WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Reincarnation of the Sword Demon

Chapter 53

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This'll Be Fun

"...A spar?"

Aslan stopped wiping his tears and stared blankly as he repeated the word. The first thing his son, whom he was seeing again after four years, had suggested was a spar. To Aslan, a man so obsessed with the sword he had once been called the Sword Fool, there were no words more delightful.

"Good, very good!"

With tears still streaming down his face, Aslan leapt to his feet. Whatever the circumstances, he carried deep guilt toward Kyle. But he was also both a swordsman and a father. The son he could not bring himself to face with pride had offered a spar first. It shook Aslan to his core, and fulfilled a long-held dream he had as both swordsman and father.

To cross blades with his son. What proposal could make such a man happier?

"A spar! Let's spar!"

Aslan sprang up, threw off the rabbit-ear headband, and peeled off the fluffy rabbit outfit too. Four years ago, his body had looked like dried firewood after twelve years of Closed-Door Training. Now that once-shriveled frame was filled out with solid muscle.

"Waaah!"

The moment Aslan stripped, Kaya, who had been sitting between Kyle's legs, burst into tears. To a two-year-old girl, those muscles must have looked terrifying. Startled by his daughter's crying, Aslan hurriedly came to his senses and pulled the rabbit outfit back on. Only then did Kyle understand why Aslan had been dressed so ridiculously.

"G-go... go to the Cultivation Chamber first. I'll... I'll change and come."
"Sure."

Kyle stood first, holding the sniffling Kaya.

"Mom, bring Father over. I'll be in the Cultivation Chamber with Kaya."

With that, Kyle left the room, gently bouncing Kaya in his arms. She had been wailing just moments ago, but the instant they stepped out, she stopped crying as if it had never happened. Kyle looked down at her golden eyes, still wet with tears. They were bright and smiling, full of impish mischief.

"Would you look at that."

He patted Kaya's head as he walked down the stairs.

"You're really wrapping Father around your finger. Do you like making him wear that rabbit outfit that much?"
"Kaya likes bunny."

Kaya gave him a little grin, stared up at him, then reached out with her tiny hand and played with his hair.

"Oppa bunny too."
"No."
"Bunny too."

The tears still pooled in her eyes and looked ready to spill again, so Kyle answered quickly.

"I'll do it later."

He soothed her like that, stepped out of the mansion, and headed for the Cultivation Chamber. The entrance he had used all the time four years ago was no longer the same as before. It too was covered in Kaya's doodles.

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

He did not dislike it. If anything, it made him feel good. During those four years away, he had sometimes wondered whether Arian felt lonely. He had even felt occasional self-loathing, thinking, How is burying myself in that damned Mudflat for four years any different from Aslan going into Closed-Door Training for twelve? But thanks to Kaya, Arian seemed to have stayed busy and happy.

"..."

The doodles covered not only the chamber door, but the inside as well. Kyle looked around the colorful room and gave a dry laugh, then set Kaya down.

"You should be a painter when you grow up."
"No. I'm gonna be swordsman."

Kyle's eyes widened at her immediate answer. Looking around again, sure enough, he spotted a toy sword in the corner that Kaya had clearly been using.

"Did Father or Grandfather tell you to become a swordsman?"

Kaya shook her head, toddled over to the corner, picked up the toy sword, and came back. Seeing her little stubby limbs holding a sword even shorter than she was made Kyle smile without meaning to.

"Who taught you swordplay?"
"Daddy and Grampa. Aunt Erika, Uncle Bruno..."

Kaya muttered as she raised one finger at a time on her left hand.

"And Lucia unni, and Vivian unni."
"Huh."

He had expected Lucia's name, but not Vivian's.

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

Tilting his head, Kyle bent his knees and waist to meet Kaya at eye level. Then he raised one index finger and grinned.

"Wanna play sword fight with oppa? Come on, attack me."

Kyle naturally gave off no pressure at all, and left his whole body open so Kaya could attack comfortably. Kaya smiled brightly, ran over, and swung her toy sword at him.

Her body wobbled with every swing, looking like she might topple over any second, but the path she made was surprisingly decent. Tap. Kyle caught the toy sword with his finger and reached out to steady her so she would not fall.

"No way..."

Kyle asked, eyes sparkling.

"You're not... Ruin... um... the Founding Ancestor reincarnated, or something, right?"

He wanted to ask directly, Are you reincarnated like me? But conversations from the Sword Tower might be overheard by Fragment. It was not something worth bragging about anyway, and Kyle had no desire to spread the fact that he was reincarnated.

"What's reincarnation?"
"Um... dying a long time ago, then being born again. Your sword is amazing for someone who's only two, so without realizing it... I started imagining the Founding Ancestor, even though I've never seen him."

