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Last Embryo Volume 5 Chapter 3 Part 7

With a slow, affectionate motion, Asuka gently stroked the handle of her sword, the only remaining memento left after her sister. If she treats this sword with such care and affection bordering on reverence, then she must have mourned the loss of her sister pretty badly, or perhaps she still is, and pouring all of her own feelings into the creation of that new blade was her own way of dealing with the loss that came over her. After all, everyone knows that whenever we lose a loved one, the pain and suffering with which we are being left behind are not something that cannot be healed in days, weeks, or in some cases even years, so she definitely must have used this {Ame no Murakumo no Tsurugi} as a method of filling up the empty void that has nestled itself in her chest and dealing with the sense of loss before it could overwhelm and crush her.

Those were the somber and reflective thoughts that Alma and Suzuka had in their minds right now, but once more, Lamia was the only exception in their group.

(Amakuni, 「The Father of All Japanese Swords」and 「The Founder of the Japanese School of Blacksmithing」. . .! ! ! ! ! ? ? ? ?  ? Yes, There is no mistaking it! If she said that he turned her sister’s sword into that {Ame no Murakumo no Tsurugi} that she is holding now, then it has to be “that” Amakuni. No one else in the history of Japanese blacksmithing would have been capable of creating such an amazing masterpiece as that!!!)

Now that she finally remembered why did that name sound so familiar to her when Asuka mentioned Amakuni before, she frantically begun to recall every last bit of information about him that she could remember, no matter how insignificant it might have been, all the while trying to control her own heart, which was pounding like crazy.

To be extremely specific about Amakuni and the achievement that made him so famous that it got him the titles 「The Father of All Japanese Swords」and 「The Founder of the Japanese School of Blacksmithing」, it was supposed to have been the  creation of the first single-edged longsword – Tachi – with curvature along the edge in the Yamato Province around 700 AD. He was also the head of a group of swordsmiths employed by the Emperor of Japan to make Japanese swords for his warriors using their supposedly 「unknown and never before seen technology」.

 Although there are almost no modern examples of the swords that have been signed by Amakuni, one of the legends related to him states that he was actually the one responsible for the forging of the famous double-edged katana, Kogarasumaru. As for that 「unknown and never before seen technology」, it referred to the way in which many of the weapons that were made before the Kamakura period were manufactured, and since there is very little smithing texts and blueprints from that particular period of Japanese history, the technology and the art of crafting weapons from before that time has been dubbed as the lost technology.

Taking that into account, the ones who should be known as 「The Fathers of All Japanese Swords」and 「The Founders of the Japanese School of Blacksmithing」should be Munechika Sanjo and Ohara Yasutsuna, the blacksmiths responsible for the creation of the Tenka Goken – The Five Swords Under Heaven. However, the thing that made Amakuni special in comparison to all the other bladesmiths and would-be fathers of Japanese blacksmithing was not his technique of steelmaking.

No, there is another reason for that. It is because he was the one who has etched his name in Japanese history as the one who created the original Ame no Murakumo no Tsurugi, one of the three sacred imperial regalia of Japan that have been present in Japanese mythology ever since the time when they have been passed down by the Gods to the imperial family so that they could act as the symbols of their lordship over the land of Nippon.

(A blacksmith who was allowed to smith 「Astras」just like Tubal-Kain in the Western Europe and Chi You, the God of War in the Ancient China! The very same one who took Tubal-Kain’s place as 「Astras」blacksmith during the times of the Dystopian War. . .and now even reforged {Ame no Murakumo no Tsurugi} and turned it into a holy sword?!)

Lamia was unable to tell if the {Ame no Murakumo no Tsurugi} that Asuka wielded right now is still an 「Astra」or not. Now that it has been used as a material in the reforging process might as well mean that its 「Astra」core has been lost forever, making no different than an ordinary bronze sword.

However. . . now there was no longer any doubts in her mind. 「Astras」are all divine weapons possessing overwhelming power, so surely in some mythologies there are bound to be some of them capable of having more than one form.

In addition to serving as the coronation insignia and the regalia for the new monarchs, they might also be anything from swords, spears, battle axes and even skills or combat techniques. Some of them are said to be able to withstand being destroyed once or twice, while others are going to be lost forever once their cores shatter.

Also, according to the information that Lamia possessed, Japan, the land located in the Far East Region of the Outer World should have obtained the Star Particle Bodies by discovering them in the cauldron located on the seabed of it territorial waters.

(Two of them should have been located in Japan. . . no, something is not right here. I never heard any stories mentioning that before.)

In that case, perhaps one of these two 「Astras」was the one hailing from another mythology? Just like she expected, the current information that she had in her possession were not enough to confirm or deny such a possibility with absolute certainty, but without having anything else to go on, she had little choice but to continue thinking about it with what she currently had, at least until she manages to get her hands on more information, hopefully the one that would be enough to shed some more light on this matter. The question now was: where should she start looking for it?

Putting her hand on her chin, Lamia was about to embark on a one-man brainstorming session, but just then, something that appeared in the corner of her eye immediately got her attention. Something that looked extremely close to. . .

「A-Asuka, look out. . . . . . . .. !  ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 」

She shouted at almost the exact moment when the blade of a battle axe embedded itself in Deen’s armor plate literal centimeters away from Asuka’s face.

Surprised at this sudden assault, she turned towards the direction from where the battle axe flew towards her and looked for the ones responsible for throwing it with an intense, hostile glare. And sure enough, she found them, and extremely close at that. When she looked down, she saw that a number of people wearing cow head masks have been staying on Deen’s shoulders, with more of them being on their way to climb onto them and join their companions already.

「There! We found a witch who controls the titan!」

「Those of you who can fight, climb onto it and get her!」

「E E E E E E E E h h h h h h h h h h h h h . . .? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ! ! ! ! ! ! ! T-This is bad, these guys are moving way faster than we thought!」

When the initial attack started, Asuka, Alma and Lamia were convinced that the villagers are not going to do much else beside using ranged attacks in an attempt to try and take Deen down, at least not until they would get closer to the village. However, contrary to what all of them believed, they have already taken the initiative to close in on their location and used to opportunity created by them being distracted with their talk to attach grappling hooks all over Deen’s feet.

So now, not only were there cow head mask wearing warriors already on Deen’s shoulders, but they were also the ones in the middle of scaling the ropes, and many moe of them waiting on the ground level as well. Asuka was well and fully aware that none of these guys were actually their enemies so there was absolutely no need for them to be exercising lethal force in case there would be no other way for them but to fight with the natives, but the same thing cannot be said about the natives themselves.