Chapter 55 - < This Should Be Fun >

"... Spar?"

Aslan stopped wiping away his tears and repeated the word blankly. The first thing his son proposed after their reunion in four years was a spar. To Aslan, whose obsession with swords had earned him the name Sword Maniac, nothing could have sounded more delightful or endearing.

"Yes! That sounds wonderful!"

Aslan sprang to his feet, tears streaming down his face. Whatever else might be said, he carried a great deal of guilt toward Kyle. Yet he was both a swordsman and a father. For the son he could hardly face without shame to offer to spar first not only shook him to his core, but fulfilled a dream he cherished as both.

Crossing swords with his son. What offer could make a swordsman and father happier?

"A spar! Let's spar!"

Having jumped up, Aslan tossed aside his rabbit-ear headband and peeled off his fluffy costume. When Kyle had seen him four years ago, twelve years of seclusion had left his body as gaunt as dry kindling. Over the intervening four years, that withered frame had filled out with solid muscle.

"Waaah!"

The moment Aslan stripped off his costume, Kaya burst into tears where she sat between Kyle's legs. His muscles apparently looked too grotesque to the two-year-old girl. Her crying brought Aslan sharply to his senses, and he picked up the rabbit costume and put it back on. Only then did Kyle understand why he was wearing something so ridiculous.

"G-go on ahead to the cultivation room. I'll... I'll join you after I change."

"Sure thing."

Kyle stood first, holding the sniffling Kaya.

"Mom, bring Father along. Kaya and I will wait in the cultivation room."

With that, Kyle left the room, gently bouncing Kaya in his arms. The girl who had been bawling moments earlier stopped crying as soon as they were outside, as though she had never shed a tear. Kyle looked down into her golden eyes, still a little wet. Her smiling eyes held the mischief of a little devil.

"Well, look at you."

Kyle stroked Kaya's hair as he went downstairs.

"You've got Father wrapped around your little finger. Do you like making him wear that rabbit costume so much?"

"Kaya wikes bunnies."

Kaya smiled sweetly and gazed up at Kyle, then reached out a tiny hand to fiddle with his hair.

"Big Bwother be a bunny too."

"No."

"Be a bunny, pwease."

When the tears still pooled in Kaya's eyes threatened to spill, Kyle answered hastily.

"I'll do it later."

Having placated her for the moment, he left the manor and headed for the cultivation room. The entrance to the room he had used so often four years ago was not quite as he had left it. It, too, was covered in Kaya's scribbles.

"So this whole manor revolved around you while I was gone."

He wasn't particularly displeased. If anything, he was glad. During his four years away, he had occasionally felt a twinge of self-reproach. Wouldn't Arian be lonely? How was shutting himself away in those godforsaken Mudflats for four years any different from Aslan's twelve years of seclusion? But thanks to Kaya, Arian seemed to have stayed busy and happy.

"..."

The scribbles covered not only the cultivation room's door but its interior as well. Kyle gave a disbelieving chuckle as he surveyed the riot of colors, then set Kaya down.

"You should be a painter when you grow up."

"No. I'm gonna be a swordfighter."

Kyle's eyes widened at her unhesitating answer. Looking around again, he spotted a toy sword in the corner that certainly looked as though Kaya had been using it.

"Did Father or Grandfather tell you to become one?"

Kaya shook her head, toddled over to the corner, and returned with the toy sword. The sight of her holding a sword even shorter than her stubby little limbs made Kyle smile despite himself.

"Who taught you swordsmanship?"

"Daddy and Gwandpa. Aunt Ewika, Uncle Bwuno..."

Kaya murmured the names, raising the fingers of her left hand one by one.

"And Lucia and Vivian."

"Huh?"

He had expected Lucia's name, but never Vivian's. Kyle pictured his cousin, two years his senior, whom he had barely spoken to.

'Is she looking after her because they're both girls?'

Tilting his head, Kyle bent his knees and stooped to meet Kaya's eyes. Then he held up his index finger and grinned.

"Want to play swords with your big brother? Come on, attack me."

Naturally, Kyle released no intimidating presence and left himself wide open so Kaya could attack easily. She beamed, pattered over, and swung her toy sword at him.

Her body swayed with the swing, looking so unsteady she might fall at any moment, but the arc she somehow produced was quite respectable.

TAP!

Kyle caught the toy sword with his finger and reached out with his other hand to keep her from falling.

"You're not..."

His eyes sparkled as he asked,

"Ruin... Um... You're not the founder reincarnated or anything, are you?"

He wanted to ask outright whether she had reincarnated just as he had, but the Fragment might be listening to conversations in the Sword Tower. It wasn't anything to boast about, and Kyle had no desire to advertise his reincarnation.

"What's weincarnation?"

"Um... It's when someone died long ago and is born again. Your swordsmanship is so impressive for someone who's only two that I couldn't help... imagining the founder, even though I've never met him."

