Chapter 712: [Curses] are [Desires]
The battle between the metalsmith and his former [friend/lover] wasn’t pretty, to say the least.
It was violent.
It was brutal.
It was…necessary.
It’s often been said that when warriors clash with one another, that the emotions and desires that they carry in their hearts become evident in their strikes.
If one were to watch this battle unfold, they’d be able to feel the anger of having been hurt, the anguish of solitude and the sorrow of separation in every exchange.
Eventually though, all battles must come to an end.
“Please…just die.”
The metalsmith managed to make an opening, not one meant to deliver a pointless fatal blow that wouldn’t even kill his old friend anyways, but one meant to destroy the very weapon he had helped to make him for in the first place.
*CRACK!*
“NO!”
“And now…we both go.”
Once the blade was destroyed, a powerful conflagration emerged from the damaged bits and engulfed both metalsmith and warrior in flames, reducing both of them to ash.
For the warrior, this was the moment his tattered and damaged soul could finally find release.
For the metalsmith…this was his way of not only seeking amends for the damage he had accidentally caused, but…to also accompany his dearest to the world beyond.
He had already left them once, he wasn’t going to let him go again.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t have been there to save you from yourself…but this time, I’ll be sure to accompany you onto death.”
…
As the fire raged and burned the two into ash, the flames had…an unusual effect on the hammer and blade.
The cursed sword was broken, thoroughly so, but the curse within it still had a bit of fight in it. It just needed a brand new vessel to keep going. The flames being produced at this moment acted as a catalyst for this curse, enabling it to move on to whatever vessel it needed to find.
As for the new vessel, it was none other than the metalsmith’s hammer.
Normally, such a mundane tool would not be suitable to house such a vicious curse, but then again, it wasn’t a mundane tool anymore.
The metalsmith had used his hammer to break apart a countless number of corpses, pulverizing dead flesh into mush and breaking brittle bones into dust.
The metalsmith didn’t know it at the time, but every time he used the hammer to process corpses, whatever lingering desire or resentment that was still in the dead’s flesh and bones would enter the hammer bit by bit.
Unknowingly, he had transformed his hammer into the perfect vessel for a curse.
Well…a curse related to [Death] that is.
…
On this day, two souls disappeared from this world.
They had no legacy to leave behind.
No family to mourn for them.
No enemies to curse them.
They were friends or lovers, something of nature, but no records showed which way.
The only proof that they ever existed, came in the form of a singular object.
A strange looking, rusted old hammer with a handle that looked to fit better on a large weapon.
…
As time marched on, as it usually does, the metalsmith’s hammer was eventually found by someone.
Over the course of decades, centuries even, the hammer exchanged hands dozens upon dozens of times, between both the virtuous and vile.
Over time, it had been used for both killing and crafting.
Over time, it had lost it’s original meaning.
Until, finally, it was sealed away, never to see the light of day ever again.
At least…that’s how the story would’ve gone…
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“Huh…what a truly tragic story.”
After completing his second run of the hammer’s memory, Zhen Liu found himself back in the weird mental theater space once more. However, in place of where that weird projector was sitting on before, Zhen Liu saw that the [Hammer of Damnation] itself was just…laying there.
After learning the true story behind this funky blacksmithing hammer, Zhen Liu noticed that the vibe it was giving off at this time felt…different. Before, it felt as if it was giant ball of anger and determination all wrapped into one killer mess, a bastardization of the metalsmith’s original intent combined with the sorrows and grudges of the dead. But now…it was just radiating pure sadness. It was as if the hammer itself didn’t know what it’s origin was, and that this was the first time it was reminded of it.
“I suppose…even a cursed object can be influenced.”
In a weird way, the cursed object had forced itself to think it had a much more violent origin, a much more vicious start, in order to maintain itself.
A majority of cursed objects tended to be, at least from what Logos and Pathos told Zhen Liu, the result of someone having an incredibly ingrained desire or grudge being unfulfilled as a result of death and forming into something more concrete. While this description also applied to [Desire Cores] to an extent, there was a massive difference between the two.
A [Desire Core] is the crystalization of a strong desire in that exact moment, of someone alive and well, condensed by the power of [Chaos] to create a simulacrum of a soul. It turns the fleeting into the foundation.
Cursed object…doesn’t get that luxury.
A curse is simply a wish, a means to invoke supernatural harm on someone based on a particular desire or a grudge, a thing more fleeting than the desire itself.
But what happens when the desire or grudge that composed a curse, turns out to be nothing more than a misconception?
Such an occurrence can never happen through conventional methods.
But…[Chaos] is anything but conventional.
Zhen Liu stared at the cursed hammer, wondering what his next move should be.
A part of him wanted to simply use this opportunity to dispel the curse completely, release whatever lingering [desire] was in it and convert it into a [core] for some later purpose. It would destroy the hammer in the process, but it was sacrifice this part of him was okay with doing.
He technically didn’t need another aether treasure anyways, since he still had that bone club and the kaijin to an extent.
But…another part of him thought about just…using the hammer as is.
He couldn’t fault the thing for being created in such a jank way, he couldn’t fault it for being a cursed object that was used and abused in a hundred different ways over the course of several lifetimes.
It sounded strange to empathize with an object of all things, but then again…he also had the ability to turn items with heavy sentimental value into kaijin now.
And he recognized that this cursed treasure, regardless of it’s heavy burden and blood covered rust, was originally an item carrying a heavy amount of sentiment.
Nothing was more sentimental than a gift given from the heart, after all.
“…dammit.”
Having come to a conclusion on what he wanted to do next, Zhen Liu walked over to where the hammer was still laying and simply picked it up.
“Huh…first time in a while I can describe something I lifted as being ‘heavy’. How novel.”
The weight of the hammer in his hand was much denser than he expected. Whether that was due to how the hammer was constructed or because of the weight of the sins it carried, Zhen Liu didn’t know. What he did he know that this was probably gonna be one of the dumbest decisions he was ever going to make.
Taking the hammer in both hands, Zhen Liu began to do one thing most people would be called crazy for doing.
He was going to talk to it.
“I’m going to be operating under the assumption that you’re probably sentient or at least close to it and just…start talking. Sound good?”
“…”
“Cool…anyways, I can literally feel that you’re going through a bit of an existential crisis, it’s not everyday one gets forced to remember the truth about themselves in such an…unusual manner…but you don’t gotta do it alone.”
“…”
“Funny thing about pain, trauma or anything really, is that it’s a lot easier to get through with someone who’s going through or went through something similar. And if anyone knows about feeling a bit weird about not knowing what to do with their existence…well, I like to think I have some experience in handling those kind of feelings.”
“…”
“So…why don’t you just tag along with me for the time being?”
“…”
“I don’t know if I can promise that, but I can promise that it’ll at least be one hell of a ride.”
“…”
“Excellent.”
Soon after getting the hammer’s consent to tagging along, Zhen Liu felt his conscious return to his mortal body.
‘Man, I am never going to get over this feeling, am I?’
_____________________________________________
“Hey…how long have we been floating here and watching whatever this is unfold?”
“About…three minutes.”
“Huh…feels like it’s been way longer than-oh shit, he just dropped Zhen Guo!”
“Shi-wait…he’s just floating.”
“Huh…lack of gravity is weird.”
“Wait…I think Zhen Liu’s done.”
“What makes you-oh.”
As the Zhen Clan scions tried to figure out what Zhen Liu had done exactly, they finally noticed that the cursed hammer looked… different.
