Free Web NovelMatt was stuck to a cave wall.
He wasn't flying.
His wings were folded against his back and several small hardened blood spikes were driven into cracks in the stone, holding his body just enough to keep him from falling.
It was the most comfortable position he'd found to rest without spending energy.
And he'd been there for almost an entire day.
The plan was simple.
So simple that he was almost embarrassed it had taken him that long to think of it.
The bow-lance girl was anxious.
She needed attention.
She needed to be looked at.
Listened to.
Answered.
Touched.
Everything about the way she acted revolved around getting a reaction out of her master — positive or negative, it didn't matter.
So the solution was to give her none.
If she wanted his attention, she was going to have to earn it.
And the only way to earn it was to obey.
An ego weapon with absurd talent was useless to Matt if that weapon did whatever it felt like.
One act of mischief in front of the queen.
One word said at the wrong moment.
One whim when there shouldn't be any.
And the whole plan could fall apart.
Matt couldn't afford that.
So he waited.
The guns were still in his hands and vibrating less now.
Matt closed his eyes.
'I'll have to do this another day if necessary…'
Around the twenty-hour mark, Matt opened his eyes and looked down.
The girl was still there.
In the center of the room, on the cold stone, curled into a ball. Knees pulled to her chest, arms wrapped around her legs, and blonde hair tangled, covering her back.
Her naked body was exposed to the cave's cold, but she wasn't trembling from that.
What was trembling was something else.
Her shoulders moved slightly.
Rising and falling slowly.
Matt released the blood spikes from the wall.
Vmm!
The wings spread halfway, just enough to slow the fall. He descended in slow circles, silently, until he was suspended about five meters off the ground.
The girl lifted her head when she sensed him.
Her two eyes — the red and the blue — were red-rimmed. Matt didn't know if that was possible for an ego weapon, but there it was.
"Master…"
Her voice came out broken.
Matt didn't descend any further.
"Are you still angry with me?"
Matt looked at her from above without answering right away.
When he spoke, he spoke slowly.
"I'm going to leave you here."
The girl opened her mouth.
Matt continued:
"Until you tell me what the guns are saying."
The girl closed her mouth and bit her lower lip.
Why was her master so obsessed with those guns?
Why?
Her eyes moved to the floor.
Then to Matt.
Then back to the floor.
The internal struggle was so clear it showed on her face. Matt could see pride and the fear of being left alone crashing against each other inside her head.
Matt didn't wait for an answer.
He started rising.
The wings moved once, just enough to lift his body two meters.
"Wait!"
The girl's voice came out loud.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Matt stopped in the air.
He looked at her.
The girl uncurled from her ball. She pressed her hands against the floor, still with some difficulty, and stood up.
Her legs trembled slightly, but she no longer fell the way she used to.
The fight in the mental world had done its work in that regard.
She stood in the center of the room, looking up at him.
"The guns…"
Matt waited.
The girl squeezed her fingers.
"They asked me for help."
Matt blinked.
"Help?"
"To awaken…"
Matt went quiet and descended a meter, just to hear her better.
"Be more specific."
The girl looked at the guns in Matt's hands.
She looked at them with a new expression.
Not the contempt from before.
It was envy.
"The reason they weren't awakening…"
A pause.
"Was all the material you used to create and modify them."
Matt frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"What you heard. All that material you put on top of them… it trapped them."
The girl swallowed.
"It was like they were inside trying to get out, but all those layers you built on them wouldn't let them break through. It's not that they didn't want to. They couldn't."
Matt went silent.
When the bow-lance had awakened, its body had been covered in black material. A hard shell that shattered at the moment of awakening, shedding dark dust to reveal the silver body underneath.
If the guns had something similar, but with everything he'd layered on top of them over time…
'Damn.'
It was plausible.
More than plausible.
It was almost obvious in hindsight.
Matt had been so obsessed with improving the guns, making them stronger, more durable, more useful, that he'd probably been suffocating them without realizing it.
The girl was still looking at him from below.
Matt spoke:
"Are you going to help them awaken?"
The girl looked away to one side.
She didn't answer.
Her fingers played with a strand of her own hair. Her feet shifted, one on top of the other, not knowing what to do. frёeωebɳovel.com
Matt started rising again.
"No!"
The girl shouted.
"I'll do it! I'm going to do it! But don't go! Don't leave me here alone again!"
Matt stopped and looked at her from above.
The girl had clasped her hands together in front of her chest without realizing it — a gesture that covered her slightly — and was looking up with both eyes wide open.
Matt didn't descend.
He just threw the guns down from above.
Both weapons cut through the air in parallel arcs, falling toward the girl.
She caught them on pure reflex.
The heavy one in her left hand.
The light one in her right.
She pressed them against her chest for a moment before lowering them to her sides.
"Why won't you come down?" she asked, frowning.
"Because I know you'll attach yourself to me the second I'm within reach."
The girl clenched her teeth.
Was she really that easy to read for her master?
She ground her teeth but didn't protest.
She lowered her eyes to the guns.
Her expression softened little by little as she looked at them.
