The Encyclopedia of Sanctum

Rakuyo (weapon)

"Rakuyo, the Crimson Assassin's famed blade, with an ultimate ability that rivals that of the greatest warriors in Sanctum's history. They say that one touch to the mysterious metal it was forged with will instantly kill, but rumors are rumors, aren't they?" 

- Crimson Assassin, "Betrayal"

Rakuyo was a sword created in the First Age in the land of Katame, one of four powerful blades given to warriors of that land. Rakuyo was said to have first belonged to a legendary warrior in the eastlands, but it was better known in history as the weapon of Alizarin Crymson, the Crimson Assassin of Aestagia, in the Fourth and Fifth Ages. It was ever called "the blade of falling leaves" as it was the sword of its kind that embodied the autumn season and its ability reflected death and decay. 

What Rakuyo probably looked like

History

Forged in Katame

Rakuyo was forged in the First Age in Katame, at the Ban'nin, the great garrison of the Shian Mountains. The year was lost, but it was thought to be sometime around F.A. 10,250. It was given as a gift from the Emperor to the Shogun Masamune who dwelt in Kaede, for his prowess in leading the military was unparalleled and he recently drove alliances with Eragroth in the north gaining back much of their land in the north along the Sea of Katame. 

Though the weapon was very powerful and one of the first of its kind in the east, it was seldom used by the Shogun but kept at his side at all times. There were also three other blades made alongside Rakuyo in the possession of Katame's war leaders, and each was made to reflect a season. After Masamune died by the weapon itself, it was not passed on to future shogun but to his family in Kaede to never be used. It would have lay in a case for three ages if the former shogun's family didn't eventually forget about it and sell it off to unknown warriors. Rakuyo's history past here has never been discovered, though an account in the Third Age mentions a weapon fitting the description of Rakuyo being used in the service of Key Azurmian. 

Shogun Masamune wielding Rakuyo

The Scourge of The Crimson Assassin

Somehow Rakuyo made its way to the Westlands in the late Third Age and was used by an unnamed warrior in Valeon. It most likely ended up within the borders of Aestagia when Eristar's company travelled there in the Fourth Age where it was later uncovered by Alizarin Crymson beneath the boughs of the Rusted Narenthian. Alizarin recalls finding the weapon inside a tree, among other weapons inside trees too. Rakuyo is used forth in the service of Aestagia and later to subvert it, and further used in the War of Sanctum's Glory and taken in conquests across the Empirium Ocean to the Eastlands to where it was first made. Alizarin felt as if Rakuyo had "awoken" when he landed in the east and at times could not control its inner rage. 

Alizarin Crymson, the Crimson Assassin, using Rakuyo

Rakuyo stays with Alizarin until his death in the Fifth Age, and was kept somewhere deep within Anori Academy in the kingdom of Rakuyo, for which was named after the weapon itself. It left Crymson's side in Fi.A. 35 to be used in preserving the kingdom against darkness. Placed in an altar below the academy Alizarin found out how to release all the souls taken by the weapon since its conception. The altar was connected to tunnels stretching beneath the entire kingdom, and the tormented souls swarming Rakuyo begging to escape would draw abyssal shadows out from the civilian zones in Rakuyo proper and lead them to the weapon right under Anori Academy. If the horrors were to escape, though the security was unbreakable, there would be numerous capable warriors above to silence it. This was the Kingdom of Rakuyo's biggest secret and would lead to its collapse in Fi.A. 1,528. 

In Fi.A. 1,528 Anori Academy falls and the Abyss takes hold of the kingdom. Orion Amethystine, trapped in the destroyed school, fights the twelve Zodiac and is the first hand to use Rakuyo since Alizarin, and he was his descendant. Orion uses Rakuyo in his solo campaign of stopping the Abyss until his death the following year in Aestagia. Orion had come to the aid of his students and Eristar, when the Abyss rifted the land apart. Eristar saw Rakuyo fight one last time with regained strength and then both it and its user were swallowed up by the void cracks in Aermont and never seen again. 

Appearance

Rakuyo existed in two parts, a sword and a sheath. Rakuyo's sword was described as a long silver blade that was skinny in width and almost katana like. The blade had red swirling designs down each side and it connected to a crimson handle bound in leather. The sword could be stored within a large metal crimson sheath that had golden swirling designs down it. The prints were of golden winds and leaves alongside writing in the language of Katame. There were two chains that connected the sheath to the handle of the sword to lock it in place. When unsheathed there seemed to be a fine black mist that seeped out until put away. 

Abilities

Rakuyo was a sword and was used like such, though lighter and swifter than most. The sheath was hard and sturdy and could be used for blunt attacks or even as a small shield in dire situations. Alizarin used the technology of Aestagia and modified the weapon so that by a spin of a red gear on the handle the blade would fire out of the hilt with an explosion of steam. This meant that Rakuyo needed to be filled with compressed steam every so often by a nozzle in the handle. Reconnecting the blade inside the hilt was a dangerous task but Alizarin mastered his weapon and out of all its users was the best. 

Furthermore, Rakuyo also held a lethal ability unlike anything seen on Sanctum that made it unique. It could be simply described as this:

"They say blood is the one true marking of one's person. One's soul you could say. This fearsome weapon thirsts for souls; if one's blood is shed on even a mark of Rakuyo's shining blade, their spirit is bound thereafter, forever as long as time exists. And it is utterly destroyed as the covetous blade is slid within it's sheath, bidding goodnight to the sorry soul that crossed paths with the Crimson Assassin." 

With this said, once Rakuyo scraped a bit of skin and blood touched its blade, that person was done for unless they could kill the user before it was sheathed and banish the weapon to never be found. Or if one were to cleanse the blade of their blood only then would they be safe, but this was tried and did not work as the blood seemingly seeped into the blade itself, as was the tragic death of Shogun Masamune.