Chapter 56: Cross Link Blade
Ty's eye sockets flickered to life with a green hue, illuminating his skull as he leaned down to pick up his skeleton hands before letting out a heavy sigh after hearing the loud, deep snores of Todd, who was sleeping in the corner. "Loud as always."
As moments passed, Ty also detected two more smaller noises and noticed Todd's kids sprawled across the bed, snoring equally loudly, annoyingly.
Picking himself up from the bed, he spotted a third bed in the room where Sogetsu lay wrapped up, silent as if a lifeless body. Seeing him like this, Ty mused, 'He must have had a rough life. To still be able to smile after all that has happened, is quite an achievement.'
Opening the door with a metallic handle, Ty broke into the hallway filled with creatures moving to and from different areas to do their business.
Noticing the surroundings, Ty couldn't help but wonder where all of them were heading and what they were up to before peering out of a clean window.
Walking up to the window, and touching it, Ty was quite shocked to find out that it was nothing but pure ice, which offered a view of the glaring giant sun outside, which was basking the area in light.
The surreal sight still befell Ty's thoughts as to how something like this was possible. 'I suppose I just need to accept that even most of the impossible for me is possible with most of the things here.'
Just as he was gazing out of the ice glass, a voice cracked behind him, followed by the appearance of the little woman, Nana, who was wearing a new purple hooded jacket and pointing her metallic red arm towards him, as she stated, "The Demon King told me to come and wake you up, but it seems that you have saved me some trouble. Hurry up and get going."
Ty squatted down and asked as he reached his hand towards Nana's hoodie, "When did you get a new hoodie? I really like the purple color; it reminds me of my favorite basketball team."
"PAHHH"
However, Nana slapped his skeleton hand aside as she grumpily stated.
"Don't you know that it's rude to grab other people's clothes?"
Saying that she pulled her hoodie back to her head and fixed it around herself before asking in confusion, recalling the words Ty had said, "What even is basketball?
Ty only gave out a light chuckle before saying, "I will tell you about it some other time. Are you coming with me, or are you on your way to yell at someone else?'"
"Naturally, otherwise you'd probably get lost, and the Demon King would be mad at me," she stated before rolling her eyes and crossing her arms before she began to lead the way by walking in front of Ty.
"I noticed that there are no clocks here. How do you keep track of time?" Ty inquired as she walked in front of him with a quickened pace.
"You don't; time here moves oddly. Not in a sense that can be tracked by a clock, so it's useless."
"Sounds confusing, but I'm sure I'll get used to it. But I've been wanting to try and get a chance to talk with you for a while now," Ty confessed.
Nana slammed her foot into the ground, coming to a sudden halt as she stuttered, "Y-You have?!"
"Yes, I wanted to apologize for letting my anger get the best of me back when we were on your planet," Ty began, his voice filled with regret. "Well, cutting your arm, stabbing you, and killing your friend..."
As Ty listed out his actions, Nana's face displayed a mix of emotions. Her eyebrows furrowed, and she seemed lost in thought.
"Wow, you probably should be hating me for that, don't you?" Ty's words hung in the air as he realized the gravity of his actions back on their planet.
"Even if we were fighting each other, I shouldn't have tried to kill someone who is defenseless. I just let my anger get the better of me." He then gave a slight bow, a gesture of his genuine remorse.
With her face still flushed red, Nana shakily replied, "It's fine. He was an asshole anyways. The entire planet was just terrible, so I don't care about any of that." Her voice held a hint of resignation and bitterness as she continued, "But your act of cutting off my hand was a bit too much, so you'll have to make that up to me at some point."
Despite the harsh words, her tone carried a touch of playfulness, suggesting that beneath the anger, she was willing to forgive and move forward.
"I guess that does make sense. I was able to get some of your memories while we were fighting, and I saw that you had to deal with a lot of problems during your early days. I won't bring them up, but I do understand them somewhat. Where I came from, we also had to face issues like that," Ty reflected as he and Nana continued their stroll.
Nana replied with a nonchalant tone, "Sure, sure," as they approached a room labeled [Inbounding]
"I don't think I've seen this room before," Ty muttered with curiosity.
Nana replied, "Well, from what I was told, you were here only for a short time before crashing on our planet."
