Chapter 1398: Intermission 3: Ayuru’s Awakening (8)

"What is this? Is this some kind of human form you can take?" I asked, trying to make sense of it.

"Yes," she replied calmly. "This is my human form."

She said it very straightforward and simple.

"So what’s your real form then?" I continued.

"My real form is a spirit," she said. "I reside within the sword that Master uses. My name is Ayuru. And I am a sword with consciousness."

A spirit, huh?

I hadn’t actually seen one before, but they were part of the world’s myths. Stories about them weren’t uncommon either, really. They were said to be guardians of the Great Forest, protecting the human continent from the demon continent. Whether those stories were completely accurate or not was another question, though. Some parts were probably exaggerated or maybe even distorted over time.

Still, if she really was a spirit, then that wasn’t something small.

That was a big deal.

"I see..." I muttered quietly.

My eyes drifted back to her appearance without me really meaning to.

There was something about it that felt... intentional.

Like it wasn’t random.

Like it had been chosen.

Chosen very carefully, in fact.

It almost felt like this form was designed to match my preferences exactly. That thought crossed my mind before I could stop it.

"You are absolutely correct," she said.

I froze for a second. I hadn’t said that out loud. But for some reason, it felt like she heard it.

"You can hear my thoughts?" I asked, looking at her more seriously now.

"Well, that is because we have always communicated that way until now, haven’t we?" she replied, her tone calm and matter-of-fact. "It felt natural for us to continue using telepathy, since that has always been how we interacted."

Thinking about it for a moment, that actually made sense. That was how it had always been between us. It would be weird if she couldn’t communicate through me with telepathy since we have been doing that ever since.

"So this appearance...?" I started, gesturing slightly.

"You are correct on what you are thinking earlier. This appearance is based on your preferences, Master," she said. "I took that into account, and this is the result. Do you like it?"

She asked it so directly that it almost caught me off guard.

Well...

Yeah.

I did.

There wasn’t really a point in denying that. I wouldn’t be this so awestruck if it wasn’t, really.

"Why did you turn out like this, then?" I asked instead.

"It is because Master has been feeding me a large amount of mana," she explained. "I believe I was able to reach this state because of the amount of mana you have given me."

She continued without pausing.

"At some point, the mana within me began to overflow. I could no longer contain it all, so I attempted to release it by returning it to you. In simple terms, you act as someone I can give mana to, while also being the one who provides it to me. The excess mana within me enhances your abilities and significantly increases your attributes."

That explained a lot starting from that strange feeling from earlier, and the sudden increase in strength as well as the difference in how my body felt.

Everything started to line up. Well, not that everything, really, but it did answer some questions I had earlier.

"So that’s why I felt like a completely different person earlier..." I said quietly.

It actually made sense now.

"But I had to learn how to do that first," she added. "I trained within myself for some time in order to control it properly. As a result, I also gained the ability to take on this form."

"So that’s why you were asleep and couldn’t be contacted for about a month?" I asked.

"Yes."

That answered that.

I had been wondering about it for a while now. Why I couldn’t reach her and why there was no response no matter what I did. Turns out she wasn’t ignoring me. She was just busy... evolving, I guess.

While I was still thinking about all of that, she suddenly reached out.

Before I could react, her hand wrapped around my dick.

"Oh, so this is what Master’s dick feels like to touch," she said, her tone filled with simple curiosity.

That caught me completely off guard.

"Where exactly are you touching?" I asked, instinctively reacting.

"I always wondered how it feels. From inside you, I was watching all of your sessions with every woman that you are mating with, and they all looked like they were enjoying it," she said, her voice carrying a quiet curiosity that didn’t sound forced at all. "It feels like it must be something really good if they’re making faces like that. It kind of makes me... a little jealous? Or maybe that’s not the right word for this feeling."

There was a pause after she said that, like she was still trying to sort out what exactly she was feeling. While she was holding it, my cock suddenly sprang up, reacting on its own without me really intending for it to happen. It just happened naturally, like my body made the decision before I could even think about it.

And with Ayuru standing there like that, even if I knew she was a Cursed Sword, my cock responding like this wasn’t exactly surprising. It was pretty much expected at this point, even if part of me wanted to pretend it wasn’t.

Her appearance hit way too close to my preferences. She looked like a mix of the kind of women I liked, almost like someone had taken all those traits and blended them together into one person. Back in my previous life, this kind of image was something I used to imagine without thinking much about it. It felt a little ironic now that it was standing right in front of me.

Thinking about it, Akane probably had something to do with shaping that preference. That would explain why, the moment I saw Ayuru, my first thought was how much she resembled Lilith and Shredica. It wasn’t exact, but the similarities were enough to stick out.