Demortus

Demortus is the blue, ever-changing Banishing Blade accepted by Zhou Qianlin. Its power is described as ubiquitous, adaptive, and capable of dividing into innumerable cutting manifestations. Qianlin becomes its bearer only after Lan Jue shares the sword's baptismal pain as her surrogate; the weapon remains hers thereafter rather than passing to him.

History

Baptism and union with Qianlin

Demortus is first named with the other Banishing Blades, then brought forward for Qianlin's baptism. Because Qianlin and Lan Jue share an unusually deep connection, he agrees to receive the dangerous internal energies while they are filtered into her. Demortus tests him with shifting cuts that seem to strike every pore, while Qianlin enters a prolonged regenerative meditation. The process ends with her complete union with the blade; Lan Jue bears the pain but does not become Demortus's owner or resident spirit. (Chapters 494–595)

Harmonious Swords and alien combat

Qianlin wields Demortus beside Lan Jue's Captus. Their united souls awaken both weapons and produce the Harmonious Swords technique, which combines Demortus's changeable reach with Captus's controlling force. Against alien enemies, the blue blade leaves wounds that continue leaking, fills space with a hundred thousand cutting barbs, severs the vessels binding Lan Jue inside Monarch, and merges with Captus into rainbow or red-blue attacks. Its role stays paired with Qianlin even when the two swords operate as a single technique. (Chapters 679–809 and 842–867)

Final formation

With Ultus recovered, Demortus becomes the eastern station of the Banishing Strategy. Qianlin gives her body fully to the blade so that her protogenia and vital energy can power the formation. That intimacy does not make the cost safe: Demortus's demands exceed what she can supply and begin cracking her spirit during the final contest. Faith from humanity replenishes the four bearers, allowing Qianlin and Demortus to sustain the strategy until Monarch is defeated. (Chapters 857–900)

Abilities and properties

• Demortus is the “ever changing” Banishing Blade. Its blue power can appear as pervasive haze, bolts like silk, concentrated beams, barbs, or tens of thousands of separate cutting lights, allowing it to adapt its area and focus. (Chapters 554, 763, 804, and 864–867)
• Its baptism remolds a compatible bearer's body. The process produces mobile, many-pointed pain in the surrogate and a long healing meditation in Qianlin; it is not an immediate or painless acquisition. (Chapters 536, 554–566, and 594–595)
• Demortus can sever alien vessels, spread Ten Thousand Swords as One, and lend incisive force to combined attacks. Against high-level aliens, cuts made by the Banishing Blades resist natural healing. (Chapters 679, 804–809, and 842)
• The blade's strongest demonstrated use depends on Qianlin's soul link with Lan Jue and Captus. Their Harmonious Swords are more than two independent swings, while the full four-blade Strategy requires all four qualified bearers and consumes immense energy. (Chapters 714–716, 809, 857, and 889–900)

Ownership and custody