2010-2015 (Big Bang-Heroes of Maple)

December 2011: Dual Blade Revamp (Justice)

An Explorer hoping to become a thief was recruited by a man named Ryden, who instead convinced the Explorer to follow Lady Syl, rather than the Dark Lord. Ryden brought the Explorer before Lady Syl, who told them about her feud with the Dark Lord. She explained that the title of ‘Dark Lord' was handed down from generation to generation, each serving to guide the thieves through the darkness. As the daughter of the former Dark Lord, she had watched her father lead both the Dual Blades and the other thieves.

She explained that her father, Sung, was a Dual Blade, and that he would have likely picked another Dual Blade as his successor. Because of this, his apprentice, Jin, had murdered him and had stolen his position as Dark Lord, with the rest of the Dual Blades going into hiding after the incident. She told the Explorer that she hoped to get her vengeance by building up the Dual Blades' strength and driving Jin out of Kerning City.

However, as Jin was quite popular with the citizens of Kerning City, she feared that the people would defend him if the Dual Blades were to attack. As harming innocents was something that she wanted to avoid, Lady Syl told the Explorer that she needed a spy to infiltrate Kerning City and serve under the Dark Lord in order to undermine him. After the Explorer accepted her mission, Syl sent them to train under Ryden.

Ryden first ordered them to hone their observational skills by having them distinguish a toy playhouse that was slightly different from the others. Next, he had them practice their stealth by making it through an obstacle course. Then, he had them defeat a Training Mano in order to sharpen their combat skills. Finally, he had them take a test of loyalty by drinking a poison and seeing Lady Syl for the antidote. However, upon visiting Lady Syl, they were informed that Ryden had merely given them apple juice, though she emphasized that the point was that they should never think of betraying her.

After passing the initiation trials, the Explorer became a Dual Blade under Lady Syl's tutelage. As they had not yet learned any Dual Blade techniques, Syl believed that they were in the perfect position to serve under the Dark Lord as a new thief. Ryden then tasked the Dual Blade with learning more about the Dark Lord by interrogating his closest associates of Kerning City: Nella, JM from tha Streetz, and Don Giovanni.

The Dual Blade first spoke with Nella, who asked them to defeat the Stirges attacking the Pharmacy. After helping her, they learned that she viewed the Dark Lord as kind and trustworthy. Next, they spoke with JM, who asked them to obtain a Thin Jr. Necki Skin. The Dual Blade obtained one from Taeha, the Dual Blade merchant, and brought it back to JM. They then questioned him and learned that the Dark Lord obtained a delivery package once a week from out of town.

Finally, the Dual Blade visited Don Giovanni at the hair salon Giovanni asked the Dual Blade to obtain a Toy Plane for his son, Icarus, who dreamed of flying. The Dual Blade obtained the toy from Taeha and brought it to Giovanni, who thanked them for their help. Upon being questioned about the Dark Lord, Giovanni explained that he occasionally ran into the Dark Lord walking by himself in the Swamp Region.

After reporting back to Ryden, the Dual Blade was instructed to wait until he finished investigating the leads. Meanwhile, Lady Syl noted their talent and called them to learn the art of dual-wielding. She first tasked them with obtaining a Mirror of Insight from within one marble amongst many, which indicated that they were worthy of learning the way of the Dual Blade. After they were initiated into the ranks of the Dual Blades, Ryden contacted them and suggested that they train around Victoria Island and grow stronger.

Soon after, the Dual Blade was contacted by Yun, Lady Syl's sister, who asked them to speak to Lady Syl on her behalf. She explained that Syl lately seemed to be in a bad mood quite often, and as Syl seemed to trust them, she hoped that speaking to her would cheer her up, as Yun believed that Syl would feel worse if she knew that her sister was worried for her.

Just as Yun had hoped, Syl was pleased to see the Dual Blade and explained that her father used to tell her stories from the past whenever she felt depressed. She told them that thinking about her father made her feel better, though her memories of him had lately been slipping away. She confessed that she had even lost the memory of the day that he had passed, noting that it was strange, as she couldn't remember the details, even though she remembered the events. She wondered whether it was because of the trauma of losing him, or of Jin's betrayal.

She explained that she did remember that the morning of that day, her father, his best friend - Tristan - and Jin had gone to Sleepywood in order to face Balrog. Though she had wanted to accompany them, her father had forbidden it, though she had secretly followed them anyways. As she hadn't been able to enter the cave, she had chosen to eavesdrop outside, though the very next thing that she remembered was coming out of a haze and seeing Jin holding a blood-stained sword, with her father and Tristan dead.

She told the Dual Blade that she would never forget Jin's look of shock, adding that he likely must have killed Sung and Tristan while they had been weakened from facing Balrog. She noted that she thought of that moment every single day, and that she even dreamed about it, though she hoped that her flowers would help calm her dreams. She then asked them to leave her in peace, adding that Ryden had a new mission for them.

Ryden told the Dual Blade that the Dark Lord had been stealing their information, for which Ryden planned to strike back. He told them that he would lure the Dark Lord out of his headquarters, the Jazz Bar, while they searched the premises for clues. In the Jazz Bar, the Dual Blade found a hidden room and obtained the Dark Lord's diary, which they brought back to Ryden.

