Fanfic / The Final Sword

A mysterious sword held the power of choosing the fate of winning a war. A war against historical rebels and historical swords. But this sword struggles her own problems. Struggles with her human body and on how to use it and act like a human.
-The summary

The Final Sword is a Touken Ranbu fanfic by Wattpad user erc2109. It concerns a Sailor Earth female sword OC named Rebora sent to Japan by a goddess named Haleena to bring decisive victory to the Citadel swords against the Historical Revisionists. The story is devoted to her exploits in the Citadel and her fight alongside canon swords against evil.

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This fic provides examples of:

• Adaptational Wimp: All the canon swords – in the source material, they're the stars of the show and heroes in their own right, defeating enemies and saving the day. In this fic, their roles have been rendered redundant by Rebora's presence and her "power of choosing the fate of winning" and they pretty much serve no other purpose than being Rebora's friends. They still help Rebora out at some points, but usually are overshadowed by her.
• All of the Other Reindeer: When the Citadel and the town are blown up, the townspeople blame Rebora for being targeted instead of blaming the enemies for destroying their town.
• Artistic License – History: Miraculously surviving Honnōji and gaining immortality aside, Oda Nobunaga is stated to be royalty and based in Edo (he wasn't, he was based in Owari, Mino and Azuchi, and he died in Kyoto). The fic also seems unable to tell the difference between warlords and emperors.
• Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Haleena; she used to be such a popular musician that her entire village lost their ability to have fun when she died, so she ascended to godhood in order to make people happy again.
  It seems that my Goddes, Haleena, was once known as a musician. When she died, died all happiness for music and fun in her village, so she became a God that could spread happiness with her music

• Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: Oda Nobunaga is a time-travelling immortal who is behind all of the Revisionists' actions.

• Cozy Catastrophe: When Revisionists bomb the town, thanks to Haleena and Rebora's teleportation power, the entire Citadel and townsfolk are alive because they are warped into the sky when the destruction occurs. Later, when the town is being rebuilt, they still have time to hold a talent show.
• Creator's Culture Carryover: The fic seems to constantly forget everyone is living in Japan. Apparently everyone in the fic listens to Western pop music more than they do Japanese music, photos of Western rooms are used to represent the interior of the very Japanese Citadel and English wordplays that don't make sense in Japanese show up; for instance Rebora's pet squirrel is named Lucky after it's said to have been lucky to be alive, which does not make sense translated into Japanese no matter which way you try to put it.
• Demon King Nobunaga: The Big Bad of the fic is an immortal Oda Nobunaga who has inexplicably escaped the Honnō-ji and is enacting convoluted plans to try to steal Rebora and her powers.
• Disney Death: Oda Nobunaga, who in this fic didn't actually commit suicide in the Honnōji incident, but instead escaped, became immortal and schemes to have Rebora and her immense powers to himself.

