WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Cyberpunk Chivalry ◈
Chapter 26: Martial Arts
──────
Two swordsmen stood facing each other in the center of the cavern, surrounded by corpses.
Siren had eagerly accepted Ash's proposed wager. As a result, the bloodstained cavern had become a sparring ground filled with a strange silence.
Their teammates withdrew to opposite ends of the cavern to watch the fight that was about to begin.
"...What the fuck is this?"
Ifrit muttered without realizing it.
The whole situation was absurd.
Her gaze turned toward Siren. The woman was warming up with a blissful smile, apparently delighted about something.
By contrast, Ash simply stood there, blade in hand. If anything, he seemed to be observing his opponent.
"What the hell are you thinking?"
To Ifrit, Ash was a strange, unusual humanoid who couldn't be summed up in a few words.
How should she put it? He seemed more human than a human.
At the same time, he was a little old-fashioned.
Sometimes he was like a stubborn old man who refused to bend an inch. At other times, his judgment was colder and more rational than anyone else's.
He seemed like a rigid, overly serious researcher, yet also like a backstreet fixer without a shred of mercy.
He was impossible to understand, a walking contradiction that brought together everything that should have been at odds.
This time was no different.
A wager, out of nowhere?
No, seriously, why a wager all of a sudden?
Usually, he acted like he'd hate that sort of thing.
And that wasn't all.
Before stepping forward to spar, Ash had exchanged a few words with Ifrit. More precisely, Ifrit had offered him some advice out of concern.
"I know you're strong, but be careful. She's still ranked number one."
"Thank you for the advice."
"Goddammit. I'm telling you not to take her lightly."
"I am not taking her lightly."
"...Haah. Then just remember this. If the tattoo on her arm starts glowing blue, get away from her. No matter what."
"Keep my distance? Does it have some special function?"
"It's a high-output cooling unit. It lets her push her overall output to the limit without overheating her Neuro Matrix."
"Cooling? You mean she uses ice arts?"
"Ice arts, ice farts, whatever. All I know is, she can move fucking fast when that thing turns on. She can swing her sword ten fucking times a second!"
"Interesting. Go on."
"There's nothing else to say. Oh, except that it holds all the combat data from every battle Undine ever fought. There's probably swordsmanship software in there too. I bought her a few programs as gifts."
"You bought them for Siren?"
"...What the fuck are you talking about? I bought them for Undine!"
"Hmm."
At the end of their brief conversation, Ash had seemed to sink into thought. Then he had muttered to himself.
"In that case, I should change my plan a little."
"Sis! Hey, Sis!"
Jack O'Lantern's voice snapped Ifrit out of her thoughts, and she turned.
"What?"
"Who do you think will win?"
"...What?"
Akina suddenly joined in.
"Mr. Ash, of course!"
"Right. Of course you'd say that. But could you calm down for a second and hear me out?"
Jack O'Lantern continued, though it was hard to tell whether he was trying to soothe her or add fuel to the fire.
"Akina. Siren's ranked number one. You think she won that spot at a gambling table? Just watch clips from her streams. She's seriously no joke. Mr. Ash is amazing, sure, but against Siren, he's a little..."
[Outmatched?]
Dullahan had come over at some point and joined the conversation.
[I've seen her in person before we did a collab with Witchcraft once yeah she's not human fr she's a monster lololol]
Akina snorted.
"Hmph! Our Mr. Ash isn't human either!"
[LMAOOO true that he isn't lololol]
"Akina. When we say she isn't human, we don't mean she literally isn't human..."
"Argh! Shut up!"
Ifrit shouted and smacked Dullahan and Jack O'Lantern on the head.
"You're bringing everyone down before it's even started! What, are you two in Witchcraft now? Then piss off over there!"
Her furious scolding left both men speechless. Watching them, Akina burst into delighted laughter. Then she pressed close to Ifrit's side.
"You think Mr. Ash will win too, right, Sis? Don't you?"
Ifrit looked at the girl for a moment, then stroked her head.
"I'm hoping he will."
At that moment, the two facing each other finally moved.
Ash went first.
Without a sound, he raised his blade vertically, then turned it through a full circle in the air.
Rather than an attack, it looked like an old-fashioned gesture of respect.