After reading the diary, Ryden told them that the Dark Lord had mentioned the owner of the bookstore, Jeppi, whom the Dark Lord had banished some time ago. Believing that Jeppi had learned the truth about the Dark Lord's treachery, Ryden hoped to find him. As they had no leads on his location, Ryden asked them to speak with Mr. Pickall, whose store had been next to Jeppi's.

Mr. Pickall told the Dual Blade that Jeppi had moved to Ellinia, where he lived inside the Giant Tree. The Dual Blade traveled to Ellinia and met with Jeppi, whom they intended to rescue. However, Jeppi explained that it was all a misunderstanding, as the Dark Lord hadn't banished him, but rather, he had sent him away for protection from an unknown threat.

He revealed that from the shadows, someone had been twisting the history of Maple World, and that Sung had been hunting them down alongside Jin. He explained that he had helped them with his knowledge of history books by telling them about any inconsistencies, adding that Maple World's history had been deeply distorted.

He told the Dual Blade that with the help of several citizens of Sleepywood, including Tristan, Sung had intended to lure out the threat and destroy it. However, the enemy had been aware of their plan and had tricked them, resulting in the deaths of both Sung and Tristan. Upon seeing how dangerous the situation was, Jin had helped hide Jeppi somewhere safe while he continued the fight alone.

The Dual Blade then reported back what they had learned to Ryden, who was immediately dubious. In order to validate the story, he sent the Dual Blade to meet Tristan's apprentice in Sleepywood. At the bottom of the Cursed Temple, the Dual Blade encountered the spirit of Tristan, who explained that it hadn't been Jin's fault, as all of them had underestimated their enemy, who had the ability to possess others.

He revealed that the enemy had possessed Syl, who had been eavesdropping on them from outside. As they hadn't warned her about the enemy's powers, she hadn't been able to shield her mind, causing her to grow possessed. With a cold smile on her face, she had slaughtered him and Sung, as neither of them had been willing to hurt Syl.

Tristan believed that the enemy had left Jin alive to teach the world a lesson, and that it had left Syl alive as a reminder of their weakness. Following the tragedy, Jin had been forced to continue his pursuit of the enemy in secret, while Syl had been left to believe in a lie. As proof of his claim, he asked them to obtain his keepsake from Mu Young.

Mu Young instructed the Dual Blade to obtain the keepsake in storage, where the Dual Blade encountered several Black Wings henchmen. After defeating them, they returned back to Mu Young, who noted that the storage room had already been looted of its valuables years ago. He then asked them to keep the keepsake – his master's diary.

The Dual Blade returned back to Ryden and told him what Tristan had explained. They also gave him Tristan's diary, which confirmed Jeppi's story. He noted that the truth would devastate Lady Syl, as the thought of vengeance was the only thing that kept her going. He instructed them to say nothing for the moment until he found the best way to share the truth with her. He then asked them to accompany him to visit Jin and speak to him personally.

In the Jazz Bar, Ryden confronted Jin and demanded to know why he had kept the truth from Syl, even while knowing that she was planning to kill him. He asked Jin whether he had intended to tell her the truth at the last possible moment when she would come to fight him, adding that he would make her look like a fool by doing so.

The Dark Lord was hesitant upon hearing Ryden's words, though he asked whether Syl would have benefited by knowing the truth that her father had only died because she had been taken hostage. He explained that though Syl was now strong, she had once been overwhelmed by the pain of losing her father, adding that he had hoped to avoid making her feel worse by telling her the truth. Ryden retorted that nevertheless, the Dark Lord had no right to keep the truth from her.

The Dark Lord apologized, noting that he should have told her sooner. However, he added that he had only wanted to keep her from feeling any more pain than she already had. Ryden noted that though Syl needed to be told the truth, he feared that it would make her nightmares even worse. He then asked the Dual Blade to deliver his report to her, believing that it would be better coming from them. Just as Ryden had suspected, Lady Syl's face grew pale as she read the report. Nevertheless, she thanked the Dual Blade for their work and asked them to leave her to collect her thoughts.

Some time later, Lady Syl contacted the Dual Blade and asked them to return to the Secret Garden, where she promoted them to Blade Specialist. She noted that it seemed ironic that they had grown stronger, even when she had initially doubted them, while she had grown strangely smaller. She explained that her father used to tell her that Dual Blades used two weapons so that they were better equipped to protect others, though she quickly realized that she was rambling.

Soon after, Lady Syl told the Dual Blade that she had decide to unite the thieves and the Dual Blades, believing that they would be stronger as one group. However, she admitted to them in private that the decision had been quite difficult, as she had grappled with the revelation that her worst enemy was actually the one who had saved her, which had wounded her pride greatly.

She explained that all her plans, schemes, and emotions had been based on a lie, for which she couldn't forgive Jin, who had made a fool of her. However, she added that she knew that she couldn't let her feelings sway her, as she needed to do what was best for her people. Before they could move forward, however, she told them that she couldn't abide knowing that Jin had kept the truth from her because he had believed her to be weak. She then asked them to defeat the Dark Lord in order to prove the Dual Blades' strength, which would satisfy her need for revenge.

The Dual Blade confronted the Dark Lord and told them about Lady Syl's decision. Jin noted in satisfaction that Syl had matured for her to look past her anger and unite together. He then invited them to face him and summoned a weaker clone of himself. After the Dual Blade defeated the clone, the Dark Lord admitted that the Dual Blades and Syl were stronger, after which officially welcomed the Dual Blades back into the fold of thieves.