The guns vibrated.
Vmmm…!
The girl breathed deeply and closed her eyes.
A golden glow began to come from her body.
The blonde hair rose slightly, as if a current of air was passing through her from below. The pale skin grew lighter, almost luminous. The red cracks Matt had seen on her weapon form reappeared for an instant on her arm, her neck, and her cheek before vanishing again.
The golden glow transferred to the guns.
And they responded.
CRACK!
The black surface of the light gun split.
CRACK! CRACK!
More cracks appeared across its entire surface. Thin lines spreading all at once, as if something was pushing from inside and the shell could no longer contain it.
CRACK!
The heavy gun did the same.
Slower.
The cracks were thicker, more spread out, but just as inevitable.
The black metal began to come apart in pieces.
Small fragments fell to the floor.
Then larger chunks.
The outer shell Matt had built with such care fell apart in seconds, revealing what lay beneath.
What lay beneath was light.
The light gun, now fully exposed, was a crystalline transparent blue, like polished glass. The light reflected across its surface with an almost liquid sheen, and every time the girl breathed, the blue seemed to move inside the crystal.
The heavy gun was different.
Larger.
Much larger than the light one.
Almost twice the size.
And instead of blue, it was red.
A crystalline red made of the same material, but darker.
Denser.
Heavier.
VMMMM!
Both vibrated at the same time.
A burst of blue and red light exploded outward.
FWASH!
The entire room filled with light.
Matt had to close his eyes for a moment.
When he opened them, the guns were on the floor.
The blonde girl was standing a few steps away.
And between them, in the air, two bodies were taking shape. The glow dimmed and the forms solidified.
And two girls dropped to the cave floor.
Thwump! Thwump!
Both landed sitting, legs folded to the side, too dizzy to hold their balance. Their bodies swayed for a moment before steadying.
Matt looked at them from above.
Both were naked.
And both were different.
The first had red hair, long to her waist and wavy. Her eyes were also red, deep, like a pair of dark rubies. Her skin was white. Her body was more curved, with a more defined figure.
The second had blue hair, also long to her waist, but straight and smooth, without waves. Her eyes were blue, clear, almost sky-colored.
Both looked around. Then they looked up and saw Matt floating in the air, black wings spread wide.
And both spoke at the same time.
"Master!"
Matt blinked in surprise that they called him that right away, given that he currently had a girl's body.
"Master, it's so good to finally talk to you!"
The redhead spoke first, with a warm voice that was slightly husky.
"Master, thank you so much for awakening us."
The blue-haired one spoke after, with a softer voice, almost musical.
The blonde girl, who had been standing in silence watching everything, opened her mouth.
"Hey! That's not fair!"
Both guns looked at her.
"You can't copy the way I talk to my master!"
The redhead blinked.
"You mean 'master'?"
"Yes!"
"But that's just what you call him."
"I call him that because I decided to call him that!"
The blue-haired one tilted her head.
"Actually, you call him that because he's a man. It's the right word."
"But I figured it out first!"
"You figured it out literally a few hours ago."
"Both of you shut up!"
Matt looked at them all from above without saying anything.
His mind was processing everything that was happening.
The bow-lance hadn't lied.
Matt felt something close to relief.
Not happiness.
Not yet.
But something closer to hope than he'd felt in a very long time.
He had three ego weapons.
Three.
That was…
That was nearly unheard of.
The redhead tried to stand.
Her legs gave out.
Thud!
She fell forward, palms hitting the stone floor.
"Ow."
The blue-haired one tried the same.
Thud!
Same fall.
Same result.
Both were left on their hands and knees, hair falling around the sides of their faces.
Matt spoke from above.
"Stay sitting."
Both looked up at him at the same time.
"Yes, Master."
And they obeyed almost in unison. They sat back down on the floor, legs folded to one side, hands on their laps, backs straight.
They'd copied the position from each other without thinking, but it was also the only one that let them stay stable without falling.
Matt looked at them from above.
'They seem more obedient than the bow-lance…'
Matt descended.
Vmm!
His feet touched the ground a few meters from the three girls. The wings folded against his back and disappeared in a red mist that was absorbed into his skin.
The blonde girl, the moment she saw him land, shot toward him.
"Master!"
"Sit down."
The girl stopped.
"Huh?"
"Sit down."
The girl clicked her tongue loudly.
"But, Master—"
"Sit down or you'll be the only one I leave here."
The girl closed her mouth.
She looked at him with resentment.
But she sat.
Not beside the two guns.
In front.
Right in front of them, blocking them with her own body, legs stretched out to the sides and arms crossed over her chest.
Matt sighed.
"Move back."
"What?"
"Move back. Sit behind them."
"But, Master!"
"Obey."
The blonde girl puffed out her cheeks, but stood up, walked clumsily around the other two, and sat behind them. She crossed her legs, crossed her arms, and looked down with an expression that was clearly sulking.
Matt stepped forward and crouched in front of all three.
"Are you going to answer my questions?"
The redhead and the blue-haired one nodded almost simultaneously.