"That is true," Ty nodded in acknowledgement as he watched Nana place both of her hands on the door as she pushed it open, which seemed like she had to struggle a bit to do so. However, Ty refrained from intervening, not wanting to embarrass her.
They eventually entered the room, where the Demon King was seated in a blackened chair with red linings while being dressed in the same attire as before. He was engrossed in reading some documents but brought his attention to them as he noticed Ty and Nana entering.
"Welcome. You're both early. Come, have a seat," the Demon King greeted.
Ty gave Nana a smirk and quipped, "I still had time to take a shower, but you were rushing me," as he placed his bony hands over the back of a chair and walked over to take a seat.
Nana couldn't help but express her confusion as she muttered to herself, "Why would a skeleton need to take a shower?"
Shaking her head in loss, Nana then turned to the Demon King as he stated, "Thank you, Nana, for grabbing Ty. I feel it was important that he got a full sleep cycle, and also it gave me enough time to restore his armor."
Saying that the Demon King rolled two black dice on the table, which were glowing with a red aura.
After rolling in front of Ty, both of the dice landed on a plain armor icon. As Ty picked them up, he noticed that all of the sides of the dice were similar.
"What is this?" Ty asked in puzzlement.
The Demon King then explained, "That's your armor, split in a simple dice set for easy travel. One has the upper portion, while the other has the lower portion of the armor. Simply releasing some energy into it will be enough to activate it and don it over you, which will also activate the #13 inscriptions that I have put on you."
"Do you have any questions?" the Demon King inquired after the brief explanation.
With an odd smirk on his skeletal face, Ty responded, "I have about 100 questions, but I guess I will just focus on what the 13 does, other than signifying my collaboration with you?"
"It will give you a portion of my power," the Demon King plainly stated. "In likeness to how I am constantly taking a portion of your pain, I am providing a fragment of my power that will activate when you are in need of it."
As he absorbed this information, Ty's hollow eyes reflected curiosity and a touch of gratitude. Leaning in, he asked for more guidance. "But unless you have any pressing questions, let's get on to some solutions. In short, I will be sending you to Planet Carion to ret—"
Suddenly, Ty interjected him with a deep shock, "Wait, you're already sending me to a new place?!" His surprise was palpable as he processed the unexpected turn of events.
"Yes, you're supposed to retrieve a blade known as the Cross Link Sword," the Demon King explained. "I had Kirana stay awake all night in order to research the current planets for objects, relics, and weapons that could be of some assistance, and this was the one."
Ty listened intently, a sense of purpose starting to form within him. He then posed another question, "And why can't you just zap it here or already have all those weapons here?"
The Demon King clarified as he shook his head, "First, taking the sword directly would break the balance of the world and cause issues. Secondly, I don't have the ability to simply snap any item I want here."
"These items, weapons, and relics are created to benefit and aid the living of the planet that is created and would serve little purpose if it were to merely sit in a vault here 99% of the time. If push comes to shove, I can handle anything that comes here."
Ty nodded in understanding and continued his inquiry, "Okay, and why this Cross Link Sword?" His curiosity lingered as he sought to grasp the significance of this particular weapon.
"The sword itself is nothing special for direct combat like some of the other weapons which the planet has to offer," the Demon King began to explain. "In fact, some of the other weapons born on the planet itself are much more impressive. This sword, however, will allow you to link with your opponent's mind and everything they might be thinking of."
After Ty absorbed this information, a general idea started forming in his mind about the situation. Looking a bit suspicious, he asked, "So the plan here is basically to get the sword, so the next time he shows up, his entire plan falls into our lap?"
The Demon King nodded in confirmation. "Precisely," he affirmed.
"The sword's unique ability to connect with an opponent's thoughts will be invaluable. It's not just about reading the opponent's minds; it's about unraveling their plans, understanding their motives, and also predicting their actions."
Ty still had numerous questions in his mind, showing his skepticism, he inquired, "And this sword is the only thing that can read minds? Out of everything this crazy world has?"
The Demon King clarified, "No, I have plenty of warriors that could do simple mind reading. However, the process and setup to make one could prove to be pointless if he just kills them or breaks the item. This sword serves a secondary function: binding both users to a linked zone, preventing one from moving a certain distance from the other. This will help in effectively shutting down his portals."