Kyle glossed over the matter and stroked Kaya's head. How impressive could the swordsmanship of a two-year-old who could barely keep her balance really be? Yet perhaps he was already blinded by affection, because her swordplay seemed quite good to him.

'Who cares if she has no talent? I can just teach her well.'

That was only if Kaya genuinely wanted to become a swordswoman when she was older, of course.

After he had played with Kaya a little longer, Aslan and Arian entered the cultivation room, Aslan now changed. Arian cheered and hopped with excitement at the sight of her two children playing together.

"This is it! This is what I wanted to see!"

"Are you trying to make me feel guilty?"

"I'm glad you do. Still, son, you're better than your father. At least you came out after four years. He took twelve."

"I'm three times better than Father, then."

Aslan's shoulders slumped inside his training clothes at that answer. Then he noticed the sword tucked into Kyle's belt, and his eyes went wide.

"F-Fenris?"

Earlier, he had been too overwhelmed and emotional to recognize it. Now that he did, his eyes trembled.

"The Sword Demon's... sword..."

"You know about Fenris?"

"Of course. I've seen it in the Hall of Sword Pinnacles... And I was with the Sword Cult, however briefly."

Strictly speaking, Aslan had not severed ties with the Sword Cult. Even if he wished otherwise, the Cult did not consider him an apostate. He sighed softly and shook his head.

"I've heard about you and Fenris from my father-in-law and Arian many times... But actually seeing you hold it leaves me with rather complicated feelings."

"Are you moved?"

"Moved, envious, and worried."

Aslan gave a bitter smile and stared at Fenris.

"I once wandered the world with nothing but a sword myself. In a way, my life resembled the Sword Demon's. I, too... wanted to be like him."

'Now he's making me uncomfortable.'

Kyle composed his expression, careful not to show his feelings.

"Sword Demon or whatever, he's just a loser from a bygone age."

Arian smacked Aslan on the back, her face scrunched up.

"He never started a family or had children. All he left behind were those shady groups, the Sword Cult and the Crows, before challenging the founder and dying. What's so great or admirable about a man like that that you'd want to become him?"

"A... Arian. His life may have ended in defeat, but that doesn't make it a failure. At least he lived and died with a swordsman's romance in his heart..."

"If you're so fond of romance, why don't you abandon your family, take your sword, and go die in the gutter yourself!"

Aslan's shoulders drooped even farther at Arian's merciless words, while Kyle clutched his stomach and laughed.

"Mom's right. That Sword Demon fellow just lived however he pleased until he died."

Kyle had no intention of contradicting Arian. If anything, he wanted to agree wholeheartedly.

"I don't know whether the Sword Demon died satisfied with his life, but he was himself, and you're you, Father. If he'd married someone and started a family like you did, he probably would have lived differently. Of course, he'd still have loved the sword."

Was there any need to love only one thing and make it your entire world? If you were capable of it, you could love other things too.

"But Father, I understand why you're moved and envious that I have Fenris. Why are you worried?"

"Because of the Sword Cult's leader and the Crows."

Aslan had been deep in thought, as though Kyle's words had struck a chord. He roused himself to answer.

"The Sword Cult's leader has been obsessed with Fenris for five hundred years, and successive lords of the Crows have all expressed a desire to buy it. Now Fenris has a new master after being merely 'stored' in the Hall of Sword Pinnacles for five hundred years... Those monsters will turn their attention to you."

"This should be fun."

"Fun...?"

"If they try to take it by force, I'll do my best to keep it. If I'm not strong enough and lose it, I'll take it back later. That should do, shouldn't it?"

Chuckling, Kyle scooped Kaya up and passed her into Arian's arms.

"You're fine with using real swords, right?"

"Haha..."

A smile blossomed on Aslan's face as he stared blankly at Kyle.

"Of course I am."

"I'm a lot stronger than I was four years ago."

"So I see."

Aslan drew his sword with a broad smile.

"We'll be able to have more fun than we did four years ago."

Arian retreated with Kaya in her arms, leaving Kyle and Aslan facing one another in the center of the cultivation room.

The air grew heavy. A presence so powerful that Kyle could hardly believe it belonged to the man who had just been fussing over his daughter in rabbit ears and a fluffy costume swept over him. It was honed even sharper than when they had first met four years ago.

"Looks like raising a child hasn't taken up all your time."

"I've done my utmost for Arian and for the children. But your mother is a lovely woman to whom I'm deeply grateful. She allowed me to take up my sword whenever I had a spare moment."

"Marrying Mother was the greatest stroke of luck in your life. Becoming my father and Kaya's was the second."

The pressure prickling against Kyle's skin felt thrilling and blissful. He licked his lower lip and drew Fenris. Its blade vibrated on its own, and a wolf's howl rang out, audible only to him.