Kyle smoothed it over like that and patted Kaya's head. How amazing could the sword of a two-year-old who could barely control her own body really be? Still, maybe his eyes were being fooled, because her sword did not look bad at all.

'So what if she doesn't have talent? I can teach her well.'

That was only if Kaya truly wanted to become a swordsman later.

After he played with Kaya a little longer, Aslan and Arian entered the Cultivation Chamber, both changed into fresh clothes. Seeing her two children playing together, Arian let out a cheer and started hopping.

"This is it! This is what I wanted to see!"
"Was that meant to make me feel guilty?"
"Good. At least you do feel guilty. Son, even so, you're better than your father. You came back out after four years. Your father came out after twelve."
"So I'm three times better than Father."

At that answer, Aslan, now in martial attire, let his shoulders sag, then his eyes went wide when he noticed the sword at Kyle's waist.

"Fe, Fenris?"

Earlier, he had been too overwhelmed and emotional to recognize it. Only now did Aslan realize what it was, and his pupils trembled.

"The Sword Demon's... sword..."
"You know about Fenris?"
"Of course I do. I've seen it in the Sword Hall... and I spent a short time in the Sword Church."

Strictly speaking, Aslan had not completely severed ties with the Sword Church. Even if Aslan wanted that, the Sword Church did not consider him an apostate. Aslan let out a low sigh and shook his head.

"I heard stories about you and Fenris from my father-in-law and Arian many times... but seeing you actually holding Fenris makes me feel complicated."
"Moved?"
"Moved, yes. Envious too. And worried."

Aslan smiled bitterly and stared at Fenris.

"I once wandered the world with a single sword in hand. In some ways, my life resembled the Sword Demon's. I also... wanted to become like him."

'This man is suddenly making me embarrassed.'

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

"Sword Demon or not, he was still just a loser from a bygone age."

Arian smacked Aslan on the back with a crumpled expression.

"The Sword Demon was a man who built no family, had no children, left behind nothing but creepy groups like the Sword Church and the Crows, then challenged the Founding Ancestor and died. What's so great and admirable that you want to become like him?"
"A... Arian. Even if the Sword Demon's life ended in defeat, that doesn't mean his life was a failure. At least he lived and died with romance as a swordsman..."
"If you love that romance so much, then you throw away your family too, grab a sword, live like that, and die on the roadside!"

At Arian's merciless words, Aslan's shoulders drooped even further, and Kyle laughed, clutching his stomach.

"Mom's right. That Sword Demon guy just lived however he wanted and died."

Kyle had no intention of denying Arian's words. If anything, he wanted to agree with her completely.

"I don't know whether the Sword Demon died satisfied with his life, but the Sword Demon is the Sword Demon, and Father is Father. Maybe if the Sword Demon had married someone like Father did and built a family, he would've lived differently. Of course, he still would've loved the sword in that life too."

Did someone really need to love only one thing and make it their whole world? If they had the ability, they could love other things too.

"But Father, I get why my having Fenris makes you moved and envious. Why worried?"
"The Sword Church Master and the Crows."

Aslan had gone deep into thought, as if Kyle's words had struck a chord in him, but then he came back to himself and answered.

"The Sword Church Master has been obsessed with Fenris for five hundred years, and generation after generation, the ruler of the Crows has declared the intent to buy Fenris. For five hundred years, Fenris was only 'stored' in the Sword Hall. Now it has a new owner... those monsters will turn their eyes to you."
"This'll be fun."
"Fun...?"
"If they try to take it by force, I'll try not to lose it. If I lose it because I'm not strong enough, I'll take it back later. That's all, right?"

Kyle chuckled, scooped Kaya up, and handed her to Arian.

"You okay with real blades?"
"Ha ha..."

Aslan stared at Kyle with dazed eyes, then a smile spread across his face.

"Of course."
"I'm much stronger than I was four years ago."
"You look it."

Aslan smiled broadly and drew his sword.

"We'll be able to play better than we did four years ago."

Arian stepped back with Kaya in her arms, and Kyle and Aslan faced each other in the middle of the Cultivation Chamber.

The air sank heavy. It was hard to believe this was the same man who had been wearing rabbit ears and a rabbit outfit and acting cute for his daughter just moments earlier. The pressure crashing down on Kyle was even sharper than when he had first seen Aslan four years ago.

"Looks like you weren't focused only on childcare."
"I gave my best to Arian, and my best to childcare. But your mother is a lovely and gracious person, so she allowed me to hold a sword when I could."
"The greatest stroke of luck in your life was marrying Mom. The second was becoming the father of me and Kaya."

That skin-prickling pressure felt joyful and exhilarating. Kyle licked his lower lip and drew Fenris. Hummmmm...! Fenris's blade vibrated on its own, and a wolf's howl that only Kyle could hear rang out.

