Chapter 321: Where
“See?” Arwin asked, taking a step back and crossing his arms in front of his chest. “It makes no sense.”
“Yeah. I’m picking up on why you’re having trouble with this,” Lillia agreed with a frown.
The two of them stood in the Infernal Armory. It had formed a pedestal on which Arwin had set two of Twelve’s black blades — one of the normal ones and one of the ones that could cut through magic.
For the past few minutes, Arwin had gone through all the tests he’d done on the weapons to bring Lillia up to speed. He had high hopes that she would be able to spot something that he might have missed and help crack the code of how he could replicate their anti-magic effects.
“I don’t think it’s a property of the metal,” Arwin said as he picked up both of the swords and held them up to the light of the fire cracking in the hearth to their side. “I couldn’t feel anything special when I spoke to it. It’s got desires and goals just like any other metal, but that’s it. Nothing in particular about not liking magic in the plain sword.”
“What about the other one?”
“I can’t speak to it,” Arwin said dryly. “It cuts through my magic.”
“You know, I probably should have guessed that,” Lillia said through a laugh. She crossed her arms in front of her chest to mirror Arwin’s pose and tapped a foot on the ground. “You’re right that it couldn’t be from Twelve’s class. Anything like that would have evaporated when he died. Maybe there’s some form of treatment done to the blade? Like an oil?”
“That’s an interesting idea,” Arwin said. He grabbed the normal sword and scratched at the edge of the blade of the other for a few seconds, but his efforts earned him nothing more than the annoying shrill of metal on metal. Neither sword was even slightly affected. He straightened and shook his head. “If it was a treatment, then I’m not seeing any visible results of it in the surface. I’d assume at least some of it would come off, or it would have come off during all the tests — but it looks and feels exactly the same. There’s no marring or other signs of external material.”