"Soul arm?"
The word meant nothing to Leander.
"Um, I'm afraid my soul doesn't have any arms."
Riku's smile faltered slightly, as if he was saddened that Leander hadn't immediately started jumping for joy the moment he had heard Riku's offer. After a few moments, he tilted his head, stupefied.
"You don't- you- you're serious, huh?"
Leander continued to stare at Riku with a confused expression.
"Yes? I'm serious that my soul doesn't have any arms if that's what you mean."
"No, that's-"
Looking at the ceiling, Riku's mouth hung open as he tried to comprehend the man standing in front of him.
"How archaic were people a thousand years ago that you don't know what I'm talking about. Ugh, you know what, fine. I'll just explain the whole thing."
Leaning back in his chair, Riku put another spoonful of stew in his mouth as he thought about how he would explain. After a few spoonfuls, he had emptied his bowl.
"So, as you know, when you kill something, there is always a chance that you can receive a memory of its soul. It's kind of like an echo the soul leaves in the world when it dies, unless you're able to forge it yourself. You bring these souls to a Soul Forger – one such as myself – who can temper the soul and forge it into a Soul Arm. Now, Soul Arms can be anything from weapons of all kinds to armour, tools, you name it. Heck, if you're lucky enough, the soul can turn into an Imprint, which is kind of like a recreation of the man, beast or demon – it's a recreation of whatever you killed. The same in every way, except it can't think for itself, just a puppet."
Leander slowly nodded along to what Riku was saying.
'Soul Arms and Imprints… This sounds useful, incredibly useful. Melaine's been around for a while; couldn't she have outfitted me with some powerful Soul Arms? This armour is amazing in every way, but the choice of weaponry leaves some room for criticism. Hmm, is that ungrateful... Actually, thinking about it.'
"Riku, you said something about Melaine not being able to find a soul strong enough to withstand the materials. Since you seem to be in an explaining mood, care to explain?"
Placing his empty bowl beside the fireplace, Riku scratched his chin.
"It's simple, really. Souls you gain from killing something can be used for one of two purposes. The first is forging it into a Soul Arm and potentially an imprint, but the second option is that you can use the soul to turn a regular weapon, armour or tool into a Soul Arm. The stronger the materials, the stronger a soul you will need."
Riku's eyes slowly moved away from Leander as he spoke, hovering over the pot of stew beside him.
"I don't know where Melaine got those dragon scales. But I couldn't find a single soul potent enough to contain the materials, I'd need the soul of a Mythical Beast or maybe even a Divine Beast and, well. You don't exactly stumble across those kinds of things."
As Riku spoke of Mythical and Divine Beasts, Narina whispered something.
"Mythical Beasts are no joke. A mythical is almost as strong as the four strongest in the continent. They don't even bow to the Beast King… Divine, do I really need to say how strong they are? It's in the name."
Leander's eyes narrowed as he focused on one piece of information Narina had mentioned.
"The four strongest in the continent? I'll go out on a limb here and guess since there are four kingdoms, each kingdom houses one of the strongest in the continent."
Caught in the middle of pouring himself another bowl of stew, Riku nodded.
"Oh dear, wise and knowledgeable Leander. We mortals could not fathom the might of your infinite knowledge and wisdom."
There was a slight pause as Riku finished pouring himself a second bowl, but before Leander could open his mouth to respond, Riku continued.
"Four kingdoms, the four strongest. The Lich Queen in the south, the First Seraph in the East, the Beast King in the West and the Demon King in the North. The only other one in the continent that could contend with those four would be the Druid in the Sacred Forest, whatever's left of the Sacred Forest it anyway."
'The First Seraph.'
Leander locked onto the familiar name. When he had arrived back at the Funerary, four of the Goddess' Seraphs had attacked Funerary whilst he was gone. The thought of people attacking the innocent citizens of Funerary made Leander angry.
"Seraph, I've heard that title before. I would have thought that the Goddess would be the strongest in her kingdom. Tell me about them."
As he was about to take another spoonful of stew, Riku's eyebrow twitched as Leander demanded more information from him.
"I don't know if you've realised, but I'm not some kind of library. Unless you're going to start paying for information or give me a soul to forge. Respectfully, get out."
Leander grimaced.
"Ugh, whatever. How would I even know if I had any souls that can be forged?"
"How would you know? Look in your soul sanctuary and look for the floating souls, then just summon it to you. It's not that hard."
Something occurred to Leander, he had seen something in his soul that he didn't at first recognise.
Delving into his Soul Sanctuary, Leander looked up at his soul. It was still there.
The mote of light he had observed whilst he was sitting in Melaine's garden. It was the only thing in his soul that did not belong there – if you did not count the menagerie of weapons that now littered every surface of every cloud – Leander had felt that it bore a will of its own.
Perhaps that will is what a Soul Forger manipulated in order to turn a soul into a Soul Arm.
Holding out his arm, Leander tried to do as Riku instructed.
Summon the soul to him.
Yet despite his best attempts – what Leander thought was his best attempt.
The soul did not move. It simply orbited Leander's soul like a moon orbiting a planet or a planet orbiting the sun.
Gritting his teeth, Leander flexed the fingers of his outstretched hand in annoyance.
It wasn't hard for Leander to realise why what Riku had made, which seemed like a simple process, was impossible for him. Leander's soul was broken.
Rubbing his brow, Leander paid his soul one last disappointed glance as he began to leave his Soul Sanctuary. His gaze softened as he saw something was different about the strings Melaine had used to repair his soul.
'Are those strings sinking?'
"So how did it go?"
Riku slurped up another spoonful of stew.
Rubbing the back of his neck, Leander looked away, annoyed.
"There's something in my Soul Sanctuary, I can't summon it because my soul is broken."
Raising an eyebrow, Riku sighed.
"Ah, pity. Seems I'll have to be in your debt for a while longer until you figure out how to get it. But for now, that's enough. Get out of my house!"
Staring at Riku with disdain, Leander turned around, walking away. Kicking the door open, Leander stepped outside. Just as the door was about to close on him, Leander held it open with his foot, calling back to Riku.
"Those Kitsune might come back, they could even bring reinforcements. Do you think you'll be fine here?"
Bringing the bowl to his lips, Riku slurped up what was left of his second portion. Wiping his mouth with his sleeve, Riku smirked.
"I've lived here for a hundred years, Leander. I'll die before they get the chance to evict me."