"Reforging the Mighty Blade" Memory Scrolls

* TW/JP Servers: November 27th - December 12th 2019
* GL Server: December 18th 2019 - January 7th 2020

This was the memory scroll event accompanying the release of the SP shikigami Tenken Jinshin Onikiri.

### Rewards

When each part of the scroll is fixed, rewards will be distributed across server depending on participation. The participation value depends on the shards being given, and the more given the higher the value. Each portion of the scroll has a separate ranking for participation, and the ranking spans the entire server. Data is refreshed once every minute.

Personal Contribution Ranking Rewards

3

## Shikigami Story

* Scroll I
* Scroll II
* Scroll III
* Scroll IV
* Scroll V
* Scroll VI

### Breaking

What makes a blade the most powerful of all?

Should it cut through every barrier? Slay countless demons and monsters? Or should it hard to be acquired at any price and emit a powerful glow?

Some blades shine like the moon, revealing the sharpest of edges. But when they are hung up as decorations, they cease to be swords, however many compliments they receive. Some blades are blunt and dull with only half of the body left. But they are seen as treasures simply because they have slain one commander leading thousands of armies, turning the tide of battle.

So you see, sharpness is not what defines a sword, it’s the heart that puts death behind it and can tell right and wrong. And once you know this, you will no longer fear death or defeat. A resilient mind is worth a thousand swords.

Everything fell silent in his dying moment. He heard the dull and lingering sound of the waves. The sound was like the ebbs and flows of the eons packed into an instant. This broken blade that saw through life and death kept sinking down in the sea. Onikiri suddenly realized that he would eventually be like the evil spirits who died before his blade. No matter how sharp his blade was, he would eventually follow his mind. He thought, if he wanted to be the most powerful blade of all, he should be able to cut down anything in his path. Yet as he looked back on his life in the tidal sound of the monster sea, he realised he had already cut down all the obstacles that ever stood before him.

Time seemed to slow down when he was sinking into the sea. He felt himself being held by someone before he lost consciousness. When he saw the light again, he also saw sparks and flames. He walked along the flames and found a furnace burning bright. In that burning furnace, he saw his past.

### Hardening

In the armory, an old bladesmith was looking into a flame in the furnace that was about to be snuffed out. He looked dazed and weak. Broken blade shards were scattered across the yard. He looked as if he had gone insane forging blades.

Suddenly the door to the yard opened, and an arrogant-looking boy entered, not much taller than the blade he carried. The boy walked straight towards the bladesmith.

“Mister, please teach me how to sharpen a blade.”

The bladesmith asked him, “Why?”

The young boy took his blade and offered it to the bladesmith with both hands. “I want to sharpen the guardian blade of the Minamoto Clan of mine.”

The bladesmith took the blade and unsheathed it. The cold light of the blade’s edge lit up the room. He put the blade back in the sheath and shook his head.

“I’ve heard about this powerful blade sealed away in the Minamoto Armory. It was forged with the hardest steel in the world and it has a fiery temper. No one dares to wield it. If it is sharpened, it will cut through anything, even its master. But it is likely to break as well...”

The young boy raised his head, “I’ve been carrying this blade for many years. And it did not leave my side when I was in that great fire in the capital. It has slain many monsters and demons for me. It lives, I live. It breaks, I break. But it will never break in my hands.”

The bladesmith waved his hand, “You don’t have to give your life that has infinite value to a blade that has limited value. You’re still young, just go home.”

As he talked, he turned towards the furnace. Flames flickered in the furnace, casting dancing shadows, like an entrancing magic.

Suddenly, a cold light flashed. When the bladesmith turned his head, he saw the young boy holding his unsheathed blade, plunging towards him. He was too surprised to avoid it and fell to the ground.

The blade took aim for the furnace behind him and cut the furnace in half. The dying fire became a tall flame, where the face of a fearful furnace demon appeared. There was a painful scream, and dark blood spilt out its guts and poured onto the face of the bladesmith, leaving only the furnace in halves and the breathing charcoal.

The young boy looked down at the bladesmith and swung his blade, leaving a trail of blood on the wall.

“This blade will surely be sharp in my hands and will take thousands of lives.”

“So, please, mister, teach me how to sharpen the blade.”

### Granting

That night, the weather suddenly changed, with lightning striking and thunder rolling, and the clouds painted red. With a forbidden spell of blood, a mortal body was combined with the blade of the Minamoto Clan. A dying life was saved and a demon weapon that could cut anything was forged. “You are Onikiri, the blade that brings doom to all the demons in the world.”

