Entering the throne room, they saw Freja drawing a circle out of blood which was rather unsettling.
"Didn't know we were performing a ritual to teleport." Shaman felt like she was in some old movie making sacrifices for a satanic ritual.
"Hai, so can you please stand in the middle." Freja rolled with it and gestured at Shaman to walk up.
"Oi! I'm not a sacrificial lamb." Shaman hid behind Elysia and Clara, hoping they would protect her.
"Oh well, looks like no sacrifice today." Freja continued filling in the circle while looking disappointed.
"Phew." Shaman came out from behind Elysia and Clara who weren't too impressed they were being used as shields.
"What? Just wanted to be protected." Shaman shrunk under Elysia and Clara's glare, getting distinct vibes that they were contemplating throwing her in.
"Should we toss her?" Elysia proposed and Clara nodded liking the idea. Approaching Shaman, they tried to grab either side of her, but then she pulled out Kotetsu.
"Stand back or you get stabby stab." Shaman wasn't intending to actually stab anyone, but it was a good way to keep them back. However, Kotetsu wasn't so sharp anymore and at least half of it was missing.
Everyone except Freja looked shocked as the sword Shaman has been using for months appeared broken beyond repair.
"Shit." Shaman completely forgot that Kotetsu was broken by the satyr. It caused her to freak out since she had an attachment to the sword. Although she could fight without Kotetsu, the drain on her mana from only using elements didn't sound appealing.
"Have you tried putting your mana through it? You do know that your sword is one of admiral Jane's creations, right? She and Himeko are close friends after all." Freja didn't understand why they were freaking out about Kotetsu since it was quite the special sword.
"Wait what." This was news to Shaman since the description of Kotetsu Rea gave her sounded like it came from a different world.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"Oh? Then how did you get it? I thought Himeko gave it to you as a gift since she is friends with Jane, but from the looks of it you didn't obtain it from her." Freja was intrigued about how Shaman came across the sword since there was no way she stole from Jane.
"The system gave it to me." Shaman then came to the conclusion that Rea straight up stole the sword.
"Wow, your system is brave, but seeing as Jane hadn't gone on a rampage then maybe it's a failed product." Freja expected more of an uproar if one of Jane's legendary swords were stolen, but it was possible that it was a forgotten sword.
[Haha let me explain, it's a sword that was forged by Jane, but she discarded it since she thought it failed to obtain any worthwhile properties, so I figured I would just... borrow it.] Rea gave up the truth of the matter since she didn't want to be accused of stealing considering it was getting thrown out anyway. Shaman relayed what Rea said and Freja nodded her head.
"I see, well I can tell you she definitely made it as it has her signature on the bottom of the blade. There are also runes under the wrapping so just focus your mana on those runes and it should mend it back to normal." Freja was quite surprised that Jane would have thrown this out since the blade alone would still sell for a fortune.
Shaman did exactly what Freja said and the handle began to glow again. Similar to when she first got it, the blade reshaped itself and the hidden tattoo on the back of her hand also changed.
Instead of the original dim black-and-white sword, Kotetsu now had a glowing white edge with a black spine. It kept the curvature of a Katana, but now the blade itself also curved, its width changing like a wave and extended even past the guard.
At the base of the blade was also the gem which would change depending on the element used. The handle did not see much change, but the pommel now resembled a fox's tail.
On the spine, the colours red, purple, green and blue were infused with the original black giving it an oily look. It was clear the colours were representative of each group member which was a touch Shaman liked.
Even Elanor's colour was there which was a surprise since she only joined the group a few days ago.
A system message then popped up giving her an updated description of Kotetsu.
[Kotetsu]
[Rarity: legendary]
[Current compatibility: 90% (Subject to change)]
[Due to user Shaman being a lower tier, the sword's power is reduced to tier 6]
Skills:
Elemental discharge
Element shift
Elemental slash
-Locked-
Special:
Terrain change [Requires use of domain skill]
-Locked-
All of a sudden skills and a special she had never seen before appeared. There was also the compatibility which had gone up a lot since the last time.
"Looks like someone has been wasting their sword's potential for quite a while." Freja was glad it worked out. This being a throw-away weapon she wasn't sure if there would be an auto-repair rune.
"I'm surprised too, to think all I had to do was put mana in the handle." Shaman felt a little dumb since she only focused mana into the crystal avoiding the runes this entire time.
While talking she laid out the sword in her hands so everyone can get a look at the sword and appreciate its beauty.
"Well, with that sorted, the portal is just about done, so you'll get to use your freshly reforged sword soon enough. Just keep in mind that with the new blade structure its balancing may throw you off." Freja was sending them into the mountains so it was a great opportunity to go fight beasts and try the sword out.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"Alright, I should be fine." Shaman stepped back and swung it around a few times getting a feel for it. The slightly extended parts that went past the guard still felt a little awkward, but it didn't get in the way.
"Sweet, now get ready." Freja clapped her hands together and then slammed them onto the ground causing the circle to light up. Suddenly, a portal emerged from the ground, wasting no time before sucking the group in.
"Have fun~ and don't get hurt from the fall." Freja seemingly added a little extra to the spell causing a suction effect.
"AHH!!!" Shaman, Elsyia and Clara collectively screamed as they weren't able to get a grip on anything. Even if they did manage Freja would stop them anyways, forcing them through the portal. Silver tried to hold onto a pedestal that was unaffected, but a bit of blood slithered onto its surface and made Silver lose his grip.
He then flew into Elanor who was holding onto the red carpet while screaming. Silver didn't really know what was going on so he grabbed the first thing he could and ended up wrapping his arms around Elanor's waist.
The weight was too much for her, so she ended up letting go, throwing them both into the portal.
"Don't forget this!" Freja pulled out a tube of some sort and threw it into the portal as well. It was the mission details that she almost forgot to give them as it would explain where Himeko was. It also gave instructions on how to make it into the capital city since they don't let other races in so easily.
The portal shut and all the blood that made up the satanic circle vanished.
<Demon lands mountain range>
A portal appeared on the roof of a cave and out that portal came the group. Shaman, Elysia and Clara landed together and the tube Freja threw landed in Shaman's lap.
Silver and Elanor came through with SIlver taking the brunt of the fall and cushioning Elanor's landing.
"Damn it, when will we ever go through a portal where we don't fall." Shaman started to notice a trend with Freja's portals where they always ended up high above ground. She didn't know if there was a reason for this, but at this point it felt like it was on purpose.
"At least we seem to be here, but I can't see at all. Elysia, can you create some fire?" Clara was used to it at this point and doubted they ever will get a normal portal.
Elysia got up from the ground and because she was lazy entered her hybrid form. With the addition of her clothes, it now took barely any mana to hold the form and she could basically forever stay a hybrid unless she used her skills.
Her body became a human torch and lit up the cave for them. It revealed holds for torches so Elysia pointed her fingers and fired tiny fire arrows to light the torches around them. This provided better light as well as marking a path for them.
Everyone got up from the ground and examined the now eerily lit cave.
"While it's quiet I should open up whatever Freja gave to us." Shaman opened up the tube and pulled out a piece of paper with details. There were also a few other things in it, but Shaman was more interested in learning the mission details first.