ZERO TIED HIS APRON BEHIND HIS BACK, setting four molds out to begin his work. One of the molds contained a simple cylinder, four feet long and two and a half inches thick. Another was bent in such a way that it looked to be intended to create a longbow. The final pair of molds were very similar, yet still distinct from one-another once you looked inside. Zero had to commission these molds as custom creations since they were not previously available to him. The molds possessed inlets for greatswords of a monstrous variety, unlike any one had seen before this point, and certainly unlike any the two who would become their first wielders could fathom. Each sword was five feet and three inches long, with a one and a half inch blood groove.

The maila started preparing the materials once the molds were set out. His metals consisted of thirty-three ounces of garnium, fifteen ounces of lithium, two-hundred-sixteen ounces of iron, thirty ounces of gold, and two-hundred-fifty-six ounces of titanium. The majority in each of these recipes was going to be garnium, due to garnium’s incredibly light weight compared to the other elements. Various other non-metals were prepared as well, such as a scoop with a mixture of various natural materials, the lens of a bifocal, the mummified heart of a man who had otherwise completely decayed, and a karlek rose, which had become increasingly rare in Crenon over the years. The mummified heart was also hard to obtain, since most people who died during the time period, and still today, wished to be cremated, meaning that there was no time for their body to rot.

Regardless, he started working on the cylinder. He placed three ounces of garnium, thirty-two ounces of iron, fifteen ounces of lithium, and the scoop of natural materials into the corresponding mold, with the ash, leaves, and several pebbles laying in the mold alongside the metals. He placed the other half of the mold on top of the side with the materials in it and placed the now-complete mold into the furnace so the pole inside may take form. After a few minutes, he removed the pole from the furnace to cool down, taking it out of the mold and sanding it down after it had cooled. He then finished the creation off by encasing the pole in a hollowed out hickory branch. This staff was given the name Brildingjr and set to the side as he began working on the bow.

For this weapon, he used thirty ounces of gold, sixty-four ounces of iron, six ounces of garnium, and the bifocal lens. Before placing the last of those materials into the mold, he inspected it to ensure that no scratches or smudges were present, which would cause the weapon’s intended effect to be impaired.

As he finished the inspection, the door behind him opened with a slight creak as Oji and Kawata entered the forge.

“What’s that for?” Oji asked the maila, who was still holding onto the lens.

“It’s for the bow,” Zero answered as he gently placed it into the mold, making sure that it didn't scratch itself upon the other materials. “This one, paired with the bow, will give it properties of true sight. Someone who aims with this bow can sense any targets in their path, even behind solid surfaces.”

“That’s an awful lot of jargon just to say that it always hits its target,” Kawata quipped. “Is that my weapon then?”

“You don’t use a bow, do you?” the maila replied to Kawata as he placed the mold into the furnace. “No, your weapons I haven’t started on yet, but I will need your hair for them.”

“What?!” Oji exclaimed, notably perplexed by the request.

“Is this your new kink or something?” Kawata chimed in, always one to make things awkward if given ample opportunity.

“Just let me have it…” Zero groaned.

“Okay then…” Oji said, still obviously unsure of what use this had.

As Oji gave his consent, Zero grabbed a small razor and trimmed a small amount from both of their heads. Holding a small lock of Oji’s hair in one hand and a similarly sized lock of Kawata’s in the other, he placed the two into separate molds, both belonging to the gargantuan swords. On top of the strands of hair, scattering slightly as it hit the bottom of the mold, Zero placed twelve ounces of garnium into each mold, followed by sixty ounces of iron and one-hundred-twenty-eight ounces of titanium. He set the bow’s mold out of the furnace to make room for the colossal blades. After a little while longer, the swords were done smelting, with Zero taking them out of the furnace in order to let the smelted metal cool. He opened a drawer in his desk in the meanwhile, pulling out a karlek rose and the mummified heart.

“Do you just keep those around or-”

Before Kawata could finish this interjection, Zero opened the molds. Due to their great size, the other halves of the molds slammed against the table with a cacophonous thud. The swords still had some points where they were red hot, so the maila grabbed a pair of leather gloves before lifting the blades and placing the petaled section of the karlek rose on the end of one sword and the mummified heart at the end of the other, the heart now being encased in a cage of bone. The two swords emanated a faint glow of white before it dissipated gently, leaving the two swords in their true forms. The sword that was awakened by the karlek rose was called the Omega Blade, while the sword with the mummified heart, the cage of bone now attached to the blade with a similarly skeletal chain was called the Alpha Blade. The sheathes had formed on the swords naturally as well.

Kawata was enamored by the Omega Blade’s beauty, his jaw agape at the sight. He rushed over to pick the blade up, but found that it was too heavy for him to lift.

“This thing feels like it weighs a ton and a half!” he grunted, unable to move the sword from its position.

“I didn’t think you were that weak,” Oji jested as he grabbed the Alpha Blade, lifting it with little difficulty. He tried to unsheathe the blade, but found that the skull on the sheath stayed shut, locking the sword in.

“What the hell?” he remarked. “It won’t open! Did you seriously make a defective sword!?”

Zero took the Alpha Blade from Oji’s hands and presented it to Kawata. Kawata took the blade and unsheathed it with relative ease. Oji looked at the Omega Blade and lifted it from the table with no issue, almost as if the blade were as weightless as garnium itself. The tasks that had been proven impossible for one had been almost trivial for the other.

A searing pain was sent through the arms of both men. Once it had finally subsided, they saw marks upon their wrists on the side of their palms. Oji, having the Omega Blade, saw a design similar to a rose while Kawata, having the Alpha Blade, saw a skull.

“Those blades suit you nicely,” Zero commented as he opened the mold for the bow, taking the bowstring out from his desk.

“Zero,” Oji started to say as he looked over the blade, “listen to us. We heard something last night that concerns the both of us.”

“Indeed we did,” Kawata added, taking on a serious tone of voice for perhaps the first time in his life after realizing what these swords meant. “Now that we have these weapons, our future is sealed. There’s no turning back.”

“You made these blades for us. We only ask that you make sure that balance is preserved between the both of us and our weapons.”

“That neither of us or our next of kin should obtain too much power.”

“And that no man should obtain the other blade with malicious intent.”

“What happened to the two of you?!” Zero interjected. These two men, who had just a few minutes ago seemed like the most tried-and-true comedy duo one could imagine, suddenly carried such a sense of maturity that it was hard for the maila to recognize the two as one and the same.

Oji looked over to Kawata and nodded.

“We heard a prophecy last night,” he began. “They predicted that our friendship would grow bitter until it became a rivalry because we would fall in love with the same girl. The prophet said that you would be the one to end these feuds, so we trust that you will be capable of doing so.”

“I don’t know about that, guys,” Zero protested. “I’m hardly a fighter myself and-”

“Just promise us,” Kawata interrupted, ignoring these protestations, “that you will guard these blades and stop any future dumbasses from abusing their power.”

After a moment of silence, the maila sighed.

“I guess you leave me with no choice,” he said to the two men. “I hereby promise to uphold these blades and keep them in the right hands.”

The two men went to the barracks to continue their training for the day. Zero returned to the golden bow that lay open in its mold, stringing it. He gave the bowstring a gentle pull looking out to where Oji and Kawata stood outside of the forge. Even behind the closed door, as thick as it is, he could sense their every motion perfectly down to each strand of Kawata’s hair. He let the string loose, creating a small vibration like the string of a cheap, out-of-tune lyre, and could no longer perceive the two in such a deep way. He set this creation, which he dubbed the Nukenai Bow, down on the table before closing up shop.