At first, Onikiri used to follow Minamoto no Yorimitsu everywhere he went. The young onmyoji taught him how to wield blades, cast the spells of humans, and repel monsters. They often practiced in duels together. One day, they managed to fight side by side, looking as if they were of one mind. But whenever Onikiri faced his master, he always hesitated, resulting in his defeat.

“A master can break his blade, but a blade can never hurt its master.”

Another time, the two of them were surrounded by evil monsters in a battle. Working closely together, they slayed many of them. At the height of the battle, one evil monster took the appearance of Minamoto no Yorimitsu, forcing Onikiri to back down.

Just when Onikiri’s life was in danger, Minamoto no Yorimitsu repelled the monster, but he didn’t kill it. He told Onikiri, “I once hesitated before a monster who took the appearance of my family. And I paid the price in losing the lives of innocent warriors.”

“You have something that the other blades don’t have - a heart. It’s sincere, with a fiery temper. That’s hard to come by. It’s the very thing that makes you different from them. You shouldn’t make the same mistake they made.”

When Onikiri finished listening to his words, he killed the monster with his blade. Blood spilt on the ground. He sheathed his blade and went to clean his master’s armour, fearing that the miasma from the blood might poison his master. He then made his oath.

“I won’t make the same mistake again.”

“One day, you will be the most powerful of all blades. I look forward to that day...”

Minamoto no Yorimitsu untied the blade strapped onto his waist and handed it to the man before him with both hands.

“The most powerful of all blades to be, I give you this.”

Onikiri accepted the blade with a pitch black hilt and a golden crescent mark.

The setting sun was red as blood. He raised his head, and the sun’s reflection on his eyes looked like the burning flame in a furnace that could melt all iron and steel and form a heart. Minamoto no Yorimitsu couldn’t stop himself reaching out the hand that he used to cast that forbidden spell back then, and pointed at his left eye.

“The bond between us is greater than this.”

### Forming

As the day gave way to night, a towering castle suddenly appeared in the endless sea. The giant waves created by the emergence of Shinkirou released a loud blasting sound. Two paper cranes followed the source of the sound and arrived at the spot, hovering above the castle mirage. As the castle approached the harbour, it began to devour the fishing boats at the pier.

Known as the Castle in the Sea, Shinkirou had an indestructible shell as hard as iron walls, and could deflect spells back. This made the onmyoji of the capital helpless.

At that time, Onikiri was furious because the elders of the Minamoto Clan prevented him from repelling Shinkirou. So he could only practice his blades to unleash his anger. Minamoto no Yorimitsu confiscated his blade and took him to a study room before giving him a stack of paper.

“Don’t be too rash. Learn to make paper birds first.”

The two of them arrived at the capital harbour when Onikiri had finally learned how to make a paper bird that looked remotely like a bird.

After getting what he wished for, Onikiri burst into laughter before putting on his serious face again. Minamoto no Yorimitsu picked up the paper bird that most looked like a bird and threw it on the ground. The paper bird instantly turned into a paper crane that could be used as a mount.

“If you’re so indestructible, let’s see if you have patience.”

Shinkirou appeared again in the endless sea. Minamoto no Yorimitsu tested the weak spots of Shinkirou’s shell with his amulets. But all of the amulets bounced back. Onikiri had an idea, to slash at Shinkirou’s joints. Surely, they were weaker than other places. He hurried to tell his master, but Shinkirou rose up and swallowed Onikiri with his paper crane whole.

Onikiri didn’t panic in the stomach of Shinkirou. The inside of Shinkirou was soft. Onikiri then turned himself into the shape of a blade and started slashing inside Shinkirou.

He slashed from his head to the tail, trying to kill Shinkirou from inside his hard shell. The Shinkirou struggled madly, but his shell stayed intact.

Trapped inside the body, Onikiri didn’t know what to do, when the shell finally broke from the cracks. The joints burst layer by layer. The flesh fell into the water, together with Onikiri.

After swirling through a dizzying vortex, Onikiri was picked up by a giant paper crane. Minamoto no Yorimitsu was holding him with one hand, with an amulet in the other. Clearly, he was wounded from the blast, but a confident smile appeared on his face.

“You’re truly my precious blade.”

### Forging

However, all the trust for life, all the glory in fierce battles, the pain of twisted lies, all the strong emotions are wrapped in flames. They are burning in a fierce fire, along with his broken blade body, hammered repeatedly and turned into red hot liquid steel.