• Double Standard: Regarding the treatment of Rebora.
  • The canon swords are treated as insensitive when they display cluelessness about her identity and preferences, but she is never called out for not making any efforts to not be a burden on other swords and relieve them from serving her at all times.
  • The reason Yamanbagiri gives on why Rebora should be brought back to life is that swords should only be allowed to die when they break… except she did break. Apparently her shattering her own sword form to end her own life doesn't count as breaking somehow.
• Dull Surprise: Oda swords don't so much as drop their jaws when confronting the news that their old master is still alive and now the leader of their enemies.
• Food End: The fic proper ends with Rebora brought back to life and everyone hosting a feast in her honor.
• Hand Wave: Regarding Rebora's sword type, and not even a good one. When Nagasone asks what known type of Japanese swords she belongs to, she responds by… bitching at him that he should not expect her to know what types of Japanese swords there are instead of answering his question at all.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Rebora kills herself in order to obliterate Nobunaga forever.
• Infinity +1 Sword: Rebora. She is a sword that can cut portals in the space-time continuum, obliterate every enemy in the field without engaging in combat, retract into a portable accessory, alter memory and leave bits of herself in another person without actually dying from breaking.
• Insane Troll Logic: "Oda Nobunaga's body was never found after Honnōji, therefore he must still be alive!" Apparently the fact his body could have been burned to ashes in the fire or that missing dead bodies are nothing new has never crossed this fic's mind. Keep in mind this was obviously a joke when it was said by Yasusada in the first Hanamaru.
  • According to this fic, swords should only be allowed to stay dead if they're broken, but Rebora, who broke herself, does not count as breaking and should be brought back to life… why?
• It's All About Me: The world revolves around Rebora.
  • She is created and sent to join the Citadel in the first place because the outcome of the continued fight against Revisionists is now inexplicably hers to decide.
  • Other swords tend to give her gifts for no apparent reason and basically babying her seems to be their perpetual top priority. It even shows in her first sortie; even though she's the captain, she doesn't actually do anything on the mission, with all the tasks either done by other swords for her or by an involuntary burst of divine power.
  • Later on, in a chapter that references a Hakata-centric episode of Touken Ranbu - Hanamaru, she has a festival held for her in the same manner as Hakata, but the reason is grossly simplified from that of the actual episode to cheering her up because she gets injured.
  • When Revisionists sack the Citadel and the surrounding area by blowing it up, the chapters dealing with this quickly focus more on clearing Rebora's name than holding the enemies responsible for destroying the homes of innocent people.
  • Later, it's revealed that the entire motive of Oda Nobunaga's life has been twisted into desiring Rebora and her divine powers for shady schemes, and he has been staying alive and changing history just so he can get his hands on her. This implies the reason the Revisionists exist is because of her.
• MacGuffin Super-Person/MacGuffin Turned Human: Rebora, and how. The conflict between the forces of preserving and altering history can't be won without her, she has boatloads of divine superpower and heroes and villains alike all want her.
• Magnetic Hero: Everyone loves Rebora, even the enemies who want her powers.
• Mighty Whitey: Though the race of Rebora and her goddess are not stated within the narrative, imagery associated with them, like the former's sword form design and Power Tattoo, and the realm they hail from which contains things like a Temple of Harmony and a Tree of Life, strongly suggest Western European and modern pagan influences. They are charged with ultimately deciding the outcome of the protection of Japanese history. There's also the rather infuriating fact that Rebora refuses to land in with Japanese culture and learn about Japanese swords, judging by her response to Nagasone's question about her sword type, and yet the fate of Japanese history is still in her control.
• Misplaced Wildlife: The fic is supposed to be set in Japan, but there are mentions of beavers.
• Oxymoronic Being/The Smurfette Principle: Rebora is a female sword even though Touken Ranbu canon dictates that all swords can only ever be male.
• Retractable Weapon: Rebora can retract her sword form into a brooch. Likewise, she has an earring that can expand into musical instruments and retract at will.
• Rouge Angles of Satin: The names of canon swords are regularly misspelled. Namazuo is spelled "Namazou", Shokudaikiri is spelled "Shokodaikiri" and Hakata is spelled "Hataka" for instance.
  • "Clothes" are always spelled "cloths", making it look like everyone walks around wrapped in bolts of fabric.

• Showy Invincible Hero: Of course Rebora defeats Nobunaga and of course she comes back, but the methods to achieve these ends are incredibly bizarre.
• Soundtrack Dissonance: Manages the rare feat of achieving this in fan fiction by the numerous videos of music and recorded performances inserted between the flow every time Rebora plays music, which are all of American pop songs not fitting with the context and mood of the scenes.
• The Stinger: Four special chapters after the end of the fic proper, which centers around Citadel inhabitants playing games, two of which are Rebora-inserted rehashes of Touken Ranbu - Hanamaru episodes.
• Superpower Lottery: Rebora won several jackpots. Not only can she retract her sword form, she is super strong, can cut portals in the air, wipe out a castle and, at her absolute peak, a city, full of enemies without actually fighting them, delete people's memories and expertly play musical instruments without learning or practicing.

• Taking You with Me: Rebora destroys her own sword form in order to kill Nobunaga because when he possesses her, a part of her is inside him (somehow). Of course, she doesn't walk away alive.
• Token Minority: Rebora's actual nationality and race is unknown, but she's clearly un-Japanese and un-Eastern, and obviously designed with a lot of Western European fantasy tropes.
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Haleena, when she was a mortal musician.
  • Rebora herself in chapter 22, when she pulls a Taking You with Me on Nobunaga. She dies in an overly dramatic fashion in which she slowly vanishes while saying her last words, while other swords cry over her.
• Undignified Death: Unlike Rebora, who gets an overly dramatic one, Nobunaga doesn't even get to say last words.
• Ungrateful Townsfolk: What exactly is the reason for the townsfolk to ostracize and pick on Rebora even though it was her and her goddess who prevented them from dying en masse after the Revisionists' sack of the town other than to be mustache-twirling villains from whom other swords must save poor Rebora and prove once again they're her true BFF?
• Unskilled, but Strong: Rebora is very much this. She is described as clumsy and doesn't show any exceptional skill, but can clear an entire castle and an entire city of enemies with a single attack.
• White Man's Burden: See Mighty Whitey above. Not only is Rebora with her obvious Western Europe imagery created to "bring victory" to the canon Japanese swords by ending the toudan/Revisionists conflict, the fic at one point effectively implies she is also meant to improve the swords' life period, and the canon swords cannot truly be happy without her.

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