I called my children over and smiled at them. They did not hesitate to come to me. I told them about my day. The children were all excited. Smiling, I brought my servants in front of them. They showed them their weapons. I had a show and tell session for them. They all were able to summon their own weapons from their souls. It was the same as their parents. They did not have any of the special abilities or magic that their parents did. They were only part spirit. The human part of them all prevented them from being able to transform their bodies into weapons. "All of us became holy weapons. I don't know if it is the same for hybrids like you, but I want to try to see if you can do it one day too. I need you to be trained up first." They looked at me intently. "We're ready to go now!" Shank's son said. I shrugged my shoulders and said "Shank is really aggressive. Have you guys thought about training with the mercenaries? It might make you stronger." None of them had. "You can ask your parents to train you as well. They are all Blade Spirits and masters at their weapons." I said.
As far as the hybrids went, I was not going to risk their safety. My children were all pretty cute and I looked over them as their father. There was something out there that was very powerful. Red oni did not play around. Killing a red oni was a challenge. Killing was not something that they shied away from. They threw a spear at me before I could even see them. If my kids went over, they would die if they were not ready to defend themselves. I did not want that. Going into town, the children followed us. The time for playing was apparently over. Rolling around town, I looked at the mercenaries. They were training with Shank. He was throwing them around and snarling at them. "Come on! Hit me puny humans!" he yelled at them. Taking on 4 of them at once was a bit embarrassing. Then again, these were regular people going up against a supernatural entity. The children went right to him. The top dog of the Blade Spirits stopped and looked at them. "What are you all doing? I'm training the humans." he snapped. They begged for his help training. His tail wagged behind him.
It was clearly something that he appreciated. I smiled and told him about what was on the other side of the river. "Our children need to prove they are ready before I take them over to fight the red oni." I said. "They do know how to fight. Just because you are cowardly, don't put that mindset on my offspring." I shrugged my shoulders. "My servants and I all became holy weapons after spilling all of that red oni blood. Ask the hermit at the river god's shrine to let you and someone else go across the river. Be very nice to him. Running water really hurts. If you piss him off, he might not come back from you." I said. He crossed his arms. "You became holy blades!? I guess that any dull blade can achieve it when there are cannon fodder waiting to be slaughtered." He scoffed. "He wouldn't dare strand me somewhere. I will be a holy blade at that point." he said. I did not know about that. It seemed like he had seen some serious shit in his day. It definitely would not surprise me if he was much bolder than Shank was giving credit. It was still up to Shank to behave. I could not stop it.