Onikiri looked to the end where all the liquid steel converged. He started to wonder if it was the Underworld river where everything could be forsaken and forgiven. Any tangible thing in the world can be broken, except water. To be strong, you have to be soft as liquid steel first to form a heart that will never become fragile.

All the painful experiences merge into the flames and the hammering that forge his heart. They break you through repeated hammering to make you experience pain and give you a more tenacious heart.

Onikiri thought, a blade never has a heart. It goes wherever its master points. The young master of the Minamoto Clan has an unshaken heart. He repels evil demons with his mortal body. Those who are affected by hatred are inclined to become monsters. Yet for that young master, fear and hatred turned into unparalleled determination. Onikiri was deeply touched by that heart and hoped to follow it to cut down any obstacles for his master. But when he found his homeland bathed in blood, his dead kin, Mt. Oe painted red by the fire of war after nightfall, he began to feel hatred when he slashed his blade. That man was right. His heart was rare to come by. But he had never wielded his blade for himself.

Everything he had was burned down by the fire. He had nothing left except his determination. He then realized how his master who lost everything in the great fire of the capital endured such pain and forged his heart, embarking on the path he is on now. Some things are more enduring than life and death, like determination.

And they had a great deal in common at that very moment.

The enduring determination that reformed him was never extinguished when he shattered the water trap of the Sealand and he was thrown into the water. In the sound of waves, he heard an unwilling voice echoing from the pulsing of his blood, but he couldn’t work out where it was coming from. Then he was thrown into the fiery flames again, alive after the burning and hammering.

Following the hammering sound, he stepped into the boiling liquid steel and walked towards the source of the sound in the fire. Flames crawled up his body. With every hammer blow, he walked one step further, and the flames crawled one inch higher. The body of the blade melted more. He held the heart so rare to come by firmly in his hands, refusing to be melted by the flames. The pain of the fire was excruciating. He struggled to open his eyes, determined to see the road clearly this time. This heart has put death behind and can tell right from wrong, so he decided to face the one who gave him this determination with a determined heart and challenge him with the blade in his hands. He will eventually find his own path.

### Training

He woke up from fragments of his past memories and a flurry of flames, opening his eyes after a long dream. Everything in the Minamoto Residence was just like his dream. Minamoto no Yorimitsu was sitting before him, looking at him. Between them was that newly forged blade. Onikiri reached for the blade and pointed at the one sitting before him.

“Even if you save me, Minamoto no Yorimitsu, I won’t forgive you!”

“Are you going to kill me with the blade you’re holding?”

“I will kill you in revenge. But not now when the world is in peril...” Onikiri said, “I am Onikiri and I am bound to end all evil thoughts in the world.”

“Really? What’s an evil thought?”

“Evil arises from the heart and stays by your side.” Onikiri laid his blade horizontally before them and squared his shoulders. “Evil comes in many forms and weird shapes. It has many names and cannot be eradicated through countless beheadings. If you seek to find evil, you have to observe whole-heartedly.”

“Most things in the world are not good or bad. What if you can’t tell?” Minamoto no Yorimitsu asked.

“I will hunt it down with my heart.”

“You cannot make progress without breaking a few rules. What if you have to do evil first to do good?”

“I regret nothing for following my heart.”

Minamoto no Yorimitsu paused for a while and smiled, “What if I have to do the evil things to you?”

Onikiri remained silent. He didn’t back down. He looked Minamoto no Yorimitsu square in the eyes, just like when he looked at his enemies before, with confidence.

He then said firmly. “I will cut down the blades in your hand one by one.”

Minamoto no Yorimitsu was surprised by the answer and smiled.

“The blades that I forged myself took much of my blood. I don’t think any of them would grant victory if you battle with them. Unfortunately, you’re still not sharp enough. Your blade is freshly forged from the furnace and is yet to be sharpened.”

Onikiri paused and said, “I will sharpen my blade here. My blade is like a mirror that can tell right from wrong.”

The two of them looked into each other’s eyes. The newly forged blade lay before them. Onikiri reached out and unsheathed the blade. There was a dull thud as the sheath fell on the ground. Reflected on the edge of the blade was the new look of Onikiri. Reflected on the back of the blade was the look of Minamoto no Yorimitsu with his ever confident smile.

“Your wounds are not healed and my body hasn’t fully recovered. I will have that life-or-death battle when I regain my power!”

“It’s a deal,” nodded Minamoto no Yorimitsu, “the most powerful of all blades to be.”