Chapter 129 — The Man with the Sword
The sound beneath Remus stopped.
No third knock came.
No fourth.
The silence that followed felt deliberate.
Crowley remained standing near the sealed chamber entrance.
Shoyo stared at him.
Brook watched both of them.
"I wasn't the only one who made a deal."
Crowley's words remained in the air.
Henry looked around.
"Does anybody else feel like that's a sentence we should discuss before we go anywhere?"
Nobody answered.
Henry sighed.
"Right."
Shoyo stepped toward Crowley.
"What do you remember?"
Crowley looked at her.
"Nothing useful."
"That's not an answer."
Crowley laughed quietly.
"You've been spending too much time with Brook."
Brook looked at him.
Crowley ignored him.
Shoyo remained serious.
Crowley rubbed his temple.
"I remember fire."
Brook waited.
Crowley continued.
"I remember Vaelor."
His eyes moved toward the floor.
"Then someone else."
Shoyo's expression changed.
Rick noticed.
Brook noticed Rick noticing.
Crowley looked at Shoyo.
"A king."
Shoyo became still.
Crowley continued.
"Not Vaelor."
Brook frowned.
"Another king?"
Crowley nodded.
"I think."
Shoyo looked away.
Crowley's eyes narrowed.
"You know."
Shoyo didn't answer.
Crowley stepped closer.
"Who?"
Shoyo looked at him.
"I know who you are remembering."
The corridor became quiet.
Henry leaned away from the wall.
Sera watched Shoyo carefully.
Brook said:
"Then tell us."
Shoyo hesitated.
Rick stepped forward.
Brook turned toward him.
Rick's hand rested on the handle of his sword.
"There is something you need to understand first."
Henry looked at the sword.
Brook did too.
It wasn't the first time he had seen Rick armed.
But something about it felt different now.
Rick noticed.
He removed the sword from his back.
The weapon remained inside its sheath.
He held it carefully.
Almost respectfully.
Brook frowned.
"That's the sword."
Rick looked at him.
"What sword?"
Brook stared.
"The one from the vision."
Silence.
Sera's eyes widened.
Crowley looked toward Rick.
Shoyo closed her eyes.
Henry whispered:
"Oh."
Brook stepped forward.
"Rick."
Rick looked down at the weapon.
Then back at Brook.
"I didn't know what you saw."
Brook's eyes narrowed.
"Don't."
Rick sighed.
"Don't what?"
"Start hiding things now."
Rick looked at him.
"Brook—"
"I just found out Shoyo has been keeping centuries of history from us."
Brook pointed at the sword.
"Now you're standing here with the weapon I saw in a vision connected to all of this."
Rick's expression hardened slightly.
"Then ask."
Brook stopped.
Rick held the sword out between them.
"Ask me."
Brook stared at him.
"Why do you have it?"
Rick looked down at the sheath.
"Because I found it."
Henry frowned.
"That's suspiciously simple."
Rick glanced at him.
"It is."
Brook waited.
Rick continued.
"I found it years ago."
Shoyo watched him.
"In the ruins."
Brook looked at her.
"You knew?"
Shoyo nodded.
"I helped him find it."
Brook stared.
Rick smiled slightly.
"You're going to hate this."
Brook didn't respond.
Rick sighed.
"The ruins were old."
Henry immediately looked away.
Brook almost laughed.
Rick continued.
"Older than Shinokuni."
Sera frowned.
"Older than Remus?"
Rick shook his head.
"I don't know."
Shoyo spoke.
"Older than both."
Everyone looked at her.
Brook stared at the sword.
"Who did it belong to?"
Rick was quiet.
Crowley answered.
"A king."
Everyone turned.
Crowley stared at the weapon.
His expression had changed.
Brook noticed immediately.
Crowley took a step forward.
"Let me see it."
Rick hesitated.
Crowley looked at him.
"Please."
Rick handed him the sword.
Crowley held it.
Nothing happened.
Brook watched his face.
Crowley turned the weapon over.
Slowly.
His thumb moved along the sheath.
Then stopped.
Crowley's eyes narrowed.
"There."
He pointed.
Brook stepped closer.
A small mark had been carved into the sheath.
It wasn't a symbol Brook recognized.
Sera did.
Her face changed.
"That's…"
She stopped.
Shoyo looked at her.
"What?"
Sera shook her head.
"I don't know."
Brook frowned.
"You just said—"
"I know the shape."
Sera touched the mark.
Then immediately pulled her hand back.
"But it isn't one of the Words."
Crowley stared at the mark.
"Because it isn't magic."
Shoyo looked at him.
Crowley glanced toward her.
"Is it?"
Shoyo didn't answer.
