When Gary pulled out the strange sword, it brought back a load of memories for Ray. The sword was found deep underneath the Avrion tunnels, and it was able to do things even he wasn't. Certain beasts had incredible regeneration speed, and when cut with the sword it would completely negate the ability.
It was hard to say what tier the weapon was when it could slide through anything it touched. When Gary first started using the sword, he started to go slightly mad, Ray thought it was infected by the shadow, but when looking at it, he could find no such thing. Still, because of how Gary was being consumed by the sword, he had asked him to get rid of it.
But Gary never did, bringing it with him on journeys, and using it whenever he needed to. The sword ended up helping them, and Gary seemed to be in control rather than the sword, so later on, Ray was fine with him using it.
Coming to an end of an arc, and the next one will most likley be the ifnal arc of the story, although it wil be a long one, so it might feel longer then one ark.