“Dammit, I said no spears, you drunk.”

“It’s not a spear, it’s a staff. See, no pointy end,” Thorn said as he motioned towards the end of the staff.

“That might be even worse. Donatello was the worst turtle of all.”

“Who...Turtle? What the hell are you blabbering on about?” A look of confusion was plastered on Thorn's face.

“Never mind that, just no. No staff weapons as well.”

“Those two have been doing this for quite a while now, haven’t they?” Rolla whispered as she stood next to Ave.

“They have.” she said as she and Rolla stood off to the side, looking at Shango and Thorn.

“I wonder what Shango’s problem is with spears? They are so excellent that they’re known as the king of all long weapons,” Ave muttered, disappointed that Shango was adamant about not choosing the spear as his weapon.

“I would never have thought he would have been so picky while picking an Artifact Weapon. Most people would jump with joy for the chance to get even the worst of the Artifact Weapon, but this guy…” Her eyes moved to Shango as he tossed back another weapon.

“No, not that. It’s too small.”

“Damn it, size doesn’t matter. As long as it can kill, it’s fine.”

“It looks like they will be a while. Why don’t we go do some other work while why he chooses, his weapon?”

Nodding her head in agreement, she said, “All right, Shango!”

“Yes, what is it?” he said as he handed Thorn back a whip-like weapon.

“Rolla and I have some small matters to attend to, so we will leave you in the care of Thorn for a while.”

Shango said nothing. He just waved her off, letting her know that he had heard her.

“Looks like he’s completely focused on choosing a weapon.”

With that, the two left the room.

***

“We have been at this for too long. Pick one already!” Thorn said as he pulled out his flask for another swig, only to be greeted with only a few drops.

“What’s the hurry?” Shango said as he handed back a pair of needle weapons to Thorn.

“It’s been about three hours already, and where are the other two!?” Thorn yelled, shaking his flask to try to get a few more drops on his tongue.

“Come on, it’s not that bad. A serious choice like this may even take a day or two.” Shango said with a little smirk. He’d realized a while ago that he was starting to get on Thorn’s nerves and to get a little payback for what happened earlier, he decided to act a bit bratty by becoming a lot more indecisive when it came to choosing his Artifact Weapon.

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“I will not sit here while you act like a noble lady on a shopping spree. Here.” Tapping his grimoire, it pulsed white for a second before moving closer towards Shango while Thorn headed for the exit.

“Wait, where are you going?”

“A booze hunt, my friend,” he said as he pointed to the sky with his lone arm.

“Now, since you cannot wield your mana correctly, I set this grimoire to respond to your voice. Just say ‘out’ to bring out whatever weapon you fancy and ‘in’ to put it back. Simple, right?”

“Wait, damn it, how could you just leave something so valuable in my hands? What if I just take everything and run?”

“Meh, you seem like an okay guy, and the Princess and that stick in the mud maid seem to trust you an awful lot. So I will trust you a little myself.” he said, smiling from ear to ear as he left. “Plus, those two would have your head before you even leave this room.” he muttered to himself.

Once Thorn left, Shango stared at the grimoire a bit before walking to closer to it.

Flipping to the next page, the first weapon that caught his attention was a Katana sword. Looking at it in the grimoire, he could tell it was a beautiful sword.

“Out!” Starting from the handle, it slowly begun to emerge from the grimoire.

So beautiful, Shango thought as he gripped the handle.

He was always a big fan of the Japanese Samurai and the Bushido Code, so the first weapon he would look at would be a Katana sword.

He tried swinging it a few times but quickly realized a problem.

“What the hell!”

Swinging it a few more times, he could feel the katana getting heavier. Swinging it once more, he found out he could no longer lift it. While gripping the katana, he felt an odd sensation deep down, like he knew the sword was rejecting him.

Dragging the sword near the grimoire with a loud screeching sound, almost breaking a sweat, he said, “In.”

Ave had told him that even if he found a weapon he liked, if it did not recognize him as its masters, it would be pointless.

“Whelp, on to the next one, then.”

Shango flipped through the grimoire slowly, going from page to page and pulling out weapons such as a flail, two-handed maces, a battle-ax and twin daggers, all which rejected him or did not feel right to him.

Shango was almost through the whole grimoire when a worrisome thought hit him. Please don’t tell me I’ve got to use that damn spear. He tried out a few more weapons before giving up.

“Damn it. Fine, I will try it.”

Turning back to the page the spear was on, he looked at it for a moment. There was something repulsive about the spear that Shango could not shake off.

Gritting his teeth, he said, “Out.”

Slowly reaching out his hand to touch it, he felt an odd sense of danger emanating from it. Just as he was about to touch it, something violently forced his hand away from the spear.

Something told him that if he had gripped it, he would have lost his hand.

“In. Looks like it was never meant to be.” he said with a happy smirk.

Returning to where he left off in the grimoire, he repeated the process of pulling out and putting back in weapons till he came across a broadsword that looked nice. Taking it out and swinging it, it felt good to him. Not the best, but it felt good, and it did not reject him.

“Alright, this should do.” he said, holding the sword in front of him and striking a pose.

Putting the broadsword to the side, he thought to himself, I will finish looking through; I might find something better.

An hour passed, and he was almost nearing the end of the grimoire. Nothing was quite as good as the broadsword he found. That was until he came across a page in the grimoire that contained what looked to be two marbles. One was a dark amethyst color and the other a pale green.

Intrigued by them, he said, “What are these supposed to be?” and decided to inspect them.

“Out.” The two small marbles appeared, rolling from the grimoire into Shango hands. Bringing them closer for an inspection, he noticed that the dark Amethyst colored one had a crack in it going down the middle, while the Pale Green one looked like it was close to shattering.

So beautiful, how are these suppose to be weapons? he thought.

After holding them in his hand for a while, he noticed a slight violet glow coming from the dark amethyst marble.

“You seem interesting. Let see what you can endure.”

Out of nowhere, Shango heard a voice in his head. It was a weak, old woman’s voice.

The slight glow from the amethyst marble intensified to the point it became blinding.

“Wait. What!” And for the second time since coming to this world, an unimaginable pain hit Shango.