Brook folded his arms.
"Shoyo."
She sighed.
"No."
Brook waited.
Shoyo walked toward the sword.
"That symbol belonged to the old kings."
Crowley handed the weapon back to Rick.
"Which one?"
Shoyo's eyes moved toward him.
"One of the last."
The words made Brook uncomfortable.
One of the last kings.
Before the protected places.
Before the Walls.
Before the world had become what it was now.
Rick looked down at his weapon.
"I didn't know his name when I found it."
Brook turned toward him.
"And now?"
Rick's expression changed.
"Now I do."
Henry quietly said:
"Of course you do."
Rick looked at him.
Henry raised his hands.
"Sorry."
Brook waited.
Rick looked at Shoyo.
Shoyo nodded once.
Rick turned back.
"The king's name was Arven."
The name meant nothing to Brook.
But Crowley became still.
Brook saw it.
Crowley looked toward Shoyo.
"Arven."
Shoyo watched him.
Crowley whispered:
"I remember that."
Brook stepped toward him.
"What?"
Crowley shook his head.
"I don't know."
His hand moved toward his temple.
Again.
Brook hated seeing it.
Crowley looked at Rick.
"The sword belonged to him."
Rick nodded.
"As far as we know."
Crowley stared.
"Give it back."
Rick hesitated.
Then handed it to him.
Crowley removed the sword from its sheath.
The sound of metal filled the corridor.
Everyone became quiet.
The blade was old.
But it wasn't damaged.
There were no symbols glowing along it.
No obvious magic.
Nothing spectacular.
Brook stared at it.
"That's it?"
Henry looked at him.
"What were you expecting?"
Brook shrugged.
"Something."
Rick smiled.
"That's what I said when I found it."
Brook looked at him.
"Really?"
"No."
Brook stared.
Rick smiled.
"Yes."
Brook shook his head.
Crowley raised the blade.
The edge caught the light.
His face changed.
A fragment.
Brook could see it.
"Crowley."
Crowley didn't answer.
The blade trembled slightly in his hand.
Then—
Rain.
A battlefield.
Crowley stood surrounded by bodies.
Not fresh.
Old.
The battle had already ended.
He was younger.
His clothes were different.
The world was different.
A man stood across from him.
Holding the same sword.
A crown rested in the mud.
The man was wounded.
Blood ran down his face.
Crowley knew him.
He knew that much.
The man looked at him.
His mouth moved.
Crowley couldn't hear the words.
The memory was silent.
Then Crowley looked down.
The sword was between them.
The man released it.
Crowley caught it.
Then—
someone screamed.
Crowley turned.
A hand grabbed his shoulder.
A voice said something.
The memory vanished.
Crowley opened his eyes.
Brook was standing in front of him.
"Crowley."
Crowley looked around.
He was back.
Rick had one hand extended.
Crowley was still holding the sword.
Shoyo stared at him.
"What did you see?"
Crowley slowly handed the weapon back.
"A battlefield."
Brook waited.
Crowley looked at Shoyo.
"And Arven."
Shoyo became still.
Crowley continued.
"He gave me the sword."
Rick frowned.
Crowley shook his head.
"No."
He corrected himself.
"He asked me to take it."
Shoyo's face changed.
Brook noticed.
"What?"
Shoyo looked at Rick.
Rick looked back.
Neither spoke.
Brook's expression hardened.
"Stop doing that."
Rick sighed.
"Brook—"
"Tell me."
Shoyo looked at Crowley.
"Arven was the last king of a world that no longer exists."
The corridor went silent.
Henry frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Shoyo looked toward him.
"It means before the world was divided, there were kingdoms."
Brook knew that.
Shoyo continued.
"But some kingdoms did not survive what came after."
Crowley stared at her.
"Arven's did."
Shoyo looked at him.
"Not for long."
Rick took the sword.
His grip tightened.
Brook looked at him.
"Why do you have it?"
Rick answered immediately.
"Because Shoyo asked me to carry it."
Shoyo looked at him.
Rick ignored her.
Brook turned.
"Why?"
Shoyo's answer took time.
"Because it remembers."
Henry stared.
Brook frowned.
"What?"
Rick removed his hand from the sword.
The weapon remained still.
No glow.
No reaction.
Nothing.
Brook looked at Shoyo.
"It remembers what?"
Shoyo looked at the weapon.
"The person who carried it."
Brook watched Crowley.
Crowley watched the sword.
Henry whispered:
"That's magic."
Sera shook her head.
"No."
Everyone looked at her.
Sera stepped closer.
"I don't think it is."
Shoyo watched her.
Sera looked at the sword.
"It's something else."