AWOOOO!

'Shut up, you mutt.'

The wolf's howl faltered and grew quieter.

'You've picked up some strange features over five hundred years. I told you earlier, didn't I? You're a sword. Act like one.'

Perhaps he was being too harsh on Fenris, but it had sins to answer for, so he was entitled. Violet aura flared around the blade of the now-silent sword.

"You first."

At Kyle's smiling invitation, Aslan's entire body shook with rapture. Hearing those words from his own flesh and blood, of all people, filled him with joy and emotion.

"Very well, son."

Aslan's voice quivered with tears as his figure blurred.

BOOM!

With a thunderous report, Aslan's sword hurtled toward Kyle's face. It was a simple thrust, but it had the speed and force of a cannonball. In the instant before it reached him, Kyle considered several responses, then chose a simple one to test the performance of his body and cultivation method.

He swung Fenris and knocked the attack aside. Four years ago, he would have been unable to withstand the impact and been sent flying, had his sword destroyed, or perhaps had every bone in his body shattered. But Kyle wanted to know what his body could do after being strengthened by all the residue and byproducts he had gobbled down over four years.

He was also certain he wouldn't be smashed apart.

CLANG!

The instant the two blades collided, an immense shock wave swept through the cultivation room. The floor split open, and the protective magic circles inscribed on the walls flashed red.

"Keep it under control!"

Arian, shielding herself with a barrier of wind, shrieked at them, while Kaya watched wide-eyed and burst into delighted giggles. Amid those contrasting reactions, Kyle and Aslan exchanged a look.

Kyle's palm stung, but there was no pain of breaking bones or tearing muscles. That single exchange gave both Kyle and Aslan certainty. Unlike four years ago, they could now hold a conversation.

"Haha!"

Aslan burst out laughing. That had not been a lenient thrust. Of course, he hadn't put enough force into it to kill his son, but he had judged it too powerful for Kyle to meet head-on. Yet his fifteen-year-old son had taken its full force.

"Son!"

With that sudden shout, Aslan's sword began to dance. It was a terrifying sword dance honed through countless real battles. Thrusting, slashing, and striking, its irregular rhythms and unpredictable trajectories battered Kyle like a storm.

But to Kyle, neither the rhythm nor the trajectories seemed irregular or unpredictable. His eyes, suffused with shimmering gold, saw straight through the sword of his father—Aslan Antares.

'Left shoulder, right flank, head, right again, then... '

He read where Aslan's sword tip would go. He sensed the minute tremors of his muscles and the intervals between his breaths.

"Hahaha!"

White aura surged from Aslan's entire body and swept toward Kyle as sword winds. It was as though hundreds of additional sword trajectories had appeared, impossible to read from Aslan's physical movements alone.

Kyle stepped half a pace back and focused mana into Fenris. The Primordial Unity Sword Scripture guided the mana as he wished. The flow tracing a universe within his body had already largely transcended the principles governing human circuits. Violet sword aura roared and swelled around Fenris.

KRRRRAK!

Wrapped in a vortex, Fenris traced a path that swallowed Aslan's sword winds. Having swept them away, the blade drove toward Aslan. He had no fatal opening. His sword was already waiting in Fenris's path.

Just before the two blades met, the sword aura enveloping Aslan's weapon was sucked into Fenris's violet vortex. His eyes flashed as he sensed it.

BOOM!

With a thunderous crash, Aslan and Kyle were driven far apart.

"Haha... Hahaha..."

Aslan shook his head in mingled delight and astonishment.

"Is that... sword force...?"

He stared at Kyle's blade in disbelief. An exceedingly thin layer of aura swirled over it, yet it wasn't simply violet. White glimmers mingled with the swirling purple. It looked as though a star-filled night sky had been wrapped around the sword.

"You can use sword force too, Father. Why are you so surprised?"

"Anyone would be surprised to see someone your age using it."

Aslan gave an incredulous laugh and raised his own sword. White sword force had formed around it, but its shape was distinctly different from Kyle's ceaselessly swirling, starlit force.

"Your sword force is remarkably... peculiar. I've never seen anything like it."

"Really?"

The sword force Kyle had formed was the same kind he had used as the Sword Demon. He stared at Aslan's. True enough, its shape was different.

"Sword force or not, it's still a sword in the end. Father, I can't keep this up for long. That's enough admiring it. Let's keep playing."

The Primordial Unity Sword Scripture had improved the efficiency of his mana control to an absurd degree, but that didn't mean his mana could never run out. Something as mana-intensive as sword force was difficult to maintain for long.

"Hahaha..."

Grinning helplessly, Aslan staggered toward Kyle.

"To think playing with my son could be this much fun...!"

It went without saying, but Aslan much preferred playing with swords to wearing a rabbit costume and reading fairy tales.