Danmachi: Unalloyed Blade Works

A Storm in the Horizon

I am the bone of my sword.

She was back here again. This desolate, empty hellscape that made her feel despair and loneliness. With the dust of this terrible world choking her lungs and blinding her vision, Ryu's body moved on its own as she traversed through the wasteland. She continued walking for what seemed like an eternity before she finally saw something other than dust and dirt. 

It was a single, lone sword. The weapon was stabbed into the ground and was covered in rust and grime as if someone had tossed it aside and had forgotten about it. As her vision cleared up, she noticed another one behind it. And then another, then another, until the elf realized that she was surrounded by swords. 

How many were there? Hundreds? Thousands? Tens of thousands? Perhaps even a million seeing how the swords seemed to stretch on far beyond the hazy horizon. Upon realizing the sheer amount of steel around her, Ryu felt an emotion she had not felt in several years: Fear. Ryu felt pathetically small in this world. Just what had happened here for there to be this many swords? Was there some kind of battle here that left an untold number of people dead? Did each sword symbolize the stolen future of countless souls? Just the thought of each sword representing a human life lost in battle nearly made Ryu vomit at such an idea. The ideals and mission she once carried while she was under the banner of the Astraea Familia may have been abandoned, but her pride as an elf refused to accept such a notion. That would be ridiculous. Something like that was just too much for a mortal mind to comprehend.

But...how come each sword reminded Ryu of a gravestone? What did they die for? What did all of this death amount to?

Did any of this death and suffering pay off?

Steel is my body and fire is my blood.

In the distance, Ryu noticed a lone figure trudging up a hill. In his hand was a single sword, and he stabbed it into the ground. Then a few steps later, another one was implanted into the dirt.

I have created over a thousand blades. Unknown to death, nor known to life.

Ryu's body broke out in a full-on sprint as she tried to catch up to the figure ahead of her. But the harder she ran, the further away the man became. She could see that the man's back was impaled by swords, spears, and arrows. He had mortal wounds that would have killed anybody, but he continued to persist forward and continued to mark the world with another blade.

Have withstood pain to create many weapons. Yet, those hands will never hold anything.

She wanted to catch up to him. He was getting farther and farther away. Ryu knew that wherever this man was heading, it would only lead to endless despair. She tried to shout towards him, to tell him to turn back, but nothing came out of her mouth. The dust storm pushed her back even more, widening the distance between them.

So as I pray, Unlimited Blade Works.

The winds finally obscured Ryu's vision of the man, forcing her onto her knees and making her gag from the smog. A low, creaking groan filled her ears and the foreboding sense of dread filled her entire body. While the noise seemed to echo around her and shook the ground underneath her, Ryu knew that it was coming from above.

The elf looked up into the sky, and her heart sunk.

What looked like massive gears were slowly descending from the sky, casting a dark, depressing shadow over the entire world. Calling them 'big' was an understatement. Their size covered the entire sky and filled Ryu's ears with a terrible groaning sound as they turned. All Ryu could do as she felt her body and spirit being crushed by the gears was close her eyes and cover her ears to block out that terrible noise.