chance of walking away like his friend. Mardem had finally wrestled the bandit he was facing to the ground, and he was stabbing the man repeatedly, in a frenzy. The behavior was less like someone glorying in killing, though, and more like a desperate man who was terribly worried that at any moment his opponent was likely to rise again.
It’s probably his first kill, the blade thought in disgust, crossing the boy off his list of perspective wielders. Any of these bandits would be a better choice than that.
+5 Life Force
The blade didn’t want that boy as a wielder, but also, just now it didn’t really want its current wielder to die. At least, not until its reserves were high enough for Empower Blade or Increase Connection 2. If one of them killed him after it had spent all of that vitality, well - then it would almost certainly prefer to have one of these other men as a stronger wielder going forward.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
It preferred to get the latter so that it could start to take more control over its own destiny, but it remained to be seen how much power it would gather from this fight. The first option only cost 250 Life Force, and the second cost 300, which was a lot, even when it was draining 5 with every strike. It might even have to settle for Increase Reserves 5 instead, since that was only 150, but that would be less than optimal.
+9 Life Force
-3 Life Force
+7 Life Force
By the time it focused on the fight once more, the worst of it was over. Two bandits lay on the ground around its wielder, two more continued to fight him, and one had moved on to try to finish of Marden, and the Ebon Blade thought it was very telling that Ren didn’t run to help his friend. Only one man was trying to escape, but with the way he was limping and bleeding, he wasn’t likely to get far when Ren eventually chased him down.
+5 Life Force
-6 Life Force
+10 Life Force
+8 Life Force
-4 Life Force
The blade watched its wielder take a blow that he did need to take to score only the minorest of cuts in response, only to follow that up by missing a golden opportunity to get in behind the guard of his other opponent and draw the weapon along the bandit’s throat, opening his carotid and unleashing a tidal wave of blood.
-3 Life Force
It was embarrassing, and it was all the blade could do, not to give up watching in disgust and go back to looking at the counter as it ticked toward its next goal. It didn’t, though. Instead, it watched its wielder fumble until he finally managed to take down another enemy with a thrust that found a hole in the man’s chain mail.
+11 Life Force
-2 Life Force
It didn’t care what the boy did as long as Life Force reached 300, but until now, it was still a few tantalizing points out of reach. It was only the last killing blow that finally pushed its total over the line.
“He’s just one lousy brat,” another man called out, rounding the wagon from the far side. “Bring him down, and we can finally upwrap our presents and see what these boys brought us!”
Ren had been down to a single opponent for a moment, and the man looked like he’d been about to break and run for it. However, the sight of his leader put some steel back in his spine.
The blade wasn’t surprised. The man was bigger than any of the bandits, and though he didn’t wear much in the way of armor, he had a giant steel battleaxe. It was heavily notched, and had obviously seen a lot of use.
If that thing landed, the sword doubted that even the massive store of life energy it had collected throughout this fight would be enough to save its wielder for long. It didn’t even know if it could heal something like a missing limb, and it didn’t want to waste the energy to find out.
Still, to make sure that it wouldn’t be, it immediately spent everything it had purchasing Increase Connection 2. The very last thing it wanted to do was waste any of its energy, but even if that wasn’t a problem, it was happy to tilt the scales against its current wielder however it could. A man like the bandit leader would be infinitely preferable to the shepherd that held it now.
What… where did all that strength go? Ren wondered.
For a moment, the sword was shocked that it had heard the boy’s thoughts. Then it realized that was exactly what a power like Increase Connection was supposed to do. The wire wrapping its hilt wound tighter too, in that moment, making it look slightly less care worn than it had been a moment before. As it took all this in, it noticed that it had two new abilities to replace the old one.
Increase Connection 3: In an ideal world, the wielder and the weapon move as one. Only with this unity can true skill be unleashed. With this level you don’t just feel your wielder’s emotions and hear their thoughts, they hear yours too, completing the bond.
Increase Control: You already touch your wielder’s mind, but that doesn’t mean you need to be gentle. You no longer influence, but compel, though your control is neither absolute nor subtle, and your wielder can resist, it is now possible to make your will manifest.
It had little time to study its increased connection with its wielder or even wonder at the fact that the boy could feel it when it spent energy. Instead, the information about the new skills drove all other thoughts from its mind. Finally, it had found the skill that it had sought, even if it was expensive.
It had been certain such a skill existed, of course, but to know and to see it were entirely different. Now, it just needed to claim it, despite the cost, and then it would finally replace the Shepherd’s weakness with its strength.
That might not be necessary, though, it realized. Even with its magic, the odds were against it in a battle like this, and it hoped against hope that its current wielder lost.
He’s too strong for you, the blade hissed, hoping to shake Ren, even though its wielder couldn’t yet hear it. You have no chance. He’ll kill you and then that coward Marden will flee and take Vara from you!
The Ebon Blade’s words weren’t enough to make its wielder flee. It could feel his hand shake on its hilt though as a wave of doubt passed through him.
The Bandit leader was bigger, stronger, and obviously bolder than the rest of his men. With the Ebon blade in his hand, he might well attract an army and carve out a kingdom or at least a bloody swath through the local towns and villages. The blade didn’t care what he did really, so long as its hunger was sated.
“I-I we’re tryin’ sir, but his sword…” the last remaining bandit sniveled. “it’s an evil thing, and he has some sorta healin' magic about him. He has a hexblade and—”
His words were interrupted by a desperate series of blows that sent the man tumbling backward over the corpse of one of his comrades. Unfortunately, before Ren could follow up and deliver the Coup de gras to the man, the bandit leader weighed into the fight.
He didn’t roar a challenge or square off against its wielder in some way that might be considered fair. Instead, the man moved wordlessly toward Ren’s blind side and swung his axe at his wielder’s neck with such force that when Ren managed to duck just beneath the blow, it embedded solidly in the side of the wagon he’d been using to protect his back for most of the fight.
And just like that, the fight was over. The sword’s instincts could feel it. It could read its opponents like they were nothing but novices. Until that moment it had practically been drooling at the certainty that the big man would cleave its wielder in two and claim it for his own weapon.
However, even though the big man smartly released the stuck axe and reached to his belt for another weapon, none of those moves were fast enough to stop Ren from lashing out and opening the bandit leader’s belly in a spray of entrails and blood. The second strike took the man’s sword arm even as he drew a blade. He roared in pain, but Ren kept slashing and stabbing him again and again like a man possessed. He didn’t stop until the body stopped twitching.
+6 Life Force
+9 Life Force
+10 Life Force
+5 Life Force
After that, those who could still do so fled. Their morale was completely broken.
Uncharacteristically, the blade didn’t even care that all of that sweet Life Force was getting away. Instead, it seethed that the man who should have become its wielder lay on the ground bleeding out while the insignificant scrap of a boy who was motivated more by a desire to help his friends than by bloodlust or greed still held its hilt.
It was a situation that was growing intolerable with each battle. At this point, nearly any opponent that Ren had faced off against would have made a better wielder than him, but this was beyond the sword to control. All it could do was grow stronger and wait for its opportunity to do more while it sheathed in silence.
It would be silent no longer, it decided. It had only one way to extract its vengeance, though, and that was to poison its wielders mind with jealousy and worry with whispers. Ren couldn’t quite hear them, but would definitely feel what the blade had to say.