"I want to believe that you won't kill him. But why do you have a dagger out like that?" Frank asked Ashton who was confused, "Dagger or short sword, whatever it is. It sure as hell doesn't look to me like a tool to propagate peace."
"A dagger? What dagger-"
Ashton looked down, only to realise he did not have Raphael in his hands, but his trusty short sword, Balmond. He was pretty sure he had called out Raphael, not Balmond and yet his eyes weren't deceiving him. As a result, he was confused until he heard Astaroth's voice again.
[What do you think you are doing...?]
'I wanted to seal Beelzebub within Raphael's domain. That way, we wouldn't have to worry about him, nor would we have to kill him.'
[So you went ahead and were about to do the one thing you were told not to? Looks like your intelligence regressed after being hit by Beelzebub.]
'Shit, it completely skipped my mind.'
[One of these days, your life will skip you instead.]
Ashton's cheeks flushed red from the embarrassment he was feeling. Not only exposing Seraph's crystal got him into trouble earlier, but he was also about to do the same thing again. Thankfully, he had a question to change the topic before he embarrassed himself further.
'But how did you-'
[Raphael is my Mournblade. Do not think you can only use him whenever you please. Only when I deem it so, Raphael will present himself in front of you. I thought I was taking unnecessary measures, but now I stand corrected.]
[That weapon is a relic, strong enough to destroy planets. Therefore, I have decided you will only be able to use the weapon under my strict supervision to prevent... accidents from happening.]
'Alright...'
Ashton shook his head. He knew Astaroth was disappointed, but at the same time, he was glad no irreparable damage was done because of his hastiness. The secret was safe and that's what mattered at the moment. Other than that, the room had gotten quiet as if they were waiting for him to say something.
Luckily, he didn't have to because the moment Lycaon saw the blade he got wide-eyed. Frank might not have known what the blade was, but since Lycaon was the one who created the blade, he knew exactly what he was looking at. But there was one thing he wanted to know.
"Kid, where did you get that blade from?"
Although the blade had changed its form, it was a dagger that was once used by Dracula and was made by him. As for the question, Lycaon asked it since he explicitly remembered breaking the blade in half before they departed to explore the galaxy.
The power of the blade was too much to handle without their supervision. Since they were asked not to bring anything from their planet, Lycaon decided it was best to destroy the blade. He deposed the handle while he gave the rest of it to Dracula to take care of.
To this day, they did not tell each other what they had done with their respective parts. It was a contingency plan, to prevent the blade from getting into the wrong hands even if one of them was forced to spill out the secret.
As for the handle, Lycaon threw it in the deepest part of the ocean, hoping to never see it again. Yet, there it was, right in front of him in all of its glory. However, rather than being worried, Lycaon was happy to see his creation still thriving even after about a century.
'Not only did the kid assemble the blade but he also managed to tame it. What an incredible feat!' Lycaon thought to himself, 'The blade probably accepted him because he was bitten by Dracula, so in a way, Ashton was the heir to it. Could it merely be a coincidence?'
"I had to assemble it." Ashton replied, "I won the blade in a sort of tournament, while I was gifted the handle after defeating his highness, Alucard in a friendly spar."
"I see... so it was a stroke of luck as I suspected," Lycaon mumbled, "Do you mind if I take a look?"
Ashton felt he could trust them. How could he not when all of them had put their lives on the line just to defeat Beelzebub. As soon as Lycaon got his hands on Balmond, he began behaving like a child who found his long-lost toy.
"You still haven't answered my question..." Frank smiled.
But before Ashton could come up with an answer, Lycaon answered in his stead.
"He obviously wants to feed Beelzebub's sword to it. Not only would it make him vulnerable, but this weapon would get stronger than ever before. Isn't that it?"
"Yeah that would work- I mean obviously. Hehe..." Ashton scratched the back of his head, "But how do you know all this? I mean about Balmond's ability."
"How do I know?" Lycaon was all smiles as he handed the weapon back to its owner, "Because I'm the one who created it."
"Wait, that would mean-"
"The Dark Creationist, at your service." Lycaon nodded while crossing his hands before his chest, "Well, not really. I don't usually create weapons anymore. But considering we all lost ours during the fight, I might as well take up the name once again."
Ashton could not believe his ears. When he first found Balmond's blade he was informed that in order to unlock Balmond's true potential, he would have to get it looked at by the one who created it. But never in his wildest dreams, he had thought he would get the opportunity to do so.
'I really am a lucky son of a gun.' Ashton barely managed to contain his smile.
[Of course, you are. You were lucky enough to have me, after all.]
'Remind me again, how many times I almost died because of you?'
[Remind me again, how did you get as strong as you are right now?]
'Truce...?'
[Truce.]
"I am a bit confused about how are you going to 'absorb' a weapon," Frank mumbled, "but I trust Lycaon, so I'll trust you too. Let's get going. I just hope things don't go south. Especially since we have won the battle."