"Haah.Haah.Haah.Haah"
Ezra held his knees as he took in deep breaths while the body of his opponent lay still on the floor.
His weapons dissolved back into the ground.
He had done it, his gamble had paid off.
After minutes of continuous combat and his opponent not seeming to get tired, Ezra decided to take a gamble.
The current situation was the result of that gamble.
It was a close call, but in the end, he had won.
The opponent had left a few words before he vanished.
"You are worthy"
After a few minutes of regulatory breathing, Ezra stood firm once again as his gaze wandered all over the white space.
'So…what now?'
With nothing happening even after almost a minute had passed, Ezra began to get confused.
But not for long. Before the one minute mark, the opponent's body suddenly burst into white light and a book with a brown cover depicting a scythe landed in his hands.
'What is going-'
Before he could even question this series of events, he was blasted back to where he came from.
Ezra found himself once again in the secret room, with his grip still on the scythe.
He breathed out on wheezes as beads of sweat formed over his head.
'What was that?!'
This time though, he felt something else, a connection with the scythe that wasn't there before.
He removed the chains and took it into his hands, but in the next moment, he shook his head.
"No, it's too long and too heavy"
The scythe was about two and a half times his height and really heavy.
Though, the blades were very sharp and sleek.
He could afford to part ways with the cool blades if the weapon was going to be more of a burden than an asset.
'This isn't it. Let's check the others' Ezra thought as he put it back in its place and chained it once again.
But then he encountered a problem.
"Huh?"
The scythe wasn't coming off. It was like they were glued together.
"What the? Get off!"
He tried to remove it from his hand, but unless he was willing to cut off his wrist, it didn't seem like this thing was going to come off.
Quickly, he unchained it, moved it to his other hand, and tried to remove it, but the same thing happened.
Ezra's frustration was rising to the peak.
"This cannot be happening"
At the same time, he noticed that the other weapons weren't emanating aura like before for some reason.
Without any way to get the scythe off, he tried to grab another weapon.
But-
*Tiring!*
-his hands were forcefully pushed away.
"Hmm?"
Things were just getting weirder and weirder.
It was at this time that the door opened up to reveal the royal advisor with a grave face and bloody knuckles.
The moment their eyes met, the advisor almost had a heart attack as he pointed with trembling fingers.
"You…how…?!"
—-------------------------
-Few minutes earlier-
*Bam*Bam*Bam*
The royal advisor was punching the door repeatedly as his face was so grave you would think someone had died.
And it wasn't very far from the truth.
Ezra had entered the room with the legendary enchantments.
'How did he find this place?!'
A place even he had only learned about a few years ago.
Considering he had worked in the palace for decades, it was definitely something to be surprised by.
The legendary enchantments were weapons that, more often than not, corrupted people's minds. Some would outright destroy the users because of their nature.
They were peak weapons built by the best of blacksmiths, who attained levels of expertise beyond Sage-rank during an era called "the golden age".
In short, they were one of the few Diamond-rank weapons still in existence.
One of the most powerful weapons of humanity, each one was molded from nothing less than the ten greatest metals in Orion history.
But even they were not perfect.
They had a flaw.
Normal weapons are chosen, but these ones choose their masters.
They had something akin to a will of their own, though an incomplete one, and they tested every one of their wielders.
Those who passed went on to write their names in Oranian history as legends because of how powerful those weapons were.
Those that fail come out in a state that cannot be deemed as alive or dead, or as a mindless person aiming only for destruction.
Their minds would be shattered.
And now, a five year old boy, who just happens to be a prince, went in.
Surely, the result was obvious and imminent.
And because of that, the royal advisor felt like his world had come crashing down.
'How do I explain this to the Emperor?'
His mind was in total mayhem.
It was then that the door, which didn't move an inch after being pummeled by a Master-rank multiple times, suddenly slid open.
It spooked the hell out the advisor, who quickly took a step back before being greeted by a scene beyond absurd.
"This stupid thing won't come off!"
It was the prince pressing his knee on a silver scythe while trying to remove his hands.
The royal advisor didn't believe it, rather, he didn't dare believe it.
Could it be that he was already under an illusion of some sort?
The moment the door opened completely, Ezra swiftly turned his head and their eyes met.
He held his trembling finger towards Ezra.
"You…how…?!"
But instead of any sort of fanfare, Ezra yelled.
"Sir Bolton. Come and help me get this thing off"
It took a minute for Bolton, the royal advisor, to register what he was hearing.
Why did it feel like his entire view on the world came crashing down at that moment?
But he couldn't afford to embarrass himself in front of a kid, so he coughed a bit to regain composure before stepping in.
"What is the problem, your Highness?'
Ezra paused and gave him a puzzling look.
The meaning was clear.
'Are you blind not to see the silver weapon on the floor?!'
Bolton dodged his gaze before speaking in a tone as calm as he could.
"You won't be able to get it off because the weapon has chosen you"
Now Ezra was just dumbfounded.
"Eh? What's that supposed to mean"
"Exactly what you think it means. It is a weapon of the greatest quality forged during the Golden Age. It is-"
"What does that have to do with me?" Ezra cut him off.
"Huh? Your highness, it seems that you are not getting-"
Ezra cut him off once again.
"I understand very clearly what it means and its significance. But weren't you the one who said quality doesn't translate to usefulness?"
"Ah!"
Ezra then pointed at the scythe.
"For me, this is a heavy piece of work that I can't even lift properly. How am I supposed to use a weapon I can't carry? Besides, I only wanted to check its compatibility before checking the others and only then making a decision. Yet now, it doesn't want to let go of my hand"