"I am Ash Blade. I currently serve as a mercenary for Team Elementary Girls. I shall face you with this sword."
Siren's eyes sparkled with interest at the unexpected formality.
"What was that? What did you just do?"
"...An opening salute. It is a way of showing respect to one's opponent."
"Oh! What should I do...? I don't have anything like that..."
"It does not matter."
"Yes, it does! This is my historic first match with you, Mr. Ash. I have to show you proper respect too!"
She seemed quite taken with his old-fashioned manner. Or perhaps she wanted to learn everything about him.
Siren thought for a moment.
Then she swung her blade in a wide circle, held it in a reverse grip, and bowed deeply with it held across her chest.
The gesture itself had a certain old-fashioned air, but with the drones circling her, it also looked rather like an idol's ending pose.
Raising her head, Siren spoke.
"I'm Siren, the leader of Witchcraft. I'll face you with this blade as well, Mr. Ash. And..."
Her black eyes shone.
"If I win, I want to learn your swordsmanship."
That shine soon turned to obsession and madness.
"Especially that final strike in the video... I want to make it mine."
Ash answered briefly.
"You ask for a great deal."
"Uh, um... Is that not allowed?"
"I did not say that."
"Th-then! What would you like, Mr. Ash?"
Ash was silent for a moment at Siren's question.
Then a low electronic voice flowed from his voice module.
"Credits."
Siren's opening salute wavered.
"What?"
"Why the surprise? What could be more important than money?"
"Uh... So you're saying you want me to pay you if you win?"
"Precisely. With that in mind, how much could you offer?"
For a moment, Siren couldn't find her words.
"Um... How much do you need?"
"Well, I am not particularly knowledgeable in such matters. How does two million credits sound?"
Two million credits.
It was a slightly awkward sum, large to Ash but small to Siren.
"No! Ask for more, Mr. Ash!"
Akina shouted from where she was watching in the distance.
"A million more!"
"A million more?"
"Yes!"
Their discussion complete, Ash promptly corrected himself.
"On second thought, I believe three million would be appropriate."
"..."
"Would that be possible?"
Siren blinked a couple of times, then nodded at once.
She didn't care about credits.
What mattered was that she could cross swords with Ash. Nothing else.
"I'll pay. No problem."
"Good. Then let us begin."
"Yes!"
As soon as she answered, a bright light flashed a couple of times inside Siren's eyes.
It must have been some kind of signal. The drones flying around the two swordsmen all spoke in unison.
"Beginning countdown!"
"5!"
"4!"
"3!"
"2!"
"1!"
Beeeeeeep!!
As the sharp beep rang out, the two swordsmen moved at the same time, their eyes fixed on each other.
* * *
Siren attacked.
Clang-clang-clang-clang!
Her strikes came in an unbroken rush, leaving no time to breathe.
They were fierce, powerful blows, worthy of Halloween's number one. As Ash met her onslaught, he had no choice but to retreat a few steps.
But that was all.
Even amid her sharp attacks, Ash immediately realized that his suspicions had been correct.
'A powerful yet flashy series of strikes.'
Ash Blade.
He was certainly a humanoid made of machinery, but what resided in his main core belonged to a martial artist who had depended on the sword his entire life.
To him, a sword was not merely a weapon.
At times, it had been his only way of speaking to the world. At others, his sole companion along a harsh path of ascetic trials, the two of them fellow travelers on the Way. At still others, it had been like Yama, endlessly testing him on the boundary between life and death.
He had to imbue every breath and every step with intent as he wielded it. Only along that sword path could he truly be his complete self.
Even in his final years, when he had sold his soul to revenge and brought everything to ruin, his sword had always been with him.
His had truly been a life united with the sword.
To Ash, Siren's swordsmanship was unspeakably crude.
Powerful yet flashy?
That was where the mistake began.
Power should embody the principles of weight (重) and strength (强). If one sought the brilliance of endless transformations, one should focus on speed (快) and illusion (幻).
Of course, a master who had attained the union of body and sword could use any of these freely as the situation demanded. But Siren was no such master.
She was merely powerful and flashy at the same time.
Trusting in the tremendous output her cyberware provided, she forced her sword through its motions without any philosophy or understanding behind them.
Just then, Siren attempted a horizontal slash.