Crowley stared.
"Older."
Sera nodded.
Brook looked between them.
He was beginning to hate that word.
Older.
Everything important seemed to be older than everything else.
Rick placed the sword back into its sheath.
Brook watched him.
"Can I ask you something?"
Rick nodded.
"Of course."
Brook looked at the sword.
"Can you use it?"
Rick smiled.
"Yes."
Brook frowned.
"That's not what I meant."
"I know."
Brook stared at him.
Rick's smile disappeared.
Then he drew the weapon again.
This time—
he didn't show it to Crowley.
He stepped away.
Brook watched.
Rick raised the blade.
The corridor was narrow.
There wasn't much room.
Rick looked toward a stone pillar.
Then moved.
One step.
Two.
The sword cut through the air.
Brook expected something impossible.
A blast.
A spell.
Something.
Instead—
Rick fought.
His movements were clean.
Simple.
A step forward.
A turn.
The blade moved close to his body.
Then away.
No wasted motion.
He wasn't showing off.
That was what Brook noticed.
Rick wasn't trying to impress anyone.
He looked like someone who had practiced the same movements so many times that his body no longer needed to think.
Brook watched carefully.
Rick changed direction.
His foot caught the edge of broken stone.
He adjusted immediately.
The blade came across his body.
Stopped.
Then moved again.
Henry watched.
"Okay."
Rick continued.
Henry nodded.
"Okay."
Rick finally stopped.
He lowered the sword.
Brook looked at him.
"You've trained with that."
Rick placed it back into the sheath.
"For a long time."
"How long?"
Rick looked at Brook.
"A while."
Brook stared.
Rick sighed.
"Long enough to get tired of that question."
Brook smiled slightly.
But he understood now.
The sword wasn't important because Rick had inherited the power of an ancient king.
Rick had made it important.
He had carried it.
Learned it.
Trained with it.
He had become skilled.
Without magic.
Without a Source.
Brook respected that.
Crowley remained quiet.
Shoyo approached him.
Brook watched from a distance.
"You remembered him."
Crowley nodded.
"Pieces."
Shoyo looked at the sword.
"Arven trusted you."
Crowley laughed quietly.
"Apparently."
"He gave you his weapon."
Crowley looked at her.
"Why?"
Shoyo hesitated.
Crowley waited.
Shoyo's expression changed.
"I don't remember."
Crowley stared.
Then, unexpectedly—
he laughed.
Brook frowned.
"What?"
Crowley shook his head.
"Nothing."
Shoyo looked at him.
Crowley smiled.
"You forgot too."
Shoyo stared.
Crowley continued.
"Welcome to immortality."
For the first time, Shoyo laughed.
A real laugh.
Small.
But real.
Sera smiled.
Henry did too.
Even Brook.
The moment didn't last long.
But it didn't need to.
Rick walked toward Brook.
Brook looked at the sword.
"So."
Rick waited.
"You know more."
Rick smiled.
"Everyone says that."
Brook nodded.
"Because you do."
Rick sighed.
Then looked toward the underground chamber.
"I know enough to know we're running out of time."
Brook's smile disappeared.
"What does that mean?"
Rick looked at the sealed entrance.
"The sword isn't reacting because of Remus."
Brook waited.
Rick looked down.
"It's reacting because of what is coming."
Brook stared.
Sera walked closer.
"What is coming?"
Rick didn't answer.
Instead, he looked at Shoyo.
Shoyo's expression had gone cold.
Crowley noticed.
"What?"
Shoyo looked toward the distant corridor.
The old ruins.
The darkness beneath them.
Then she looked at the sword.
"The past."
Nobody spoke.
Shoyo's voice became quieter.
"And it remembers how to find us."
Brook's hand moved toward his weapon.
Henry checked his gun.
Sera's fingers tightened.
Rick placed his sword back across his shoulder.
Crowley looked toward the darkness.
Brook didn't know who Arven had been.
He didn't know why Crowley had been on that battlefield.
And he didn't know what Rick had found years ago.
But he knew one thing.
The old world had not disappeared.
It had left pieces behind.
And those pieces were beginning to move.
Rick looked at Brook.
"You ready?"
Brook looked toward the darkness.
"No."
Rick smiled.
"Good."
Brook frowned.
"Good?"
Rick started walking.
"It means you're thinking."
Brook looked at Henry.
Henry shrugged.
"I like him."
Brook followed Rick.
Behind them, Crowley remained staring at the place where the old sword had been.
A name echoed somewhere inside his mind.
Arven.
And beneath it—
another name.
One he still could not remember.
But this time—
he was certain of one thing.
He had known that person.
A long time ago.
End of Chapter 129