"All right, fine. I'll go. Like I had a choice in the matter."

"You're learning."

"Yeah, whatever. What was I gonna do? Say no? I still have to replace my sword."

"Why don't you just buy one? Don't give me that look, it's a valid question."

"I know you're all god-like and powerful and the greatest of the Dark Hunters, Ash, but clearly you've never been a samurai."

"No, I have not. So explain it to me."

"A samurai's katana is more, much more than a mere weapon. For us, trained in the way of the samurai, our katana is our soul. The sword has its own spirit, its own life. You cannot find such a thing in a cheaply made store bought blade."

"I see."

"Yes...perhaps you do. I know you have taught samurai other than myself, but perhaps have not heard such a thing from one of us before."

"Very well, Kiyoshi. As it happens, there is someone where you're going that will be able to give you that which you ask for. He will have a forge in the clouds, the single greatest smith of the gods."

"You don't mean...but I might as well kill myself. Aren't the gods supposed to kill us on sight?"

"I didn't say it would be easy, did I? Have a little faith, Kiyoshi. Besides, this is a god that cares little for the 'rules' that the other gods say they live by."

"...All right."

"What, you're still here? Move your ass, Kiyoshi."

A forge in the clouds, he'd said.

Right.

Damn omnipotent bastard. He couldn't have just said that it would be a long climb up a mountain that was tall enough that it went into the clouds, and to look for a damn cave, and by the way you might want to bring some climbing gear and warm clothes.

No, no...why should it be easy?

The climb is indeed long, treacherous, the terrain beneath him frozen and slick.

Good thing he keeps himself in shape.

He finds the cave just as the sky begins lightening with the promise of a new day coming, and slips inside before Apollo can see him on the mountainside.

He's greeted with warmth, flowing out from within the cave, making his way inside to where he can see the faint pulse of orange and red that is flames.

The Smith of the Gods is not at all what he expected.

He'd always heard that Hephaestus was a malformed being, strange to lay eyes on, and yet here before him is a man with the body of a god, and to boot, not at all Greek, but rather...Japanese...?

Weird.

You'd think Ash could tell him these things, but nooo. What the hell?

He really hates omnipotent beings. They can be so damnably frustrating in their cryptic ways. He'll have to make a mental note to send Ash a grenade or something of the like as thanks for all the helpful information.

Saving his frustration for another time, he drops to one knee, bowing his head to stare at the floor, speaking with soft respect and formality.

"I beg your forgiveness, mighty Hephaestus, for my intrusion into your sacred forge. I have come to beg a favor, and was told that you were the one to seek out for that which I require: a sword of the samurai, one that I may wield in the service of Artemis."

He holds his pose, his hands laid upon his knee as he waits for his answer.