It was already her third.
Her sword came at him along precisely the same course as before, without the slightest deviation.
It was probably the optimal striking point suggested by Undine's combat data and the Melee Combat Algorithm.
That was not a sword path.
It was merely a series of moves dictated by data.
As expected.
Just as he had thought.
"Lady warrior."
Ash addressed Siren as she continued to swing her sword without pause.
"Is this all?"
She couldn't answer.
With her combat protocols running, she didn't have enough processing resources to spare.
Siren swung her sword.
The same horizontal slash as before.
Four completely identical attacks.
For some reason, Ash felt irritated.
So he stopped blocking her attacks.
He stepped half a pace forward and twisted his sword. Siren's strike met it and bounced off in an unexpected direction.
"...!"
Her stance collapsed in an instant.
Ash didn't miss that brief opening.
His sword slipped in like a snake, and he lightly tapped Siren's shoulder with its spine rather than its edge.
Tap.
"Urk!"
There was no force behind it.
But the meaning of that light touch was perfectly clear.
You just died once.
Startled, Siren hurried to put some distance between them.
But Ash didn't pursue her.
He simply watched her in silence.
"What is wrong?"
Ash spoke.
"Is the match you awaited so eagerly rather different from what you imagined?"
"...Ngh!"
Her face twisting, Siren charged again. She was faster and sharper than before.
The problem was that her sword followed exactly the same paths.
A thrust came at him.
Ash knocked it aside.
A diagonal slash followed.
Ash knocked it aside.
A downward vertical cut. A low slash aimed at his legs. Three consecutive thrusts from unusual angles.
He knocked them aside, one after another.
As though that wasn't enough, Ash took a step toward Siren when her stance briefly faltered.
One step.
That alone threw off her center of gravity, and Siren landed on her backside.
"...Huh? Why did I..."
Even after falling, she apparently didn't understand what had happened. She sat there looking blank for a while.
"Hmm."
Looking down at her, Ash let out an electronic sound mixed with a sigh.
"This is a little disappointing."
At those words, all of Siren's thoughts stopped.
But Ash wasn't finished.
"I know this is a rude question, but do you truly wish to learn the sword?"
Naturally, Ash had no facial expression to speak of.
But that wasn't how it seemed to Siren as she looked up at him.
"W-wait! Please wait, Mr. Ash!"
Siren hurried to her feet and adjusted her grip on her sword. Then she cried out, almost in tears.
"It's not... It's not over yet! I-I'll show you what I can really do...!"
In truth, Siren had expected some difference in their skill. Ash had looked that wonderful in the video.
But part of her had still thought she might stand a chance.
She was Halloween's number one.
The strongest idol, who had never lost even once, no matter the opponent.
That's who I am. Siren.
She had confidence in her swordsmanship too.
But look at her now.
A difference in skill?
This wasn't even on that level.
Like a child facing a towering mountain, she felt as though an impossibly high, unscalable cliff stood between them.
She had no idea what she could possibly do.
Then, suddenly, she realized something.
A terrible fact she hadn't noticed at all until now.
'Mr. Ash...'
Both of Siren's hands trembled around her sword.
'He hasn't swung his sword even once.'
It was true.
Ash hadn't attacked once.
While Siren had swung her sword like mad, he had only blocked, knocked her attacks aside, or deflected them.
One of them had been dancing with all her might, while the other had handled every move with a single finger.
'The gap is this big? This big?'
Admiration blossomed deep in her chest. At the same time, the word he had spoken, "disappointing," weighed down her entire body.
"Just once! Could I try just one more time?"
Watching Siren, who was now almost shouting, Ash slowly nodded.
A brief nod.
Permission.
A faint hope appeared on Siren's face.
'I'll give it everything.'
She couldn't let it end like this.
She couldn't let it end with nothing but disappointment for him.
'Everything!'
For an instant, her black eyes seemed to shine. Then a chilling blue light began to flow along the wave-patterned tattoo on her right arm.
A sharp noise rang out as the high-output cooling system activated.
Pssshhhh!
The coolant vapor that burst out enveloped her entire body in an instant.
Within the vapor that clouded the view like thick sea mist, only her blue-lit arm flickered like a will-o'-the-wisp.
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