'Shut up, you mutt.'

The howl faltered, then died down.

'You picked up weird functions over five hundred years. I told you before, if you're a sword, act like one.'

Maybe he was being too harsh on Fenris, but the thing had sins of its own, so this was fine. Fwaaash! Purple Aura coiled around the blade of the now-silent Fenris.

"You come first."

At that smiling invitation, Aslan's whole body trembled with ecstasy. Hearing those words from his own flesh and blood, of all people, filled him with moving joy.

"All right, son."

Aslan answered in a choked voice, and his figure blurred.

Boom!

With a thunderous crash, Aslan's sword shot straight toward Kyle's eyes. A simple thrust, but its speed and force were like artillery. In the instant before impact, Kyle thought of several possible responses, then chose the simplest one to test his body and technique.

He swung Fenris and knocked the attack away. Four years ago, he would have been blown backward, or his sword would have shattered, or every bone in his body might have broken. Kyle wanted to test the body he had strengthened over four years with all the Dregs and Byproducts he had consumed.

He was also sure it would hold. Krrrang! The instant the two swords collided, a massive shockwave swept through the Cultivation Chamber. The floor split with a crack, and the defensive magic circles carved into the walls flashed red.

"Take it easy!"

Arian, protected by a wind barrier, shrieked, while Kaya, watching with wide round eyes, burst into delighted laughter. Amid those opposite reactions, Kyle and Aslan met each other's gaze.

Kyle's palms stung, but there was no pain of broken bones or torn muscles. From that single exchange, both Kyle and Aslan became certain of the same thing. Unlike four years ago, now they could truly converse through the blade.

"Ha ha!"

Aslan burst out laughing. That thrust had not been a restrained one. Of course, it had not been enough to kill his son, but he had judged it was still too much to receive head-on. Yet his fifteen-year-old son had taken that force in full.

"Son!"

With that sudden shout, Aslan's sword began to dance. A savage sword dance honed through countless real battles. Thrusts, cuts, slams, irregular rhythm, unpredictable trajectories, all crashing down on Kyle like a storm.

But to Kyle, neither the irregular rhythm nor the unpredictable trajectories felt irregular at all. His eyes, rippling with golden light, saw straight through his father, Aslan Antares's sword.

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

He read where Aslan's tip would go. He felt the tiny tremors of his muscles and the spacing of his breaths.

"Ha ha ha!"

White Aura surged from Aslan's whole body and became sword wind that rushed at Kyle. It was as if hundreds of additional sword paths had been layered on top, beyond what could be read from bodily movement alone.

Facing him, Kyle stepped back half a pace and concentrated mana into Fenris. The Primordial Chaos Sword Canon guided mana exactly as he wished. The flow that drew an inner universe had already gone far beyond the Circuits principles of ordinary human bodies. Kwarrrrr! Purple Sword Qi wrapped around Fenris and swelled.

Kwagagagak! The sword path traced by Fenris, wrapped in a vortex, swallowed Aslan's sword wind. Then that same blade drove into Aslan. There was no fatal opening in him. Aslan's sword was already waiting in Fenris's path.

Right before Fenris and Aslan's sword met, the Sword Qi coating Aslan's blade was sucked into Fenris's purple vortex. Aslan's eyes flashed when he felt it. Boooom! With a thunderous blast, Aslan and Kyle were shoved far apart.

"Ha ha... ha ha ha..."

Aslan shook his head, both thrilled and stunned.

"Was that... Sword Force...?"

He stared at Kyle's sword in disbelief. A thin layer of Aura coated the blade in a swirling current, but it was not just purple. White sparkles were mixed into the rotating violet Aura. It looked like a star-filled night sky wrapped around the sword.

"You can use Sword Force too, Father. Why are you so shocked?"
"Anyone would be shocked to see Sword Force at your age."

Aslan let out a hollow laugh and raised his own sword. White Sword Force had formed on Aslan's blade as well, but it was clearly different from Kyle's, which kept swirling and glittering like starlight.

"Your Sword Force is very... peculiar. I've never seen anything like it."
"Yeah?"

Kyle's current Sword Force was the same one from his Sword Demon days. He stared at Aslan's Sword Force. Sure enough, the forms were different.

"Sword Force is still just a sword in the end. Father, I can't keep this up long. Enough admiring it, let's keep playing."

The Primordial Chaos Sword Canon had made his mana efficiency absurdly better, but that did not mean his mana would never run out. Something as draining as Sword Force was hard to maintain for long.

"Ha ha ha..."

Aslan grinned and staggered toward Kyle.

"Who knew playing with my son could be this fun...!"

Naturally, Aslan liked playing with swords far more than wearing a rabbit outfit and reading fairy tales.

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