Narakumo

**Narakumo** (奈蜘蛛, *Hell Spider*?) is a Special-Grade Cursed Tool heirloom of the Narukami Family. It is passed down to one user per generation, assuming a sorcerer in that generation is able to wield it, and it is currently wielded by Sonoka Narukami, the 29th designated heiress.

## Description

Narakumo is an ancient prized sword, forged in the *kotō* time period of swordsmithing. Its creator is a swordsmith known as **Sadaharu** (貞治, *****Sadaharu*****?) but his name was lost to time with only the Narukami clan and the sorcerers of Hokkaido and northern Honshu remembering his name. The Narakumo was originally a beautiful white blade, the steel hammered to perfection, and everything about it was white. The *saya* (scabbard) and *tsuka* (hilt) were both also a complete white. However, Narakumo had a black history as it was said that upon finishing his lifetime's masterpiece, Sadaharu was attacked by bandits and his prized creation stolen. With his last breath, Sadaharu breathed out a powerful curse and the sword, his life-long partner in which he had poured his soul into creating, heeded its creator. The sword essentially "came to life" with the cursed energy of its creator and slaughtered the bandits before returning to its creator, embedding itself in the whetsone upon which it was sharpened. The sword ended up in the possession of the Narukami family because Sadaharu had forged the blade at the request of the second family head, Fujiwara no Yoshinobu.

Partially due to the curse uttered by its deceased creator, Narakumo has the ability to actively drain the cursed energy of whoever touches the blade and as such, it cannot be used by any normal sorcerer. Ever since the sword was created, the head of the family would always be a sorcerer in the lineage who is able to use the sword with proficiency and it can only be considered sheer luck that each generation has produced a capable heir who are able to utilize the cursed sword. However, over time, as new users continued using it, the beautiful white blade was stained a deep black, completely contrasting the pure white of the *saya* and *tsuka*.

Due to the Narakumo's unique ability, it is exceedingly destructive in the sense that it takes the cursed energy drained from its wielder and uses it to perform an attack far more powerful than the wielder actually intended it to be. Unless they are capable of controlling the sword's tendencies, the sword can and will cut both enemies and allies. If the user can control the sword, they can control the sheer destructive power of the sword's attacks, the strength of which rivals Playful Cloud, likewise, a special-grade cursed tool. The sword is also able to defend the wielder from attacks by using the cursed energy it contains to build a sort of "wall" by spinning the sword in front of the wielder, akin to a pinwheel.

## Usage

### Past Users

Narakumo has been in the possession of all of the previous clan leaders of the Narukami family as it was stated by Fujiwara no Yoshinobu that only the master of this sword should lead the clan in order to keep the family powerful. It can only be considered sheer strokes of luck that the blade was able to be used by members of the clan for almost every generation.