William quickly untied the long braided cords that wrapped around and held the cloth covering his new sword firmly in place, hastily uncovering first the left side and then the right, until the hilt was revealed.
The gleaming, silvery steel pommel, shaped like an owl with four tiny outstretched wings; a metallic-looking leather grip, whose sheen reminded him of the shimmering scales of the only dragon he had ever seen.
As he pulled away the rest of the cloth, the white leather scabbard came into view; silver engravings of lilies framed the scabbard in three sections, from the mouth to the centre and down to the tip, with hanging rings to attach a carrying strap.
"Ouch!"
William hissed in pain from his left hand; the delicate ring of the King of the Imps was clamped far too tightly around his finger; the ring, which detected danger to its wearer, worked perfectly and did its job a treat.
"A cursed blade, perhaps? Or do you have some 'condition of use' dangerous enough for my ring to detect?" said William as he looked at the immaculate sword before him
It was the first time his King of the Imps' ring had detected danger emanating from an object; not even when he'd picked up the artefacts from Cayous or Yukio had he received a warning. Later, his father confirmed that none of those artefacts were particularly dangerous to carry if one had no intention of using them.
'Or a deadly "Kleis".'
A Kleis is a protective mechanism that prevented anyone from carrying, possessing or using a specific object, and which was bestowed by the craftsman, blacksmith or master armourer who made that object.
Some demanded something in return, such as Cayous's barbs, which required a part of oneself to permit their use; others imposed a condition, such as Yukio's gloves, which could only be worn by a woman; the vast majority simply remained inactive in the hands of owners deemed unworthy of them
The protective mechanism of Artemis's spear was simple and posed no mortal threat to strangers or thieves; it merely increased its weight enormously, to the point where neither a giant nor Heracles would be able to move it from its place.
Cayous tried to lift the spear when he knocked William down during their first confrontation; despite being a Talos, renowned for his strength, he was unable to lift it even a millimetre off the ground.
Galadhrim, the longbow, had a Kleis on its silver strings, designed to sever the fingers of any bearer unworthy of wielding it; a student a year older than William, named Olden, had touched Galadhrim's strings whilst attempting to cut them with some old pliers, and two of his fingers fell to the ground as they were severed from his hand.
William avoided this lock, or Kleis, by using his King of the Imp glove, part of his armour.
After the hunt for the Spider Queen, the Longbow apparently changed its mind about deeming him unworthy, and the Kleis dissolved of its own accord.
As for his second sword, Sting, it had no protective mechanism whatsoever… which was rather strange.
Suddenly, a glowing screen flashed up in front of the sword; it was a notification from his system.
[Mission: Trial of the Flowers]
[Content: Withstand the trial of the Kleis of the sword before you.]
[The use of a powerful purifying artefact, a protective item or an antidote is recommended.]
After thinking it over for a few minutes, William devised a plan to face the beautiful, gleaming sword, based on the information provided by his system window.
"A test to become your wielder. If it's some sort of poison, my bracelet should be enough, but…" William opened the top drawer of his desk and took out a delicate glass vial protected by a dragon-shaped case.
'Though I need a plan B; a sip should do the trick.' He opened the vial and poured a stream of the golden liquid into his mouth.
(This taste reminds me of…)
William looked at the glass vial in surprise as he savoured its peculiar flavour and swirled it in his hand, causing the golden liquid to sway inside; just under half of it remained.
This was the 'vial of ambrosia' his mother had extracted from the Tree of Golden Branches during the summer holidays; it was intended for emergency use, in case her son suddenly took it into his head to go out at midnight to hunt some dangerous beast and got injured in the process.
''I've never had any use for it, as I have my Goblin Queen's medal."
He put the remaining liquid back in its upright holder inside the cupboard.
Without further ado, and feeling a little nervous, William gripped the hilt of the silver sword, which, incidentally, he was glad to see was made mostly in his favourite colours: white and silver.
(If you were an ugly sword in a far too ostentatious shade of gold, I'd find a way to get rid of you; perhaps Max would know someone interested in buying you for a high price...)
His train of thought was interrupted by a sudden, burning, sharp pain that shot up through his fingers, as if thousands of bullet ants were crawling across his body beneath his skin, biting into his muscles and tearing at his flesh.
Red veins stood out on the arm with which he gripped the hilt of the sword, rising up to his shoulders, until the intense golden glow and the metallic fluttering of the dawn moth halted the poison's rapid spread through his body.
If any other human being other than William had wielded the sword, their body would have lain on the floor after dying in excruciating pain for a few seconds, before rotting away by sunset.
'Ha… ha… ha…!!!'
William was breathing heavily; beads of sweat covered his forehead despite the chill in the room and, if only for an instant, his vision turned red: the trial was over; the sword recognised its new bearer.
The sword in the young man's hand vibrated gently and William realised what he was holding.
"So your name is Miruvor, 'the absorber', the eldest of the 'three sister swords'."
Miruvor—the very name given to the wine of the gods, which Brennus, the apprentice of the god of blacksmithing, had used in its making; that wine was so precious that the old elven craftsman had received only five drops after a lifetime of service to his god, Goibhniu.
It was so potent that merely inhaling the scent of the alcohol was enough to knock out even the strongest of the dwarves, who prided themselves on their ability to drink more than any other creature; Brennus would die of intoxication if he drank even a single drop.
Whilst he was forging in his solitary underground forge, one night when the earth was restless, a drop spilled onto the red-hot steel that Brennus was forging on his silver anvil, adorned with uncut gems.
The Gleaming Steel, as difficult to extract and find as Beskar, absorbed the drop of wine instantly – or perhaps it was the other way round, and the wine absorbed the gleaming steel; after witnessing that extraordinary phenomenon, inspiration flooded Brennus's soul.
'If he could not drink that exquisite wine, which, it was said, was capable of absorbing the finest qualities of its ingredients, he could use it to forge an instrument, an artefact, a weapon that would defend his clan from the evils lurking in the darkness.'
William drew Miruvore, the gleaming, slender blade of polished steel; it sliced gently through the air without making a sound to disturb the silent room; its blade, thinner than the width of a little finger, was so long that it surpassed a claymore in length.
Being so slender, it resembled a rapier more than a one-handed sword.
'If you absorb things that make you stronger, I have something here that might be of use to you.'
William rummaged through his glass jars of various sizes; some contained fungi, others liquids of different colours, stones and powders.
He picked up a vial the size of his hand; inside, the lifeless body of the basilisk lay peacefully.
He took it out of the vial and placed it on a red cloth; he gripped Miruvore by the hilt and thrust it down; the tip, extremely sharp and rigid, pierced the snake's head without meeting any resistance.
At the point on its body where its venom glands were located, the snake's slender body dried up as the sword vibrated gently.
"Haemorrhagic poison!!!" —He realised instantly what properties the Rapier had acquired; there was now a connection between them.
"I thought you'd give me the ability to destroy a Horcrux."
William swung the Miruvore in a figure-of-eight so fast that the blade vanished from view; being so slender, it was very light, so much so that it felt somewhat awkward to handle for William, who was used to wielding a spear.
'It almost seems made for a woman—no, that's rude.'
'Just because a weapon is light doesn't mean it's for women; it's simply designed to be wielded with quick movements and… not all women are weak.'
William smiled as he recalled how Enid was stronger than several of his friends, including Xavier, the charcoal artist, and Ajax, the one with the snakes on his head.