Forged Destiny [Book 9: Ch. 3, Ch. 6]

"You think you can make us some backup gear out of Ironwood, though?" Yang asked. "Weiss could use a sword, especially one that lets her use magic through it. You know relying on a Fencer's rapier has been holding her back."

"Blake told me the weapon was sentimental…"

"Yeah, but so is surviving to make the most of her dad's sacrifice. Besides, you're not telling her to get rid of it. She can have two swords strapped to her belt if she wants. Just might be good for her to have one that actually does something."

"I'll see what I can do." If she had two, it would get around the possible consequence of Ironwood dying. She could go back to Myrtenaster.

[...]

"Would you be willing to wield a sword I made you, then?"

"I would. Within reason."

Weiss wouldn't have called me out here if she didn't have an idea of what she wanted. She wasn't one to waste time. "Go on."

"I want to keep Myrtenaster. I considered letting you re-forge it or combine it somehow in the forging, but I couldn't do it. Even if a part of it would be the same, it would feel like a different weapon to me. I don't want to change any part of it."

"A new weapon, then. Do you want it to be like Myrtenaster?"

"I was actually thinking something smaller. How small could you make a sword before it became a dagger?"

"I… I have no idea."

Weiss raised an eyebrow, as if to point out I was the Blacksmith here.

"It's not that I don't know," I explained. "More that I think it will be your Passive that is the judge, not me. It's no good asking me what I think counts as a sword if your Passive is going to be picky and say I've made a long knife."

"Ah. I suppose you're right. It might be too much to ask…"

"No. It's fine." At her surprised look, I said, "I'll just make you a bunch of knives of different shapes and sizes using some of the run-off from the spears. They'll be useless, but you can test them to see which you can cast through. Once we know the smallest that'll work, I can use Ironwood to make a sword that shape and size."

"A clever solution. I'm impressed. I suppose I could borrow and try with Blake's collection later. I'm sure she would let me."

—Forged Destiny [Book 9: Ch. 3]



"It's a knife, then." I inspected it. "It's a nice knife. I'm missing something, aren't I?"

"If the two of you could stop flirting for even a second," Weiss grumbled. "You offered me an Ironwood sword, remember? And I told you I'd be testing Blake's weapons to see what length counts as a sword for the purpose of my Passive."

"Oh." I hadn't forgotten per se; more that holding a knife to me didn't really explain it. "So this one is good enough? Your magic works through this?"

"Yes. It's a rather long knife."

"I use it for hacking large limbs," Blake said.

Grimm, she meant. The blade of the knife was a good fourteen inches, which made it about half the length of an arming sword. That was a lot longer than the knives the Assassin usually used, which ranged from four to eight inches in most cases. I could see why this might count as a sword. It was heavy and oddly weighted toward the end, perfect for big hacking slashes to tear out chunks of flesh. If anything, the balance reminded me of an axe.

"I can make something like this. Do you want a similar style, or should I try and make it a rapier?"

"A rapier if you could," Weiss replied with a polite bow of her head. "I'm not sure I want something this hefty bouncing around on my hip. It's only to cast spells through."

[...]

The Ironwood in my hands had formed the shape of a rapier, the length and build almost perfect despite my lack of attention or even my hands moulding it. Had it grown into that shape? How? It didn't look natural. Instead of the branches I'd seen on the other, this was a sword with no branchlike or leaf growths on it. The tang was a little longer than necessary, but I could fit a hilt around it. It had even grown a handguard, and that was the only branchlike thing there was, a filigree guard fit for a fencer.

[...]

"It's safe," I said, handing it over. "I think it has a Rune of Intelligence. I think that Rune is inside it, printed onto the pores cut through the whole thing. It's hard to explain."

"I can tell." Weiss flourished it. The blade whistled through the air beautifully, almost as though those same pores let wind through and played a sweet melody. "It's light," she said. "Incredibly light. I feel as though it would break if I stabbed a Grimm, yet something tells me it wouldn't. This is an amazing weapon." Her grip faltered around the rough tang. "Or it will be with a hilt."

"I'll attach one. Try to cast a spell through it."

Weiss nodded and stepped outside the forge. Blake and I followed and waited a respectable distance away. Bringing the rapier up before her, still a little awkward due to her poor grip, Weiss whispered something and stabbed it forward.

A veritable gale of ice and wind poured forth from the tip of the blade, swirling over grass and freezing it solid, chilling the air to the point that even I shivered. The ice continued to pour from her sword until, with a look of absolute amazement, Weiss cut it to the side, breaking the spell. The ice in the air faded and tinkled down to the grass, coating it in a layer of permafrost.

"It's perfect," she breathed, cradling it to her chest. "I've never felt the magic flow so freely. I've never felt so powerful. Iron, steel, everything else feels like I'm forcing the magic through. There's a reason Mages use staves and wands made of living material. It's so much easier."

—Forged Destiny [Book 9: Ch. 6]