Speed Is King

Elliot swung the sword mindlessly, oblivious to Kara who was screaming and dragging poor Camelia away mere meters from where he was standing.

He was in a trance, and his mind was filled with a growing wonder at the awesomeness of the sword.

Slash. Thrust. Slash. Parry.

Elliot subconsciously executed a myriad of complex sword techniques, unaware that his gentle movements had begun to rip the Number 1 Drone into shreds.

"Elliot! Elliot!" A faint voice rang out deep in his mind.

"Hmmm?" Elliot paused his movements for a quick second. However, an overwhelming sense of wonder descended upon him once more, gently but firmly leading his full attention back into the mesmerizing set of sword techniques he was executing.

The rust on the sword turned into a black miasma of sorts and began to creep toward the sword handle and onto Elliot's hand.

Slash. Slash. Slash. Slash.

Elliot continued his mindless attacks. And for some reason, his attacks slowly angled towards the two girls.

"Elliot! What are you doing?! Wake up!!" A panicked voice shrieked desperately from a foggy place in his mind.

"Wake up? Am I asleep?" Elliot wondered as he paused yet again.

Another deluge of awesome wonder descended upon him and tried to pull his attention back into swinging the swords once more, but it tried too hard, and a chilling sense of wrongness bloomed in Elliot's heart.

CRACK!!

Elliot's entire being suddenly rebelled against the strange power that hypnotized him and broke its sedative mind control.

His consciousness surged out like a drowning man exploding out of the water surface and he gasped deeply in utter shock at just how completely he was lost to the strange power!

"What the hell? HAWK! WHAT JUST HAPPENED?" Elliot shouted out loudly!

[Unknown energy detected.]

[Analyzing effects... Soul Manipulation.]

Elliot glanced down at the sword and the black miasma that had covered almost the entirety of his right hand.

"Oh no you don't." Elliot narrowed his eyes in anger and transformed his right arm into its Red Dragon form and unleashed his Fire Dragon Energy!

KA-BOOM!!!

A blistering mini explosion erupted around his right hand and immediately purified the black miasma. At the same time, a sharp metallic keen sounded from the rusted sword.

"Regretting your decision, huh? Too late for that!" Elliot released even more of his Fire Dragon Energy and caused the entire sword to go up in flames!

"Nobody and nothing messes with my mind. You'll either die to my flames or learn not to do it again." Elliot growled.

Crackle! Pop!

Loud crackling and popping sounds could be heard as Elliot continued to burn the damned sword with all of his strength.

Elliot was well and truly pissed that a mere broken sword that was supposed to be an incredible reward had nearly taken full control over him!

And combined with his growing wariness with the brain-controlling Dark Brainwyrms, the discontent Elliot felt for all sorts of mind control beings skyrocketed.

And unfortunately for the sword, Elliot had chosen to vent all of his pent up frustrations on it!

After a full minute of relentless burning, Elliot finally ran out of Fire Dragon Energy.

The entire blade glowed a dull shade of orange, signifying that it had mostly resisted Elliot's flames. However, all the rust had been burnt cleanly away from the blade, and it now looked spotlessly clean.

Strangely, the handle and the sword guard were completely unaffected by the Fire Dragon Energy.

[Sentient Weapon detected.]

[Analyzing database…]

[Analyzing database…]

[Match found.]

[Mythical Grade Sentient Sword - Gilgamar.]

[Wielded by Tyrius, Archangel of War of the Westreach Heavenly Sultanate.]

"Sentient weapon, Gilgamar? Now you're talking. Connect me to this Gilgamar!" Elliot ordered Hawk the AI. "I'm going to give it an earful for trying to control me like that!"

[Unable to connect. Gilgamar is in an unawakened state.]

"Unawakened? What do you mean, unawakened? It was obviously trying to invade my mind earlier!" Elliot shouted at Hawk the AI.

[The unknown energy attack earlier was from the black parasitic energy covering the sword.]

[It has been burned away by your flames.]

"Oh. Okay then." Elliot felt slightly guilty upon hearing Hawk's words. So he had been wrongly accusing the sword for things it didn't do.

"Thank goodness it's unawakened." Elliot thought to himself.

"And what's with the universe and parasites? Why are there so many of them everywhere?" He grumbled to Hawk.

He was still pissed at the fact that he had so nearly succumbed to the parasite's vicious attack.

[The parasite which attacked you earlier was called Mesmerizing Soul Mite.]

[Mesmerizing Soul Mites are rare parasites that occasionally appear on Sentient Weapons with no masters.]

"Tell me the details later. For now, can you show me Gilgamar's stats or something? What's a Sentient Weapon anyway and who is this Tyrius?" Elliot asked Hawk.

[Gilgamar is a Mythical Grade Sentient Weapon.]

[Five Support Runes had been melded into it.]

[Four have been documented, and the fifth is unknown.]

[Advanced Elemental Resistance]

[Advanced Elemental Boost

[Advanced Armor Piercing]

[Advanced Life Steal]

[A Sentient Weapon is a weapon imbued with its owner's soul force and life force.]

[It will synergize with its owner to bring forth a much higher level of synergy.]

[Upon its owner's death, the Sentient Weapon can only be wielded by a different owner of its choice.]

[The higher the compatibility with its new owner, the higher the synergy and the higher the maximum performance cap will be.]

[A Sentient Weapon is a prerequisite to mastering high level Martial Arts.]

[Archangel Tyrius was a renowned General of the Westreach Heavenly Sultanate.]

[He perished while defending it.]

Elliot looked at Gilgamar with newfound respect and awe after hearing Hawk's explanation.

"So this Sentient Weapon will be able to synergize with me if it chooses to, and allow me to execute high level Martial Arts? Was that the sword techniques I executed earlier?"

[Affirmative, only by synergizing with a Sentient Weapon will you be able to execute high level Martial Arts.]

[Negative, the sword techniques you executed earlier were merely remnants of Gilgamar's surface memories.]

"Remnant surface memories? They are already so powerful! The drone is completely destroyed!" Elliot exclaimed.

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